A High permormance hardware architecture for an sad reuse based hierarchical motion estimation algorithm for H.264 video coding

In this paper, we present a high performance and low cost hardware architecture for real-time implementation of an SAD reuse based hierarchical motion estimation algorithm for H.264 / MPEG4 Part 10 video coding. This hardware is designed to be used as part of a complete H.264 video coding system for portable applications. The proposed architecture is implemented in Verilog HDL. The Verilog RTL code is verified to work at 68 MHz in a Xilinx Virtex II FPGA. The FPGA implementation can process 27 VGA frames (640x480) or 82 CIF frames (352x288) per second

Physical, chemical and bioactive properties of onion (Allium cepa L.) seed and seed oil

Onion  (Allium cepa L.)  is one of the economically important vegetable crops grown in Turkey.  In this study, some physico-chemical and antioxidant properties, volatile compounds and fatty acid composition of ten different onion seeds were investigated. The fatty acid composition and volatile compounds were analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), respectively. Physico-chemical analysis showed that onion seeds possessed high amount of oil (21.86%-25.86%) and crude protein (15.7%-26.1%). It was determined that moisture content of samples was in the range of 6.49-9.79%  while ash content was between 3.58-4.80%. GC results revealed that onion seed oil was rich in linoleic acid (49.42-60.66%) which was followed by oleic and palmitic acid,  respectively. The refractive index of seed oils was 1.4555-1.4771. There were a large number of substances such as hydrocarbon, alcohol, acid, ester and sulfur-containing compounds. It was determined that phenethyl alcohol and 1-hexanol were the most abundant volatile compounds in samples. It could be concluded that onion seeds can be utilized in food industry due to their physico-chemical properties and contents of oil and volatile components

Is the US 3PL industry overcoming paradoxes amid the pandemic?

Purpose: Third-party logistics (3PL) companies have experienced an explosion of volume during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Special tiers have been introduced to provide differentiated levels of service to the customers. However, such changes in an organization reveal and intensify tensions known as paradoxes. The purpose of this research is to identify what paradoxes emerged or have become more salient specifically due to COVID-19 in 3PLs\u27 ground operations and how they are dealt with by ground operation managers. Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative study conducted in two phases. Phase one utilizes a questionnaire approach to identify the paradoxes within the 3PLs operating in the USA. Phase two, conducted six months after phase one, follows an in-depth one-on-one interview approach. NVivo 12 is employed to analyze the interview data. Findings: The results show that new paradoxes did in fact emerge due to the COVID-19 and are mostly related to the performing paradox category. Findings from in-depth interviews show that the 3PL managers focus on keeping safety as priority to manage COVID-19 related paradoxes, along with modifying operational plans, improving communication, investing in training, optimizing hub network, introducing modified/new methods and adapting modified human resource policies. Originality/value: This paper is among the first known to identify paradoxes within the 3PL operations during the COVID-19 and provides insights into how these paradoxes are dealt with at mid-management level. Findings of this study provide foundations for the development of a theoretical framework on handling paradoxes within 3PLs

Acute Thrombotic Occlusion of Right Coronary and Left Circumflex Coronary Arteries in a Patient with Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Successful Stent Implantation

Antiphospholipid syndrome is a rare disorder. Acute myocardial infarction is uncommon among these patients. Here we report a case of a 44-year-old man with antiphospholipid syndrome admitted for acute inferior myocardial infarction. Performed coronary angiography revealed that both the right coronary and the left circumflex coronary arteries were occluded by thrombi. We successfully performed primary angioplasty and stent implantation for both of the occluded coronary arteries. In the literature, this is the first case with antiphospholipid syndrome in which primary coronary angioplasty with stent implantation was successfully performed for two coronary arteries with acute thrombotic occlusion

Impact of corrosive trace elements on sea turtle eggs during embryonic growth

In the present work, the authors have tried to define harmful elements in the sand that cause unsuccessful hatchlings. These elements are most probably in the untreated domestic wastewater that is discharged by tanker trucks nearby densely nested locations

The effect of rosehip (Rosa canina L.) supplementation to diet on the performance, egg and meat quality, antioxidant activity in laying quail

This study was conducted to determine the effects of rosehip (RS, Rosa canina L.) supplementation on the performance, carcass traits, meat quality, serum antioxidant activity, egg yolk pigmentation and fatty acid composition of laying quail. A total of 120 10-week-old laying quail were divided into 5 treatment groups with 8 replicates. The treatments were as follows: the first group was fed control diet (C, no rosehip addition), other groups (2, 3, 4 and 5) were fed with diets containing 2.5, 5, 10 and 15% RS, respectively. The body weight (BW), feed consumption (FC) and egg yield were not affected by the treatments. However, egg weight and egg mass increased with 5 and 10% RS supplementation (P<0.01). The breast meat’s dry matter, crude protein, ash, fat, drip loss, thawing loss, cooking loss, postmortem pH1 values and the colour were not statistically influenced by RS supplementation. Rosehip supplementation caused a decrease in the L* values of egg yolk colour, however, the redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values of the egg yolk was higher than that of the C group (P<0.01). Rosehip supplementation did not change the fatty acid composition of egg yolk. Rosehip addition at 2.5 and 5% ratio to diets decreased serum malondialdehyde (MDA), and increased serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels (P<0.01); while addition of 10 and 15% RS caused an increase in serum MDA and decrease in serum SOD levels compared to C group (P<0.01). In conclusion, rosehip as a feed ingredient in quail diets can be used to increase egg weight, egg mass and egg yolk pigmentation and low (2.5 and 5%) RS supplementation may decrease serum oxidant activity but not high concentrations (10 and 15%) of RS

A novel in ovo model to study cancer metastasis using chicken embryos and GFP expressing cancer cells.

Cancer metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. To date, several in vitro methodologies have been developed to understand the mechanisms of cancer metastasis and to screen various therapeutic agents against it. Nevertheless, mimicking an in vivo microenvironment in vitro is not possible; while in vivo experiments are complex, expensive and bound with several regulatory requirements. Herein, we report a novel in ovo model that relies on chicken embryo to investigate cancer cell invasion and metastasis to various organs of the body. In this model, we directly inject green fluorescent protein (GFP) expressing cancer cells to the heart of chicken embryo at 3 days of incubation, then monitor cell migration to various organs. To this end, we used a simple tissue processing technique to achieve rapid imaging and quantification of invasive cells. We were able to clearly observe the migration of GFP expressing cancer cells into various organs of chicken embryo. Organ specific variation in cell migration was also observed. Our new slide pressing based tissue processing technique improved the detectability of migrated cells. We herein demonstrate that the use of GFP expressing cancer cells allows easy detection and quantification of migrated cancer cells in the chicken embryo model, which minimizes the time and effort required in this types of studies compared to conventional histopathological analysis. In conclusion, our investigation provides a new cancer metastasis model that can be further improved to include more complex aspects, such as the use of multiple cell lines and anti-metastatic agents, thus opening new horizons in cancer biology and pharmaceutical research

Fabrication and In Vitro Characterization of a Tissue Engineered PCL-PLLA Heart Valve.

Heart valve diseases are among the leading causes of cardiac failure around the globe. Nearly 90,000 heart valve replacements occur in the USA annually. Currently, available options for heart valve replacement include bioprosthetic and mechanical valves, both of which have severe limitations. Bioprosthetic valves can last for only 10-20 years while patients with mechanical valves always require blood-thinning medications throughout the remainder of the patient's life. Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising solution for the development of a viable, biocompatible and durable heart valve; however, a human implantable tissue engineered heart valve is yet to be achieved. In this study, a tri-leaflet heart valve structure is developed using electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly L-lactic acid (PLLA) scaffolds, and a set of in vitro testing protocol has been developed for routine manufacturing of tissue engineered heart valves. Stress-strain curves were obtained for mechanical characterization of different valves. The performances of the developed valves were hemodynamically tested using a pulse duplicator, and an echocardiography machine. Results confirmed the superiority of the PCL-PLLA heart valve compared to pure PCL or pure PLLA. The developed in vitro test protocol involving pulse duplicator and echocardiography tests have enormous potential for routine application in tissue engineering of heart valves

Possible influence of beach sand characteristics on green turtle nesting activity on Samandag Beach, Turkey

Physical characteristics such as sand grain size and humidity were determined and the relation between the examined parameters and nesting success, nest density, and hatchling success of green turtles on Samandag Beach, Hatay, Turkey were investigated in this study. Coarse sand and low humidity at the river site and fine sand and high humidity at distances perpendicular to the river mouth were determined. The wind speed and direction toward land on the beach are important factors forming grain structure on Samandag Beach. The mean particle size, about 350 mu m, at nesting locations (N) of green turtles is smaller than that at nonnesting areas (NT and T). Nesting sites have the lowest uniformity coefficients (C-u = 2.78) on the surface than in no-nest no-track sites (C-u = 3.48) and in only-track sites (C-u = 3.5) on the surface. A negative correlation exists between sand moisture and nesting success with respect to increasing distance from Cevlik Harbor for Chelonia mydas. The hatchling success of C. mydas was found to be significantly affected by sand moisture. When sand moisture is above 8%, hatchling success become too low or no successful hatching occurs

The effects of some elements (Ca, Mg and Cr) on the nesting activity of green turtles on the Samandag Beach, Turkey

Samandag Beach is one of the most important nesting habitats of Chelonia mydas (L., 1758), one of the endangered species in the globe. In this study, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and chromium (Cr) in 135 sand samples collected from the nesting habitat (Samandag) of C. mydas species are examined. Sampling was carried out from three types of sites: (1) adjacent to nest chambers, (2) the adults' tracks, and (3) non-track (one random point from every 2 km) locations. The samples were obtained from three levels at each sampling point; surface (upper layer), medium (30 cm deep) and deep (80 cm) vertically. Some biological data about nesting, activity, such as nest density and nesting success, were also monitored in 2003 nesting season. The mean concentrations of Ca, Me, and Cr in sand are 278 ppm (mg kg(-1)) (+/- 121.97), 317 ppm (+/- 9.92), and 5.40 ppm (+/- 1.38), respectively. Ca and Mg in sand have a significantly positive correlation with nesting success (r = 0.717 for Ca; r = 0.672 for Mg; both p<0.001). Moreover, Cr has a positive correlation (r = 0.760; p<0.001) with nest density. The results indicate that both Ca and Cr concentrations on sand beaches used by green turtles to nest play important roles in their nesting success