Knowledge Sharing and Business Matching in Advertising and Public Relations Services Using Semantic Peer Technology

We develop semantic peer network aiming at knowledge sharing and business matching for the domain of advertisement and public relations. We top up a knowledge-based layer upon the peer to peer network to make it knowledge base peer. The knowledge base consists of ontology for the application domain and domain instances. We develop user services for resource sharing and business matching based on the knowledge-based layer. A trust management mechanism is built into the knowledge-based layer for making trustable resource sharing and business match making. Also we develop an RDF-based streaming mechanism for automatically pushing newly matched information to appropriate nodes. We made experiment to test the performance of search for the prototype system. The result shows that the addition of knowledge-based layer upon the peer-to-peer network would not result in the decrease of performance. We also investigate future work after the prototype researc

Modeling Online to Offline E-Business User Experience

Complex business patterns from providers and diverse needs of customers in E-commerce necessitate constant and rapid modifications of services for new business models. The online-to-offline (O2O) business model is one of newly developed models where smartphones, tablets, e-readers and digital signages provide mobility and entertainment that ordinary people have never experienced before. Business opportunities are brought forth by O2O from cyberspace into daily reality. User experience (UX) evaluation is thus getting more and more important for user-centered design. In the literature, UX evaluation methodologies were designed for usability and satisfaction of computers or consumer electronics. Their results, however, did not necessarily help design O2O smart business services in that UX constructs in O2O should differ from that in using computers or consumer electronics. Important constructs of UX in O2O such as usability, utility, adoptability and desirability should be considered in the design of service flows and activities. The current study proposed important UX constructs for assessing O2O design by analyzing O2O users. A rapid evaluation method for UX in O2O can be developed based on the constructs

Association of ORAI1 Haplotypes with the Risk of HLA-B27 Positive Ankylosing Spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammation of the sacroiliac joints, spine and peripheral joints. The aetiology of ankylosing spondylitis is still unclear. Previous studies have indicated that genetics factors such as human leukocyte antigen HLA-B27 associates to AS susceptibility. We carried out a case-control study to determine whether the genetic polymorphisms of ORAI1 gene, a major component of store-operated calcium channels that involved the regulation of immune system, is a susceptibility factor to AS in a Taiwanese population. We enrolled 361 AS patients fulfilled the modified New York criteria and 379 controls from community. Five tagging single nucleotides polymorphisms (tSNPs) at ORAI1 were selected from the data of Han Chinese population in HapMap project. Clinical statuses of AS were assessed by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Global Index (BAS-G). Our results indicated that subjects carrying the minor allele homozygote (CC) of the promoter SNP rs12313273 or TT homozygote of the SNP rs7135617 had an increased risk of HLA-B27 positive AS. The minor allele C of 3′UTR SNP rs712853 exerted a protective effect to HLA-B27 positive AS. Furthermore, the rs12313273/rs7135617 pairwise allele analysis found that C-G (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.27, 2.25; p = 0.0003) and T-T (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.36, 2.27; p<0.0001) haplotypes had a significantly association with the risk of HLA-B27-positive AS in comparison with the T-G carriers. This is the first study that indicate haplotypes of ORAI1 (rs12313273 and rs7135617) are associated with the risk of HLA-B27 positive AS

ITPKC Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Associated with the Kawasaki Disease in a Taiwanese Population

Kawasaki disease (KD) is characterized by systemic vasculitis with unknown etiology. Previous studies from Japan indicated that a gene polymorphism of ITPKC (rs28493229) is responsible for susceptibility to KD. We collected DNA samples from 1,531 Taiwanese subjects (341 KD patients and 1,190 controls) for genotyping ITPKC. In this study, no significant association was noted for the ITPKC polymorphism (rs28493229) between the controls and KD patients, although the CC genotype was overrepresented. We further combined our data with previously published case/control KD studies in the Taiwanese population and performed a meta-analysis. A significant association between rs28493229 and KD was found (Odds Ratio:1.36, 95% Confidence Interval 1.12–1.66). Importantly, a significant association was obtained between rs28493229 and KD patients with aneurysm formation (P = 0.001, under the recessive model). Taken together, our results indicated that C-allele of ITPKC SNP rs28493229 is associated with the susceptibility and aneurysm formation in KD patients in a Taiwanese population

ORAI1 Genetic Polymorphisms Associated with the Susceptibility of Atopic Dermatitis in Japanese and Taiwanese Populations

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. Multiple genetic and environmental factors are thought to be responsible for susceptibility to AD. In this study, we collected 2,478 DNA samples including 209 AD patients and 729 control subjects from Taiwanese population and 513 AD patients and 1027 control subject from Japanese population for sequencing and genotyping ORAI1. A total of 14 genetic variants including 3 novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ORAI1 gene were identified. Our results indicated that a non-synonymous SNP (rs3741596, Ser218Gly) associated with the susceptibility of AD in the Japanese population but not in the Taiwanese population. However, there is another SNP of ORAI1 (rs3741595) associated with the risk of AD in the Taiwanese population but not in the Japanese population. Taken together, our results indicated that genetic polymorphisms of ORAI1 are very likely to be involved in the susceptibility of AD

Alternative Functions of Core Cell Cycle Regulators in Neuronal Migration, Neuronal Maturation, and Synaptic Plasticity

Recent studies have demonstrated that boundaries separating a cycling cell from a postmitotic neuron are not as concrete as expected. Novel and unique physiological functions in neurons have been ascribed for proteins fundamentally required for cell cycle progression and control. These “core” cell cycle regulators serve diverse postmitotic functions that span various developmental stages of a neuron, including neuronal migration, axonal elongation, axon pruning, dendrite morphogenesis, and synaptic maturation and plasticity. In this review, we detail the nonproliferative postmitotic roles that these cell cycle proteins have recently been reported to play, the significance of their expression in neurons, mechanistic insight when available, and future prospects.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (PO1 grant AG27916)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (RO1 grant NS51876

Bid Regulates the Pathogenesis of Neurotropic Reovirus

Reovirus infection leads to apoptosis in both cultured cells and the murine central nervous system (CNS). NF-κB-driven transcription of proapoptotic cellular genes is required for the effector phase of the apoptotic response. Although both extrinsic death-receptor signaling pathways and intrinsic pathways involving mitochondrial injury are implicated in reovirus-induced apoptosis, mechanisms by which either of these pathways are activated and their relationship to NF-κB signaling following reovirus infection are unknown. The proapoptotic Bcl-2 family member, Bid, is activated by proteolytic cleavage following reovirus infection. To understand how reovirus integrates host signaling circuits to induce apoptosis, we examined proapoptotic signaling following infection of Bid-deficient cells. Although reovirus growth was not affected by the absence of Bid, cells lacking Bid failed to undergo apoptosis. Furthermore, we found that NF-κB activation is required for Bid cleavage and subsequent proapoptotic signaling. To examine the functional significance of Bid-dependent apoptosis in reovirus disease, we monitored fatal encephalitis caused by reovirus in the presence and absence of Bid. Survival of Bid-deficient mice was significantly enhanced in comparison to wild-type mice following either peroral or intracranial inoculation of reovirus. Decreased reovirus virulence in Bid-null mice was accompanied by a reduction in viral yield. These findings define a role for NF-κB-dependent cleavage of Bid in the cell death program initiated by viral infection and link Bid to viral virulence

Weibull Statistics for Evaluating Failure Behaviors and Joining Reliability of Friction Stir Spot Welded 5052 Aluminum Alloy

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) was applied to make lap-joints of 5052 rolled (5052-R) aluminum alloys. The resulting microstructural observation, microhardness, tensile shear failure load and failure morphologies are reported, including a brief look into failure behaviors in the present study. The metallurgical bonded TMAZ region with a plastic metal flow is obviously created around the probe, and the microhardness is significantly increased at the TMAZ region for FSSW-joined 5052 aluminum alloys. The FSSW lap-joints with an obvious metallurgical bonded TMAZ region generally display a higher failure load and ductile failure morphologies with dimples fracture. In addition, the failure load of FSSW lap-joints was increased with increasing the probe penetration depth and the welding time. Based on the data fluctuation of tensile shear failure load, the Weibull model provided a statistical analysis method for assessing the minimum failure, the failure mechanism and the joining reliability for the FSSW lap-joints. Through the statistical analysis of the Weibull distribution function, FSSW-joined aluminum alloys with a wear-out failure model are recognized as reliable lap-joints for further engineering application

Universal ferroelectric switching dynamics of vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene copolymer films

In this work, switching dynamics of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] copolymer films are investigated over unprecedentedly wide ranges of temperature and electric field. Remarkably, domain switching of copolymer films obeys well the classical domain nucleation and growth model although the origin of ferroelectricity in organic ferroelectric materials inherently differs from the inorganic counterparts. A lower coercivity limit of 50 MV/m and 180° domain wall energy of 60 mJ/m2 are determined for P(VDF-TrFE) films. Furthermore, we discover in copolymer films an anomalous temperature-dependent crossover behavior between two power-law scaling regimes of frequency-dependent coercivity, which is attributed to the transition between flow and creep motions of domain walls. Our observations shed new light on the switching dynamics of semi-crystalline ferroelectric polymers, and such understandings are critical for realizing their reliable applications.Published versio