Weighted Rank Regression with Dummy Variables for Analyzing Accelerated Life Testing Data

In this article, we propose a new rank regression model to extrapolate the product lifetimes at normal operation environment from accelerated testing data. Weighted least squares method is used to compensate for nonconstant error variance in the regression model. A group of dummy variables is incorporated to check model adequacy. We also developed a customizing software for quick-and-easy implementation of the method so that reliability engineers can easily exploit it. Simulation studies show that, under light censoring, the proposed method performs comparatively well in predicting the lifetimes even with small sample sizes. With its computational ease and graphical presentation, the proposed method is expected to be more popular among reliability engineers

BH3-only Protein Noxa Is a Mediator of Hypoxic Cell Death Induced by Hypoxia-inducible Factor 1α

Hypoxia is a common cause of cell death and is implicated in many disease processes including stroke and chronic degenerative disorders. In response to hypoxia, cells express a variety of genes, which allow adaptation to altered metabolic demands, decreased oxygen demands, and the removal of irreversibly damaged cells. Using polymerase chain reaction–based suppression subtractive hybridization to find genes that are differentially expressed in hypoxia, we identified the BH3-only Bcl-2 family protein Noxa. Noxa is a candidate molecule mediating p53-induced apoptosis. We show that Noxa promoter responds directly to hypoxia via hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α. Suppression of Noxa expression by antisense oligonucleotides rescued cells from hypoxia-induced cell death and decreased infarction volumes in an animal model of ischemia. Further, we show that reactive oxygen species and resultant cytochrome c release participate in Noxa-mediated hypoxic cell death. Altogether, our results show that Noxa is induced by HIF-1α and mediates hypoxic cell death

Discrimination of cultivation ages and cultivars of ginseng leaves using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis

AbstractTo determine whether Fourier transform (FT)-IR spectral analysis combined with multivariate analysis of whole-cell extracts from ginseng leaves can be applied as a high-throughput discrimination system of cultivation ages and cultivars, a total of total 480 leaf samples belonging to 12 categories corresponding to four different cultivars (Yunpung, Kumpung, Chunpung, and an open-pollinated variety) and three different cultivation ages (1 yr, 2 yr, and 3 yr) were subjected to FT-IR. The spectral data were analyzed by principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminant analysis. A dendrogram based on hierarchical clustering analysis of the FT-IR spectral data on ginseng leaves showed that leaf samples were initially segregated into three groups in a cultivation age-dependent manner. Then, within the same cultivation age group, leaf samples were clustered into four subgroups in a cultivar-dependent manner. The overall prediction accuracy for discrimination of cultivars and cultivation ages was 94.8% in a cross-validation test. These results clearly show that the FT-IR spectra combined with multivariate analysis from ginseng leaves can be applied as an alternative tool for discriminating of ginseng cultivars and cultivation ages. Therefore, we suggest that this result could be used as a rapid and reliable F1 hybrid seed-screening tool for accelerating the conventional breeding of ginseng

Effects of Dexmedetomidine on Serum Interleukin-6, Hemodynamic Stability, and Postoperative Pain Relief in Elderly Patients under Spinal Anesthesia

The beneficial effects of dexmedetomidine (DEX) have not been extensively investigated in elderly patients receiving spinal anesthesia. This study evaluated the effects of intravenous DEX infusion on stress and hemodynamic response, as well as on postoperative analgesia in elderly patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We randomly allocated 45 adult patients to 3 patient groups (n=15 each): uni-saline group patients underwent unilateral TKA with saline administration, uni-DEX group patients underwent unilateral TKA with DEX administration, and bilateral-DEX group patients underwent bilateral TKA with DEX administration. Serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were significantly lower in the bilateral-DEX group than in the uni-saline group 6 and 24h postoperatively, and were negatively correlated with total DEX dosage 24h postoperatively. Bradycardia occurred more frequently in the uni-DEX and bilateral-DEX groups than in the uni-saline group. The total dose of required supplementary analgesics was significantly higher in the uni-saline group than in the uni-DEX and bilateral-DEX groups 6h postoperatively. The results indicate that perioperative intravenous DEX administration decreases postoperative serum IL-6 levels in patients undergoing bilateral TKA, and has a postoperative analgesic effect in patients undergoing unilateral or bilateral TKA

Spatial mapping of short-term solar radiation prediction incorporating geostationary satellite images coupled with deep convolutional LSTM networks for South Korea

A practical approach to continuously monitor and provide real-time solar energy prediction can help support reliable renewable energy supply and relevant energy security systems. In this study on the Korean Peninsula, contemporaneous solar radiation images obtained from the Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) Meteorological Imager (MI) system, were used to design a convolutional neural network and a long short-term memory network predictive model, ConvLSTM. This model was applied to predict one-hour ahead solar radiation and spatially map solar energy potential. The newly designed ConvLSTM model enabled reliable prediction of solar radiation, incorporating spatial changes in atmospheric conditions and capturing the temporal sequence-to-sequence variations that are likely to influence solar driven power supply and its overall stability. Results showed that the proposed ConvLSTM model successfully captured cloud-induced variations in ground level solar radiation when compared with reference images from a physical model. A comparison with ground pyranometer measurements indicated that the short-term prediction of global solar radiation by the proposed ConvLSTM had the highest accuracy [root mean square error (RMSE) = 83.458 Wcenterdotm−2, mean bias error (MBE) = 4.466 Wcenterdotm−2, coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.874] when compared with results of conventional artificial neural network (ANN) [RMSE = 94.085 Wcenterdotm−2, MBE = −6.039 Wcenterdotm−2, R2 = 0.821] and random forest (RF) [RMSE = 95.262 Wcenterdotm−2, MBE = −11.576 Wcenterdotm−2, R2 = 0.839] models. In addition, ConvLSTM better captured the temporal variations in predicted solar radiation, mainly due to cloud attenuation effects when compared with two selected ground stations. The study showed that contemporaneous satellite images over short-term or near real-time intervals can successfully support solar energy exploration in areas without continuous environmental monitoring systems, where satellite footprints are available to model and monitor solar energy management systems supporting real-life power grid systems

SUCCESSFUL FACTORS OF 540° DWIHURYEOCHAGI IN TAEKWONDO

The purpose of our study was to provide fundamental information about success factors of 540° Dwihuryeochagi in Taekwondo. Twenty Taekwondo athletes who participated in the 2012 Taekwondo Kyukpa Wang (breaking king) championship: ten successful athletes (S, age: 23.1±1.6 yrs, height: 171.0±3.5 cm, body mass: 66.4±7.1 kg) and ten failed athletes (F, age: 22.3±1.8 yrs, height: 172.1±5.4 cm, body mass: 64.4±4.2 kg) were selected. Three-dimensional motion analysis using a system of 3 video cameras with a sampling of 60 fields/s was performed during the competition of 540 ° Dwihuryeochagi. Based on the findings, it is concluded that success factors of 540° Dwihuryeochagi were horizontal velocity of COM during P1, vertical velocity of COM during P2, and the time, kick distance, velocity and angle of lower extremities of P3-P4

DECAY FACTOR WITH EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLES IN TWO CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED (CFB) RISERS

The effects of the riser inlet velocity, solid mass flux and particle size on the axial solid holdup profile and decay factor were investigated using two circulating fluidized beds (CFBs) with FCC (Geldart A) particles as the bed materials. Based on the experimental results from the two-CFBs, the axial solid holdup in the two CFBs were compared with the correlations of previous studies. Also, an empirical correlation was proposed for decay factor that exhibited a good agreement with experimental data