Effect of chitosan on resist printing of cotton fabrics with reactive dyes

The concentration of chitosan, types of resist agent, curing temperature and curing time were varied to determine their effects on resist-printed cotton fabrics. An optimal chitosan concentration of 1.6% resulted in the greatest resist effect on printed cotton fabrics. For mixtures, a 6:4 ratio of citric acid : chitosan and an 8:2 mixture of tartaric acid : chitosan yielded the greatest resist effects. A curing temperature of 150°C for 180 s was optimal.Key words: Chitosan, resist printing, reactive dyes, cotton fabrics

Frequency tracking by method of least squares combined with channel estimation for OFDM over mobile wireless channels

[[abstract]]To track frequency offset and time-varying channel in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems over mobile wireless channels, a common technique is, based on one OFDM training block sample, to apply the maximum-likelihood (ML) algorithm to perform joint frequency tracking and channel estimation employing some adaptive iteration processes. The major drawback of such joint estimation techniques is the local extrema problem arising from the highly nonlinear nature of the log-likelihood function. This makes the joint estimation process very difficult and complicated, and many a time the results are not very satisfactory if the algorithm is not well designed. In this study, rather than using the ML algorithm, we shall apply the method of least squares (LS) for frequency tracking utilizing repeated OFDM training blocks. As will be seen, by using such an LS approach, the frequency offset estimation requires no channel knowledge. The channel state can be estimated separately after the LS frequency offset correction. This not only circumvents the local extrema complication, but also obviates the need for the lengthy adaptive iteration process of joint estimation thus greatly simplifies the entire estimation process. Most importantly, our technique can achieve excellent estimation performance as compared to the usual ML algorithms.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙

Numerical simulation of blood flow and pressure drop in the pulmonary arterial and venous circulation

A novel multiscale mathematical and computational model of the pulmonary circulation is presented and used to analyse both arterial and venous pressure and flow. This work is a major advance over previous studies by Olufsen et al. (Ann Biomed Eng 28:1281–1299, 2012) which only considered the arterial circulation. For the first three generations of vessels within the pulmonary circulation, geometry is specified from patient-specific measurements obtained using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Blood flow and pressure in the larger arteries and veins are predicted using a nonlinear, cross-sectional-area-averaged system of equations for a Newtonian fluid in an elastic tube. Inflow into the main pulmonary artery is obtained from MRI measurements, while pressure entering the left atrium from the main pulmonary vein is kept constant at the normal mean value of 2 mmHg. Each terminal vessel in the network of ‘large’ arteries is connected to its corresponding terminal vein via a network of vessels representing the vascular bed of smaller arteries and veins. We develop and implement an algorithm to calculate the admittance of each vascular bed, using bifurcating structured trees and recursion. The structured-tree models take into account the geometry and material properties of the ‘smaller’ arteries and veins of radii ≥ 50 μ m. We study the effects on flow and pressure associated with three classes of pulmonary hypertension expressed via stiffening of larger and smaller vessels, and vascular rarefaction. The results of simulating these pathological conditions are in agreement with clinical observations, showing that the model has potential for assisting with diagnosis and treatment for circulatory diseases within the lung

Quality and Safety Aspects of Infant Nutrition

Quality and safety aspects of infant nutrition are of key importance for child health, but oftentimes they do not get much attention by health care professionals whose interest tends to focus on functional benefits of early nutrition. Unbalanced diets and harmful food components induce particularly high risks for untoward effects in infants because of their rapid growth, high nutrient needs, and their typical dependence on only one or few foods during the first months of life. The concepts, standards and practices that relate to infant food quality and safety were discussed at a scientific workshop organized by the Child Health Foundation and the Early Nutrition Academy jointly with the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and a summary is provided here. The participants reviewed past and current issues on quality and safety, the role of different stakeholders, and recommendations to avert future issues. It was concluded that a high level of quality and safety is currently achieved, but this is no reason for complacency. The food industry carries the primary responsibility for the safety and suitability of their products, including the quality of composition, raw materials and production processes. Introduction of new or modified products should be preceded by a thorough science based review of suitability and safety by an independent authority. Food safety events should be managed on an international basis. Global collaboration of food producers, food-safety authorities, paediatricians and scientists is needed to efficiently exchange information and to best protect public health. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Signal Transduction Pathways in the Pentameric Ligand-Gated Ion Channels

The mechanisms of allosteric action within pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) remain to be determined. Using crystallography, site-directed mutagenesis, and two-electrode voltage clamp measurements, we identified two functionally relevant sites in the extracellular (EC) domain of the bacterial pLGIC from Gloeobacter violaceus (GLIC). One site is at the C-loop region, where the NQN mutation (D91N, E177Q, and D178N) eliminated inter-subunit salt bridges in the open-channel GLIC structure and thereby shifted the channel activation to a higher agonist concentration. The other site is below the C-loop, where binding of the anesthetic ketamine inhibited GLIC currents in a concentration dependent manner. To understand how a perturbation signal in the EC domain, either resulting from the NQN mutation or ketamine binding, is transduced to the channel gate, we have used the Perturbation-based Markovian Transmission (PMT) model to determine dynamic responses of the GLIC channel and signaling pathways upon initial perturbations in the EC domain of GLIC. Despite the existence of many possible routes for the initial perturbation signal to reach the channel gate, the PMT model in combination with Yen's algorithm revealed that perturbation signals with the highest probability flow travel either via the β1-β2 loop or through pre-TM1. The β1-β2 loop occurs in either intra- or inter-subunit pathways, while pre-TM1 occurs exclusively in inter-subunit pathways. Residues involved in both types of pathways are well supported by previous experimental data on nAChR. The direct coupling between pre-TM1 and TM2 of the adjacent subunit adds new insight into the allosteric signaling mechanism in pLGICs. © 2013 Mowrey et al

Contribution to the understanding of tribological properties of graphite intercalation compounds with metal chloride

Intrinsic tribological properties of lamellar compounds are usually attributed to the presence of van der Waals gaps in their structure through which interlayer interactions are weak. The controlled variation of the distances and interactions between graphene layers by intercalation of electrophilic species in graphite is used in order to explore more deeply the friction reduction properties of low-dimensional compounds. Three graphite intercalation compounds with antimony pentachloride, iron trichloride and aluminium trichloride are studied. Their tribological properties are correlated to their structural parameters, and the interlayer interactions are deduced from ab initio bands structure calculations

An outbreak of coxsackievirus A6 hand, foot, and mouth disease associated with onychomadesis in Taiwan, 2010

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2010, an outbreak of coxsackievirus A6 (CA6) hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) occurred in Taiwan and some patients presented with onychomadesis and desquamation following HFMD. Therefore, we performed an epidemiological and molecular investigation to elucidate the characteristics of this outbreak.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients who had HFMD with positive enterovirus isolation results were enrolled. We performed a telephone interview with enrolled patients or their caregivers to collect information concerning symptoms, treatments, the presence of desquamation, and the presence of nail abnormalities. The serotypes of the enterovirus isolates were determined using indirect immunofluorescence assays. The VP1 gene was sequenced and the phylogenetic tree for the current CA6 strains in 2010, 52 previous CA6 strains isolated in Taiwan from 1998 through 2009, along with 8 reference sequences from other countries was constructed using the neighbor-joining command in MEGA software.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 130 patients with laboratory-confirmed CA6 infection, some patients with CA6 infection also had eruptions around the perioral area (28, 22%), the trunk and/or the neck (39, 30%) and generalized skin eruptions (6, 5%) in addition to the typical presentation of skin eruptions on the hands, feet, and mouths. Sixty-six (51%) CA6 patients experienced desquamation of palms and soles after the infection episode and 48 (37%) CA6 patients developed onychomadesis, which only occurred in 7 (5%) of 145 cases with non-CA6 enterovirus infection (<it>p </it>< 0.001). The sequences of viral protein 1 of CA6 in 2010 differ from those found in Taiwan before 2010, but are similar to those found in patients in Finland in 2008.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HFMD patients with CA6 infection experienced symptoms targeting a broader spectrum of skin sites and more profound tissue destruction, i.e., desquamation and nail abnormalities.</p

Past Achievements and Future Challenges in 3D Photonic Metamaterials

Photonic metamaterials are man-made structures composed of tailored micro- or nanostructured metallo-dielectric sub-wavelength building blocks that are densely packed into an effective material. This deceptively simple, yet powerful, truly revolutionary concept allows for achieving novel, unusual, and sometimes even unheard-of optical properties, such as magnetism at optical frequencies, negative refractive indices, large positive refractive indices, zero reflection via impedance matching, perfect absorption, giant circular dichroism, or enhanced nonlinear optical properties. Possible applications of metamaterials comprise ultrahigh-resolution imaging systems, compact polarization optics, and cloaking devices. This review describes the experimental progress recently made fabricating three-dimensional metamaterial structures and discusses some remaining future challenges

Comparison of alternative risk adjustment measures for predictive modeling: high risk patient case finding using Taiwan's National Health Insurance claims

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Predictive modeling presents an opportunity to contain the expansion of medical expenditures by focusing on very few people. Evaluation of how risk adjustment models perform in predictive modeling in Taiwan or Asia has been rare. The aims of this study were to evaluate the performance of different risk adjustment models (the ACG risk adjustment system and prior expenditures) in predictive modeling, using Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data, and to compare characteristics of potentially high-expenditure subjects identified through different models.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A random sample of NHI enrollees continuously enrolled in 2002 and 2003 (n = 164,562) was selected. Health status measures and total expenditures derived from 2002 NHI claims data were used to predict the possibility of becoming 2003 top users. Statistics-based indicators (C-statistics, sensitivity, & Predictive Positive Value) and characteristics of identified top groups by different models (expenditures and prevalence of manageable diseases) were presented.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both diagnosis-based and prior expenditures models performed much better than the demographic model. Diagnosis-based models were better in identifying top users with manageable diseases; prior expenditures models were better in statistics-based indicators and identifying people with higher average expenditures. Prior expenditures status could correctly identify more actual top users than diagnosis-based or demographic models. The proportions of actual top users that could be identified by diagnosis-based models alone were much lower than that identified by prior expenditures status.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Predicted top users identified by different models have different characteristics and there is little agreement between modes regarding which groups would be potentially top users; therefore, which model to use should depend on the purpose of predictive modeling. Prior expenditures are a more powerful tool than diagnosis-based risk adjusters in terms of correctly identifying more actual high expenditures users. There is still much room left for improvement of diagnosis-based models in predictive modeling.</p

Paradox of low field enhancement factor for field emission nanodiodes in relation to quantum screening effects

We put forward the quantum screening effect in field emission [FE] nanodiodes, explaining relatively low field enhancement factors due to the increased potential barrier that impedes the electron Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, which is usually observed in nanoscale FE experiments. We illustratively show this effect from the energy band diagram and experimentally verify it by performing the nanomanipulation FE measurement for a single P-silicon nanotip emitter (Φ = 4.94eV), with a scanning tungsten-probe anode (work function, Φ = 4.5eV) that constitutes a 75-nm vacuum nanogap. A macroscopic FE measurement for the arrays of emitters with a 17-μm vacuum microgap was also performed for a fair comparison