The transformation dynamics towards equilibrium in non-equilibrium w/w/o double emulsions

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The dripping-to-jetting transition in a co-axial flow of aqueous two-phase systems with low interfacial tension

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Rethinking Measures of Attitude Toward Technology in Technology Education

Technology curriculums encompass an interdisciplinary approach that integrates science, engineering, the arts, and mathematics, along with a design-oriented learning process. Given the rapid advancement of technology and the challenging environment, technology education has the potential to enhance students' positive outlook on technology. The objectives of this study are to gather existing student attitude scales for technology education, analyse the cognitive, affective, behavioural, and environmental components of these scales, and describe the assessment format and its application. This study referenced established research procedures and instructions, used keywords to research and examine the literature, and collected literature on relevant scales. Afterwards, a coding framework was developed based on the theoretical structure of this study for the research content analysis. Last, descriptive data and critical analysis information were reported. The results of this study can offer a comprehensive component structure for the development of attitude scales in technology education. Furthermore, they will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how research in technology education investigates students' attitudes

Certified Robustness of Quantum Classifiers against Adversarial Examples through Quantum Noise

Recently, quantum classifiers have been known to be vulnerable to adversarial attacks, where quantum classifiers are fooled by imperceptible noises to have misclassification. In this paper, we propose one first theoretical study that utilizing the added quantum random rotation noise can improve the robustness of quantum classifiers against adversarial attacks. We connect the definition of differential privacy and demonstrate the quantum classifier trained with the natural presence of additive noise is differentially private. Lastly, we derive a certified robustness bound to enable quantum classifiers to defend against adversarial examples supported by experimental results.Comment: Submitted to IEEE ICASSP 202

Genetic and Functional Analysis of the DLG4 Gene Encoding the Post-Synaptic Density Protein 95 in Schizophrenia

Hypofunction of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated signal transduction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Post-synaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) plays a critical role in regulating the trafficking and activity of the NMDA receptor and altered expression of the PSD95 has been detected in the post-mortem brain of patients with schizophrenia. The study aimed to examine whether the DLG4 gene that encodes the PSD95 may confer genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia. We re-sequenced the core promoter, all the exons, and 3′ untranslated regions (UTR) of the DLG4 gene in 588 Taiwanese schizophrenic patients and conducted an association study with 539 non-psychotic subjects. We did not detect any rare mutations at the protein-coding sequences of the DLG4 gene associated with schizophrenia. Nevertheless, we identified four polymorphic markers at the core promoter and 5′ UTR and one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at the 3′UTR of the DLG4 gene in this sample. Genetic analysis showed an association of a haplotype (C–D) derived from 2 polymorphic markers at the core promoter (odds ratio = 1.26, 95% confidence interval = 1.06–1.51, p = 0.01), and a borderline association of the T allele of the rs13331 at 3′UTR with schizophrenia (odds ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence interval = 0.99–1.43, p = 0.06). Further reporter gene assay showed that the C-D-C-C and the T allele of the rs13331 had significant lower activity than their counter parts. Our data indicate that the expression of the DLG4 gene is subject to regulation by the polymorphic markers at the core promoter region, 5′ and 3′UTR of the gene, and is associated with the susceptibility of schizophrenia

Acquiring Authentic Data in Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks

An Unattended Wireless Sensor Network (UWSN) can be used in many applications to collect valuable data. Nevertheless, due to the unattended nature, the sensors could be compromised and the sensor readings would be maliciously altered so that the sink accepts the falsified sensor readings. Unfortunately, few attentions have been given to this authentication problem. Moreover, existing methods suffer from different kinds of DoS attacks such as Path-Based DoS (PDoS) and False Endorsement-based DoS (FEDoS) attacks. In this paper, a scheme, called AAD, is proposed to Acquire Authentic Data in UWSNs. We exploit the collaboration among sensors to address the authentication problem. With the proper design of the collaboration mechanism, AAD has superior resilience against sensor compromises, PDoS attack, and FEDoS attack. In addition, compared with prior works, AAD also has relatively low energy consumption. In particular, according to our simulation, in a network with 1,000 sensors, the energy consumed by AAD is lower than 30% of that consumed by the existing method, ExCo. The analysis and simulation are also conducted to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed AAD scheme over the existing methods

Attitudes and expectations of patients with advanced cancer towards community palliative care service in Hong Kong

Conference Theme: Happy Staff - Healthy People (開心員工 - 共建民康)published_or_final_versionThe 2010 Hospital Authority Convention, Hong Kong, 10-11 May 2010

RNA polymerase II stalling promotes nucleosome occlusion and pTEFb recruitment to drive immortalization by Epstein-Barr virus

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) immortalizes resting B-cells and is a key etiologic agent in the development of numerous cancers. The essential EBV-encoded protein EBNA 2 activates the viral C promoter (Cp) producing a message of ~120 kb that is differentially spliced to encode all EBNAs required for immortalization. We have previously shown that EBNA 2-activated transcription is dependent on the activity of the RNA polymerase II (pol II) C-terminal domain (CTD) kinase pTEFb (CDK9/cyclin T1). We now demonstrate that Cp, in contrast to two shorter EBNA 2-activated viral genes (LMP 1 and 2A), displays high levels of promoter-proximally stalled pol II despite being constitutively active. Consistent with pol II stalling, we detect considerable pausing complex (NELF/DSIF) association with Cp. Significantly, we observe substantial Cp-specific pTEFb recruitment that stimulates high-level pol II CTD serine 2 phosphorylation at distal regions (up to +75 kb), promoting elongation. We reveal that Cp-specific pol II accumulation is directed by DNA sequences unfavourable for nucleosome assembly that increase TBP access and pol II recruitment. Stalled pol II then maintains Cp nucleosome depletion. Our data indicate that pTEFb is recruited to Cp by the bromodomain protein Brd4, with polymerase stalling facilitating stable association of pTEFb. The Brd4 inhibitor JQ1 and the pTEFb inhibitors DRB and Flavopiridol significantly reduce Cp, but not LMP1 transcript production indicating that Brd4 and pTEFb are required for Cp transcription. Taken together our data indicate that pol II stalling at Cp promotes transcription of essential immortalizing genes during EBV infection by (i) preventing promoter-proximal nucleosome assembly and ii) necessitating the recruitment of pTEFb thereby maintaining serine 2 CTD phosphorylation at distal regions

Factors affecting the outcome of surgically treated non-iatrogenic traumatic cervical esophageal perforation: 28 years experience at a single center

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We reviewed our experience with non-iatrogenic traumatic cervical esophageal perforations, paying particular attention to factors affecting the outcome of such cases.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In total, 30 patients treated surgically between 1980 and 2008 for non-iatrogenic traumatic cervical esophageal perforation in our clinic were reviewed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 25 male and 5 female patients with a median age of 27.5 years. The type of injury was external trauma in 21 (70%) patients and endoluminal injury in the remaining 9 (30%) patients. The mechanism of injury was gunshot in 16 patients, stabbing in 4, falling in 1 (extraluminal injury), and foreign body in 9 (endoluminal injuries). The overall mortality rate was 16.6% (5/30). The mortality rate for extraluminal injuries was 19%, and for endoluminal injuries was 11.1%. Mortality in patients treated within 24 h of sustaining injury was substantially less than in those for whom diagnosis and treatment were delayed (12.5 and 21.4%, respectively). The mortality rate was 33.3% (3/9) for patients with tracheal injuries and 9.5% (2/21) for those without tracheal injuries.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A treatment delay greater than 24 h, the presence of tracheal injury, or extraluminal perforation significantly affected the outcome of surgically treated non iatrogenic traumatic cervical esophageal perforation.</p

3-Methyl-1-butanol production in Escherichia coli: random mutagenesis and two-phase fermentation

Interest in producing biofuels from renewable sources has escalated due to energy and environmental concerns. Recently, the production of higher chain alcohols from 2-keto acid pathways has shown significant progress. In this paper, we demonstrate a mutagenesis approach in developing a strain of Escherichia coli for the production of 3-methyl-1-butanol by leveraging selective pressure toward l-leucine biosynthesis and screening for increased alcohol production. Random mutagenesis and selection with 4-aza-d,l-leucine, a structural analogue to l-leucine, resulted in the development of a new strain of E. coli able to produce 4.4 g/L of 3-methyl-1-butanol. Investigation of the host’s sensitivity to 3-methyl-1-butanol directed development of a two-phase fermentation process in which titers reached 9.5 g/L of 3-methyl-1-butanol with a yield of 0.11 g/g glucose after 60 h