Individual Parametric Insurance Product Design

This report presents a design of a parametric insurance product for individual consumers in two neighboring countries Ambernϊa and Palȍmϊnϊa. Unlike traditional insurance, this product issues a predetermined payout to a policyholder when a pre-agreed event has been triggered. By conducting analyses on given health data in the countries, we first projected individual losses and calculated premiums according to gender, age and risk factor information. Then we defined triggering events and modeled the payout scheme for our product. Comprehensive strategies are also provided for marketing and risk mitigation

Placebo devices as effective control methods in acupuncture clinical trials : a systematic review

While the use of acupuncture has been recognised by the World Health Organisation, its efficacy for many of the common clinical conditions is still undergoing validation through randomised controlled trials (RCTs). A credible placebo control for such RCTs to enable meaningful evaluation of its efficacy is to be established. While several non-penetrating acupuncture placebo devices, namely the Streitberger, the Park and the Takakura Devices, have been developed and used in RCTs, their suitability as inert placebo controls needs to be rigorously determined. This article systematically reviews these devices as placebo interventions. Electronic searches were conducted on four English and two Chinese databases from their inceptions to July 2014; hand searches of relevant references were also conducted. RCTs, in English or Chinese language, comparing acupuncture with one of the aforementioned devices as the control intervention on human participants with any clinical condition and evaluating clinically related outcomes were included. Thirty-six studies were included for qualitative analysis while 14 were in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis does not support the notion of either the Streitberger or the Park Device being inert control interventions while none of the studies involving the Takakura Device was included in the meta-analysis. Sixteen studies reported the occurrence of adverse events, with no significant difference between verum and placebo acupuncture. Author-reported blinding credibility showed that participant blinding was successful in most cases; however, when blinding index was calculated, only one study, which utilised the Park Device, seemed to have an ideal blinding scenario. Although the blinding index could not be calculated for the Takakura Device, it was the only device reported to enable practitioner blinding. There are limitations with each of the placebo devices and more rigorous studies are needed to further evaluate their effects and blinding credibility

Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Phosphate Rock by Hydrometallurgical Processes - A Critical Review

Generally, phosphate rock contains about 0.05wt% rare earth elements (REEs) on average. And the world commercial phosphate rock production is estimated to be 250 million tons per year, which makes phosphate rock a potential new REEs resource. However, low content of REEs in phosphate rock leads to the technical challenges and cost overages that hindered the commercial recovery of REEs. In this paper, an overview of achievements aiming at solving the challenges is given. Based on the decomposition processes of phosphate rock by H2SO4, HNO3, HCl, H3PO4, various REEs recovery processes via crystallization, precipitation, solvent extraction and ion exchange methods are systematically reviewed. In H2SO4 processes, REEs are recovered based on the removal of impurities from phosphoric acid and phosphogypsum since the main challenge is the diluted content of REEs in these products. In the case of HCl, HNO3 and H3PO4 processes, REEs entirely transfers into leaching solution and the recovery research are mainly focused on REEs extraction from leaching solutions. For REE extraction from high phosphorus content leaching solutions, crystallization, precipitation, and ion exchange methods are currently inconsiderable due to the high energy consumption, impurity involvement and low efficiency, respectively. Solvent extraction seems to be the potential promising method in terms of its good overall performance. Finally, recommendations to promote the development of REEs recovery technologies from phosphate rock are provided.

Characterization of porcine dentin sialoprotein (DSP) and dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) cDNA clones

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74726/1/j.1600-0722.2003.00009.x.pd

Defects Vibrations Engineering for Enhancing Interfacial Thermal Transport

To push upper boundaries of effective thermal conductivity in polymer composites, a fundamental understanding of thermal transport mechanisms is crucial. Although there is intensive simulation research, systematic experimental investigation on thermal transport in polymer composites is limited. To better understand thermal transport processes, we design polymer composites with perfect fillers (graphite) and defective fillers (graphite oxide); we choose polar polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a matrix model; and we identify how thermal transport occurs across heterogeneous interfaces. Measured thermal conductivities of in PVA/defective filler composites is higher than those of PVA/perfect filler composites, while measured thermal conductivities in defective fillers are lower than those of perfect fillers. An effective quantum mechanical model is developed, showing that the vibrational state of the defective level plays a critical role in enhancing the thermal conductivity with increased defect concentration. Our experimental and model results have suggested that defects in polymer composites may enhance thermal transport in polymer composites by promoting vibrational resonant couplings.Comment: Enclosed: (i) Main Manuscript, including 5 main figures. (ii) Supplementary Information, including 16 Supplementary Figures and one self-contained theoretical sectio

Synergistic effects of Yiqi Huazhuo Gushen herbal formula and valsartan on metabolic syndrome complicated with microalbuminuria

Purpose: To study the effects of a combination of Yiqi Huazhuo Gushen formula and valsartan on metabolic syndrome (MetS) complicated with microalbuminuria.Methods: Patients with MetS (100), recruited from Department of the Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital; Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University; and Department of Endocrinology, Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in Yueyang, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, were randomly divided into two sets: control group (n = 50) given valsartan treatment, and Chinese herbal medicine (CHF) group (n = 50) given Yiqi Huazhuo Gushen formula in addition to valsartan. Both therapeutic regimens were given once a day for 12 weeks. The parameters measured were conversion rate of microalbuminuria (MA), ratio of urinary albumin to creatinine (UACR), 24- h total volume of urinary protein (24hTP), urinary transferrin, urinary β2 microglobulin, constitutional index (CI), and waist-hip ratio (WHR). Other indices assessed were peak systolic and diastolic pressure (SBP and DBP), mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), postprandial 2 h blood glucose (2hPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (GH), steadystate model for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), total cholesterol (TC), glycerin trilaurate (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).Results: All 100 subjects completed the clinical study. The outcome revealed that compared with 10.00 % in controls, the negative conversion of MA reached 28.00 % in the CHF group (p < 0.050). CHF produced reductions in MA, UACR, BMI, 24hTP and urinary β2 microglobulin (p < 0.05). It also led to marked increases in BMI, WHR, SBP, MAP, FPG, 2hPPG, HbA1c and HOMA-IR, and significant decreases in TG (p < 0.05).Conclusion: These results suggest that CHF treatment results in alleviation of microalbuminuria and multiple cardiovascular risk factors in metabolic syndrome complicated with microalbuminuria. These effects correlate with improvements in insulin sensitivity and rectification of abnormal fat distribution.Keywords: Metabolic syndrome, Microalbuminuria, Yiqi Huazhuo Gushen formula, Insulin resistance, Central obesit

Alteration of Sequence Specificity of the Type IIS Restriction Endonuclease BtsI

The Type IIS restriction endonuclease BtsI recognizes and digests at GCAGTG(2/0). It comprises two subunits: BtsIA and BtsIB. The BtsIB subunit contains the recognition domain, one catalytic domain for bottom strand nicking and part of the catalytic domain for the top strand nicking. BtsIA has the rest of the catalytic domain that is responsible for the DNA top strand nicking. BtsIA alone has no activity unless it mixes with BtsIB to reconstitute the BtsI activity. During characterization of the enzyme, we identified a BtsIB mutant R119A found to have a different digestion pattern from the wild type BtsI. After characterization, we found that BtsIB(R119A) is a novel restriction enzyme with a previously unreported recognition sequence CAGTG(2/0), which is named as BtsI-1. Compared with wild type BtsI, BtsI-1 showed different relative activities in NEB restriction enzyme reaction buffers NEB1, NEB2, NEB3 and NEB4 and less star activity. Similar to the wild type BtsIB subunit, the BtsI-1 B subunit alone can act as a bottom nicking enzyme recognizing CAGTG(-/0). This is the first successful case of a specificity change among this restriction endonuclease type

Topological Singularity Induced Chiral Kohn Anomaly in a Weyl Semimetal

The electron-phonon interaction (EPI) is instrumental in a wide variety of phenomena in solid-state physics, such as electrical resistivity in metals, carrier mobility, optical transition and polaron effects in semiconductors, lifetime of hot carriers, transition temperature in BCS superconductors, and even spin relaxation in diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers for quantum information processing. However, due to the weak EPI strength, most phenomena have focused on electronic properties rather than on phonon properties. One prominent exception is the Kohn anomaly, where phonon softening can emerge when the phonon wavevector nests the Fermi surface of metals. Here we report a new class of Kohn anomaly in a topological Weyl semimetal (WSM), predicted by field-theoretical calculations, and experimentally observed through inelastic x-ray and neutron scattering on WSM tantalum phosphide (TaP). Compared to the conventional Kohn anomaly, the Fermi surface in a WSM exhibits multiple topological singularities of Weyl nodes, leading to a distinct nesting condition with chiral selection, a power-law divergence, and non-negligible dynamical effects. Our work brings the concept of Kohn anomaly into WSMs and sheds light on elucidating the EPI mechanism in emergent topological materials.Comment: 30 pages, 4 main figures, 11 supplementary figures and 1 theoretical derivation. Feedback most welcom

Label-free immunoassay for porcine circovirus type 2 based on excessively tilted fiber grating modified with staphylococcal protein A

Using excessively tilted fiber grating (Ex-TFG) inscribed in standard single mode fiber, we developed a novel label-free immunoassay for specific detection of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), which is a minim animal virus. Staphylococcal protein A (SPA) was used to modify the silanized fiber surface thus forming a SPA layer, which would greatly enhance the proportion of anti-PCV2 monoclonal antibody (MAb) bioactivity, thus improving the effectiveness of specific adsorption and binding events between anti-PCV2 MAbs and PCV2 antigens. Immunoassay experiments were carried out by monitoring the resonance wavelength shift of the proposed sensor under different PCV2 titer levels. Anti-PCV2 MAbs were thoroughly dissociated from the SPA layer by treatment with urea, and recombined to the SPA layer on the sensor surface for repeated immunoassay of PCV2. The specificity of the immunosensor was inspected by detecting porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) first, and PCV2 subsequently. The results showed a limit of detection (LOD) for the PCV2 immunosensor of ~9.371TCID50/mL, for a saturation value of ~4.801×103TCID50/mL, with good repeatability and excellent specificity