An Efficient Web Page Recommendation Based on Preference Footprint to Browsed Pages

This paper proposes a new scheme for web page recommendation which reflects the preference of each user to the recommended pages in an efficient and effective manner. The basic idea of the scheme is to combine the notion of preference footprint to browsed pages with the collaborative filtering. More concretely, we introduce the notion of "tags" similar to conventional SBS (Social Bookmark Service), and attach all tags associated with a user to a page when it is browsed by him. We implemented a prototype of the proposed scheme, and conducted preliminary experiments to evaluate the performance of the scheme. The result of experiments indicates that it takes less than 0.5 sec to reorder a list of 500 URLs received from a search engine according to the preference of users

Meteorological characteristics of Antarctic inland station, Dome Fuji (scientific paper)

Surface meteorological observations were carried out during 1995 and 1997, and extended atmospheric science observations were carried out in 1997 as a sub program of "Atmospheric Circulation and Material Cycle in the Antarctic (1997-2001)" at Dome Fuji Station (77°19\u27S, 39°42\u27E) where deep ice core drilling was done. The annual mean surface air temperature was -54.4°C with the lowest record of -79.7°C. The mean wind speed was 5.8 m/s with no clear prevailing wind direction. From aerological soundings, temperature profiles are described; they are characterized by a strong surface inversion such as 25°C, on a normal winter day. Abrupt warming occurred several times a year; the largest showed 40 degree temperature increase within two days between 17 and 19 July 1997. The event was associated with the intrusion of an anticyclone, "a blocking high", and many drastic phenomena such as large accumulation of snow followed this event

X-ray Irradiation Induced Discharge of Spherical Void in Epoxy Resin

It is crucial for proper insulation design of cast resin transformer to consider voids and delamination which might exist in cast molding process and/or under long-term operation because of several surface boundaries between resin and conductor. Should such defects in the insulation system exist, it would lead to reduction of the life of the apparatus. In this report, we investigate the relation between the void size and apparent charge of partial discharge (PD) occurring in a model simulating the insulation system of cast resin transformer. It is also important to determine necessary PD detection sensitivity of PD test in a factory as well as in a field. In addition, we investigate X-ray irradiation induced discharge of spherical void in epoxy resin. Physical consideration of the effect of X-ray irradiation on void discharges in epoxy resin was also made. Time lag of void discharges in epoxy resin was also made with attenuation of X-ray irradiation dose considered.2011 Electrical Insulation Conference (EIC), 5-8 June 2011, Annapolis, M

Older boys benefit from higher initial prednisolone therapy for nephrotic syndrome

Older boys benefit from higher initial prednisolone therapy for nephrotic syndrome.BackgroundA long course of the initial prednisolone therapy has been shown to be more effective than standard-course therapy in reducing relapse rates in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome, but it is commonly accompanied by corticosteroid toxicities. There has been no study on prednisolone dosage for the effective treatment of nephrotic syndrome.MethodsSixty-eight children (42 boys and 26 girls) with an initial attack of nephrotic syndrome were randomly allocated into two different long-course treatment groups. Patients in Group 1 received a daily prednisolone dose of 60 mg/m2 for six weeks, followed by an alternate-day dose of 40 mg/m2 for six weeks. Patients in Group 2 had a daily dose of 40 mg/m2 instead of 60 mg/m2.ResultsFour children in each group did not respond within six weeks. Group 1 was associated with a significantly earlier response but more frequent corticosteroid toxicities than Group 2. Boys in Group 1 had a higher rate of sustained remission than boys in Group 2 (P = 0.0073), especially boys four years old or more (P = 0.0027), but girls did not show a significant difference (P = 0.863). Boys four years old or more in Group 1 had a course of frequent relapsing less often than those in Group 2 (2 of 13 vs. 6 of 8, P = 0.0075).ConclusionThese findings indicate that efficient prednisolone doses may vary between sexes and ages, and that a higher initial prednisolone therapy may be of greater benefit to older boys

Synthesis and Antimicrobial Evaluation of Side-Chain Derivatives based on Eurotiumide A

Side-chain derivatives of eurotiumide A, a dihydroisochroman-type natural product, have been synthesized and their antimicrobial activities described. Sixteen derivatives were synthesized from a key intermediate of the total synthesis of eurotiumide A, and their antimicrobial activities against two Gram-positive bacteria, methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA and MRSA), and a Gram-negative bacterium, Porphyromonas gingivalis, were evaluated. The results showed that derivatives having an iodine atom on their aromatic ring instead of the prenyl moiety displayed better antimicrobial activity than eurotiumide A against MSSA and P. gingivalis. Moreover, we discovered that a derivative with an isopentyl side chain, which is a hydrogenated product of eurotiumide A, is the strongest antimicrobial agent against all three strains, including MRSA

Small serum protein-1 changes the susceptibility of an apoptosis-inducing metalloproteinase HV1 to a metalloproteinase inhibitor in habu snake (Trimeresurus flavoviridis)

Viperidae snakes containing various venomous proteins also have several anti-toxic proteins in their sera. However, the physiological function of serum protein has been elucidated incompletely. Small serum protein (SSP)-1 is a major component of the SSPs isolated from the serum of a Japanese viper, the habu snake (Trimeresurus flavoviridis). It exists in the blood as a binary complex with habu serum factor (HSF), a snake venom metalloproteinase inhibitor. Affinity chromatography of the venom on an SSP-1-immobilized column identified HV1, an apoptosis-inducing metalloproteinase, as the target protein of SSP-1. Biacore measurements revealed that SSP-1 was bound to HV1 with a dissociation constant of 8.2 Â 10 À8 M. However, SSP-1 did not inhibit the peptidase activity of HV1. Although HSF alone showed no inhibitory activity or binding affinity to HV1, the SSP-1HSF binary complex bound to HV1 formed a ternary complex that non-competitively inhibited the peptidase activity of HV1 with a inhibition constant of 5.1 AE 1.3 Â 10 À9 M. The SSP-1HSF complex also effectively suppressed the apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells and caspase 3 activation induced by HV1. Thus, SSP-1 is a unique protein that non-covalently attaches to HV1 and changes its susceptibility to HSF. Keywords: apoptosis/proteinase inhibitor/small serum protein/snake serum/snake venom metalloproteinase. Abbreviations: ADAM, a disintegrin and metalloproteinase; ADAMTS, ADAM with thrombospondin type-1 motif; CRISP-3, cysteine-rich secretory protein-3; Dnp, dinitrophenyl; HSF, habu serum factor; HVR, hypervariable region; K i , inhibition constant; Mca, (7-methoxycoumarin-4-yl)-acetyl; MDC, metalloproteinase/disintegrin/ cysteine-rich; MMP, matrix metalloproteinase; PSP94, prostatic secretory protein of 94 amino acids; SSP, small serum protein; SVMP, snake venom metalloproteinase; VEC, vascular endothelial cell