Noise reduction of plenum windows on the façade of a high-rise residential building next to heavy road traffic

Extensive traffic noise transmission loss measurements were carried out inside selected residential units of a standalone 32-storey housing block located next to a very busy and noisy main trunk road in the present study. A total of 35 units, which were all equipped with plenum windows, was surveyed. These plenum windows are intended to help reduce noise exposure of the residents and at the same time allow for a reasonable level of natural ventilation. The results show that the traffic noise transmission losses of the unit façades installed with the plenum windows adopted in this housing block vary between 10.6 and 13.0 dBA and are only weakly dependent on elevation from the trunk road. The results also validate in-situ the prediction model established previously by the authors using laboratory and site mockup data. Generalized models for both empirical and experimental estimation of the traffic noise transmission loss across a residential flat unit façade installed with multiple plenum windows are developed. The differences between their estimations are well within engineering tolerance

An inducible system for expression and validation of the specificity of short hairpin RNA in mammalian cells

RNA interference (RNAi) by means of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) has developed into a powerful tool for loss-of-function analysis in mammalian cells. The principal problem in RNAi experiments is off-target effects, and the most vigorous demonstration of the specificity of shRNA is the rescue of the RNAi effects with a shRNA-resistant target gene. This presents its own problems, including the unpredictable relative expression of shRNA and rescue cDNA in individual cells, and the difficulty in generating stable cell lines. In this report, we evaluated the plausibility of combining the expression of shRNA and rescue cDNA in the same vector. In addition to facilitate the validation of shRNA specificity, this system also considerably simplifies the generation of shRNA-expressing cell lines. Since the compensatory cDNA is under the control of an inducible promoter, stable shRNA-expressing cells can be generated before the knockdown phenotypes are studied by conditionally turning off the rescue protein. Conversely, the rescue protein can be activated after the endogenous protein is completely repressed. This approach is particularly suitable when prolonged expression of either the shRNA or the compensatory cDNA is detrimental to cell growth. This system allows a convenient one-step validation of shRNA and generation of stable shRNA-expressing cells

A Bayesian Hau-Kashyap Approach for Hepatitis Disease Detection

World Health Organization reported that viral hepatitis affects 400 million people globally. Every year, 610 million people are newly infected. In this research, we integrate a Bayesian theory and Hau-Kashyap approach for detecting hepatitis and displaying the result of calculation process. The basic idea of the Bayesian theory is using the known prior probability and conditional probability density parameter based on the Bayes theorem to calculate the corresponding posterior probability and then obtain the posterior probability to infer and make decisions. Bayesian methods combine present knowledge, prior probabilities, with additional knowledge derived from new data, the likelihood function. Hau-Kashyap presented an alternative Dempster-Shafer combination rule, and the alternative combination rule is that with the use of this alternative rule, the intersection conflict is put into the union. In this chapter, we get basic possibility assignment value from Bayesian probability. The result reveals that a Bayesian Hau-Kashyap approach has successfully identified the existence of hepatitis

Education in IT Security: A Case Study in Banking Industry

The banking industry has been changing incessantlyand facing new combination of risks. Data protection andcorporate security is now one of the major issues in bankingindustry. As the rapid changing on technologies from time totime, the industry should be aware on new technologies in orderto protect information assets and prevent fraud activities. Thispaper begins with literature study of information security issuesand followed by focused-group interviews with five participantswithin the industry and survey analysis of “The global state ofInformation Security survey 2013” which published byPriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Trends and questions werediscussed as well as possible solution. The study suggests that ITsecurity education should be made to different level of staffs suchas executives, professional and general staffs. Besides, thebanking industry should increase company-wide securityawareness and the importance of corporate security which keepthe information and physical assets secure and in a proper way

Review of the Interaction Between Body Composition and Clinical Outcomes in Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer Treated With Targeted Therapies

Treatment of metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC) currently focuses on inhibition of the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. Obesity confers a higher risk of RCC. However, the influence of obesity on clinical outcomes in mRCC in the era of targeted therapy is less clear. This review focuses on the impact of body composition on targeted therapy outcomes in mRCC. The International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium database has the largest series of patients evaluating the impact of body mass index (BMI) on outcomes in mRCC patients treated with targeted therapy. Overall survival was significantly improved in overweight patients (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2), and this observation was externally validated in patients who participated in Pfizer trials. In contrast, sarcopenia is consistently associated with increased toxicity to inhibitors of angiogenesis and mTOR. Strengthening patients with mRCC and sarcopenia, through a structured exercise program and dietary intervention, may improve outcomes in mRCC treated with targeted therapies. At the same time, the paradox of obesity being a risk factor for RCC while offering a better overall survival in response to targeted therapy needs to be further evaluated

Genetic and bioinformatic analyses of the expression and function of PI3K regulatory subunit PIK3R3 in an Asian patient gastric cancer library

10.1186/1755-8794-5-34BMC Medical Genomics5

Antisymmetrization of a Mean Field Calculation of the T-Matrix

The usual definition of the prior(post) interaction $V(V^\prime )$ between projectile and target (resp. ejectile and residual target) being contradictory with full antisymmetrization between nucleons, an explicit antisymmetrization projector ${\cal A}$ must be included in the definition of the transition operator, $T\equiv V^\prime{\cal A}+V^\prime{\cal A}GV.$ We derive the suitably antisymmetrized mean field equations leading to a non perturbative estimate of $T$. The theory is illustrated by a calculation of forward $\alpha$-$\alpha$ scattering, making use of self consistent symmetries.Comment: 30 pages, no figures, plain TeX, SPHT/93/14

Impurity and spin effects on the magneto-spectroscopy of a THz-modulated nanostructure

We present a grid-free DFT model appropriate to explore the time evolution of electronic states in a semiconductor nanostructure. The model can be used to investigate both the linear and the nonlinear response of the system to an external short-time perturbation in the THz regime. We use the model to study the effects of impurities on the magneto-spectroscopy of a two-dimensional electron gas in a nanostructure excited by an intense THz radiation. We do observe a reduction in the binding energy of the impurity with increasing excitation strength, and at a finite magnetic field we find a slow onset of collective spin-oscillations that can be made to vanish with a stronger excitation.Comment: LaTeX,10 pages with 11 embedded postscript figure

Faddeev calculations for the A=5,6 Lambda-Lambda hypernuclei

Faddev calculations are reported for Lambda-Lambda-5H, Lambda-Lambda-5He and Lambda-Lambda-6He in terms of two Lambda hyperons plus the respective nuclear clusters, using Lambda-Lambda central potentials considered in past non-Faddeev calculations of Lambda-Lambda-6He. The convergence with respect to the partial-wave expansion is studied, and comparison is made with some of these Lambda-Lambda hypernuclear calculations. The Lambda-Lambda Xi-N mixing effect is briefly discussed.Comment: submitted for publicatio