Perception and Reaction to Floor Impact Noise in Apartment Buildings: A Qualitative Approach

This study used grounded theory to understand how apartment building residents perceive and react to floor impact noise from upstairs. In-depth interviews with a heterogeneous group of 14 participants were conducted, and the acquired data were analysed to develop a conceptual model for describing perception and reaction to floor impact noise. It was found that floor impact noise had diverse sources, with the majority originating from footsteps. The participants negatively perceived the noise as annoying and disturbing, and sleep disturbance was reported the most frequently. Cognitive and avoidant coping strategies were initially adopted, and complaints were only thereafter registered if the noise persisted. It was also observed that exposure to the noise led to self-reported health problems and concerns. The developed conceptual model highlights potential intervention measures for controlling noise perception and reactions to floor impact noise

Hydrostatic pressure induced Dirac semimetal in black phosphorus

Motivated by recent experimental observation of an hydrostatic pressure induced transition from semiconductor to semimetal in black phosphorus [Chen et al. in arXiv:1504.00125], we present the first principles calculation on the pressure effect of the electronic structures of black phosphorus. It is found that the band crossover and reversal at the Z point occur around the critical pressure Pc1=1.23 Gpa, and the band inversion evolves into 4 twofold-degenerate Dirac cones around the Z point, suggesting a 3D Dirac semimetal. With further increasing pressure the Dirac cones in the Gamma-Z line move toward the Gamma point and evolve into two hole-type Fermi pockets, and those in the Z-M lines move toward the M point and evolve into 2 hole-type Fermi pockets up to P=4.0 Gpa. It demonstrates clearly that the Lifshitz transition occurs at $P_{c1}$ from semiconductor to 3D Dirac semimetal protected by the nonsymmorphic space symmetry of bulk. This suggests the bright perspective of black phosphorus for optoelectronic and electronic devices due to its easy modulation by pressure.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, and 2 table

Controversial Product Advertising in China: Perceptions of Three Generational Cohorts

China is a country that has undergone a wide range of significant changes over the last 30 years, economically, politically, and socially. Major events not only have an important effect on the developmental history of a country such as China, but also create a new generational cohort, which can adopt different views and attitudes than those characterizing previous generations. This study analyses the results of a survey of three different generational groups in China, focusing on their attitudes towards the promotion of controversial products and advertising execution techniques. Research results show significant differences between the younger and older generations, especially in regard to gender-related products and certain advertising execution techniques

FM mode-locked fiber optical parametric oscillator

An FM mode-locked fiber optical parametric oscillator is demonstrated. By introducing periodic phase perturbation in the cavity, 10-GHz pulse train can be obtained. The output signal has a side-mode suppression ratio of 55 dB. © 2011 OSA.published_or_final_versio

On wireless sensors communication for overhead transmission line monitoring in power delivery systems

The transmission of energy is monitored in the smart grid through deploying sensors in all the components, including the overhead transmission lines. There are many poles/towers supporting a long overhead transmission line. Naturally, sensors are deployed on the location close to the poles/towers on each span. Due to the limited transmission range of the wireless transceiver module of a sensor, researchers generally assume that data generated by a sensor have to be delivered to the substation through a set of sensors in-between. This results in a linear network model. In this paper, we first analyze the performance of this model in handling the traffics extracted from an existing testbed. We realize that the linear network model may not be sufficient to support future smart grid applications which may have diversified requirements on data delivery. We then study a new network model in which sensor/relay nodes can also communicate with other nodes using a wide area network such as the cellular network. In this new model, the network formed can be reconfigured based on the application requirements to deliver information to the substations efficiently and effectively.published_or_final_versionThe 1st IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm 2010), Gaithersburg, MD., 4-6 October 2010. In Proceedings of the 1st SmartGridComm, 2010, p. 309-31

Controlled release of human growth hormone fused with a human hybrid Fc fragment through a nanoporous polymer membrane

Nanotechnology has been applied to the development of more effective and compatible drug delivery systems for therapeutic proteins. Human growth hormone (hGH) was fused with a hybrid Fc fragment containing partial Fc domains of human IgD and IgG(4) to produce a long-acting fusion protein. The fusion protein, hGH-hyFc, resulted in the increase of the hydrodynamic diameter (ca. 11 nm) compared with the diameter (ca. 5 nm) of the recombinant hGH. A diblock copolymer membrane with nanopores (average diameter of 14.3 nm) exhibited a constant release rate of hGH-hyFc. The hGH-hyFc protein released in a controlled manner for one month was found to trigger the phosphorylation of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) in human B lymphocyte and to exhibit an almost identical circular dichroism spectrum to that of the original hGH-hyFc, suggesting that the released fusion protein should maintain the functional and structural integrity of hGH. Thus, the nanoporous release device could be a potential delivery system for the long-term controlled release of therapeutic proteins fused with the hybrid Fc fragment.X111313sciescopu

First report of Perkinsus honshuensis in the variegated carpet shell clam Ruditapes variegatus in Korea

The recent discovery of Perkinsus honshuensis, a new Perkinsus species infecting Manila clams Ruditapes philippinarum (Sowerby, 1852), in Japan, suggested that, based on proximity, P. honshuensis could also be in Korean waters, where to date, P. olseni was believed to be the only Perkinsus species present. Perkinsus sp. infections consistently occurred among Ruditapes variegatus clams on a pebble beach on Jeju Island, off the south coast of Korea. The typical \u27signet ring\u27 morphology of the parasite was observed in the connective tissue of the digestive gland, and infection intensity was comparatively low (3.3 x 10(3) +/- 1.2 x 10(4) to 1.3 x 10(4) +/- 6.1 x 10(4) cells g(-1) gill weight). Further DNA analyses of internal transcribed spacer (ITS-1, 5.8S and ITS-2) and non-transcribed spacer (NTS) regions of the parasite showed 98.9-99.8 and 98.5-99.5% similarity to those of P. honshuensis from Japan, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses using ITS and NTS sequences indicated that Perkinsus sp. from Jeju formed a highly supported clade with P. honshuensis. This is the first report of P. honshuensis infections in clams in Korean waters and the first report of R. variegatus as a host for that parasite

Development of Millimeter-wave FMCW Vertical-looking Entomological Radar System

This work presents a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) millimeter-wave vertical-looking radar (VLR) system. The proposed system operates at 34.5 GHz and can continuously detect targets flying at a maximum of 200m above the ground. In field tests, it measures the target's displacement direction, moving speed, mass and body shape. An Altera Stratix IV FPGA is utilized for signal processing of the FMCW radar signal. A cosecant squared pattern leaky wave antenna is suggested to detect the targets with constant power and reduce the data processing load in real time system

Super-Resolved Enhancement of a Single Image and Its Application in Cardiac MRI

Super-resolved image enhancement is of great importance in medical imaging. Conventional methods often require multiple low resolution (LR) images from different views of the same object or learning from large amount of training datasets to achieve success. However, in real clinical environments, these prerequisites are rarely fulfilled. In this paper, we present a self-learning based method to perform superresolution (SR) from a single LR input. The mappings between the given LR image and its downsampled versions are modeled using support vector regression on features extracted from sparse coded dictionaries, coupled with dual-tree complex wavelet transform based denoising. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method in application of cardiac MRI enhancement. Both quantitative and qualitative results show that our SR method is able to preserve fine textural details that can be corrupted by noise, and therefore can maintain crucial diagnostic information