The Twelve animals: An Interactive guide to the Chinese zodiac signs

The Chinese Zodiac signs are determined by the lunar year in which you were born. The Chinese believe the animal ruling one\u27s birth year has a profound influence on personality, and destiny. Unlike Western astrology, which is based on the months of the year, the Chinese Zodiac,traditionally referred to as the Sheng Xiao, is based on a twelve-year cycle with each year represented by an animal. The twelve animals are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. The Chinese Zodiac is found in several East Asian countries besides China. My thesis is an exploration in designing an interactive application that utilizes multimedia components to present the twelve Chinese Zodiac signs. This project will vividly explain the origin story behind the Chinese Zodiac and demonstrate the attributes of the twelve animal signs. It will also allow users to find out what animal sign they were born under and to discover how a person\u27s birth sign can influence his/her personality, love life, career, lifestyle and health. This interactive application will essentially be a promotional and educational guide for people who want to learn about the Chinese Zodiac

APT Weighted MRI as an Effective Imaging Protocol to Predict Clinical Outcome After Acute Ischemic Stroke

To explore the capability of the amide-proton-transfer weighted (APTW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of clinical neurological deficit at the time of hospitalization and assessment of long-term daily functional outcome for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We recruited 55 AIS patients with brain MRI acquired within 24–48 h of symptom onset and followed up with their 90-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score. APT weighted MRI was performed for all the study subjects to measure APTW signal quantitatively in the acute ischemic area (APTWipsi) and the contralateral side (APTWcont). Change of the APT signal between the acute ischemic region and the contralateral side (ΔAPTW) was calculated. Maximum APTW signal (APTWmax) and minimal APTW signal (APTWmin) were also acquired to demonstrate APTW signals heterogeneity (APTWmax−min). In addition, all the patients were divided into 2 groups according to their 90-day mRS score (good prognosis group with mRS score <2 and poor prognosis group with mRS score ≥2). In the meantime, ΔAPTW of these groups was compared. We found that ΔAPTW was in good correlation with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score (R2 = 0.578, p < 0.001) and 90-day mRS score (R2 = 0.55, p < 0.001). There was significant difference of ΔAPTW between patients with good prognosis and patients with poor prognosis. Plus, APTWmax−min was significantly different between two groups. These results suggested that APT weighted MRI could be used as an effective tool to assess the stroke severity and prognosis for patients with AIS, with APTW signal heterogeneity as a possible biomarker

Vergleichende Bewertung fortschrittlicher Kraftwerkskonzepte auf Kohlebasis

Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, vier fortschrittliche kohlebefeuerte Kraftwerkskonzepte hinsichtlich des Wirkungsgrades, der Stromgestehungskosten und der Emissionen unter vergleichbaren wirtschaftlichen und technischen Bedingungen zu bewerten. Betrachtet werden ein überkritisches Dampfkraftwerk SC 580°C, ein extern befeuertes Kombikraftwerk (HIPPS), ein Kombikraftwerk mit zirkulierender Druckwirbelschichtfeuerung mit vorgeschalteter Teilvergasung (PFBC) und ein Kombikraftwerk mit integrierter Kohlevergasung (IGCC). Ein konventionelles kohlenstaubbefeuertes Dampfkraftwerk (PCC) dient als Bezugsanlage, die den gegenwärtigen Stand der Technik von Kohlekraftwerken darstellt. Für jeden Kraftwerkstyp wurden sowohl eine Exergieanalyse als auch eine Wirtschaftsanalyse durchgeführt und der Einfluss wichtiger wirtschaftlicher und technischer Annahmen auf das Ergebnis dieser Analysen untersucht. Dadurch können der Ort, der Betrag, und die Ursachen der realen thermodynamischen Verluste bestimmt werden. Mögliche Maßnahmen zur Wirkungsgradesteigerung und Verminderung der Stromgestehungskosten werden aufgezeigt. Das extern kohlebefeuerte Kombikraftwerk erscheint aus sowohl thermodynamischer als auch wirtschaftlicher Sicht vorteilhaft. Das HIPPS-Kraftwerk weist einen exergetischen Wirkungsgrad von 48,5% auf und hat Stromgestehungskosten (LCE), die um 3,7% höher liegen als beim PCC-Kraftwerk. Wird das HIPPS-Kraftwerk ausschließlich mit Kohle befeuert, nimmt der Wirkungsgrad um 3,7% ab, ohne bemerkbare Änderungen der LCE. Das PFBC-Kraftwerk zeigt den zweithöchsten Wirkungsgrad (5,8% niedriger als beim HIPPS), und die niedrigsten LCE. Beim IGCC-Kraftwerk, dessen exergetischen Wirkungsgrad um 11,0% niedriger als der des HIPPS-Kraftwerks liegt, sind die höchsten LCE zu erwarten. Für das SC 580°C Kraftwerk ist der Wirkungsgrad um 19,3% niedriger als für HIPPS, dennoch um 9,4% höher als für das PCC. Die LCE dieses Kraftprozesses liegen zwischen denen vom HIPPS und vom IGCC-Kraftwerk. Mit einer Erhöhung der Dampfparameter auf 700°C und 365 bar kann ein weiterer Gewinn von 7,5% am Wirkungsgrad erzielt werden, ohne spürbare Einbusse an den LCE. Das HIPPS-Kraftwerk ergibt sich als die vielversprechendste langfristige Alternative für Stromerzeugung auf Kohlebasis. Während die SC-Technologie zur Deckung des kurzfristigen Strombedarfs im Vordergrund steht, stellen die PFBC und IGCC-Kraftwerk eine mögliche Lösung für den mittelfristigen Bedarf und für den Einsatz niederwertiger Brennstoffe dar

A fault diagnosis system of mine main ventilator

A fault diagnosis model was built by use of neural network trained by extreme learning machine. A fault diagnosis system of mine main ventilator based on the model was designed, and software and hardware design schemes of the system were introduced. The test results show running time of extreme learning machine algorithm in the system is only 0.031 3 s and accuracy rate of fault diagnosis is not less than 97.35%, which has better real-time performance and accuracy than fault diagnosis systems based on BP neural network, ELMAN neural network or neural network trained by support vector machine

A Fuzzy-Logic Power Management Strategy Based on Markov Random Prediction for Hybrid Energy Storage Systems

Over the last few years; issues regarding the use of hybrid energy storage systems (HESSs) in hybrid electric vehicles have been highlighted by the industry and in academic fields. This paper proposes a fuzzy-logic power management strategy based on Markov random prediction for an active parallel battery-UC HESS. The proposed power management strategy; the inputs for which are the vehicle speed; the current electric power demand and the predicted electric power demand; is used to distribute the electrical power between the battery bank and the UC bank. In this way; the battery bank power is limited to a certain range; and the peak and average charge/discharge power of the battery bank and overall loss incurred by the whole HESS are also reduced. Simulations and scaled-down experimental platforms are constructed to verify the proposed power management strategy. The simulations and experimental results demonstrate the advantages; feasibility and effectiveness of the fuzzy-logic power management strategy based on Markov random prediction

Reexamination of Aspergillus cristatus phylogeny in dark tea: Characteristics of the mitochondrial genome

To enhance our understanding of Aspergillus cristatus, an important functional microorganism, the characteristics of its mitochondrial genome were analyzed and compared with related species. The mitochondrial genome of A. cristatus was determined to be 77,649 bp in length, with 15 protein-coding regions. Notably, its length surpassed that of the other species, primarily attributable to the intron length. Gene order exhibited significant variations, with greater conservation observed in the genus Penicillium compared to Aspergillus. Phylogenetic tree analyses indicated that the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium are closely related but monophyletic. Furthermore, the phylogenetic tree constructed based on protein-coding genes effectively distinguished all strains with high branching confidence. This approach provides a robust reflection of the evolutionary relationship between A. cristatus and its related species, offering potential for the development of molecular markers suitable for Aspergillus and Penicillium

The protein corona modulates the inflammation inhibition by cationic nanoparticles via cell-free DNA scavenging

A central paradigm in nanomedicine is that when synthetic nanoparticles (NPs) enter the body, they are immediately cloaked by a corona of macromolecules (mostly proteins) that mediates the role of the physico-chemical properties in the NP biological functions (the “coronation paradigm”). In this work, we focused on the assessment of the “coronation paradigm” for cationic NPs (cNPs) used as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drugs due to their ability to scavenge cell-free DNA (cfDNA). We fabricated series of cNPs uniformly coated with single or di-hydroxyl groups and different types of amino groups and showed that hydroxylated nanoparticles displayed a prolonged retention in inflamed joints and greater anti-inflammatory effect in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats than the non-hydroxylated analogues. Especially, the cNPs with secondary amines and a di-hydroxyl shell showed the best performance among the tested cNPs. Proteomic analysis showed that the cNPs with a di-hydroxyl shell adsorbed less opsonin proteins than the cNPs carrying mono hydroxyl groups and non-hydroxylated ones, which may provide a mechanistic explanation for the different biodistribution profiles of cNPs. Thus, this study suggests that the protein corona mediates the effects of the surface chemistry on the fate and functions of cNPs as anti-RA drugs