The Coming Age of RFID Revolution

Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, has been around for decades and is being used in manufacturing to complement established barcodes for the past 25 years. Recently, many companies are embracing RFID as a competitive weapon that can improve their efficiencies, and provide significant business benefits. Despite many useful applications, the technology\u27s potential has yet to be fully realized. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of contemporary RFID systems, highlight its promises as well as its pitfalls, identify the implementation challenges and key business drivers, survey its application in various industries, and speculate about where this technology is headed

Correction: An Immeasurable Crisis? A Criticism of the Millennium Development Goals and Why They Cannot Be Measured

Correction: An Immeasurable Crisis? A Criticism of the Millennium Development Goals and Why They Cannot Be Measure

Structural Optimization of an Aeroelastically Tailored Composite Wing

Effects of aspect ratio, sweep angle, and stacking sequence of laminated composites were studied to find the optimized configuration of an aeroelastically tailored composite wing idealized as a flat plate in terms of flutter speed. The aeroelastic analysis has been carried out in frequency-domain. The modal approach in conjunction with Doublet-lattice Method (DLM) has been opted for structural and unsteady aerodynamic analysis, respectively. The interpolation between aerodynamic boxes and structural nodes has been done using surface spline. To study the effect of stacking sequence the classical lamination theory (CLT) has been chosen. The parametric studies showed the effective ply orientation angle to be somewhere between 15 and 30 degree, while the plates with lower aspect ratio seems to have higher flutter speed. Forward-swept configurations show higher flutter speed, yet imposed by divergence constraint

Children\u27s Determination of Gender Appropriateness of Clothing

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender distinctions made by children based on clothing styles in order to better understand gender-role development. Four objectives were addressed: (a) Do children, regardless of sex, differ in their determination of the gender appropriateness of clothing options? (b) Are there gender differences between children in determining the gender appropriateness of these clothing options? (c) In what ways does children\u27s awareness of gender stereotypes relate to their determination of the gender appropriateness of clothing? and (d) How do children\u27s sex and their determination of the gender appropriateness of clothing interact with their awareness of gender stereotypes? Chi-square and ANOVA statistical techniques were used to analyze children\u27s responses on the Gender Apparel Test and the Sex Role Learning Index and to analyze the interaction of sex of subject and GAT responses with respect to children\u27s SERLI scores. Significant differences emerged in the children\u27s determination of the gender appropriateness of Shirts and Pants. The results also indicated that males and females differed when determining the gender appropriateness of Footwear for girls. Findings also revealed that two SERLI scores, the Opposite Sex-Role Discrimination and the Adult Sex-Role Preference, had no relevance for children\u27s determination of the gender appropriateness of clothing. The results, however, indicated that the Own Sex-Role Discrimination and the Child Sex-Role Preference scores showed a significant effect when children determined appropriateness of Footwear for girls. The implications of current findings for parents, educators, and researchers are discussed

Cloud Computing Technology: Leveraging the Power of the Internet to Improve Business Performance

In recent years, Cloud Computing Technology (CCT) has emerged as a meaningful technology that could contribute to operational efficiency of an IT platform by providing infrastructure and software solutions for the whole IT needs of an enterprise via Internet. The cloud has revolutionized IT infrastructure. It is predicted that 2017 will mark the rapid proliferation of enterprises transitioning to the cloud-based computing technology. The utilization of this innovative technology makes collaboration easier among companies and has the potential to create financial and operational benefits. This study discusses potential strategic benefits of this technology, highlights its evolving technologies and trends and their future impact, reviews different phases necessary to deploy the technology, highlights key adoption factors, and surveys its potential application in different industries

INVESTIGATING THE INFLUENCE OF OXIDATIVE STRESS AND THE ROLE OF PRDX1 IN THE REGULATION OF LYSYL OXIDASE MEDIATED ECM AND COLLAGEN REMODELING IN BREAST CANCER METASTASIS

Breast cancer progression and metastasis includes not only cell-autonomous properties of cancer epithelial cells, but also the influence of the neighboring tumor stromal cells. In breast cancer, almost 80% of stromal associated fibroblasts (SAFs) acquire a cancer associated fibroblast (CAF)-like “activated phenotype”. This CAF activated phenotype is associated with elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are linked with tumor remodeling and spreading. Members of the lysyl oxidase (LOX) family of enzymes participate in tumor remodeling through the promotion of collagen crosslinking and collagen fibril production. We hypothesize that stromal Prdx1 regulates ROS dependent metastasis/migration of cancer cells through effects on LOX activity. Our preliminary data reveal that Prdx1 prevents CAF-induced malignant phenotypes in breast cancer (epithelial) cells in an H2O2-dependent manner. When compared to wild-type mice, Prdx1-/- SAFs show a marked increase in CAF-specific characteristics, including increased expression of CAF-specific markers, motility and invasiveness of SAFs and SAF-induced chemotactic migration and invasion by breast cancer epithelial cells in vitro. Lack of Prdx1 in mammary SAFs results in the upregulation of markers of the activated phenotype, such as collagen, vimentin and α-SMA leading to an increase in co-migration and invasion. As shPrdx1 SAFs show CAF-like mesenchymal properties in vitro, we tested in vivo if Prdx1 suppresses migration of breast cancer cells by generating a syngeneic mouse model to image BALB/c derived SAFs shPrdx1/SAFs pLKO1 (expressing iRFP). Immunoprecipitation data suggests that Prdx1 associates with LOX family proteins. Moreover, Prdx1-deficient SAFs displayed elevated LOX secretion into the ECM compared to Prdx1-proficient SAFs. Lastly, of translational relevance, we have shown that SAF Prdx1 becomes inactivated by cancer cells through phosphorylation of Y194 Prdx1. The peroxidase, Prdx1, is a regulator of LOX and CAF activity and SAFs lacking Prdx1 may serve as a valuable model system to investigate the biology of CAFs in vitro and in vivo