Chemical Disinfectants for Inactivation of Human Norovirus Surrogates

Human noroviruses (HNoVs) are considered the leading cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Effective chemical disinfectants to inactivate HNoVs are needed. Since HNoVs cannot be cultivated in the lab, cultivable surrogates, feline calicivirus (FCV-F9) and murine norovirus (MNV-1), are used to determine inactivation using infectivity plaque assays. This study aimed to: 1) determine the ability of benzalkonium chloride (BAC) and potassium peroxymonosulfate (KPMS) to inactivate FCV-F9 and MNV-1 in vitro using suspension and carrier tests under clean and simulated dirty (5% fetal bovine serum) conditions over 1 h at room temperature; 2) determine inactivation of FCV-F9 and MNV-1 in suspension and carrier tests over 1 h at room temperature by sodium metasilicate (SMS). In suspension tests, BAC caused 1.94 and 2.59 log reductions of low and high FCV-F9 titers after 1 h, respectively. MNV-1 at low and high titers was reduced by \u3e 3and 1.47 logs with BAC after 1 h, respectively. KPMS at 5 and 10 mg/mL reduced low titers of both viruses to non-detectable levels within 30 s. High FCV-F9 titers were non-detectable after 2 min with 5 mg/mL and within 30 s with 10 mg/mL of KPMS. KPMS at 5 mg/mL had little effect against high titers of MNV-1, but caused a 4.61 log reduction after 5 min with 10 mg/mL of KPMS. Using clean carrier tests, KPMS at 5 and 10 mg/mL reduced both tested viruses at low titers after 30 s and only high FCV-F9 titers after 10 min to undetectable levels. MNV-1 at high titers were reduced to non-detectable levels after 15 min with 10 mg/mL KPMS. BAC reduced low titers of both viruses to undetectable levels after 1 h using carrier tests with no significant reduction of high titers even after 2 h. The antiviral effect of both chemicals decreased under simulated dirty conditions. Both viruses were reduced within 15 s by 5% and 10% SMS using suspension tests. FCV-F9 and MNV-1 at high titers were reduced to undetectable levels after 2 min and 15 s, respectively with 2% SMS. KPMS and SMS appear suitable for the rapid control of HNoV transmission

Keyword-aware Optimal Route Search

Identifying a preferable route is an important problem that finds applications in map services. When a user plans a trip within a city, the user may want to find "a most popular route such that it passes by shopping mall, restaurant, and pub, and the travel time to and from his hotel is within 4 hours." However, none of the algorithms in the existing work on route planning can be used to answer such queries. Motivated by this, we define the problem of keyword-aware optimal route query, denoted by KOR, which is to find an optimal route such that it covers a set of user-specified keywords, a specified budget constraint is satisfied, and an objective score of the route is optimal. The problem of answering KOR queries is NP-hard. We devise an approximation algorithm OSScaling with provable approximation bounds. Based on this algorithm, another more efficient approximation algorithm BucketBound is proposed. We also design a greedy approximation algorithm. Results of empirical studies show that all the proposed algorithms are capable of answering KOR queries efficiently, while the BucketBound and Greedy algorithms run faster. The empirical studies also offer insight into the accuracy of the proposed algorithms.Comment: VLDB201

Computation of transient viscous flows using indirect radial basis function networks

In this paper, an indirect/integrated radial-basis-function network (IRBFN) method is further developed to solve transient partial differential equations (PDEs) governing fluid flow problems. Spatial derivatives are discretized using one- and two-dimensional IRBFN interpolation schemes, whereas temporal derivatives are approximated using a method of lines and a finite-difference technique. In the case of moving interface problems, the IRBFN method is combined with the level set method to capture the evolution of the interface. The accuracy of the method is investigated by considering several benchmark test problems, including the classical lid-driven cavity flow. Very accurate results are achieved using relatively low numbers of data points

The dynamics of the studies of China’s science, technology and innovation (STI): a bibliometric analysis of an emerging field

Since 1978, alongside China’s rise as a leading country in science, technology and innovation (STI), the studies of the country’s STI have been emerging as a field attracting increasing scholarly attention. Using the bibliometric method and the data from the Web of Science (WoS), this paper seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of the studies of China’s STI. The findings show that scholarly interests in China’s STI started in 1995 and have since developed rapidly; institutions in China, the U.S. and the U.K. are main contributors to the field, contributing 50%, 27.2% and 12% of the scholarship respectively, with Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences being three major institutional contributors. Seminal works have been focused on STI issues at the macro or national, meso or industrial and regional, and micro or organizational and firm levels. A possible agenda for further research is to develop new theories based on China’s practice paying specific attention to issues including R&D expenditure, S&T performance evaluation, regional innovation ecosystem, SOEs in innovation and the role of the Chinese Communist Party in innovation

A Study of Translation Strategy in Eileen Chang’s The Golden Cangue From the Perspective of Feminist Translation Theory

Eileen Chang is an outstanding female writer in Chinese literature history because of her unique writing style. What’s more, she was not only a successful writer but also a translator which was seldom known or studied by others. She self-translated a great number of works including The Golden Cangue and The Rouge of North. Feminist translation theory came into being with the development of feminist movement. As a combination of feminism and translation, it developed under the background of “cultural turn” aiming at enabling the society to hear the voice of women through creating and rewriting strategies by the feminist translators. The feminist translators are devoted to translating the works under the value of feminism.This paper intends to study the translation strategy through comparing the original book and the translation script based on the prefacing and footnoting, supplementing and hijacking strategies proposed by the Canadian translation researcher Louise Von Flotow