Java/XML-based Trading Information Processing System for produce wholesale market

The purpose of this project is to investigate the use of the emerging XML technologies to improve online Business to Business (B2B) supply chain processes

On Atkin-Swinnerton-Dyer congruence relations

In this paper we exhibit a noncongruence subgroup \G whose space of weight 3 cusp forms S_3(\G) admits a basis satisfying the Atkin-Swinnerton-Dyer congruence relations with two weight 3 newforms for certain congruence subgroups. This gives a modularity interpretation of the motive attached to S_3(\G) by A. Scholl and also verifies the Atkin-Swinnerton-Dyer congruence conjecture for this space.Comment: 25 page

Oromotor variability in children with mild spastic cerebral palsy: a kinematic study of speech motor control

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Treating motor speech dysfunction in children with CP requires an understanding of the mechanism underlying speech motor control. However, there is a lack of literature in quantitative measures of motor control, which may potentially characterize the nature of the speech impairments in these children. This study investigated speech motor control in children with cerebral palsy (CP) using kinematic analysis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We collected 10 children with mild spastic CP, aged 4.8 to 7.5 years, and 10 age-matched children with typical development (TD) from rehabilitation department at a tertiary hospital. All children underwent analysis of percentage of consonants correct (PCC) and kinematic analysis of speech tasks: poly-syllable (PS) and mono-syllable (MS) tasks using the Vicon Motion 370 system integrated with a digital camcorder. Kinematic parameters included spatiotemporal indexes (STIs), and average values and coefficients of variation (CVs) of utterance duration, peak oral opening displacement and velocity. An ANOVA was conducted to determine whether PCC and kinematic data significantly differed between groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CP group had relatively lower PCCs (80.0-99.0%) than TD group (<it>p </it>= 0.039). CP group had higher STIs in PS speech tasks, but not in MS tasks, than TD group did (<it>p </it>= 0.001). The CVs of utterance duration for MS and PS tasks of children with CP were at least three times as large as those of TD children (<it>p </it>< 0.01). However, average values of utterance duration, peak oral opening displacement and velocity and CVs of other kinematic data for both tasks did not significantly differ between two groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>High STI values and high variability on utterance durations in children with CP reflect deficits in relative spatial and/or especially temporal control for speech in the CP participants compared to the TD participants. Children with mild spastic CP may have more difficulty in processing increased articulatory demands and resulted in greater oromotor variability than normal children. The kinematic data such as STIs can be used as indices for detection of speech motor control impairments in children with mild CP and assessment of the effectiveness in the treatment.</p

Bluetooth Mesh Networking: an Enabler of Smart Factory Connectivity and Management

Smart factory is an environment where machinery and equipment are able to work together to improve processes through automation and self-optimisation. Connectivity in smart factory is the key enabler to optimise operations through collection of data to accelerate automation in a factory setting. This paper proposes the use of Bluetooth wireless mesh networking to realise the vision of smart factory, providing efficient connectivity to collect data from the shop-floor in real-time. Downstream communication to the sensor devices can also be performed, thus creating a digital twin of the shop-floor and its process. A web-based visualisation dashboard is implemented to monitor the status of sensors and machinery in real-time. The developed system is also integrated with an indoor localisation mechanism to provision new sensors into the mesh network. An augmented reality dashboard enables a user who is physically patrolling the smart factory to view sensor status in real-time

Luteolin Suppresses Inflammatory Mediator Expression by Blocking the Akt/NFκB Pathway in Acute Lung Injury Induced by Lipopolysaccharide in Mice

Acute lung injury (ALI), instilled by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), is a severe illness with excessive mortality and has no specific treatment strategy. Luteolin is an anti-inflammatory flavonoid and widely distributed in the plants. Pretreatment with luteolin inhibited LPS-induced histological changes of ALI and lung tissue edema. In addition, LPS-induced inflammatory responses, including increased vascular permeability, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 production, and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), were also reduced by luteolin in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, luteolin suppressed activation of NFκB and its upstream molecular factor, Akt. These results suggest that the protection mechanism of luteolin is by inhibition of NFκB activation possibly via Akt

HHP1 is involved in osmotic stress sensitivity in Arabidopsis

HHP1 (heptahelical protein 1), a protein with a predicted seven transmembrane domain structure homologous to adiponectin receptors (AdipoRs) and membrane progestin receptors (mPRs), has been characterized. Expression of HHP1 was increased in response to abscisic acid (ABA) and salt/osmotic stress as shown by quantitative real-time PCR and HHP1 promoter-controlled GUS activity. The HHP1 T-DNA insertion mutant (hhp1-1) showed a higher sensitivity to ABA and osmotic stress than the wild-type (WT), as revealed by the germination rate and post-germination growth rate. The induced expression of stress-responsive genes (RD29A, RD29B, ADH1, KIN1, COR15A, and COR47) was more sensitive to exogenous ABA and osmotic stress in hhp1-1 than in the WT. The hypersensitivity in the hhp1-1 mutant was reversed in the complementation mutant of HHP1 expressing the HHP1 gene. The data suggest that the mutation of HHP1 renders plants hypersensitive to ABA and osmotic stress and HHP1 might be a negative regulator in ABA and osmotic signalling

Burkitt's Lymphoma Mimicking a Primary Gynecologic Tumor

SummaryObjectiveBurkitt's lymphoma (BL) occurs mostly in children; bilateral ovarian involvement mimicking a gynecologic malignancy in adults is extremely rare. Here, we report a patient with BL mimicking a gynecologic tumorCase ReportA 50-year-old Taiwanese woman presented with the complaint of persistent lower abdominal distension with dull pain, easy satiety, and progressively increasing abdominal girth for 2 weeks. Amenorrhea was also noted for about 2 months, and her review of systems was negative for the common “B” symptoms associated with lymphoma. At our hospital, imaging studies revealed a huge pelvic mass (10.8 ×8.7 cm), suggesting a large subserous myoma or an ovarian tumor. Under the impression of pelvic mass, she underwent exploratory laparotomy. Primary ovarian sex-cord malignancy with cecum involvement was impressed by the primitive intraoperative frozen section report. Subsequently, an optimal cytoreductive operation with right hemicolectomy was performed. However, final histopathologic report was an extranodal multifocal BL.ConclusionAlthough extranodal BL in ovaries is a rare condition, it should be noted in the differential diagnosis of pelvic gynecologic malignancies