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Obesity and related metabolic disturbances including diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia predict future cognitive decline. Asia has a high prevalence of both obesity and metabolic disease, potentially amplifying the future burden of dementia in the region. We aimed to investigate the impact of adiposity and metabolic risk on cognitive function in Asian populations, using an epidemiological analysis and a two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) study.

AbstractXML has emerged as the standard for information representation over the Internet. It is critical to store and query XML data to exploit the full power of the new technology. However, most enterprises today have long secured the use of relational databases. Thus, simply replacing relational databases with a pure XML database is not a good choice. It is thus crucial to map XML data into relational data. This paper studies the performance evaluation of storing XML documents into relational databases and identifies which mapping approach is best suited for which business environment. The performance results for all approaches are presented and a number of interesting results obtained from these evaluations are highlighted.

AbstractWith the rapid emergence of XML as a data exchange and data transfer medium over the Web, querying XML data has become a major concern. Labeling schemes have been developed to optimize query retrieval, since they provide a quick way to determine the type of relationships that are present among the nodes. In this paper, we analyze how each approach works, as well as its advantages and disadvantages. In addition, we discuss some of the current trends in labeling methods, which indicate a clear shift towards hybrid approaches. Hybrid systems open the possibility of balancing one technology’s weakness with another technology’s strengths.

AbstractXML (extensible mark-up language) has emerged as one of the popular data representation standards for information storage and exchange. In this paper, we propose an extended INLAB architecture, INLAB2, focusing on preprocessing the XML document for fast native storage and accurate query retrieval. Firstly, we propose our xParseparser to check the well-formedness of an XML document. Next, we use a ( self-end)labeling scheme to encode each element in the XML database, by its positional information, to establish parent-child (P-C) or ancestor-descendant (A-D) relationships between nodes. Subsequently, our TwigINLAB2algorithm is used to optimize query retrieval. TwigINLAB2is a generalization of TwigStack, the stack-based algorithm for matching twig query. However, the TwigStack algorithm is efficient for A-D relationship queries only. Thus, in order to overcome this limitation, we enhance query retrieval by utilizing indices to speed up the matching and merging phases. Experimental results indicate that TwigINLAB2can, on an average, process twig queries 23% better than the TwigStack algorithm and 10% better than TwigINLAB1, in terms of execution time.

One- or semi-two-dimensional (semi-2-D) nanostructures of a variety of intramolecular charge transfer organic materials have been obtained by using directional dipole−dipole interaction between neighboring molecules as the driving force. It was found that (1) increasing the dipole strength could increase the tendency of directional assembly; (2) introducing an additional dipole component into the molecule, growth in an additional direction could be promoted and lead to the formation of semi-2-D nanostructures; and (3) molecular geometry also affects the growth process of nanostructures, as molecular planarity decreases, rearrangement and stacking between molecules become increasingly difficult, which would hinder the formation of directional nanostructures. In addition, we showed that besides dipole−dipole interaction, strong directional supramolecular interactions such as π−π stacking and hydrogen-bonding interactions are also effective in directing 1-D and semi-2-D nanostructure growth.

A new series of fluorene derivatives with different substituents at the C-2,7- and C-9 positions has been synthesized and characterized with respect to their luminescence and thermal properties. It was found that substitutions at the C-2,7 positions significantly affected the thermal properties and optical properties, whereas substitutions at the C-9 position mainly affected the thermal properties of the fluorene derivatives. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) (15 nm)/4,4‘-bisN-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenylaminobiphenyl (NPB) (50 nm)/fluorene derivative (30 nm)/tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum (Alq3) (50 nm)/Mg/Ag (200 nm) were fabricated. OLEDs based on the naphthyl-substituted fluorenes gave saturated blue emission centered at 452 nm, while those based on anthryl-substituted fluorenes showed a blue−green emission with a wider spectrum. OLEDs based on 2,7-dipyrenyl-9‘9-dimethylfluorene (DPF) exhibited blue emission with a maximum efficiency of 4.8 cd/A and CIE coordinates of x0.17 and y0.24. A similar DPF-based device with an additional hole block layer exhibited better blue emission with a maximum efficiency of 5.2 cd/A and CIE coordinates of x0.15 and y0.21, which are among the best values ever reported for blue OLEDs without a dopant based on fluorescence molecules. The results show that fluorenes with suitable substitutents can act as blue-emitting materials with a high thermal stability and high electroluminescence efficiency.

Following its successful acquisition of Cambodia's Block 4, located in the Cambodian Trough, Premier Oil Pacific has scheduled seismic work with an option to drill. The block lies directly east [...]

In this paper, we study the Fan product of two N0-matrices and inequalities for two N0-matrices A,B with A ≤ B. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the sum of two symmetric N0-matrices to be an N0-matrix.

A personal narrative is presented in which the author describes his life as an architect.

Discusses the wireless local area network (WLAN) hot spots, which are locations where end-users can connect to the Internet using their wireless-enabled computers, in the U.S. Areas where the WLAN hot spots are located; Difference between solution providers and service providers; Implications of the entry of Verizon in the WLAN hot spot market.

The superior performance of an optical fiber sensor employing soaking discoloration ink for water sensing is demonstrated. The proposed sensor, possessing low-cost, easily do-it-yourself and highly sensitive features, is very suitable for deploying in existing optical fiber networks to detect water immersion. The discrimination is over 3.5 dB, which can be easily measured by an OTDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]