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The fatigue strength deterioration in Ti–6Al–4V specimens impacted by steel sphere was experimentally investigated. Based on the test data of Peterson’s formula and the fatigue notch factor, the relationships linking the fatigue notch factor, fatigue strength, injury notch size, and stress ratio were derived. The effect of the notch dimension, residual stress, and stress ratio on the fatigue strength is discussed. The main conclusion is that the impact damage-induced reduction of the fatigue strength depends on the ratio between notch depth and notch radius: the greater the ratio, the more pronounced the reduction. Furthermore, the greater the stress ratio, the less id the reduction. These findings have a certain reference value for blade protection design against foreign object damage, the standard-setting, and maintenance guidelines.

Free and fixed plate blade root states were simulated with finite element analysis to reveal the crack effect on the natural vibration frequency of the blade. Natural vibration frequencies are obtained for blades with different crack locations and lengths. The crack is found to reduce the blade stiffness and to affect its natural vibration frequency. The longer the crack, the greater the change of the stiffness, and the more the natural vibration frequency decreases. In the free state, the effect of the cracks of the same length on the natural vibration frequency is basically identical when it lies between the two nodal lines of first-order bending vibrations. The crack effect at a height of one-half the blade in the free state on natural frequencies is very close to that of the cracks of the same length at a height of one-eighth the blade in the fixed state. Practical guidelines for the detection of fracture cracks are given and the crack length and location were evaluated by frequency variations.

Proton inelastic scattering experiments at energy E_p = 200 MeV and a spectrometer scattering angle of 0 degree were performed on 144,146,148,150Nd and 152Sm exciting the IsoVector Giant Dipole Resonance (IVGDR). Comparison with results from photo-absorption experiments reveals a shift of resonance maxima towards higher energies for vibrational and transitional nuclei. The extracted photo-absorption cross sections in the most deformed nuclei, 150Nd and 152Sm, exhibit a pronounced asymmetry rather than a distinct double-hump structure expected as a signature of K-splitting. This behaviour can be related to the proximity of these nuclei to the critical point of the phase shape transition from vibrators to rotors with a soft quadrupole deformation potential. Self-consistent random-phase approximation (RPA) calculations using the SLy6 Skyrme force provide a relevant description of the IVGDR shapes deduced from the present data, Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

In this work, an electroactive polyimide (EPI) coating with biomimetic surface structure of rose petal used in anticorrosion application was first presented. First of all, amino-capped aniline trimer (ACAT) was synthesized by oxidative coupling reaction, followed by characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscooy (FTIR), liquid chromatography – mass spcerometry (LC-MS) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy. Subsequently, as-prepared ACAT was reacted with isopropylidenediphenoxy-bis(phthalic anhydride) (BPADA) to give electroactive poly(amic acid) (EPAA). Moreover, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) was used to be the soft negative template for pattern transfer from the surface of rose petal to the surface of polymer coating. The EPI coating with biomimetic structure was obtained by programmed heating the EPAA slurry casting onto the negative PDMS template. The anticorrosive performance of as-prepared biomimetic EPI coating was demonstrated by performing a series of electrochemical measurements (Tafel, Nyquist, and Bode plots) upon cold-rolled steel (CRS) electrode in a NaCl aqueous solution. It should be noted that the biomimetic EPI coating with rose petal-like structure was found to exhibit better anticorrosion than that of EPI without biomimetic structure. Moreover, the surface contact angle of water droplets for biomimetic EPI coating was found to be ~150°, which is significantly higher than that of EPI coating with smooth structure (~87°), indicating that the EPI coating with biomimetic structure reveals better hydrophobicity. The apparent mechanism for improved anticorrosive properties is twofold: (1) the biomimetic structure of EPI coating can repel water droplets. (2) electroactivity of EPI coating promotes the formation of densely passive layer of metal oxide on metallic surface.

The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in the responses to the oxidative stress created by ischemia-reperfusion brain injury in rats.54 healthy, adult, male SD rats were included in the study. Eighteen (18) rats were placed in the sham group. The ischemia-reperfusion model was created in the other 36 rats, among which 18 received injections of Nrf2 agonist before the surgery. The suture method was used to create artery occlusions in the right brain of the rats; and reperfusion was done after 90-minute ischemia (MCAO); while no suture was inserted in the sham group. At 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the modeling, their neurological functions were evaluated. Also, at different time points, rats were decapitated, and their fresh brain tissues were used to detect the infarct volume percentages by TTC staining and the brain water contents by the dry-wet weight method. The SOD contents in the brain tissue were measured by Xanthine oxidase assay. RT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of HO-1 in the brain tissues, and western blot method was used to detect the expression level of HO-1 and Nrf-2.The rats in the sham group had no obvious neurological defects; while those in the MCAO group showed significant neurological defects at all time points. The MCAO group had higher neurological evaluation scores than the sham group. TTC staining showed that infarct in the MCAO group kept increasing over time and peaked at 24h. Measurements of SOD found that the sham group had the highest SOD among the three groups, and showed no significant fluctuation over time. The MCAO group had much lower SOD activities than the sham group at all the time points. The higher the level of HO-1mRNA and protein expression in the brain tissue of rats in each group, the higher the degree of brain injury, but the lower the level of Nrf2 protein expression and the lower degree of brain injury. Nrf2 agonist markedly improved all these indicators in the rats which underwent the MCAO surgery.The expression of HO-1 after ischemia-reperfusion brain injury may contribute to the increased infarct volume. Activation of Nrf2 could improve the prognosis of ischemia-reperfusion brain injury.

In this paper, we find and correct some errors in the proof of the theorem in [5], and give a new proof of the main results.

In April 2011, there was an outbreak of an infectious disease in southern catfish, Silurus soldatovi meridionalis, (Chen) (15–20 g) in Sichuan Province, China. Two isolates, LW101 and LW102, were isolated from kidney and liver of the sick fish on brain-heart infusion (BHI) agar and were considered to be the cause of this disease based on experimental challenges. The morphological and physiological characteristics as well as the biochemical tests of the two isolates were the same and similar to Edwardsiella ictaluri. Furthermore, the sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and the gryB gene revealed that the isolates were highly homogeneous with E. ictaluri. On the basis of the phenotypic characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of these genes, both isolates were identified as E. ictaluri. Susceptibility of the isolates to 22 antibiotics was tested using the disc diffusion method. Both isolates showed a similar antibiotic susceptibility, which was characterized by resistance to acetylspiramycin, ampicillin, clarithromycin, penicillin, oxytetracycline, and sinomin (SMZ/TMP); the strains were susceptible to amikacin, chloramphenicol, florfenicol, roxithromycin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, doxycycline, and tenemycin. To our knowledge, this is the first report of E. ictaluri infection in southern catfish.

We compared the outcomes of endovascular coiling with microsurgical clipping of aneurysms in a Taiwanese population. In an ambi-directional cohort design, patient baseline characteristics and clinical course after treatment for ruptured subarachnoid aneurysm were abstracted from medical records from three hospitals to examine and compare differences in post-operative outcomes between those treated with endovascular coiling and those treated with microsurgical clipping. Outcomes were measured, using the modified Rankin scale, two months, one year and two years postoperatively. Of the 642 patients enrolled in the study, 281 underwent endovascular treatment and 361 underwent neurosurgery. The demographics and baseline characteristics of two groups were comparable except for a larger maximum target aneurysm lumen size (p=0.02) in the endovascular group. Patients who underwent the endovascular procedure tended to have a better quality of life than those who had neurosurgery (p Our study indicated that endovascular coiling achieves results comparable to surgical clipping for patients with ruptured subarachnoid aneurysms in a Taiwanese population.

The differences in endothelial function between Tibetan and Han nationality population have not been fully investigated. The aim of this work is to investigate the differences in endothelial function and plasma endothelin 1 (ET-1) concentration between Tibetan and Han male population.Totally 272 Tibetan male subjects aged 42.9 ± 9.4 years were enrolled in this study to stand for Tibetan population. All of them were native residents in Lhasa City. And 580 Qinghai-Tibet Railway constructors with Han nationality aged 41.8 ± 11.1 years were enrolled in this study to stand for Han nationality population. All of them were male subjects and lived in Lhasa City for at least 1 year. All subjects lived in the same high-altitude area (the altitude of Lhasa is 3658 m). Height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure were evaluated. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was measured in the fasting state using high-resolution B-mode ultrasound. Computer-assisted analysis software was used to calculate brachial artery diameters. Venous blood was sampled for the measurement of total cholesterol (CH), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) and HbA1c. Plasma ET-1 was quantitated using a commercially available ELISA kits.Totally 272 Tibetan subjects and 580 Han nationality subjects were enrolled in this study. BMI and waist-hip ratio in Tibetan subjects were much higher than those in Han subjects (p0.01). LDL cholesterol level and plasma ET-1 concentration in Tibetan subjects were significantly higher than Han subjects (p0.01). The baseline brachial artery diameter in Tibetan group was much higher than that of Han group (p0.01). The absolute and percent changes in brachial artery diameter were lower in Tibetan population compared with Han population (p0.01). The linear regression analysis showed that LDL cholesterol, and plasma ET-1 were correlated with FMD (p0.01).Endothelial function and plasma ET-1 concentration were different between Tibetan and Han male populations.

In this study, we investigated the regulation of resveratrol (RV) on miR-34a alteration due to ARI and further studied the involvement of miR-34a/Sirt1 signaling pathway in ROS generation and cell survival after ARI.In-vitro anoxia and reoxygenation injury (ARI) model based on rat heart-derived H9c2 cells was established. The expression of miR-34a and Sirt1 in H9c2 cells with or without RV pretreatment was measured. Flow cytometric analysis of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, CCK-8 assay of cell viability and Western blot analysis of active caspase-3 expression were performed to study the role of miR-34a/Sirt1 signaling pathway in RV modulated ARI injury protection.Pretreatment with RV substantially restored Sirt1 expression in cardiomyocytes in a dose-dependent manner in the in-vitro ARI model. MiR-34a level was significantly increased due to ARI. But pretreatment with RV significantly suppressed its upregulation. MiR-34a overexpression significantly reduced the effect of RV on restoring Sirt1 expression in ARI. Both miR-34a overexpression and Sirt1 knockdown significantly reduced the effect of RV on reducing ROS generation and also abrogated the effect of RV on enhancing cell viability and reducing cell apoptosis.The present study demonstrated that RV has a suppressive effect on miR-34a upregulation in ARI and the miR-34a/Sirt1 axis is an important signaling pathway modulating the protective effect of RV on cardiomyocytes in ARI. Nonetheless, future in vivo studies are required to validate this mechanism.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a disorder characterized by hyperandrogenism, ovulatory dysfunction, and polycystic ovaries. In Tibet population, little is known about the correlation between PCOS and endothelial function and insulin resistance. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of simvastatin on ameliorating endothelial dysfunction and insulin resistance in Tibet patients with PCOS.A group of 21 PCOS women was compared with 21 age-paired controls for blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), lipids, glucose and insulin levels. Plasma ET-1 was quantitated using a commercially available ELISA kits. The invasive vascular endothelial function was evaluated through the measurement of brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in the fasting state using high-resolution B-mode ultrasound and ankle-brachial index (ABI) by using a blood pressure cuff and a Doppler instrument.PCOS women had higher BMI (p0.05), blood pressure (p0.05), cholesterol (p0.05), triglyceride (p0.05), LDL cholesterol (p0.05) and lower HDL cholesterol (p0.05). Fasting insulin (p0.001) and 2-hour plasma glucose (p0.001) of PCOS were also found to be higher than that of controls. HOMA-IR of PCOS was calculated to be much higher than that of the control group (p0.001). ET-1 levels were significantly higher in the PCOS women compared with the control group (p0.001). FMD and ABI were impaired in the PCOS group when compared with the controls (p0.001). After simvastatin intervention for 6 months, FMD, ABI, HOMA-IR, lipid profile, BMI were ameliorated in PCOS women. Also, FMD, ABI, HOMA-IR, lipid profile were nearly normalized in PCOS women after statin treatment compared with the control women. Tibet PCOS patients present a clustering of atherosclerosis risk factors (obesity, adverse lipid profile, hypertension and hyperglycemia) and more prevalent in insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction than non-PCOS women.The endothelial function and insulin resistance of PCOS patients were amelioratedThe endothelial function and insulin resistance of PCOS patients were ameliorated after statin administration.

This paper is concerned with the sliding mode control (SMC) of a continuous-time switched stochastic system. A sufficient condition for the existence of reduced-order sliding mode dynamics is derived and an explicit parametrization of the desired sliding surface is also given. Then, a sliding mode controller is then synthesized for reaching motion. Moreover, the observer-based SMC problem is also investigated. Some sufficient conditions are established for the existence and the solvability of the desired observer and the observer-based sliding mode controller is synthesized. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theory.

This work considers the filtering problem for uncertain stochastic systems subject to sensor nonlinearities. It may be seen from simulation results in this work that the traditional filtering method based on linear measurement may not provide a reliable solution to this problem due to the existence of the nonlinear characteristic of sensors. In the system under consideration, there exist time-varying parameter uncertainties, and state and external-disturbance-dependent noise. Robust filters are constructed for both continuous and discrete stochastic systems, such that the resultant filtering error systems are robustly stochastically stable with a prescribed H∞-disturbance attenuation performance. Finally, some simulation results with deterministic or stochastic disturbance signals are given to illustrate the proposed method.

Hepatic steatosis can cause substantial problems for both donors and recipients in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of the magnetic resonance IDEAL (iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least squares estimation) sequence in quantifying the liver fat during LDLT.A total of 63 liver donors (29 men and 34 women ranging from 18 to 47 years old with a mean age of 30) who received both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intraoperative liver biopsy were enrolled in this study. MR IDEAL IQ sequences were performed by 1.5-T MRI (Discovery 450; GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wis, United States) to estimate the liver fatty content. Accuracy was assessed through linear regression between fat fraction image and pathology grading. Sensitivity and specificity of MR IDEAL IQ fat fractions were also calculated.A total of 63 LDLTs were performed and with pathology grading. No fatty content was found in 48 donors (76.2%; group 1), 5% to 10% fatty liver in 11 donors (17.4%; group 2), 11% to 15% fatty liver in 2 donors (3.2%; group 3), and16% fatty change in 2 donors (3.2%; group 4). MR IDEAL fat fraction results were excellent in prediction of the normal and fatty content and with good correlation with the pathology grading (2.9 ± 0.9, 8.3 ± 4.2, P .0001). Linear regression between IDEAL image and pathology grading indicated a high accuracy rate (R(2) = 0.813, R(2) = 0.9286) for all 4 groups. The sensitivity and specificity for detection of liver steatosis in MRI fat fraction image were 100% and 77.1% (P .0001, 95% confidence interval 0.000-1.000).MR IDEAL IQ sequencing is a highly precise and accurate method in quantifying hepatic steatosis for the living donor.

This study is concerned with the stability and performance analysis, stabilisation and ℋ∞ control problems for continuous-time switched stochastic systems. By applying the average dwell time method and the piecewise Lyapunov function technique, a sufficient condition is first proposed to guarantee the mean-square exponential stability for the unforced switched stochastic system. Also, a condition on a weighted ℋ∞ performance is proposed. The stabilisation and ℋ∞ control including both state feedback control and dynamic output feedback control are considered. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theories.

This paper deals with the filtering problem for discrete-time fuzzy stochastic systems with sensor nonlinearities. There exist time-varying parameter uncertainties and random noise depending on state and external-disturbance. The characteristic of nonlinear sensor is handled by a decomposition method. By means of the parallel distributed compensation technique, the design method of the robust H_ filter is presented. Sufficient conditions for the stochastic stability of the filtering error systems are derived such that the filter parameters can be explicitly obtained. Simulation results are given to illustrate the proposed method.

Transmission electron forward scatter diffraction and other characterization techniques were used to investigate the fine structure and the variant relationship of the martensite/austenite (M/A) constituent of the granular bainite in low-carbon low-alloy steel. The results demonstrated that the M/A constituents were distributed in clusters throughout the bainitic ferrite. Lath martensite was the main component of the M/A constituent, where the relationship between the martensite variants was consistent with the Nishiyama-Wassermann orientation relationship and only three variants were found in the M/A constituent, suggesting that the variants had formed in the M/A constituent according to a specific mechanism. Furthermore, the Σ3 boundaries in the M/A constituent were much longer than their counterparts in the bainitic ferrite region. The results indicate that transmission electron forward scatter diffraction is an effective method of crystallographic analysis for nanolaths in M/A constituents.

To identify the hemodynamic responses to orotracheal intubation using a GlideScope videolaryngoscope (GSVL) in healthy adults, and to determine whether the GSVL could attenuate the hemodynamic response to orotracheal intubation compared with the Macintosh direct laryngoscope (MDLS).Randomized study.Operating room, Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China.57 adult, ASA physical status I patients, scheduled for elective plastic surgery during general anesthesia requiring orotracheal intubation.Patients were randomly allocated to either the GSVL group (n = 30) or the MDLS group (n = 27). Anesthesia was induced with intravenous injection of fentanyl 2 microg/kg, propofol 2 mg/kg, and vecuronium 0.1 mg/kg. Orotracheal intubation was started two minutes after vecuronium injection. All intubation procedures were performed by a single anesthesiologist experienced in using an MDLS and a GSVL. After intubation, anesthesia was maintained with 1% isoflurane and 60% nitrous oxide in oxygen.Noninvasive blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded before (baseline values) and immediately after induction (postinduction values), at intubation, and for 5 minutes at one-minute intervals. Maximal BP and HR values during the observation and intubation times were also noted. The product of HR and systolic BP (ie, the rate-pressure product [RPP]) was calculated. Intubation time was significantly longer in the GSVL group than in the MDLS group (P0.01). Except for maximal value of diastolic BP in the GSVL group, increases in BPs during the observation in the two groups did not significantly exceed baseline values (P0.05). In the GSVL group, HR and RPP at intubation were significantly higher than their baseline values, and HR increases lasted for 4 minutes. In the MDLS group, HR at intubation was also significantly higher than its baseline value, but the tachycardic response lasted only for 1 minute. During the observation, there were no significant differences between the two groups in BPs, HRs, or RPPs at any time points or in their maximal values.The hemodynamic responses to orotracheal intubation using a GSVL and an MDLS were similar. The GSVL had no any special advantage over the MDLS in attenuating the hemodynamic responses to orotracheal intubation.

The circulatory responses to laryngoscopic tracheal intubation in 62 healthy children undergoing surgery requiring tracheal intubation were studied. They were randomly assigned to receive either the oral or nasal route for intubation. Baseline non-invasive blood pressure and heart rate were recorded following induction of anaesthesia, at intubation and then every minute for 5 min. The percentage changes of systolic blood pressure and heart rate during the measurement period were calculated. The results demonstrated that intubation time was significantly longer in the nasal group. Both oral and nasal intubation caused significant increases in blood pressure and heart rate compared to baseline and postinduction values. However, there were no significant differences found between the two groups in relation to blood pressure and heart rate. The two groups were similar with respect to the percentage changes of systolic blood pressure and heart rate during the observation period. It is concluded that oral and nasal intubation using a direct laryngoscopy can result in a similar circulatory response in anaesthetised children.

Summary Background : The purposes of this study were to further identify the hemodynamic responses to orotracheal intubation in children, using a fiberoptic bronchoscope (FOB) and a direct laryngoscope (DLS), and to validate whether the FOB can attenuate the hemodynamic response to orotracheal intubation compared with the DLS. Methods : Forty-three children, ASA PS I–II scheduled for elective plastic surgery under general anesthesia requiring orotracheal intubation were randomly allocated to either the DLS group (n = 20) or the FOB group (n = 23). Noninvasive systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded before (baseline values) and after anesthesia induction (postinduction values), at intubation and every minute for the first 5 min after intubation. The maximal values of SBP and HR during the observation were also recorded. The product of HR and SBP [rate pressure product (RPP)] at each time point was calculated. Results : In the DLS group, SBP, HR, and RPP at intubation and 1 min after intubation were significantly higher than postinduction values, but did not exceed baseline values. In the FOB group, SBP, HR, and RPP at intubation increased significantly compared with baseline and postinduction values. In the two groups, the maximal values of SBP, HR, and RPP during the observation were significantly higher than baseline values. Except for the HR at intubation, there were no significant differences in other hemodynamic parameters during the observation and the time required to reach maximal values of SBP, HR, and RPP between the two groups. Conclusions : Orotracheal intubation using FOB and DLS in children may cause similar increases in SBP and HR. Compared with the DLS, the FOB had no advantage in attenuating the hemodynamic responses to orotracheal intubation.

The fundamental principles of the strength reduction method (SRM) are incorporated into the rock failure process analysis (RFPA) code to produce an RFPA–SRM method for analysing the failure process and stability of rock and soil slopes. The RFPA–SRM method not only satisfies the global equilibrium, strain-consistent, and non-linear constitutive relationship of rock and soil materials but also takes into account the heterogeneous characteristics of materials on the micro- and macro-scales. When the proposed method is used for slope stability analysis, both the critical failure surface and the safety factor can be obtained directly without any assumptions regarding the shape and location of the failure surface. The numerical results agree well with those obtained using conventional limit equilibrium and other FEM strength reduction methods. The proposed technique is applied to a number of more complex cases, including slopes in mixed rock–soil formations, rock layer formations, and highly jointed rock masse...

Objectives The aims of the present study were to examine health characteristics and healthcare utilization in relation to people with intellectual disability (ID) having psychiatric disorders in Taiwan. Methods A cross-sectional study was employed; study subjects were recruited from the National Disability Registration Database. Taiwan, stratified by administrative geographical area for the study. Statistical analysis of 1026 carers for people with ID was made to examine the health status and healthcare utilization of individuals with ID having psychiatric disorders. Results Approximately 12.1% of people with ID had psychiatric disorders. These individuals were more likely to be poorer in health condition and consuming more medical services (in the outpatient, inpatient and emergency care areas), than those individuals without psychiatric disorders. These individuals with psychiatric disorders were also taking medicines regularly at a far greater percentage than did those without psychiatric disorders. Conclusions Given the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders among individuals with ID, the healthcare system should take further steps to develop an appropriate health status monitoring system and community-based and easily accessible mental health services for them.

[Abstract]: This paper compares the thermal analysis of three types of random glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic matrix composites joined by adhesives using microwave energy. Fixed frequency, 2.45 GHz, microwave facility is used to join thirty three percent by weight random glass fibre reinforced nylon 66 {Nylon 66/GF (33%0}, thirty three percent by weight random glass fibre reinforced low density polyethylene composite [LDPE/GF (33%0)] and. thirty three percent by weight random glass fibre reinforced polystyrene composite [PS/GF (33%)]. The facility used is shown in Figure 1. With a given power level, the composites were exposed to various exposure times to microwave irradiation. The primer or coupling agent used was 5-minute two-part adhesive. The heat distribution of the samples of the three types of composites was analysed and compared. The relationship between the heat distribution and the lap shear strength of the samples was also compared and discussed.

It is well established that the heating process during the preparation of dry milk (DMLK) causes structural changes in some milk proteins. However, because such changes are subtle, whether they can be detected by an immunochemical approach remains questionable. The present study attempted to develop a sensitive mAb that might distinguish the DMLK from freshly prepared raw milk. To test this possibility, we immunized mice with commercially prepared DMLK and produced a panel of mAb. From 900 hybridomas screened using an ELISA, 4 clones were found to be specific to DMLK; the other 68 clones recognized both DMLK and raw milk. In contrast to polyclonal antibodies, only the specific mAb could detect the DMLK spiked into the raw milk at as low as 5% in concentration (vol/vol). Western blot analysis shows that these specific mAb were all directed against beta-lactoglobulin (LG) and LG-milk protein conjugates. These mAb reacted with raw milk heated at 95 degrees for 15 min; the reaction with LG-conjugates, however, was abolished when treated with reducing reagent. Thus, results suggests that a new antigenic epitope was exposed in a heating process, and the thio group of LG cross linked with other protein moiety played a provocative role in mAb recognition. A hypothetical model with respect to the interaction between the mAb and DMLK is proposed and discussed.

Although few retrospective studies of high altitude have reported that obesity might be associated with the development of acute mountain sickness (AMS), this association has not been fully studied prospectively. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of obesity on subjects with acute high-altitude exposure.Totally 262 male subjects aged 25-43 (mean 33.2 ± 9.3) years with acute high-altitude exposure were involved in this study. Among them, there are 120 obese and 142 non-obese young-middle aged male subjects. Each subject completed an AMS (acute mountain sickness) self-report questionnaire at sea level and after ascending high-altitude (3658 meters) 12 hours and 24 hours. Weight and height were measured and BMI was calculated. Vital capacity of lungs was measured. Venous blood was sampled for measuring hemoglobin at baseline. Arterial blood was taken for evaluating arterial oxygen saturation (SO2), arterial oxygen pressure (PaO2) and arterial carbon dioxide pressure (PaCO2) at baseline and 24 hours after ascending high-altitude.No statistical differences were found between groups at age (p = 0.1488), hemoglobin (p = 0.5807) and vital capacity (p = 0.1806). BMI in the two groups was significantly different (p0.001) because it is the cut-off point of grouping. At sea level, no statistical differences were found between groups at SO2 (p = 0.1806), PaO2 (p = 0.0949), PaCO2 (p = 0.1960). But 24 hours after ascending high-altitude, SO2 (p = 0.0002), PaO2 (p0.001) were much lower and PaCO2 (p0.001) was significantly higher in obese group than in non-obese group. Comparison of AMS score: No symptom was reported at sea level in all participants (scored 0). But 12-hour and 24-hour after ascending high-altitude, the AMS scores in obese group were significantly higher than those in non-obese group (p0.001).Obesity is an important risk factor in the development of acute mountain sickness.

To establish through analysis of the radial pressure pulse waveform the dose dependent effects of glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) on properties of different blood vessels.Radial pulse waveform was measured in randomised order before, during a five hour application of a GTN patch delivering 0.104-0.625 mg/h, and for two hours after patch removal. The radial pressure waveform (Millar applanation tonometer) was convolved into an ascending aortic wave using a generalised transfer function (SphygmoCor process) enabling measurement of aortic systolic, diastolic, pulse, mean, and augmented pressure and left ventricular ejection duration in addition to standard brachial cuff pressures.Fu Wai and Ren Ming hospitals in Beijing, China.46 recumbent hospitalised patients aged 56 (9) years, awaiting electrophysiological or other diagnostic studies, fasting, and with other treatments suspended.Conventional brachial pressure measures and data from the synthesised aortic pulse.There was no consistent change in heart rate or brachial pressures except for a decrease in systolic and pulse pressures (p0.01) at dose0.416 mg/h. In contrast, there were substantial and significant (p0.0001) decreases in aortic systolic, pulse, and augmented pressures at all doses, mean pressure (p0.001) at doses0.416 mg/h, and ejection duration (p0.001) at doses0.208 mg/h.Pulse waveform analysis exposes dose dependent effects of GTN on the aortic waveform, suggesting muscular conduit arterial dilatation with reduced wave reflection at the lowest dose, arteriolar dilatation and decreased peripheral resistance at the highest dose, and venous dilatation at the intermediate dose.

Due to the complexity of the numerical simulation of flow and/or water quality, there is an increasing demand for integration of recent knowledge management, artificial intelligence technology with the conventional hydraulic algorithmic models in order to assist novice application users in selection and manipulation of various mathematical tools. In this paper, a prototype knowledge management system on flow and water quality is addressed to simulate human expertise during the problem solving by incorporating artificial intelligence and coupling various descriptive knowledge, procedural knowledge and reasoning knowledge involved in the coastal hydraulic and transport processes. The system is developed through employing Visual Rule Studio, a hybrid expert system shell, as an ActiveX Designer under Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 environment since it combines the advantages of both production rules and object-oriented programming technology. The architecture, the development and the implementation of the prototype system are delineated in details. Based on the succinct features and conditions of a variety of flow and water quality models, three kinds of class definitions, Section and Problem as well as Question are defined and the corresponding knowledge rule sets are also established. Both forward chaining and backward chaining are used collectively during the inference process. A typical example is also presented to demonstrate the application of the prototype knowledge management system.

Under the nondegenerate condition as in the diffusion case, see [14, 21, 6], the linear stochastic jump-diffusion process projected on the unit sphere is a strong Feller process and has a unique invariant measure which is also ergodic using the relation between the transition probabilities of jump-diffusions and the corresponding diffusions due to [22]. The unique deterministic Lyapunov exponent can be represented by the Furstenberg-Khas'minskii formula as an integral over the sphere or the projective space with respect to the ergodic invariant measure so that the almost sure asymptotic stability of linear stochastic systems with jumps depends on its sign. The critical case of zero Lyapunov exponent is discussed and a large deviations result for asymptotically stable systems is further investigated. Several examples are treated for illustration.

Numerical discretization schemes are developed to approximate functionals of stochastic differential equations with jumps, and the convergence is shown to have an appropriate order. For the Euler scheme and the second order weak scheme, the leading coefficient of their global errors are determined by the stochastic Taylor expansion. Based on the error expression, the extrapolation technique can be applied to get a higher order convergence. Numerical examples are provided to compare various weak schemes and extrapolations.

Based on the shuffle product expansion of exponential Lie series in terms of a Philip Hall basis for the stochastic differential equations of jump-diffusion type, we can establish Stratonovich–Taylor–Hall (STH) schemes. However, the STHr scheme converges only at order r in the mean-square sense. In order to have the almost sure Stratonovich–Taylor–Hall (ASTH) schemes, we have to include all the terms related to multiple Poissonian integrals as the moments of multiple Poissonian integrals always have lower orders of magnitudes as compared with those of multiple Brownian integrals.

Artificial instantaneous discharge of buoyant fluid in ambient waters is usually carried out at the time of maximum cross-flow so that the resulting dilution is optimal. The determination of the characteristics of this problem is important for environmental impact study but has seldom been studied. To investigate the transport, mixing, and dilution of an isolated cloud of buoyant fluid in cross-flow ambient, a three-dimensional buoyancy extended k-e model is employed. The computed results show that two flow regimes exist. First is the initial dumping regime in which the effect of crosscurrent and the associated turbulence on the longitudinal width and the average dilution is insignificant as compared to the effect of buoyancy on those quantities. The flow and mixing characteristics in this regime are close to those in the case of stagnant ambient. Second is the ultimate regime in which the effect of buoyancy on the longitudinal width and the average dilution is small as compared to the effect of cross-flo...

In this paper, we extend the result of Gaines [4] to show that Lyndon set forms an algebraicbasis for the set of multiple stochastic integrals with respect to Brownian motions and Poissonprocesses, so that any multiple stochastic integral can be expressed as a polynomial of Lyndonbasis. The results for Philip Hall basis is similar. From the computational point of view, theadoption of either of the bases has the same effect on reducing much computing work of thenumerical approximation for stochastic differential equations of jump-diffusion type

Following the approach of Sussmann [16] to expand the Chen series as a product of an exponential Lie series based on a Philip Hall basis, this paper constructs the Stratonovich-Taylor-Hall (STH) discretization schemes of both integral and fractional orders for stochastic differential equations. The STH schemes are numerically efficient in the sense that they involve only the minimum numbers of multiple stochastic integrals. General multiple stochastic integrals are regarded as systems of stochastic differential equations that can be solved by lower order schemes. Convergence of the STH schemes is proved in the almost sure sense by means of the discrete stochastic Gronwall inequality