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A lanthanum-modified zeolitic imidazolate framework (La/ZIF-8) was developed to produce glycerol carbonate using CO2 and glycerol as raw materials. La/ZIF-8 provides a high catalytic glycerol conversion efficiency owing to its surface-attached nanoclusters of La2O3, which can be viewed as La3+–O2− pairs that strengthen the Lewis basicity and acidity, and the large specific surface area of ZIF-8. The catalytic glycerol conversion and the yield of glycerol carbonate were 46.5% and 35.3%, respectively, using CH3CN as a dehydrating agent. With increase in the amount of CH3CN, the water molecules could react with CH3CN to reduce the selectivity. When an inorganic dehydrating agent, MgCO3, was used to physically adsorb and remove water molecules in the reaction, the selectivity of the reaction could be increased to over 95%, which is the highest ever reported. Reaction kinetics analysis also revealed that the activation energy of using MgCO3 (5.4 kJ mol−1) as a dehydrating agent is lower than that using CH3CN (7.8 kJ mol−1). Moreover, the La/ZIF-8 could be recycled and reused at least three times with high catalytic performance. This study provides an effective material with dual Lewis basicity and acidity for CO2/glycerol conversion and significantly improves the catalytic performance using an inorganic dehydrating agent.

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is major cause of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) and sudden death. neuECG is a noninvasive method to simultaneously record skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA) and electrocardiogram.The purpose of this study was to test the hypotheses that (1) ACS increases average SKNA (aSKNA), (2) the magnitude of aSKNA elevation is associated with VAs during ACS, and (3) there is a gender difference in aSKNA between patients without and with ACS.We prospectively studied 128 ACS and 165 control participants. The neuECG was recorded with electrodes at Lead I configuration at baseline, during mental math stress, and during recovery (5 minutes for each phase). All recordings were done in the morning.In the control group, women have higher aSKNA than do men at baseline (0.82 ± 0.25 μV vs 0.73 ± 0.20 μV; P = .009) but not during mental stress (1.21 ± 0.36 μV vs 1.16 ± 0.36 μV; P = .394), suggesting women had lower sympathetic reserve. In comparison, ACS is associated with equally elevated aSKNA in women vs men at baseline (1.14 ± 0.33 μV vs 1.04 ± 0.35 μV; P = .531), during mental stress (1.46 ± 0.32 μV vs 1.33 ± 0.37 μV; P = .113), and during recovery (1.30 ± 0.33 μV vs 1.11 ± 0.30 μV; P = .075). After adjusting for age and gender, the adjusted odds ratio for VAs including ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation is 1.23 (95% confidence interval 1.05-1.44) for each 0.1 μV aSKNA elevation. aSKNA is positively correlated with plasma norepinephrine level.ACS is associated with elevated aSKNA, and the magnitude of aSKNA elevation is associated with the occurrence of VAs. Women have higher aSKNA and lower SKNA reserve than do men among controls but not among patients with ACS.

(1) Background: The autonomic imbalance plays a role in vasovagal syncope (VVS) diagnosed by head-up tilting test (HUT). neuECG is a new method of recording skin electrical signals to simultaneously analyze skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA) and electrocardiogram. We hypothesize that SKNA is higher in subjects with tilt-positive than tilt-negative and the SKNA surges before syncope. (2) Methods: We recorded neuECG in 41 subjects who received HUT (according to the “Italian protocol”), including rest, tilt-up, provocation and recovery phases. Data were analyzed to determine the average SKNA (aSKNA, μV) per digitized sample. Electrocardiogram was used to calculate standard deviation of normal-to-normal beat intervals (SDNN). The “SKNA-SDNN index” was calculated by rest aSKNA multiplied by the ratio of tilt-up to rest SDNN. (3) Results: 16 of 41 (39%) subjects developed syncope. The aSKNA at rest phase is significantly higher in the tilt-positive (1.21 ± 0.27 µV) than tilt-negative subjects (1.02 ± 0.29 µV) (p = 0.034). There are significant surges and withdraw of aSKNA 30 s before and after syncope (both p ≤ 0.006). SKNA-SDNN index is able to predict syncope (p &lt, 0.001). (4) Conclusion: Higher SKNA at rest phase is associated with positive HUT. The SKNA-SDNN index is a novel marker to predict syncope during HUT.

In this study, we used AdaGrad gradient descent method in optimizer for image deep learning, and compare with Adam gradient descent methods. After processing over six thousand huge database of through silicon via images, AdaGrad has shown a fast convergence and less generalization errors than Adam. The results help Artificial Intelligence for making the management of image judgment more accurate and faster.

Although many heavy metals are necessary for normal biological function, a subset of heavy metals have no role in human physiology, such as lead (Pb) and arsenic (As). Such elements have deleterious effects on physiology and be associated with the incidence of diabetes and related metabolic syndromes. Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is not only a useful diagnostic and prognostic parameter in patients with diabetes, but it is also helpful in prediction of future diabetic risk in non-diabetic patients. However, no studies have evaluated the relationship between heavy metal concentration and HbA1c in non-diabetic patients. Therefore, the present study was designed to address this issue. We performed surveys for general populations living in southern Taiwan from June 2016 to September 2018. All participants received face-to-face interviews, laboratory tests, and measurements of weight and height, waist circumference, heart rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures. HbA1c was positively associated with Log blood Pb, after adjustments for age, body mass index, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, and triglyceride. Additionally, a Log 1 μg/dL increase in Pb was associated with a small (0.819 mmol/mol, 95% confidence interval = 0.072–1.566) increase in HbA1c (P = 0.032). No association with HbA1c was observed for urine nickel, chromium, manganese, As, copper, and cadmium in the multivariable analysis. In conclusion, after adjusting for important clinical parameters, Log blood Pb was positively associated with HbA1c in our non-diabetic population. This finding implies that high blood Pb might have the potential to predict future diabetic risk in non-diabetic populations. Further prospective studies are necessary to validate this issue.

Vincristine is one of the core chemotherapy agents used in the treatment of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, one of the major toxicities resulting from vincristine exposure is vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy (VIPN). When VIPN results in significant morbidity, the vincristine dose may need to be reduced, thus potentially decreasing the effectiveness of treatment. To date, there are no robust biomarkers used clinically to determine which patients will be at risk for worse neuropathy. The current study included genomewide association study (GWAS) in two independent cohorts: Pediatric Oncology Group (POG) ALL trials and a multicenter study based at Indiana University in children with ALL. A meta-analysis of the cohorts identified two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs1045644 and rs7963521, as being significantly (P value threshold 0.05/4749 = 1.05E-05) associated with neuropathy. Subsequently these SNPs may be effective biomarkers of VIPN in children with ALL.

Graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) with different oxygenation levels were successfully prepared using a facile, rapid, and cost-effective microwave-assisted hydrothermal method under neutral conditions using hydrogen peroxide (MGOH) or potassium permanganate (MGOK) as an oxidizing agent. GOQDs with an average diameter of 7–12 nm for both MGOH and MGOK samples were observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses revealed that MGOH exhibited a high quantity of C–O and CO groups in its structure, whereas MGOK consisted of highly ordered sp2/sp3 bonds in its aromatic unit and had less oxygenated functional groups. The photoluminescence measurements showed that MGOH and MGOK QDs emitted yellowish-green and blue light with quantum yields of 15.1% and 8.4%, respectively. The luminescence mechanisms of MOGK and MGOH were attributed to π–π* and n–π* electron transitions in C–C/CC bonds and in π* states to non-bonding oxygen states, respectively. Density functional theory calculations were employed to determine the optical absorption of GOQDs in terms of surface functional groups and oxygenation degrees. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the high oxygenation degree of GOQDs resulted in band gap reduction and light absorption due to electron transitions. Our theoretical and experimental results suggested that GOQDs with high quantum yields can serve as promising materials in applications including biosensing, imaging, and labeling.

In this study, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C

In this study, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets (CNns) were modified using polyaniline (PANI) codoped with an inorganic (hydrochloric acid, HCl) and an organic (phytic acid, PA) acid. O...

SrTiO3 is a promising photocatalyst for water splitting, dye degradation, and CO2 or NOx reduction; however, its practical applications are greatly limited because of its poor visible light absorption ability. Herein, we demonstrate a novel approach to introduce carbon doping in SrTiO3 through heat treatment of graphene oxide (GO) with hydrothermally synthesized SrTiO3. During the heat treatment, the carbon species diffused and were doped into the SrTiO3 lattice, while the residual GO sheets rolled up to form carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The carbon-doped SrTiO3-coupled CNTs exhibited increased visible light absorption, facile charge separation, and high unpaired electron density, enabling their application as efficient photocatalysts to degrade azo dyes and phenolic compounds including methyl blue, methyl orange, rhodamine B, phenol, and bisphenol A under visible light irradiation. This study introduces a novel strategy for the synthesis of carbon-doped SrTiO3 for environmental remediation derived from heat treatment of GO.

AIM: To perform a blind study to assess the capability of the Ion Personal Genome Machine® (PGM™) system to sequence forensically relevant genetic marker panels and to characterize unknown individuals for ancestry and possible relatedness. METHODS: Twelve genomic samples were provided by a third party for blinded genetic analysis. For these 12 samples, the mitochondrial genome and three PGM™ panels containing human identity single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), ancestry informative SNPs, and short tandem repeats (STRs) were sequenced on the PGM™ system and analyzed. RESULTS: All four genetic systems were run and analyzed on the PGM™ system in a reasonably quick time frame. Completeness of genetic profiles, depth of coverage, strand balance, and allele balance were informative metrics that illustrated the quality and reliability of the data produced. SNP genotypes allowed for identification of sex, paternal lineage, and population ancestry. STR genotypes were shown to be in complete concordance with genotypes generated by standard capillary electrophoresis-based technologies. Variants in the mitochondrial genome data provided information on population background and maternal relationships. CONCLUSION: All results from analysis of the 12 genomic samples were consistent with sample information provided by the sample providers at the end of the blinded study. The relatively easy identification of intra-STR allele SNPs offered the potential for increased discrimination power. The promising nature of these results warrants full validation studies of this massively parallel sequencing technology and its further development for forensic data analysis.

Second-generation sequencing (SGS) using Roche/454 and Illumina platforms has proved capable of sequencing the majority of the key forensic genetic STR systems. Given that Roche has announced that the 454 platforms will no longer be supported from 2015, focus should now be shifted to competing SGS platforms, such as the MiSeq (Illumina) and the Ion Personal Genome Machine (Ion PGM™; Thermo Fisher). There are currently several challenges faced with amplicon-based SGS STR typing in forensic genetics, including current lengths of amplicons for CE-typing and lack of uniform data analysis between laboratories. Thermo Fisher has designed a human identification (HID) short tandem repeat (STR) 10-plex panel including amelogenin, CSF1PO, D16S539, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, TH01, TPOX and vWA, where the primers have been designed specifically for the purpose of SGS and the data analysis is supported by Ion Torrent™ software. Hence, the combination of the STR 10-plex and the Ion PGM™ represents the first fully integrated SGS STR typing solution from PCR to data analysis. In this study, four experiments were performed to evaluate the alpha-version of the STR 10-plex: (1) typing of control samples; (2) analysis of sensitivity; (3) typing of mixtures; and (4) typing of biological crime case samples. Full profiles and concordant results between replicate SGS runs and CE-typing were observed for all control samples. Full profiles were seen with DNA input down to 50 pg, with the exception of a single locus drop-out in one of the 100 pg dilutions. Mixtures were easily deconvoluted down to 20:1, although alleles from the minor contributor had to be identified manually as some signals were not called by the Ion Torrent™ software. Interestingly, full profiles were obtained for all biological samples from real crime and identification cases, in which only partial profiles were obtained with PCR-CE assays. In conclusion, the Ion Torrent™ HID STR 10-plex panel offers an all-in-one solution from amplification of STRs and amelogenin, and sequencing to data analysis.

Let p, q, T be positive real numbers, B = {x ∈ R n : ∥x∥ < 1}, ∂B = {x ∈ R n : ∥x∥ = 1}, x ∗ ∈ B, △ be the Laplace operator in R n . In this paper, the following the initial boundary value problem with localized reaction term is studied: ut(x, t) = ∆u(x, t) + 1 (1 − u(x, t)) p + 1 (1 − u(x ∗ , t)) q , (x, t) ∈ B × (0, T ), u(x, 0) = u0(x), x ∈ B, where u0 ≥ 0. The existence of the unique classical solution is established. When x ∗ = 0, quenching criteria is given. Moreover, the rate of change of the solution at the quenching point near the quenching time is studied.

Primary liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer mortality. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 85% to 90% of primary liver cancers. Major risk factors for HCC include infection with HBV or HCV, alcoholic liver disease, and most probably nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In general, men are two to four times more often associated with HCC than women. It can be suggested that sex hormones including progesterone may play some roles in HCC. Rather, very limited information discusses its potential involvement in HCC. This paper thus collects some recent studies of the potential involvement of progesterone and related compounds in HCC from basic and clinical aspects. In addition, two synthetic progestins, megestrol acetate (MA) and medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), will be discussed thoroughly. It is noted that progesterone can also serve as the precursor for androgens and estrogens produced by the gonadal and adrenal cortical tissues, while men have a higher incidence of HCC than women might be due to the stimulatory effects of androgen and the protective effects of estrogen. Eventually, this paper suggests a new insight on the associations of progesterone and related compounds with HCC development and treatment.

With the effects of global warming, some epidemic diseases via mosquito (e.g. mosquito-borne diseases) become more serious, such as dengue fever and zika virus. It is reported that the epidemic disease may cause many challenges to the hospital management due to the unexpected burst with uncertain reasons. Furthermore, the imperfect cares during the propagation of epidemic diseases, such as dengue fever (so far the appropriate treatment is not well established), may lead to the increasing mortality rate which should be avoided. In this paper, a novel paradigm for optimizing the placement of medical resource is proposed in pursuit of reducing the overloading cases in hospitals during the epidemic outbreak in the urban area. In this paper we explore the first paper to explore two important issues, including the strategy to evaluate the service quality and the solution to dynamically dispatch the medical resource, along with the spatial variation of epidemic outbreak. As validated in our experimental results in real data of dengue outbreak happening in Tainan (2015), we present the feasibility of our framework to deploy a dynamic placement strategy for medical resource assignment.

MKP-1 dephosphorylates and inactivates MAPKs, whose constitutive activations have been associated with human cancers.We found that total MKP-1 protein levels were decreased in 63.7 % of breast cancer tissues compared with the paired noncancerous breast tissues. Decreased MKP-1 protein levels were correlated with increased tumor stage and positive recurrence and were associated with poor survival, even when using a multivariate Cox regression model. Intriguingly, nuclear MKP-1 staining was positively correlated with ER status. In vitro, tamoxifen increased MKP-1 expression in ER-positive but not ER-negative breast cancer cells. ER-specific siRNA was able to attenuate tamoxifen-induced MKP-1 expression. Furthermore, tamoxifen prolonged the duration of MKP-1 elevation and the binding time of ER to the promoter of the MKP-1/DUSP-1 gene compared with estrogen.Our results suggest that alterations of MKP-1 may serve as a prognostic factor in breast cancer. In addition, the regulation of MKP-1 may be related to the ER.

Nonlinear models that include the threshold autoregressive model and the threshold cointegration model (TVECM) are applied from the behavioral finance point of view to examine the dynamics between the investor fear gauge proxied by the volatility index (TVIX) and the market index (TAIEX) in Taiwan. If the TVIX is in the extreme higher regime identified by the TAR, the overreaction of the investors' fear gauge could be the leading indicator of the market. However, in the extreme lower regime identified by the TVECM, the TAIEX returns would drive the deviation between the indexes to convergence.

The AmpFlSTR(®) Identifiler(®) Direct PCR Amplification Kit is a new short tandem repeat multiplex assay optimized to allow the direct amplification of single-source blood and buccal samples on FTA(®) card without the need for sample purification and quantification. This multiplex assay has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Validation results revealed that slight variations in primer concentration, master mix component concentration, and thermal cycling parameters did not affect the performance of the chemistry. The assay's sensitivity was demonstrated by amplifying known amounts of white blood cells spotted onto FTA(®) cards, and the assay's specificity was verified by establishing minimal cross-reactivity with nonhuman DNA. No effect on the age of the sample stored on the FTA(®) substrate was observed and full concordance was established in the population study. These findings of the validation study support the use of the Identifiler(®) Direct Kit for forensic standards and database samples genotyping.

Physical modeling with numerical simulation is very useful for researchers to understand and improve the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process for coating of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films. In this paper, we implement a fluid model including a chemical reaction mechanism for methane plasmas. Employing a finite-difference method, we solve for the low-pressure RF plasma phase in a parallel-plate reactor via the local field equilibrium approximation model, based on which the distribution of the electrons and ions along with the electric potential is obtained. The validation of our simulation is carried out by comparing the model predictions with the results from a previous particle-in-cell work. Our simulations show that the concentration of neutral species is much higher than that of charged species. CH3 is found to be the major contributing species for deposition as its concentration and boundary flux are higher than those of the other depositing species. The effects of the electrode gap, reactor pressure, and RF voltage amplitude on the species density distributions and depositing species boundary fluxes are studied. Although the deposition rate may be increased (when the number density and boundary flux of depositing species increase) by changing the operating conditions, the variation of C2H5 concentration and boundary flux requires more attention because it may affect the quality of DLC coating.

DNA typing of degraded DNA samples can be a challenging task when using the current commercially available multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) analysis kits. However, the ability to type degraded DNA specimens improves by redesigning current STR marker amplicons such that smaller sized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products are generated. In an effort to increase the amount of information derived from these types of DNA samples, the AmpFlSTR MiniFiler PCR Amplification Kit has been developed. The kit contains reagents for the amplification of eight miniSTRs which are the largest sized loci in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit (D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, CSF1PO, and FGA). Five of these STR loci (D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, and FGA) also are some of the largest loci in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus kit. This informative nine-locus multiplex, which includes the gender-identification locus Amelogenin, has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Our results demonstrate significant performance improvements in models of DNA degradation, PCR inhibition, and nonprobative samples when compared to the AmpFlSTR Identifiler and SGM Plus kits. These data support that the MiniFiler kit will increase the likelihood of obtaining additional STR information from forensic samples in situations in which standard STR chemistries fail to produce complete profiles.

The Ni/solder/Cu material sequence is one of the most common material sequences in the solder joints of electronic packages. In this study, the Ni/Sn/Cu ternary diffusion couples were used to investigate the solder volume effect on the cross-interaction between Ni and Cu. Experimentally, a pure Sn layer with the thickness of 100–400 μm was electroplated over Cu foils. A pure Ni layer (20 μm) was then deposited over the as-deposited Sn surface. The diffusion couples were aged at 160°C for different periods of time. With this technique, the diffusion couples were assembled without experiencing any high temperature process, such as reflow, which would have accelerated the interaction and caused difficulties in analysis. This study revealed that the cross-interaction could occur in as short as 30 min. A detailed atomic flux analysis showed that the Cu flux through the Sn layer was about 25–40 times higher than the Ni flux. Moreover, it was found that (Cu1−xNix)6Sn5 on the Ni side reduced the consumption rate of the Ni layer, and the cross-interaction also reduced the Cu3Sn thickness on the Cu side.

In this paper, we study a novel paradigm of viral marketing with the goal to sustain the influential effectiveness in the network. We study from real cases such as the Ice Bucket Challenges for the ALS awareness, and figure out the "easy come and easy go" phenomenon in the marketing promotion. Such a natural property is fully unexplored in the literature, but it will violate the need of many marketing applications which attempt to receive the perpetual attention and support. We thus highlight the problem of Influential Sustainability, to pursue the long-term and effective influence on the network. Given the set of initial seeds S and a threshold ρ, the goal of Influential Sustainability is to best decide the timing to activate each seed in S so as to maximize the number of iterations in which each iteration will activate the number of inactive nodes more than ρ. The Influential Sustainability problem is challenging due to its #P-hard nature. In addition to the greedy idea, we further present three strategies to heuristically decide the activating timing for each seed. As demonstrated in the empirical study on real data, instead of only providing the flexibility of striking a compromise between the execution efficiency and the resulting quality, these heuristic algorithms can be executed highly efficiently and meanwhile it is able to sustain the longer period which can continuously activate inactive nodes effectively. The results demonstrate their prominent advantage to be practical algorithms for the promising viral marketing paradigm.

Aim To perform a blind study to assess the capability of the Ion Personal Genome Machine® (PGM™) system to sequence forensically relevant genetic marker panels and to characterize unknown individuals for ancestry and possible relatedness. Methods Twelve genomic samples were provided by a third party for blinded genetic analysis. For these 12 samples, the mitochondrial genome and three PGM™ panels containing human identity single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), ancestry informative SNPs, and short tandem repeats (STRs) were sequenced on the PGM™ system and analyzed. Results All four genetic systems were run and analyzed on the PGM™ system in a reasonably quick time frame. Completeness of genetic profiles, depth of coverage, strand balance, and allele balance were informative metrics that illustrated the quality and reliability of the data produced. SNP genotypes allowed for identification of sex, paternal lineage, and population ancestry. STR genotypes were shown to be in complete concordance with genotypes generated by standard capillary electrophoresis-based technologies. Variants in the mitochondrial genome data provided information on population background and maternal relationships. Conclusion All results from analysis of the 12 genomic samples were consistent with sample information provided by the sample providers at the end of the blinded study. The relatively easy identification of intra-STR allele SNPs offered the potential for increased discrimination power. The promising nature of these results warrants full validation studies of this massively parallel sequencing technology and its further development for forensic data analysis.

The ArabidopsisGA1 gene encodes copalyl diphosphate synthase, which catalyzes the first committed step in the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway. Previous studies indicated that the expression pattern of the GA1 gene is tissue-specific and cell-type-specific during development. Here we showed that expression of GA1 cDNA driven by the 2.4 kb 5′-upstream sequence plus the GA1 genomic coding region into the third exon was able to rescue the ga1-3 mutant phenotype. To understand the mechanism controlling GA1 gene expression, cis-regulatory regions in the GA1 promoter were identified by promoter deletion analysis with the GA1-β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene fusion system. The second intron and the region from −1391 to −997, with respect to the translation initiation site, positively regulate overall GA1-GUS expression level in all tissues examined. Several additional regulatory regions are involved in GA1-GUS expression in all the stages except in seeds: two positive regulatory regions in the first intron and the sequence between −425 and −207, and a negative regulatory region between −1848 and −1391. We also found that the region between −997 and −796 is essential for a high level of GA1 expression in developing seeds.

DNA-based individual identification and RNA-based tissue identification represent two commonly-used tools in forensic investigation, aiming to identify crime scene sample donors and helping to provide links between DNA-identified sample donors and criminal acts. Currently however, both analyses are typically performed separately. In this proof-of-principle study, we developed an approach for the simultaneous analysis of forensic STRs, amelogenin, and forensic mRNAs based on parallel targeted DNA/RNA sequencing using the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (R) (PGM (TM)) System coupled with the AmpliSeq (TM) targeted amplification. We demonstrated that 9 autosomal STRs commonly used for individual identification (CSF1PO, D16S539, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, TH01, TPOX, and vWA), the AMELX/AMELY system widely applied for sex identification, and 12 mRNA markers previously established for forensic tissue identification (ALAS2 and SPTB for peripheral blood, MMP10 and MMP11 for menstrual blood, HTN3 and STATH for saliva, PRM1 and TGM4 for semen, CYP2B7P1 and MUC4 for vaginal secretion, CCL27 and LCE1C for skin) together with two candidate reference mRNA markers (HPRT1 and SDHA) can all be successfully combined. Unambiguous mRNA-based tissue identification was achieved in all samples from all forensically relevant tissues tested, and STR sequencing analysis of the tissue sample donors was 100% concordant with conventional STR profiling using a commercial kit. Successful STR analysis was obtained from 1 ng of genomic DNA and mRNA analysis from 10 ng total RNA; however, sensitivity limits were not investigated in this proof-of-principle study and are expected to be much lower. Since dried materials with noticeable RNA degradation and small DNA/RNA amplicons with high-coverage sequencing were used, the achieved correct individual and tissue identification demonstrates the suitability of this approach for analyzing degraded materials in future forensic applications. Overall, our study demonstrates the feasibility of simultaneously obtaining multilocus STR, amelogenin, and multilocus mRNA information for combined individual and tissue identification from a small sample of degraded biological material. Moreover, our study marks the first step towards combining many DNA/RNA markers for various forensic purposes to increase the effectiveness of molecular forensic analysis and to allow more forensically relevant information to be obtained from limited forensic material. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique has been commonly adopted to fabricate quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) in the literature. However, pore blocking and poor distribution of quantum dots (QDs) in TiO2 matrices were always encountered. Herein, we report an efficient method, termed as potential-induced ionic layer adsorption and reaction (PILAR), for in situ synthesizing and assembling CdSe QDs into mesoporous TiO2 films. In the ion adsorption stage of this process, a negative bias was applied on the TiO2 film to induce the adsorption of precursor ions. The experimental results show that this bias greatly enhanced the ion adsorption, accumulating a large amount of cadmium ions on the film surface for the following reaction with selenide precursors. Furthermore, this bias also drove cations deep into the bottom region of a TiO2 film. These effects not only resulted in a higher deposited amount of CdSe, but also a more uniform distribution of the QDs along the TiO2 film. By using the PILAR process, as well as the SILAR process to replenish the incorporated CdSe, an energy conversion efficiency of 4.30% can be achieved by the CdSe-sensitized solar cell. This performance is much higher than that of a cell prepared by the traditional SILAR process.

With the dramatic growth of using video cameras for applications of public surveillances in recent years, detection of public threats or security issues on surveillances becomes possible nowadays. How to identify anomalous behavior from surveillance videos has been identified as an effective manner for detecting critical events in the public avenue. We in this paper discuss a new application paradigm to identify anomalous moving behavior by utilizing techniques of mining trajectories which are extracted from moving objects in the surveillance video. Our experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed algorithms, demonstrating its promising applicability in the big data era.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been known as one of the most lethal human malignancies, due to the difficulty of early detection, chemoresistance, and radioresistance, and is characterized by active angiogenesis and metastasis, which account for rapid recurrence and poor survival. Its development has been closely associated with multiple risk factors, including hepatitis B and C virus infection, alcohol consumption, obesity, and diet contamination. Genetic alterations and genomic instability, probably resulted from unrepaired DNA lesions, are increasingly recognized as a common feature of human HCC. Dysregulation of DNA damage repair and signaling to cell cycle checkpoints, known as the DNA damage response (DDR), is associated with a predisposition to cancer and affects responses to DNA-damaging anticancer therapy. It has been demonstrated that various HCC-associated risk factors are able to promote DNA damages, formation of DNA adducts, and chromosomal aberrations. Hence, alterations in the DDR pathways may accumulate these lesions to trigger hepatocarcinogenesis and also to facilitate advanced HCC progression. This review collects some of the most known information about the link between HCC-associated risk factors and DDR pathways in HCC. Hopefully, the review will remind the researchers and clinicians of further characterizing and validating the roles of these DDR pathways in HCC.

Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) platforms allow the simultaneous analysis of thousands to millions of DNA fragments, generating large amounts of data in a relatively short time frame compared with traditional sequencing methods. The aim of this study is to examine parameters for data interpretation generated for STR genotyping with a prototype 24-plex panel using Ion Torrent PGM. One male DNA reference sample was amplified with a 24-plex STR panel (kindly provided by Thermo Fisher Scientific) and sequenced in Ion Torrent PGM™. It was considered the numbers of alleles discriminated and the number of background reads from the number of total reads. Also parameters such as the percentage of stutter peaks, heterozygote peak high ratio (PHR) and sequence variants were evaluated. The full DNA profiles, with DNA input as low as 0.037ng, corresponded to previous capillary electrophoresis (CE) results. Deep sequencing reads of 10,000 allowed the observation of intra-allelic variation on 5 loci . This study shows that MPS applied to STR genotyping improves accuracy and mixture interpretation.

Bi-Allelic Insertions and Deletions (INDELs) are a powerful set of genetic markers for Human Identification (HID). They have certain desirable features, such as low mutation rates, no stutter, and potentially small amplicon sizes that could prove effective in some circumstances. In this study, we analyzed the distribution of 114 INDELs in four North American populations (Caucasian, African American, Southwest Hispanic, and Asian) to estimate their distribution in major global populations. Of the 114 INDELs a primary panel of 38 candidate markers was selected that met the criteria of (1) a minimum allele frequency of greater than 0.20 across the populations studied; (2) general concordance with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) expectations; (3) relatively low FST based on the major populations; (4) physical distance between markers greater than 40 Mbp; and (5) a lack of linkage disequilibria between syntenic markers. Additionally, another 11 supplemental markers were selected for an expanded panel of 49 markers which met the above criteria, with the exception that they are separated at least by 20 Mbp. The resulting panels had Random Match Probabilities that were at least 10(-16) and 10(-19), respectively, and combined FST values of approximately 0.02. Given these findings, these INDELs should be useful for HID.

Analysis of length polymorphism at short tandem repeat (STR) loci utilizing multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) remains the primary method for genotyping forensic samples. The AmpFℓSTR(®) Identifiler(®) Plus PCR Amplification Kit is an improved version of the AmpFℓSTR(®) Identifiler(®) PCR Amplification Kit and amplifies the core CODIS loci: D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, CSF1PO, FGA, TH01, TPOX, and vWA. Additional loci amplified in the multiplex reaction are the sex-determinant, amelogenin, and two internationally accepted loci, D2S1338 and D19S433. While the primer sequences and dye configurations were unchanged, the AmpFℓSTR(®) Identifiler(®) Plus PCR Amplification Kit features an enhanced buffer formulation and an optimized PCR cycling protocol that increases sensitivity, provides better tolerance to PCR inhibitors, and improves performance on mixture samples. The AmpFℓSTR(®) Identifiler(®) Plus PCR Amplification Kit has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) guidelines. The validation results support the use of the AmpFℓSTR(®) Identifiler(®) Plus PCR Amplification Kit for human identity and parentage testing.

The AmpFℓSTR(®) Identifiler(®) Direct PCR Amplification Kit is a new short tandem repeat multiplex assay optimized to allow the direct amplification of single-source blood and buccal samples on FTA(®) card without the need for sample purification and quantification. This multiplex assay has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Validation results revealed that slight variations in primer concentration, master mix component concentration, and thermal cycling parameters did not affect the performance of the chemistry. The assay's sensitivity was demonstrated by amplifying known amounts of white blood cells spotted onto FTA(®) cards, and the assay's specificity was verified by establishing minimal cross-reactivity with nonhuman DNA. No effect on the age of the sample stored on the FTA(®) substrate was observed and full concordance was established in the population study. These findings of the validation study support the use of the Identifiler(®) Direct Kit for forensic standards and database samples genotyping.

Individual investors that are also natural persons play an important role in the stock market as providers of liquidity, and it is their investment performance that directly influences their rate of survival in the market. As to whether the outcome of their operating performance is due to their overconfidence, and whether this in turn influences their survival in the market, forms the basis of this study. To this end, we use data for each investor’s credit transactions in the Taiwan securities market in an attempt to verify whether the investors’ overconfident trading behavior that gives rise to wealth losses through short selling is reflected in their competence in picking stocks, as opposed to their ability to time their participation in the market as suggested by Barber and Odean (2000). We find that a threshold effect exists between the number of trade stocks of short-selling traders and their returns, that is, when the number of trade stocks is lower than the threshold value, the number of trade stocks and the return exhibits a positive relationship. However, when the number of trade stocks is higher than the specified threshold value, the relationship with the returns will be negative. However, regardless of how large the number of trade stocks is, the trade frequencies will always be positively related to the return. The results of our empirical analysis indicate that the main reason for the loss of wealth on the part of short-selling investors is their excessive number of trade stocks, and not the frequency of trades. In addition, we also find that day traders engaging in credit transactions are characterized by a significant disposition effect (i.e., a reluctance to realize losses), and investors are more inclined to be overconfident when engaging in credit transactions than when trading in common stocks.

Mobile devices such as cell phones, GPS guiding systems, and mp3 players, now become one of the most important consumer electronic products. Being an embedded system, mobile devices are highly integrated in software and hardware for robustness, high performance, and low cost. The problem is that this also makes it very difficult to understand the internal interactions of hardware as well as software modules in such devices and to identify performance bottlenecks and design faults. Profiling helps developers to understand the behaviors of a system, especially during the development of new platforms. Android is a new software platform intended for mobile devices. It is composed of Linux and a Java virtual machine called Dalvik. The ability to profile Android helps developers to familiarize with Android's features and optimize their applications. In this paper, we discuss the development of a profiling tool interface, JVM TI, on Android. With this tool interface, developers can profile their Java code running on Dalvik using JVM TI.

In line with the stealth trading hypothesis advanced by Barclay and Warner (1993), Chakravarty (2001) and Chakravarty, Van Ness and Van Ness (2005), this paper extends the test of fragmentation of trades for different types of investors in the Taiwan stock market – a pure order-driven emerging market. The trade-size clustering is investigated through a longitudinal analysis of the comprehensive tick data for Taiwan’s equity market from 1998/1/2 to 2006/12/31. We test the public information hypothesis that the stock price change associated with a release of public information that will occur on a trade of a given trade-size category is directly proportional to the percentage of trades in that category. Such a proposition goes against the stealth trading hypothesis which suggests that there is a disproportional association between the percentage cumulative price change and trade-size. To mitigate the research biases resulting from the deregulation of foreigners’ holdings during the study period, the sample is divided into three periods according to the investment caps for foreign investors in Taiwan for performing these tests (30%: 1998/1/2-1999/3/31, 50%: 1999/4/1-2000/12/31, no limit: 2001/1/2-2006/12/31). The empirical results indicate that, regardless of what type the investor is, most of the cumulative price changes are affected by small- and medium-size trades. By comparing the per percent volumes of cumulative absolute price changes for different institutional investors with individual investors, we further confirm that the extent of stealth trading inherent in institutions is much more intensive than it is for individuals. The clustering of the per percent trades of cumulative absolute price changes for large-size trades reveals the existence of trade-intention-induced price manipulation in Taiwan. The fact that the per percent trades of cumulative absolute price changes for large-size trades of institutions are significantly greater than those for individuals confirms the influence of institutional investors on price volatility. For the fully deregulated period (2001/1/2 – 2006/1/2), we find foreign institutional investors to be the most influential investors in Taiwan, even though they disguise their intention to trade. Our result is consistent with the prediction of Barclay and Warner, and Chakravarty’s stealth-trading hypothesis. While making the most of the information advantage, the institutional investors in Taiwan appear to engage in trade-intention-induced price manipulation in addition to stealth-trading behavior. The finding of the trade-intention-induced price manipulation of this paper is similar to the previous one, but different from the stark-naked phenomenon of the large block trade/ price manipulation in China’s stock market found in Cai, Cai, and Keasey (2006). Our findings appear to further confirm the market lore that institutions are informed traders.

DNA typing of degraded DNA samples can be a challenging task when using the current commercially available multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) analysis kits. However, the ability to type degraded DNA specimens improves by redesigning current STR marker amplicons such that smaller sized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products are generated. In an effort to increase the amount of information derived from these types of DNA samples, the AmpFlSTR MiniFiler PCR Amplification Kit has been developed. The kit contains reagents for the amplification of eight miniSTRs which are the largest sized loci in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit (D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, CSF1PO, and FGA). Five of these STR loci (D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, and FGA) also are some of the largest loci in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus kit. This informative nine-locus multiplex, which includes the gender-identification locus Amelogenin, has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Our results demonstrate significant performance improvements in models of DNA degradation, PCR inhibition, and nonprobative samples when compared to the AmpFlSTR Identifiler and SGM Plus kits. These data support that the MiniFiler kit will increase the likelihood of obtaining additional STR information from forensic samples in situations in which standard STR chemistries fail to produce complete profiles.

The AmpFlSTR® MiniFiler™ polymerase chain reaction amplification kit developed by Applied Biosystems enables size reduction on eight of the larger STR loci amplified in the Identifiler kit, which will aid recovery of information from highly degraded DNA samples. The MiniFiler™ Kit amplifies CSFIPO, FGA, D2S1338, D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, and D21S11 as well as the sex-typing locus amelogenin. A total of 1308 samples were evaluated with both the MiniFiler™ and Identifiler® STR kits: 449 African American, 445 Caucasian, 207 Hispanic, and 207 Asian individuals. Full concordance between Identifiler and MiniFiler Kits was observed in 99.7% (10,437 out of 10,464) STR allele calls compared. The 27 differences seen are listed in Table 1 and encompass the loci D13S317 (n = 14) and D16S539 (n = 10) as well as D18S51 (n = 1), D7S820 (n = 1), and CSF1PO (n = 1). Genotyping discrepancies between the Identifiler and MiniFiler kits were confirmed by reamplification of the samples and further testing using the PowerPlex®16 kit in many cases. DNA sequence analysis was also performed in order to understand the nature of the genetic variations causing the allele dropout or apparent repeat unit shift.