Harvesting RF Energy Using Slotted Tri-Stepped Rectangular Monopole Antenna

Wireless Personal Communications - Sparse representation-based classification (SRC) has been successfully used in facial expression recognition, well-known for its high accuracy and robustness to...     

α-Glucosidase, α-amylase inhibition kinetics,in vitro gastro-intestinal digestion,and apoptosis inducing abilities of Ficus microcarpa L. f. and Ficus racemosa L. fruit polysaccharides

Food Science and Biotechnology - A rich source of nutrients, figs have a number of clinically validated benefits. This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion, and...     

Identification of Phenylpyrazolone Dimers as a New Class of Anti-Trypanosoma cruzi Agents

Chagas disease is becoming a worldwide problem; it is currently estimated that over six million people are infected. The two drugs in current use, benznidazole and nifurtimox, require long treatment regimens, show limited efficacy in the chronic phase of infection, and are known to cause adverse effects. Phenotypic screening of an in-house library led to the identification of 2,2′-methylenebis(5-(4-bromophenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one), a phenyldihydropyrazolone dimer, which shows an in vitro pIC₅₀ value of 5.4 against Trypanosoma cruzi. Initial optimization was done by varying substituents of the phenyl ring, after which attempts were made to replace the phenyl ring. Finally, the linker between the dimer units was varied, ultimately leading to 2,2′-methylenebis(5-(3-bromo-4-methoxyphenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one (NPD-0228) as the most potent analogue. NPD-0228 has an in vitro pIC₅₀ value of 6.4 against intracellular amastigotes of T. cruzi and no apparent toxicity against the human MRC-5 cell line and murine cardiac cells.     

Role of weave design on the mechanical properties of 3D woven fabrics as reinforcements for structural composites

3D fabrics as reinforcement can be manipulated in discrete numbers of weave designs in order to earn maximum gain so that the desired mechanical properties of the composites can be achieved eventually for particular end use. Thus interest has been focused to investigate tensile, impact and knife penetration properties of 3D orthogonal and interlock structures of different weave designs by varying their binder interlacement patterns keeping stuffer binder ratio constant. The tensile properties were effectively influenced by the linear densities as well as crimp of load bearing tows, which were determined by the weave design of the fabric. The compact structure generated from regular weave pattern in case of 1 × 1 plain orthogonal and 1 × 1 plain interlock fabrics exhibited better impact energy absorption. Owing to higher values of peak energy in the knife penetration test, it is revealed that more is the number of fibres in the in-plane direction better is the protection.     

Real-time air monitoring of occupational exposures to particulate matter among hairdressers in Maryland: A pilot study

Hairdressers are exposed to particulate matter (PM), a known air pollutant linked to adverse health effects. Still, studies on occupational PM exposures in hair salons are sparse. We characterized indoor air PM concentrations in three salons primarily serving an African/African American (AA) clientele, and three Dominican salons primarily serving a Latino clientele. We also assessed the performance of low-cost sensors (uRAD, Flow, AirVisual) by comparing them to high-end sensors (DustTrak) to conduct air monitoring in each salon over 3 days to quantify work shift concentrations of PM_2.5, respirable PM (RPM), and PM₁₀. We observed high spatial and temporal variability in 30-min time-weighted average (TWA) RPM concentrations (0.18–5518 μg/m³). Readings for the uRAD and AirVisual sensors were highly correlated with the DustTrak (R² = 0.90–0.99). RPM 8-hour TWAs ranged from 18 to 383 µg/m³ for AA salons, and 9–2115 µg/m³ for Dominican salons. Upper 95th percentiles of daily RPM exposures ranged from 439 to 2669 µg/m³. The overall range of 30-min TWA PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ concentrations was 0.13–5497 and 0.36-,541 μg/m³, respectively. Findings suggest that hairdressers could be overexposed to RPM during an 8-hour shift. Additional comprehensive monitoring studies are warranted to further characterize temporal and spatial variability of PM exposures in this understudied occupational population.     

Machine learning in continuous casting of steel: a state-of-the-art survey

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing - Continuous casting is the most important route for the production of steel today. Due to the physical, mechanical, and chemical components involved in the...     

Geographically and technologically mediated knowledge spillovers between European regions

This paper aims at investigating inter-regional knowledge spillovers across European sub-national regions. The basic questions that we wish to answer may be formulated in the following way: do regional geographical and technological proximities matter for the creation of new knowledge within the European regional landscape? After a review of the related literature, we consider a regional knowledge production function that allows for extra regional innovation-generating inputs. Accounting for regional specific social capability, this knowledge production function is applied to an extended sample of 153 European sub-national regions over the period 1989–1996. Interregional knowledge spillovers are shown to exist between geographically close regions and between regions displaying similar technological profiles. However, technological proximity and geographical proximity coincides to a certain extent. Knowledge spillovers are mainly driven by the private business sector. If knowledge spillovers occur within a given country, the national border turns out to seriously hamper interregional spillovers on the European scale. The author wishes to thank Eckhardt Bode, Henri Capron, Raymond J.G.M. Florax, Charlie Karlsson, Roger Stough and Roger Vickerman for their useful comments and suggestions. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Western Regional Science Association in February 2002, Monterey, California.     

菲亚特展示最新工程机械解决方案

正著名动力总成系统制造商菲亚特动力科技(FPT Industrial)因创新的解决方案而闻名,该公司一直专注于未来技术的开发,以确保发动机最低的排放水平和最高的生产力,此次参展也展示其最新的工程机械解决方案。R22型发动机拓宽低排量产品范围展会期间,菲亚特展示了其与长期