As you like it: Understanding the relationship between packing design and accessibility

Accessible packaging is continually receiving greater attention as an ageing population becomes a primary driver behind inclusive design. As we age, our strength dexterity and some cognitive functions decline. For this reason, the ease of interaction with simple tasks in daily living becomes an ever increasing concern. ISO 17480 “Packaging Guidelines” consider capability issues relating to packaging and ageing to broadly come under three areas, namely, strength, dexterity, and cognition. Significant previous work has been undertaken looking at the issue of strength on packaging accessibility, with fewer studies looking at the relationship between the physical demands of dexterity and the understanding of how to open the pack. In this previous work, there has been little attempt to quantify the effect of the affordances, perceptual information and symbology, and the physical demands of the pack and how this relates to accessibility. Hence, this exploratory study seeks to use motion capture and a dexterity test, along with a cognitive demand test to study this relationship and any changes with age. This research indicates that the dexterous demands of a task are linked to the cognitive demands; and thus in reaching a level of comprehension of the pack and how to access the product a subject may interact with a pack effectively.     

Nonlinear electrohydrodynamics of free surfaces

Electrical stresses acting at electrified interfaces govern the dynamics of fluids in many situations of practical relevance. In order to understand the electrohydrodynamics of these systems, a knowledge of the forces acting at interfaces is necessary. We will review the balance equations for the forces and the charge density. The relevant nondimensional numbers will be derived and illustrated with some particular cases. The problems of shallow horizontal layers and inclined thin films of perfectly conducting liquids will be examined in some detail     

Parallel SUMIS soft detector for large MIMO systems on multicore and GPU

The Journal of Supercomputing - The number of transmit and receiver antennas is an important factor that affects the performance and complexity of a MIMO system. A MIMO system with very large...     

Some interval-valued q-rung orthopair weighted averaging operators and their applications to multiple-attribute decision making

Q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets (q-ROFSs), initially proposed by Yager, are a new way to reflect uncertain information. The existing intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) and Pythagorean fuzzy sets are special cases of the q-ROFSs. However, due to insufficiency in available information, it is difficult for decision makers to exactly express the membership and nonmembership degrees by crisp numbers, and interval membership degree and interval nonmembership degree are good choices. In this paper, we propose the concept of interval-valued q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (IVq-ROFS) based on the ideas of q-ROFSs and some operational laws of q-rung orthopair fuzzy numbers (q-ROFNs). Then, some interval-valued q-rung orthopair weighted averaging operators are presented based on the given operational laws of q-ROFNs. Further, based on these operators, we develop a novel approach to solve multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) problems under interval-valued q-rung orthopair fuzzy environment. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the application of the proposed method, and the sensitivity analysis is further carried out for the parameters.     

Developing a New qPCR‐Based System for Screening Mutation

An accurate genotyping analysis is one of the critical prerequisites for lung cancer targeted therapy. Here, a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)‐based mutation detection system, mutation‐selected amplification‐specific system PCR (MASS‐PCR), is developed. The specific primers and probes used in MASS‐PCR exactly match with the mutant sequence that only allows mutant gene to emit the fluorescence peak. To determine the sensitivity of MASS‐PCR, 717 lung cancer specimens, 61 formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded (FFPE) tissues, and 656 fresh reaction tissues are collected and undergo mutation detection of lung cancer driver genes (EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, HER2, MET, ALK, and ROS1). These samples are divided into two groups. Mutations in Group I, which has 631 fresh reaction tissues, are analyzed by MASS‐PCR and the amplification refractory mutation system PCR (ARMS‐PCR). While group II samples, 25 fresh reaction tissues and 61 FFPE tissues, are screened through MASS‐PCR and next‐generation sequencing (NGS). All results are verified by direct sequencing. MASS‐PCR shows high consistency with ARMS‐PCR (kappa value > 0.733) and NGS (kappa value = 0.79) (P < 0.001). For the samples with inconsistent MASS‐PCR and ARMS‐PCR results, DS results more likely support the MASS‐PCR results. These data suggest that MASS‐PCR is a convenient, accurate, and economical method for the detection of lung cancer driver gene mutations in clinical practice.     

Draining Over Blocking: Nano-Composite Janus Separators for Mitigating Internal Shorting of Lithium Batteries

Catastrophic battery failure due to internal short is extremely difficult to detect and mitigate. In order to enable the next-generation lithium-metal batteries, a “fail safe” mechanism for internal short is highly desirable. Here, a novel separator design and approach is introduced to mitigate the effects of an internal short circuit by limiting the self-discharge current to prevent cell temperature rise. A nano-composite Janus separator—with a fully electronically insulating side contacting the anode and a partially electronically conductive (PEC) coating with tunable conductivity contacting the cathode—is implemented to intercept dendrites, control internal short circuit resistance, and slowly drain cell capacity. Galvanostatic cycling experiments demonstrate Li-metal batteries with the Janus separator perform normally before shorting, which then results in a gradual increase of internal self-discharge over >25 cycles due to PEC-mitigated shorting. This is contrasted by a sudden voltage drop and complete failure seen with a single layer separator. Potentiostatic charging abuse tests of Li-metal pouch cells result in dendrites completely penetrating the single-layer separator causing high short circuit current and large cell temperature increase; conversely, negligible current and temperature rise occurs with the Janus separator where post mortem electron microscopy shows the PEC layer successfully intercepts dendrites.     

The greatest co-authorships of finance theory literature (1896–2006): scientometrics based on complex networks

Scientometrics - We use some modern scientometrics tools to detect which articles written in co-authorship are the most influential in the finance theory literature from 1896 to 2006. To develop a...     

Activity and selectivity of a {\text{Pd/}}\gamma {\text{ - Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{3}} catalytic membrane in the partial hydrogenation reactions of acetylene and 1,3-butadiene

A ${\text{Pd/}}\gamma {\text{ - Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{3}}$ membrane supported on a macroporous $\alpha {\text{ - Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{3}}$ tube was prepared by sol–gel processing and used in the partial hydrogenation of acetylene and 1,3-butadiene. The average pore diameter of the ${\text{Pd/}}\gamma {\text{ - Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{3}}$ membrane was 3.6 nm. The gases were separated by Knudsen diffusion. The activity and selectivity of the ${\text{Pd/}}\gamma {\text{ - Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{3}}$ membrane was compared to that of ${\text{Pd/}}\gamma {\text{ - Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{3}}$ catalysts used in a conventional packed bed reactor. The highest selectivity to the partially hydrogenated products occurred when the reactant was premixed with H₂ and was passed through the membrane wall.     

Sequence requirements for cytochromes P450IIA1 and P450IIA2 catalytic activity: evidence for both specific and non-specific substrate binding interactions through use of chimeric cDNAs and cDNA expression

Cytochrome P450s IIA1 and IIA2, encoded by the CYP2A1 and CYP2A2genes, display 88% amino acid sequence similarities. The dissimilaritiesof sequence between these two enzymes are primarily localizedwithin four discrete regions of the polypeptides that are separatedby regions of absolute sequence identity. IIA1 specificallyhydroxylates the prototype substrate testosterone at the 7 and6 position with a predominance of 7 metabolite. IIA2, on theother hand, hydroxylates this steroid at eight positions onthe molecule, with one of the most abundant metabolites being15hydroxytestosterone. To determine those amino acids responsiblefor the difference in testosterone hydroxylation specificities,chimeras were constructed between IIA1 and IIA2 cDNAs and expressedin cell culture using vaccinia-virus-mediated cDNA expression.Chimeras, in which the first 355 amino acids correspond to asingle enzyme, maintain the specificity associated with thatenzyme. Of six chimeras which have substitutions between aminoacids 161 and 276, two are inactive and the remaining four givesimilar metabolite profiles, in which both 7 and 15 hydroxylationspecificities have been lost. Two of these four chimeras arediametric apposites, suggesting that modification of eitherthe N-terminal or central regions of the enzymes results inconformational changes that prevent the specific binding interactionsresponsible for the narrow regioselectivity associated withIIA1 and 15-hydroxytestosterone formation associated with IIA2.