p53 codon 72 polymorphism in Taiwanese lung cancer patients: association with lung cancer susceptibility and prognosis

Previous studies have indicated that milrinone, a specific type III phosphodiesterase inhibitor, may be able to induce chloride secretion in cystic fibrosis (CF) tissues. We have now assessed the effect of this agent in vivo on the nasal epithelium of CF mutant mice and also in the nose and lungs of human subjects with CF. Wild-type mice showed a small hyperpolarization of the nasal potential difference (PD) in response to milrinone (100 microM, 1.6 +/- 0.6 mV, n = 8, P < 0.05). In contrast, CF mice carrying either the most common human mutation of the gene for the CF transmembrane regulator (CFTR), DeltaF508 (protein mislocalized), or the G551D mutation (protein normally localized) failed to demonstrate this response. Milrinone perfused alone had no significant effect on the baseline nasal PD of human subjects without CF (14.7 +/- 4.0 mV preperfusion; 15.3 +/- 4.6 mV postperfusion), but significantly (P < 0.05) augmented the hyperpolarization induced by a subsequently perfused low-chloride solution (with milrinone, 36.8 +/- 3.0 mV, n = 6; without milrinone, 18.1 +/- 2.2 mV, n = 19). In contrast, in human subjects with CF (n = 6), milrinone alone significantly (P < 0. 05) altered the nasal baseline PD (52.2 +/- 3.3 mV preperfusion; 57. 4 +/- 4.2 mV, postperfusion) but not the subsequent responses to the low-chloride solution (with milrinone, 1.1 +/- 2.2 mV, n = 4; without milrinone, 0.6 +/- 0.5 mV, n = 28) or to isoproterenol (100 microM). In a separate study in subjects (n = 6) with the DeltaF508 mutation, nasal coadministration of milrinone with isoproterenol produced no effect in the presence of amiloride and a low-chloride solution (-0.8 +/- 0.5 mV). This was also the case in the nasal epithelium of CF subjects (n = 4) carrying at least one G551D allele (-0.3 +/- 0.8 mV). Similarly, milrinone did not hyperpolarize the PD of either the tracheal (n = 6) or segmental (n = 6) airways of CF subjects (DeltaF508) when applied topically in vivo in the presence of amiloride, isoproterenol, or adenosine triphosphate (all 100 microM) in a low-chloride solution. These data do not support the use of milrinone to induce chloride secretion in CF airways in vivo.     

Arsenic speciation of solvent-extracted leachate from new and weathered CCA-treated wood

For the past 60 yr, chromate-copper-arsenate (CCA) has been used to pressure-treat millions of cubic meters of wood in the United States for the construction of many outdoor structures. Leaching of arsenic from these structures is a possible health concern as there exists the potential for soil and groundwater contamination. While previous studies have focused on total arsenic concentrations leaching from CCA-treated wood, information pertaining to the speciation of arsenic leached is limited. Since arsenic toxicity is dependent upon speciation, the objective of this study was to identify and quantify arsenic species leaching from new and weathered CCA-treated wood and CCA-treated wood ash. Solvent-extraction experiments were carried out by subjecting the treated wood and the ash to solvents of varying pH values, solvents defined in the EPA's Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) and Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), rainwater, deionized water, and seawater. The generated leachates were analyzed for inorganic As(III) and As(V) and the organoarsenic species, monomethylarsonic acid (MMAA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA), using high-performance liquid chromatography followed by hydride generation and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HPLC-HG-AFS). Only the inorganic species were detected in any of the wood leachates; no organoarsenic species were found. Inorganic As(V) was the major detectable species leaching from both new and weathered wood. The weathered wood leached relatively more overall arsenic and was attributed to increased inorganic As(III) leaching. The greater presence of As(III) in the weathered wood samples as compared to the new wood samples may be due to natural chemical and biological transformations during the weathering process. CCA-treated wood ash leached more arsenic than unburned wood using the SPLP and TCLP, and ash samples leached more inorganic As(III) than the unburned counterparts. Increased leaching was due to higher concentrations of arsenic within the ash and to the conversion of some As(V) to As(III) during combustion.     

A provably secure and efficient two‐party password‐based explicit authenticated key exchange protocol resistance to password guessing attacks

Password‐based two‐party authenticated key exchange (2PAKE) protocol enables two or more entities, who only share a low‐entropy password between them, to authenticate each other and establish a high‐entropy secret session key. Recently, Zheng et al. proposed a password‐based 2PAKE protocol based on bilinear pairings and claimed that their protocol is secure against the known security attacks. However, in this paper, we indicate that the protocol of Zheng et al. is insecure against the off‐line password guessing attack, which is a serious threat to such protocols. Consequently, we show that an attacker who obtained the users' password by applying the off‐line password guessing attack can easily obtain the secret session key. In addition, the protocol of Zheng et al. does not provide the forward secrecy of the session key. As a remedy, we also improve the protocol of Zheng et al. and prove the security of our enhanced protocol in the random oracle model. The simulation result shows that the execution time of our 2PAKE protocol is less compared with other existing protocols. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Laminar free convection in open-ended vertical 7-rod bundles: experiments and porous model

The flow of ambient air induced solely by buoyancy, through a vertical rod bundle has been modelled as a phenomenon in a porous medium. The rods are at uniform heat flux condition and the circular shell adiabatic. The induced flow rate was found to be controlled by a parameter ψ dependent on the heat flux, rod diameter, length, fluid properties and the bundle permeability. Measurements performed on two 7-rod bundles corroborate the theoretical predictions. Longitudinally averaged heat transfer rates from the central and peripheral rods have also been measured and average information generated for the bundle.     

Analysis of nonionic surfactants in bench-scale biotreater samples

The effluents and activated sludges used in benchscale biotreater units have been analyzed for nonionic alcohol ethoxylates and their residues. Separate bench-scale units were fed linear alcohol ethoxylates (AE), highly branched and branched nonylphenol ethoxylates. Effluents and sludges were first pretreated by a foam sublation technique to provide a gross separation of surfactants from the environmental matrix. This step was followed by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with either fluorescence detection (FD) or evaporative light-scattering detection (ESLD). The AEs were derivatized with phenylisocyanate and analyzed by normal-phase HPLC coupled with FD. At extremely low surfactant levels, pretreatment of large sample volumes resulted in interferences on derivatization. Hence, a normal-phase HPLC method with ELSD was developed. Although some interferences do appear using ELSD, this method appears to be a more viable alternative to derivatization/FD for very low levels of AE. HPLC with FD and ELSD detection methods are more quantitative and provide information on the polyoxyethylene chain than is possible with traditional methods like cobalt-thiocyanate active substance. Presented at the 82nd AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo, May 1991, Chicago, Illinois.     

TRISO fuel volume fraction and homogeneity:a nondestructive characterization

A new nondestructive method to estimate the volume fraction and homogeneity of tristructural isotropic(TRISO)-coated fuel particles in fuel compacts designed for high-temperature reactors has been developed using image analysis of conventional X-radiographs. The method is demonstrated on surrogate fuel compacts containing TRISO-coated particles with kernels made of zirconium dioxide. The methodology incorporates a correction for superimposed images of TRISO particles such that a single X-ray image obtained in any one random orientation is sufficient to characterize the fuel compact in terms of volume fraction and homogeneity. The method is based on the virtual segregation of images of each particle inside the compact with the aid of a calibration standard.     

Multiple sourcing decisions using integrated AHP and knapsack model: a case on carton sourcing

Purchase allocation is a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. Multitude of qualitative and quantitative factors is involved in the multiple sourcing decisions. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has widely been used to find out the relative rankings of suppliers. AHP can be combined with regular supplier quantitative audit process. In classical AHP, decision maker (DM) has to pair wise compare suppliers for each factor, whereas the proposed audit based simplified AHP will remove the complexity of comparison. Quarterly audit-based AHP rankings and supplier performance probability products can be used in place of revenues in the backward recursive resource allocation knapsack model. This combined model will decompose purchase allocation problem into different stages and combine one supplier at each stage and provide the optimum and feasible solution in the end. Solution at each stage is also a feasible option. This model is only applicable when the total order quantity and the capacity of all suppliers are integer multiples of economic or minimum order quantity. This integrated model thus provides number of orders/supplier.     

Advances in pulsed-laser-deposited AIN thin films for high-temperature capping, device passivation, and piezoelectric-based RF MEMS/NEMS resonator applications

In this paper we report recent advances in pulsed-laser-deposited AIN thin films for high-temperature capping of SiC, passivation of SiC-based devices, and fabrication of a piezoelectric MEMS/NEMS resonator on Pt-metallized SiO₂/Si. The AlN films grown using the reactive laser ablation technique were found to be highly stoichiometric, dense with an optical band gap of 6.2 eV, and with a surface smoothness of less than 1 nm. A low-temperature buffer-layer approach was used to reduce the lattice and thermal mismatch strains. The dependence of the quality of AlN thin films and its characteristics as a function of processing parameters are discussed. Due to high crystallinity, near-perfect stoichiometry, and high packing density, pulsed-laser-deposited AlN thin films show a tendency to withstand high temperatures up to 1600°C, and which enables it to be used as an anneal capping layer for SiC wafers for removing ion-implantation damage and dopant activation. The laser-deposited AlN thin films show conformal coverage on SiC-based devices and exhibit an electrical break-down strength of 1.66 MV/cm up to 350°C when used as an insulator in Ni/AlN/SiC metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) devices. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) AlN films grown on Pt/SiO₂/Si (100) substrates for radio-frequency microelectrical and mechanical systems and nanoelectrical and mechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) demonstrated resonators having high Q values ranging from 8,000 to 17,000 in the frequency range of 2.5–0.45 MHz. AlN thin films were characterized by x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (in normal and oxygen resonance mode), atomic force microscopy, ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Applications exploiting characteristics of high bandgap, high bond strength, excellent piezoelectric characteristics, extremely high chemical inertness, high electrical resistivity, high breakdown strength, and high thermal stability of the pulsed-laser-deposited thin films have been discussed in the context of emerging developments of SiC power devices, for high-temperature electronics, and for radio frequency (RF) MEMS.