Factors influencing the functional outcome of patients with acute epidural hematomas: analysis of 200 patients undergoing surgery

An actin-depolymerizing marine natural product, mycalolide B, and a related compound, kabiramide D, were labeled with biocytin, a biotin derivative, and used to specify target molecules in cultured rat 3Y1 fibroblasts. Mycalolide B exhibited the ability to bind to various intracellular proteins, probably through the Michael addition of a sulfhydryl group to C5 of mycalolide B. However, no intracellular proteins other than actin apparently reacted with biocytinylated kabiramide D, demonstrating that the binding of kabiramide D to actin was highly specific. Cells treated with biocytinylated kabiramide D followed by staining with fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated avidin showed that biocytinylated kabiramide D bound to stress fibers composed of F-actin, although the staining intensity was weaker than the fluorescent phalloidin staining. The assay for the binding of kabiramide D to actin, which had previously been treated with other actin-depolymerizing agents, showed that the actin-binding site for kabiramide D was the same as that for bistheonellide A, but not those for latrunculin A and cytochalasin D.     

A mean-shift pattern study on integration of SPC and APC for process monitoring

To detect a long-term mean shift of an autocorrelated process, traditional Process Control (SPC) techniques can be applied to monitor a process with Automatic Process Control (APC) or Engineering Process Control (EPC). In this paper, we investigate the relationships between the run-length performance, the mean-shift pattern, and the autocorrelation structure of the original process. For both monitoring the output and monitoring the control action of the APC-controlled process, we study how the mean-shift pattern affects the run-length distribution of the monitoring process. We compare the performance of the two monitoring approaches and make recommendations for various autocorrelated processes. We find that one can indicate the average run-length performance of an automatic-controlled process by examining the mean-shift pattern of the monitoring process.     

Signal processing techniques in genomic engineering

Now that the human genome has been sequenced, the measurement, processing, and analysis of specific genomic information in real time are gaining considerable interest because of their importance to better the understanding of the inherent genomic function, the early diagnosis of disease, and the discovery of new drugs. Traditional methods to process and analyze deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid data, based on the statistical or Fourier theories, are not robust enough and are time-consuming, and thus not well suited for future routine and rapid medical applications, particularly for emergency cases. In this paper, we present an overview of some recent applications of signal processing techniques for DNA structure prediction, detection, feature extraction, and classification of differentially expressed genes. Our emphasis is placed on the application of wavelet transform in DNA sequence analysis and on cellular neural networks in microarray image analysis, which can have a potentially large effect on the real-time realization of DNA analysis. Finally, some interesting areas for possible future research are summarized, which include a biomodel-based signal processing technique for genomic feature extraction and hybrid multidimensional approaches to process the dynamic genomic information in real time.     

An optimal solution to a dock door assignment problem

This paper addresses issues at the shipping/receiving dock of a shipping company, where trucks arrive from vendors to have their shipments unloaded, sorted, and reloaded onto trucks going to the customers. The assignment of dock doors to incoming and outgoing trucks determines the efficiency of the dock operation. A bilinear programming model is proposed to solve the assignment problem.     

AN OVERVIEW OF TAGUCHI METHOD AND NEWLY DEVELOPED STATISTICAL METHODS FOR ROBUST DESIGN

Robust Design is an important method for improving product quality, manufacturability, and reliability at low cost. Taguchi's introduction of this method in 1980 to several major American industries resulted in significant quality improvement in product and manufacturing process design. While the robust design objective of making product performance insensitive to hard-to-control noise was recognized to be very important, many of the statistical methods proposed by Taguchi, such as the use of signal-to-noise ratios, orthogonal arrays, linear graphs, and accumulation analysis, have room for improvement. To popularize me use of robust design among engineers, it is essential to develop more effective, statistically efficient, and user-friendly tech niques and tools. This paper first summarizes the statistical methods for planning and analyzing robust design experiments originally proposed by Taguchi; then reviews newly developed statistical methods and identifies areas and problems where more research is needed. For planning experiments, we review a new experiment format, the combined array format, which can reduce the experiment size and allow greater flexibility for estimating effects which may be more important for physical reasons. We also discuss design strategies, alternative graphical tools and tables, and computer algorithms to help engineers plan more efficient experi ments. For analyzing experiments, we review a new modeling approach, die response model approach, which yields additional information about how control factor settings dampen the effects of individual noise factors; this helps engineers better under stand die physical mechanism of the product or process. We also discuss alternative variability measures for Taguchi's signal-to-noise ratios and develop methods for empirically determining the appropriate measure to use.     

An exploration of sexual knowledge, attitudes and behavior in aboriginal elementary school students in the Ping-Tung area

The purpose of this study was to investigate sexual knowledge, attitudes and behavior of fifth and sixth grade students in aboriginal elementary schools in the Ping-Tung area. A structured questionnaire was administered to 1091 students who were selected by cluster sampling. The results showed: (1) The sexual knowledge score was low but sexual attitudes showed a positive trend. (2) 64.7% and 67.4% of students had at some time seen pictures of male or female sexual organs. (3) About 61% of students had seen sexual magazines or videotapes. (4) 66.2% of male and 88.1% of female students had heard about wet dreams or menstruation before their first experience; more than half of the students thought that wet dreams need treatment. (5) 17.8% of students had masturbation experience, and after that 59.3% of students had fear or guilt feeling. (6) Female students had significantly higher knowledge and attitude scores than male students, Demographic variables produced no significant difference in the above scores. (7) 42.4% of students most desired to know what phenomena indicate sexual maturity. (8) Sex knowledge had significantly positive correlation with sex attitude.     

Autonomy-oriented computing (AOC): formulating computational systems with autonomous components

Autonomous multientity systems are plentiful in natural and artificial worlds. Many systems have been studied in depth and some models of them have been built as computational systems for problem solving. Central to these computational systems is the notion of autonomy. This article surveys research work done along this direction and presents autonomy-oriented computing (AOC) as a paradigm to describe systems for solving hard computational problems and for characterizing the behaviors of a complex system. AOC differs from major complex-system-related studies such as artificial life, simulated evolution, and multiagent systems in that AOC is not just intended to replicate complex behavior, emulate evolution, or coordinate the functioning of many interacting agents. AOC emphasizes the modeling of autonomy in the entities of a complex system and the self-organization of them in achieving a specific goal. Through implemented applications, we describe three main approaches to AOC, as well as an AOC framework with formal definitions of essential constructs and their interrelationships, including the notions of emergent autonomy, self-organization, and the interactions among entities and environment.     

Use of 2'-fluoro-5-methyl-beta-L-arabinofuranosyluracil as a novel antiviral agent for hepatitis B virus and Epstein-Barr virus

A novel anti-hepatitis B virus (anti-HBV) agent, 2'-fluoro-5-methyl-beta-L-arabinofuranosyluracil (L-FMAU), was synthesized and found to be a potent anti-HBV and anti-Epstein-Barr virus agent. Its in vitro potency was evaluated in 2.2.15 and H1 cells for anti-HBV and anti-Epstein-Barr virus activities, respectively. In vitro cytotoxicity in MT2, CEM, 2.2.15, and H1 cells was also assessed, and the results indicated high antiviral selectivities of L-FMAU in these cells.