Glucocorticoids and aging

In this review we analyze the morphologic changes, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functions, glucocorticoid (GC) receptors, and steroidogenic enzyme activities in both animals and humans during aging. In rodent studies, older animals tend to show: 1) hypertrophy of adrenal zona fasciculata (ZF) cells; 2) neuronal loss in the hypothalamic area; 3) loss of GC receptors in the hippocampus; 4) raised circulating adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and GC levels, and increased release of corticotropin-releasing hormone from the hypothalamus; 5) reduced suppression of endogenous GC secretion after administration of dexamethasone; 6) decreased attenuation of response to chronic stress; and 7) increased activity of P450scc and 21-hydroxylase. According to the GC cascade hypothesis, stress and GCs facilitate the aging process in rats. Stress induces downregulation of GC receptors in the hippocampus, then impairs GC feedback on stress-induced HPA axis activation. Finally, an increase in the basal level of corticosterone and extended GC secretion following stress occurs. Because activation of the hippocampus decreases HPA axis function, the unrestrained elevation of GC concentration and the reduction in the level of GC receptors in the hippocampus may gradually weaken the feedback mechanisms and halt the response to stress. In humans, there are conflicting reports of HPA axis function during aging, so it is difficult to make a final conclusion regarding the relationship between aging and HPA axis function.     

An experimental study of the dynamics of the curing process of sheet molding compound (SMC) paste

The dynamic curing behavior of sheet molding compound (SMC) has been investigated by using a cylindrical cure reactor. Both thermal and mechanical responses were determined for R-25 SMC paste. The responses from this material were analyzed to determine the chemical and physical transformations that occur during the SMC molding process. The thermal response was obtained from a thermocouple placed along the centerline of the paste sample in the cure reactor. The thermal history at this location shows distinctive stages associated with heat transfer and crosslinking reactions during the cure cycle. The R-25 paste has a precure time of 160 seconds, a reaction time of 25 seconds, and a temperature rise of 134°C. The mechanical response describes the volume change and the pressure of the paste. The displacement curve shows volume changes due to thermal expansion, cure shrinkage, and thermal contraction during the course of a cure cycle. We found a less than 1% shrinkage during the reaction of the R-25 paste. The pressure response of the paste was found to parallel the volume transformation, although it also is strongly influenced by mechanical interactions between the press and the paste.     

On technology for functional requirement-based reference design retrieval in engineering knowledge management

Engineering design is a knowledge-intensive process, and includes conceptual design, detailed design, engineering analysis, assembly design, process design, and performance evaluation. Each of these tasks involves various aspects of technical knowledge and experience. Whether this technical knowledge and experience can be effectively shared is key to increasing product development capability and quality, and also to reducing the duration and cost of the development cycle. Consequently, providing engineering designers various query methods for retrieving engineering knowledge is one of the most important tasks in engineering knowledge management.The study develops a technology for functional requirement-based reference design retrieval as a decision support mechanism, which can assist engineering designers to retrieve relevant design and associated knowledge for reference in conducting functional requirements of a product. This study involves the following tasks: (i) designing a functional requirement-based reference design retrieval process, (ii) developing techniques related to the technology for functional requirement-based reference design retrieval, and (iii) implementing a functional requirement-based reference design retrieval mechanism. The retrieval process includes the steps of functional requirement-based query, case searching and matching, and case ranking. The technology involves (i) a structured query model for functional requirements, (ii) an index structures for historical design cases, (iii) functional requirement-based case searching and matching mechanisms, (iv) a functional requirement-based case ranking mechanism, and (v) a case-based representation of designed entities. Finally, the experimental example with indexing and retrieving similar designed entities is conducted to demonstrate the proposed techniques worked efficiently.     

Lossless image coding using adaptive, switching algorithm with automatic fuzzy context modelling

A switching adaptive predictor (SWAP) with automatic fuzzy context modelling is proposed for lossless image coding. Depending on the context of the coding pixel, the SWAP encoder switches between two predictors: the adaptive neural predictor (ANP) and the texture context matching (TCM) predictor. The ANP is known to perform well and gives small prediction errors except for pixels around edges. For areas with edges, TCM is used. To decide which is to be used, a switching criterion is proposed to pick out pixels around edges effectively. With the switching predictor structure, small prediction errors can be achieved in both slowly varying areas and edges. Furthermore, the use of the so-called fuzzy context clustering for prediction error refinement is proposed. The proposed compensation mechanism is proved to be very useful through experiments. It further improves the bit rates by, on average, 0.2 bpp in test images. The experiments also show that an average improvement of 0.3 and 0.05 bpp in first-order entropy can be achieved when the proposed switching predictor is compared with the gradient adjusted predictor and a six-order edge directed predictor, respectively. Moreover, the lossless image coder built upon the proposed algorithm also provides lower bit rates than the state-of-the-art context-based, adaptive, lossless image coding (CALIC) system and is comparable to that obtained by the highly complex two-pass coder called TMW     

Electronic word of mouth analysis for service experience

Since eWOM provides a rich source of objective information about products or services, it has become one of the major ways in which consumers collect information about items they are interested in buying. However, the problem of eWOM overload makes it difficult to effectively collect this information, and may have adverse effects on their actual purchase behavior. eWOM content is characterized by unstructured text formats, oversimplified expressions, and newly coined phrases (textspeak), and these all contribute to the challenges that arise when analyzing eWOM. This study thus proposes an eWOM analysis method for analyzing eWOM, which may lead to a more effective method for analyzing eWOM content, extracting both positive and negative appraisals, and help consumers in their decision making. At the same time, the method proposed in this study can also be utilized as a tool to assist companies in better understanding product or service appraisals, thus translating these opinions into business intelligence and as the basis for product/service improvements.     

Experimental and analytical procedures for flow dynamics of sheet molding compound (SMC) in compression molding

A package of procedures have been developed to collect and analyze the response of dynamic variables such as pressure, temperature, and mold separation during the compression molding of Sheet Molding Compound (SMC). From the dynamic responses, the molding process was found to consist of two regions: the flow and the subsequent curing reaction region. With an R-25 formulation and a mold closing rate of 30 mm/s, these two regions are well separated and the average flow time is not significantly affected by the maturation time for the material up to 30 days. Several mechanical parameters were estimated based on relatively simple flow models. The relationship between the press force, mold separation, and mold closing rate is found to be sensitive to the restrictions of the flow.     

Fast removal of Pb(II) and Cu(II) from contaminated water by groundwater treatment waste: impact of sorbent composition

ABSTRACT

A non-hazardous groundwater treatment waste (GWTW) was examined as a low-cost sorbent for Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions. The content of the dominant elements in GWTW was as follows: 78% Fe₂O₃, 7.4% P₂O₅, 7.4% CaO and 5.2% SiO₂. The removal of Pb(II) and Cu(II) was fast, and more than 67–95% of ions were accumulated by GWTW during the first 3 min. The sorption capacity of GWTW depends on solution pH, concentration and temperature. Equilibrium data fitted well with Langmuir–Freundlich and Langmuir-partition models. The inherently formed nano-adsorbent could be utilized for the treatment of water contaminated with Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions.     

Early development in males with Fragile X syndrome: a review of the literature

This article reviews the current bibliographic knowledge on early neurobehavioral development and milestones in Fragile X syndrome (FraX), with emphasis on males affected by the condition. Three broad areas of early development were examined: (1) gross and fine motor, (2) speech and language, and (3) social. The result of the current review indicates very limited information on the developmental milestones in all three areas. The scarce literature on motor development shows that in FraX there is an early developmental delay. Research on speech and language demonstrates pervasive deficits in conversational skills and severe developmental delay, with increasing discrepancy between language level and chronological age in young males with FraX. Finally, deficits in social development in FraX include abnormal gaze, approach and avoidance conflict, and high incidence of autistic spectrum disorders.     

Developing a multi-layer reference design retrieval technology for knowledge management in engineering design

Engineering design is a knowledge-intensive process that encompasses conceptual design, detailed design, engineering analysis, assembly design, process design, and performance evaluation. Each of these tasks involves various areas of knowledge and experience. The sharing of such knowledge and experience is critical to increasing the capacity for developing products and to increasing their quality. It is also critical to reducing the duration and cost of the development cycle. Accordingly, offering engineering designers various methods for retrieving engineering knowledge is one of the most important tasks in managing engineering knowledge.

This study develops a multi-layer reference design retrieval technology for engineering knowledge management to provide engineering designers with easy access to relevant design and related knowledge. The tasks performed in this research include (i) designing a multi-layer reference design retrieval process, (ii) developing techniques associated with multi-layer reference design retrieval technology, and (iii) implementing a multi-layer reference design retrieval mechanism. The retrieval process contains three main phases—‘customer requirement-based reference design retrieval’, ‘functional requirement-based reference design retrieval’ and ‘functional feature-based reference design retrieval’. This technology involves (1) customer requirement-based reference design retrieval, which involves a structured query model for customer requirements, a case-based representation of designed entities, a customer requirement-based index structure for historical design cases, and customer requirement-based case searching, matching and ranking mechanisms, (2) functional requirement-based reference design retrieval, which includes a structured query model for functional requirements, a functional requirement-based index structure for historical design cases, and functional requirement-based case searching, matching and ranking mechanisms, and (3) functional feature-based reference design retrieval, which is a binary code-based representation for functional features, an ART1 neural network for functional feature-based case clustering and functional feature-based case ranking.     

Development of technology for customer requirement-based reference design retrieval

Engineering design is a knowledge-intensive process, and includes conceptual design, detailed design, engineering analysis, assembly design, process design, and performance evaluation. Each task involves various aspects of knowledge and experience. Whether this knowledge and experience can be effectively shared is key to increasing product development capability and quality, and also to reducing the duration and cost of the development cycle. Therefore, offering engineering designers various query methods for retrieving engineering knowledge is one of the most important tasks in engineering knowledge management.The study develops a technology for customer requirement-based reference design retrieval to provide engineering designers with easy access to relevant design and associated knowledge. The tasks involved in this research include (i) designing a customer requirement-based reference design retrieval process, (ii) developing techniques related to the technology for customer requirement-based reference design retrieval, and (iii) implementing a customer requirement-based reference design retrieval mechanism. The retrieval process comprises the steps of customer requirement-based query, case searching and matching, and case ranking. The technology involves (1) a structured query model for customer requirement, (2) an index structure for historical design cases, (3) customer requirement-based case searching and matching mechanisms, (4) a customer requirement-based case ranking mechanism, and (5) a case-based representation of designed entities.