Design and evaluation of a mobile smart home interactive system with elderly users in Brazil

Personal and Ubiquitous Computing - This article presents a study concerning the evaluation of a smart home control system for elderly people with a sample of 10 users in a city in the interior of...     

Mutational analysis of amiloride sensitivity of the NhaA Na+/H+ antiporter from Vibrio parahaemolyticus

The activity of the NhaA Na+/H+ antiporter of Vibrio parahaemolyticus is inhibited by amiloride. We found an amino acid sequence in the NhaA that was identical to a putative amiloride binding domain of the Na+/H+ exchanger in mammalian cells. We constructed mutant NhaAs that had amino acid substitutions in the putative amiloride binding domain by site-directed mutagenesis. These include V62L (Val62 replaced by Leu), F63Y, F64Y, and L65F. Most mutant NhaAs showed decreased sensitivity for amiloride. Among these, the F64Y mutant NhaA showed the least amiloride sensitivity, with a Ki value 7 to 10 times greater than that in the wild type. Thus, the sequence between residues V62 and L65 in NhaA, especially F64, is very important for the inhibitory effect of amiloride on the antiporter.     

Enhanced hot-carrier-degradation in LDD MOSFET's under pulsedstress

Hot-carrier degradation of lightly doped drain (LDD) MOSFET's under ac stress is investigated. Enhanced ac degradation occurs in LDD MOSFET's as well as in single-drain MOSFET's. However, there is a peculiar degradation mechanism in LDD MOSFET's. For single-drain MOSFET's, enhanced ac degradation appears in both threshold voltage and transconductance at stress drain voltages larger than a critical value. On the other hand, for LDD MOSFET's, although the enhanced degradation in threshold voltage and transconductance appears at stress drain voltages larger than a critical value, the enhanced degradation in transconductance appears even under stress drain voltages lower than the critical value. The difference in the ac-enhanced degradation between LDD and single-drain structures can be explained by a hot hole generated neutral-electron-trap model and the change in hot-hole-injected oxide region according to stress bias conditions     

High ratios of free to total insulin-like growth factor-I in early infancy

A case of huge desmoid tumor successfully treated by hyperthermoradiotherapy is described. A 23-year-old man with familial adenomatous polyposis was operated upon for a desmoid tumor in the mesenterium involving the right kidney and small intestine in 1988. In 1990, the tumor recurred and could not be resected because of the involvement of the vena cava. The tumor grew larger and larger, and occupied two-thirds of the right lower quadrant. Several therapies using sulindac, tamoxifen, prednisolone, indomethacin, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogue, and ascorbate were all ineffective. Finally, the combination of radiation and hyperthermia was used over a 6-month period. At the end of the hyperthermoradiotherapy, the tumor in the abdominal wall was markedly reduced in size, and the protruded abdominal wall became flat. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of the successful treatment of a huge desmoid tumor by hyperthermoradiotherapy.     

Hot-carrier-injected oxide region in front and back interfaces inultra-thin (50 nm), fully depleted, deep-submicron NMOS andPMOSFET's/SIMOX and their hot-carrier immunity

The hot-carrier-injected oxide region in the front and back interfaces is systematically clarified for fully depleted surface-channel nMOSFET's and surface-channel and buried-channel pMOSFET's fabricated on an ultra-thin (50 nm)-film SIMOX wafer. Based on these results, the influence of these injected carriers on front-channel properties is investigated. NMOSFET degradation is shown to be caused by hot-carriers injected into the drain side of the front oxide and pMOSFET degradation by hot-electrons injected into the drain side of both the front oxide and the back oxide. Additionally, it is shown experimentally that these fully depleted devices with effective channel lengths between 0.1-0.2 μm have fairly high hot-carrier immunity, even for single-drain structures     

Neutronic and thermodynamic feasibility of UF6-NpF6 fueled transmutation reactor

Transmutation of neptunium, which is contained in radioactive wastes discharged from nuclear reactors, was investigated as a substitutional method for geologic disposal. We proposed a transmutation reactor fueled with a mixture of gaseous ²³³UF₆ and ²³⁷NpF₆. Neutronic and thermodynamic analysis of the reactor revealed the feasibility of the concept. The reactor has two principal advantages: (1) use of the fuel gas enables on-line reprocessing, (2) ²³⁷Np can be transmuted by a high neutron flux. Our calculation indicated that the transmutation rate of ²³⁷Np was 335 g/year/MW_th, which is much larger than the annual yield of ²³²Np in PWR (6.19 g/year/MW_th).     

Lipid-Lowering Effect of Eriocitrin, the Main Flavonoid in Lemon Fruit, in Rats on a High-Fat and High-Cholesterol Diet

ABSTRACT:  Eriocitrin (eriodictyol 7- O -β-rutinoside) is the main flavonoid in lemon fruit. In this study, eriocitrin was investigated for its lowering effect on serum and hepatic lipids in high-fat and high-cholesterol fed rats. Rats in the control group ( N = 6) were fed a 20% lard and 1% cholesterol diet for 21 d, and rats in the 0.35% eriocitrin group ( N = 6) and 0.70% eriocitrin group ( N = 6) were fed a diet supplemented with eriocitrin 0.35% and 0.70%, respectively. The content of hepatic total cholesterol and triglyceride in the eriocitrin group was no different from that of the control group. The total cholesterol, VLDL+LDL, triglyceride, and phospholipid in the serum of the 0.35% eriocitrin group showed significantly lower concentrations than the control group ( P < 0.05), although there was no difference in the HDL concentrations among the groups. The lowering effect of eriocitrin for serum total cholesterol was thought to be caused by a decrease in VLDL+LDL. The 0.35% eriocitrin group was shown to have a significant increase in excretion of fecal bile acid ( P < 0.05) and a tendency for enhanced hepatic m-RNA levels of LDL receptor in comparison with the control group.     

A new voltage control equipment using fuzzy inference

Power system control equipment needs higher sensitivity and operational reliability. Advanced voltage control equipment is needed for reducing the frequency of tap changes and improving the characteristics (the relationship between the actual voltage and reference voltage) of the voltage to meet today's power system requirements. However, these objectives are in a trade-off relationship. Studies of voltage control derived from a knowledge base suitable for electric power systems can satisfy these objectives using fuzzy inference. Compared with corresponding conventional equipment, the new equipment improved the deviation of 30 min average voltage of 30 percent. This paper describes the design concept of new voltage control equipment using fuzzy inference. In addition, field test results are described along with rules of fuzzy inference, membership functions, and the deviation of 30 min average voltage through detailed simulation.