797 research outputs found
Aspects influencing man-hour efficiency of kit preparation for mixed-model assembly
No full textMaterials supply through kitting can enable space-efficient parts presentation that supports flexibility, quality and efficiency at the assembly
stations. However, the preparation of kits is generally associated with considerable man-hour consumption and cost. Within industry, no consensus exists regarding how kit preparation should be designed with respect to man-hour consumption, and literature on the topic is scarce. Based on a literature review and utilizing the experience of an expert panel from industry, the paper uses a cross-case analysis of 15 cases from the automotive industry to identify critical design aspects of kit preparation systems and how they affect man-hour consumption
Supplemental Material, AD-short - Dealing With Death Taboo: Discussion of Do-Not-Resuscitate Directives With Chinese Patients With Noncancer Life-Limiting Illnesses
No full textSupplemental Material, AD-short for Dealing With Death Taboo: Discussion of Do-Not-Resuscitate Directives With Chinese Patients With Noncancer Life-Limiting Illnesses by Hon-Wai Benjamin Cheng, Pui-Shan Karen Shek, Ching-Wah Man, Oi-Man Chan, Chun-Hung Chan, Kit-Man Lai, Suk-Ching Cheng, Koon-Sim Fung, WK Lui, Carman Lam, Yuen-Kwan Ng, Wan-To Wong, and Cherry Wong in American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®</p
Supplemental Material, AD-long - Dealing With Death Taboo: Discussion of Do-Not-Resuscitate Directives With Chinese Patients With Noncancer Life-Limiting Illnesses
No full textSupplemental Material, AD-long for Dealing With Death Taboo: Discussion of Do-Not-Resuscitate Directives With Chinese Patients With Noncancer Life-Limiting Illnesses by Hon-Wai Benjamin Cheng, Pui-Shan Karen Shek, Ching-Wah Man, Oi-Man Chan, Chun-Hung Chan, Kit-Man Lai, Suk-Ching Cheng, Koon-Sim Fung, WK Lui, Carman Lam, Yuen-Kwan Ng, Wan-To Wong, and Cherry Wong in American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®</p
Advancements in LAM-based diagnostic kit for tuberculosis detection: enhancing TB diagnosis in HIV-negative individuals
No full textObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of urine lipoarabinomannan (LAM) detection based on chemiluminescence assay for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in HIV-negative individuals.MethodsA total of 215 patients and 37 healthy individuals were included according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, including 173 cases of PTB and 42 cases of EPTB. Sputum smears, sputum culture, TB-RNA, GeneXpert, and urine LAM results were obtained from all patients before treatment. Using the composite reference standard as the reference, the diagnostic performance of these methods for PTB and EPTB was evaluated, and the diagnostic performance and cost-effectiveness of different combinations were analyzed.ResultsIn PTB, LAM exhibited the highest sensitivity (55.49%), followed by GeneXpert (44.51%). In EPTB, LAM also had the highest sensitivity (40.48%), followed by GeneXpert (33.33%). When combined with one method, LAM combined with GeneXpert showed the highest sensitivity for both PTB (68.79%) and EPTB (61.9%). When combined with two methods, culture, GeneXpert, and LAM showed the highest sensitivity for both PTB (73.99%) and EPTB (69.05%). In terms of cost-effectiveness analysis, the price of LAM was significantly lower than that of GeneXpert (275.79 in PTB and 275.79 vs. 502.33 in EPTB). Among all combinations, the combination of LAM and sputum smear had the lowest cost, with prices of 263.72 for EPTB.ConclusionUrine LAM detection based on chemiluminescence assay can be used as an adjunct diagnostic tool for PTB and EPTB in HIV-negative individuals. This facilitates expanding the current application of urine LAM from solely HIV-positive populations to the general population. LAM detection can overcome the limitations of obtaining clinical samples, and its ease of sample acquisition will be beneficial for its broader application in a larger scope. For economically better-off areas, we recommend using a combination of LAM + GeneXpert+culture for higher sensitivity; for economically disadvantaged areas, LAM + smear microscopy combination can provide a quick and accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis at a lower cost
Man-hour efficiency of manual kit preparation in the materials supply to mass-customised assembly
No full text\ua9 2019, \ua9 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Addressing the materials feeding principle of kitting, commonly applied in the materials supply to mass-customised assembly, the current paper has the purpose of exploring how the man-hour efficiency of kit preparation is affected by the design and the context of the kit preparation. The study presented in the paper is based on a comprehensive methodology, comprising several steps and considering a large set of qualitative as well as quantitative data from 15 case studies. It also utilises the expertise of practitioners from the industry. The paper provides a valuable addition to the existing literature where empirical evidence is scarce. From a practical perspective, it offers support to the design of man-hour efficient kit preparation systems. The findings show that the design and the context of the kit preparation system can have a decisive, yet complex, impact on the man-hour efficiency and, thereby, on an assessment of the applicability of kitting. The paper identifies several important aspects of both design and context and indicates how these aspects are linked to the man-hour efficiency of kit preparation
Abstract 5526: Tumor suppressive role of <i>BMI-1</i> through inhibition of JAK-STAT signaling in leukemia
No full textAbstract
BMI-1, which is one of the core components of polycomb repressive complex 1, is frequently found deregulated in patients with hematological disorders. In last decades, researchers concordantly agree that BMI-1 mediates tumorigenesis of leukemia stem cells through p16INK4A leukemogenic pathway. However, accumulating evidences contradict the idea that BMI-1 solely plays an oncogenic role in tumorigenesis. It has been shown BMI-1 depletion favors the development of myelofibrosis in mice; whereas high BMI-1 expression suppressed colony forming ability of MLL-ENL-transformed bone marrow and correlated with higher survival in some cancers. In this study, we hypothesized that BMI-1 plays a tumor suppressive role, which is independent of the regulation of INK4A-ARF locus, in human leukemia. BMI-1 was over-expressed in a panel of myeloid and lymphoid lineage leukemia cells, including HL-60, MV4-11, MonoMac-6, SEM, Nalm-20 and RS4;11. We observed no deregulation of p16INK4A and p14ARF genes by BMI-1, suggesting the regulation of INK4A-ARF locus is independent of BMI-1 modulation in leukemia cells. Nevertheless, over-expression of BMI-1 resulted in significant reduction of leukemia cell proliferation. It is noted that constitutively active JAK-STAT signaling pathway is crucial to leukemia cell survival. By modulation of BMI-1 level, we demonstrated suppression of the activated JAK-STAT signaling pathway in most of the leukemia cell lines with the exception of MonoMac-6 and RS4;11. This is in agreement with the high sensitivity to ruxolitinib, a JAK-STAT inhibitor, in all the tested leukemia cell lines except RS4;11. Importantly, we showed that BMI-1 over-expression could sensitize RS4;11 cells to reduce cell proliferation under ruxolitinib treatment. These results suggest that higher efficacy of ruxolitinib treatment could be achieved under a condition of high cellular level of BMI-1. We further demonstrated that ruxolitinib treatment was more effective in a cohort of AML patient samples (n = 25) with a context of higher BMI-1 expression (p &lt; 0.05). Altogether, our results suggest that BMI-1 functions as a tumor suppressor gene via inhibition of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. The endogenous level of BMI-1 could be served as an indicator for the effective treatment of JAK-STAT-dependent leukemia cells using ruxolitinib.
Citation Format: Yuk Man Lam, Stephen Sze Yuen Lam, Anskar Yu Hung Leung, Ray Kit Ng. Tumor suppressive role of BMI-1 through inhibition of JAK-STAT signaling in leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5526. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5526</jats:p
Study of distribution of ambient ozone in the vertical profile
No full textOzone (O3) is a gas formed naturally in the atmosphere. If present in the stratosphere, it blocks harmful ultra-violet rays from the sun and absorbs heat to warm the Earth. However, ozone present in the troposphere is harmful to human health. Most of the research conducted focuses on the indoor and outdoor dynamics of ozone, land use regression etc. These research conducted aids in minimizing or highlighting the health impacts of troposphere ozone to humans but there is little research done on investigating the change in ozone concentration along the vertical profile. The main objective of this project is to study the distribution of ozone concentrations along the vertical profile adjacent to building stock in Singapore. Four buildings were chosen to conduct the experiment with different elevations, locations, timings and traffic densities with the aim to draw a correlation between the variables. Portable ozone monitors were used to measure ambient ozone concentrations adjacent to buildings at selected levels. Four to six levels per building were chosen for data collection with the levels equally spaced out according to the height of the building. Data collection was conducted at 4 different timings of the day: Pre-sunrise, Post-sunrise, Afternoon and Night. This is to ensure sufficient data to be collected with varying traffic conditions and meteorological conditions. From the data obtained, it is observed that the ozone concentrations vary with the time of the day. The ozone concentrations at pre-sunrise is the lowest, while slowly increasing and peaks in the afternoon and decreases at night back to the pre-sunrise concentrations. More findings will be explained in details in the report.Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering
Synthesis, characterization of pyrazino-phenanthroline derivatives and study of their aggregation properties
No full textNew pyrazinopyraine-phananthroline derivatives with various lengths of oligoether and alkyl substituents and the corresponding pyrazino-phenanthroline derivatives were synthesized for comparison to their photophysical, electrochemical and thermal properties by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, emission spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, DFT and TDDFT calculations. These derivatives were employed to study molecular self-assembly and kinetic factors in the processes. Furthermore, the newly developed compounds with pyrazinopyraine-phananthroline and pyrazino- phenanthroline moieties were applied in coordination with Re(I) metal ion. The photophysical and electrochemical properties of the Re(I) complexes were investigated.
The pyrazinopyraine-phananthroline derivatives showed similar photophysical and electrochemical properties and exhibited bathochromic shifts in the absorption and emission spectra with smaller optical bandgaps than compounds with pyraino bridges. The compounds with pyrazinopyraine bridges showed a positive solvatochromism in charging the polarity of solvents implying the excited states being more polar than the ground states. In the solution of chloroform, pyrazinopyrazine-phenanthroline derivatives were not stable and could be photo-excited under UV light changing color from yellow to amber. From the DFT and TDDFT calculations, the computational results agreed with the experimental results. For the molecular self-assembly, fabrication of nano- or micro-structures of the derivatives was performed by the mixing with acetone and pure water. Various micro-structures were obtained based on differences in molecular geometries. These micro-structures were controlled and modified by changing kinetic factors such as changing solvent ratios and solvent compositions. These self-assembled structures can be potentially applied to develop organic semiconductors and photonic devices.
The new phenanthroline-containing Re(I) complexes displayed unique photophysical and electrochemical properties. Bathochromic shifts in the absorption and emission spectra were identified upon coordination with Re(I) metal ion. The experimental absorption results agreed with the TTDFT calculations with two electron excitations for the complexes. The Re(I) complexes showed weak quantum yields compared with their parent ligands due to self-quenching processes through non-radiative pathways.published_or_final_versionChemistryMasterMaster of Philosoph
Gravitating effect of gravitation.
No full textThe work reported in this thesis is based on the vierbein field formulation of gravitational theory, used in conjunction with the method of the compensating field. It is shown that the most general linear equations of second order for a tensor field, which are invariant under orientations of the local inertial frame and under gauge transformations of the vierbein field components are identical with Einstein's field equation written down in the weak field approximation. An attempt is made to take into account any possibly existing gravitating effect of gravitation by applying the method of the compensating
field to the weak field Lagrangian, resulting in a set of nonlinear field equations. The invariance properties of the modified field equations are examined, and some special solutions are exhibited.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofGraduat
Improved indexes for next generation bioinformatics applications
No full textpublished_or_final_versionComputer ScienceMasterMaster of Philosoph
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