9,413 research outputs found
Wavelength tunable 10-GHz 3-ps pulse source using a dispersion decreasing fiber-based nonlinear optical loop mirror
Full text linkWe experimentally demonstrate the use of a dispersion decreasing fiber (DDF)-based nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) for the generation of wavelength tunable soliton-like pulses at a repetition rate of 10 GHz. We compress ~12 ps Gaussian pulses from an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) (followed by 125 m of DCF for preliminary linear dispersion compensation) into 3 ps pedestal-free pulses using both high-order soliton compression and nonlinear switching effects within an 8.5 km DDF-based loop mirror. The output pulses from the DDF-based NOLM show considerable pedestal reduction compared to those obtained by directly compressing the EAM seed pulses via a single passage through the DDF. Wavelength tuning of the compressed pulses over a ~15 nm bandwidth (from 1541 to 1556 nm) is demonstrated without a significant increase in pulse duration or degradation in pulse quality
Schulte performance in terms of work efficiency (WE), psychological stability (PS), and warming-up work indicator (WU).
No full textSchulte performance in terms of work efficiency (WE), psychological stability (PS), and warming-up work indicator (WU).</p
HemosIL D-dimer HS assay in the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Results of a multicenter management study.
No full textOn Wu's Method for Proving Constructive Geometric Theorems
No full textIn 1977 Wu Wen-tsiin discovered an efficient method for mechanical theorem proving. This method has been applied to prove and discover theorems in various kinds of geometries. Based on an extension of one of Wu's algorithmic procedures, the author implemented a prover CPS for proving so-called constructive geometric theorems, as well as a general theorem prover PS. Using this prover we proved more than one hundred non-trivial theorems and discovered also a number of interesting ones. This paper is a summarization of our early work, as a abbreviation of the chapter 2 from my Chinese doctoral dissertation.
Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author
Full text linkThe question motivating this review paper is, how can
computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn-
ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to
link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory,
and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional
question driving research in interactive narrative is, ‘how can an in-
teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while
maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?’ This question
derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that,
as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency.
Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip-
ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based
on Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed are
reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the
conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question
that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional
question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in-
teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity
Preparation of smart surface grafted by PS-b-PAA copolymer brush and its responsive Behaviors
No full textBlock polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) copolymers were obtained by means of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), and then were covalently grafted to y-(2,3-glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPS) modified Si surfaces to obtain the solvent surfaces. GPC, FTIR, H-1 NMR and AFM were used to characterize the samples and surfaces. The surface responsive behaviors were investigated by water contact angle (CA) measurements. It shows that the wetting properties of the surfaces were dependent on the compositions of grafted copolymer and the properties of the solvents. The surface modified with the compolymer, which has lower PS/PAA ratio, is more hydrophilic under the same treatment. Hydrophilic surfaces were obtained after the treatments of ethanol and basic aqueous solution, while toluene and acidic aqueous solution treatments would result in the surface hydrophobicity. Moreover, the switching behaviors of the surface were also proved to be very stable with the external acid-base stimuli
Chronic lung disease in premature infants: Respiratory assessment and physical therapy intervention
No full textAnti-PS IgG Immune Complexes Impair Macrophage Phagocytosis in SLE via LOX-Dependent Oxidative Stress
Full text linkHui Guan,1– 3,&ast; Liqi Huang,1,&ast; Yu Liu,1,&ast; Enyi Zhu,4 Lefeng Chen,5 Weijie Li,2 Haiqi Wu,2 Xiaoying Zhang,6 Rencai Qin,2 Jingpeng Zheng,2 Yingqian Mo,5 Ming Zhong,1 Bihua Xu,7 Xiaoyan Dai,8 Qi Wei,2 Yunwei Chen,2 Qingwen Wang,7 Zhihua Zheng,1 Kongyang Ma,2 Chun Tang1 1Department of Nephrology, Center of Kidney and Urology, the Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China; 2Centre for Infection and Immunity Studies, School of Medicine, The Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, People’s Republic of China; 4The Division of Nephrology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Diseases, Guangzhou, 510000, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Rheumatology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, People’s Republic of China; 6Health Management Center, the Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, 518036, People’s Republic of China; 8Clinical Research Institute, Hengyang Medical School, the second Affiliated Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang, 421002, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chun Tang, Email [email protected] Kongyang Ma, Email [email protected]: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a severe autoimmune disease with systemic complications mediated by immune-complex formation. The elevated level of anti-phosphatidylserine (PS) IgG has been implicated in SLE pathogenesis. In this study, we aimed to explore the effector mechanisms of PS immune-complex during lupus development.Patients and Methods: Serological profiles of immune-complexes in SLE patients were analyzed. Immunofluorescence staining showed PS-IgG immune-complex deposition in kidney biopsies of lupus nephritis patients. C57BL/6J mice were immunized with PS for immune-complex and renal function assessment. The roles of PS-IgG immune-complex and lysyl oxidase (LOX) were validated from SLE PBMCs, THP-1 cell line and PS-immunized lupus mice. The intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and phagocytosis function were examined by flow cytometry in SLE PBMCs, THP-1 cell line and PS-immunized lupus mice. For in vitro treatment, the effects of antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and LOX inhibitor β-Aminopropionitrile (BAPN) were verified in THP-1 cell line and cells from PS-immunized lupus mice.Results: SLE and lupus nephritis (LN) patients showed significant elevated circulating and glomerular PS-IgG immune-complex levels. ROC analysis indicated PS-IgG immune-complex as a strong biomarker in SLE and LN. Mechanistically, induced macrophages from SLE patients treated with PS-IgG immune-complex significantly increased cytoplasmic ROS levels, elevated LOX expression and exhibited dampened phagocytotic function. In mice, PS immunization triggered PS-IgG immune complex formation, increased LOX expression, immune-complex deposited glomerular nephritis, and impaired phagocytotic function of macrophages. NAC and BAPN treatment restored the phagocytotic function of human and murine macrophages.Conclusion: Our results indicate that PS-IgG immune-complex can directly impair macrophage phagocytotic functions via LOX mediated-oxidative stress and may serve as a novel biomarker for SLE.Keywords: systemic lupus erythematosus, anti-phospholipid antibodies, immune complex, macrophage
Ostensive signals support learning from novel attention cues during infancy
No full textSocial attention cues (e.g., head turning, gaze direction) highlight which events young infants should attend to in a busy environment and, recently, have been shown to shape infants' likelihood of learning about objects and events. Although studies have documented which social cues guide attention and learning during early infancy, few have investigated how infants learn to learn from attention cues. Ostensive signals, such as a face addressing the infant, often precede social attention cues. Therefore, it is possible that infants can use ostensive signals to learn from other novel attention cues. In this training study, 8-month-olds were cued to the location of an event by a novel non-social attention cue (i.e., flashing square) that was preceded by an ostensive signal (i.e., a face addressing the infant). At test, infants predicted the appearance of specific multimodal events cued by the flashing squares, which were previously shown to guide attention to but not inform specific predictions about the multimodal events (Wu and Kirkham, 2010). Importantly, during the generalization phase, the attention cue continued to guide learning of these events in the absence of the ostensive signal. Subsequent experiments showed that learning was less successful when the ostensive signal was absent even if an interesting but non-ostensive social stimulus preceded the same cued events
Aggregation Behavior of the Blends of Homo-PS and PS‑<i>b</i>‑PEO‑<i>b</i>‑PS at the Air/Water Interface
No full textAggregation
behaviors of the blended Langmuir monolayers of a homopolymer
polystyrene (h-PS) and a triblock copolymer polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide)-b-polystyrene (PS-b-PEO-b-PS) were studied by the Langmuir
film balance technique, and the morphologies of their Langmuir–Blodgett
(LB) films were studied by atomic force microscopy. The isotherms
of the h-PS/PS-b-PEO-b-PS blends
shift to small areas with the increase of h-PS content, and a pseudoplateau
appears as h-PS content is below 60 wt %. It is worth noting that
the blended isotherms appear at the left of their corresponding ideal
ones, which means that the blended monolayers are a little more condensed
due to attractive interactions between the two components. Hysteresis
phenomena exist in all of the blended monolayers, and the higher the
PS-b-PEO-b-PS content, the larger
the hysteresis degree becomes because of the stronger looped-PEO entanglements.
All the blended LB films of h-PS and PS-b-PEO-b-PS prepared under low pressure exhibit the mixed structures
of small and large isolated circular aggregates. The small aggregates
are the copolymer micelle cores and the large ones are attributed
to coalescence of the local h-PS chains and some PS blocks. Upon further
compression, the aggregates in the blended LB films become a little
denser as h-PS content is below 60 wt %, whereas those become totally
close-packed with decreased size as h-PS content is 80 wt %
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