The price drop of sensors and proliferation of many smaller sensor-enabled devices in the 2010s started a data revolution that has firmly infiltrated the building automation system (BAS) sector. ...Building owners and their consultants and contractors continue to become more obligated to access, curate, and store data from a variety of devices that use different communication protocols. This interoperability challenge has been known since the early days of direct digital control in buildings in the 1980s. In response in North America, the inception of BACnet occurred in 1987 when members of the automation industry attending an ASHRAE conference came "to the realization that the building industry needed a cost-effective way to integrate different systems from diverse vendors into one coherent automation and control system". Over the next few decades, BACnet grew to have a protocol market share of over 80% in North America by 2017 according to the BSRIA. Despite the modern need for network harmonization to ease data management, BACnet gateway vendor growth has slowed significantly to less than 10% between 2014 and 2019. In addition, many IoT-focused communication protocols do not have default security settings and guidance (e.g., MQTT, Bluetooth) which can open unexpected security vulnerabilities at multiple levels of the BAS technology stack. While BACnet is not the only converged network communication protocol solution, it is the most common in the field in North America today and therefore is the focus of this paper. With the continual emergence of new protocols in the IoT and BAS control-adjacent fields, caution must be applied to enable data access and assert data security. This paper summarizes North American BAS trends in the commercial space, best practices with respect to data access in building automation systems, and presents a brief case study that demonstrates the value of network convergence and metadata. The goal of this paper is to assist the reader with understanding and assessing the value of their data in a typical commercial BAS implementation.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background
The present study aims to delineate the effects of family violence and parent–adolescent conflict on antisocial behavior exhibited by adolescents in the Chinese casino city of Macau. The ...social interaction perspective indicates the significance of coercive family processes in relation to adolescents’ antisocial behavior, and the related moderating role of positive parenting behavior. How this process is experienced by Chinese Macau adolescents, who are influenced by traditional Chinese culture, is explored.
Objectives
This article examines the relationship of family violence and parent–adolescent conflict with adolescents’ antisocial behavior in Macau. It also examines the possible moderating role of parental support in this relationship.
Method
Using a stratified proportional approach, a random sample of 1889 Grade 7 to Grade 12 students was taken from Macau high schools. The young people reported their neutral/positive behavior and delinquent behavior, family conflict, and emotional and instrumental support they received from parents.
Results
Multiple regression analyses suggest that family violence and parent–adolescent conflict are correlated with adolescent antisocial behavior. Moreover, both instrumental and emotional support from parents can moderate the effect of family conflict on adolescents’ antisocial behavior.
Conclusions
Parents providing instrumental and emotional support to Macau Chinese adolescents is negatively correlated with adolescent antisocial behavior in Macau. In view of the long and unstable working hours of parents working in a gambling city, social workers in Macau could develop more innovative programs to support parents in Macau.
Background
Annually, almost 2 billion peripheral intravenous cannulas (PIVCs) are placed worldwide. In response to concerns of infectious complications, chlorhexidine is increasingly utilised for ...maintenance decontamination of PIVC injection ports. Concomitantly, the allergenic potential of chlorhexidine exposures has been highlighted by several case reports, implicating it as a trigger when used for this seemingly innocuous process. Given how widespread this application is, elucidating potential chlorhexidine exposure is needed to gauge its risks and benefits.
Objective
To examine and quantify if chlorhexidine is entrained when used for PIVC injection port cleaning.
Methods
Twenty benchtop PIVC set‐ups were cleaned with 2% chlorhexidine and 70% alcohol wipes, following three different pragmatic protocols. Each set‐up was injected with 10 ml ultrapure water, and samples tested by liquid chromatography‐electrospray tandem mass spectrometry for entrained chlorhexidine.
Results
Chlorhexidine was detected in every sample. Mean concentrations and standard deviations from each protocol were 41.47 ppb (4.08), 54.76 ppb (17.46), and 65.84 ppb (7.01). One‐way ANOVA indicated a statistical difference between at least two groups (df = 2, F = 24.11, p < .00001), with Tukey's testing verifying significantly different mean concentrations between all groups (p < .01).
Conclusions
Using 2% chlorhexidine and 70% alcohol swabs to decontaminate PIVC injection ports resulted in consistent entrainment of chlorhexidine, with varying amounts correlated to how it was applied. These results validate case reports attributing anaphylactic/allergic reactions to suspected intravenous chlorhexidine entrainment and should factor into future risk–benefit assessments for its use in PIVC maintenance antisepsis policies and protocols.
AIM To describe racial/ethnic differences in treatment and survival among liver cancer patients in a populationbased cancer registry.METHODS Invasive cases of primary hepatocellular carcinoma, n = ...33270, diagnosed between January 1, 1988-December 31, 2012 and reported to the California Cancer Registry were analyzed by race/ethnicity, age, gender, geographical region, socio-economic status, time period of diagnosis, stage, surgical treatment, and survival. Patients were classified into 15 racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic White(White, n = 12710), Hispanic(n = 8500), Chinese(n = 2723), non-Hispanic Black(Black, n = 2609), Vietnamese(n = 2063), Filipino(n = 1479), Korean(n = 1099), Japanese(n = 658), American Indian/Alaskan Native(AIAN, n = 281), Laotian/Hmong (n = 244), Cambodian(n = 233), South Asian(n = 190), Hawai`ian/Pacific Islander(n = 172), Thai(n = 95), and Other Asian(n = 214). The main outcome measures were receipt of surgical treatment, and cause-specific and all-cause mortality.RESULTS After adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics, time period, and stage of disease, compared to Whites, Laotian/Hmong odds ratio(OR) = 0.30, 95%CI: 0.17-0.53, Cambodian(OR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.45-0.96), AIAN(OR = 0.66, 95%CI: 0.46-0.93), Black(OR = 0.76, 95%CI: 0.67-0.86), and Hispanic(OR = 0.78, 95%CI: 0.72-0.84) patients were less likely, whereas Chinese(OR = 1.58, 95%CI: 1.42-1.77), Koreans(OR = 1.45, 95%CI: 1.24-1.70), Japanese(OR = 1.41, 95%CI: 1.15-1.72), and Vietnamese(OR = 1.26, 95%CI: 1.12-1.42) were more likely to receive surgical treatment. After adjustment for the same covariates and treatment, cause-specific mortality was higher for Laotian/Hmong (hazard ratio(HR) = 1.50, 95%CI: 1.29-1.73), Cambodians(HR = 1.35, 95%CI: 1.16-1.58), and Blacks(HR = 1.07, 95%CI: 1.01-1.13), and lower for Chinese(HR = 0.82, 95%CI: 0.77-0.86), Filipinos(HR = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.78-0.90), Vietnamese(HR = 0.85, 95%CI: 0.80-0.90), Koreans(HR = 0.90, 95%CI: 0.83-0.97), and Hispanics(HR = 0.91, 95%CI: 0.88-0.94); results were similar for all-cause mortality.CONCLUSION Disaggregated data revealed substantial racial/ethnic differences in liver cancer treatment and survival, demonstrating the need for development of targeted interventions to mitigate disparities.
We tested the hypothesis that intracoronary injection of a recombinant adenovirus encoding adenylyl cyclase type VI (AC(VI)) would increase cardiac function in pigs.
Left ventricular (LV) dP/dt and ...cardiac output in response to isoproterenol and NKH477 stimulation were assessed in normal pigs before and 12 days after intracoronary delivery of histamine followed by intracoronary delivery of an adenovirus encoding lacZ (control) or AC(VI) (1.4x10(12) vp). Animals that had received AC(VI) gene transfer showed increases in peak LV dP/dt (average increase of 1267+/-807 mm Hg/s; P=0.0002) and cardiac output (average increase of 39+/-20 mL. kg(-1). min(-1); P<0.0001); control animals showed no changes. Increased LV dP/dt was evident 6 days after gene transfer and persisted for at least 57 days. Basal heart rate, blood pressure, and LV dP/dt were unchanged, despite changes in cardiac responsiveness to catecholamine stimulation. Twenty-three hour ECG recordings showed no change in mean heart rate or ectopic beats and no arrhythmias. LV homogenates from animals receiving AC(VI) gene transfer showed increased AC(VI) protein content (P=0.0007) and stimulated cAMP production (P=0.0006), confirming transgene expression and function; basal LV AC activity was unchanged. Increased cAMP-generating capacity persisted for at least 18 weeks (P<0.0002).
Intracoronary injection of a recombinant adenovirus encoding AC provides enduring increases in cardiac function.
Through many of today's built environments, children are learning that they are safe from the outside world; no matter day or night, the built environment makes them safe from pouring rain and gusty ...wind; it makes them safe from wild animals from sneaky squirrels to grizzly bears. With good intentions the architecture of the industrial era was more about having control over nature than it was about living in harmony with nature. Consequently instead of learning to enjoy the breezes that come from natural ventilation, children learned that air conditioning was what made their environment pleasant. Children who live in increasingly dense cities may be further distanced from nature, especially children who live in impoverished communities with inadequate parks and open spaces and concerns about safety; in addition, a plethora of electronic devices for education and entertainment are a major pulling factor for children to stay indoors. Many children may be stuck indoors using these effortless (physically) devices without opportunities for outdoor play. Or they may simply not care to play in wooded landscapes, on the beach, or on snow-covered mountains, which all served as precious learning environments for earlier generations. As nature is ever more threatened by people-designed built environments, children have no way of learning how to develop a less destructive relationship with their surroundings. Learning how to live well with one's surroundings is called "ecological literacy" (Orr, 1992, p.86) and clearly today's children are more likely to be deficient in ecological literacy than were the boys and girls of a bygone era. Yet a number of architects and educators have been developing ways to foster more ecologically literate citizens. This thesis will carry forward those efforts and search for a solution to (a) help children gain, through architecture, a better sense of how people and nature interact and, through that sense, to (b) possibly help them learn to take action as environmental advocates at a personal and community level. The ultimate intent of the thesis is developing a methodology for achieving these two goals. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan (2007) believed that “if the built environment is a powerful silent teacher, we can change the message people get from it. It can be redesigned so that people are richly informed about their place and the ecological processes endemic to it” (p. 186). Hoping to inform children about their place and its ecological processes, the thesis will seek to answer: How can architecture help children gain a better sense of their relationship with nature? How can children use their understanding of nature to develop an ability to take action as environmental advocates? To explore these questions, the thesis will begin with researching existing literature about the ways that children relate to nature and the positive interactions they can have through the natural environment as mediated by architecture. Then it will continue the investigation through precedent studies to see what is working successfully to help children become more environmentally aware citizens. Finally, the thesis will synthesize the lessons learned from the literature and the precedent studies to suggest strategies for creating educational activities and ecologically designed spaces that can help children develop as environmentally aware citizens. The goal is to create a new approach to using architecture to help children become “richly informed about their place and the ecological processes endemic to it” (Van der Ryn & Cowan, 2007, p. 187).
A comparative echocardiographic study was carried out on five shark species that differ in heart morphology and in aspects of their behavior and natural history. The study contrasted the ventricular ...function in the highly active mako shark (heart type IV) and four other sharks (heart type III) that differ in activity levels (i.e. the sedentary horn and swell sharks vs. the moderately active blue and smooth-hound sharks). All five species exhibited biphasic ventricular filling characterized by an early (conduit) and late (atrial systole) phase. In the mako shark, early filling was dominant as indicated by a higher early flow peak velocity, a greater early:late velocity ratio, and a greater early velocity time integral. In contrast, the late filling phase was the more important filling agent in the other species. Indices of systolic function such as ventricular ejection fraction and ventricular fractional shortening also reflect a more efficient cardiac pumping capacity in mako shark relative to the other four sharks. The comparative echocardiographic assessment of in vivo ventricular function integrates structural and functional features with shark activity level to arrive at a new perspective blending the occurrence of biphasic filling with functional concepts based on heart morphological typology and changing views regarding the role of factors such as central filling pressure and pericardial pressure on end-diastolic ventricular volume.
Proteomic Applications in Biology Joshua L. Heazlewood, Christopher J. Petzold, Subject editors: Tsz-Kwong Man, Ricardo J. Flores
InTech eBooks,
2012
eBook
Odprti dostop
The past decade has seen the field of proteomics expand from a highly technical endeavor to a widely utilized technique. The objective of this book is to highlight the ways in which proteomics is ...currently being employed to address issues in the biological sciences. Although there have been significant advances in techniques involving the utilization of proteomics in biology, fundamental approaches involving basic sample visualization and protein identification still represent the principle techniques used by the vast majority of researchers to solve problems in biology. The work presented in this book extends from overviews of proteomics in specific biological subject areas to novel studies that have employed a proteomics-based approach. Collectively they demonstrate the power of established and developing proteomic techniques to characterize complex biological systems.
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