An Innovative Running Wheel-based Mechanism for Improved Rat Training Performance

This study presents an animal mobility system, equipped with a positioning running wheel (PRW), as a way to quantify the efficacy of an exercise activity ...

National Chin-Yi University of Technology

In this study, a synthesized cation exchange resin supported nano zero-valent iron (NZVI) complex forming NZVI-resin was proposed for the decoloration of an azo dye Acid Blue 113 (AB 113), taking into account reaction time, initial dye concentration, NZVI dose and pH. From results, the successful decoloration of the AB 113 solution was observed using a NZVI-resin. Increasing the iron load to 50.8 mg g(-1), the removal efficiencies of the AB 113 concentration increased exponentially. With an initial dye concentration of 100 mg l(-1) and nano iron load of 50.8 mg g(-1), the best removal efficiencies were obtained at 100 and 12.6% for dye concentration and total organic carbon, respectively. Color removal efficiency was dependent on initial dye concentration and iron load. Moreover, the removal rates followed modified pseudo-first order kinetic equations with respect to dye concentration. Thus, the observed removal rate constants (k) were 0.137-0.756 min(-1) by NZVI loads of 4.9-50.8 mg g(-1). Consequently, the NZVI-resin performed effectively for the decoloration of AB 113 azo dye, offering great potential in the application of NZVI-resins in larger scale column tests and further field processes.

Using resin supported nano zero-valent iron particles for decoloration of Acid Blue 113 azo dye solution.

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La rete della vita &egrave; tessuta da diverse interazioni simbiotiche tra specie. Simbiosi variano da interazioni antagonistiche come competizione e predazione interazioni benefiche come il mutualismo. Che cosa sono le basi per l&#39;origine e la persistenza della simbiosi? Ci&ograve; che colpisce l&#39;ecologia e l&#39;evoluzione della simbiosi? Come le interazioni simbiotiche generano modelli ecologici? Come partner simbiotico si evolvono e coevolve? Molte di queste domande sono difficili da indirizzo nei sistemi naturali. Sistemi artificiali, dall&#39;astratto al soggiorno, sono stati costruiti per catturare le caratteristiche essenziali della simbiosi naturale e a rispondere a queste domande chiave. Con ridotta complessit&agrave; e maggiore controllabilit&agrave;, sistemi artificiali possono servire come modelli utili per i sistemi naturali. Passiamo in rassegna i sistemi artificiali come hanno contribuito alla nostra comprensione della simbiosi.

Utilizzando sistemi artificiali per esplorare l&#39;ecologia e l&#39;evoluzione della simbiosi.

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The web of life is weaved from diverse symbiotic interactions between species. Symbioses vary from antagonistic interactions such as competition and predation to beneficial interactions such as mutualism. What are the bases for the origin and persistence of symbiosis? What affects the ecology and evolution of symbioses? How do symbiotic interactions generate ecological patterns? How do symbiotic partners evolve and coevolve? Many of these questions are difficult to address in natural systems. Artificial systems, from abstract to living, have been constructed to capture essential features of natural symbioses and to address these key questions. With reduced complexity and increased controllability, artificial systems can serve as useful models for natural systems. We review how artificial systems have contributed to our understanding of symbioses.

Using artificial systems to explore the ecology and evolution of symbioses.

La toile de la vie est tiss&eacute;e de diverses interactions symbiotiques entre les esp&egrave;ces. Symbioses varient des interactions antagonistes comme la concurrence et la pr&eacute;dation des interactions b&eacute;n&eacute;fiques comme le mutualisme. Quelles sont les bases de l&#39;origine et la persistance de symbiose ? Ce qui affecte l&#39;&eacute;cologie et l&#39;&eacute;volution des symbioses ? Comment les interactions symbiotiques g&eacute;n&egrave;rent des mod&egrave;les &eacute;cologiques ? Comment &eacute;voluer et co&eacute;voluer partenaires symbiotiques ? Plusieurs de ces questions sont difficiles &agrave; l&#39;adresse dans les syst&egrave;mes naturels. Syst&egrave;mes artificiels, d&#39;abstraite &agrave; vie, ont &eacute;t&eacute; construits pour capturer les caract&eacute;ristiques essentielles des symbioses naturels et pour r&eacute;pondre &agrave; ces questions cl&eacute;es. Avec la complexit&eacute; r&eacute;duite et une manoeuvrabilit&eacute; accrue, syst&egrave;mes artificiels peuvent servir de mod&egrave;les utiles pour les syst&egrave;mes naturels. Nous passons en revue les syst&egrave;mes artificiels comment ont contribu&eacute; &agrave; notre compr&eacute;hension des symbioses.

&Agrave; l&#39;aide de syst&egrave;mes artificiels &agrave; la d&eacute;couverte de l&#39;&eacute;cologie et l&#39;&eacute;volution des symbioses.

Das Netz des Lebens ist gewebt aus vielf&auml;ltigen symbiotische Wechselwirkungen zwischen den Arten. Symbiosen variieren von antagonistischen Interaktionen wie Wettbewerb und Raub zu positiven Interaktionen wie Mutualismus. Was sind die Grundlagen f&uuml;r den Ursprung und die Beharrlichkeit der Symbiose? Was beeinflusst die &Ouml;kologie und die Entwicklung von Symbiosen? Wie generiere Symbiotische Interaktionen &Ouml;kologische Muster? Wie entwickeln sich und coevolve symbiotische Partner? Viele dieser Fragen sind schwierig zu Adresse in nat&uuml;rlichen Systemen. K&uuml;nstliche Systeme, von abstrakten zu leben, sind wesentliche Merkmale der nat&uuml;rlichen Symbiosen aufgezeichnet und auf diese wichtigen Fragen behandeln gebaut worden. Mit reduzierter Komplexit&auml;t und erh&ouml;hte Steuerbarkeit k&ouml;nnen k&uuml;nstliche Systeme als n&uuml;tzliche Modelle f&uuml;r nat&uuml;rliche Systeme dienen. Wir &uuml;berpr&uuml;fen wie k&uuml;nstliche Systeme haben dazu beigetragen, unser Verst&auml;ndnis von Symbiosen.

Verwendung von k&uuml;nstliche Systemen, um die &Ouml;kologie und die Entwicklung von Symbiosen zu erkunden.

La web de la vida se teje de diversas interacciones simbi&oacute;ticas entre especies. Simbiosis var&iacute;an de interacciones antag&oacute;nicas como la competencia y depredaci&oacute;n a interacciones beneficiosas como mutualismo. &iquest;Cu&aacute;les son las bases para el origen y la persistencia de la simbiosis? &iquest;Lo que afecta a la ecolog&iacute;a y evoluci&oacute;n de la simbiosis? &iquest;C&oacute;mo interacciones simbi&oacute;ticas generan patrones ecol&oacute;gicos? &iquest;C&oacute;mo evolucionan y coevolve socios simbi&oacute;ticos? Muchas de estas preguntas son dif&iacute;ciles de direcci&oacute;n en los sistemas naturales. Sistemas artificiales, de abstracto a la vida, han sido construidos para capturar las caracter&iacute;sticas esenciales de la simbiosis naturales y para hacer frente a estas preguntas claves. Con menor complejidad y mayor capacidad de control, sistemas artificiales pueden servir como modelos &uacute;tiles para sistemas naturales. Repasamos c&oacute;mo artificiales sistemas han contribuido a nuestra comprensi&oacute;n de la simbiosis.

Utilizar sistemas artificiales para explorar la ecolog&iacute;a y evoluci&oacute;n de la simbiosis.

We analyzed the expression of angiogenesis-related factors in corneal tissues that had undergone previously autologous cultivated oral mucosal epithelial transplantation (COMET).

Expression of angiogenesis-related factors in human corneas after cultivated oral mucosal epithelial transplantation.

This paper presents a cost-effective sensor system for mattresses that can classify the sleeping posture of an individual and prevent pressure ulcers. This system applies projected capacitive sensing to the field of health care. The charge time (CT) method was used to sensitively and accurately measure the capacitance of the projected electrodes. The required characteristics of the projected capacitor were identified to develop large-area applications for sensory mattresses. The area of the electrodes, the use of shielding, and the increased length of the transmission line were calibrated to more accurately measure the capacitance of the electrodes in large-size applications. To offer the users comfort in the prone position, a flexible substrate was selected and covered with 16 × 20 electrodes. Compared with the static charge sensitive bed (SCSB), our proposed system-flexible projected capacitive-sensing mattress (FPCSM) comes with more electrodes to increase the resolution of posture identification. As for the body pressure system (BPS), the FPCSM has advantages such as lower cost, higher aging-resistance capability, and the ability to sense the capacitance of the covered regions without physical contact. The proposed guard ring design effectively absorbs the noise and interrupts leakage paths. The projected capacitive electrode is suitable for proximity-sensing applications and succeeds at quickly recognizing the sleeping pattern of the user.

An enhanced sensing application based on a flexible projected capacitive-sensing mattress.

Cellular proteins are the mediators of multiple organism functions being involved in physiological mechanisms and disease. By discovering lead compounds that affect the function of target proteins, the target diseases or physiological mechanisms can be modulated. Based on knowledge of the ligand-receptor interaction, the chemical structures of leads can be modified to improve efficacy, selectivity and reduce side effects. One rational drug design technology, which enables drug discovery based on knowledge of target structures, functional properties and mechanisms, is computer-aided drug design (CADD). The application of CADD can be cost-effective using experiments to compare predicted and actual drug activity, the results from which can used iteratively to improve compound properties. The two major CADD-based approaches are structure-based drug design, where protein structures are required, and ligand-based drug design, where ligand and ligand activities can be used to design compounds interacting with the protein structure. Approaches in structure-based drug design include docking, de novo design, fragment-based drug discovery and structure-based pharmacophore modeling. Approaches in ligand-based drug design include quantitative structure-affinity relationship and pharmacophore modeling based on ligand properties. Based on whether the structure of the receptor and its interaction with the ligand are known, different design strategies can be seed. After lead compounds are generated, the rule of five can be used to assess whether these have drug-like properties. Several quality validation methods, such as cost function analysis, Fisher's cross-validation analysis and goodness of hit test, can be used to estimate the metrics of different drug design strategies. To further improve CADD performance, multi-computers and graphics processing units may be applied to reduce costs.

Computational approaches for drug discovery.

To investigate accumulated mental stress according to the concept of the meridians of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This stress was quantified by using pulse spectrum analysis of finger-tip photoplethysmography (PPG). Stress accumulation is one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease and depression in humans, resulting in chronic physiologic malfunctions; however, few studies have thoroughly assessed the quantitative evaluation of accumulative stress using the concept of TCM.

Accumulated mental stress study using the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine with photoplethysmography.

In this paper, an algorithm to extract respiration signals using a flexible projected capacitive sensing mattress (FPCSM) designed for personal health assessment is proposed. Unlike the interfaces of conventional measurement systems for poly-somnography (PSG) and other alternative contemporary systems, the proposed FPCSM uses projected capacitive sensing capability that is not worn or attached to the body. The FPCSM is composed of a multi-electrode sensor array that can not only observe gestures and motion behaviors, but also enables the FPCSM to function as a respiration monitor during sleep using the proposed approach. To improve long-term monitoring when body movement is possible, the FPCSM enables the selection of data from the sensing array, and the FPCSM methodology selects the electrodes with the optimal signals after the application of a channel reduction algorithm that counts the reversals in the capacitive sensing signals as a quality indicator. The simple algorithm is implemented in the time domain. The FPCSM system is used in experimental tests and is simultaneously compared with a commercial PSG system for verification. Multiple synchronous measurements are performed from different locations of body contact, and parallel data sets are collected. The experimental comparison yields a correlation coefficient of 0.88 between FPCSM and PSG, demonstrating the feasibility of the system design.

Design of a novel flexible capacitive sensing mattress for monitoring sleeping respiratory.

This paper describes an infrared-sensing running wheel (ISRW) system for the quantitative measurement of effective exercise activity in rats. The ISRW system provides superior exercise training compared with commercially available traditional animal running platforms. Four infrared (IR) light-emitting diode/detector pairs embedded around the rim of the wheel detect the rat's real-time position; the acrylic wheel has a diameter of 55 cm and a thickness of 15 cm, that is, it is larger and thicker than traditional exercise wheels, and it is equipped with a rubber track. The acrylic wheel hangs virtually frictionless, and a DC motor with an axially mounted rubber wheel, which has a diameter of 10 cm, drives the acrylic wheel from the outer edge. The system can automatically train rats to run persistently. The proposed system can determine effective exercise activity (EEA), with the IR sensors (which are connected to a conventional PC) recording the rat exercise behavior. A prototype of the system was verified by a hospital research group performing ischemic stroke experiments on rats by considering middle cerebral artery occlusion. The experimental data demonstrated that the proposed system provides greater neuroprotection in an animal stroke model compared with a conventional treadmill and a motorized running wheel for a given exercise intensity. The quantitative exercise effectiveness indicator showed a 92% correlation between an increase in the EEA and a decrease in the infarct volume. This indicator can be used as a noninvasive and objective reference in clinical animal exercise experiments.

Improved infrared-sensing running wheel systems with an effective exercise activity indicator.

Although it is well known that microbial populations can respond adaptively to challenges from antibiotics, empirical difficulties in distinguishing the roles of de novo mutation and natural selection have left several issues unresolved. Here, we explore the mutational properties of Escherichia coli exposed to long-term sublethal levels of the antibiotic norfloxacin, using a mutation accumulation design combined with whole-genome sequencing of replicate lines. The genome-wide mutation rate significantly increases with norfloxacin concentration. This response is associated with enhanced expression of error-prone DNA polymerases and may also involve indirect effects of norfloxacin on DNA mismatch and oxidative-damage repair. Moreover, we find that acquisition of antibiotic resistance can be enhanced solely by accelerated mutagenesis, i.e., without direct involvement of selection. Our results suggest that antibiotics may generally enhance the mutation rates of target cells, thereby accelerating the rate of adaptation not only to the antibiotic itself but to additional challenges faced by invasive pathogens.

Chi-Chun Chen

Department of Electronic Engineering

National Chin-Yi University of Technology

An Innovative Running Wheel-based Mechanism for Improved Rat Training Performance

Chi-Chun Chen

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Electronic Engineering

National Chin-Yi University of Technology

An Innovative Running Wheel-based Mechanism for Improved Rat Training Performance

Department of Electronic Engineering