MODELING COMMERCIAL PROCESSES AND CUSTOMER BEHAVIORS TO ESTIMATE THE DIFFUSION RATE OF NEW PRODUCTS

1. Introduction In his famous seminal book (Rogers 1962), Rogers introduced and popularized a generic framework for analyzing and describing how the mechanism of diffusion of innovations works inside a given population. In this general approach, “innovation” can of course be understood in a large way: it may indeed referto various contexts such as the learning of a new practice, the use of a new tool, the launch of a new product, etc. The strength of Rogers' point of view comes from the fac…     

A Study of Interface Pressure at the Seamed Area of Pressure Garments

Pressure garments constructed with elastic fabric play an important role in burn rehabilitation by helping to prevent or reduce the formation of hypertrophic scars. For clinical effectiveness, these garments are made in appropriate size for individual patient in order to provide an appropriate amount of skin-and-garment interface pressure on the patient.The seam area of pressure garments has marked impact on the comfort and durability of the pressure garments.Comments from the patients and occupational therapists have indicated that discomfort arose in the seam zone.Line marks appeared on the skin of patients under the seamed areas of pressure garments. This may be caused by uneven or Iocalised interface pressure at the seamed area. In this paper, the changes of interface pressure between the seamed and unseamed areas were investigated. The aim is to provide an understanding of the effect of seams on the interface pressure in order to assist the therapists and/or garment makers to choose an appropriate s     

Distortional Properties of the Bijective Pattern Map (Part II: Change of Reference)

This is the part n of the study of distortion property of the Bijective Pattern Map maps. In part I, the generic distortion was presented. In this article, the distortion using different set of reference points and pre - image is compared with the result in part I. Moreover, the distortion induced by a change of reference is illustrated with examples. The formulation of the relationship between the distortion and the Gaussian curvature will be followed.     

An aqueous extract of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan alters the labeling of blood constituents with Technetium-99m

The Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is a formula of a traditional Chinese medicine that is used to treat asthma patients and has been shown to have several important properties,such as antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities.The influence of an extract of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan on the labeling of blood constituents with technetium-99m was investigated.Anticoagulated blood(Wistar rats) was incubated with the extract,stannous chloride and technetium-99m,as sodium pertechnetate.Samples were centrifuged and aliquots of plasma and blood cells were separated and precipitated with trichloroacetic acid,to obtain soluble and insoluble fractions of the blood constituents.The percentage of radioactivity(%ATI) in all the fractions was determined.The analysis of the results shows that the extract at the highest concentration used(70 mg/mL) decreased significantly(P<0.05) the %ATI(from 96.48 ± 1.19 to 54.46 ± 7.38) on blood cells compartment,(from 81.11 ± 4.15 to 61.33 ± 4.74) on insoluble fractions of blood cells and(from 65.91 ± 2.44 to 13.15 ± 3.62) on insoluble fractions of plasma.In conclusion,the results suggest that the substances present on this extract can alter this labeling process,probably due to(i) redox properties(antioxidant and chelator activities) and/or(ii) specific actions in the binding sites where the 99mTc would be bound on the blood constituents.As a consequence,precaution is suggested on the interpretation of the nuclear medicine results from performed with blood constituents labeled with 99m Tc in patients that have undertaken LWDHW,although the current findings were obtained in experimental animal models.     

Rational general solutions of higher order algebraic odes

This paper generalizes the method of Ngô and Winkler (2010, 2011) for finding rational general solutions of a first order non-autonomous algebraic ordinary differential equation (AODE) to the case of a higher order AODE, provided a proper parametrization of its solution hypersurface. The authors reduce the problem of finding the rational general solution of a higher order AODE to finding the rational general solution of an associated system. The rational general solutions of the original AODE and its associated system are in computable 1-1 correspondence. The authors give necessary and sufficient conditions for the associated system to have a rational solution based on proper reparametrization of invariant algebraic space curves. The authors also relate invariant space curves to first integrals and characterize rationally solvable systems by rational first integrals.     

植物核糖体抑制蛋白对黄曲霉（Aspergillus flavus）的抑制作用

测定了三种不同植物的核糖体抑制蛋白（RIRs）－－Momordin、Luffin和Saporin的抗真菌活性。结果显示,Momordin有最强的抗黄曲霉活性,Luffin次之,而Saporin对黄曲霉的生长无影响,所以,同一真菌对不同核糖体抑制蛋白的敏感程度不同。     

Genetic studies of diseases

The biological system is a complex physicochemical system consisting of numerous dynamic networks of biochemical reactions and signaling interactions between cellular components. This complexity makes it virtually unanalyzable by traditional methods. Hence, biological networks have been developed as a platform for integrating information from high- to low-throughput experiments for analysis of biological systems. The network analysis approach is vital for successful quantitative modeling of biological systems. The numerous online pathway databases vary widely in coverage and representation of biological processes. An integrated network-based information system for querying, visualization and analysis promised successful integration of data on a large scale. Such integrated systems will greatly facilitate the understanding of biological interactions and experimental verification.     

Activity and reproduction in Megalobulimus paranaguensis (Gastropoda,Eupulmonata): implications for conservation in captivity for a South American land snail

ABSTRACT

In South America, Megalobulimus includes a number of threatened species, as well the largest land snails on the continent. The activity patterns and reproductive aspects of this group have not been documented. This work describes the daily and seasonal activity patterns and reproduction of M. paranaguensis. We maintained specimens in the laboratory for one year, and we quantified their behaviour for one hour at four different times of the day (0 h, 6 h, 12 h and 18 h) during three days in four months (August, September, April and May). The number of postures, hatching rate, time of hatching since oviposition and mortality rate among juveniles for each month were also quantified. Megalobulimus paranaguensis was more active in August, and had a egg laying peak one month after. Fifty-one eggs were laid by 12 captive individuals throughout the year, with a mean value of 4.25 eggs per individual. The hatching rate was 80.39%, and the time of hatching since oviposition was 56.7 ± 4.3 days. In two eggs, we observed the presence of twins. The mortality rate among juveniles was low (9.30%) indicating that rearing land snails in captivity has the potential to be an important and viable tool for the management and conservation of these organisms.     

分枝定界算法在食品分析中的应用──水果中有机酸的同时定性定量分析

将电位滴定法与分枝定界算法相结合：研究测定了水果中有机酸的组成及含量，结果与文献基本一致。对已知类型（如某一类水果）的样品，本方法不必预先进行定性分析，一次测定即可同时完成定性和定量工作。