Determining hepatitis C virus genotype distribution among high-risk groups in Iran using real-time PCR

AIM: To assess hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype patterns among high-risk Iranian groups, using real-time RT-PCR.

Distribution and Length-weight Relationships of Glyptosternoid Fishes in the Drung River Basin, Yunnan

Glyptosternoid fishes are a group of sisorid catfishes living in torrents of rivers mainly originating from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Based on our survey in the Drung River Basin, seven collecting sites were investigated and 271 glyptosternoid fishes caught belong to three species （Pareuchiloglanis kamengensis, Exostoma labiatum and Oreoglanis mocropterus）. Features of the distribution of the three catfishes were assessed. More individuals of E. labiatum were caught in the lower reaches of the Drung River with fast water velocity and it might be more adapted to a torrent habitat. The relationships between standard length （L） and weight （W） for P. kamengensis, E. labiatum and O. macropterus were also studied, and the parameter b of the L-W relationship （W = aL^b） ranged between 2. 8201 and 3. 0131. From the present study, all the three catfish species grow allometrically and the growth type of E. labiatum is the closest to a symmetrical one.

A Parallel Approach for Real-Time Power Flow in Distribution Networks

The new reality of smart distribution systems with use of generation sources of small and medium sizes brings new challenges for the operation of these systems. The complexity and the large number of nodes requires use of methods which can reduce the processing time of algorithms such as power flow, allowing its use in real time. This paper presents a known methodology for calculating the power flow in three phases using backward/forward sweep method, and also considering other network elements such as voltage regulators, shunt capacitors and sources of dispersed generation of types PV （active power and voltage） and PQ （active and reactive power）. After that, new elements are introduced that allow the parallelization of this algorithm and an adequate distribution of work between the available processors. The algorithm was implemented using a multi-tiered architecture; the processing times were measured in many network configurations and compared with the same algorithm in the serial version.

Analysis of Molecular Weight Distribution and Antioxidant Activities of Cirrhinus molitorella Skin Collagen Hydrolysates

[Objective] The aim of this work was to identify molecular weight （MW） distribution and antioxidant activity of fish skin col agen hydrolysates. [Method] The MW distribution of hydrolysates was determined using both size exclusion chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spec-trometry （MALDI-TOF-MS）. Fish skin were treated by the alkaline protease 2709. [Result] The optional conditions for hyerolysis were time 3 h, temperature 55 ℃, pH 10.0, substrate concentration 80 g/L and E/S 4%. The results of both methods indi-cated that the molecular weight of col agen hydrolysates was from 400 to 1 800 Da, and the peptides’ molecular weight was less than 1 400 Da mostly. The reducing power and antioxidant/radical scavenging activity [1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl （DPPH） free radical scavenging activity] were determined. [Conclusion] The results reveal that the fishskin hydrolysate is a potential source of antioxidants.

Study on Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Gadus morrhua Skin Collagen and Molecular Weight Distribution of Hydrolysates

Process parameters on enzymatic hydrolysis and molecular weight （MW） distribution of collagen hydrolysates from Gadus morrhua skin were investigated. The optimal process parameters were obtained by the single-factor and orthogonal experiments. The molecular weight distribution of hydrolysates was determined using both Sephadex G25 partition and high speed liquid chromatography electricity spray mass spectrum （HPLC-ESI-MS）. Collagen hydrolysates were first gained by an alkaline protease ＂alcalase＂ for 3 h at temperature （50~C）, pH （10.0）, substrate concentration （75 g L-~）, and E/S （3%）. The molecular weight distribution of collagen hydrolysates ranged from 300 to 1 500 Da, and most of peptides were under 1 200 Da. Sephadex G25 partition and HPLC-ESI-MS should be successfully employed to determine the molecular weight distribution of collagen hydrolysates.

A HIGHLY ACTIVE NEODYMIUM CHLORIDE ISOPROPANOL COMPLEX/MODIFIED METHYLALUMINOXANE CATALYST FOR PREPARING POLYISOPRENE WITH HIGH CIS-1,4 STEREOSPECIFICITY AND NARROW MOLECULAR WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION

Neodymium chloride isopropanol complex （NdCl3.3＇prOH） activated by modified methylaluminoxane （MMAO） was examined in isoprene polymerization in hexane, with regards to Nd compounds, aluminum （Al） compounds, [Al]/[Nd] ratio, polymerization temperature and time. NdCl3＇3iprOH exhibited high activity producing polymers feasting high cis-l,4 stereospecificity （〉 96%）, very high molecular weight （Mn 〉 1.0 × 10^6） and fairly narrow molecular weight distribution （MWD, Mw/Mn 〈 2.0） simultaneously. In comparison, neodymium isopropoxide also showed high activity providing polymers with narrow MWD （Mw/Mn = 2.07）, but somewhat low cis-1,4 content （ca. 92%）, while neodymium chloride had no activity under present polymerization conditions. The Al compounds affected the polymer yield in the order of Al（i-Bu）3 〉 MMAO 〉 Al（i-Bu）2H. MMAO as cocatalyst afforded polyisoprene with high Mn over 1.0 × 10^6, whereas as stronger chain transfer agent than MMAO, AI（i-Bu）3 and AI（i-Bu）EH yielded polymers with low Mn （1.0 × 10^5-8.0 × 10^5）. NdCl3·3＇PrOH/MMAO catalyst showed a fairly good catalytic activity even at relatively low [Al]/[Nd] ratio of 30, and the produced polymer remained high cis-1,4 content of 95.8% along with high Mn over 1.0× 10^6 even at elevated temperatures up to 70℃. The polymerization rate is of the first order with respect to the concentration of isoprene. The mechanism of active species formation was discussed preliminarily.

Influences of Rifle Weight,Weight Distribution and Layout on Aiming Comfort

A rifle in a soldier’s system is often equipped with a grenade launcher,aiming device,etc.,which increases the weight of the rifle and changes its center of gravity.This study explores how the rifle weight,weight distribution and layout(e.g.stock length,position of grip and forestock)affect aiming comfort.In the paper,the upper extremity muscle activity was used to characterize the aiming comfort.A human-rifle musculoskeletal model was developed,which was validated by the surface electromyography(EMG)data.The results showed that the design parameters of rifle(weight,distance of gravity center to body and layout)had a significant influence on aiming comfort.The greater the weight was,the stronger the muscle activity was.With the distance increasing,first the muscle activity decreased,and then increased when the distance is exceeding a certain value.In addition,the combined influences of weight and distance illustrated that there was an optimal distance to make the slightest muscle movements for certain weight.For designing a rifle’s layout,more muscular exertions were required to maintain the holding posture with the stock length increasing,which was suggested to be in the range of 0.1 8 m to 0.2 7 m.Results can be used to optimize the ergonomics design of rifle,improving the comfort of the rifle aiming process and the shooting accuracy.

Phase behavior of gas condensate in porous media using real-time computed tomography scanning

The phase behavior of gas condensate in reservoir formations differs from that in pressure-volume-temperature(PVT)cells because it is influenced by porous media in the reservoir formations.Sandstone was used as a sample to investigate the influence of porous media on the phase behavior of the gas condensate.The pore structure was first analyzed using computed tomography(CT)scanning,digital core technology,and a pore network model.The sandstone core sample was then saturated with gas condensate for the pressure depletion experiment.After each pressure-depletion state was stable,realtime CT scanning was performed on the sample.The scanning results of the sample were reconstructed into three-dimensional grayscale images,and the gas condensate and condensate liquid were segmented based on gray value discrepancy to dynamically characterize the phase behavior of the gas condensate in porous media.Pore network models of the condensate liquid ganglia under different pressures were built to calculate the characteristic parameters,including the average radius,coordination number,and tortuosity,and to analyze the changing mechanism caused by the phase behavior change of the gas condensate.Four types of condensate liquid(clustered,branched,membranous,and droplet ganglia)were then classified by shape factor and Euler number to investigate their morphological changes dynamically and elaborately.The results show that the dew point pressure of the gas condensate in porous media is 12.7 MPa,which is 0.7 MPa higher than 12.0 MPa in PVT cells.The average radius,volume,and coordination number of the condensate liquid ganglia increased when the system pressure was between the dew point pressure(12.7 MPa)and the pressure for the maximum liquid dropout,Pmax(10.0 MPa),and decreased when it was below Pmax.The volume proportion of clustered ganglia was the highest,followed by branched,membranous,and droplet ganglia.This study provides crucial experimental evidence for the phase behavior changing process of gas condensate in porous media during the depletion production of gas condensate reservoirs.

Molecular Weight and Distribution of Cellulose and Cellulose Microspheres

[ Objective ] This study aimed to provide basic data for studying the relationship between structure and property of cellulose microspheres by measuring molecular weight of cellulose and cellulose microspheres with viscosity method and gel permeation chromatography （GPC） method. [ Method] In viscosity method, cadmium ethylenediamine was used as the solvent, intrinsic viscosity η of the solution was determined at 25 ℃ by using a Ubbelohde viscometer, to calculate the molecular weight of cellulose; in GPC method, 8% LiC1 / N, N-dimethylacetamide （LiC1/DMAc） was used as the solvent and 0.5% LiC1/DMAc was used as the mobile phase to determine the relative molecular weight and distribution of cellulose and cellulose microspheres. In addition, the determination results were analyzed to compare these two methods. [ Result ] Viscosity-average molecular weight Mr/ of cellulose and cellulose microspheres determined with viscosity method were 224,532 and 16,686, respectively; weight-average molecular weight Mw of cellulose and cellulose microspheres determined with GPC method were 284,196 and 22,345, respectively. [ Conclusion] The determination results of （;PC method are relatively close to the actual value and could truly reflect the characteristics of molecular weialat distribution of eellulose and cellulose mierosr, heres.

Wavelet Density Estimation and Statistical Evidences Role for a GARCH Model in the Weighted Distribution

We consider n observations from the GARCH-type model: Z = UY, where U and Y are independent random variables. We aim to estimate density function Y where Y have a weighted distribution. We determine a sharp upper bound of the associated mean integrated square error. We also make use of the measure of expected true evidence, so as to determine when model leads to a crisis and causes data to be lost.

SUPPORTED ZIEGLER-NATTA CATALYSTS FOR ETHYLENE SLURRY POLYMERIZATION AND CONTROL OF MOLECULAR WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION OF POLYETHYLENE

The effect of chemical composition of highly active supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts with controlled morphology on the MWD of PE has been studied.It was shown the variation of transition metal compound in the MgCl_2-supported catalyst affect of MWD of PE produced in broad range:Vanadium-magnesium catalyst(VMC)produce PE with broad and bimodal MWD(M_w/M_n=14-21).MWD of PE,produced over titanium-magnesium catalyst(TMC)is narrow or medium depending on Ti content in the catalyst(M_w/M_n=3.1-4.8).The oxidation ...

Spatial distribution of snow depth based on geographically weighted regression kriging in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tianshan Mountains, China

Snow depth is a general input variable in many models of agriculture,hydrology,climate and ecology.This study makes use of observational data of snow depth and explanatory variables to compare the accuracy and effect of geographically weighted regression kriging(GWRK)and regression kriging(RK)in a spatial interpolation of regional snow depth.The auxiliary variables are analyzed using correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factor(VIF).Three variables,Height,topographic ruggedness index(TRI),and land surface temperature(LST),are used as explanatory variables to establish a regression model for snow depth.The estimated spatial distribution of snow depth in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tianshan Mountains in China with a spatial resolution of 1 km is obtained.The results indicate that 1)the result of GWRK's accuracy is slightly higher than that of RK(R^2=0.55 vs.R^2=0.50,RMSE(root mean square error)=0.102 m vs.RMSE=0.077 m);2)for the subareas,GWRK and RK exhibit similar estimation results of snow depth.Areas in the Bayanbulak Basin with a snow depth greater than 0.15m are mainly distributed in an elevation range of 2632.00–3269.00 m and the snow in this area comprises 45.00–46.00% of the total amount of snow in this basin.However,the GWRK resulted in more detailed information on snow depth distribution than the RK.The final conclusion is that GWRK is better suited for estimating regional snow depth distribution.

Development of a mass model in estimating weight-wise particle size distribution using digital image processing

Particle size distribution of coarse aggregates through mechanical sieving gives results in terms of cumu- lative mass percent. But digital image processing generated size distribution of particles, while being fast and accurate, is often expressed in terms of area function or number of particles. In this paper, a mass model is developed which converts the image obtained size distribution to mass-wise distribution, mak- ing it readily comparable to mechanical sieving data. The concept of weight/particle ratio is introduced for mass reconstruction from 2D images of particle aggregates. Using this mass model, the effects of several particle shape parameters （such as major axis, minor axis, and equivalent diameter） on sieve-size of the particles is studied. It is shown that the sieve-size of a particle strongly depend upon the shape param- eters, 91% of its variation being explained by major axis, minor axis, bounding box length and equivalent diameter. Furthermore, minor axis gives an overall accurate estimate of particle sieve-size, error in mean size （D-50） being just 0.4%. However, sieve-size of smaller particles （〈20 ram） strongly depends upon the length of the smaller arm of the bounding box enclosing them and sieve-sizes of larger particles （〉20 mm） are highly correlated to their equivalent diameters. Multiple linear regression analysis has been used to generate overall mass-wise particle size distribution, considering the influences of all these shape parameters on particle sieve-size. Multiple linear regression generated overall mass-wise particle size distribution shows a strong correlation with sieve generated data. The adjusted R-square value of the regression analysis is found to be 99 percent （w.r,t cumulative frequency）. The method proposed in this paper provides a time-efficient way of producing accurate （up to 99%） mass-wise PSD using digital image processing and it can be used effectively to renlace the mechanical sieving.

Properties, Inference and Applications of Inverse Power Two-Parameter Weighted Lindley Distribution

We proposed “a new extension of three-parametric distribution” called the inverse power two-parameter weighted Lindley (IPWL) distribution capable of modeling a upside-down bathtub hazard rate function. This distribution is studied to get basic structural properties such as reliability measures, moments, inverse moments and its related measures. Simulation studies are done to present the performance and behavior of maximum likelihood estimates of the IPWL distribution parameters. Finally, we perform goodness of fit measures and test statistics using a real data set to show the performance of the new distribution.

Scheduling transactions in mobile distributed real-time database systems

A DMVOCC-MVDA （distributed multiversion optimistic concurrency control with multiversion dynamic adjustment） protocol was presented to process mobile distributed real-time transaction in mobile broadcast environments. At the mobile hosts, all transactions perform local pre-validation. The local pre-validation process is carried out against the committed transactions at the server in the last broadcast cycle. Transactions that survive in local pre-validation must be submitted to the server for local final validation. The new protocol eliminates conflicts between mobile read-only and mobile update transactions, and resolves data conflicts flexibly by using multiversion dynamic adjustment of serialization order to avoid unnecessary restarts of transactions. Mobile read-only transactions can be committed with no-blocking, and respond time of mobile read-only transactions is greatly shortened. The tolerance of mobile transactions of disconnections from the broadcast channel is increased. In global validation mobile distributed transactions have to do check to ensure distributed serializability in all participants. The simulation results show that the new concurrency control protocol proposed offers better performance than other protocols in terms of miss rate, restart rate, commit rate. Under high work load （think time is ls） the miss rate of DMVOCC-MVDA is only 14.6%, is significantly lower than that of other protocols. The restart rate of DMVOCC-MVDA is only 32.3%, showing that DMVOCC-MVDA can effectively reduce the restart rate of mobile transactions. And the commit rate of DMVOCC-MVDA is up to 61.2%, which is obviously higher than that of other protocols.

Acceptance Sampling Plans with Truncated Life Tests for the Length-Biased Weighted Lomax Distribution

In this paper,we considered the Length-biased weighted Lomax distribution and constructed new acceptance sampling plans(ASPs)where the life test is assumed to be truncated at a pre-assigned time.For the new suggested ASPs,the tables of the minimum samples sizes needed to assert a specific mean life of the test units are obtained.In addition,the values of the corresponding operating characteristic function and the associated producer’s risks are calculated.Analyses of two real data sets are presented to investigate the applicability of the proposed acceptance sampling plans;one data set contains the first failure of 20 small electric carts,and the other data set contains the failure times of the air conditioning system of an airplane.Comparisons are made between the proposed acceptance sampling plans and some existing acceptance sampling plans considered in this study based on the minimum sample sizes.It is observed that the samples sizes based on the proposed acceptance sampling plans are less than their competitors considered in this study.The suggested acceptance sampling plans are recommended for practitioners in the field.

Molecular Weight Distribution of Dissolved Organic Matter in Lake Hongfeng Determined by High Performance Size Exclusion Chromatography (HPSEC) With On-Line UV-Vis Absorbance and Fluorescence Detection

The molecular weight distribution (MWD) of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lake waters from Lake Hongfeng was examined using high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) with UV-vis absorbance and fluorescence detection. The elution curves obtained by absorbance and fluorescence techniques expressed similar patterns, with the exception of diminishing of large fraction and the peaks behind several seconds in fluorescence chromatograms. According to its molecular weight (MW), DOM in water samples is divided into several fractions: large ({>3.5} kDa); medium-large ({3.5}-{2.0} kDa); medium ({2.0}-{1.0} kDa) and small ({<1.0} kDa). The average molecular weight was calculated using the elution curve detected by UV-vis absorbance and fluorescence detection techniques. The results showed that the weight-average molecular weight (Mw) and number-average molecular weight (Mn) calculated by UV-vis absorbance techniques range from 1750 to 2050 Dalton and from 1450 to 1850 Dalton, respectively. And the Mw and Mn obtained by fluorescence detection are lower by 50 to 400 Dalton. As a reference, the molecular weight of Fluka humic acid (FHA) is larger than that of water samples by about 200 Dalton. The average molecular weight of DOM for water samples collected in March and July was compared. The results revealed that the molecular weight is lower for water samples obtained in July than that obtained in March, indicating the ambient environment has an influence on the molecular weight, including photo-degradation and biological activity.

THE RELATION OF SEQUENCE DISTRIBUTIONS OF S-SBR TO ITS MOLECULAR WEIGHT DISTRIBUTIONS

The relationship between sequence distributions and molecular weight distributions of S-SBR, obtained from styrene and butadiene anionic copolymerization at various conversions with THF/Li^+ as an initiator has been studied by ^(13)C-NMR,GPC. The results showed that the molecular weight distributions of the copolymer couldbe correlated sophisticatedly to the binary sequcne distributions or the monomer unit distributions of the copolymer in a corrected Poisson's distribution from.

Tide forecasting method based on dynamic weight distribution for operational evaluation

Through analysis of operational evaluation factors for tide forecasting, the relationship between the evaluation factors and the weights of forecasters was examined. A tide forecasting method based on dynamic weight distribution for operational evaluation was developed, and multiple-forecaster synchronous forecasting was realized while avoiding the instability cased by only one forecaster. Weights were distributed to the forecasters according to each one＇s forecast precision. An evaluation criterion for the professional level of the forecasters was also built. The eligibility rates of forecast results demonstrate the skill of the forecasters and the stability of their forecasts. With the developed tide forecasting method, the precision and reasonableness of tide forecasting are improved. The application of the present method to tide forecasting at the Huangpu Park tidal station demonstrates the validity of the method.

Stability of weighted spectral distribution in a pseudo tree-like network model

The comparison of networks with different orders strongly depends on the stability analysis of graph features in evolving systems. In this paper, we rigorously investigate the stability of the weighted spectral distribution（i.e., a spectral graph feature） as the network order increases. First, we use deterministic scale-free networks generated by a pseudo treelike model to derive the precise formula of the spectral feature, and then analyze the stability of the spectral feature based on the precise formula. Except for the scale-free feature, the pseudo tree-like model exhibits the hierarchical and small-world structures of complex networks. The stability analysis is useful for the classification of networks with different orders and the similarity analysis of networks that may belong to the same evolving system.