Abstract Recently, one of the primary concerns in e‐textile‐based healthcare monitoring systems for chronic illness patients has been reducing wasted power consumption, as the system should be always‐on to capture diverse biochemical and physiological characteristics. However, the general conductive fibers, a major component of the existing wearable monitoring systems, have a positive gauge‐factor (GF) that increases electrical resistance when stretched, so that the systems have no choice but to consume power continuously. Herein, a twisted conductive‐fiber‐based negatively responsive switch‐type (NRS) strain‐sensor with an extremely high negative GF (resistance change ratio ≈ 3.9 × 10 8 ) that can significantly increase its conductivity from insulating to conducting properties is developed. To this end, a precision cracking technology is devised, which could induce a difference in the Young's modulus of the encapsulated layer on the fiber through selective ultraviolet‐irradiation treatment. Owing to this technology, the NRS strain‐sensors can allow for effective regulation of the mutual contact resistance under tensile strain while maintaining superior durability for over 5000 stretching cycles. For further practical demonstrations, three healthcare monitoring systems (E‐fitness pants, smart‐masks, and posture correction T‐shirts) with near‐zero standby power are also developed, which opens up advancements in electronic textiles by expanding the utilization range of fiber strain‐sensors.
This paper presents the development of a hardware simulator based on the junction-temperature of insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules in modular multilevel converters (MMCs). The MMC consists of various power-electronics components, and the IGBT is the main factor determining the lifetime of the MMC. The failure of IGBTs is mostly due to the junction-temperature swing; thus, the thermal profile of the IGBT should be established to predict the lifetime. The thermal behavior depends on the current flowing to the IGBT, and the load-current profile is related to the application. To establish the thermal profile of the IGBT, the proposed hardware simulator generates various shapes of output currents while the junction temperature is measured. Additionally, a controller design is presented for simulation of the arm current, which includes a direct current component as well as an alternative current component with a fundamental frequency. The validity and performance of the proposed hardware simulator and its control methods are analyzed according to various experimental results.
Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose causes acute liver injury. Our previous study showed that gut microbiota modulates host susceptibility to APAP hepatotoxicity and identified a gut bacterial metabolite phenylpropionic acid (PPA) that alleviates APAP hepatotoxicity in mice. PPA levels in mouse cecum contents exhibit an excellent correlation to those in cardiac serum; inoculation of a PPA-producing gut bacterium Clostridium sporogenes into the mice with minimal cecal and systemic PPA levels significantly increased systemic PPA levels. These results strongly support the notion that gut bacterial PPA production governs PPA systemic exposure in mice. The current study aims to characterize the genetic/biochemical determinants responsible for differential PPA levels in the mouse gut. Our hypothesis is that PPA production in gut bacteria is governed via two previously reported pathways for PPA production from L-phenylalanine (L-Phe): (1) L-Phe reductive pathway catalyzed by enzymes encoded by the fld gene cluster (called Fld pathway; reported in only four different gut bacterial species) and (2) L-Phe ammonia-lyase (PAL) pathway (never reported in gut bacteria to date). LC-MS/MS analysis of mouse cecal samples revealed that L-Phe levels were not correlated with PPA levels, ruling out the role of substrate availability in differential cecal PPA levels. To examine the relative contribution of Fld and PAL pathways to PPA production in the mouse cecum, d8-L-Phe was incubated with mouse cecal bacteria, and the levels of d6- and d7-PPA (products of Fld and PAL pathways, respectively) was measured using LC-MS/MS. As a control, C. sporogenes wild-type and a mutant strain of fldC (encoding an essential subunit within the Fld pathway) were included. Significantly impaired production of d6-labeled PPA was observed in C. sporogenes fldC mutant as expected. The majority of PPA produced from mouse cecal bacteria corresponded to d6-PPA, indicating that Fld pathway is mainly responsible for PPA production under our test conditions. Interestingly, none of the previously reported fldC genes was detected in the mouse cecum by semi-quantitative PCR, suggesting the presence of gut bacteria harboring as-yet-unidentified Fld pathway in mouse cecum. Altogether, we demonstrated the Fld pathway as the major gut bacterial pathway that metabolizes L-Phe to PPA, a gut bacterial metabolite that confers protection against APAP-induced hepatotoxicity. Gut bacteria harboring unknown Fld pathways for PPA production and the role of Fld pathway in PPA cecal levels in vivo remain to be investigated.
On August 30, 2002, the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized the European Communities (EC) to suspend its tariff concessions and other obligations toward the United States to the extent of U.S. $4 billion for the latter’s failure to comply with the Appellate Body’s decision that the United States had violated the WTO rules, in particular, the WTO Subsidy Code by providing the prohibited subsidies to foreign sales corporations (FSCs) in the form of tax breaks (the FSC Article 22.6 Report). The sheer scale of the EC’s suspension in response to the U.S. violation is unprecedented, far surpassing the suspensions authorized in two previous cases that invoked the WTO enforcement mechanism, Banana III and Hormones. At first glance, this dramatic finale for such a high-profile case might be welcomed as an impressive revelation of the real achievement of the WTO system equipped with teeth, unlike its predecessor the old GATT.
Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose causes acute liver injury. We previously demonstrated that differential gut microbiota modulates the host susceptibility to APAP-induced liver injury in mice and subsequently identified 16 metabolites associated with altered susceptibility to APAP hepatotoxicity. This study aims to examine whether these metabolites modulate APAP hepatotoxicity. In primary mouse hepatocytes cultured in high-galactose medium, phenylpropionic acid (PPA) and 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propionic acid (HPPA) significantly decreased APAP-induced cell necrosis whereas 5-aminovaleric acid (5-AV) worsens it. In mice, PPA (in drinking water at 4 % w/v) for four weeks and HPPA (intraperitoneal injection, 50 mg/kg 2 hours prior to APAP) significantly alleviated the APAP-induced liver injury. PPA, HPPA and 5-AV were rarely detected, if any, in the tissue (portal vein serum or liver) of germ-free mice, suggesting that that gut microbial production is a major determinant of host exposure to these metabolites. The biosynthetic pathways for these metabolites have been reported in bacteria. Indeed, mouse cecal bacteria readily converted L-phenylalanine, L-tyrosine and L-proline to PPA, HPPA and 5-AV, respectively. Bacterial conversion of L-Phe to PPA is known to be mediated by the phenylalanine reductive metabolism pathway (called "Fld pathway") or phenylalanine ammonia lyase. Examination of the deuterium-labeled metabolites (d6 -PPA and d7 -PPA; produced via Fld pathway and phenylalanine ammonia lyase, respectively) after incubating mouse cecal bacteria with deuterium-labeled L-Phe (d8 -Phe) revealed that Fld pathway is the main route of PPA production from L-Phe in mouse cecum. Interestingly, previously reported bacterial genes in Fld pathway were not detected in the mouse cecum. Also, the in vitro rate of d6 -PPA production by the cecal bacteria did not correlate with the differential levels of basal PPA levels in mouse cecum contents. The bacterial genes encoding the Fld enzymes as well as factors modulating its activities are remained to be identified. Taken together, this study presents multiple gut bacterial factors that are involved in gut microbiota's modulation on APAP-induced hepatotoxicity. Our next step is to study the underlying mechanisms for altered susceptibility to APAP hepatotoxicity by these metabolites.
A three-way planar-type probe optimized for in-vivo permittivity measurements of biological materials has been developed. The probe in this letter consists of three orthogonally-faced probing apertures, which allows one to make accurate and uninterrupted measurements in three different directions per each insertion. As a result, this probe is significantly less invasive for the collection of the desired information of the biological materials, thus providing a vastly improved solution for in-vivo measurements. This probe can also be used for microwave ablation, in which case the treating region can be significantly expanded.
This article attempts to reconcile legal and institutional tensions between regionalism, in the form of regional trading agreements (RTAs), and multilateralism represented by the WTO. It observes that GATT Article XXIV alone cannot fully resolve such tensions and thus calls for a new paradigm to deal with RTAs and their interaction with the GATT/WTO system. A weak mandate from working groups and an impotent dispute settlement mechanism largely incapacitated the old GATT in its attempt to synchronize RTAs’ simultaneously protectionist and trade-generating effects, thereby rendering RTAs to have thrived in this lenient environment up until the creation of the WTO, which developed legal discipline, in both a legislative and jurisprudential context, to strengthen normative effects of Article XXIV. Yet this article further suggests that an entirely new vision is necessary to cope with those RTA-issues left untouched by Article XXIV, namely the unique problem of services (as distinguished from goods) and the operation (as opposed to formation) of RTAs in the WTO system. Premised upon the notion of convergence, the new paradigm proposed in this article focuses on the interdependent interactions between/among diverse trading units, such as RTAs and the WTO, in a pluralistic yet federalistic fashion. Convergence of this type would promote “open regionalism,” the assimilation by some trading units of the important features of others, and the alliance of differing trading units. Emerging from these converging interactions would be a common hermeneutical and institutional terrain necessary to rectify the current deficiencies of Article XXIV through the development of a jus gentium of international trade.
The emergence of influenza virus and antigenic drift are potential cause of world-wide pandemic. There are some commercially available drugs in the market to treat influenza. During past decade, however, critical resistances have been raised for biological targets. Because of structural complexity and flexibility of target proteins, applying a computational modeling tool is very beneficial for developing alternative anti-influenza drugs. In this review, we introduced molecular dynamics (MD) simulations approach to reflect full conformational flexibility of proteins during molecular modeling works. Case studies of MD works were summarized for the drug discovery and drug resistance mechanism of anti-influenza pharmaceuticals.
Populists are trying to take down the global economic order and its institutions. While some of those forces might be fueled by racism, they also play to legitimate social concerns that include massive plant closings and deindustrialization, inadequate skills programs, and lack of decent jobs. Some of these problems also concern the Global South, as workers there face exploitation, unhealthy working conditions, and other social ills caused by global capitalism. In light of these problems, this Article argues that the International Labor Organization (ILO) should design new conventions on lead firm liability and mass layoffs. While other scholars and policymakers have already argued that lead firms should shoulder employer responsibilities of their suppliers, contractors, and franchisees, this is the first law review article that calls for an ILO convention that can diffuse such rules globally.The Article also calls on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to advise the ILO on these labor-protective conventions. The WTO, as an expert trade body, can better ensure stakeholders that these new conventions will comply with international trade law and policy, including with WTO “public morals” exception rules and with rules on technical barriers on trade and tax and subsidies. In doing so, the WTO can guarantee that the new conventions, far from hurting trade, will help to enhance the global trade regime. Moreover, the WTO, through its “peer review” practice, where stakeholders can discuss how to create and implement new labor and trade policies, can help coordinate a much needed global dialogue for a more inclusive globalization. This is also true of the ILO conventions that we advocate for here. We conclude by addressing likely arguments against our proposal, including from scholars and policymakers skeptical of the role that international law can have on the current political turmoil. After addressing those objections to our proposal, we maintain that collaboration between the ILO and the WTO, while certainly not the panacea for all the complex and daunting problems of our times, remains critical to restore legitimacy to the global economic order in a postpopulist era.
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