BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The conventional techniques used in TB diagnosis like AFB (acid fast bacilli) smear microscopy lack sensitivity and the gold standard, culture test takes time. A test based on multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the 38 kDa gene and IS6110 insertion sequence, specific to Mycobacterium tuberculosis was developed to further increase the sensitivity of a TB-P...

BACKGROUND Genetic influences may be discerned in families that have multiple affected members and may manifest as an earlier age of cancer diagnosis. In this study, we determine whether cancers develop at an earlier age in multiplex Familial Barrett's Esophagus (FBE) kindreds, defined by 3 or more members affected by Barrett's esophagus (BE) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). METHODS Inform...

There is currently high interest in developing automated methods to assist the updating of map databases. This study presents methods for automatic detection of buildings and changes in buildings from airborne laser scanner and digital aerial image data and shows the potential usefulness of the methods with thorough experiments in a 5 km 2 suburban study area. 96% of buildings larger than 60 m ...

Estimation of the dynamic characteristics of buildings is a key issue in seismic design technology. Since 1957, the Building Research Institute (BRI), Japan, has been operating a network to monitor strong motion in buildings. In this study, dynamic characteristics of 25 actual buildings in the BRI network were estimated by using strong motion records. Acceleration records from two sensors respe...

This paper studies the impact of surrounding buildings on path loss and multipath delay spread for Personal Communication Services (PCS) operating inside of buildings. Measurements conducted inside three large office buildings in the San Francisco Bay area provide an extensive database for propagation models at 915 MHz and 1900 Wlz, and show variability in path loss and delay spread caused by m...

Many complex systems can be described as multiplex networks in which the same nodes can interact with one another in different layers, thus forming a set of interacting and co-evolving networks. Examples of such multiplex systems are social networks where people are involved in different types of relationships and interact through various forms of communication media. The ranking of nodes in mu...

Occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in office buildings has been positively correlated to self-estimated job performance and, potentially, to overall company productivity. LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based, market-driven program that provides third-party certification of green buildings, contributing to promote sustainability into the mainstream of building design a...

This letter investigates the multiple routes transmitted epidemic process on multiplex networks. We propose detailed theoretical analysis that allows us to accurately calculate the epidemic threshold and outbreak size. It is found that the epidemic can spread across the multiplex network even if all the network layers are well below their respective epidemic thresholds. Strong positive degree-d...

iran is located in a high-risk seismic zone of earthquakes. it has thousands of valuable historic buildings, mostly made of unreinforced masonry, which is quite vulnerable to natural hazards, especially earthquakes. the conservation and seismic upgrading of these buildings is vital for their survival. however, resources are limited and some sort of prioritization is needed in order to allocate ...

With increasing use and integration of renewable energies, power imbalance between supply and demand sides has become one of the most critical issues in developing smart grid. As the major power consumers at demand side, buildings can actually perform as distributed thermal storages to help relieving power imbalance of a grid. However, power demand alteration potentials of buildings and energy ...