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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying mechanism and physico-chemical requirements of chemo-responsive shape change/memory polymers and to explore the future trend of development and potential applications. Design/methodology/approach – Working mechanism in chemo-responsive shape change/memory polymers is firstly identified. And then the physico-chemical requirements for the representative polymers are characterized. Findings – The different working mechanisms, fundamentals, physico-chemical requirements and theoretical origins have been discussed. Current research and development on the fabrication strategies of chemo-responsive shape change/memory polymers have been summarised. The future trend and potential applications have been explored and estimated. Research limitations/implications – This review examines physico-chemical requirements and theoretical origins necessary to achieve chemo-responsiveness, and then discusses recent developments and future trends. Practical implications – Shape change/memory polymers can be used in the broad field of bio- and/or medicine. Originality/value – Breakthroughs and rapid development of chemo-responsive shape change/memory polymers will significantly improve the research and development of smart materials, structures and systems.

A region of the Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona genome encoding DNA replication genes was characterized. This region, designated the ppa-ntrC locus, includes 19 open reading frames and a new insertion sequence, IS1502. Although this locus resembles replication origins from many eubacteria, it lacks several genes common to homologous loci. Some replication-related genes were previously located near rrf, and may have been moved to that location by homologous recombination between short sequence elements common to both loci. Further analysis showed that the ppa-ntrC region has undergone substantial change during spirochete evolution. Transcription analysis using RT-PCR revealed uniquely organized polycistronic mRNAs in the ppa-ntrC locus. The dnaN and recF intergenic region of serovar pomona was different from the homologous sites of 41 L. interrogans serovars by the presence of IS1502. The distribution of IS1502 throughout pathogenic Leptospira species varies. This result suggests that IS1502 may have been recently introduced into Leptospira.

Purpose - This paper aims to present a review on utilizing shape memory technology (SMT) for active assembly/disassembly, i.e. assembly/disassembly without physically touching. Design/methodology/approach - The fundamentals behind the shape memory effect (SME) in materials, in particular shape memory alloys (SMAs) and polymers, which are the cornerstones of SMT, are introduced, together with the possible approaches to implement this effect in active assembly/disassembly. Example applications for not only active assembly/ disassembly, but also programmed active disassembly are presented. Findings - The advantages of utilizing SMT over conventional assembly/disassembly techniques are identified. Originality/value - The paper introduces the fundamentals behind the SME and the basic approaches to implement the SMT in not only active assembly/disassembly, but also programmed active assembly.

A region of the Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona genome encoding DNA replication genes was characterized. This region, designated the ppa-ntrC locus, includes 19 open reading frames and a new insertion sequence, IS 1502. Although this locus resembles replication origins from many eubacteria, it lacks several genes common to homologous loci. Some replication-related genes were previously located near rrf, and may have been moved to that location by homologous recombination between short sequence elements common to both loci. Further analysis showed that the ppa-ntrC region has undergone substantial change during spirochete evolution. Transcription analysis using RT-PCR revealed uniquely organized polycistronic mRNAs in the ppa-ntrC locus. The dnaN and recF intergenic region of serovar pomona was different from the homologous sites of 41 L. interrogans serovars by the presence of IS 1502. The distribution of IS 1502 throughout pathogenic Leptospira species varies. This result suggests that IS 1502 may have been recently introduced into Leptospira.

Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) have been used in many applications due to their unique shape memory behavior. These materials can be \"plastically\" deformed at a low temperature, and then return to their shape prior to the deformation upon heating. This is known as the shape memory effect. If they are deformed at a high temperature, upon releasing the applied load, the original shape can be fully recovered. This is superelasticity. The underlying mechanism of these phenomena is the phase transformation between the high temperature austenite phase (A) and the low temperature martenste phase (M) and reorientation among martensite variants, which are crystallographically equivalent, but oriented along different directions. Hysteresis means the difference between the forward and reverse transformations. In general, hysteresis is considered as a constant in a particular type of cyclic condition. However, is it always a constant? This paper aims to answer this question.

This study assessed the performance and developed a simple approach for estimating infiltration capacity of two infiltration gutters by using on-site tests. Permeable-brick and redbrick infiltration gutters were constructed on-site. Water infiltrated from the surfaces of two vertical sides (NFS-2S), bottom (NFS-B), and three faces (NFS-3S) of two gutters were measured under nonflowing and steady-state conditions. Tests results from NFS-2S and NFS-3S indicate that the permeability and water depth for both gutters are linearly dependent on each other. Experimental results also indicate that, when the bottom of the gutter is clogged, the permeable-brick gutter still retains approximately 93 and 79% for redbrick gutter of their infiltration capacity for NFS-3S. On the whole, permeable-brick gutter has an advantage over redbrick gutter in stormwater infiltration. Based on these results, the permeability for different water depths and widths of these two gutters can be obtained.

Recently, support vector machine (SVM) has excellent performance on classification and prediction and is widely used on disease diagnosis or medical assistance. However, SVM only functions well on two-group classification problems. This study combines feature selection and SVM recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) to investigate the classification accuracy of multiclass problems for Dermatology and Zoo databases. Dermatology dataset contains 33 feature variables, 1 class variable, and 366 testing instances; and the Zoo dataset contains 16 feature variables, 1 class variable, and 101 testing instances. The feature variables in the two datasets were sorted in descending order by explanatory power, and different feature sets were selected by SVM-RFE to explore classification accuracy. Meanwhile, Taguchi method was jointly combined with SVM classifier in order to optimize parameters C and γ to increase classification accuracy for multiclass classification. The experimental results show that the classification accuracy can be more than 95% after SVM-RFE feature selection and Taguchi parameter optimization for Dermatology and Zoo databases.

The objective of this study was to present nationally representative findings on sociodemographic and psychopathologic predictors of first incidence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , 4th edn (DSM-IV) substance, mood and anxiety disorders using the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. One-year incidence rates of DSM-IV substance, mood and anxiety disorders were highest for alcohol abuse (1.02), alcohol dependence (1.70), major depressive disorder (MDD; 1.51) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; 1.12). Incidence rates were significantly greater ( P <0.01) among men for substance use disorders and greater among women for mood and anxiety disorders except bipolar disorders and social phobia. Age was inversely related to all disorders. Black individuals were at decreased risk of incident alcohol abuse and Hispanic individuals were at decreased risk of GAD. Anxiety disorders at baseline more often predicted incidence of other anxiety disorders than mood disorders. Reciprocal temporal relationships were found between alcohol abuse and dependence, MDD and GAD, and GAD and panic disorder. Borderline and schizotypal personality disorders predicted most incident disorders. Incidence rates of substance, mood and anxiety disorders were comparable to or greater than rates of lung cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease. The greater incidence of all disorders in the youngest cohort underscores the need for increased vigilance in identifying and treating these disorders among young adults. Strong common factors and unique factors appear to underlie associations between alcohol abuse and dependence, MDD and GAD, and GAD and panic disorder. The major results of this study are discussed with regard to prevention and treatment implications.