Laboratories and laboratory networks are a fundamental component of tuberculosis (TB) control, providing testing for diagnosis, surveillance and treatment monitoring at every level of the health-care system. New initiatives and resources to strengthen laboratory capacity and implement rapid and new diagnostic tests for TB will require recognition that laboratories are systems that require quali...

Humans adapt their risk-taking behavior on the basis of perceptions of safety; this risk-compensation phenomenon is typified by people taking increased risks when using protective equipment. Existing studies have looked at people who know they are using safety equipment and have specifically focused on changes in behaviors for which that equipment might reduce risk. Here, we demonstrated that r...

1 Changan Auto Global R&D Center, State Key Laboratory of Vehicle NVH and Safety Technology, Chongqing 401120, China 2 School of Automotive Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China 3 State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis of Industrial Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China 4 College of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 4...

The authors report the results of a project to reemphasize high quality, hands-on laboratory courses in the engineering curriculum while reducing their costs through the application of web-based teaching tools. The project resulted in substantial gains in productivity of faculty and staff, increased utilization of laboratory space, cost reductions in equipment, and improved quality of learning ...

In this technical report, we address the problem of recovering 3-D models from sequences of uncalibrated images with unknown correspondence. To that end, we integrate tracking, structure from motion with geometric constraints, and use of deformable 3-D models in a single framework. The key to making the proposed approach work is the use of appearance-based model matching and refinement. This ap...

1 Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, 2 Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China, 3 Institute of Nuclear Physics and C...

A variety of laboratory techniques are available to determine the expression levels of particular mRNAs present in biological samples. Depending on the laboratory resources available, the level of accuracy desired, and the number of targets to be measured, the researcher typically chooses between techniques such as quantitative PCR (Q-PCR), Northern blots, RNase protection analysis, or expressi...

The workflow of laboratory experiments may be influenced by various factors. Routinely, only the assay-specific factors are recognized as relevant and pursued to be controlled. These typically include sample material (quality, integrity, amount), reagent systems (quality, performance) and laboratory equipment (features, performance, quality). On the other hand, more general experimental factors...

1 College of Computer and Information, Hohai University, Changzhou 213022, China 2 Changzhou Key Laboratory of Sensor Networks and Environmental Sensing, Changzhou 213022, China 3 Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Power Transmission and Distribution Equipment Technology, Changzhou 213022, China 4 School of Mathematical Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China 5 Department of Mathematics and Phys...

Atmospheric measurement of radioactive xenon isotopes (radioxenon) plays a key role in remote monitoring of nuclear explosions, since it has a high capability to capture radioactive debris for a wide range of explosion scenarios. It is therefore a powerful tool in providing evidence for nuclear testing, and is one of the key components of the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Tes...