Sensitivity analysis of the effect of current mood states on the thermal sensation in educational buildings.

Adaptive thermal comfort is a model which considers behavioral and psychological adjustments apart from Fanger's Predicted Mean Vote (PMV)/Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) method. In the literature, the differences between the PMV/PPD method and adaptive thermal comfort were mainly considered in aspects of behavioral adjustments in an environment. Conversely, limited studies related to psychological adjustments were considered in detail for thermal comfort.

An intelligent indoor guidance and navigation system for the visually impaired.

Intelligent guidance in complex environments where various procedures are required for navigation is critical to achieving mobility for the visually impaired. This study presents a newly developed software prototype with a hybrid RFID/BLE infrastructure to provide intelligent navigation and guidance to the visually impaired in complex indoor environments. The system enables the users to input their purpose via a specially designed user interface, and provides intelligent guidance through a chain of destination targets which are determined according to the inherent procedures of the environment.

Prevalence of antibiotic resistance in fecal flora before transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy and the clinical impact of targeted antibiotic prophylaxis.

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to evaluate ciprofloxacin resistance and the presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing organisms (ESBLs) in the population of patients with indication to undergo prostate biopsy. Our additional aim was to compare the targeted antibiotic prophylaxis and sepsis rates after transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy in patients who received routine ciprofloxacin prophylaxis and to evaluate the predictive factors of antibiotic resistance.

Methods: Between September 2012 and January 2014, 300 patients were randomized to two groups.

Albumin coating on magnesium via linker molecules--comparing different coating mechanisms.

As magnesium is a non-toxic and biodegradable metal, it is gaining more and more interest in the biomedical sector. The biodegradability is due to the corrosion of Mg in aqueous, chloride containing environment, as it is present in the body. However, corrosion of pure magnesium occurs too fast and takes place inhomogeneously on the metal surface.

Effect of electrolyte on the electropolymerization of 2,2-dibutyl-3,4-propylenedioxythiophene on carbon fiber microelectrodes.

Electrocoating of 2,2 dibutylpropylene dioxythiophene on carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMEs) in different electrolytes in acetonitrile was performed, and surface morphology and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic investigation has been carried out. Impedance spectra showed the typical form of Z(IM) versus Z(RE) for transmission-line at frequencies 10 Hz, with transition to almost pure capacitive behaviour down to 10 mHz (the lower limit of frequency scan).