Selective isolation of Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) and lectin from soybean whey solutions by different types of chitosan beads was investigated. The chitosan beads were co-crosslinked with tripolyphosphate/genipin in solutions at pH 5, 7 or 9 (CB5, CB7, CB9). The maximum adsorption ratios of chitosan beads to KTI and lectin were observed at pH 4.4 and 5.4, respectively; highly selective separation was also demonstrated at these pHs. The adsorption ratios increased with temperature, rising between 5 and 25 °C. CB9 produced the best adsorption ratio, followed by CB7 then CB5. The critical interaction governing absorption of chitosan beads to KTI and lectin could be hydrogen bonding. At pH 9, KTI and lectin desorbed efficiently from CB7 with desorption ratios of 80.9% and 81.4%, respectively. The desorption was most likely caused predominantly by electrostatic repulsion. KTI and lectin can effectively be selectively isolated from soybean whey using this novel separation technique.

This work is to develop an intelligent driver-assistance system which can perceive the physiological state of a driver to avoid fatigue driving. The proposed system includes a camera, a wireless ElectroCardioGram (ECG) sensor patch, and a computation platform. The camera in front of a driver is to catch a face image which is processed to obtain features of a mouth for identifying a yawn. The sensor patch records ECG signals which are computed to yield six Heart Rate Variability (HRV) parameters. Seven healthy subjects of 6 males and 1 female had individually driven a car, which was embedded with our system, for 3 hours at a well-known route, mostly in a freeway road. Based on the captured video and measured ECG signals, the correlations between the yawning frequency and six HRV parameters are investigated by using the regression method to discover that the ratio (LF/HF) of Low-Frequency (LF) spectrum power over High-Frequency (HF) spectrum power yields the relatively highest correlation. In order to effectively identity driver's fatigue, the variations of differential LF/HF are further characterized to attain two thresholds which are accompanied with yawning frequencies to build a fair detection mechanism. The practical road tests demonstrate that the proposed system is very feasible and easily adapted to different drivers.

A systematic approach of using the null-field integral equation in conjunction with the degenerate kernel and eigenfunction expansion is employed to solve three-dimensional (3D) Green’s functions of Laplace equation. The purpose of using degenerate kernels for interior and exterior expansions is to avoid calculating the principal values. The adaptive observer system is addressed to employ the property of degenerate kernels in the spherical coordinates and in the prolate spheroidal coordinates. After introducing the collocation points on each boundary and matching boundary conditions, a linear algebraic system is obtained without boundary discretization. Unknown coefficients can be easily determined. Finally, several examples are given to demonstrate the validity of the present approach.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to detect the degenerate scale of a 2D bending plate analytically and numerically. Design/methodology/approach To avoid the time-consuming scheme, the influence matrix of the boundary element method (BEM) is reformulated to an eigenproblem of the 4 by 4 matrix by using the scaling transform instead of the direct-searching scheme to find degenerate scales. Analytical degenerate scales are derived from the boundary integral equation (BIE) by using the degenerate kernel only for the circular case. Numerical results of the direct-searching scheme and the eigen system for the arbitrary shape are also considered. Findings Results using three methods, namely, analytical derivation, the direct-searching scheme and the 4 by 4 eigen system, are also given for the circular case and arbitrary shapes. Finally, addition of a constant for the kernel function makes original eigenvalues (2 real roots and 2 complex roots) of the 4 by 4 matrix to be all real. This indicates that a degenerate scale depends on the kernel function. Originality/value The analytical derivation for the degenerate scale of a 2D bending plate in the BIE is first studied by using the degenerate kernel. Through the reformed eigenproblem of a 4 by 4 matrix, the numerical solution for the plate of an arbitrary shape can be used in the plate analysis using the BEM.