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The empirical study aimed to examine the factors affecting green home buying intention in Malaysia. The study adopted the popular theory of individual decision-making, the theory of planned behaviour, but extended it with a few new variables to get better predictability. Based on the cross-sectional survey method and quota sampling technique, the instrument-like questionnaire was distributed to the potential buyers who had the intention to buy a home. Data were collected from 741 potential buyers who are young Malaysian students. Collected data were analysed using partial least squares (PLS) modelling (SmartPLS 3.0) in order to measure the strength of the independent variable effects on the dependent variable. The results indicate that attitude, perceived behavioural control subjective norms, perceived value, reasonable pricing and green building knowledge had a positive and significant effect on green home buying intention, with attitude showing the highest effect; the only exception is an environmental concern. This study also validated the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which provides important insight for the firms involved with the housing development industry for their future business strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel wood species spectral classification scheme is proposed based on a fuzzy rule classifier. The visible/near-infrared (VIS/NIR) spectral reflectance curve of a wood sample's cross section was captured using a USB 2000-VIS-NIR spectrometer and a FLAME-NIR spectrometer. First, the wood spectral curve—with spectral bands of 376.64–779.84 nm and 950–1650 nm—was processed using the principal component analysis (PCA) dimension reduction algorithm. The wood spectral data were divided into two datasets, namely, training and testing sets. The training set was used to generate the membership functions and the initial fuzzy rule set, with the fuzzy rule being adjusted to supplement and refine the classification rules to form a perfect fuzzy rule set. Second, a fuzzy classifier was applied to the VIS and NIR bands. An improved decision-level fusion scheme based on the Dempster–Shafer (D-S) evidential theory was proposed to further improve the accuracy of wood species recognition. The test results using the testing set indicated that the overall recognition accuracy (ORA) of our scheme reached 94.76% for 50 wood species, which is superior to that of conventional classification algorithms and recent state-of-the-art wood species classification schemes. This method can rapidly achieve good recognition results, especially using small datasets, owing to its low computational time and space complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter we propose a practically realizable digital signaling scheme that requires a bandwidth significantly below the Nyquist limit, and at the same time achieves the same asymptotic performance as memoryless PAM. A five-step iterative procedure for constructing such schemes is presented, and examples that occupy down to about 60 percent of the Nyquist bandwidth are demonstrated using this simple procedure. Practical receiver structures are also briefly discussed.

Summary: Aims: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders involving deficits in social interaction and communication. Unfortunately, autism remains a scientific and clinical challenge owing to the lack of understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying it. This study aimed to investigate the pathophysiological mechanism underlying leukocyte‐endothelial adhesion in autism‐related neurovascular inflammation. Methods: Male BTBR T+tf/J mice were used as an autism model. The dynamic pattern of leukocyte‐endothelial adhesion in mouse cerebral vessels was detected by two‐photon laser scanning microscopy (TPLSM). Using FACS, RT‐PCR, and Western blotting, we explored the expression of cell adhesion molecules, the mRNA expression of endothelial chemokine, the protein levels of cathepsin B, and inflammatory mediators. Results: We found a significant increase in leukocyte‐endothelial adhesion in BTBR mice, accompanied by elevated expression of the adhesion molecule neutrophils CD11b and endothelial ICAM‐1. Our data further indicate that elevated neutrophil cathepsin B levels contribute to elevated endothelial chemokine CXCL7 levels in BTBR mice. The pharmacological inhibition of cathepsin B reverses the enhanced leukocyte‐endothelial adhesion in the cerebral vessels of autistic mice. Conclusion: Our results revealed the prominent role of cathepsin B in modulating leukocyte‐endothelial adhesion during autism‐related neurovascular inflammation and identified a promising novel approach for autism treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By the strategy of equipping a fluorophore with two reaction triggers that are tailored to the specific chemistry of peroxynitrite, we have developed a highly selective probe for detecting peroxynitrite in live cells. Sequential response by the two triggers enabled the probe to reveal various degrees of nitrosative stress in live cells via a sensitive emission colour change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This communication reports on a fluorescent probe (PPI-P) for imaging active peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerases in live cells. PPI-P is capable of responding to both recombinant and cellular PPIases fluorogenically, and has been shown to specifically image active PPIases in live cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]