bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Isolating the net effect of multiple government interventions with an extended Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) framework: empirical evidence from the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in China
Authors: Liu Jie , Gao Boya , Bao Helen Xiaohui , Shi Zhenwu
Published: June 2022

Objective

By using a data-driven statistical approach, we isolated the net effect of multiple government interventions that were simultaneously implemented during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Design, data sources and eligibility criteria

We gathered epidemiological data and government interventions data of nine cities with local outbreaks during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in China. We employed the Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) framework model to analyse the different pathways of transmission between cities with government interventions implementation and those without. We introduced new components to the standard SEIR model and investigated five themes of government interventions against COVID-19 pandemic.

Data extraction and synthesis

We extracted information including study objective, design, methods, main findings and implications. These were tabulated and a narrative synthesis was undertaken given the diverse research designs, methods and implications.

Results

Supported by extensive empirical validation, our results indicated that the net effect of some specific government interventions (including masks, environmental cleaning and disinfection, tracing, tracking and 14-day centralised quarantining close contacts) had been significantly underestimated in the previous investigation. We also identified important moderators and mediators for the effect of certain government interventions, such as closure of shopping mall and restaurant in the medium-risk level areas, etc. Linking the COVID-19 epidemiological dynamics with the implementation timing of government interventions, we detected that the earlier implementation of some specific government interventions (including targeted partial lockdown, tracing, tracking and 14-day centralised quarantining close contacts) achieved the strongest and most timely effect on controlling COVID-19, especially at the early period of local outbreak.

Conclusions

These findings provide important scientific information for decisions regarding which and when government interventions should be implemented to fight against COVID-19 in China and beyond. The proposed analytical framework is useful for policy-making in future endemic and pandemic as well.
Beyond regulatory approaches to ethics: making space for ethical preparedness in healthcare research
Authors: Lyle Kate , Weller Susie , Samuel Gabby , Lucassen Anneke M
Published: June 2022

Centralised, compliance-focused approaches to research ethics have been normalised in practice. In this paper, we argue that the dominance of such systems has been driven by neoliberal approaches to governance, where the focus on controlling and individualising risk has led to an overemphasis of decontextualised ethical principles and the conflation of ethical requirements with the documentation of ‘informed consent’. Using a UK-based case study, involving a point-of-care-genetic test as an illustration, we argue that rather than ensuring ethical practice such compliance-focused approaches may obstruct valuable research. We call for an approach that encourages researchers and research communities—including regulators, ethics committees, funders and publishers of academic research—to acquire skills to make morally appropriate decisions, and not base decision-making solely on compliance with prescriptive regulations. We call this ‘ethical preparedness’ and outline how a research ethics system might make space for this approach.
Parent-initiated posthumous-assisted reproduction revisited in light of the interest in genetic origins
Authors: Bokek-Cohen Ya'arit , Ravitsky Vardit
Published: June 2022

A rich literature in bioethics argues against the use of anonymous gamete donation in the name of the ‘interest in knowing one’s genetic origins’. This interest stems from medical as well as psychosocial and identity reasons. The term ‘genealogical bewilderment’ has been coined to express the predicament of those deprived of access to information about their origins. Another rich body of literature in bioethics discusses arguments for and against posthumous-assisted reproduction (PAR), with a recent focus on PAR that is initiated by the parents of a deceased man (rather than his partner). This paper revisits arguments against PAR, in light of arguments regarding the interest in knowing one’s genetic origins. Limiting the discussion to the specific context of parent-initiated PAR (PIPAR), we argue that the use of cryopreserved sperm from a deceased identifiable man in the context of PIPAR may be ethically preferable when compared with the use of anonymous donor sperm, since it allowsgenealogical certainty, that is, giving the prospective child access to information about the identity, life story and ancestry of the genetic progenitor as well asgenealogical embeddedness, that is, close relationship with extended family members.
Fock state-enhanced expressivity of quantum machine learning models
Authors: Gan Beng Yee , Leykam Daniel , Angelakis Dimitris G.
Published: June 2022

The data-embedding process is one of the bottlenecks of quantum machine learning, potentially negating any quantum speedups. In light of this, more effective data-encoding strategies are necessary. We propose a photonic-based bosonic data-encoding scheme that embeds classical data points using fewer encoding layers and circumventing the need for nonlinear optical components by mapping the data points into the high-dimensional Fock space. The expressive power of the circuit can be controlled via the number of input photons. Our work sheds some light on the unique advantages offered by quantum photonics on the expressive power of quantum machine learning models. By leveraging the photon-number dependent expressive power, we propose three different noisy intermediate-scale quantum-compatible binary classification methods with different scaling of required resources suitable for different supervised classification tasks.
Model of fatigue crack propagation rate based on crack tip opening displacement as the driving parameter
Authors: Zhang Yajun , Dang Hengyao , Quan Shijun , Zhang Xinyao , Chen Qinglei
Published: June 2022

To investigate the model of fatigue crack growth rate da/dN based on crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) as the driving parameter, the variation ranges [Formula: see text] by linear elastic fracture mechanics and [Formula: see text] by geometric principle of CTOD were deduced. The fitting relationships of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were attained through da/dN experiment by taking 17Cr16Ni2 stainless steel, and their discrepancies were compared. The results showed that at the early and middle periods, the relationships of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] could be expressed by Paris law, and da/dN driven by [Formula: see text] was faster than that by [Formula: see text] notably; at the later period, the experimental data of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] deviated from the fitted Paris curves and were above them with being crossed with each other; in the total variation range of CTOD, it was better to fit the relationships of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] by polynomial method rather than Paris law.
A Text Classification Algorithm for Power Equipment Defects Based on Random Forest
Authors: Zhu Longzhu , Tian Nuo , Li Wei , Yang Jing
Published: June 2022

A short text mining architecture with a unique design is suggested to uncover the worth of short texts in the power text and management of power equipment. A Text Classification Algorithm for Power Equipment Defects (TCA-PED) is proposed in this paper. The brief text mining method is initially outlined, with each module’s operation explained in sequence. An adaptation of the short text mining architecture to practical implementation is then presented, based on the particular features of short texts found in electrical equipment power text and management. The samples of faulty texts are submitted to show the deployment of short text mining in designing and management, based on the architecture with the specifically built modules. This framework is well suited to electrical equipment power text and management activities, as demonstrated by the dataset. The particular design of each component also contributes to the enhancement of the system. Finally, the results show the effectiveness of the proposed model.
FINITE ELEMENT EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF ADHESIVE CREAMS ON THE STRESS STATE OF DENTURES AND ABUTMENT TEETH
Authors: RAMAKRISHNAN ANANTHA NARAYANAN , RÖHRLE OLIVER , LUDTKA CHRISTOPHER , VARGHESE ROSHAN , KOEHLER JOSEPHINE , KIESOW ANDREAS , SCHWAN STEFAN
Published: June 2022

The appropriate fit of removable partial dentures (RPDs) is hypothesized to lead to lower tooth mobility. An adhesive layer between the denture and oral mucosa can facilitate better denture retention and therefore increased stability. Study objectives were to model and compare the response of abutment structures with and without the application of a denture adhesive and to observe the stress response of abutment periodontal ligaments (PDLs) during the application of occlusal force on the RPD. A 3D finite element (FE) model was developed from computer tomography datasets of the mandibular region and the RPD. An adhesive layer was developed by extending the denture surface and using the Prony series approximation of rheological data to implement a viscoelastic material model. FE simulations were performed by applying a bite force on one of the denture segments, with the resulting deformation in PDL compared between the model with the adhesive layer and the base model without. The maximum deformation of 15[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m was observed in the 2nd molar abutment PDL with the implementation of the adhesive, as compared to 42[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m for the model without. The lower impact of RPDs on the supporting abutment teeth could potentially reduce the discomfort of denture wearers.
DESIGN AND NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF FACE MASK POLYMER SHIELD AGAINST INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Authors: GOK ARIF
Published: June 2022

Viruses that cause infections spread very quickly and has a fatal risk to people with chronic diseases. Since the virus vaccine and the drugs to be used in treatment are not fully developed, alternative ways to protect from the virus are being investigated. The Covid-19 virus has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. In this study, the effect of face mask shield against Covid-19 and other infections were investigated using finite element analysis (FEA). Three-dimensional model of the conventional face mask, equipment and shield was performed with the SolidWorks software. Computer-aided simulations were performed using AnsysWorkbench explicit dynamics module. The loading, boundary conditions and material properties were defined in the AnsysWorkbench. The effects of droplets formed because of cough or sneezing on the human model with mask and shield were analyzed. It has been confirmed from the analyzes that both the mask and the shield are effective against the virus.
Computer-Aided Heart Disease Diagnosis Using Recursive Rule Extraction Algorithms from Neural Networks
Authors: Chakraborty Manomita , Biswas Saroj Kumar
Published: June 2022

Mortality rate due to fatal heart disease (HD) or cardiovascular disease (CVD) has increased drastically over the world in recent decades. HD is a very hazardous problem prevailing among people which is treatable if detected early. But in most of the cases, the disease is not diagnosed until it becomes severe. Hence, it is requisite to develop an effective system which can accurately diagnosis HD and provide a concise description for the underlying causes [risk factors (RFs)] of the disease, so that in future HD can be controlled only by managing the primary RFs. Recently, researchers are using various machine learning algorithms for HD diagnosis, and neural network (NN) is one among them which has attracted tons of people because of its high performance. But the main obstacle with a NN is its black-box nature, i.e., its incapability in explaining the decisions. So, as a solution to this pitfall, the rule extraction algorithms can be very effective as they can extract explainable decision rules from NNs with high prediction accuracies. Many neural-based rule extraction algorithms have been applied successfully in various medical diagnosis problems. This study assesses the performance of rule extraction algorithms for HD diagnosis, particularly those that construct rules recursively from NNs. Because they subdivide a rule’s subspace until the accuracy improves, recursive algorithms are known for delivering interpretable decisions with high accuracy. The recursive rule extraction algorithms’ efficacy in HD diagnosis is demonstrated by the results. Along with the significant data ranges for the primary RFs, a maximum accuracy of 82.59% is attained.
Measuring DNS over TCP in the era of increasing DNS response sizes
Authors: Kosek Mike , Doan Trinh Viet , Huber Simon , Bajpai Vaibhav
Published: June 2022

The Domain Name System (DNS) is one of the most crucial parts of the Internet. Although the original standard defined the usage of DNS over UDP (DoUDP) as well as DNS over TCP (DoTCP), UDP has become the predominant protocol used in the DNS. With the introduction of new Resource Records (RRs), the sizes of DNS responses have increased considerably. Since this can lead to
truncation
or
IP fragmentation
, the fallback to DoTCP as required by the standard ensures successful DNS responses by overcoming the size limitations of DoUDP. However, the effects of the usage of DoTCP by stub resolvers are not extensively studied to this date. We close this gap by presenting a view at DoTCP from the Edge, issuing 12.1M DNS requests from 2,500 probes toward
Public
as well as
Probe
DNS recursive resolvers. In our measurement study, we observe that DoTCP is generally slower than DoUDP, where the relative increase in
Response Time
is less than 37% for most resolvers. While optimizations to DoTCP can be leveraged to further reduce the response times, we show that support on
Public
resolvers is still missing, hence leaving room for optimizations in the future. Moreover, we also find that
Public
resolvers generally have comparable reliability for DoTCP and DoUDP. However,
Probe
resolvers show a significantly different behavior: DoTCP queries targeting
Probe
resolvers fail in 3 out of 4 cases, and, therefore, do not comply with the standard. This problem will only aggravate in the future: As DNS response sizes will continue to grow, the need for DoTCP will solidify.
FGF21 contributes to metabolic improvements elicited by combination therapy with exenatide and pioglitazone in patients with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Samms Ricardo J. , Cheng Christine C. , Fourcaudot Marcel , Heikkinen Sami , Khattab Ahmed , Adams John , Cersosimo Eugenio , Triplitt Curtis , Puckett Curtis , Tsintzas Kostas , Adams Andrew. C. , Abdul-Ghani Muhammad A. , DeFronzo Ralph A. , Norton Luke
Published: June 2022

In patients with T2D treated with a combination of metformin/pioglitazone/exenatide (triple therapy), we observed reduced total and bioactive plasma FGF21 levels and a relative increase in the proportion of circulating bioactive FGF21 compared with that in patients treated with metformin and sequential addition of glipizide and basal insulin glargine (conventional therapy). These data suggest that FGF21 may contribute, at least in part, to the glycemic benefits observed following combination therapy in patients with T2D.
Impaired postprandial adipose tissue microvascular blood flow responses to a mixed-nutrient meal in first-degree relatives of adults with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Roberts-Thomson Katherine M. , Hu Donghua , Russell Ryan D. , Greenaway Timothy , Betik Andrew C. , Parker Lewan , Kaur Gunveen , Richards Stephen M. , Premilovac Dino , Wadley Glenn D. , Keske Michelle A.
Published: June 2022

Adipose tissue blood flow plays a key role in postprandial nutrient storage. People at-risk of type 2 diabetes have impaired postmeal adipose tissue blood flow. Impaired adipose tissue blood flow is associated with altered fat oxidation. Risk of type 2 diabetes may be elevated by poor adipose tissue blood flow.
Super Resolution Image Visual Quality Assessment Based on Feature Optimization
Authors: Lei Shu , Zijian Huang , Jiebin Yan , Fengchang Fei
Published: June 2022

Most existing no-referenced image quality assessment (NR-IQA) algorithms need to extract features first and then predict image quality. However, only a small number of features work in the model, and the rest will degrade the model performance. Consequently, an NR-IQA framework based on feature optimization is proposed to solve this problem and apply to the SR-IQA field. In this study, we designed a feature engineering method to solve this problem. Specifically, the features associate with the SR images were first collected and aggregated. Furthermore, several advanced feature selection algorithms were used to sort the feature sets according to their importance, and the importance matrix of features is obtained. Then, we examined the linear relationship between the number of features and Pearson linear correlation coefficient (PLCC) to determine the optimal number of features and the optimal feature selection algorithm, so as to obtain the optimal model. The results showed that the image quality scores predicted by the optimal model are in good agreement with the human subjective scores. Adopting the proposed feature optimization framework, we can effectively reduce the number of features in the model and obtain better performance. The experimental results indicated that SR image quality can be accurately predicted using only a small part of image features. In summary, we proposed a feature optimization framework to solve the current problem of irrelevant features in SR-IQA, and an SR image quality assessment model was proposed consequently.
Tuftelin 1 Facilitates Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression through Regulation of Lipogenesis and Focal Adhesion Maturation
Authors: Zhu Lei , Zhou Kai X. , Ma Ming Z. , Yao Lin L. , Zhang Yan L. , Li Hui , Du Chang , Yang Xiao M.
Published: June 2022

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver malignancy with poor prognosis worldwide. Emerging evidences demonstrated critical roles of lipid de novo synthesis in HCC progression, yet its regulatory mechanisms are not fully understood. Herein, we found that tuftelin 1 (TUFT1), an acidic phosphorylated glycoprotein with secretory capacity, was significantly upregulated in HCC and had an excellent correlation with patient survival and malignancy features. Through database mining and experimental validation, we found that TUFT1 was associated with fatty acid metabolism and promoted lipid accumulation in HCC cells. Further, we found that TUFT1 can interact with CREB1, a transcription factor for hepatic lipid metabolism, and regulate its activity and the transcriptions of key enzymes for lipogenesis. TUFT1 promoted HCC cell proliferation significantly, which was partially reversed by treatment of an inhibitor of CREB1, KG-501. Moreover, TUFT1 promoted the capacity of HCC cell invasion in vitro, which was likely mediated by its association with zyxin, a zinc-binding phosphoprotein responsible for the formation of fully mature focal adhesions on extracellular matrix. We found that TUFT1 can interact with ZYX and inhibit its expression and recruitments to focal complexes in HCC cells. Collectively, our study uncovered new regulatory mechanisms of TUFT1-mediated lipogenesis, cell proliferation, and invasion.
Clinical Efficacy of Endovenous Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) for Superficial Varicose Veins of the Lower Extremities
Authors: Jia Wei , Liu Jianlong , Cheng Zhiyuan
Published: June 2022

Objective. To investigate the clinical efficacy of intravenous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of patients with superficial varicose veins of lower extremities. Methods. From January 1, 2021, to January 1, 2022, 62 patients with superficial lower extremity varicose veins were selected and divided into two groups according to the treatment plan. 31 patients underwent high saphenous vein ligation and dissection as control. Thirty-one patients received RFA treatment as the experimental group. The operation-related indicators, clinical efficacy, and postoperative complications were compared. Results. The intraoperative blood loss in the experimental group was significantly less than that in the control group. The clinical efficacy of the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group. The incidence of postoperative complications in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group. Conclusion. RFA has a good clinical effect in the treatment of patients with superficial lower extremity varicose veins, with less postoperative complications, and has a high therapeutic value.
Optimization Analysis of Two-Factor Continuous Variable between Thread Depth and Pitch of Microimplant under Toque Force
Authors: Ye Yushan , Jiao Jiuyang , Fan Song , He Jieying , Wang Yamei , Yao Qinghe , Wang Wei , Li Jinsong , Chang Shaohai
Published: June 2022

Microimplant, an anchorage device, is widely applied in clinical orthodontic treatment. Since tooth torque is required to be controlled during orthodontic tooth movement, a novel microimplant needs to be developed to apply better torque force during orthodontic. In this study, the optimal value ranges of thread depth and pitch under toque force were studied for choosing microimplant with relevant value ranges in clinical design from biomechanical perspective. Finite element analysis (FEA) and optimization design technology were used for accessing the optimal value ranges of thread depth and pitch under toque force. Thread depth (

D

) (0.1 mm to 0.4 mm) and pitch (

P

) (0.4 mm to 1 mm) were used as continuous variables, with the other parameters as constant, and the optimal value ranges were obtained by analyzing the tangent slope and sensitivity of the response curve. When a torque force of 6 Nmm was applied on the microimplant, the maximum equivalent stress (Max EQV) of cortical bone and maximum displacements (Max DM) of microimplant were analysis indexes. When

0.55
 
mm
≤
P
≤
1
 
mm

, the Max EQV of cortical bone was relatively smaller with less variation range. When

0.1
 
mm
≤
D
≤
0.35
 
mm

, the Max DM of microimplant was relatively smaller with less variation range. So in conclusion, the initial stability of microimplants with pitch

0.55
 
mm
≤
P
≤
1
 
mm

and thread depth

0.1
 
mm
≤
D
≤
0.35
 
mm

was better with the torque force applied.
G Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 4 Is a Novel Prognostic Factor in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Luo Yunxiu , Wang Ziyi , Xiao Shengjun , Li Ruirui , Jiang Xiaoshan
Published: June 2022

Purpose. We previously reported that G protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK) 4 halts cell cycle progression and induces cellular senescence in HEK293 cells. The present study was aimed at assessing the prognostic value of GRK4 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods. GRK4 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in paired tumoral and peritumoral tissues of 325 HCC patients. One hundred and twenty-six patients from Western China were utilized as a training cohort to develop a nomogram, while 86 patients from Eastern China were used as a validation cohort. The proliferation and migration of lentiviral-GRK4 expressing HepG2 cells were determined by MTT and wound healing assays. Results. GRK4 was differentially expressed in HCC tissues. Tumoral GRK4 intensity, tumor type, and T stage were independent prognostic factors and used to form a nomogram for predicting overall survival (OS), which obtained a good concordance index of 0.82 and 0.77 in training and validation cohort, respectively. The positive and negative prediction values with nomogram were, respectively, 83% and 75% in training cohort and 100% and 52% in validation cohort. Patients with nomogram

scores
>
32

and 78 showed high risk for OS. Proliferation and motility capabilities were significantly restrained in GRK4-overexpressing HCC cells. Discussion. Low GRK4 expression in HCC tumor tissues indicates poor clinical outcomes. A prognostic nomogram including tumoral GRK4 expression would improve the predictive accuracy of OS in HCC patients. We also demonstrated that GRK4 overexpression inhibits proliferation and migration of HCC cells. The molecular mechanism underlying is worth further study.
Analysis of Optimal RAP Content Based on Discrete Element Method
Authors: Wang Lei , Yang Xiucheng
Published: June 2022

Methods of recycling a large amount of waste asphalt mixture generated in pavement maintenance and decreasing the waste of existing resources are one of the problems that will be solved in the future. In this study, the mechanical parameters of asphalt mixture containing different amounts of RAP were analyzed by discrete element method (DEM), and the reasonable RAP content was discussed in combination with uniaxial compression test results. And it is considered that the contact between different particles will produce the failure of stress transfer between particles with different modulus, and the contact definition between RAP particles and virgin aggregate particles is added to make the discrete element model more in line with the actual situation. The results indicated that the trend of discrete element analysis was consistent with that of the uniaxial penetration test, but there were differences in the specific values. Uniaxial compression test results showed that the optimum RAP content of the recycled asphalt mixture was 30%. The optimal RAP content analysis result from the DEM simulation was smaller than the laboratory test result, and the theoretical optimal RAP content was 28%. The results of this study provide a reference for the mixture design of recycled asphalt mixture.
SENetCount: An Optimized Encoder-Decoder Architecture with Squeeze-and-Excitation for Crowd Counting
Authors: Meng Xiaolong
Published: June 2022

Crowd management is critical to preventing stampedes and directing crowds, especially in India and China, where there are more than one billion people. With the continuous growth of the population, crowded events caused by rallies, parades, tourism, and other reasons occur from time to time. Crowd count estimation is the linchpin of the crowd management system and has become an increasingly important task and challenging research direction. This work proposes an optimized encoder-decoder architecture with the squeeze-and-excitation block for crowd counting, called SENetCount, which includes SE-ResNetCount and SE-ResNeXtCount. The deeper and stronger backbone network increases the quality of feature representations. The squeeze-and-excitation block utilizes global information to impress worthy informative feature representations and suppress unworthy ones selectively. The encoder-decoder architecture with the dense atrous spatial pyramid pooling module recovers the spatial information and captures the contextual information at multiple scales. The modified loss function considers the local consistency measure compared with the foregoing Euclidean loss function. The experiments on challenging datasets prove that our approach is competitive compared to thoughtful approaches, and analyses show that our architecture is extensible and robust.
Study on Freezing-Thawing Failure Process of Natural Damage Sandstone Based on Cellular Automata
Authors: Liu Hui , Xu Yali , Huang Huiqi , Han Senlei , Xu Hainan
Published: June 2022

Natural damage such as internal cracks, pores, and discontinuous surfaces of rocks induces the formation, expansion, and interaction of mesofractures until macroscopic failure under the action of freeze-thaw and load. The failure process is the evolution of self-organization and has localization characteristics. The CT scanning test of sandstone with different freezing and thawing cycles was carried out. According to the theory of cellular automata analysis, combined with CT image processing technology, the numerical model of the mesostructure of the sandstone constructed with natural damage, and the numerical simulation test of the Brazilian splitting failure of natural damage sandstone was completed under freezing and thawing. The results show that the combination of CT image processing technology and CASRock numerical simulation software can dynamically describe the whole process of initial damage propagation, new crack generation, and penetration of rock containing natural damage under tension in a freeze-thaw environment. Due to random and disordered natural damage inside the rock, gradually changing to an orderly state under freezing and load, the rock shows discontinuous deformation after the plastic deformation reaches a certain degree and gathers at the initial damage expansion. The fracture process of natural damaged rock under freezing and load has continuous-discontinuous deformation characteristics. The existence of initial rock damage causes the rock’s localized deformation and failure characteristics. The form and size of the initial damage determine the direction of development of the surface of the sandstone fracture and the coalescence of the crack. The initial damage area of sandstone is expanded due to the freeze-thaw cycle. After loading, the local deformation and failure characteristics caused by initial damage have delay characteristics for penetration of the main cracks in the sandstone, which determines the formation and development direction of secondary cracks in the rock failure process.
On the Mixture of Normal and Half-Normal Distributions
Authors: Alruwaili Bader , Alharbi Randa , Hafez E. H. , Riad Fathy H.
Published: June 2022

In this research, we studied the mixture of normal and half-normal distributions and introduced some properties for this mixture. In particular, we derived the mean, median, and mode of the mixture of normal and half-normal distributions. We also focused on exploring the Bayesian estimation of parameters of the mixture of normal and half-normal distributions by using different methods and then, using type-I censored sample units, presented a simulation study on the mixture of normal and half-normal distributions.
Pooling Operations in Deep Learning: From “Invariable” to “Variable”
Authors: Tao Zhou , XiaoYu Chang , HuiLing Lu , XinYu Ye , YunCan Liu , XiaoMin Zheng
Published: June 2022

Deep learning has become a research hotspot in multimedia, especially in the field of image processing. Pooling operation is an important operation in deep learning. Pooling operation can reduce the feature dimension, the number of parameters, the complexity of computation, and the complexity of time. With the development of deep learning models, pooling operation has made great progress. The main contributions of this paper on pooling operation are as follows: firstly, the steps of the pooling operation are summarized as the pooling domain, pooling kernel, step size, activation value, and response value. Secondly, the expression form of pooling operation is standardized. From the perspective of “invariable” to “variable,” this paper analyzes the pooling domain and pooling kernel in the pooling operation. Pooling operation can be classified into four categories: invariable of pooling domain, variable of pooling domain, variable of pooling kernel, and the pooling of invariable “+” variable. Finally, the four types of pooling operation are summarized and discussed with their advantages and disadvantages. There is great significance to the research of pooling operations and the iterative updating of deep learning models.
A Neural Network Model for Digitizing Enterprise Carbon Assets Based on Multimodal Knowledge Mapping
Authors: Liu Jiexian , Zhang Chen
Published: June 2022

In this paper, a multimodal knowledge mapping approach is used to digitize enterprise carbon assets, and a corresponding neural network model is designed for use in the practical process. Rich textual entity labels associated with images are obtained using an entity annotation system. A topology-based data fusion method is also designed based on the hierarchical relationship between WordNet and DBpedia to fuse the knowledge obtained from image visualization and text description mining. Existing neural network-based entity linking methods ignore the semantic gap between the context of sequential entity denotative items and the context of graph-structured entities, thus affecting the accuracy of entity linking. It is observed that the importance of words in the context of entity denotative items is different, and the importance of content in the entity context is also different. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes an entity linking method that combines a common attention mechanism with a graph convolutional neural network. Secondly, based on the basic theory of value assessment, the characteristics of classical asset valuation methods and their inapplicability to the valuation of carbon assets are analyzed, and thus the real option valuation method and its two classical models are introduced; after demonstrating the real option characteristics of carbon assets of power enterprise projects, a real option model-based carbon asset valuation model for power enterprise projects is constructed and its applicability is verified with case studies. Through analyzing the current situation and problems of carbon asset valuation work in power enterprises, targeted practical suggestions are put forward to further strengthen and enhance the carbon asset valuation work in power enterprises in the future.
GMP Compliant Production of a Cryopreserved Adipose-Derived Stromal Cell Product for Feasible and Allogeneic Clinical Use
Authors: Haack-Sørensen Mandana , Johansen Ellen Mønsted , Højgaard Lisbeth Drozd , Kastrup Jens , Ekblond Annette
Published: June 2022

The emerging field of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) holds promise of treating a variety of diseases. Adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs) are currently being marketed or tested as cell-based therapies in numerous clinical trials. To ensure safety and efficacy of treatments, high-quality products must be manufactured. A good manufacturing practice (GMP) compliant and consistent manufacturing process including validated quality control methods is critical. Product design and formulation are equally important to ensure clinical feasibility. Here, we present a GMP-compliant, xeno-free, and semiautomated manufacturing process and quality controls, used for large-scale production of a cryopreserved off-the-shelf ASC product and tested in several phase I and II allogeneic clinical applications.
Analysis of Coagulation Abnormality in Patients with Multiple Myeloma and Its Clinical Significance
Authors: Pan Pengji , Liu Junxia
Published: June 2022

Objective. To analyze the abnormal changes of coagulation indexes in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and their clinical significance on prognosis. Methods. Among 80 patients with MM, there were 24 patients of light chain type, 36 patients of IgG type, and 20 patients of IgA type. In the same period, 30 healthy people were in the control group. The laboratory indexes such as plasma prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (FIB), thromboplastin time (TT), D-dimer (D-D), and platelet (PLT) were detected and compared. The prognosis of MM patients was followed up, and the effects of various coagulation indexes on the prognosis of MM were analyzed by single-factor and multifactor analyses. Results. The PT and APTT of IgG and IgA groups were longer than those of the control group and the light chain group (

P
<
0.05

), but there was no significant difference between the IgG group and the IgA group, the control group, and the light chain group. There was no significant difference in FIB values among the four groups (

P
>
0.05

). The D-D content in the light chain group was higher than that in the control group, the IgG group, and the IgA group (

P
<
0.05

). During the follow-up period, of 80 MM patients, 61 patients survived and 19 patients died. Univariate analysis showed that APTT, PT, and D-D were the factors affecting the prognosis of MM patients, and the differences were statistically significant (

P
<
0.05

). Multivariate analysis showed that PT was an independent factor affecting the prognosis of MM patients (

P
<
0.05

). Discussion. Patients with MM have clotting abnormalities. Patients with IgA and IgG type MM have a longer clotting time than patients with other types of MM, and patients with light-chain type MM have higher D-D content and are more prone to thrombosis. PT is an independent factor affecting the prognosis of MM patients, and analysis of coagulation abnormalities is important for evaluating the prognosis of patients.
Statistical Characteristics and Security Analysis over Multi-Cascade κ-μ Shadowed Channels
Authors: Wang Xiaohong , Ren Ming , Fang Yiwei , Tian Xinji , Zeng Yanyang
Published: June 2022

In this paper, the statistical characteristics of the multi-cascade κ-μ shadowed fading channels are investigated and analyzed under the classic Wyner’s eavesdropping model. In particular, the general accurate expressions of the probability density function and the cumulative distribution function for amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are derived for the first time. Moreover, we further utilize the two performance evaluation metrics including outage probability and intercept probability to investigate the impacts of cascade number and channel parameters on reliability and security. Finally, the theoretical results are consistent with the simulations, proving the correctness of the derivation. The interesting conclusion is that when the average SNR is greater than 2 dB, the reliability of the multi-cascade model will decrease as the number of cascade increases; on the contrary, more cascading can lead to stronger anti-eavesdropping ability.
Semaphorin-3 Promotes Specific Immunotherapy Effects on Experimental Food Allergy
Authors: Huang Huang , Liu Yu , Wang Yanan , Liu Huazhen , Xie Bailing , Zheng Michael B. W. , Yang Liteng , Huang Qinmiao , Wu Yongjin , Wu Gaohui , Zheng Pengyuan , Yang Pingchang
Published: June 2022

Sustaining higher frequency of mast cells in the allergic lesion site has been recognized. Factors causing high numbers of mast cells in the local tissues are not fully understood yet. RAS signaling plays a role in sustaining certain cell activities. This study is aimed at elucidating the role of RAS activation in the apoptosis resistance induction in mast cells and at employing semaphorin 3A to regulate RAS activities in sensitized mast cells and alleviating the allergic response in the intestine. A food allergy (FA) mouse model was developed. Mast cells were isolated from FA mouse intestinal tissues by flow cytometry. Mast cell apoptosis was assessed by staining with annexin V and propidium iodide. We found that aberrantly higher p21-activated kinase-1 (Pak1) expression in FA mast cells was associated with mast cell aggregation in the intestine. Sensitization increased Pak1 expression and apoptosis resistance in intestinal mast cells. RAS and Pak1 mutually potentiated each other in sensitized mast cells. Semaphorin 3A (sema3A) suppressed the Pak1 expression and RAS activation in mast cells. sema3A restored the apoptosis sensitivity in sensitized mast cells. Administration of sema3A potentiated allergen-specific immunotherapy in experimental FA. In conclusion, mast cells of FA mice showed higher Pak1 expression and high RAS activation status that contributed to apoptosis resistance in mast cells. Administration of sema3A restored the sensitivity to apoptosis inducers and promoted the therapeutic effects of specific immunotherapy on experimental FA.
Dust Removal Mechanism of the Vibrating String Filter with Charged Water Mist
Authors: Chen Zuyun , Zhou Ziyi , Peng Jicheng
Published: June 2022

The traditional dust removal technology is difficult to meet the strict requirements of environmental protection, so it is of practical significance and research value to study how to purify fine dust in workshop. Fine dust can be suspended in the atmosphere, while reducing the air quality. Excessive inhalation of dust may result in disease. So it should be paid close attention to dust control. The water mist charging process has experienced three stages: induction charge, corona charge transition, and corona charge. When the discharge distance is 80 mm, the charge-mass ratio of droplet and the current of water mist are most affected by corona voltage. The significant impact analysis of orthogonal experiment is studied. The result of the orthogonal experiment is analyzed by the variance method. It is noted that the inlet wind speed has the highest influence, and the discharge distance has a least influence on the dust removal efficiency. The discharge distance is 80 mm, and the voltage working band is suitable for the normal voltage regulation of the electrostatic precipitator. The condensation efficiency of charged droplets on dust is beneficial to reduce the negative effect of excessive wind speed on wet vibrating string grid and to improve the effective handling volume of dust collector. The charge-mass ratio of water mist is improved effectively, and the dust removal efficiency is increased in the vibrating string filter with charged water mist. Theoretical analysis and experimental studies showed that the vibrating string filter with charged water mist is as a new composite efficient dust removal technology that can effectively deal with the purification of fine dust particles in the gas stream, especially in respiratory dust removal.
Delving the Role of Caralluma fimbriata: An Edible Wild Plant to Mitigate the Biomarkers of Metabolic Syndrome
Authors: Anwar Rimsha , Rabail Roshina , Rakha Allah , Bryla Marcin , Roszko Marek , Aadil Rana Muhammad , Kieliszek Marek
Published: June 2022

Metabolic syndrome (MS), commonly known as syndrome X or insulin resistance syndrome, is a collection of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and type II diabetes. MS is believed to impact over a billion individuals worldwide. It is a medical condition defined by visceral obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and abnormal cholesterol levels, according to the World Health Organization. The current dietary trends are more focused on the use of functional foods and nutraceuticals that are well known for their preventive and curative role against such pathological disorders. Caralluma fimbriata is one such medicinal plant that is gaining popularity. It is a wild, edible, succulent roadside shrub with cactus-like leaves. Besides its main nutrient contents, various bioactive constituents have been identified and linked with positive health outcomes of appetite-suppressing, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and anticancer potentials. Hence, such properties make C. fimbriata an invaluable plant against MS. The current review compiles recent available literature on C. fimbriata’s nutritional composition, safety parameters, and therapeutic potential for MS. Summarized data in this review reveals that C. fimbriata remains a neglected plant with limited food and therapeutic applications. Yet various studies explored here do prove its positive health-ameliorating outcomes.
Necessity and Feasibility of Outdoor Sports Teaching for Teenagers Integrating the Wireless Communication Network
Authors: Liu Jinli , Gu Yue
Published: June 2022

With the rapid development of mobile communication technology, the research on wireless positioning technology is also deepening and improving. As one of the most popular services, positioning service has a very broad development prospect. With the popularity of outdoor sports among young people in recent years, colleges and universities have also paid more attention to outdoor sports teaching. But in outdoor sports, there will be many risks, so it is necessary to integrate positioning methods in wireless communication networks to ensure the safety of young people. The purpose of this paper is to study the necessity and feasibility of outdoor sports teaching for teenagers integrating wireless communication networks. This paper proposes a multireference point localization method, a signal fingerprint localization method, and a level-based localization method based on a converged wireless communication network. The experimental results of this paper show that 25 boys and 20 girls are very interested in outdoor sports, 20 boys and 13 girls are more interested, and 2 boys and 5 girls are not interested at all. Overall, far more people are interested in outdoor sports than those who are not. In terms of gender, boys are more interested in outdoor sports than girls, but the difference is not significant. It can be seen that today’s young people are still very interested in outdoor sports, and it is necessary to implement outdoor sports teaching.
Diagnostic Value and Clinical Application of Diffusion‐Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Female Pelvic Lesions
Authors: Gao Lulu , Lu Qing , Wu Yanting
Published: June 2022

Pelvic inflammatory disease refers to a group of infectious diseases of the female upper genital tract, often caused by ascending infection of vaginitis and cervicitis, causing endometritis, salpingitis, tubo‐ovarian abscess, pelvic connective tissue inflammation, and/or pelvic peritonitis. PID is the most common and important infectious disease in nonpregnant women of childbearing age, and inflammation in multiple parts often coexists and affects each other. The functional MRI techniques currently used in pelvic floor muscle injury are magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging, T2 mapping, and magnetic resonance elastography. Diffusion tensor imaging is a new imaging and postprocessing technology developed on the basis of magnetic resonance diffusion‐weighted imaging. Due to the lack of specificity of clinical symptoms, many subclinical patients are often not detected and diagnosed in time, so it is very difficult to accurately estimate the incidence of PID. This article retrospectively analyzed 72 patients with pelvic inflammatory disease confirmed by surgical pathology from February 2020 to 2022, who had undergone pelvic MRI examination before surgery, including 25 patients with chronic pelvic inflammation (hydrosalpinx), 25 patients with acute pelvic inflammation, and 47 cases (including 21 cases of hydrosalpinx, 19 cases of tubo‐ovarian abscess, and 7 cases of pelvic abscess). The age range was 13 to 59 years old. The clinical data and MRI findings were analyzed, the ADC value of the cystic part of the lesion was measured, and the differences in age, maximum diameter of the lesion, thickness of the vessel wall/separation, and the ADC value of the cystic part of chronic and acute pelvic inflammation were compared. In this part of the cases, there were 25 cases of chronic pelvic inflammation and 47 cases of acute pelvic inflammation. The average ADC value of the cystic component of chronic inflammation was significantly higher than that of acute inflammation, which were (2.86 ± 0.20) × 10−3 mm2/s and (1.07 ± 0.38) ×10−3 mm2/s, respectively, P value <0.001.