bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Study on In-Plane Band Gap Characteristics of a Circular Periodic Structure Using DQM
Authors: Hajhosseini Mohammad , Parrany Ahmad Mahdian
Published: September 2020

A new two-dimensional periodic structure is proposed. This structure consists of curved beams with different radii of curvature and lengths spirally connected to each other to form a circle. Geometrical parameter effects on the first three in-plane vibration band gaps of this structure are studied using the differential quadrature method. Results show that for each set of the radii of curvature, as the lengths of inner beam elements increase, all the bands become close to each other. These close band gaps can be considerably enlarged by increasing the difference between the radii of curvature. Having close and wide band gaps means that this structure absorbs in-plane vibrations over a very wide frequency range. The dimensions of this structure are much smaller than other periodic structures due to its unique shape. All the mentioned features make this periodic structure an efficient vibration absorber. Validation of the analytical results is provided through the forced vibration analysis via ANSYS.
Investigation of Relationship between the Response and Fourier Spectral Ratios Based on Statistical Analyses of Strong-Motion Records
Authors: Zhang Haizhong , Zhao Yan-Gang
Published: September 2020

In both seismic design and probabilistic seismic-hazard analyses, site effects are typically characterized as the ratio of the response spectral ordinate on the ground surface to that on the bedrock based on the scaling law borrowed from the Fourier spectral ordinate. Recent studies have shown that different from the Fourier spectral ratio (FSR), the response spectral ratio (RSR) does not purely reflect the site effects but also depends on the earthquake scenario even for linear analysis. However, previous studies are limited to theoretical analysis. This study statistically compares the two spectral ratios by analyzing many actual seismic ground motions recorded at nearby soil and rock sites. It is observed that the average RSR and FSR have similar overall shapes, and their maximum values occur at approximately the same period; however, the values around the peak are clearly different with FSRs consistently exceeding the RSRs. The RSR–FSR relationship depends on the earthquake scenario and the oscillator damping; their difference at periods longer than the site’s fundamental period decreases as the magnitude and epicentral distance increase, and the RSRs generally approach the FSRs as the oscillator damping decreases.
A new parameter setting-based modified differential evolution for function optimization
Authors: Nama Sukanta , Saha Apu Kumar
Published: September 2020

The population-based efficient iterative evolutionary algorithm (EA) is differential evolution (DE). It has fewer control parameters but is useful when dealing with complex problems of optimization in the real world. A great deal of progress has already been made and implemented in various fields of engineering and science. Nevertheless, DE is prone to the setting of control parameters in its performance evaluation. Therefore, the appropriate adjustment of the time-consuming control parameters is necessary to achieve optimal DE efficiency. This research proposes a new version of the DE algorithm control parameters and mutation operator. For the justifiability of the suggested method, several benchmark functions are taken from the literature. The test results are contrasted with other literary algorithms.
Late Carboniferous dextral transpressional reactivation of the crustal-scale Walls Boundary Fault, Shetland: the role of pre-existing structures and lithological heterogeneities
Authors: Armitage Timothy B. , Watts Lee M. , Holdsworth Robert E. , Strachan Robin A.
Published: September 2020

The Walls Boundary Fault in Shetland, Scotland, formed during the Ordovician–Devonian Caledonian orogeny and underwent dextral reactivation in the Late Carboniferous. In a well-exposed section at Ollaberry, westerly verging, gently plunging regional folds in the Neoproterozoic Queyfirth Group on the western side of the Walls Boundary Fault are overprinted by faults and steeply plunging Z-shaped brittle–ductile folds that indicate contemporaneous right-lateral and top-to-the-west reverse displacement. East of the Walls Boundary Fault, the Early Silurian Graven granodiorite complex exhibits fault-parallel fractures with Riedel, P and conjugate shears indicating north–south-striking dextral deformation and an additional contemporaneous component of east–west shortening. In the Queyfirth Group, the structures are arranged in geometrically and kinematically distinct fault-bounded domains that are interpreted to result from two superimposed tectonic events, the youngest of which displays evidence for bulk dextral transpressional strain partitioning into end-member wrench and contractional strain domains. During dextral transpressional deformation, strain was focused into pelite horizons and favourably aligned pre-existing structures, leaving relicts of older deformation in more competent lithologies. This study highlights the importance of pre-existing structures and lithological heterogeneity during reactivation and suggests the development of a regional transpressional tectonic environment during the Late Carboniferous on the Shetland Platform.
Developing a landslide vulnerability assessment for the national road network in Laos
Authors: Hearn G.J. , Pongpanya P.
Published: September 2020

Laos is a mountainous country with a road network that is prone to the impact of landslides. The development and maintenance of the transport sector are seen as imperatives in the country's socio-economic growth, and landslides pose a potential constraint on this development. This paper describes a landslide vulnerability assessment undertaken for a significant proportion of the country's mountain road network for maintenance management and investment decision-making purposes. Limited desk study data meant that the focus of the study was on the collection of landslide location and impact data in the field and was able to benefit from the effects of the 2018 wet season during which record rainfalls were recorded in some locations. A simple index of vulnerability was developed and combined with engineering geological observation to yield a composite output that comprised tabular data and maps, along with broad recommendations for risk and engineering management.
Addressing the geoethics skills gap through co-curricular approaches
Authors: Keane Christopher M. , Asher Pranoti
Published: September 2020

Geoethics as a broad and universal professional topic has become emergent over the last decade. Though the need of ethical conduct by geoscientists has always existed, the uneven professional licensing and standards for geoscientists as well as high-profile misconduct by geoscientists is driving employer demand for geoethical competency. Geoscience degree programmes in the USA are poorly equipped to teach geoethics beyond academic honesty and research integrity. One means to address the deficiency is through proactive engagement by the community and students in co-curricular activities to address specific needs. Co-curricular activities such as internships, mentoring, society and club activity, and professional development courses already exist, but are not well-coupled to the formal education process. For geoethics, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) and the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) found that online on-demand professional development courses are a potentially effective co-curricular approach. The courses focus on the intentional learning framework, and experience shows that formal geoethics courses are in greater demand than other professional and technical topics in the on-demand course space. The challenge remains exposure of the opportunities to students and consistent acceptance by faculty and employers in the geosciences.
A Joint Neural Model for User Behavior Prediction on Social Networking Platforms
Authors: Li Junwei , Wu Le , Hong Richang , Zhang Kun , Ge Yong , Li Yan
Published: September 2020

Social networking services provide platforms for users to perform two kinds of behaviors: consumption behavior (e.g., recommending items of interest) and social link behavior (e.g., recommending potential social links). Accurately modeling and predicting users’ two kinds of behaviors are two core tasks in these platforms with various applications. Recently, with the advance of neural networks, many neural-based models have been designed to predict a single users’ behavior, i.e., social link behavior or consumption behavior. Compared to the classical shallow models, these neural-based models show better performance to drive a user’s behavior by modeling the complex patterns. However, there are few works exploiting whether it is possible to design a neural-based model to jointly predict users’ two kinds of behaviors to further enhance the prediction performance. In fact, social scientists have already shown that users’ two kinds of behaviors are not isolated; people trend to the consumption recommendation of friends on social platforms and would like to make new friends with like-minded users. While some previous works jointly model users’ two kinds of behaviors with shallow models, we argue that the correlation between users’ two kinds of behaviors are complex, which could not be well-designed with shallow linear models. To this end, in this article, we propose a neural joint behavior prediction model named
Neural Joint Behavior Prediction Model (NJBP)
to mutually enhance the prediction performance of these two tasks on social networking platforms. Specifically, there are two key characteristics of our proposed model: First, to model the correlation of users’ two kinds of behaviors, we design a fusion layer in the neural network to model the positive correlation of users’ two kinds of behaviors. Second, as the observed links in the social network are often very sparse, we design a new link-based loss function that could preserve the social network topology. After that, we design a joint optimization function to allow the two behaviors modeling tasks to be trained to mutually enhance each other. Finally, extensive experimental results on two real-world datasets show that our proposed method is on average 7.14% better than the best baseline on social link behavior while 6.21% on consumption behavior prediction. Compared with the pair-wise loss function on two datasets, our proposed link-based loss function improves at least 4.69% on the social link behavior prediction and 4.72% on the consumption behavior prediction.
Dynamic Buffer Sizing for Out-of-order Event Compensation for Time-sensitive Applications
Authors: Weiss Wolfgang , Jiménez Víctor J. Expósito , Zeiner Herwig
Published: September 2020

Today’s sensor network implementations often comprise various types of nodes connected with different types of networks. These and various other aspects influence the delay of transmitting data and therefore of out-of-order data occurrences. This turns into a crucial problem in time-sensitive applications where data must be processed promptly and decisions must be reliable.

In this article, we research dynamic buffer sizing algorithms for multiple, distributed, and independent sources, which reorder event streams, thus enabling subsequent time-sensitive applications to work correctly. To be able to evaluate such algorithms, we had to record datasets first. Five novel dynamic buffer sizing algorithms were implemented and compared to state-of-the-art approaches in this domain. The evaluation has shown that the use of a dynamic time-out buffering method is preferable over a static buffer. The higher the variation of the network or other influences in the environment, the more necessary it becomes to use an algorithm that dynamically adapts its buffer size. These algorithms are universally applicable, easy to integrate in existing architectures, and particularly interesting for time-sensitive applications. Dynamic time-out buffering is still a trade-off between reaction time and out-of-order event compensation.
Streaming Data Reorganization at Scale with DeltaFS Indexed Massive Directories
Authors: Zheng Qing , Cranor Charles D. , Jain Ankush , Ganger Gregory R. , Gibson Garth A. , Amvrosiadis George , Settlemyer Bradley W. , Grider Gary
Published: September 2020

Complex storage stacks providing data compression, indexing, and analytics help leverage the massive amounts of data generated today to derive insights. It is challenging to perform this computation, however, while fully utilizing the underlying storage media. This is because, while storage servers with large core counts are widely available, single-core performance and memory bandwidth per core grow slower than the core count per die. Computational storage offers a promising solution to this problem by utilizing dedicated compute resources along the storage processing path. We present DeltaFS Indexed Massive Directories (IMDs), a new approach to computational storage. DeltaFS IMDs harvest available (i.e., not dedicated) compute, memory, and network resources on the compute nodes of an application to perform computation on data. We demonstrate the efficiency of DeltaFS IMDs by using them to dynamically reorganize the output of a real-world simulation application across 131,072 CPU cores. DeltaFS IMDs speed up reads by 1,740× while only slightly slowing down the writing of data during simulation I/O for
in situ
data processing.
TRP Channel Cooperation for Nociception: Therapeutic Opportunities
Authors: Bamps Dorien , Vriens Joris , de Hoon Jan , Voets Thomas
Published: September 2020

Chronic pain treatment remains a sore challenge, and in our aging society, the number of patients reporting inadequate pain relief continues to grow. Current treatment options all have their drawbacks, including limited efficacy and the propensity of abuse and addiction; the latter is exemplified by the ongoing opioid crisis. Extensive research in the last few decades has focused on mechanisms underlying chronic pain states, thereby producing attractive opportunities for novel, effective and safe pharmaceutical interventions. Members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel family represent innovative targets to tackle pain sensation at the root. Three TRP channels, TRPV1, TRPM3, and TRPA1, are of particular interest, as they were identified as sensors of chemical- and heat-induced pain in nociceptor neurons. This review summarizes the knowledge regarding TRP channel–based pain therapies, including the bumpy road of the clinical development of TRPV1 antagonists, the current status of TRPA1 antagonists, and the future potential of targeting TRPM3.
Models of Idiosyncratic Drug-Induced Liver Injury
Authors: Yokoi Tsuyoshi , Oda Shingo
Published: September 2020

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a leading cause of attrition during the early and late stages of drug development and after a drug is marketed. DILI is generally classified as either intrinsic or idiosyncratic. Intrinsic DILI is dose dependent and predictable (e.g., acetaminophen toxicity). However, predicting the occurrence of idiosyncratic DILI, which has a very low incidence and is associated with severe liver damage, is difficult because of its complex nature and the poor understanding of its mechanism. Considering drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, we established experimental animal models of DILI for 14 clinical drugs that cause idiosyncratic DILI in humans, which is characterized by the formation of reactive metabolites and the involvement of both innate and adaptive immunity. On the basis of the biomarker data obtained from the animal models, we developed a cell-based assay system that predicts the potential risks of drugs for inducing DILI. These findings increase our understanding of the mechanisms of DILI and may help predict and prevent idiosyncratic DILI due to certain drugs.
Review—CO2 Separation and Transport via Electrochemical Methods
Authors: Muroyama Alexander P. , Pătru Alexandra , Gubler Lorenz
Published: September 2020

This review focuses on research advancements in electrochemical methods of CO2 separation as part of the broader field of CO2 capture. Such methods are a potentially effective way of separating CO2 from dilute gas mixtures (e.g., flue gas, air) such that it can be sequestered or recycled for other purposes. Electrodialysis using a liquid electrolyte capture solution is the most thoroughly explored electrochemical approach for CO2 capture. The purpose of this review is to provide a broad overview of developments in the field, highlighting and harmonizing relevant figures of merit such as specific energy consumption and faradaic efficiency. In addition, the use of alkaline membranes is separately surveyed as a promising means of electrochemical CO2 separation, as their CO2 transport phenomena are well understood within the context of alkaline fuel cells or electrochemical CO2 reduction. Recent materials advancements enable the use and modification of these membranes to promote electromigration of (bi)-carbonate ions, the result being CO2 concentration on the anode side of an electrochemical cell.
From the Editor: Day 109, or will it be 196?
Authors: Kelly Robert G.
Published: September 2020

Regular readers (both of them) of my editorials will no doubt recall my hope in the summer issue of Interface that by the time of publication of that issue that the pandemic would be over. OK, I was wrong. I take solace in the Danish proverb (often attributed to Niels Bohr) that “It is very hard to predict, especially the future.”
Electrochemistry for a Sustainable World
Authors: Kenis Paul J. A.
Published: September 2020

Most readers will easily associate various applications of electrochemistry with sustainability. Before doing so, let’s first explore the characteristics of a sustainable world: Human activity must be in balance with all that Mother Earth provides us: the biosphere including all its flora and fauna, the air we breathe, and the various natural resources we use for manufacturing and food production. This balance will need to be maintained over centuries to ensure sustainability of humanity and the Earth’s ecosystem.
Extremal Solutions for a Class of Tempered Fractional Turbulent Flow Equations in a Porous Medium
Authors: Zhang Xinguang , Jiang Jiqiang , Liu Lishan , Wu Yonghong
Published: September 2020

In this paper, we are concerned with the existence of the maximum and minimum iterative solutions for a tempered fractional turbulent flow model in a porous medium with nonlocal boundary conditions. By introducing a new growth condition and developing an iterative technique, we establish new results on the existence of the maximum and minimum solutions for the considered equation; at the same time, the iterative sequences for approximating the extremal solutions are performed, and the asymptotic estimates of solutions are also derived.
Adaptive Fisher-Based Deep Convolutional Neural Network and Its Application to Recognition of Rolling Element Bearing Fault Patterns and Sizes
Authors: Luo Peng , Hu Niaoqing , Zhang Lun , Shen Jian , Chen Ling
Published: September 2020

Deep learning has the ability to mine complex relationships in fault diagnosis. Deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) with deep structures, instead of shallow ones, can be applied to mining useful information from the original vibration data. However, when the number of the training samples is small, the diagnosis accuracy will be affected. As an improvement of the DCNN, deep convolutional neural network based on the Fisher-criterion (FDCNN) can be used for the fault diagnosis of small samples. But the model parameters in the method are based on human labor or prior knowledge, which is bound to bring negative influence on the diagnosis accuracy. Therefore, a novel adaptive Fisher-based deep convolutional neural network (AFDCNN) method, which can optimize the model parameters adaptively, is proposed as an improvement of the FDCNN. Comparative verification test results show that AFDCNN has more outstanding performance.
Circadian Profile of Salivary Melatonin Secretion in Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
Authors: Kapek Łukasz , Paprocka Justyna , Kijonka Marek , Zych Maria , Emich-Widera Ewa , Rzepka-Migut Beata , Borys Damian , Kaczmarczyk-Sedlak Ilona , Sokół Maria
Published: September 2020

Purpose. In the present study, the salivary melatonin secretion in the hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) children was measured. The logit model was fitted to the data to obtain the salivary dim light melatonin onsets (DLMOs), and the results were compared with the values estimated from the classic threshold method with a linear interpolation and those previously published for the blood measurements. Materials and Methods. 9 patients suffering from HIE aged from 65 to 80 months were included in the study. The melatonin levels were assessed by a radioimmunoassay (RIA). The diurnal melatonin secretion was estimated using a nonlinear least squares method. Student’s t-test and the Mann–Whitney U test were used for the comparisons of the obtained parameters. Results. The circadian profiles of the melatonin secretion for both calculation methods do not differ statistically. The DLMO parameters obtained in the blood and saliva samples in children with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy were similar.
Lognormal-Based Sampling for Fission Product Yields Uncertainty Propagation in Pebble-Bed HTGR
Authors: Wang Yizhen , Cui Menglei , Guo Jiong , Niu Jinlin , Wu Yingjie , Liu Baokun , Li Fu
Published: September 2020

Uncertainty analyses of fission product yields are indispensable in evaluating reactor burnup and decay heat calculation credibility. Compared with neutron cross section, there are fewer uncertainty analyses conducted and it has been a controversial topic by lack of properly estimated covariance matrix as well as adequate sampling method. Specifically, the conventional normal-based sampling method in sampling large uncertainty independent fission yields could inevitably generate nonphysical negative samples. Cutting off these samples would introduce bias into uncertainty results. Here, we evaluate thermal neutron-induced U-235 independent fission yields covariance matrix by the Bayesian updating method, and then we use lognormal-based sampling method to overcome the negative fission yields samples issue. Fission yields uncertainty contribution to effective multiplication factor and several fission products’ atomic densities at equilibrium core of pebble-bed HTGR are quantified and investigated. The results show that the lognormal-based sampling method could prevent generating negative yields samples and maintain the skewness of fission yields distribution. Compared with the zero cut-off normal-based sampling method, the lognormal-based sampling method evaluates the uncertainty of effective multiplication factor and atomic densities are larger. This implies that zero cut-off effect in the normal-based sampling method would underestimate the fission yields uncertainty contribution. Therefore, adopting the lognormal-based sampling method is crucial for providing reliable uncertainty analysis results in fission product yields uncertainty analysis.
Predicting Ink Transfer Rate of 3D Additive Printing Using EGBO Optimized Least Squares Support Vector Machine Model
Authors: Li Shengpu , Sun Yize
Published: September 2020

Ink transfer rate (ITR) is a reference index to measure the quality of 3D additive printing. In this study, an ink transfer rate prediction model is proposed by applying the least squares support vector machine (LSSVM). In addition, enhanced garden balsam optimization (EGBO) is used for selection and optimization of hyperparameters that are embedded in the LSSVM model. 102 sets of experimental sample data have been collected from the production line to train and test the hybrid prediction model. Experimental results show that the coefficient of determination (R2) for the introduced model is equal to 0.8476, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) is 6.6 × 10 (−3), and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is 1.6502 × 10 (−3) for the ink transfer rate of 3D additive printing.
Hybrid MPI and CUDA Parallelization for CFD Applications on Multi-GPU HPC Clusters
Authors: Lai Jianqi , Yu Hang , Tian Zhengyu , Li Hua
Published: September 2020

Graphics processing units (GPUs) have a strong floating-point capability and a high memory bandwidth in data parallelism and have been widely used in high-performance computing (HPC). Compute unified device architecture (CUDA) is used as a parallel computing platform and programming model for the GPU to reduce the complexity of programming. The programmable GPUs are becoming popular in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications. In this work, we propose a hybrid parallel algorithm of the message passing interface and CUDA for CFD applications on multi-GPU HPC clusters. The AUSM + UP upwind scheme and the three-step Runge–Kutta method are used for spatial discretization and time discretization, respectively. The turbulent solution is solved by the K−ω SST two-equation model. The CPU only manages the execution of the GPU and communication, and the GPU is responsible for data processing. Parallel execution and memory access optimizations are used to optimize the GPU-based CFD codes. We propose a nonblocking communication method to fully overlap GPU computing, CPU_CPU communication, and CPU_GPU data transfer by creating two CUDA streams. Furthermore, the one-dimensional domain decomposition method is used to balance the workload among GPUs. Finally, we evaluate the hybrid parallel algorithm with the compressible turbulent flow over a flat plate. The performance of a single GPU implementation and the scalability of multi-GPU clusters are discussed. Performance measurements show that multi-GPU parallelization can achieve a speedup of more than 36 times with respect to CPU-based parallel computing, and the parallel algorithm has good scalability.
Acoustic Emission Response Characteristics of Anthracitic Coal under Uniaxial Compression
Authors: Wang Haiyan , Wang Gongda , Zhang Guojun , Du Feng , Ma Ji
Published: September 2020

The damage evolution of coal is accompanied by the generation of acoustic emission (AE) signal. Through the analysis and research of the AE response characteristics of coal deformation and failure, it is helpful to reveal the initiation, propagation, and fracture evolution of microcracks in coal. In this work, taking the anthracite coal as research object, the basic mechanical parameters of the coal samples were obtained by ultrasonic tests and uniaxial compression experiments. Meanwhile, the AE response characteristics of coal samples during uniaxial compression were obtained through AE experiments. The results show that when the density is low, the wave velocity of the coal sample decreases with the increase of density. When the density is higher than a certain value, the wave velocity of the coal sample increases with the increase of density. Through the measurement of ultrasonic wave velocity, it is found that there is some nonuniformity and anisotropy in raw coal samples. The ring counts, energy counts, and AE events with time in uniaxial compression process have approximately normal distribution. The AE events are concentrated in the elastic stage and yield stage, and the energy amplitude of AE events is higher in the plastic stage. Compared with the ring counts and energy counts, the AE events have a good positioning function, which can better reflect the evolution of internal cracks of coal samples during uniaxial compression.
A Noval Method for Surgical Removal of the Impacted Mandibular Third Molar: Sartawi Technique
Authors: Sartawi Hassan
Published: September 2020

Background. The goal of this article is to present and evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a new surgical approach using a triangular flap with slight modification and a 3-0 black braided silk surgical suture as flap retractor which is later used after the surgical procedure as a normal suture, aiming to decrease procedure time, soft tissue retraction, and tools for removal of impacted mandibular third molar. Methods. Patients requiring removal of fully impacted or semi-impacted lower third molars are treated with a new approach using minimal steps and tools, a simple triangular flap, slight mucoperiosteum elevation, as the flap sides are secured and reflected with a silk suture by an assistant holding both sides of the suture from behind the patient. Results. The surgical area at the procedure was efficiently exposed, and the separation of the crown from the roots was easily done using a surgical handpiece, separation and removal of the crown, removal of the roots with a straight elevator, without the need of flap retractor or overexposure of the surgical side with a conventional triangular flap or others. After the treatment, the two sides of suture are tied together with double overhand knots, and the surgical site was fully repositioned and closed without any complications. 5- and 7-day follow-up was done on the patients, and no complications were reported. Conclusions. This preliminary study presents a new surgical approach (Sartawi technique) which can be used during extraction of impacted and semi-impacted lower third molars, the results showed that the operation time was noticeably reduced, the size of exposed mucoperiosteum tissue was minimized compared to the conventional method, the use of the mucoperiosteum elevator was eliminated, and number of suture knots and suture used to close the surgical site reduced to a single stitch.
Position-Posture Control of Multilegged Walking Robot Based on Kinematic Correction
Authors: Zhang Liang , Zhu Yaguang , Zhang Feifei , Zhou Shuangjie
Published: September 2020

Posture-position control is the fundamental technology among multilegged robots as it is hard to get an effective control on rough terrain. These robots need to constantly adjust the position-posture of its body to move stalely and flexibly. However, the actual footholds of the robot constantly changing cause serious errors during the position-posture control process because their foot-ends are basically in nonpoint contact with the ground. Therefore, a position-posture control algorithm for multilegged robots based on kinematic correction is proposed in this paper. Position-posture adjustment is divided into two independent motion processes: robot body position adjustment and posture adjustment. First, for the two separate adjustment processes, the positions of the footholds relative to the body are obtained and their positions relative to the body get through motion synthesis. Then, according to the modified inverse kinematics solution, the joint angles of the robot are worked out. Unlike the traditional complex closed-loop position-posture control of the robot, the algorithm proposed in this paper can achieve the purpose of reducing errors in the position-posture adjustment process of the leg-foot robot through a simple and general kinematic modification. Finally, this method is applied in the motion control of a bionic hexapod robot platform with a hemispherical foot-end. A comparison experiment of linear position-posture change on the flat ground shows that this method can reduce the attitude errors, especially the heading error reduced by 55.46%.
Investigation on Acoustic Properties of Thruster Chamber with Coaxial Injectors and Plenum Chamber
Authors: Gao Dekun , Qin Jianxiu , Zhang Huiqiang
Published: September 2020

Based on the URANS equation, a numerical simulation is carried out for acoustic properties of the thruster chamber with coaxial injectors and plenum chamber in a liquid rocket engine. Pressure oscillations with multiacoustic modes are successfully excited in the chamber by using the constant volume bomb method. FFT analysis is applied to obtain the acoustic properties of eigenfrequencies, power amplitudes, and damping rates for each excited acoustic mode. Compared with the acoustic properties in the model chamber with and without an injector as well as with and without the plenum chamber, it can be found that the injector with one open end and one half-open end still can work as a quarter-wave resonator. The power amplitudes of the acoustic mode can be suppressed significantly when its eigenfrequency is close to the tuning frequency of the injector, which is achieved by Cutting down the pressure Peak and Raising up the pressure Trough (CPRT). Compared with the acoustic properties in the model chamber with and without the plenum chamber, it can be found that 1L acoustic pressure oscillation is inhibited completely by the plenum chamber and other acoustic pressure oscillations are also suppressed in a different extent. The injector and plenum chamber have a little effect on the eigenfrequencies and damping rate of each acoustic mode. For multimode pressure oscillation, it is better for tuning frequency of the injector closing to the lower eigenfrequency acoustic mode, which will be effective for suppression of these multiacoustic modes simultaneously.
Numerical Investigation of the Rock Cutting Performance of a Circular Sawblade
Authors: Wang Zhiwen , Zeng Qingliang , Lu Zhenguo , Liu Zhihai , Li Xu
Published: September 2020

The rock cutting process with a circular sawblade and the rock breaking mechanism of rock are studied with a numerical simulation method in this paper. The influence of cutting parameters of the circular sawblade on cutting force, rock damage, and specific cutting energy in the process of circular sawblade cutting rock is researched. The cutting force increases with the feed speed and an increase in cutting depth and decline in rotation speed. Cutting rock with double circular sawblades can reduce cutting force. However, the specific cutting energy declines with the increase in cutting depth and the decline in the distance between the double circular sawblades. Cutting parameters have a great influence on the damage range of rock. The research results can be applied to rock processing with a circular sawblade.
Associations of Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Television Viewing with Life Expectancy Cancer-Free at Age 50: The ARIC Study
Authors: Cuthbertson Carmen C. , Nichols Hazel B. , Tan Xianming , Kucharska-Newton Anna , Heiss Gerardo , Joshu Corinne E. , Platz Elizabeth A. , Evenson Kelly R.
Published: September 2020

Background:

Physical activity has been associated with longer chronic disease–free life expectancy, but specific cancer types have not been investigated. We examined whether leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (LTPA) and television (TV) viewing were associated with life expectancy cancer-free.

Methods:

We included 14,508 participants without a cancer history from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. We used multistate survival models to separately examine associations of LTPA (no LTPA, <median, ≥median) and TV viewing (seldom/never, sometimes, often/very often) with life expectancy cancer-free at age 50 from invasive colorectal, lung, prostate, and postmenopausal breast cancer. Models were adjusted for age, gender, race, ARIC center, education, smoking, and alcohol intake.

Results:

Compared with no LTPA, participants who engaged in LTPA ≥median had a greater life expectancy cancer-free from colorectal [men-2.2 years (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.7–2.7), women-2.3 years (95% CI, 1.7–2.8)], lung [men-2.1 years (95% CI, 1.5–2.6), women-2.1 years (95% CI, 1.6–2.7)], prostate [1.5 years (95% CI, 0.8–2.2)], and postmenopausal breast cancer [2.4 years (95% CI, 1.4–3.3)]. Compared with watching TV often/very often, participants who seldom/never watched TV had a greater colorectal, lung, and postmenopausal breast cancer-free life expectancy of ∼1 year.

Conclusions:

Participating in LTPA was associated with longer life expectancy cancer-free from colorectal, lung, prostate, and postmenopausal breast cancer. Viewing less TV was associated with more years lived cancer-free from colorectal, lung, and postmenopausal breast cancer.

Impact:

Increasing physical activity and reducing TV viewing may extend the number of years lived cancer-free.
Progressive Preretinal Fibrosis with Late, Ossifying, Proliferative Retinopathy following Treatment for Retinoblastoma
Authors: Nguyen Minh , Saunders Jessica , Pacheco M. Cristina , Stacey Andrew W.
Published: September 2020

We report a case of retinal atrophy and progressive preretinal fibrosis in an eye previously treated with intravenous and intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC), which evolved immediately after treatment with intravitreal injection of melphalan. The atrophy and fibrosis progressed later to proliferative retinopathy with dystrophic ossification. The patient was originally diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma at 4 months of age and was treated with systemic chemotherapy followed by IAC. New vitreous seeds developed and required treatment with intravitreal chemotherapy. There was resolution of vitreous seeding after 2 doses of intravitreal melphalan, but clinically the eye developed new, widespread retinal atrophy and fibrosis within 1 month of the second injection. This was followed by phthisis and late proliferative retinopathy nearly 1 year later. Retinoblastoma specialists should be aware of this potential complication of combined chemotherapy treatments.
Severe Protein C Deficiency due to Novel Biallelic Variants in PROC and Their Phenotype Correlation
Authors: Barg Assaf A. , Dardik Rima , Levin Carina , Koren Ariel , Levy-Mendelovich Sarina , Pode-Shakked Ben , Kenet Gili
Published: September 2020

Severe protein C deficiency due to biallelic PROC mutations is an extremely rare thrombophilia, most commonly presenting during the neonatal period as purpura fulminans. Despite treatment, severe morbidity and mortality are frequent. The current study reports 3 unrelated patients harboring novel homozygous PROC mutations and their clinical phenotypes. We discuss how the cytoprotective activity of protein C and its role in the stabilization of endothelial barriers may account for the unique symptoms of this thrombophilia.
Shields on Electric Posts Prevent Primate Deaths: A Case Study at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka
Authors: Dittus Wolfgang P.J.
Published: September 2020

When monkeys, such as the toque macaques (Macaca sinica) of Sri Lanka, seek food on the ground near human habitation, they may use electrical posts to escape aggression from conspecifics, dogs, or humans. Shields mounted on electrical posts prevented monkeys from reaching the electrical wires, thereby averting their electrocution: the frequency of electrocutions (n = 0) was significantly less (p < 0.001) in the 12 years after installation of the shields than in the 12 years before (n = 18). Electric shocks were either fatal (n = 14) or caused permanent injury (n = 4) (collectively referred to as electrocutions hereafter). The shields may find broader applications in other primate species and environments wherever monkeys are attracted by human food near electrical posts. Primates and other arboreal mammals also accessed live wires from trees; at known electrocution hotspots, short spans of exposed wires were insulated by encapsulating them in PVC water pipes. It was impossible, however, to prevent electrocutions from all electric supply infrastructures that put monkeys at risk. A wider use of insulated electric conductors in planning power distribution in habitats frequented by wild animals would be desirable in preventing electric shocks to wildlife.
Effect of a Housing Intervention on Selected Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Homeless Adults With Mental Illness: 24‐Month Follow‐Up of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Chum Antony , Wang Ri , Nisenbaum Rosane , O’Campo Patricia , Stergiopoulos Vicky , Hwang Stephen
Published: September 2020

Background

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of mortality among people experiencing homelessness. This study investigated whether housing intervention affects cardiovascular disease risk factors among homeless adults with mental illnesses over a 24‐month period.

Methods and Results

We conducted a randomized controlled trial of a Housing First intervention that provided community‐based scattered‐site housing and support services. Five hundred seventy‐five participants were randomized to the intervention (n=301) or treatment as usual (TAU) (n=274). Analyses were performed according to the intention‐to‐treat principle using generalized estimating equations. There were no differences in change over 24 months between the 2 groups for blood pressure, tobacco, and cocaine/crack use. However, the intervention had an impact on reducing the number of days of alcohol intoxication by 1.58 days compared with TAU (95% CI, −2.88 to −0.27,
P
=0.0018). Over the 24‐month period, both the intervention and TAU groups had significant reductions in tobacco and cocaine use.

Conclusions

The intervention, compared with TAU, did not result in greater improvements in many of the selected cardiovascular risk factors. Since the study took place in a service‐rich city with a range of pre‐existing supportive services and universal health insurance, the high level of usual services available to the TAU group may have contributed to reductions in their cardiovascular disease risk factors. Further research is needed to develop interventions to reduce risk factors of cardiovascular disease among people experiencing homelessness and mental illness beyond existing treatments.

REGISTRATION

www.isrctn.com
URL:
www.isrctn.com
. Unique Identifier: ISRCTN42520374
High Prevalence of Acquired Thrombophilia Without Prognosis Value in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019
Authors: Ferrari Emile , Sartre Benjamin , Squara Fabien , Contenti Julie , Occelli Celine , Lemoel Fabien , Levraut Jacques , Doyen Denis , Dellamonica Jean , Mondain Veronique , Chirio David , Risso Karine , Cua Eric , Orban Jean Christophe , Ichai Carole , Labbaoui Mohamed , Mossaz Baptiste , Moceri Pamela , Appert‐Flory Anny , Fischer Florence , Toulon Pierre
Published: September 2020

Background

Recent literature reports a strong thrombotic tendency in patients hospitalized for a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infection. This characteristic is unusual and seems specific to COVID‐19 infections, especially in their severe form. Viral infections can trigger acquired thrombophilia, which can then lead to thrombotic complications. We investigate for the presence of acquired thrombophilia, which could participate in this phenomenon, and report its prevalence. We also wonder if these thrombophilias participate in the bad prognosis of severe COVID‐19 infections.

Methods and Results

In 89 consecutive patients hospitalized for COVID‐19 infection, we found a 20% prevalence of PS (protein S) deficiency and a high (ie, 72%) prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies: mainly lupus anticoagulant. The presence of PS deficiency or antiphospholipid antibodies was not linked with a prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time nor with D‐dimer, fibrinogen, or CRP (C‐reactive protein) concentrations. These coagulation abnormalities are also not linked with thrombotic clinical events occurring during hospitalization nor with mortality.

Conclusions

We assess a high prevalence of positive tests detecting thrombophilia in COVID‐19 infections. However, in our series, these acquired thrombophilias are not correlated with the severity of the disease nor with the occurrence of thrombotic events. Albeit the strong thrombotic tendency in COVID‐19 infections, the presence of frequent acquired thrombophilia may be part of the inflammation storm of COVID‐19 and should not systematically modify our strategy on prophylactic anticoagulant treatment, which is already revised upwards in this pathological condition.

Registration

URL:
https://www.clini​caltr​ials.gov
; Unique identifier: NCT04335162.
Mortality Outcome of Emergency Decompressive Craniectomy and Craniotomy in the Management of Acute Subdural Hematoma: A National Data Analysis
Authors: Ahmed Nasim , Greenberg Patricia , Shin SeungHoon
Published: September 2020

Background

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the in-hospital mortality of patients who presented with acute subdural hematoma (SDH) and underwent emergency decompressive craniectomy (DC) or craniotomy (CO) within 4 hours of hospital arrival.

Method

The National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) dataset of the calendar year of 2007 through 2010 was accessed for the study. All blunt severe head injury patients who presented with acute SDH were included in the study. Severe head injury is defined as a head Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score ≥3 and a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score ≤8. Univariate followed by propensity-matched analyses were performed to compare the two procedure groups: DC and CO.

Results

Out of 2370 patients, 518, (21.9%) patients underwent DC. There were significant differences found in the univariate analysis between the DC and CO groups for median age (38 (IQR: 22.0, 55.0) vs 49 (IQR: 27, 67), P < .001), mechanism of injury (fall: 33.2% vs 50.7%; motor vehicle crashes: 58.3% vs 40.9%, P < .001), and median injury severity score (ISS: 26.0 (IQR: 25, 38) vs 26 (IQR: 25.0, 33.0), P < .001). After propensity score matching and pair-matched analysis, no differences were found with any of the above characteristics. The pair-matched analysis also showed no significant difference in in-hospital mortality (42.7% vs 37.5%, P = .10) between the DC vs CO groups.

Conclusion

The overall in-hospital mortality for emergency CO or DC for the evacuation of SDH remains high. The preference of one operative procedure over the other did not impact overall mortality.
Development and validation of the workplace hazing scale
Authors: Mawritz Mary B , Capitano Johnna , Greenbaum Rebecca L , Bonner Julena M , Kim Joongseo
Published: September 2020

What is workplace hazing and how does it affect newcomers? Although most people associate hazing behaviors with university life, sports teams, or military organizations, hazing has been reported in a wide variety of workplace settings as a means of socializing newcomers into their new work environments. However, hazing is seldom researched in the organizational context. Consequently, we contribute to research on workgroup socialization by examining workplace hazing as one particular form of socialization. We first draw on management research on socialization, anthropology research on hazing, and anecdotal evidence to define and conceptualize the construct of workplace hazing. Then, we use a multi-study scale development process to create and validate a five-dimensional workplace hazing scale (WHS). The resulting 15-item WHS captures a range of hazing behaviors across organizational settings, and includes the dimensions of segregation, verbal abuse, task-related hazing, physical abuse, and testing. Overall, our research suggests that the WHS is a valid, reliable scale that can be used to assess this complex phenomenon and that workplace hazing has detrimental effects on newcomers.