bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Efficacy of Treated Water from Water Filtration Machines for Safe Drinking Water Supply in Bandar Baru Bangi and Kajang, Selangor
Authors: Sulaiman Nazira , Zubairi Saiful Irwan , Sani Norrakiah Abdullah , Kasim Zalifah Mohd
Published: January 2020

This study was conducted to determine the physicochemical properties, microbiological quality, level of consumption, and effects of treated water from paid water filtration machines on health of the residents of Bandar Baru Bangi and Kajang, Selangor. The number of water samples taken for this study was 15 from the paid water filtration machines studied. The physicochemical assessment such as determination of pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen was conducted, while the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine the mineral content of the treated water. The microbiological quality was determined using the pour plate method for colony count (22°C incubation for 72 hours and 37°C for 24 hours), while for coliforms and Escherichia coli, the membrane filtration method was utilized. The samples of treated water from the paid water filters were based on triplicate sampling (n = 3). The pH, turbidity, total dissolved solid values, and heavy metal concentration were within the safe level according to the Malaysian National Standard for Drinking Water Quality, Ministry of Health (MOH). The overall range for the pH values of the treated water samples was between 6.50 and 7.15, where this was within the recommended range. The total dissolved solids showed that all the treated water samples were in the range of the recommended standard (27 to 92 mg/L). The range of turbidity values for all the treated water samples was from 1.7 to 6 NTU, and the dissolved oxygen range was from 7.7 to 8.2 mg/L. The colony count results showed that most of the water samples complied with the standards of <4 log cfu/mL at 37°C and <3 log cfu/mL at 22°C of incubation temperatures. However, there was the presence of coliforms in four (4/15) of the treated water samples being at more than 4 cfu/100 mL, while E. coli was absent in all of the treated water samples. The overall results showed that all samples were safe to drink according to the Industrial Guide to Good Hygiene Practice by Automatic Vending Association of Britain (2000) and Food Act (1983) except for the four treated water samples (C, D, H, and I). For that reason, the filtered waters require quality evaluation and management, while the filters need to be replaced according to their designated schedule in order to ascertain that the drinking water is safe to be consumed by the public.
The Comparison of Lately Proposed Harris Hawks Optimization and Jaya Optimization in Solving Directional Overcurrent Relays Coordination Problem
Authors: Yu Jiangtao , Kim Chang-Hwan , Rhee Sang-Bong
Published: January 2020

In this paper, a lately proposed Harris Hawks Optimizer (HHO) is used to solve the directional overcurrent relays (DOCRs) coordination problem. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time HHO is being used in the DOCRs coordination problem. The main inspiration of HHO is the cooperative behavior and chasing style of Harris’ hawks from different directions, based on the dynamic nature of scenarios and escaping patterns of the prey. To test its performances in solving the DOCRs coordination problem, it is adopted in 3-bus, 4-bus, 8-bus, and 9-bus systems, which are formulated by three kinds of optimization models as linear programming (LP), nonlinear programming (NLP), and mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP), according to the nature of the design variables. Meanwhile, another lately proposed optimization algorithm named Jaya is also adopted to solve the same problem, and the results are compared with HHO in aspects of objective function value, convergence rate, robustness, and computation efficiency. The comparisons show that the robustness and consistency of HHO is relatively better than Jaya, while Jaya provides faster convergence rate with less CPU time and occasionally more competitive objective function value than HHO.
A Mixed Integer Linear Programming Model for Rolling Stock Deadhead Routing before the Operation Period in an Urban Rail Transit Line
Authors: Zhong Qingwei , Zhang Yongxiang , Wang Dian , Zhong Qinglun , Wen Chao , Peng Qiyuan
Published: January 2020

In an urban rail transit line, train services are performed by the rolling stocks that are initially stored at depots. Before the start of the operation period, rolling stocks consecutively leave the depots and run without passengers (deadhead routing) to the origin station of their corresponding first departure train service in an operation day (first train service) using either direct or indirect routes. This paper investigates the rolling stock deadhead routing problem in an urban transit line with multiple circulation plans, depots, and rolling stock types. Given the rolling stock circulation plans, the problem is to identify a deadhead route for the rolling stock required by the train services to cover the initial operation. By pregenerating all direct and indirect candidate deadhead routes in a polynomial manner, the problem is then nicely formulated as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to minimize the total deadhead mileages. A real-world case from the urban rail transit line 3 of Chongqing in China is adopted to test the proposed method. Computational results demonstrate that the problems of large-scale instances can be quickly solved to optimality by commercial optimization solvers on a personal computer. In addition, our optimization method is better than the empirical practices in terms of the solution quality. Meanwhile, alternative measures can further decrease the total deadhead mileages according to the proposed model, e.g., opening idle switch stations and prolonging the time that is used for the rolling stock departure. Finally, the model is further extended to consider operating costs, and more computation cases are tested for better adapting to the practical operating conditions.
Comparison of Protective Effects of Electroacupuncture at ST 36 and LU 5 on Pulmonary and Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis Changes in Perinatal Nicotine‐Exposed Rats
Authors: Lu Yawen , Ji Bo , Zhao Guozhen , Dai Jian , Sakurai Reiko , Liu Yitian , Mou Qiujie , Xie Yana , Zhang Qin , Xu Shuang , Rehan Virender Kumar
Published: January 2020

Background. Maternal smoking and/or exposure to environmental tobacco smoke continue to be significant factors in fetal and childhood morbidity and are a serious public health issue worldwide. Nicotine passes through the placenta easily with minimal biotransformation, entering fetal circulation, where it results in many harmful effects on the developing offspring, especially on the developing respiratory system. Objectives. Recently, in a rat model, electroacupuncture (EA) at maternal acupoints ST 36 has been shown to block perinatal nicotine‐induced pulmonary damage; however, the underlying mechanism and the specificity of ST 36 acupoints for this effect are unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that compared with EA at ST 36, EA at LU 5 acupoints, which are on lung‐specific meridian, will be equally or more effective in preventing perinatal nicotine‐induced pulmonary changes. Methods. Twenty‐four pregnant rat dams were randomly divided into 4 groups: saline (“S”), nicotine (“N”), nicotine + ST 36 (N + ST 36), and nicotine + LU 5 (N + LU 5) groups. Nicotine (1 mg/kg, subcutaneously) and EA (at ST 36 or LU 5 acupoints, bilaterally) were administered from embryonic day 6 to postnatal day 21 once daily. The “S” group was injected saline. As needed, using ELISA, western analysis, q‐RT‐PCR, lung histopathology, maternal and offspring hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axes, offspring key lung developmental markers, and lung morphometry were determined. Results. With nicotine exposure, alveolar count decreased, but mean linear intercept and septal thickness increased. It also led to a decrease in pulmonary function and PPARγ and an increase of β‐catenin and glucocorticoid receptor expression in lung tissue and corticosterone in the serum of offspring rats. Electroacupuncture at ST 36 normalized all of these changes, whereas EA at LU 5 had no obvious effect. Conclusion. Electroacupuncture applied to ST 36 acupoints provided effective protection against perinatal nicotine‐induced lung changes, whereas EA applied at LU 5 acupoints was ineffective, suggesting mechanistic specificity and HPA axis’ involvement in mediating EA at ST 36 acupoints’ effects in mitigating perinatal nicotine‐induced pulmonary phenotype. This opens the possibility that other acupoints, besides ST 36, can have similar or even more robust beneficial effects on the developing lung against the harmful effect of perinatal nicotine exposure. The approach proposed by us is simple, cheap, quick, easy to administer, and is devoid of any significant side effects.
Deep Ensemble Reinforcement Learning with Multiple Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient Algorithm
Authors: Wu Junta , Li Huiyun
Published: January 2020

Deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm operating over continuous space of actions has attracted great attention for reinforcement learning. However, the exploration strategy through dynamic programming within the Bayesian belief state space is rather inefficient even for simple systems. Another problem is the sequential and iterative training data with autonomous vehicles subject to the law of causality, which is against the i.i.d. (independent identically distributed) data assumption of the training samples. This usually results in failure of the standard bootstrap when learning an optimal policy. In this paper, we propose a framework of m-out-of-n bootstrapped and aggregated multiple deep deterministic policy gradient to accelerate the training process and increase the performance. Experiment results on the 2D robot arm game show that the reward gained by the aggregated policy is 10%–50% better than those gained by subpolicies. Experiment results on the open racing car simulator (TORCS) demonstrate that the new algorithm can learn successful control policies with less training time by 56.7%. Analysis on convergence is also given from the perspective of probability and statistics. These results verify that the proposed method outperforms the existing algorithms in both efficiency and performance.
Metal Content of Nutritional and Toxic Value in Different Types of Brazilian Propolis
Authors: Hodel Katharine V. S. , Machado Bruna A. S. , Santos Nathália R. , Costa Renata G. , Menezes-Filho Jose A. , Umsza-Guez Marcelo A.
Published: January 2020

Brazilian raw propolis samples (brown, green, red, and yellow) were investigated to evaluate the content of three elements of nutritional value (Cu, K, and Se) and three toxic metals (As, Cd, and Pb). The propolis samples (n = 19) were obtained from different regions of Brazil and analysed by atomic absorption spectrometry after microwave-assisted digestion. A descriptive analysis of the variables was carried out, and nonparametric tests (Kruskal–Wallis or Mann–Whitney) were performed to verify the differences in metal contents. The elemental concentrations of the Brazilian propolis were in the following ranges: As < 0.048–8.47 μg·g−1, Pb < 0.006–0.72 μg·g−1, Cu 0.57–11.60 μg·g−1, Se < 0.041–0.54 μg·g−1, and K 0.23–7.94 mg·g−1; Cd was below LOD (0.008 μg·g−1) in all samples, except one. Seven samples exceeded the limits defined for As or Pb by the Brazilian regulation.
Dynamic Traffic Detection and Modeling for Beidou Satellite Networks
Authors: Qu Yanyu , Pu Fangling , Yin Jianguo , Liu Lingzi , Xu Xin
Published: January 2020

Beidou navigation system (BDS) has been developed as an integrated system. The third BDS, BSD-3, will be capable of providing not only global positioning and navigation but also data communication. When the volume of data transmitted through BDS-3 continues to increase, BDS-3 will encounter network traffic congestion, unbalanced resource usage, or security attacks as terrestrial networks. The network traffic monitoring is essential for automatic management and safety assurance of BDS-3. A dynamic traffic detection method including traffic prediction by Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and a dynamically adjusting polling strategy is proposed to unevenly sample the traffic of each link. A distributed traffic detection architecture is designed for collection of the detected traffic and its related temporal and spatial information with low delay. A time-varying graph (TVG) model is introduced to represent the dynamic topology, the time-varying link, and its traffic. The BDS-3 network is simulated by STK. The WIDE dataset is used to simulate the traffic between the satellite and ground station. Simulation results show that the dynamic traffic detection method can follow the variation of the traffic of each link with uneven sampling. The detected traffic can be transmitted to the ground station in near real time through the distributed traffic detection architecture. The traffic and its related information are stored by using Neo4j in terms of the TVG model. The nodes, edges, and traffic of BDS-3 can be quickly queried through Neo4j. The presented dynamic traffic detection and representation schemes will support BDS-3 to establish automatic management and security system and develop business.
Prevalence of Bacterial Contamination of Casting Material in a Pediatric Population
Authors: Walker Brett , Amato Chad , Palyvoda Olena , Vangipuram Sharada , Weaver Martin , Sayeed Zain , Talha Padela Muhammad , Yassir Walid K.
Published: January 2020

Surgical site infection is a relatively common and devastating complication following pediatric orthopedic surgery. Many infections have been determined to be the result of settled airborne particles on surgical equipment and the sterile field. Fiberglass casts are commonly used orthopedic fixation devices before and after surgery; however, fiberglass casting material is expelled during the removal process and represents an uninvestigated area for the possibility of cast saw dust as a source of airborne bacterial contamination in an operating room setting. This study evaluates the prevalence and distribution of microbiota on 90 pediatric casts by collecting and culturing fiberglass cast material from 90 pediatric casts. Bacterial identification was performed using a Bruker Biotyper Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry device. 81 out of 90 casts (90%) showed evidence of microbial contamination. Isolated species were very diverse and ranged from normal skin flora to opportunistic pathogens. The 5 most commonly isolated organisms were Acinetobacter pittii, Enterobacter cloacae, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Staphylococcus hominis. Further investigation is required to determine if casting material is truly a cause of surgical site infection.
Hopf Bifurcation and Turing Instability Analysis for the Gierer–Meinhardt Model of the Depletion Type
Authors: Gu Lianchao , Gong Peiliang , Wang Hongqing
Published: January 2020

The reaction diffusion system is one of the important models to describe the objective world. It is of great guiding importance for people to understand the real world by studying the Turing patterns of the reaction diffusion system changing with the system parameters. Therefore, in this paper, we study Gierer–Meinhardt model of the Depletion type which is a representative model in the reaction diffusion system. Firstly, we investigate the stability of the equilibrium and the Hopf bifurcation of the system. The result shows that equilibrium experiences a Hopf bifurcation in certain conditions and the Hopf bifurcation of this system is supercritical. Then, we analyze the system equation with the diffusion and study the impacts of diffusion coefficients on the stability of equilibrium and the limit cycle of system. Finally, we perform the numerical simulations for the obtained results which show that the Turing patterns are either spot or stripe patterns.
Safety Evaluation for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles’ Exclusive Lanes considering Penetrate Ratios and Impact of Trucks Using Surrogate Safety Measures
Authors: Zhang Jian , Wu Kunrun , Cheng Min , Yang Min , Cheng Yang , Li Shen
Published: January 2020

Plenty of studies on exclusive lanes for Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) have been conducted recently about traffic efficiency and safety. However, most of the previous research studies neglected comprehensive consideration of the safety impact on different market penetration rates (MPRs) of CAVs, traffic demands, and proportion of trucks in mixture CAVs with human’s driven vehicle environment. On this basis, this study is to (1) identify the safety impact on exclusive lanes for CAVs under different MPRs with different traffic demands and (2) investigate the safety impact of trucks for CAV exclusive lanes on mixture environment. Based on the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM), a CAV platooning control algorithm is proposed for modeling the driving behaviors of CAVs. A calibrated 7-kilometer freeway section microscopic simulation environment is built by VISSIM. Four surrogate safety measures, including both longitudinal and lateral safety risk indexes, are employed to evaluate the overall safety impacts of setting exclusive lanes. Main results indicate that (1) setting one exclusive lane is capable to improve overall safety environment in low demand, and two exclusive lanes are more suitable for high-demand scenario; (2) existence of trucks worsens overall longitudinal safety environment, and improper setting of exclusive lanes in high trucks, low MPR scenario has adverse effect on longitudinal safety; and (3) setting exclusive lanes have better longitudinal and lateral safety improvement in high-truck proportion scenarios. Setting one or two exclusive lanes led to [+42.4% to −52.90%] and [+45.7% to −55.2%] of longitudinal risks while [−1.8% to −87.1%] and [−2.1% to −85.3%] of lateral conflicts compared with the base scenario, respectively. Results of this study provide useful insight for the setting of exclusive lanes for CAVs in a mixture environment.
An Experimental Study on the Ecological Support Model of Dentate Row Piles
Authors: Deng Yousheng , Cheng Zhihe , Cai Mengzhen , Sun Yani , Peng Chengpu
Published: January 2020

Bamboo is highly renewable and biodegradable with good short‐term strength, which meets the requirement for temporal support structures in shallow foundation pits. Based on this, we conducted a laboratory model test on the dentate bamboo micropile support structure combined with environmentally friendly building materials and new type of piles, to explore the stress characteristics, stress change regularity, and the support effect of the system in soft soil foundation pits. The results show that the earth pressure on the pile sides above the excavation surface gradually decreases with an increase in the excavation depth. The bending deformation of the bamboo pile was also significant. The results also show that the earth pressure and the pile strain below the excavation surface change slightly during the excavation process. When the short sides of the foundation pit were loaded, the highest strain was recorded in the piles 4 and 11. A maximum strain of 358.93 με was recorded, and the maximum displacement of the pile in the top part was obtained to be only 2.14 mm. The most subsidence of dentate pile obtained is only 1.88 mm, whereas that of the single‐row pile is 2.35 mm. Compared to the traditional single‐row pile, the dentate piles can effectively reduce the horizontal deformation as well as the surface subsidence effectively. They can also support more external lateral load, and hence maintain the foundation stability and give better support. The results provide a theoretical basis for ecological bamboo support technology and have great value to be promoted.
RETRACTED: Antiulcerogenic Activity of Li‐Zhong Decoction on Duodenal Ulcers Induced by Indomethacin in Rats: Involvement of TLR‐2/MyD88 Signaling Pathway
Authors: Song Houpan , Zeng Meiyan , Chen Xiaojuan , Chen Xinyi , Peng Jun , Lin Ye , Yu Rong , Cai Xiong , Peng Qinghua
Published: January 2020

Background. Administration of nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) often causes small intestinal ulcers in patients, but few effective drugs are currently available to manage such serious adverse events of NSAIDs. Li‐Zhong decoction (LZD), a well‐known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, is commonly prescribed for treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the anti‐ulcerogenic activity of LZD on indomethacin‐ (IND‐) induced duodenal ulcer in rats. Mechanistic studies of action of LZD were focused on involvement of TLR‐2/MyD88 signaling pathway. Methods. Fifty male Sprague‐Dawley (SD) rats were randomly and evenly divided into five groups: normal control, ulcer control (IND, 25 mg/kg), IND + esomeprazole (ESO, 4.17 mg/kg), and IND + low and high doses of LZD (3.75 and 7.50 g/kg). Macroscopic and histopathological examinations were performed for evaluation of ulcer index (UI), curative index (CI), and microscopic score (MS). Levels of duodenal inflammatory biomarkers and cytoprotective mediators including interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), IL‐10, tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were measured by ELISA. Expression levels of TLR‐2 and MyD88 mRNA were assessed by qRT‐PCR. The expression and distribution of TLR‐2 and MyD88 proteins were analyzed by western blot and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Results. Gross and microscopic examinations of the IND‐treated rats revealed severe duodenal hemorrhagic necrosis, inflammatory infiltration, villus destruction, and crypt abscess, while LZD‐treated rats manifested these pathological events to a markedly lesser degree. LZD significantly decreased UI and MS, increased CI, preserved the integrity of the villus and crypt, and normalized the tissue architecture of the duodenum of rats. The elevated TNF‐α levels in the IND‐treated rats were markedly diminished in the LZD‐treated rats, while lower levels of IL‐4, IL‐10, and PGE2 observed in IND‐treated rats were significantly increased in LZD‐treated rats. Interestingly, improvement of immune function in duodenal mucosa by reduction of mRNA and protein expression levels of TLR‐2 and MyD88 was also observed in rats treated with LZD. Consistently, immunohistochemical analyses revealed a lower co‐localization of TLR‐2 and MyD88 proteins in the duodenal mucosa of LZD‐treated rats as compared to the IND‐induced rats. Conclusions. Our data demonstrate that LZD protects the duodenal mucosa from IND‐caused lesions, which is at least partially attributable to the interaction of its potential cytoprotective and anti‐inflammatory mechanisms together with enhancement of the mucosal immunity through TLR‐2/MyD88 signaling pathway.
Exploring the Dynamics of Base-Excited Structures Impacting a Rigid Stop
Authors: Christopher Peter J. , Dobson Barnaby , Alexander Nicholas A.
Published: January 2020

This paper explores the nonlinear dynamics of a multidegree of freedom (MDoF) structure impacting a rigid stop. The contact mechanics is simplified by continuous sigmoid function idealisation of a lossless spring. By introducing a smooth nonlinear formulation, we avoid the computational expense of event-driven, piecewise, nonsmooth dynamics. A large parametric study using high-performance computing is undertaken. The nondimensional equations of motion suggest one primary structural parameter, contact-to-storey stiffness ratio, and two excitation parameters, nondimensional ground amplitude and frequency. Bifurcation plots indicate an extremely rich and complex behaviour, particularly in the cases where at least two-floor degrees of freedom (DoFs) impact the stop and when the contact-to-storey stiffness ratio is large. When considering interstorey drift as a performance measure, period-1 impacting solutions are generally favourable when compared to an analogous nonimpacting case. This paper also discusses whether chaotic impacting can be favourable. Finally, we consider the question of whether higher modes are significantly excited, at a linear resonance, for impacting solutions to this system.
Prenatal Diagnosis and Management of a Rare Central Tendon Defect Type of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia with a Massive Pericardial Effusion
Authors: Babic Inas , Al-Jobair Haifa , Al Towaijri Osama , Al-Shammary Huda , Atiyah Merna , Al Hudhaif Jamal , Ammari Amer
Published: January 2020

The central tendon defect type of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is extremely rare and usually associated with a significant pericardial effusion. Prenatal diagnostic ultrasound features of this quite rare entity remain often overlooked or misdiagnosed. There is a dearth of literature about the role of prenatal intervention, often through an elective pericardiocentesis, for the prevention of lung hypoplasia and to decrease the overall neonatal morbidity and mortality. To the best of our knowledge, till date, there is only one case that was subjected to a prenatal intervention. Here, we present a second case of a central tendon defect type of CDH with a large pericardial effusion that was subjected to a prenatal transthoracic pericardiocentesis. Although smooth intubation and ventilation were performed immediately after birth, the infant suffered for several months from respiratory instability. Laparoscopic central tendon hernia repair was performed, and neonate was discharged home at seven months of age. Although prenatal pericardiocentesis may facilitate smoother postnatal intubation and ventilation, its broader effect on respiratory function is uncertain and still remains elusive.
Chebyshev Neural Network-Based Adaptive Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Control for Hypersonic Vehicles
Authors: Zhang Ruimin , Chen Qiaoyu , Guo Haigang
Published: January 2020

This paper presents an adaptive nonsingular terminal sliding mode control approach for the attitude control of a hypersonic vehicle with parameter uncertainties and external disturbances based on Chebyshev neural networks (CNNs). First, a new nonsingular terminal sliding surface is proposed for a general uncertain nonlinear system. Then, a nonsingular sliding mode control is designed to achieve finite-time tracking control. Furthermore, to relax the requirement for the upper bound of the lumped uncertainty including parameter uncertainties and external disturbances, a CNN is used to estimate the lumped uncertainty. The network weights are updated by the adaptive law derived from the Lyapunov theorem. Meanwhile, a low-pass filter-based modification is added into the adaptive law to achieve fast and low-frequency adaptation when using high-gain learning rates. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to the attitude control of the hypersonic vehicle and simulation results illustrate its effectiveness.
Large-Scale Neuronal Network Dysfunction in Diabetic Retinopathy
Authors: Huang Xin , Tong Yan , Qi Chen-Xing , Dan Han-Dong , Deng Qin-Qin , Shen Yin
Published: January 2020

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients are at an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia. There is accumulating evidence that specific functional and structural architecture changes in the brain are related to cognitive impairment in DR patients. However, little is known regarding whether the functional architecture of resting-state networks (RSNs) changes in DR patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the intranetwork functional connectivity (FC) and functional network connectivity (FNC) of RSN changes in DR patients using independent component analysis (ICA). Thirty-four DR patients (18 men and 16 women; mean age, 53.53±8.67 years) and 38 nondiabetic healthy controls (HCs) (15 men and 23 women; mean age, 48.63±11.83 years), closely matched for age, sex, and education, underwent resting-state magnetic resonance imaging scans. ICA was applied to extract the nine RSNs. Then, two-sample t-tests were conducted to investigate different intranetwork FCs within nine RSNs between the two groups. The FNC toolbox was used to assess interactions among RSNs. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between intranetwork FCs and clinical variables in the DR group. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was conducted to assess the ability of the intranetwork FCs of RSNs in discriminating between the two groups. Compared to the HC group, DR patients showed significant decreased intranetwork FCs within the basal ganglia network (BGN), visual network (VN), ventral default mode network (vDMN), right executive control network (rECN), salience network (SN), left executive control network (lECN), auditory network (AN), and dorsal default mode network (dDMN). In addition, FNC analysis showed increased VN-BGN, VN-vDMN, VN-dDMN, vDMN-lECN, SN-BGN, lECN-dDMN, and AN-BGN FNCs in the DR group, relative to the HC group. Furthermore, altered intranetwork FCs of RSNs were significantly correlated with the glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level in DR patients. A ROC curve showed that these specific intranetwork FCs of RSNs discriminated between the two groups with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. Our study highlighted that DR patients had widespread deficits in both low-level perceptual and higher-order cognitive networks. Our results offer important insights into the neural mechanisms of visual loss and cognitive decline in DR patients.
Case Report of Synchronous Prostate, Hepatocellular, and Rectal Carcinomas and Review of the Literature
Authors: Lamprou Viktoria , Paramythiotis Daniel , Giakoustidis Dimitrios , Karakatsanis Anestis , Astreinidis Athanasios , Moysidis Moysis , Mihalopoulos Antonios , Finitsis Stefanos
Published: January 2020

Synchronous occurrence of three histopathologically distinct malignant tumors is a rare event, and there are no definitive guidelines about the optimal treatment of these patients. We report a case of synchronous prostate, hepatocellular, and rectal carcinomas and discuss our therapeutic strategy that resulted in excellent clinical results.
Modulation of Calcium Oxalate Crystal Growth and Protection from Oxidatively Damaged Renal Epithelial Cells of Corn Silk Polysaccharides with Different Molecular Weights
Authors: Chen Jia-Yun , Sun Xin-Yuan , Ouyang Jian-Ming
Published: January 2020

Corn silk polysaccharide (CSP0; molecular weight=124 kDa) was degraded by ultrasonication to obtain five degraded polysaccharides, namely, CSP1, CSP2, CSP3, CSP4, and CSP5, with molecular weights of 26.1, 12.2, 6.0, 3.5, and 2.0 kDa, respectively. The structures of these polysaccharides were characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR analyses. The antioxidant activities, including scavenging ability for hydroxyl radicals and DPPH free radicals, chelation ability for Fe2+ ions, and reducing ability of CSP increased with decreased molecular weight of CSPs within 6.0 to 124 kDa. However, antioxidant activity weakened when the molecular weight of CSPs reached 3.5 and 2 kDa. CSP3 with a molecular weight of 6.0 kDa exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity. After protection with 60 μg/mL CSPs, the viability of human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) damaged by nano-COM crystals increased, the level of reactive oxygen species decreased, and the amount of COM crystal adhered onto the cell surface decreased. The ability of CSPs to protect cells from CaOx crystal damage was consistent with their antioxidant activity. CSPs can specifically combine with CaOx crystal to inhibit the conversion of calcium oxalate dihydrate crystal to calcium oxalate monohydrate crystal. All these results showed that the activity of CSPs was closely correlated with molecular weight. A very high or low molecular weight of CSPs was not conducive to their activity. CSPs, especially CSP3 with a molecular weight of 6.0 kDa, can be used as a potential antistone drug.
Optical and Thermal Properties of Therminol 55-TiO2 Nanofluids for Solar Energy Storage
Authors: Kalidoss P. , Venkatachalapathy S. , Suresh S.
Published: January 2020

The present experimental study focuses on the energy storage performance of Therminol 55-TiO2 nanofluids for the absorption of solar energy. Photothermal conversion efficiency is enhanced using Fresnel lens and secondary reflectors with a glass-type evacuated absorber tube. The focal length of the Fresnel lens is 150 mm, and that of the secondary reflector is 70 mm. The optical absorbance, extinction coefficient, and thermal conductivity of nanofluids at 100, 250, 350, and 500 ppm are reported. The optical path length of the energy storage medium is 1 cm. The optical performance of the nanofluids is analyzed in the range of 400 to 800 nm. Compared to base fluid, the prepared concentrations show higher absorbance in the measured range of wavelength. The optimum concentration is found to be 250 ppm, and its specific heat is measured in the temperature range of 27 to 117°C and is found to vary from 1.85 to 2.19 J/g °C. The thermal conductivity of the maximum concentration of nanofluid is 0.134 W/mK. The optical absorbance test confirms the stability of nanofluids. Maximum temperature and photothermal conversion efficiency are obtained.
Solving Permutation Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Sequence-Independent Setup Time
Authors: Belabid Jabrane , Aqil Said , Allali Karam
Published: January 2020

In this paper, we study the resolution of a permutation flow shop problem with sequence-independent setup time. The objective is to minimize the maximum of job completion time, also called the makespan. In this contribution, we propose three methods of resolution, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model; two heuristics, the first based on Johnson’s rule and the second based on the NEH algorithm; and finally two metaheuristics, the iterative local search algorithm and the iterated greedy algorithm. A set of test problems is simulated numerically to validate the effectiveness of our resolution approaches. For relatively small-size problems, it has been revealed that the adapted NEH heuristic has the best performance than that of the Johnson-based heuristic. For the relatively medium and large problems, the comparative study between the two metaheuristics based on the exploration of the neighborhood shows that the iterated greedy algorithm records the best performances.
Catheter-Related ESBL-Producing Leclercia adecarboxylata Septicemia in Hemodialysis Patient: An Emerging Pathogen?
Authors: Alosaimi Roaa Sultan , Muhmmed kaaki Mai
Published: January 2020

We report a multidrug-resistant strain of Leclercia adecarboxylata which was responsible for a catheter-related bacteremia, in a 50-year-old female with an end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis. The isolated strain was an extended beta-lactamase producer. Based on a literature review of L. adecarboxylata, there have been only two reports of extended beta-lactamase producer strains. To our knowledge, this is the first case reported in Saudi Arabia.
The Impact of Purchase Restriction Policy on Car Ownership in China’s Four Major Cities
Authors: Liu Feiqi , Zhao Fuquan , Liu Zongwei , Hao Han
Published: January 2020

With the improvement of living standards, the demand for residents’ travel has grown rapidly. At present, China has surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s largest vehicle sales country. By the end of 2018, there had been over 200 million private passenger cars in China. Meanwhile, the increase in the number of cars has also brought a series of other problems: energy consumption, air pollution, traffic congestion, etc. Therefore, some first-tier cities have successively introduced motor vehicle purchase restriction policies to constrain the surge of local private cars. However, existing researches have overemphasized the factors that promote the development of China’s motor vehicle market and ignored the importance of the purchase restriction policies. In this study, policies in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are introduced, and their impacts on local private passenger car stock are analyzed. The results indicate that purchase restriction policies kept the car ownership per thousand people in these cities in a relatively stable level with growing economy. Therefore, as the number of cities with restriction policies increases, it is necessary to take those policies into consideration in the forecast of possession. Meanwhile, the local governments should still think over policy contents from more aspects, like number of issued plates every year, special measures for new energy vehicles, and travel demand of residents.
Supercritical Neimark–Sacker Bifurcation and Hybrid Control in a Discrete-Time Glycolytic Oscillator Model
Authors: Khan A. Q. , Abdullah E. , Ibrahim Tarek F.
Published: January 2020

We study the local dynamical properties, Neimark–Sacker bifurcation, and hybrid control in a glycolytic oscillator model in the interior of ℝ+2. It is proved that, for all parametric values, Pxy+α/β+α2,α is the unique positive equilibrium point of the glycolytic oscillator model. Further local dynamical properties along with different topological classifications about the equilibrium Pxy+α/β+α2,α have been investigated by employing the method of linearization. Existence of prime period and periodic points of the model under consideration are also investigated. It is proved that, about the fixed point Pxy+α/β+α2,α, the discrete-time glycolytic oscillator model undergoes no bifurcation, except Neimark–Sacker bifurcation. A further hybrid control strategy is applied to control Neimark–Sacker bifurcation in the discrete-time model. Finally, theoretical results are verified numerically.
Relationship between Corrosion of Reinforcement and Surface Cracking Width in Concrete
Authors: Cao Jian , Liu Liangfang , Zhao Shangchuan
Published: January 2020

The durability of structure cannot be guaranteed when a corrosion expansion crack reaches the surface of the reinforced concrete member. In this paper, firstly, based on the existing theoretical model of steel corrosion degree, the calculation process of the model and the determination of the relevant parameters in the model were analyzed and discussed. Secondly, the stiffness reduction factor of concrete in the model was calculated according to the existing experimental data, and the engineering formula of the steel corrosion degree was established, which was related to the surface crack width of reinforced concrete. Moreover, the experiments of steel bar corrosion were carried out with different components of surface crack width, in which the parameters of the bar diameter, concrete protection layer thickness, and water‐cement ratio were taken into consideration. The experimental phenomena and results were further analyzed and discussed. Finally, comparing with the experimental data, the engineering formula presented in the paper was validated. The results show that the calculated values by the engineering formula are in better agreement with the experimental values than those by the existing model, which provide a theoretical basis for further study on the durability limit state of the structure.
Neutrino Oscillation Analysis of 217 Live Days of Daya Bay and 500 Live Days of RENO
Authors: Acero Mario A. , Aguilar-Arevalo Alexis A. , Polo-Toledo Dairo J.
Published: January 2020

We present a neutrino oscillation analysis of two particular data sets from the Daya Bay and RENO reactor neutrino experiments aiming to study the increase in precision in the oscillation parameters sin22θ13 and the effective mass splitting Δmee2 gained by combining two relatively simple to reproduce analyses available in the literature. For Daya Bay, the data from 217 days between December 2011 and July 2012 were used. For RENO, we used the data from 500 live days between August 2011 and January 2012. We reproduce reasonably well the results of the individual analyses, both rate-only and spectral, defining a suitable χ2 statistic for each case. Finally, we performed a combined spectral analysis and extract tighter constraints on the parameters, with an improved precision between 30 and 40% with respect to the individual analyses considered.
Salvianolic Acid D Alleviates Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Suppressing the Cytoplasmic Translocation and Release of HMGB1-Triggered NF-κB Activation to Inhibit Inflammatory Response
Authors: Zhang Wen , Song Junke , Li Wan , Kong Dewen , Liang Yu , Zhao Xiaoyue , Du Guanhua
Published: January 2020

Inflammatory response participates in the overall pathophysiological process of stroke. It is a promising strategy to develop antistroke drugs targeting inflammation. This study is aimed at investigating the therapeutic effect and anti-inflammatory mechanism of salvianolic acid D (SalD) against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. A rat middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) injury model was established, and an oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) injury model was established in PC12 cells. Neurological deficit score, cerebral infarction, and edema were studied in vivo. Cell viability was achieved using the MTT method in vitro. The Bax, Bcl-2, cytochrome c, HMGB1, TLR4, TRAF6, NF-κB p65, p-NF-κB p65, and cleaved caspase-3 and -9 were tested via the Western blot method. Cytokines and cytokine mRNA, including TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, were studied via ELISA and PCR methods. The translocation of HMGB1 and NF-κB were studied by immunofluorescence assay. The HMGB1/NeuN, HMGB1/GFAP, and HMGB1/Iba1 double staining was carried out to observe the localization of HMGB1 in different cells. Results showed that SalD alleviated neurological impairment, decreased cerebral infarction, and reduced edema in I/R rats. SalD improved OGD/R-downregulated PC12 cell viability. SalD also promoted Bcl-2 expression and suppressed Bax, cytochrome c, and cleaved caspase-3 and -9 expression. SalD decreased the intensity of TLR4, MyD88, and TRAF6 proteins both in vivo and in vitro, and significantly inhibited the NF-κB nuclear translocation induced by I/R and OGD/R. What’s more, SalD inhibited HMGB1 cytoplasmic translocation in neurons, astrocytes, and microglia in both the cortex and hippocampus regions of I/R rats. In conclusion, SalD can alleviate I/R-induced cerebral injury in rats and increase the PC12 cell viability affected by OGD/R. The anti-inflammatory mechanism of SalD might result from the decreased nuclear-to-cytoplasmic translocation of HMGB1 and the inhibition on its downstream TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling.
Unified Quantile Regression Deep Neural Network with Time-Cognition for Probabilistic Residential Load Forecasting
Authors: Deng Zhuofu , Wang Binbin , Guo Heng , Chai Chengwei , Wang Yanze , Zhu Zhiliang
Published: January 2020

Residential load forecasting is important for many entities in the electricity market, but the load profile of single residence shows more volatilities and uncertainties. Due to the difficulty in producing reliable point forecasts, probabilistic load forecasting becomes more popular as a result of catching the volatility and uncertainty by intervals, density, or quantiles. In this paper, we propose a unified quantile regression deep neural network with time-cognition for tackling this challenging issue. At first, a convolutional neural network with multiscale convolution is devised for extracting more behavioral features from the historical load sequence. In addition, a novel periodical coding method marks the model to enhance its ability of capturing regular load pattern. Then, features generated from both subnetworks are fused and fed into the forecasting model with an end-to-end manner. Besides, a globally differentiable quantile loss function constrains the whole network for training. At last, forecasts of multiple quantiles are directly generated in one shot. With ablation experiments, the proposed model achieved the best results in the AQS, AACE, and inversion error, and especially the average of the AACE is grown by 34.71%, 75.22%, and 32.44% compared with QGBRT, QCNN, and QLSTM, respectively, indicating that our method has excellent reliability and robustness rather than the state-of-the-art models obviously. Meanwhile, great performances of efficient time response demonstrate that our proposed work has promising prospects in practical applications.
Asystole during Suspension Laryngoscopy: Case Report, Literature Review, and Prophylactic Strategies
Authors: Justi Cassettari Arthur , Campos e Santos Érica Cristina , Semenzati Graziela Oliveira , Crespo Agrício Nubiato
Published: January 2020

Transoral laryngeal procedures are considered minimally invasive but may trigger important complications such as severe bradycardia and even asystole mediated by vagal reflex. The literature on this subject is rare. This article aims to review the literature, explain associated mechanisms, establish prophylactic strategies, and highlight the importance of intraoperative safety protocols.
Research and Application of the Local Differential Freezing Technology in Deep Alluvium
Authors: Wang Bin , Rong Chuanxin , Cheng Hua , Yao Zhishu , Cai Haibing
Published: January 2020

Aiming at the complicated engineering conditions of the auxiliary shaft repair in the Banji coal mine, it was proposed to seal the water around the shaft lining by differential control freezing technology using double rows of holes. The outer row of holes is completely frozen, and the inner row of holes is local differential frozen according to the degree of destruction of the shaft lining. The local differential freezing pipe was successfully developed according to engineering requirements. Numeral simulations were used to predict the development of the freezing temperature field; the results showed that the inward expansion range of the frozen wall formed by the inner row freezing holes was effectively limited and the temperature drop rate of the shaft lining was significantly reduced after the local differential freezing technique was adopted. The on‐site monitoring data showed that the temperature of the limited freezing layer was about 5°C higher than that of the conventional freezing layer. During the drainage work and the construction of the new shaft lining, the thickness and average temperature of the frozen wall remained stable, indicating that the implementation of the local differential freezing technology achieved the expected results. Further analysis showed that when the temperature of the limited freezing part of freezing pipes in the inner row was controlled within the range of −15 to −10°C, not only could the frozen wall reach the design thickness and strength but the frost heaving pressure on the existing shaft lining could be effectively eliminated.
Stability Analysis of a Proximate Time Optimal Controlled Electrostatic Suspension System Using Piezo Actuator via Lyapunov Functional Approach
Authors: Le T. T.
Published: January 2020

An electrostatic suspension of silicon wafer using proximate time optimal control has been successfully developed. In this system, the movable electrodes which are supplied by constant voltage and actuated by the piezoelectric (PZT) actuator are used instead of stationary electrodes like previous systems. The changing of the gap length between movable electrodes and the suspended object will create varying capacitances that can control the electrostatic forces. To overcome the problem of actuator saturation of the piezo actuator, a proximate time optimal control is used to stabilize the system. The system stability is theoretically investigated using Lyapunov’s function. The constant voltage supplying to the electrode is an important parameter, and it is also determined. The paper presents series of the simulation and experimental results that prove completely suspension of 4-inch silicon wafer without any mechanical contact.