bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the use of Fredlund gas–fluid compressibility relationship to model medium-dense gassy sand behavior
Authors: Zapata-Medina David G. , Vergara Carellys Y. , Vega-Posada Carlos A. , Arboleda-Monsalve Luis G.
Published: October 2018

This paper presents the influence of gas bubbles trapped in a soil mass on the stress–strain–strength response of medium-dense sands. A hypoplastic constitutive sand model enhanced with the intergranular strain concept was coupled with the Fredlund gas–fluid compressibility relationship to capture gassy soil behavior. Boundary value element representations in a finite element platform of oedometer and saturated drained and undrained triaxial compression tests are performed for the calibration of soil parameters. For the numerical simulation of gassy soil behavior, pore fluid compressibility is modified to account for the presence of free gas in the pore fluid. The gassy soil mechanical response is studied by using only one set of parameters determined from the saturated soil response. The testing bed for this evaluation is a laboratory experimental program conducted on sands retrieved from the Oakridge Landfill, a sanitary landfill located in South Carolina, USA. The hypoplasticity sand model specialized with the Fredlund relationship reproduces reasonably well the stress–strain–strength response of these sands for a wide range of loading conditions and at a reasonable level of testing for the calibration of constitutive parameters. It is found that a slight reduction in the degree of saturation significantly decreases the undrained shear strength of the soil and causes changes in volume (i.e., drained-like behavior).
Lie and Noether symmetry analysis in Brans–Dicke cosmology
Authors: Dutta Sourav , Mondal Santu
Published: October 2018

This paper is aimed to study the group invariant solutions of the evolution equations in Brans–Dicke cosmology. In this context, we have considered the flat homogeneous Brans–Dicke (BD) scalar field in the background of flat homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) cosmological model and have used Lie and Noether symmetry on the augmented system. From Lie symmetry we have determined the unknown potential for two different values of the equation of state parameter w. Then assuming that the Lagrangian admits a Noether symmetry, an analytic solution of the system is obtained in both old and new coordinate systems.
On multi-fusion solitons induced by inelastic collision for quasi-periodic propagation with nonlinear refractive index and stability analysis
Authors: Abdel-Gawad H. I. , Tantawy M. , Inc Mustafa , Yusuf Abdullahi
Published: October 2018

In this paper, the two- and three-soliton propagation of Sharma–Tasso–Olver (STO) equation for inhomogeneous media (with a variable-coefficient) are obtained. It is shown, due to the inelastic collisions, they undergo space-fission (or fusions). These soliton waves show a fusion that their nonlinear interactions are not completely elastic (or inelastic). To study some of the propagation features of pulses and their collision dynamics, the numerical simulations of the solutions are used. It is found that fusion along quasi-periodic waves is exhibited. The graded or step index waveguide under nonlinear refractive components are shown to reduce to improve soliton intensity. Further, the properties for these solutions are shown with figures. It may be found that research on new structure of soliton control has been obtained to understand real physical problems. These results have been usefully applied for long-wave and high-power transmission in telecommunication system. Moreover, stability analysis for the governing equation is investigated via the aspect of linear stability.
Flame acceleration and deflagration-to-detonation transition in narrow channels with thin obstacles
Authors: Huang Jin , Gao Xiangyu , Wang Cheng
Published: October 2018

The entire process of deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) in narrow channels with thin obstacle configurations is studied through high-resolution simulations. The results show that the confinement and disturbance of obstacles promote considerably the flame acceleration and DDT. There exist two modes of DDT associating with obstacle spacing S. For small spacing S, the flame acceleration depends on strong confinement and jet flow between obstacles; eventually DDT occurs due to early burning amplified by shocks in front of the flame. However, for large spacing S, the flame acceleration is mainly attributed to turbulence; DDT results from the interaction of reflection shock with turbulent flame. It is found that the run-up distance of DDT in the obstructed channels shortens significantly, as compared with that in the smooth channel.
Traversable wormholes and energy conditions with two different shape functions in f(R) gravity
Authors: Godani Nisha , Samanta Gauranga C.
Published: October 2018

Traversable wormholes, tunnel-like structures introduced by Morris and Thorne [Am. J. Phys. 56 (1988) 395], have a significant role in connection of two different spacetimes or two different parts of the same spacetime. The characteristics of these wormholes depend upon the redshift and shape functions which are defined in terms of radial coordinate. In literature, several shape functions are defined and wormholes are studied in [Formula: see text] gravity with respect to these shape functions [F. S. N. Lobo and M. A. Oliveira, Phys. Rev. D 80 (2009) 104012; H. Saiedi and B. N. Esfahani, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 26 (2011) 1211; S. Bahamonde, M. Jamil, P. Pavlovic and M. Sossich, Phys. Rev. D 94 (2016) 044041]. In this paper, two shape functions (i) [Formula: see text] and (ii) [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], are considered. The first shape function is newly defined, however, the second one is collected from the literature [M. Cataldo, L. Liempi and P. Rodríguez, Eur. Phys. J. C 77 (2017) 748]. The wormholes are investigated for each type of shape function in [Formula: see text] gravity with [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are real constants. Varying the parameter [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] model is studied in five subcases for each type of shape function. In each case, the energy density, radial and tangential pressures, energy conditions that include null energy condition, weak energy condition, strong energy condition and dominated energy condition and anisotropic parameter are computed. The energy density is found to be positive and all energy conditions are obtained to be violated which support the existence of wormholes. Also, the equation-of-state parameter is obtained to possess values less than [Formula: see text], that shows the presence of the phantom fluid and leads toward the expansion of the universe.
The simple optical methods for early diagnosis of selected benign and malignant brain tumors of human
Authors: Hosseinzadeh M. , Salmani S. , Majles Ara M. H. , Mohajer S.
Published: October 2018

The optical properties of benign and malignant human brain tumors were investigated to provide a new diagnosis method. We studied various samples of adult human brain tissue (male and female) in two linear (by Optical density) and nonlinear (by Z-scan method) regimes. The obtained experimental results show that optical density for malignant is more than benign tissues and the nonlinear behavior of benign and malignant tissues are completely different because the nonlinear refractive index had a negative sign for benign tumor and a positive sign for malignant tumor. Results can be used for diagnosis between benign and malignant brain tissue.
Higher resolution methods based on quasilinearization and Haar wavelets on Lane–Emden equations
Authors: Verma Amit K. , Tiwari Diksha
Published: October 2018

Computing solutions of singular differential equations has always been a challenge as near the point of singularity it is extremely difficult to capture the solution. In this research paper, Haar wavelet coupled with quasilinearization approach (HWQA) is proposed for computing numerical solution of nonlinear SBVPs popularly also referred as Lane–Emden equations. This technique is the combination of quasilinearization and Haar wavelet collocation method. To show the accuracy of the HWQA, several examples are presented. Convergence of the proposed method is also established in this paper, which shows that proposed method converges very fast.
Attractor and bifurcation of forced Lorenz-84 system
Authors: Liu Yongjian , Wei Zhouchao , Li Chunbiao , Liu Aimin , Li Lijie
Published: October 2018

In this paper, global dynamics of forced Lorenz-84 system are discussed, and some new results are presented. First of all, the periodic attractor is analyzed for the almost periodic Lorenz-84 system with almost periodically forcing, including the existence and the boundedness of those almost periodic solutions, and the bifurcation phenomenon in the driven system. Then, the random attractor set and the bifurcation phenomenon for the driven Lorenz-84 system with stochastic forcing are studied, including the globally exponentially attractive set, positive invariant set, random attractor and stochastic bifurcation behavior. Last but not least, some numerical simulations are also presented for verifying obtained theoretical results.
Strongly modular models of ℚ-curves
Authors: Bruin Peter , Ferraguti Andrea
Published: October 2018

Let [Formula: see text] be a [Formula: see text]-curve without complex multiplication. We address the problem of deciding whether [Formula: see text] is geometrically isomorphic to a strongly modular [Formula: see text]-curve. We show that the question has a positive answer if and only if [Formula: see text] has a model that is completely defined over an abelian number field. Next, if [Formula: see text] is completely defined over a quadratic or biquadratic number field [Formula: see text], we classify all strongly modular twists of [Formula: see text] over [Formula: see text] in terms of the arithmetic of [Formula: see text]. Moreover, we show how to determine which of these twists come, up to isogeny, from a subfield of [Formula: see text].
The non-congruent numbers via Monsky’s formula
Authors: Cheng Weidong , Guo Xuejun
Published: October 2018

This paper gives some new families of non-congruent numbers with arbitrarily many prime divisors. The main idea is based on Monsky’s formula for the 2-Selmer rank of congruent elliptic curves.
An investigation on internal lightweight load bearing structures
Authors: Toh William , Yap Yee Ling , Koneru Rahul , Plemping Nur Adilah , Lim Chin Mian , Yeoh Kirk Ming , Lee Jia Shing , Lin Rongming , Ng Teng Yong
Published: October 2018

This paper investigates the differences in structural response of lightweight internal structures using finite element (FE) simulation to provide quantitative comparison of the advantages of each type of structure. Various configurations, corresponding to different amounts of weight savings, were studied under distributed pressure loading and bending moment loading conditions. It was found that for configurations with less weight savings, the kagome possesses better performance than the honeycomb structure. However, as the amount of weight savings increases, the trend was observed to be reversed, with the honeycomb structure providing much better performance than the kagome structure. In general, it was shown that the honeycomb structure possesses better performance than the kagome structure under cantilever loading conditions.
TORUS
Authors: Sinha Roopak , Dowdeswell Barry , Zhabelova Gulnara , Vyatkin Valeriy
Published: October 2018

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) contain intertwined and distributed software, hardware, and physical components to control complex physical processes. They find wide application in industrial systems, such as smart grid protection systems, which face increasingly complex communication and computation needs. Due to the scale and complexity of the interactions that occur within CPS, tracing requirements through to the system components and software code that implement them is often hard. Existing requirements management systems do not scale well, and traceability is difficult to implement and maintain in highly heterogeneous systems. However, the information trace that links provide is crucial for supporting testing and certification activities in safety-critical environments such as smart grids.

The well-formed models of power systems provided by the IEC 61850 standard and the software design structure provided by the IEC 61499 Function Blocks standard can be leveraged to automate many traceability operations. We present Traceability of Requirements Using Splices (TORUS), a novel traceability framework for the development of large-scale safety-critical CPS. TORUS introduces
splices
, autonomous graph-based data structures that automatically create and manage trace links between requirements and components through the inevitable changes that occur during system development. The formal, graph-based structure of TORUS lends itself well to the development of sophisticated algorithms to automate the extraction of useful traceability information such as historical records and metrics for requirements coverage and component coupling. By capturing not only the current state of the system but also historical information, TORUS allows project teams to see a much richer view of the system and its artifacts.

We apply TORUS to the development of a protection system for smart grid substations. In addition, through a number of experiments in splice creation, modification, and application of automated algorithms, we show that TORUS scales easily to large systems containing hundreds of thousands of requirements and system components and millions of possible trace links.
Anonymous, Fault-Tolerant Distributed Queries for Smart Devices
Authors: Tremel Edward , Birman Ken , Kleinberg Robert , Jelasity Márk
Published: October 2018

Applications that aggregate and query data from distributed embedded devices are of interest in many settings, such as smart buildings and cities, the smart power grid, and mobile health applications. However, such devices also pose serious privacy concerns due to the personal nature of the data being collected. In this article, we present an algorithm for aggregating data in a distributed manner that keeps the data on the devices themselves, releasing only sums and other aggregates to centralized operators. We offer two privacy-preserving configurations of our solution, one limited to crash failures and supporting a basic kind of aggregation; the second supporting a wider range of queries and also tolerating Byzantine behavior by compromised nodes. The former is quite fast and scalable, the latter more robust against attack and capable of offering full differential privacy for an important class of queries, but it costs more and injects noise that makes the query results slightly inaccurate. Other configurations are also possible. At the core of our approach is a new kind of overlay network (a superimposed routing structure operated by the endpoint devices). This overlay is optimally robust and convergent, and our protocols use it both for aggregation and as a general-purpose infrastructure for peer-to-peer communications.
A Survey on Self-Adaptive Security for Large-scale Open Environments
Authors: Tziakouris Giannis , Bahsoon Rami , Babar Muhammad Ali
Published: October 2018

Contemporary software systems operate in heterogeneous, dynamic, and distributed environments, where security needs change at runtime. The security solutions for such systems need to be adaptive for the continuous satisfaction of the software systems’ security goals. Whilst the existing research on self-adaptive security has made notable advancement towards designing and engineering self-adaptive security solutions, there exists little work on the taxonomic analysis of the architectures of the reported research and its applicability for open and ultra-large environments. We propose an architecture-centric taxonomy for mapping and comparing the current research and identifying the future research directions in this field. The proposed taxonomy has been used to review the representative work on the architectural characteristics that self-adaptive security systems must maintain for their effective application in large-scale open environments. We reflect on the findings from the taxonomic analysis and discuss the design principles, research challenges and limitations reported in the state of the art and practice. We outline the directions for the future research on architectural level support for self-adaptive security systems for large-scale open environments.
SKEPRID
Authors: Yu Tuo , Jin Haiming , Tan Wai-Tian , Nahrstedt Klara
Published: October 2018

Currently, the surveillance camera-based person re-identification is still challenging because of diverse factors such as people’s changing poses and various illumination. The various poses make it hard to conduct feature matching across images, and the illumination changes make color-based features unreliable. In this article, we present SKEPRID,
1
a skeleton-based person re-identification method that handles strong pose and illumination changes jointly. To reduce the impacts of pose changes on re-identification, we estimate the joints’ positions of a person based on the deep learning technique and thus make it possible to extract features on specific body parts with high accuracy. Based on the skeleton information, we design a set of local color comparison-based cloth-type features, which are resistant to various lighting conditions. Moreover, to better evaluate SKEPRID, we build the PO8LI
2
dataset, which has large pose and illumination diversity. Our experimental results show that SKEPRID outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in the case of strong pose and illumination variation.
Unsupervised Person Re-identification
Authors: Fan Hehe , Zheng Liang , Yan Chenggang , Yang Yi
Published: October 2018

The superiority of deeply learned pedestrian representations has been reported in very recent literature of person re-identification (re-ID). In this article, we consider the more pragmatic issue of learning a deep feature with no or only a few labels. We propose a progressive unsupervised learning (PUL) method to transfer pretrained deep representations to unseen domains. Our method is easy to implement and can be viewed as an effective baseline for unsupervised re-ID feature learning. Specifically, PUL iterates between (1) pedestrian clustering and (2) fine-tuning of the convolutional neural network (CNN) to improve the initialization model trained on the irrelevant labeled dataset. Since the clustering results can be very noisy, we add a selection operation between the clustering and fine-tuning. At the beginning, when the model is weak, CNN is fine-tuned on a small amount of reliable examples that locate near to cluster centroids in the feature space. As the model becomes stronger, in subsequent iterations, more images are being adaptively selected as CNN training samples. Progressively, pedestrian clustering and the CNN model are improved simultaneously until algorithm convergence. This process is naturally formulated as self-paced learning. We then point out promising directions that may lead to further improvement. Extensive experiments on three large-scale re-ID datasets demonstrate that PUL outputs discriminative features that improve the re-ID accuracy. Our code has been released at https://github.com/hehefan/Unsupervised-Person-Re-identification-Clustering-and-Fine-tuning.
SCP
Authors: Su Xing , Liao Xiangke , Jiang Hao , Yang Canqun , Xue Jingling
Published: October 2018

GEneral Matrix Multiply (GEMM) is the most fundamental computational kernel routine in the BLAS library. To achieve high performance, in-memory data must be prefetched into fast on-chip caches before they are used. Two techniques, software prefetching and data packing, have been used to effectively exploit the capability of on-chip least recent used (LRU) caches, which are popular in traditional high-performance processors used in high-end servers and supercomputers. However, the market has recently witnessed a new diversity in processor design, resulting in high-performance processors equipped with shared caches with non-LRU replacement policies. This poses a challenge to the development of high-performance GEMM in a multithreaded context. As several threads try to load data into a shared cache simultaneously, interthread cache conflicts will increase significantly. We present a Shared Cache Partitioning (SCP) method to eliminate interthread cache conflicts in the GEMM routines, by partitioning a shared cache into physically disjoint sets and assigning different sets to different threads. We have implemented SCP in the OpenBLAS library and evaluated it on Phytium 2000+, a 64-core AArch64 processor with private LRU L1 caches and shared pseudo-random L2 caches (per four-core cluster). Our evaluation shows that SCP has effectively reduced the conflict misses in both L1 and L2 caches in a highly optimized GEMM implementation, resulting in an improvement of its performance by 2.75% to 6.91%.
Oxidative stress, autophagy and airway ion transport
Authors: O’Grady Scott M.
Published: October 2018

Mucociliary clearance is critically important in protecting the airways from infection and from the harmful effects of smoke and various inspired substances known to induce oxidative stress and persistent inflammation. An essential feature of the clearance mechanism involves regulation of the periciliary liquid layer on the surface of the airway epithelium, which is necessary for normal ciliary beating and maintenance of mucus hydration. The underlying ion transport processes associated with airway surface hydration include epithelial Na+ channel-dependent Na+ absorption occurring in parallel with CFTR and Ca2+-activated Cl− channel-dependent anion secretion, which are coordinately regulated to control the depth of the periciliary liquid layer. Oxidative stress is known to cause both acute and chronic effects on airway ion transport function, and an increasing number of studies in the past few years have identified an important role for autophagy as part of the physiological response to the damaging effects of oxidation. In this review, recent studies addressing the influence of oxidative stress and autophagy on airway ion transport pathways, along with results showing the potential of autophagy modulators in restoring the function of ion channels involved in transepithelial electrolyte transport necessary for effective mucociliary clearance, are presented.
Renal cold storage followed by transplantation impairs proteasome function and mitochondrial protein homeostasis
Authors: Lo Sorena , MacMillan-Crow Lee Ann , Parajuli Nirmala
Published: October 2018

Identifying pathways related to renal cold storage (CS) that lead to renal damage after transplantation (Tx) will help us design novel pathway-specific therapies to improve graft outcome. Our recent report showed that mitochondrial function was compromised after CS alone, and this was exacerbated when CS was combined with Tx (CS/Tx). The goal of this study was to determine whether the proteasome exacerbates mitochondrial dysfunction after CS/Tx. We exposed the kidneys of male Lewis rats (in vivo) and rat renal proximal tubular (NRK) cells (in vitro) to CS/Tx or rewarming (CS/RW), respectively. To compare CS-induced effects, in vivo kidney Tx without CS exposure (autotransplantation; ATx) was also used. Our study provides the first evidence that the chymotrypsin-like (ChT-L) peptidase activity of the proteasome declined only after CS/Tx or CS/RW, but not after CS or ATx. Interestingly, key mitochondrial proteins involved with respiration [succinate dehydrogenase complex, subunit A (SDHA), a complex II subunit, and ATP5B, an ATP synthase/complex V subunit] were detected in the detergent-insoluble fraction after CS/Tx or CS/RW, with compromised complex V activity. Pharmacological inhibition of ChT-L activity in NRK cells decreased the activity of mitochondrial complexes I, II, and V and also increased the levels of SDHA and ATP5B in the insoluble fraction. On the other hand, inhibiting mitochondrial respiration in NRK cells with antimycin A compromised ChT-L function and increased the amounts of SDHA and ATP5B in the insoluble fraction. Our results suggest that mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction during CS precedes compromised ChT-L function after CS/Tx and proteasome dysfunction further alters mitochondrial protein homeostasis and decreases respiration in the kidneys after CS/Tx. Therefore, therapeutics that preserve mitochondrial and proteasome function during CS may provide beneficial outcomes following transplantation.
Aerobic interval exercise improves renal functionality and affects mineral metabolism in obese Zucker rats
Authors: Martínez Rosario , Kapravelou Garyfallia , López-Chaves Carlos , Cáceres Elena , Coll-Risco Irene , Sánchez-González Cristina , Llopis Juan , Arrebola Francisco , Galisteo Milagros , Aranda Pilar , López-Jurado María , Porres Jesus M.
Published: October 2018

Obesity, metabolic syndrome, and renal injury are considered risk factors for type 2 diabetes, as well as kidney disease. Functional and structural changes in the kidney as consequence of obesity and metabolic syndrome may lead to impaired mineral metabolism in what is known as chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder. Lifestyle interventions such as physical activity are good strategies to manage these pathologies and therefore, prevent the loss of kidney functionality and related complications in mineral metabolism. In this study, we have used 40 male Zucker rats that were randomly allocated into four different experimental groups, two of them (an obese and a lean one) performed an aerobic interval training protocol, and the other two groups were sedentary. At the end of the experimental period (8 wk), urine, plasma, and femur were collected for biochemical and mineral composition analysis, whereas the kidney was processed for histological studies. The obese rats exhibited albuminuria, glomerulosclerosis, and hypertrophy in glomeruli and renal tubule in some areas, together with alterations in mineral content of plasma but not of femur. The training protocol prevented the generation of albuminuria and glomerulosclerosis, showing a significant action on plasma and bone mineral levels. Therefore, the specific training protocol used in this study was able to prevent the development of diabetic nephropathy and affected the metabolism of certain minerals.
Cross-modal phonetic encoding facilitates the McGurk illusion and phonemic restoration
Authors: Abbott Noelle T. , Shahin Antoine J.
Published: October 2018

In spoken language, audiovisual (AV) perception occurs when the visual modality influences encoding of acoustic features (e.g., phonetic representations) at the auditory cortex. We examined how visual speech (mouth movements) transforms phonetic representations, indexed by changes to the N1 auditory evoked potential (AEP). EEG was acquired while human subjects watched and listened to videos of a speaker uttering consonant vowel (CV) syllables, /ba/ and /wa/, presented in auditory-only or AV congruent or incongruent contexts or in a context in which the consonants were replaced by white noise (noise replaced). Subjects reported whether they heard “ba” or “wa.” We hypothesized that the auditory N1 amplitude during illusory perception (caused by incongruent AV input, as in the McGurk illusion, or white noise-replaced consonants in CV utterances) should shift to reflect the auditory N1 characteristics of the phonemes conveyed visually (by mouth movements) as opposed to acoustically. Indeed, the N1 AEP became larger and occurred earlier when listeners experienced illusory “ba” (video /ba/, audio /wa/, heard as “ba”) and vice versa when they experienced illusory “wa” (video /wa/, audio /ba/, heard as “wa”), mirroring the N1 AEP characteristics for /ba/ and /wa/ observed in natural acoustic situations (e.g., auditory-only setting). This visually mediated N1 behavior was also observed for noise-replaced CVs. Taken together, the findings suggest that information relayed by the visual modality modifies phonetic representations at the auditory cortex and that similar neural mechanisms support the McGurk illusion and visually mediated phonemic restoration.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Using a variant of the McGurk illusion experimental design (using the syllables /ba/ and /wa/), we demonstrate that lipreading influences phonetic encoding at the auditory cortex. We show that the N1 auditory evoked potential morphology shifts to resemble the N1 morphology of the syllable conveyed visually. We also show similar N1 shifts when the consonants are replaced by white noise, suggesting that the McGurk illusion and the visually mediated phonemic restoration rely on common mechanisms.
Excitatory and inhibitory crossed reflex pathways in mice
Authors: Laflamme Olivier D. , Akay Turgay
Published: October 2018

Sensory information from one leg has been known to elicit reflex responses in the contralateral leg, known as “crossed reflexes,” and these have been investigated extensively in cats and humans. Furthermore, experiments with mice have shown commissural pathways in detail by using in vitro and in vivo physiological approaches combined with genetics. However, the relationship between these commissural pathways discovered in mice and crossed reflex pathways described in cats and humans is not known. In this study, we analyzed the crossed reflex in mice by using in vivo electromyographic recording techniques combined with peripheral nerve stimulation protocols to provide a detailed description of the crossed reflex pathways. We show that excitatory crossed reflexes are mediated by both proprioceptive and cutaneous afferent activation. In addition, we provide evidence for a short-latency inhibitory crossed reflex pathway likely mediated by cutaneous feedback. Furthermore, the short-latency crossed inhibition is downregulated in the knee extensor muscle and the ankle flexor muscle during locomotion. In conclusion, this article provides an analysis of excitatory and inhibitory crossed reflex pathways during resting and locomoting mice in vivo. The data presented in this article pave the way for future research aimed at understanding crossed reflexes using genetics in mice.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY We describe for the first time excitatory and inhibitory crossed reflex pathways in mouse spinal cord in vivo and show that the inhibitory pathways are modulated during walking. This is a first step toward an understanding of crossed reflexes and their function during walking using in vivo recording techniques combined with mouse genetics.
On the representational nature of value-driven spatial attentional biases
Authors: Anderson Brian A. , Kim Haena
Published: October 2018

Reward learning biases attention toward both reward-associated objects and reward-associated regions of space. The relationship between objects and space in the value-based control of attention, as well as the contextual specificity of space-reward pairings, remains unclear. In the present study, using a free-viewing task, we provide evidence of overt attentional biases toward previously rewarded regions of texture scenes that lack objects. When scrutinizing a texture scene, participants look more frequently toward, and spend a longer amount of time looking at, regions that they have repeatedly oriented to in the past as a result of performance feedback. These biases were scene specific, such that different spatial contexts produced different patterns of habitual spatial orienting. Our findings indicate that reinforcement learning can modify looking behavior via a representation that is purely spatial in nature in a context-specific manner.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY The representational nature of space in the value-driven control of attention remains unclear. Here, we provide evidence for scene-specific overt spatial attentional biases following reinforcement learning, even though the scenes contained no objects. Our findings indicate that reinforcement learning can modify looking behavior via a representation that is purely spatial in nature in a context-specific manner.
Energy Constraint as a Novel Mechanism Linking Exercise and Health
Authors: Pontzer Herman
Published: October 2018

Humans and other species adapt dynamically to changes in daily physical activity, maintaining total energy expenditure within a narrow range. Chronic exercise thus suppresses other physiological activity, including immunity, reproduction, and stress response. This exercise-induced downregulation improves health at moderate levels of physical activity but can be detrimental at extreme workloads.
Extension Model for Safety Appraisal of Existing Concrete Members Based on an Improved Comprehensive Weighting Method
Authors: Zhou Hengyu , Yuan Yongbo , Liu Chenlong , Wu Chao , Zhang Mingyuan
Published: October 2018

An effective evaluation model for safety appraisal of existing concrete members plays a significant role in promoting the management of an existing building. This study aims to introduce extension theory into the safety appraisal of existing concrete members based on five indices (bearing capacity, deflection‐to‐span ratio, cracks, reinforcement corrosion, and concrete carbonation depth) and inspection data. A matter‐element model is established for the safety appraisal of existing concrete members based on matter‐element theory. The safety appraisal rating is identified by the comprehensive correlation degrees, which can be calculated by the weights and single‐index correlation degrees of the five indices. Owing to the one‐sidedness in the single‐weighting method, a comprehensive weighting method integrating the merits of subjective weight and objective weight is adopted based on game theory. The interval analytic hierarchy process (IAHP) and entropy weight method are, respectively, used to determine the subjective and objective weight of each index. It was found that the subjective weight vector calculated by IAHP consists of interval numbers. Therefore, the traditional comprehensive weighting method based on game theory needs to be improved by the interval number theory. A comparison analysis between the results generated by the proposed model and an analytic hierarchy process‐fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is conducted. The results show that the matter‐element extension model based on comprehensive weight is more accurate and rational. The proposed model makes full use of inspection data and gives a clear safety level to decision makers avoiding disorganized data of a single index. Hence, it can serve as guidance for safety appraisal of existing concrete members in the future. Furthermore, the improved comprehensive weighting method has practical merits and high scientific value in terms of safety evaluation and other applications in different research fields.
Host Feasibility Investigation to Improve Robustness in Hybrid DWT+SVD Based Image Watermarking Schemes
Authors: Koohpayeh Araghi Tanya , Abd Manaf Azizah , Alarood Ala , Zainol Azida Binti
Published: October 2018

Today, we face different approaches to enhance the robustness of image watermarking schemes. Some of them can be implemented, but others in spite of spending money, energy, and time for programming purpose would fail because of not having a strong feasibility study plan before implementation. In this paper, we try to show a rational feasibility study before implementation of an image watermarking scheme. We develop our feasibility study by proposing three types of theoretical, mathematical, and experimental deductions. Based on the theoretical deduction, it is concluded that the “S” coefficients in the second level of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) offer high robustness to embed watermarks. To prove this, a mathematical deduction composed of two parts is presented and the same results were achieved. Finally, for experimental deduction, 60 different host images in both normal and medical images from various sizes of 256⁎256 to 1024⁎1024 were imposed to 9 common geometric and signal processing attacks and the resistances of “S” coefficients against the attacks in the first and second levels of SVD were compared. Experimental result shows significant enhancement in stability and robustness of the “S” coefficients in the second level of SVD in comparison to the first level. Consequently all theoretical, mathematical, and experimental deductions confirmed domination of the “S” coefficients in the second level of SVD than the first level. In this paper, we do not show any specific implementation for the watermarking scheme. Instead, we investigate the potential performance gains from the singular values (S), of the second level of SVD and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), and prove their superiority in comparison to conventional SVD+DWT watermarking schemes.
Nucleolar Division in the Promastigote Stage ofLeishmania majorParasite: A Nop56 Point of View
Authors: Nepomuceno-Mejía Tomás , Florencio-Martínez Luis Enrique , Martínez-Calvillo Santiago
Published: October 2018

Nucleogenesis is the cellular event responsible for the formation of the new nucleoli at the end of mitosis. This process depends on the synthesis and processing of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and, in some eukaryotes, the transfer of nucleolar material contained in prenucleolar bodies (PNBs) to active transcription sites. The lack of a comprehensive description of the nucleolus throughout the cell cycle of the human pathogenLeishmania majorprompted us to analyze the distribution of nucleolar protein 56 (Nop56) during interphase and mitosis in the promastigote stage of the parasite. Byin silicoanalysis we show that the orthologue of Nop56 inL. major(LmNop56) contains the three characteristic Nop56 domains and that its predicted three-dimensional structure is also conserved. Fluorescence microscopy observations indicate that the nucleolar localization of LmNop56 is similar, but not identical, to that of the nucleolar protein Elp3b. Notably, unlike other nucleolar proteins, LmNop56 remains associated with the nucleolus in nonproliferative cells. Moreover, epifluorescent images indicate the preservation of the nucleolar structure throughout the closed nuclear division. Experiments performed with the related parasiteTrypanosoma bruceishow that nucleolar division is carried out by an analogous mechanism.
A Reliability-Based Consensus Model for Multiattribute Group Decision-Making with Analytically Evidential Reasoning Approach
Authors: Du Yuan-Wei , Yang Ning , Zhou Wen , Li Chang-Xing
Published: October 2018

Expert reliability is the ability to make unmistakable evaluations on attributes for the performance of an alternative in multiattribute group decision making (MAGDM). It has a significant effect on the group consensus calculation and group decision-making; unfortunately the reliability has not been considered in the consensus-reaching model yet. This study focuses on providing a reliability-based consensus model for MAGDM with analytically evidential reasoning (analytical ER for short) approach. The basic probability assignment (BPA) function which can be discounted by expert reliability is introduced to describe the performance judgments of each expert, by combining which of the group judgments could be determined with analytical ER rule. Then the consensus degrees of three levels (attribute level, alternative level, and expert level) are defined by Jousselme distance to identify the experts who should revise their judgments and point out revised suggestions, based on which a decision-making method within interaction is proposed to determine the effective BPA functions of all experts and make final decision-making. Finally, a numerical case study is carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the method.
Downregulated Expression of Solute Carrier Family 26 Member 6 in NRK‐52E Cells Attenuates Oxalate‐Induced Intracellular Oxidative Stress
Authors: Jiang Hongyang , Gao Xintao , Gong Jianan , Yang Qian , Lan Ruzhu , Wang Tao , Liu Jihong , Yin Chunping , Wang Shaogang , Liu Zhuo
Published: October 2018

Solute carrier family 26 member 6 (Slc26a6), which is mainly expressed in the intestines and kidneys, is a multifunctional anion transporter that is crucial in the transport of oxalate anions. This study is aimed at investigating the effect of Slc26a6 expression on oxalate‐induced cell oxidation and crystal formation. Lentivirus transfection was used to upregulate or downregulate Slc26a6 expression in NRK cells. Cell viability and apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) generation, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were measured. Crystal adhesion and the cell ultrastructure were observed using light and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Three groups of rats, normal control, lentivirus‐vector, and lentivirus‐small interfering RNA (lv‐siRNA) groups, were used, and after lentivirus transfection, they were fed 1% ethylene glycol (EG) and 0.5% ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) for 2 weeks. Dihydroethidium (DHE), terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) deoxyuridine dUTP nick‐end labeling (TUNEL), and von Kossa staining were performed, and nuclear factor κB (NFκB) and osteopontin (OPN) expression were measured. In the vitro study, compared to the control group, downregulated Slc26a6 NRK cells showed alleviation of the cell viability decrease, cell apoptosis rate, ROS generation, and SOD activity decrease after oxalate treatment. Crystal adhesion and vesicles were significantly less after oxalate exposure than in the untreated controls. Rats infected with lentivirus‐siRNA exhibited attenuated SOD generation, cell apoptosis, and crystal formation in the kidneys. Increased phosphorylation of NFκB and OPN was involved in the pathological process. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that reducing the expression of Slc26a6 in the kidney may be a potential strategy for preventing stone formation.
Are Thyroid Autoimmune Diseases Associated with Cardiometabolic Risks in a Population with Normal Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone?
Authors: Chen Yi , Zhu Chunfang , Chen Yingchao , Wang Ningjian , Li Qin , Han Bing , Zhao Li , Chen Chi , Zhai Hualing , Zhang Lijuan , Lu Yingli
Published: October 2018

Background. The interrelation between thyroid autoimmunity and cardiovascular risks is complex and has not been confirmed. This study aimed at evaluating whether there exists a relationship between thyroid autoimmune diseases (AITDs) and cardiometabolic risks in a large population with normal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. Methods. The data was obtained from a cross-sectional study (SPECT-China study). This study enrolled 9082 subjects (3948 males and 5134 females) above 18 years with normal TSH levels. AITD was defined according to the positivity of TPOAb and TgAb as well as thyroid ultrasonography (US) findings. Results. After full adjustment, TPOAb and/or TgAb positivity (TPO/TgAb (+)) was significantly associated with higher BMI, waist circumference (WC), and HbA1c only in women (P=0.004, 0.026 and 0.032, respectively), while both TPO/TgAb positivity and US positivity (TPO/TgAb (+) and US (+)) were positively associated with BMI and WC in both genders (P=0.002 and 0.020 in men; P<0.001and <0.001 in women). TPO/TgAb (+) and US (+) were positively associated with HOMA-IR in women (P=0.021) as well. Binary logistic analysis showed that AITDs had increased risks of central obesity, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome only in women (all P<0.05). Moreover, TPO/TgAb (+) and US (+) were associated with an increased risk of obesity for both genders (P=0.014 in men and P=0.006 in women). Conclusions. Thyroid autoimmunity was positively associated with HbA1c, HOMA-IR, obesity, central obesity, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome, especially in women. This highlighted that AITDs may be potential risk factors for cardiometabolic disorders even if one’s TSH was within the reference range.
Research on MRD Parametric Model Based on Magic Formula
Authors: Pan Wei , Yan Zhengtao , Lou Jingjun , Zhu Shijian
Published: October 2018

In order to get a better description to the nonlinear characteristics of magnetorheological dampers, the magic formula is introduced into the general method of parametric modelling of magnetorheological dampers to propose a new parameterized model called magic formula‐hysteresis loop model (MFM). The new model is simple in structure, the physical meaning of each parameter is clear, and the parameter identification is convenient. The fitting and experimental data of MFM and the phenomenon model under different conditions are applied for error analysis and comparison. The results show that the errors of MFM are more accurate and have better fitting and experimental data under different working conditions, which also have better adaptability and versatility.
Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks: Enhanced Time Allocation for Interference Mitigation
Authors: Al-Samman Imad , Almesaeed Reham , Doufexi Angela , Beach Mark
Published: October 2018

Responding to the unprecedented challenges imposed by the 5G technologies, mobile operators have given significant attention to Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks (H‐CRAN) due to their beneficial features of performing optimization, cost effectiveness, and improving spectral and energy efficiency performance. H‐CRAN inherits the attractive benefits of Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet) and the cloud computing by facilitating interference mitigation, scalability, and radio resource control. Consequently, H‐CRAN is proposed in this article as a cost‐effective potential solution to alleviate intertier interference and improve cooperative processing gains in HetNets by employing cloud computing. H‐CRAN can provide efficient resource sharing at the spectrum, network, and infrastructure levels. Therefore, this article proposes H‐CRAN cooperative interference mitigation method that enhances the time sharing among Radio Remote Heads (RRH) users. The study proposes an enhanced Almost Blank Subframe (ABSF) technique to increase the SINR and throughput of the small‐cell (low power base station) and macrocell users. Simulation results show that the proposed Dynamic Programming‐Diverse Almost Blank Subframe (ABSF) Pattern (DP-DAP) scheme improved the macro‐ and small‐cell users up to 56% and 35%, respectively, as compared to other state‐of‐the‐art ABSF schemes.
Speed Regulation of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Using Event Triggered Sliding Mode Control
Authors: Zhang Huan , Liu Qunying , Zhang Jiashu , Chen Shuheng , Zhang Changhua
Published: October 2018

To reduce the chattering issue and improve the dynamic tracking performance of the speed regulation of the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) system, the sliding mode control (SMC) with an enhanced exponential reaching law (EERL) is proposed in this paper. Compared to the SMC with conventional reaching law (CRL), the proposed SMC based on the EERL makes the convergence rate be associated with the change of the system state variable. In order to implement the minimum resource utilization of the embedded processor while guaranteeing the performance of the system, the event triggered strategy is developed for SMC, which possesses the excellent robustness and saves the energy cost. The stability of the event triggered SMC control law is proved by the Lyapunov function and the minimum control execution time interval is also derived. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed EERL and the satisfactory performance of the event triggered SMC are demonstrated by the simulation results.