bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early childcare type predicts children’s emotional and behavioural trajectories into middle childhood. Data from the EDEN mother–child cohort study
Authors: Gomajee Ramchandar , El-Khoury Fabienne , Côté Sylvana , van der Waerden Judith , Pryor Laura , Melchior Maria
Published: October 2018

Background

The scientific literature on the impact of early childcare on children’s behavioural and emotional difficulties shows contrasting results. We studied this association in France, where childcare is of high quality and children enter preschool at the age of 3.

Methods

1428 children from the EDEN (Etude des Déterminants du développement et de la santé de l’ENfant) mother–child cohort set up in France (Nancy and Poitiers) were followed up since pregnancy to the age of 8 years. Group-based trajectory modelling was used to model their trajectories of behavioural and emotional symptoms (emotional symptoms, peer relationship problems, hyperactivity/inattention, conduct problems, prosocial behaviours) ascertained by three measures (3, 5.5 and 8 years) of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Using propensity scores and inverse probability weights (IPWs) to account for selection and confounding factors, we compared children in a childminder’s care or in centre-based childcare (from birth to age 3) with those in informal childcare.

Results

Compared with children in informal childcare, those who attended centre-based childcare had a lower likelihood of having high levels of emotional symptoms (ORIPW-adjusted=0.35, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.71), peer relationship problems (ORIPW-adjusted=0.31, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.67) and low prosocial behaviours (ORIPW-adjusted=0.50, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.90). Those who were looked after by a childminder had a higher likelihood of following a high trajectory of conduct problems (ORIPW-adjusted=1.72, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.81). Attendance of centre-based childcare for more than 1 year was especially protective of high levels of emotional, peer-related difficulties and low prosocial behaviours. Girls and children from a favourable socioeconomic background reaped more benefits of childcare than boys and those from a less favourable background.

Conclusion

High-quality centre-based childcare may be linked to lower levels of emotional symptoms.
Patient outcomes from time of listing for lung transplantation in the UK: are there disease-specific differences?
Authors: Kourliouros Antonios , Hogg Rachel , Mehew Jenny , Al-Aloul Mohamed , Carby Martin , Lordan James Laurence , Thompson Richard Damian , Tsui Steven , Parmar Jasvir
Published: October 2018

Background

The demand for lung transplantation vastly exceeds the availability of donor organs. This translates into long waiting times and high waiting list mortality. We set out to examine factors influencing patient outcomes from the time of listing for lung transplantation in the UK, examining for differences by patient characteristics, lung disease category and transplant centre.

Methods

Data were obtained from the UK Transplant Registry held by NHS Blood and Transplant for adult lung-only registrations between 1January 2004 and 31 March 2014. Pretransplant and post-transplant outcomes were evaluated against lung disease category, blood group and height.

Results

Of the 2213 patient registrations, COPD comprised 28.4%, pulmonary fibrosis (PF) 26.2%, cystic fibrosis (CF) 25.4% and other lung pathologies 20.1%. The chance of transplantation after listing differed by the combined effect of disease category and centre (p<0.001). At 3 years postregistration, 78% of patients with COPD were transplanted followed by 61% of patients with CF, 59% of other lung pathology patients and 48% of patients with PF, who also had the highest waiting list mortality (37%). The chance of transplantation also differed by height with taller patients having a greater chance of transplant (HR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.04, p<0.001). Patients with blood group O had the highest waiting mortality at 3 years postregistration compared with all other blood groups (27% vs 20%, p<0.001).

Conclusions

The way donor lungs were allocated in the UK resulted in discrepancies between the risk profile and probability of lung transplantation. A new donor lung allocation scheme was introduced in 2017 to try to address these shortcomings.
Interactive effect between ATPase-related genes and early-life tobacco smoke exposure on bronchial hyper-responsiveness detected in asthma-ascertained families
Authors: Dizier Marie-Hélène , Margaritte-Jeannin Patricia , Pain Lucile , Sarnowski Chloé , Brossard Myriam , Mohamdi Hamida , Lavielle Nolwenn , Babron Marie-Claude C , Just Jocelyne , Lathrop Mark , Laprise Catherine , Bouzigon Emmanuelle , Demenais Florence , Nadif Rachel
Published: October 2018

Background

A positional cloning study of bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) at the 17p11 locus in the French Epidemiological study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (EGEA) families showed significant interaction between early-life environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure and genetic variants located in DNAH9. This gene encodes the heavy chain subunit of axonemal dynein, which is involved with ATP in the motile cilia function.

Our goal was to identify genetic variants at other genes interacting with ETS in BHR by investigating all genes belonging to the ‘ATP-binding’ and ‘ATPase activity’ pathways which include DNAH9, are targets of cigarette smoke and play a crucial role in the airway inflammation.

Methods

Family-based interaction tests between ETS-exposed and unexposed BHR siblings were conducted in 388 EGEA families. Twenty single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) showing interaction signals (p≤5.10−3) were tested in the 253 Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (SLSJ) families.

Results

One of these SNPs was significantly replicated for interaction with ETS in SLSJ families (p=0.003). Another SNP reached the significance threshold after correction for multiple testing in the combined analysis of the two samples (p=10−5). Results were confirmed using both a robust log-linear test and a gene-based interaction test.

Conclusion

The SNPs showing interaction with ETS belong to the ATP8A1 and ABCA1 genes, which play a role in the maintenance of asymmetry and homeostasis of lung membrane lipids.
Basic economic gap related to smoking: reconciling tobacco tax receipts and economic costs of smoking-attributable diseases
Authors: David Petr
Published: October 2018

Background

Tobacco tax rates set by various governments are not based on the idea that tax receipts should cover the costs incurred by smoking. It can be assumed that tobacco tax receipts (TTR) differ from the costs of smoking. The aim is to determine the global basic economic gap (BEG) between TTR and the economic costs of smoking-attributable diseases (ECS).

Methods

BEG is described as the difference between the ECS and TTR. A total of 124 countries representing 94% of global tobacco consumption were included in the research by means of the creation of a database, the adjustment of input data and the identification of their intersection.

Results

The global BEG reaches US$1438 billion per year. The global ECS are US$1911 billion per year. The global TTR are US$473 billion per year and compensate for only one quarter of the ECS. Within countries with the highest consumption of cigarettes, especially the USA but also Russia and Germany, the proportion of the ECS covered by the TTR is even lower, although private health expenditures have been taken into account.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that tobacco taxes would have to be globally increased by more than four times on average in order to cover the ECS or between two and two-and-a-half times if we take private health expenditures into account. The informational pressure concerning health risks associated with smoking aimed at reducing harmful consumption and improving global health can also be supported with these economic facts.
A multi-century history of fire regimes along a transect of mixed-conifer forests in central Oregon, U.S.A.
Authors: Heyerdahl Emily K. , Loehman Rachel A. , Falk Donald A.
Published: October 2018

Dry mixed-conifer forests are widespread in the interior Pacific Northwest, but their historical fire regimes are poorly characterized, in particular the relative mix of low- and high-severity fire. We reconstructed a multi-century history of fire from tree rings in dry mixed-conifer forests in central Oregon. These forests are dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), and grand fir (Abies grandis (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindl.). Across four, 30-plot grids of ∼800 ha covering a mosaic of dry mixed-conifer forest types, we sampled 4065 trees for evidence of both high- and low-severity fire. From 1650 to ∼1900, all four sites sustained frequent, often extensive, low-severity fires that sometimes included small patches of severe fire (50–150 ha during 18%–28% of fire years). Fire intervals were similar among sites and also among forest types within sites (mean intervals of 14–32 years). To characterize the continuous nature of the variation in fire severity, we computed a plot-based index that captures the relative occurrence of low- and high-severity fire. Our work contributes to the growing understanding of variation in past fire regimes in the complex and dynamic forests of North America’s Interior West.
Twenty-six years (1990–2015) of monitoring annual recruitment of the invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) in the Rideau River, a small river system in Eastern Ontario, Canada
Authors: Martel A.L. , Madill J.B.
Published: October 2018

We monitored the recruitment of young-of-year zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771)) each autumn at 13 locations within four river reaches along the length (100 km) of the Rideau River, starting in 1990, the year of its discovery in that river, until 2015. Sampling was conducted on bottom structures of locks or on seasonally exposed substrate during autumn drawdowns conducted by Rideau Canal staff. Twenty-six years of monitoring zebra mussels in that river revealed a distinct and persistent upstream–downstream pattern, with highest densities occurring in the two downstream reaches. A “lake effect” was observed at Long Reach, where veligers have ideal conditions for larval development. Highest densities occurred in the mid-1990s, comparable with those reported in the Laurentian Great Lakes during peak invasion (200 000 to 500 000+ mussels/m2). Although the most upstream reaches of the river had low recruitment rates and low densities initially (0.01 to 10 mussels/m2), annual recruitment progressively increased to higher values (10 to 1000+ mussels/m2) because more veligers from the Rideau Lakes and the river headwaters were produced and drifted into the system. This study is unique because it provides a thorough understanding of the 26 years of invasion history of the zebra mussel in a small river system.
Characterization and comparison of poorly known moth communities through DNA barcoding in two Afrotropical environments in Gabon
Authors: Delabye Sylvain , Rougerie Rodolphe , Bayendi Sandrine , Andeime-Eyene Myrianne , Zakharov Evgeny V. , deWaard Jeremy R. , Hebert Paul D.N. , Kamgang Roger , Le Gall Philippe , Lopez-Vaamonde Carlos , Mavoungou Jacques-François , Moussavou Ghislain , Moulin Nicolas , Oslisly Richard , Rahola Nil , Sebag David , Decaëns Thibaud
Published: October 2018

Biodiversity research in tropical ecosystems—popularized as the most biodiverse habitats on Earth—often neglects invertebrates, yet invertebrates represent the bulk of local species richness. Insect communities in particular remain strongly impeded by both Linnaean and Wallacean shortfalls, and identifying species often remains a formidable challenge inhibiting the use of these organisms as indicators for ecological and conservation studies. Here we use DNA barcoding as an alternative to the traditional taxonomic approach for characterizing and comparing the diversity of moth communities in two different ecosystems in Gabon. Though sampling remains very incomplete, as evidenced by the high proportion (59%) of species represented by singletons, our results reveal an outstanding diversity. With about 3500 specimens sequenced and representing 1385 BINs (Barcode Index Numbers, used as a proxy to species) in 23 families, the diversity of moths in the two sites sampled is higher than the current number of species listed for the entire country, highlighting the huge gap in biodiversity knowledge for this country. Both seasonal and spatial turnovers are strikingly high (18.3% of BINs shared between seasons, and 13.3% between sites) and draw attention to the need to account for these when running regional surveys. Our results also highlight the richness and singularity of savannah environments and emphasize the status of Central African ecosystems as hotspots of biodiversity.
The product of generalized wavelet transform involving fractional Hankel-type transform on some function spaces
Authors: Mahato Kanailal
Published: October 2018

We are concerned with the construction and study of composition of wavelet transform (CWT) associated with generalized fractional Hankel-type transform. Parseval’s identity is obtained for the CWT. Plancherel’s formula is also proposed. This paper goes further to describe the boundedness property of the CWT on Zemanian type and Sobolev type spaces. Some particular cases are derived.
Personalized Context-Aware Point of Interest Recommendation
Authors: Aliannejadi Mohammad , Crestani Fabio
Published: October 2018

Personalized recommendation of Points of Interest (POIs) plays a key role in satisfying users on Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs). In this article, we propose a probabilistic model to find the mapping between user-annotated tags and locations’ taste keywords. Furthermore, we introduce a dataset on locations’ contextual appropriateness and demonstrate its usefulness in predicting the contextual relevance of locations. We investigate four approaches to use our proposed mapping for addressing the data sparsity problem: one model to reduce the dimensionality of location taste keywords and three models to predict user tags for a new location. Moreover, we present different scores calculated from multiple LBSNs and show how we incorporate new information from the mapping into a POI recommendation approach. Then, the computed scores are integrated using learning to rank techniques. The experiments on two TREC datasets show the effectiveness of our approach, beating state-of-the-art methods.
Protocol-Aware Recovery for Consensus-Based Distributed Storage
Authors: Alagappan Ramnatthan , Ganesan Aishwarya , Lee Eric , Albarghouthi Aws , Chidambaram Vijay , Arpaci-Dusseau Andrea C. , Arpaci-Dusseau Remzi H.
Published: October 2018

We introduce
protocol-aware recovery
(P
ar
), a new approach that exploits protocol-specific knowledge to correctly recover from storage faults in distributed systems. We demonstrate the efficacy of P
ar
through the design and implementation of corruption-tolerant replication (C
trl
), a P
ar
mechanism specific to replicated state machine (RSM) systems. We experimentally show that the C
trl
versions of two systems, LogCabin and ZooKeeper, safely recover from storage faults and provide high availability, while the unmodified versions can lose data or become unavailable. We also show that the C
trl
versions achieve this reliability with little performance overheads.
Mammalian skeletal muscle does not express functional voltage-gated H+ channels
Authors: Fuster Clarisse , Idoux Romane , Berthier Christine , Jacquemond Vincent , Allard Bruno
Published: October 2018

High metabolic activity and existence of a large transmembrane inward electrochemical gradient for H+ at rest promote intracellular acidification of skeletal muscle. Exchangers and cotransports efficiently contend against accumulation of intracellular H+ and associated deleterious effects on muscle functions. Voltage-gated H+ channels have also been found to represent another H+ extrusion pathway in cultured muscle cells. Up to now, the skeletal muscle cell was therefore the unique vertebrate excitable cell in which voltage-gated H+ currents have been described. In this study, we show that, unlike cultured cells, single mouse muscle fibers do not generate H+ currents in response to depolarization. In contrast, expression of human voltage-gated H+ channels in mouse muscle gives rise to robust outward voltage-gated H+ currents. This result excludes that inappropriate experimental conditions may have failed to reveal voltage-gated H+ currents in control muscle. This work therefore demonstrates that fully differentiated mammalian muscle fibers do not express functional voltage-gated H+ channels and consequently can no longer be considered as the only vertebrate excitable cells exhibiting voltage-gated H+ currents.
Blood-Brain Barrier: From Physiology to Disease and Back
Authors: Sweeney Melanie D. , Zhao Zhen , Montagne Axel , Nelson Amy R. , Zlokovic Berislav V.
Published: October 2018

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents neurotoxic plasma components, blood cells, and pathogens from entering the brain. At the same time, the BBB regulates transport of molecules into and out of the central nervous system (CNS), which maintains tightly controlled chemical composition of the neuronal milieu that is required for proper neuronal functioning. In this review, we first examine molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the establishment of the BBB. Then, we focus on BBB transport physiology, endothelial and pericyte transporters, and perivascular and paravascular transport. Next, we discuss rare human monogenic neurological disorders with the primary genetic defect in BBB-associated cells demonstrating the link between BBB breakdown and neurodegeneration. Then, we review the effects of genes underlying inheritance and/or increased susceptibility for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on BBB in relation to other pathologies and neurological deficits. We next examine how BBB dysfunction relates to neurological deficits and other pathologies in the majority of sporadic AD, PD, and ALS cases, multiple sclerosis, other neurodegenerative disorders, and acute CNS disorders such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and epilepsy. Lastly, we discuss BBB-based therapeutic opportunities. We conclude with lessons learned and future directions, with emphasis on technological advances to investigate the BBB functions in the living human brain, and at the molecular and cellular level, and address key unanswered questions.
Analysis of Constraint‐Handling in Metaheuristic Approaches for the Generation and Transmission Expansion Planning Problem with Renewable Energy
Authors: Martínez-Villaseñor Lourdes , Ponce Hiram , Marmolejo-Saucedo José Antonio , Ramírez Juan Manuel , Hernández Agustina
Published: October 2018

A multiperiod generation and transmission expansion planning (G&TEP) problem is considered. This model integrates conventional generation with renewable energy sources, assuming a stochastic approach. The proposed approach is based on a centralized planned transmission expansion. Due to the worldwide recent energy guidelines, it is necessary to generate expansion plans adequate to the forecast demand over the next years. Nowadays, in most energy systems, a public entity develops both the short and long of electricity‐grid expansion planning. Due to the complexity of the problem, there are different strategies to find expansion plans that satisfy the uncertainty conditions addressed. We proposed to address the G&TEP problem with a pure genetic algorithm approach. Different constraint‐handling techniques were applied to deal with two complex case studies presented. Numerical results are shown to compare the strategies used in the test systems, and key factors such as a prior initialization of population and the estimated minimum number of generations are discussed.
Classification of Lightning and Faults in Transmission Line Systems Using Discrete Wavelet Transform
Authors: Chiradeja Pathomthat , Ngaopitakkul Atthapol
Published: October 2018

In Thailand, electrical energy consumption has been rapidly increasing, following economic and population growth. In order to supply constant power to consumers, reliability is an important factor the electric utility needs to consider. Common disturbances that cause severe damage to transmission and distribution systems are lightning and faults. The system operator must deal with these two phenomena with speed and accuracy. Thus, this study aims to investigate the differential behaviour of transmission systems when disturbance such as lightning strikes and faults occurs in a 115-kV transmission line. The methodology consists of using the ATP/EMTP program to model the transmission system by the 115-kV Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and simulate both lightning and fault signals in the system. The discrete wavelet transforms are then applied to obtain the signals in order to evaluate the characteristics and behaviour of both signals in terms of high-frequency components. The obtained data will then be used to construct the fault and lightning classification algorithm based on DWT and travelling wave theory. The proposed algorithm shows the effectiveness in classifying the fault and lightning based on the transmission system that was modelled after the actual system in Thailand. Thus, it can further improve the protection scheme and devices in terms of accuracy and reduce the response time for an operator to address the disturbance and ensure the reliability of the system in the future.
Multiscale Chebyshev Neural Network Identification and Adaptive Control for Backlash‐Like Hysteresis System
Authors: Gao Xuehui , Liu Ruiguo
Published: October 2018

An adaptive control based on a new Multiscale Chebyshev Neural Network (MSCNN) identification is proposed for the backlash‐like hysteresis nonlinearity system in this paper. Firstly, a MSCNN is introduced to approximate the backlash‐like nonlinearity of the system, and then, the Lyapunov theorem assures the identification approach is effective. Afterward, to simplify the control design, tracking error is transformed into a scalar error with Laplace transformation. Therefore, an adaptive control strategy based on the transformed scalar error is proposed, and all the signals of the closed‐loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). Finally, simulation results have demonstrated the performance of the proposed control scheme.
Parallel Fractal Compression Method for Big Video Data
Authors: Liu Shuai , Bai Weiling , Liu Gaocheng , Li Wenhui , Srivastava Hari M.
Published: October 2018

With the development of technologies such as multimedia technology and information technology, a great deal of video data is generated every day. However, storing and transmitting big video data requires a large quantity of storage space and network bandwidth because of its large scale. Therefore, the compression method of big video data has become a challenging research topic at present. Performance of existing content‐based video sequence compression method is difficult to be effectively improved. Therefore, in this paper, we present a fractal‐based parallel compression method without content for big video data. First of all, in order to reduce computational complexity, a video sequence is divided into several fragments according to the spatial and temporal similarity. Secondly, domain and range blocks are classified based on the color similarity feature to reduce computational complexity in each video fragment. Meanwhile, a fractal compression method is deployed in a SIMD parallel environment to reduce compression time and improve the compression ratio. Finally, experimental results show that the proposed method not only improves the quality of the recovered image but also improves the compression speed by compared with existing compression algorithms.
Enhancing Mobile Military Surveillance Based on Video Streaming by Employing Software Defined Networks
Authors: Zacarias Iulisloi , Schwarzrock Janaína , Gaspary Luciano P. , Kohl Andersonn , Fernandes Ricardo Q. A. , Stocchero Jorgito M. , de Freitas Edison P.
Published: October 2018

Situation awareness in surveillance systems benefits from high‐quality video streaming service. This is even more important considering military systems, in which delays in image transmission may have a significant impact on the decision‐making process. However, in order to deliver high‐quality video streaming service, the required network infrastructure may be prohibitively complex, or even completely impossible to deploy, if mobile data providers are considered. Moreover, the demand for high network throughput poses extra requirements on the network. Considering this context, this paper addresses the problem of highly mobile networks composed of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as data providers of a military surveillance system. The proposed approach to tackle the problem is based on a Software Defined Networking (SDN) approach aiming at providing the best routes to deliver the data, enhancing the end‐user quality of experience. An extensive experimental campaign was performed by means of simulations and the acquired results provide solid evidence of the usefulness of this proposal.
Analytical Solution for the Time Fractional BBM‐Burger Equation by Using Modified Residual Power Series Method
Authors: Zhang Jianke , Wei Zhirou , Yong Longquan , Xiao Yuelei
Published: October 2018

In this study, a generalized Taylor series formula together with residual error function, which is named the residual power series method (RPSM), is used for finding the series solution of the time fractional Benjamin‐Bona‐Mahony‐Burger (BBM‐Burger) equation. The BBM‐Burger equation is useful in describing approximately the unidirectional propagation of long waves in certain nonlinear dispersive systems. The numerical solution of the BBM‐Burger equation is calculated by Maple. The numerical results show that the RPSM is reliable and powerful in solving the numerical solutions of the BBM‐Burger equation compared with the exact solutions as well as the solutions obtained by homotopy analysis transform method through different graphical representations and tables.
Oxidative Stability of the Meat of Broilers Fed Diets Supplemented with Various Levels of Blackcurrant Extract (Ribes nigrum L.) during Different Time Period
Authors: Sierżant Kamil , Korzeniowska Małgorzata , Król Barbara , Orda Janusz , Wojdyło Aneta
Published: October 2018

In the 20 d experiment, the influence of different concentration and supplementation period of commercial blackcurrant extract (BC) in the broiler diets on the oxidative stability of breast and thigh meat, as well as selected performance indices, was investigated. A number of 120 fifteen-d-old Hubbard Flex male chicks (initial BW 363.5 ± 22.9 g) were randomly allocated to five groups: the control and four treatments (6 replicates, 4 birds per cage in each group). The BC extract was administrated to treatment groups at two concentrations (1.25 and 2.5 g/kg) and in different periods within the trial (i.e., from 15 to 35 d and from 25 to 35 d of life). Body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were determined during the 20-d experiment. At d 35, two randomly selected birds from each cage were decapitated, and pectoral and thigh muscles were collected. Extent of lipid oxidation after storage at chilling (2-3°C, 1, and 5 d) and freezing conditions (after 90 d, −18°C) was determined. The chickens’ growth performance and FCR were not affected by the concentrations and periods of BC supplementation. The enrichment of grower diet with 1.25 g/kg of BC extract reduced the malondialdehyde (MDA) formation in frozen thigh muscles (P<0.05), and this effect tended to appear (P<0.089) irrespective of duration of the supplementation period. Significant extent of lipid oxidation process was found in 1-d-chilled pectoral muscles of chickens receiving BC diet for 20 d or diet containing 2.5 g/kg of the extract. The results showed that BC extract may be an efficient source of antioxidants in chicken diet, which may increase oxidative stability of frozen dark meat. However, the conditions and ability of some polyphenols to initiate oxidation processes have not been fully understood and further studies are required.
Research on the Recognition Algorithm concerning Geometric Boundary regarding Heat Conduction Based on BEM and CGM
Authors: Wang Shoubin , Jia Huangchao , Sun Xiaogang , Zhang Li
Published: October 2018

An inverse algorithm on boundary element method and conjugate gradient method is proposed to solve the problem of thermal conduction inverse of geometric shape. The direct problem is solved with the boundary element method, while the solution to the inverse problem is obtained through optimizing the objective function in the conjugate gradient method. Taking into account the identification of different material specimens when the unknown boundary is sinusoidal, step function, or circular shape, the influence of initial value, temperature error, thermal conductivity, and thermal intensity on the precision of inversion solution is discussed. The experimental results show that the method can recognize various irregular boundaries and is insensitive to initial values, measurement errors, and heat intensity. The thermal conductivity has a certain effect on this method. The inversion accuracy is higher on the condition that the thermal conductivity is smaller.
Full-Scale Experimental Verification of the Explosion Shock Wave Model of a Natural Gas Pipeline
Authors: Dong Shaohua , Chen Yinuo , Sun Xuan , Zhang Hang
Published: October 2018

As developments in natural gas pipelines increasingly incorporate higher grades of steel, larger diameters, and higher pressures, the consequences of an accident caused by leakage, explosion, or ignition become progressively more severe. Currently, major technical obstacles include the quantification of the impact of an explosion shock wave of a high-strength, large-diameter natural gas pipeline, and the selection of a reasonable shock wave overpressure model appropriate to the operating conditions. In this paper, six models of shock wave overpressure theories, namely, the TNT equivalent method, the TNO method, the multienergy method, the British Gas method, the Shell method, and the Lee formula, were compared and analyzed to determine their applicability. A shock wave model adapted to the characteristics of a full-scale test was proposed, and the model verification of a full-scale blasting test was conducted on pipelines with diameters of 1422 mm and 1219 mm, respectively. Subsequent results indicated that the modifications to the TNT equivalent and the test parameters correlated with changes in the suitability of the model. Henrych’s formula calculation model of the British Gas method was found to correspond strongly with the measured value, in which the absolute value of the relative error was less than 30% and the absolute error within the range of 78 m to 800 m was no more than 0.05 MPa. Thus, the Henrych formula was adopted as the primary model formula for the shock wave overpressure calculations in this study. To further correct the error of the model, the trend between the curve obtained by the Henrych formula and the fitting curve of the measured value was compared and analyzed. The positive and negative compensations of the shaded area before and after the intersection point were carried out, and the new error correction overpressure model formula was obtained by fitting, with the error controlled within 15%.
Spectroscopic Characterization of Eoholocene Bones Found in a Cave in Northeast Brazil
Authors: Oliveira P. V. , Viana M. S. S. , Barros O. A. , Freire P. T. C. , Bezerra F. I. , Gusmão S. B. S. , Viana B. C. , Silva J. H.
Published: October 2018

The preservation of fossils depends on several interactions of organic and inorganic chemical processes. The hard parts, which are more suitable for fossilization, might record valuable information of biogenic processes, while the taphonomic characteristics supply information on postmortem chemical transformation. Here, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy analyses were carried out in Early Eoholocene fragments of bones collected from the subsurface at Gruta do Urso Fóssil, Ubajara National Park, northeast of Ceará State in Brazil. It is suggested a lower degree of decomposition, a preservation of the original mineral composition, along with some incidence of encrustation, and the occurrence of different animal species are analyzed. These preliminary data serve as a basis for future studies involving fossil biota from the deposits of Gruta do Urso Fóssil using spectroscopic techniques.
The Improved Hill Encryption Algorithm towards the Unmanned Surface Vessel Video Monitoring System Based on Internet of Things Technology
Authors: Yang Tingting , Li Yangyang , Lai Chengzhe , Dong Jie , Xia Minghua
Published: October 2018

Depending on the actual demand of maritime security, this paper analyzes the specific requirements of video encryption algorithm for maritime monitoring system. Based on the technology of Internet of things, the intelligent monitoring system of unmanned surface vessels (USV) is designed and realized, and the security technology and network technology of the Internet of things are adopted. The USV are utilized to monitor and collect information on the sea, which is critical to maritime security. Once the video data were captured by pirates and criminals during the transmission, the security of the sea will be affected awfully. The shortcomings of traditional algorithms are as follows: the encryption degree is not high, computing cost is expensive, and video data is intercepted and captured easily during the transmission process. In order to overcome the disadvantages, a novel encryption algorithm, i.e., the improved Hill encryption algorithm, is proposed to deal with the security problems of the unmanned video monitoring system in this paper. Specifically, the Hill algorithm of classical cryptography is transplanted into image encryption, using an invertible matrix as the key to realize the encryption of image matrix. The improved Hill encryption algorithm combines with the process of video compression and regulates the parameters of the encryption process according to the content of the video image and overcomes the disadvantages that exist in the traditional encryption algorithm and decreases the computation time of the inverse matrix so that the comprehensive performance of the algorithm is optimal with different image information. Experiments results validate the favorable performance of the proposed improved encryption algorithm.
Navigational Protocols of Formation Control for Multiagent Network with and without Nonlinear Dynamics
Authors: Li Shaolin , He Yinghui , Zhang Lili
Published: October 2018

Formation control problem for multiagent networks is investigated under the framework of leader-follower consensus. By utilizing the Lyapunov stability theory, two navigational protocols for multiagent network without and with nonlinear dynamics are derived to realize formation control, respectively. In order to achieve the expected formation, controller is adopted to each agent, and the design philosophies of control protocol are required to follow two rules: (i) the destinations of agent are required to be identified and communicating with each other through the network; (ii) at least one agent is needed to be navigator which can detect the difference between its current location and destination. Finally, the two numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed navigational protocols.
Hydroalcoholic Extract and Ethyl Acetate Fraction of Bixa orellana Leaves Decrease the Inflammatory Response to Mycobacterium abscessus Subsp. massiliense
Authors: Lima Viana José , Zagmignan Adrielle , Lima Lobato Luís Felipe , Gomes Abreu Afonso , da Silva Luís Cláudio Nascimento , Sá Joicy Cortez de , Monteiro Cristina de Andrade , Lago João Henrique Ghilardi , Gonçalves Letícia Machado , Carvalho Rafael Cardoso , Neto Lídio Gonçalves Lima , de Sousa Eduardo Martins
Published: October 2018

The incidence of infections caused by rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM), especially Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. massiliense (Mabs), is increasing worldwide. Severe infections are associated with abscess formation and strong inflammatory response. This study evaluated the antimicrobial and anti‐inflammatory activities of a hydroalcoholic extract (BoHE) and ethyl acetate fraction (BoEA) of Bixa orellana leaves. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated by broth microdilution to determine the minimum inhibitory (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal (MBC) concentrations. Cytotoxicity was evaluated using erythrocytes and RAW 264.7 cells. Nitric oxide (NO) was assayed in stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, and inflammatory cell migration and acute toxicity were evaluated in a Mabs‐induced peritonitis mouse model. The compounds present in BoEA were identified by high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (HPLC‐MS). The MIC and MBC values were 2.34 mg/mL and 37.5 mg/mL for BoHE and 0.39 mg/mL and 6.25 mg/mL for BoEA. The extracts did not induce significant toxicity in erythrocytes and RAW 264.7 cells. High levels of NO induced by Mabs were decreased by treatment with both extracts. The anti‐inflammatory activity was confirmed in vivo by significant reduction of the cell migration to the peritoneum following BoHE and BoEA pretreatment. Animals treated with BoHE or BoEA did not show signs of acute toxicity in stomach, liver, and kidney. The chemical characterization of BoEA (the most active extract) revealed that kaempferol‐3‐O‐coumaroyl glucose is its major component. The extract of B. orellana may be effective for treating infections caused by Mabs.
Detailed Spectroscopic and Structural Analysis of TiO2/WO3 Composite Semiconductors
Authors: Boga Biborka , Székely István , Pap Zsolt , Baia Lucian , Baia Monica
Published: October 2018

WO3-TiO2 composite materials were obtained using commercial titania (Evonik Aeroxide P25) and hydrothermally crystallized WO3. Different ratios of TiO2/WO3 were investigated, starting at 1 wt.% of WO3 to 50 wt.%. The morphology of WO3 was of the star-like type, and its structure is basically composed of monoclinic crystalline phase. All spectroscopic characteristics of the composites and their derived data (band-gap energy value, light absorption threshold, and IR specific bands) directly varied with the increase of the WO3 content. However, the oxalic acid photodegradation achieved under UV light reached the highest yield for 24 wt.% WO3 content, a result that was attributed to the charge separation efficiency and the surface hydrophilicity. The latter mentioned reason points out the crucial importance of the surface quality of the investigated structure in photocatalytic tests.
Single Parameter Adaptive Control of Unknown Nonlinear Systems with Tracking Error Constraints
Authors: Yang Hongjun , Liu Zhijie , Zhang Shuang
Published: October 2018

This paper investigates a single parameter adaptive neural network control method for unknown nonlinear systems with bounded external disturbances. A smooth performance function is developed to achieve the transient and steady state of system tracking error that could be constrained in prescribed bounds. The difficulties in dealing with unknown system parameters and disturbances of nonlinear systems are resolved based on the single parameter adaptive neural network control which is proposed to effectively reduce the calculation amount. The theoretical analysis implies that the proposed control scheme makes the closed‐loop system uniformly ultimately bounded. Simulation demonstrates that the proposed adaptive controller gives a favorable performance on tracking desired signal and constraining the bounds of tracking error which could be arbitrarily small with appropriate adaptive parameters. Both the theoretical analysis and simulations confirm the effectiveness of the control scheme.
Evaluation of Sterilisation Techniques for Regenerative Medicine Scaffolds Fabricated with Polyurethane Nonbiodegradable and Bioabsorbable Nanocomposite Materials
Authors: Griffin Michelle , Naderi Naghmeh , Kalaskar Deepak M. , Malins Edward , Becer Remzi , Thornton Catherine A. , Whitaker Iain S. , Mosahebi Ash , Butler Peter E. M. , Seifalian Alexander M.
Published: October 2018

An effective sterilisation technique that maintains structure integrity, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility is essential for the translation of new biomaterials to the clinical setting. We aimed to establish an effective sterilisation technique for a biodegradable (POSS-PCL) and nonbiodegradable (POSS-PCU) nanocomposite scaffold that maintains stem cell biocompatibility. Scaffolds were sterilised using 70% ethanol, ultraviolet radiation, bleach, antibiotic/antimycotic, ethylene oxide, gamma irradiation, argon plasma, or autoclaving. Samples were immersed in tryptone soya broth and thioglycollate medium and inspected for signs of microbial growth. Scaffold surface and mechanical and molecular weight properties were investigated. AlamarBlue viability assay of adipose derived stem cells (ADSC) seeded on scaffolds was performed to investigate metabolic activity. Confocal imaging of rhodamine phalloidin and DAPI stained ADSCs was performed to evaluate morphology. Ethylene oxide, gamma irradiation, argon plasma, autoclaving, 70% ethanol, and bleach were effective in sterilising the scaffolds. Autoclaving, gamma irradiation, and ethylene oxide led to a significant change in the molecular weight distribution of POSS-PCL and gamma irradiation and ethylene oxide to that of POSS-PCU (p<0.05). UV, ethanol, gamma irradiation, and ethylene oxide caused significant changes in the mechanical properties of POSS-PCL (p<0.05). Argon was associated with significantly higher surface wettability and ADSC metabolic activity (p<0.05). In this study, argon plasma was an effective sterilisation technique for both nonbiodegradable and biodegradable nanocomposite scaffolds. Argon plasma should be further investigated as a potential sterilisation technique for medical devices.
Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome Patterns and Their Association with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Levels during the Natural History of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection
Authors: Xie He-Ping , Liu Zhi-Ping , Zhang Jiong-Shan , Dai Min , Xiao Ge-Min , Wu Wei-Kang , Yang Hong-Zhi
Published: October 2018

The aim of this study is to investigate traditional Chinese medicine syndrome (TCMS) patterns and their association with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels during the natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB). Patients were categorized according to the phase of CHB, as follows: immune tolerance (ITP); immune clearance (ICP); low or nonreplication (LRP); reactivation (RAP); hepatic cirrhosis (HC); and primary liver cancer (PLC). TCMS patterns were classified among the following types: spleen‐kidney deficiency (SKD); liver‐qi depression (LQD); damp‐heat in liver‐gallbladder (LGDH); liver‐kidney deficiency (LKD); and blood stasis blocking collateral (BSBC). HBsAg levels and other serological indicators were quantified for all patients and their association with TCMS was statistically analyzed and determined. Two hundred and eighty‐nine patients with CHB were included. During the natural history of CHB, TCMS patterns were statistically different among the different phases (P < 0.001). The most frequently occurring syndromes among the six progressive phases were SKD, LGDH, LKD, LGDH, BSBC, and LGDH, respectively. The predominant patterns in the inactive stage (ITP + LRP), active stage (ICP + RAP), and late or advanced stage (HC + PLC) were SKD (31%), LGDH (51.8%) and BSBC (34.4%), respectively. Median HBsAg levels were also statistically different among the five patterns of TCMS (P < 0.001). The highest HBsAg levels were observed in SKD (4.48 log10 IU/mL). Medium levels were in LQD (3.91 log10 IU/mL) and LGDH (3.90 log10 IU/mL). The lowest HBsAg levels were in LKD (3.60 log10 IU/mL) and the second lowest levels in BSBC (3.81 log10 IU/mL). In addition, HBsAg levels in LKD and BSBC were significantly lower than those in SKD, LQD, and LGDH (P < 0.05 or 0.001). TCMS was altered during the natural history of CHB and correlated with HBsAg titers. This study could provide further insight into the therapy of CHB.
Sparse Representation Classification Based on Flexible Patches Sampling of Superpixels for Hyperspectral Images
Authors: Sima Haifeng , Liu Pei , Liu Lanlan , Mi Aizhong , Wang Jianfang
Published: October 2018

Aiming at solving the difficulty of modeling on spatial coherence, complete feature extraction, and sparse representation in hyperspectral image classification, a joint sparse representation classification method is investigated by flexible patches sampling of superpixels. First, the principal component analysis and total variation diffusion are employed to form the pseudo color image for simplifying superpixels computing with (simple linear iterative clustering) SLIC model. Then, we design a joint sparse recovery model by sampling overcomplete patches of superpixels to estimate joint sparse characteristics of test pixel, which are carried out on the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm. At last, the pixel is labeled according to the minimum distance constraint for final classification based on the joint sparse coefficients and structured dictionary. Experiments conducted on two real hyperspectral datasets show the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Secure and Efficient Cluster-Based Range Query Processing in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Zhou Liming , Shan Yingzi , Chen Lu
Published: October 2018

In wireless sensor networks, preserving privacy is more important and has attracted more attentions. Protecting data and sensor privacy while collecting and computing query results is a challenge. In cluster-based sensor networks, when a user queries a sensitive data, the adversaries can monitor original node or gain the data in cluster node. To deal with this problem, we propose a secure and efficient scheme for cluster-based query processing in wireless sensor networks. To preserve location privacy of sensors, we use anonymity method to confuse adversaries. To protect the sensitive data, we use prefix membership verification method to prevent adversaries from gaining sensitive messages collected by sensor nodes. And we analyze the security and communication cost. The results show that our scheme can efficiently protect privacy in query processing.
Recommending Mobile Microblog Users via a Tensor Factorization Based on User Cluster Approach
Authors: Liao Xiangwen , Zhang Lingying , Wei Jingjing , Yang Dingda , Chen Guolong
Published: October 2018

User influence is a very important factor for microblog user recommendation in mobile social network. However, most existing user influence analysis works ignore user’s temporal features and fail to filter the marketing users with low influence, which limits the performance of recommendation methods. In this paper, a Tensor Factorization based User Cluster (TFUC) model is proposed. We firstly identify latent influential users by neural network clustering. Then, we construct a features tensor according to latent influential user’s opinion, activity, and network centrality information. Furthermore, user influences are predicted by the latent factors resulting from the temporal restrained CP decomposition. Finally, we recommend microblog users considering both user influence and content similarity. Our experimental results show that the proposed model significantly improves recommendation performance. Meanwhile, the mean average precision of TFUC outperforms the baselines with 3.4% at least.