bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stability of the Evolutionary Game System and Control Strategies of Behavior Instability in Coal Mine Safety Management
Authors: Wang Xinhua , Lu Rongwu , Yu Hao , Li Dan
Published: February 2019

In this paper, we try to find the right control method for the game behavior instability in coal mine safety management. Through the analysis and comparison of the system stability with inflexible and flexible costs and penalties, it can be concluded that the dynamical game system with flexible costs (incentive rewards) and flexible penalty mechanism can significantly reduce the dynamics of unsafe behaviors in coal mine safety supervision. A combined mechanism of incentive rewards and flexible penalty is put forward to improve the stability of the dynamical system and control the instability of behaviors effectively. The results of model simulation show that the combined mechanism has very good property and can optimize and control the instability of behaviors and strategies of the interested parties. Based on the theoretical conclusions, some control strategies and policy advice are proposed for the improvement of the system and measures of safety management for government departments.
Investigation on the Relationship between the Surface Chemistry and the Corrosion Resistance of Electrochemically Nitrided AISI 304 Stainless Steel
Authors: Rocha Janaína de Lima , Pereira Rafael dos Santos , de Oliveira Mara Cristina Lopes , Antunes Renato Altobelli
Published: February 2019

The relationship between the surface chemistry and the corrosion resistance of electrochemically nitrided AISI 304 stainless steel samples has been investigated. The nitriding treatment was carried out in HNO3 0.1 M and HNO3 0.1 M + KNO3 0.5 M at room temperature. Samples were subjected to the nitriding procedure for 30 minutes under a cathodic potential of -0.7 VAg/AgCl. The chemical composition of the nitrided layers was assessed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Depth profiles of the main elements present in the nitrided layers were also obtained by XPS by etching them with argon ions. The corrosion behavior of the nitrided samples was evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization. The results showed that the nitrided layers consisted of a mixture of chromium nitrides, chromium oxides, iron oxides/oxyhydroxides, and nickel oxide. The best corrosion resistance was obtained by electrochemical nitriding in the HNO3 0.1 M + KNO3 0.5 M solution. This result could be correlated with the composition and thickness of the nitrided layer.
CFD Analysis of Pressure Losses and Deposition Velocities in Horizontal Annuli
Authors: Sultan Rasel A. , Rahman Mohammad Azizur , Rushd Sayeed , Zendehboudi Sohrab , Kelessidis Vassilios C.
Published: February 2019

Estimation of pressure losses and deposition velocities is vital in the hydraulic design of annular drill holes in the petroleum industry. The present study investigates the effects of fluid velocity, fluid type, particle size, particle concentration, drill string rotational speed, and eccentricity on pressure losses and settling conditions using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Eccentricity of the drill pipe is varied in the range of 0–75%, and it rotates about its own axis at 0–150 rpm. The diameter ratio of the simulated drill hole is 0.56. Experimental data confirmed the validity of current CFD model developed using ANSYS 16.2 platform.
Environmental and Health Effects of Benzene Exposure among Egyptian Taxi Drivers
Authors: Kasemy Zeinab A. , Kamel Ghada M. , Abdel-Rasoul Gaafar M. , Ismail Ahmed A.
Published: February 2019

Objectives. To study environmental exposure to benzene as well as hematological effects of benzene exposure in taxi drivers. Background. Exposure to benzene has been associated with adverse health effects, including haematopoietic disorders. Methods. A retrospective cohort study was carried out from the beginning of April 2017, through the end of June 2018, on 280 taxi drivers (the exposed group) and 120 unexposed matched individuals (controls). The tools included a predesigned self-administered questionnaire which contained questions about personal data (e.g., age, educational level, and smoking) and exposure data (e.g., duration and nature of exposure). Investigations involved complete blood count. Environmental studies for light-chain aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX components: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) were done. Results. Mean values (ppm) of ambient concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (0.81 ± 0.42, 26.69 ± 0.54, 29.36 ± 2.35, and 25.11 ± 2.06, respectively) in the stations were higher than international permissible levels (P<0.001). On studying the clinical manifestations during the last two weeks, the prevalence of pallor, dizziness, headache, waist and back pain, fatigue, dry throat, and discomfort was significantly higher in taxi drivers (27.1%, 24.3%, 21.4%, 28.6%, 45.7%, 24.3%, and 25.7%, respectively) than among the controls (6.7%, 4.2%, 6.7%, 10%, 10%, 6.7%, 6.7%, and 9.2%, respectively). For chronic diseases, hypertension was the most prevalent chronic disease among the drivers (17.1%) than the controls (5.8%) (P=0.002). Regarding self-assessment of health status, 20.0% of taxi drivers reported poor health while 31.4% reported very good health (P<0.001). MCH (pg), TLC (×103/μl), and platelets (×103/μl) were significantly lower among taxi drivers (26.33 ± 2.31, 6.55 ± 1.38, and 189.07 ± 53.25, respectively) (P=0.005, <0.001, and <0.001 respectively). Conclusion. Abnormal hematological findings among taxi drivers were found on exposure to benzene. Health of taxi drivers is generally affected. Setting a clinic for periodic checkup and health education for taxi drivers is highly recommended.
Apolipoprotein C-II Mimetic Peptide Promotes the Plasma Clearance of Triglyceride-Rich Lipid Emulsion and the Incorporation of Fatty Acids into Peripheral Tissues of Mice
Authors: Komatsu Tomohiro , Sakurai Toshihiro , Wolska Anna , Amar Marcelo J. , Sakurai Akiko , Vaisman Boris L. , Sviridov Denis , Demosky Stephen , Pryor Milton , Ikewaki Katsunori , Remaley Alan T.
Published: February 2019

Aim. Plasma apolipoprotein C-II (apoC-II) activates lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and thus lowers plasma triglycerides (TG). We previously reported that a human apoC-II mimetic peptide (C-II-a) decreased plasma TG in apoC-II mutant mice, as well as in apoE-knockout mice. Because it is unknown what tissues take up free fatty acids (FFAs) released from TG after C-II-a peptide administration, we investigated in mice TG plasma clearance and tissue incorporation, using 3H-triolein as a tracer, with and without C-II-a treatment. Methods and Results. Intralipid® fat emulsion was labeled with 3H-triolein and then mixed with or without C-II-a. Addition of the peptide did not alter mean particle size of the lipid emulsion particles (298 nm) but accelerated their plasma clearance. After intravenous injection into C57BL/6N mice, the plasma half-life of the 3H-triolein for control and C-II-a treated emulsions was 18.3 ± 2.2 min and 14.8 ± 0.1 min, respectively. In apoC-II mutant mice, the plasma half-life of 3H-triolein for injected control and C-II-a treated emulsions was 30.1 ± 0.1 min and 14.8 ± 0.1 min, respectively. C57BL/6N and apoC-II mutant mice at 120 minutes after the injection showed increased tissue incorporation of radioactivity in white adipose tissue when C-II-a treated emulsion was used. Higher radiolabeled uptake of lipids from C-II-a treated emulsion was also observed in the skeletal muscle of C57BL/6N mice only. In case of apoC-II mutant mice, decreased uptake of radioactive lipids was observed in the liver and kidney after addition of C-II-a to the lipid emulsion. Conclusions. C-II-a peptide promotes the plasma clearance of TG-rich lipid emulsions in wild type and apoC-II mutant mice and promotes the incorporation of fatty acids from TG in the lipid emulsions into specific peripheral tissues.
Study on the Effect of Fractional Derivative on the Hyperspectral Data of Soil Organic Matter Content in Arid Region
Authors: Fu Cheng-Biao , Xiong Hei-Gang , Tian An-Hong
Published: February 2019

Discussion on the application of fractional derivative algorithm in monitoring organic matter content in field soil is scarce. This study is aimed at improving the accuracy of soil organic matter (SOM) content estimation in arid region, and the undesirable model precision caused by the missing information associated with the larger discrepancy between conventional integer-order, i.e., first order and second order, derivative, and raw spectral data. We utilized fractional derivative (of zeroth order to second order in 0.2-order interval) processing on the field spectral reflectance (R) of the salinized soil sample from Fukang, Xinjiang, and its square root-transformed (R), log-transformed (lgR), inverse-transformed (1/R), and inverse log-transformed (1/lgR) values. The correlation coefficient of each fractional derivative of transformed value with SOM content was calculated. The simulation showed the derivative reflectance value approximates zero. When increasing from zeroth order to first order, the derivative curve gradually aligns to the first-order curve, and the destination alignment was also seen while increasing from first order to second order. The significance test of 0.05 showed initial increase and later decay of bands in the five spectral transformations as the order increases. For specific bands, the derivative algorithm clearly justifies the correlation between soil spectra and organic matter content, and all of the absolute highest correlation coefficient values were obtained at fractional orders. When compared with integer-order derivative, fractional derivative is significantly better in improving correlation, showing overall superiority. The result supports the application of fractional derivative in the hyperspectral remote monitor of SOM in arid zone, which may in turn realize the timely and accurate SOM monitor in arid zone, and provides the basis for ecological restoration.
Positive Solutions for a Higher-Order Semipositone Nonlocal Fractional Differential Equation with Singularities on Both Time and Space Variable
Authors: Zhang Kemei
Published: February 2019

In this paper, we consider the following higher-order semipositone nonlocal Riemann-Liouville fractional differential equation D0+αx(t)+f(t,x(t),D0+βx(t))+e(t)=0,  0<t<1,D0+βx(0)=D0+β+1x(0)=⋯=D0+n+β-2x(0)=0, and D0+βx(1)=∑i=1m-2ηiD0+βx(ξi), where D0+α and D0+β are the standard Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives. The existence results of positive solution are given by Guo-krasnosel’skii fixed point theorem and Schauder’s fixed point theorem.
The Impact of an Augmented Reality Application on Learning Motivation of Students
Authors: Khan Tasneem , Johnston Kevin , Ophoff Jacques
Published: February 2019

The research on augmented reality applications in education is still in an early stage, and there is a lack of research on the effects and implications of augmented reality in the field of education. The purpose of this research was to measure and understand the impact of an augmented reality mobile application on the learning motivation of undergraduate health science students at the University of Cape Town. We extend previous research that looked specifically at the impact of augmented reality technology on student learning motivation. The intrinsic motivation theory was used to explain motivation in the context of learning. The attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) model guided the understanding of the impact of augmented reality on student motivation, and the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey was used to design the research instrument. The research examined the differences in student learning motivation before and after using the augmented reality mobile application. A total of 78 participants used the augmented reality mobile application and completed the preusage and postusage questionnaires. The results showed that using an augmented reality mobile application increased the learning motivation of students. The attention, satisfaction, and confidence factors of motivation were increased, and these results were found to be significant. Although the relevance factor showed a decrease it proved to be insignificant.
Safflower Yellow B Protects Brain against Cerebral Ischemia Reperfusion Injury through AMPK/NF-kB Pathway
Authors: Du Shibin , Deng Youliang , Yuan Hongjie , Sun Yanyan
Published: February 2019

Inflammation had showed its important role in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia and secondary damage. Safflower yellow B (SYB) had neuroprotective effects against oxidative stress-induced brain injuries, but the mechanisms were still largely unknown to us. In this study, we tried to investigate the anti-inflammation effects of SYB and the possible roles of AMPK/NF-κB signaling pathway on these protective effects. In vivo, brain ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) was induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion for 2 h and reperfusion for 20 h. Neurofunctional evaluation, infarction area, and brain water contents were measured. Brain injury markers and inflammatory cytokines levels were measured by ELISA kits. In vitro, cell viability, apoptosis, and LDH leakage were measured after I/R in PC12 cells. The expression and phosphorylation levels of AMPK, NF-κB p65, and P-IκB-α in cytoplasm and nuclear were measured by Western blotting. SiRNA experiment was performed to certify the role of AMPK. The results showed SYB reduced infarct size, improved neurological outcomes, and inhibited brain injury after I/R. In vitro test, SYB treatment alleviated PC12 cells injury and apoptosis and inhibited the inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α, and COX-2) in a dose-dependent manner. SYB treatment induced AMPK phosphorylation and inhibited NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation both in brain and in PC12 cells. Further studies also showed that the inhibition of NF-κB activity of SYB was through AMPK. In conclusion, SYB protected brain I/R injury through reducing expression of inflammatory cytokines and this effect might be partly due to the inhibition of NF-κB mediated by AMPK.
Advanced Modeling and Simulation of Vehicle Active Aerodynamic Safety
Authors: Kurec Krzysztof , Remer Michał , Broniszewski Jakub , Bibik Przemysław , Tudruj Sylwester , Piechna Janusz
Published: February 2019

The aim of this study was to extend the safety limits of fast moving cars by the application, in a controlled way, of aerodynamic forces which increase as the square of a car’s velocity and, if left uncontrolled, dramatically reduce car safety. This paper presents the methods, assumptions, and results of numerical and experimental investigations by modeling and simulation of the aerodynamic characteristics and dynamics of a small sports car equipped with movable aerodynamic elements operated by an electronic subsystem for data acquisition and aerodynamics active automatic control.
Antidepressant Effect ofTetragonia tetragonoides (Pall.) KuntzeExtract on Serotonin Turnover
Authors: Yang Hyun , Kim Hye Jin , Hong Eui-Ju , Pyun Bo-Jeong , Ko Byung-Seob , Lee Hye Won
Published: February 2019

Tetragonia tetragonoides (Pall.) Kuntze(TTK) is a groundcover found along coastal areas of the Korean peninsula. TTK is traditionally used to improve women’s health and treat gastrointestinal diseases. Use of herbal medicines in the treatment of mood disorders has recently been suggested as an alternative therapeutic strategy. In the present study, we determined that consumption of TTK extract ameliorated progression of depressive-like symptoms in ovariectomized (OVX) rats and further examined the mechanisms involved, i.e., synthesis, release, and reuptake(s) of serotonin (also known as 5-HT). We assessed the mRNA expression levels of tryptophan hydroxylases (TPH-1 and TPH-2) and serotonin transporter (SERT) as well as the reuptake activity of serotonin in RBL-2H3 cells. We also determined whether or not TTK extract regulates the serum level of serotonin and improves depressive-like symptoms in 0.5, 1, and 2% TTK-fed OVX female rats in a forced swimming test. Our results show that the mRNA levels of TPH-1 and SERT were significantly reduced, whereas the mRNA level of TPH-2 was dose-dependently elevated by TTK (50 and 100μg/mL) in RBL-2H3 cells. TTK significantly inhibited LPS- (lipopolysaccharide-) induced serotonin uptake in RBL-2H3 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The serum level(s) of serotonin was elevated by 1% and 2% TTK treatment in OVX female rats. Moreover, immobility time in the forced swimming test was reduced by 1% and 2% TTK treatment but not altered by 0.5% TTK treatment in OVX female rats. Taken together, these results indicate that TTK may significantly inhibit depressive-like symptoms due to upregulation of serotonin level(s) and regulation of serotonin reuptake activity. Thus, TTK may exert beneficial effects on depression during pre- or/and postmenopausal periodsviamodulation of serotonin synthesis and metabolism.
Waste to Energy: Response Surface Methodology for Optimization of Biodiesel Production from Leather Fleshing Waste
Authors: Dagne Henok , Karthikeyan R. , Feleke Sisay
Published: February 2019

Background. The demand for diesel fuel is constantly increasing, requiring its alternate that could be sustainable, technically feasible, price competitive, and ecologically acceptable. Biodiesel is one of ecologically acceptable substitute for the conventional fuels. Methods. Sufficient lime fleshing waste was collected from Addis Ababa tannery share company. The limed fleshing waste in the wet condition was delimed using boric acid, dried, chopped, and subjected to Soxhlet extraction using petroleum ether solvent. The oil was treated by orthophosphoric acid and distilled water to remove gums. The pretreated oil was subjected to homogeneous base catalyzed transesterification. Response surface was used to optimize the process variables. GC-MS was used to see composition of the biodiesel produced. Result. The oil yield of the goat, hide, and sheep delimed fleshing wastes were 23.08%, 12.05%, and 26.7%, respectively. The conversion to biodiesel by KOH-catalyzed transesterification was achieved above 96% under optimum conditions: a methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 6:1, catalyst amount of 1 % w/w, and reaction temperature of 60°C for an hour reaction time. Conclusion. It was proven that fleshing wastes from tanneries whose storage and disposal are both troublesome and costly could be transformed to a fuel with low emission values and a performance close to diesel fuel.
Flux Transport Characteristics of Free Boundary Value Problems for a Class of Generalized Convection-Diffusion Equation
Authors: Xu Yunbin , Wei Meihua
Published: February 2019

The similarity transformation is introduced for studying free boundary value problems for a class of generalized convection-diffusion equation. A class of singular nonlinear boundary value problems are obtained and solved by using Adomian decomposition method (ADM). The approximate solution can be expressed in terms of a rapid convergent power series with easily computable terms. The efficiency and reliability of the approximate solution are verified by numerical ones. The effects of the variable thermal conduction k(z), convection functional coefficient h(z), power law exponent n, and parameter α on the flux transport characteristics are presented graphically and analyzed in detail.
Upper‐Bound Finite Element Adaptive Analysis of Plane Strain Heading in Soil with a Soft Upper Layer and Hard Lower Layer
Authors: Zhang Jian , Ding Li , Liang Yu , Zong Jingyao , Li Zhenya
Published: February 2019

This paper investigates the stability of a rectangular tunnel face affected by surcharge loading in soil with a soft upper layer and hard lower layer using upper‐bound finite element methods with a plastic‐dissipation‐based mesh adaptive strategy (UBFEM‐PDMA). Seven different positions for the soil interface are selected to study this problem. The upper bounds on the ultimate surcharge loads σs are presented in terms of dimensionless stability charts. The σs increases with tunnel depth, and it increases when the position of the soil interface moves up along the tunnel face. The failure mechanism primarily involves a wedge‐shaped zone around the tunnel face and two slip lines originating from the top and bottom of the tunnel face, and it is mainly influenced by three factors, i.e., the position of the soil interface, the soil properties, and the tunnel depth. In contrast to the failure mechanism for uniform soil, multiple slip lines exist in the tunnel face in soil with a soft upper layer and hard lower layer. The results compare reasonably well with those in the literature and those from the numerical method.
DOA and Polarization Parameters Estimation by Exploiting Canonical Polyadic Decomposition of Tensors
Authors: Liu Long , Wang Ling , Xie Jian , Zhang Zhaolin
Published: February 2019

A new algorithm to estimate the direction of arrival (DOA) and polarization parameters of signals impinging on an array with electromagnetic (EM) vector-sensors is presented by exploiting the canonical polyadic decomposition (CPD) of tensors. In addition to spatial and temporal diversities, further information from the polarization domain is considered and used in this paper. Estimation errors of these parameters are evaluated by the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRB) benchmark, in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The superiority of the proposed algorithm is shown by comparing with the derivative algorithms of MUSIC and ESPRIT. In the proposed algorithm, the parameters can be estimated by virtue of the diversities of the spatial and polarization belonging to the factor matrices, rather than the conventional subspace which is the foundation of MUSIC and ESPRIT. Additionally, the classical CPD algorithm based on Alternating Least Squares (ALS) is introduced to verify the efficacy of the proposed CPD algorithm. Results demonstrate that when the number of snapshots is greater than 50, the proposed algorithm requires a smaller number of snapshots to achieve a high level of performance, compared against the subspace-based algorithms and the ALS-based algorithm. Furthermore, in the matter of the array with a small number of sensors, the discovered advantage concerning the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) in estimating the DOA and the polarization state of the signal is noteworthy.
Assessing Domain Specificity in the Measurement of Mathematics Calculation Anxiety
Authors: Hunt Thomas E. , Bagdasar Ovidiu , Sheffield David , Schofield Malcolm B.
Published: February 2019

An online, cross-sectional approach was taken, including an opportunity sample of 160 undergraduate students from a university in the Midlands, UK. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a parsimonious, four-factor solution: abstract maths anxiety, statistics probability anxiety, statistics calculation anxiety, and numerical calculation anxiety. The results support previous evidence for the existence of a separate “numerical anxiety” or “arithmetic computation” anxiety component of maths anxiety and also support the existence of anxiety that is specific to more abstract maths. This is the first study to consider the multidimensionality of maths anxiety at the level of the calculation type. The 26-item Maths Calculation Anxiety Scale appears to be a useful measurement tool in the context of maths calculation specifically.
Do Self-Expanding Metal Stents as a Bridge to Surgery Benefit All Patients with Obstructive Left-Side Colorectal Cancers?
Authors: Zhang Jun-rong , Hou Ping , Liao Tian-ran , Wei Yong , Chen Xian-qiang , Lin Bing-qiang
Published: February 2019

Background. Self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) have been increasingly used in patients with obstructive left-sided colorectal cancer (OLCC); however, stent-specific complications (e.g., perforations) might worsen the long-term survival outcome. Strict indication needed to be identified to confirm the benefit subgroups. This study was designed to explore the indication for emergency surgery (ES) and SEMS in patients with OLCC and to suggest optimal strategies for individuals. Methods. After propensity score matching, 36 pairs were included. Perioperative and long-term survival outcomes (3-year overall survival (OS) and 3-year disease-free survival (DFS)) were compared between the ES and SEMS groups. Independent risk factors were evaluated among subgroups. Stratification survival analysis was performed to identify subgroups that would benefit from SEMS placement or ES. Results. The perioperative outcomes were similar between the SEMS and ES groups. The 3-year OS was comparable between the SEMS (73.5%) and ES (60.0%) groups, and the 3-year DFS in the SEMS group (69.7%) was similar to that in the ES group (57.1%). The pT stage was an independent risk factor for 3-year DFS (p=0.014) and 3-year OS (p=0.010) in the SEMS group. The comorbidity status (p=0.049) independently affected 3-year DFS in the ES group. The 3-year OS rate was influenced by the cM stage (p=0.003). Patients with non-pT4 stages in the SEMS group showed obviously better 3-year OS (95.0%) than the other subgroups. The 3-year OS rate was 36.4% in the ES group when patients had a worse comorbidity status than their counterparts. Conclusion. SEMS might be preferred for patients of obstructive left-sided colorectal cancer in the “high-operative risk group” with existing comorbidities or those without locally advanced invasion, such as the non-pT4-stage status.
Understanding Impacts of Security Check on Passenger Flow in a Metro Station and Improving Measures: A Case Study in Guangzhou, China
Authors: Yu Heng , Wang Yimin , Wang Feng , Qiu Peiyun
Published: February 2019

In order to ensure the safety of passengers using metro stations and staff working at them, some cities choose to set security checks at the entrances of metro stations. There is no doubt that security check can help keep dangerous objects out of a metro station. However, the security check can also slow down the entering speed of passenger flow and lead to congestions that may affect passengers’ travel plans. How security check will impact the passenger flow and how to reduce the impact are questions that need to be addressed. In this study, metro station models were constructed using the building structure and passenger flow data of a realistic metro station in Guangzhou, China. By using the AnyLogic simulation software, the traffic characteristics of passenger flow under the scenarios with and without a security check were compared and discussed. The congested areas in the station hall and possible causes were analyzed. In addition, possible improving measures such as adding security check machines and ticket vending machines were also modeled to test their effectiveness on reducing the congestion in the station. Results show that when security checks are set at each entrance of the station being studied, the flow rate of passengers entering the gate machine could be decreased by 49.4%~83.3%, which can cause serious congestion at the entrance during rush hours. By adding security check machines and ticket vending machines at the entrances with high passenger traffic demands, the congestion near these entrances could be greatly reduced.
HGF-rs12536657 and Ocular Biometric Parameters in Hyperopic Children, Emmetropic Adolescents, and Young Adults: A Multicenter Quantitative Trait Study
Authors: Barrio-Barrio Jesús , Bonet-Farriol Elvira , Galdós Marta , Noval Susana , Pueyo Victoria , Breeze Charles E. , Santos Jose Luis , Alfonso-Bartolozzi Belén , Recalde Sergio , Patiño-García Ana
Published: February 2019

Introduction. Even though ocular refractive state is highly heritable and under strong genetic control, the identification of susceptibility genes remains a challenge. Several HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) gene variants have been associated with ocular refractive errors and corneal pathology. Purpose. Here, we assess the association of an HGF gene variant, previously reported as associated with hyperopia, and ocular biometric parameters in a multicenter Spanish cohort. Methods. An observational prospective multicenter cross-sectional study was designed, including a total of 403 unrelated subjects comprising 188 hyperopic children (5 to 17 years) and 2 control groups: 52 emmetropic adolescents (13 to 17 years) and 163 emmetropic young adults (18 to 28 years). Each individual underwent a comprehensive eye examination including cycloplegic refraction, and topographic and ocular biometric analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from oral swabs. HGF single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs12536657 was genotyped. Genotypic, allelic, and logistic regression analyses were performed comparing the different groups. A quantitative trait association test analyzing several biometric parameters was also performed using generalized estimating equations (GEEs) adjusting for age and gender. Results. No association between rs12536657 and hyperopia was found through gender-adjusted logistic regression comparing the hyperopic children with either of the two control groups. Significant associations between mean topographic corneal curvature and rs12536657 for G/A (slope = +0.32; CI 95%: 0.04–0.60; p=0.023) and A/A (slope = +0.76; CI 95%: 0.12–1.40; p=0.020) genotypes were observed with the age- and gender-adjusted univariate GEE model. Both flat and steep corneal topographic meridians were also significantly associated with rs12536657 for the G/A and A/A genotypes. No association was found between rs12536657 and any other topographic or biometric measurements. Conclusions. Our results support a possible role for HGF gene variant rs12536657 in corneal curvature in our population. To our knowledge, this is the first multicenter quantitative trait association study of HGF genotypes and ocular biometric parameters comprising a pediatric cohort.
Prevalence of Depression and Associated Factors among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Attending the Diabetic Clinic at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Sri Lanka: A Descriptive Study
Authors: Arambewela Maulee Hiromi , Somasundaram Noel P. , Ranjan Jayasekara Hettiarachchige Buddhi Pradeep , Kumbukage Mahesh P.
Published: February 2019

Background. Research focusing on the psychological aspect of diabetes is limited in Sri Lanka. Aim. Determine the prevalence of depression among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) attending an out-patient clinic at a tertiary care hospital in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Methods. A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among patients diagnosed with T2DM. Pregnant and patients with a prior psychiatric history were excluded. Depression assessed using validated Sinhala and Tamil version of the Beck’s Depression Index. Sociodemographic data and health related data were obtained from interviewer-based questionnaires and health records. Results. Of the 3000 patients, 72.7% were female. Mean age was 58.3 ±10.3 years and mean duration of diabetes 10.8 ± 7.3 years. Percentage of depression was 5.9% in the entire patient population with mild, moderate, and severe depression in 4.0%, 1.6%, and 0.3%, respectively. In multiple logistic regression, depression was significantly associated with female gender (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.26-5.46; P=0.009), living without a spouse (single/divorced/widowed) (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.12-2.98; P=0.01), lower education level (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.14-3.22; P=0.01), and peripheral neuropathy (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.00-3.18; P=0.04). Only 13.3% of the respondents said that doctors have ever inquired to their mental well-being. Conclusion. Depression was low in prevalence comparative to neighboring countries in the region. Patients were much more affected by the social factors than disease related factors. An individualized holistic approach taking psychosocial issues to consideration should be focused in the comprehensive plan of management.
A Construction of High Performance Quasicyclic LDPC Codes: A Combinatoric Design Approach
Authors: Asif Muhammad , Zhou Wuyang , Ajmal Muhammad , Akhtar Zain ul Abiden , Khan Nauman Ali
Published: February 2019

This correspondence presents a construction of quasicyclic (QC) low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on a special type of combinatorial designs known as block disjoint difference families (BDDFs). The proposed construction of QC-LDPC codes gives parity-check matrices with column weight three and Tanner graphs having a girth lower-bounded by 6. The proposed QC-LDPC codes provide an excellent performance with iterative decoding over an additive white Gaussian-noise (AWGN) channel. Performance analysis shows that the proposed short and moderate length QC-LDPC codes perform as well as their competitors in the lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region but outperform in the higher SNR region. Also, the codes constructed are quasicyclic in nature, so the encoding can be done with simple shift-register circuits with linear complexity.
Image Encryption Based on Dynamic Filtering and Bit Cuboid Operations
Authors: Li Xinsheng , Xie Zhilong , Wu Jiang , Li Taiyong
Published: February 2019

As one of the most widely used media types, images play an important role in the era of the Internet. And hence how to enhance the security of images has become a hot topic in the field of information security. However, due to some intrinsic characteristics of images, image security is still a challenging task. For the purpose of coping with this issue, in this paper, we propose a novel algorithm that combines a hyperchaotic system, dynamic filtering, and bit cuboid operations, namely, DFBC, for image encryption. Specifically, the proposed DFBC consists of four steps: firstly, a 7D Lorenz hyperchaotic system is utilized to generate a pseudorandom sequence; secondly, variable 1D filters are derived from the pseudorandom sequence, and dynamic filtering is conducted on each pixel of an image; thirdly, a diffusion scheme is performed and then the image is transformed to a bit cuboid; and, finally, various types of permutation (rearranging, symmetry, rotation, zigzag, and global bit permutation) are performed on the bit cuboid. The experiments on several testing images demonstrate that the DFBC achieves state‐of‐the‐art results in terms of several evaluation criteria, showing that the DFBC is promising for image encryption.
Synthesis of New Bis(spiro-β-lactams) via Interaction of Methyl 1-Bromocycloalcanecarboxylates with Zinc and N,N′-Bis(arylmethylidene)benzidines
Authors: Kirillov N. F. , Nikiforova E. A. , Baibarodskikh D. V. , Zakharova T. A. , Govorushkin L. S.
Published: February 2019

Interaction of the Reformatsky reagents, prepared from methyl 1-bromocyclopentane-1-carboxylate or methyl 1-bromocyclohexane-1-carboxylate, with N,N′-bis(arylmethylidene)benzidines has given rise to a set of intermediates as a result of nucleophilic addition to the C=N group of a substrate. Further intramolecular attack of the amide nitrogen atom onto the ester carbonyl group is responsible for the ring closure, which affords two series of spirocompounds: 2,2′-([1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diyl)bis(3-aryl-2-azaspiro[3.4]octan-1-one) or 2,2′-([1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diyl)bis(3-aryl-2-azaspiro[3.5]nonan-1-ones).
Modeling the Effect of High Calorie Diet on the Interplay between Adipose Tissue, Inflammation, and Diabetes
Authors: Prana V. , Tieri P. , Palumbo M.C. , Mancini E. , Castiglione F.
Published: February 2019

Background. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a chronic metabolic disease potentially leading to serious widespread tissue damage. Human organism develops T2D when the glucose-insulin control is broken for reasons that are not fully understood but have been demonstrated to be linked to the emergence of a chronic inflammation. Indeed such low-level chronic inflammation affects the pancreatic production of insulin and triggers the development of insulin resistance, eventually leading to an impaired control of the blood glucose concentration. On the contrary, it is well-known that obesity and inflammation are strongly correlated. Aim. In this study, we investigate in silico the effect of overfeeding on the adipose tissue and the consequent set up of an inflammatory state. We model the emergence of the inflammation as the result of adipose mass increase which, in turn, is a direct consequence of a prolonged excess of high calorie intake. Results. The model reproduces the fat accumulation due to excessive caloric intake observed in two clinical studies. Moreover, while showing consistent weight gains over long periods of time, it reveals a drift of the macrophage population toward the proinflammatory phenotype, thus confirming its association with fatness.
Effective Elastic and Hydraulic Properties of Fractured Rock Masses with High Contrast of Permeability: Numerical Calculation by an Embedded Fracture Continuum Approach
Authors: Dang Hong-Lam , Do Duc Phi , Hoxha Dashnor
Published: February 2019

In this work, the hydromechanical modeling of the fractured rock masses was conducted based on a new numerical simulation method named as embedded fracture continuum (EFC) approach. As the principal advantage, this approach allows to simplify the meshing procedure by using the simple Cartesian meshes to model the fractures that can be explicitly introduced in the porous medium based on the notion of fracture cells. These last elements represent the grid cells intersected by at least one fracture in the medium. Each fracture cell in the EFC approach present a continuum porous medium whose hydromechanical properties are calculated from ones of the matrix and ones of the intersected fractures, thanks for using the well‐known solution of the joint model. The determination of the hydromechanical properties of the fracture cells as presented in this work allows to provide the theoretical base and to complete some simple approximations introduced in the literature. Through different verification tests, the capability of the developed EFC approach to model the hydromechanical behavior of fractured rock was highlighted. An analysis of different parameters notably the influence of the fracture cell size on the precision of the proposed approach was also conducted. This novel approach was then applied to investigate the effective permeability and elastic compliance tensor of a fractured rock masses taken from a real field, the Sellafield site. The comparison of the results calculated from this approach with ones conducted in the literature based on the distinct element code (UDEC) presents a good agreement. However, unlike the previous studies using UDEC, which limits only in the case of fractured rock masses without dead‐end fractures, our approach allows accounting for this kind of fractures in the medium. The numerical simulations show that the dead‐end fractures could have a considerable contribution on the effective compliance moduli, while their effect can be neglected to calculate the overall permeability of the of fractured rock masses.
Efficient Certificateless Conditional Privacy-Preserving Authentication Scheme in VANETs
Authors: Ming Yang , Cheng Hongliang
Published: February 2019

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are an increasing important paradigm for greatly enhancing roadway system efficiency and traffic safety. To widely deploy VANETs in real life, it is critical to deal with the security and privacy issues in VANETs. In this paper, we propose a certificateless conditional privacy preserving authentication (CCPPA) scheme based on certificateless cryptography and elliptic curve cryptography for secure vehicle-to-infrastructure communication in VANETs. In the proposed scheme, a roadside unit (RSU) can simultaneously verify plenty of received messages such that the total verification time may be sharply decreased. Furthermore, the security analysis indicates that the proposed scheme is provably secure in the random oracle model and fulfills all the requirements on security and privacy. To further improve efficiency, both map-to-point hash operation and bilinear pairing operation are not employed. Compared with previous CCPPA schemes, the proposed scheme prominently cuts down computation delay of message signing and verification by 66.9%–85.5% and 91.8%–93.4%, respectively, and reduces communication cost by 44.4%. Extensive simulations show that the proposed scheme is practicable and achieves prominent performances of very little average message delay and average message loss ratio and thus is appropriate for realistic applications.
Metrics for Multiset-Theoretic Subgraphs
Authors: Chen Ray-Ming
Published: February 2019

We show how to define a plethora of metrics for graphs—either full graphs or subgraphs. The method mainly utilizes the minimal matching between any two multisets of positive real numbers by comparing the multiple edges with respect to their corresponding vertices. In the end of this article, we also demonstrate how to implement these defined metrics with the help of adjacency matrices. These metrics are easy to be manipulated in real applications and could be amended according to different situations. By our metrics, one should be able to compare the distances between graphs, trees, and networks, in particular those with fuzzy properties.
Impact of Telemedicine on Healthcare Service System Considering Patients’ Choice
Authors: Wang Xiaoli , Zhang Zhiyong , Zhao Jun , Shi Yongqiang
Published: February 2019

Telemedicine is an effective way to alleviate the congestion of hospitals and improve the utilization of medical resources. In this paper, we develop a stylized queue model to study whether the hospital should adopt telemedicine service and in which form (the gatekeeper system or dual-channel service system) the hospital should provide telemedicine service. Patients’ delay sensitivity and transportation cost are also considered in our model. Our main results follow. First, in most cases, telemedicine service can help to reduce the total cost of the healthcare system, and patients treated online or offline can both benefit from the adoption of telemedicine. Second, the dual-channel healthcare system is more flexible than the traditional outpatient system and the gatekeeper system. There exists an optimal market segmentation of the two channels in the dual-channel healthcare system. Finally, we find that the hospital should implement the telemedicine when the transportation cost is high or patients have a large gap between online and offline waiting sensitivity.
Panning and Jitter Invariant Incremental Principal Component Pursuit for Video Background Modeling
Authors: Chau Gustavo , Rodríguez Paul
Published: February 2019

Video background modeling is an important preprocessing stage for various applications, and principal component pursuit (PCP) is among the state-of-the-art algorithms for this task. One of the main drawbacks of PCP is its sensitivity to jitter and camera movement. This problem has only been partially solved by a few methods devised for jitter or small transformations. However, such methods cannot handle the case of moving or panning cameras in an incremental fashion. In this paper, we greatly expand the results of our earlier work, in which we presented a novel, fully incremental PCP algorithm, named incPCP-PTI, which was able to cope with panning scenarios and jitter by continuously aligning the low-rank component to the current reference frame of the camera. To the best of our knowledge, incPCP-PTI is the first low-rank plus additive incremental matrix method capable of handling these scenarios in an incremental way. The results on synthetic videos and Moseg, DAVIS, and CDnet2014 datasets show that incPCP-PTI is able to maintain a good performance in the detection of moving objects even when panning and jitter are present in a video. Additionally, in most videos, incPCP-PTI obtains competitive or superior results compared to state-of-the-art batch methods.
The Equations and Characteristics of the Magnetic Curves in the Sphere Space
Authors: Sun Jianguo
Published: February 2019

We investigate some geometrical properties of magnetic curves in S3 under the action of the Killing magnetic field V=a∂x+ b∂y+ c∂z. The other main result is provided about the classification of the equations of the geodesics in S3. Moreover, some most relevant graphs of the main results were drawn in this paper.
Research on Physical Similarity Simulation of Mining Uphill and Downhill at the Large‐Angle Working Face
Authors: Zhang Meng , Zhang Yidong , Ji Ming , Guo Hongjun , Li Haizhu
Published: February 2019

With the development of coal mining and the continuous expansion of mining intensity, large dip angle comprehensive mechanized coal mining as an important development direction and goal has become a worldwide research topic in the coal industry. The working face faces many production problems that need to be solved, such as the large‐angle downhill mining, the large‐angle uphill mining, and other complicated geological conditions (such as skew, anticline, and fault). In view of the above problems, with the specific conditions of Xinji No. 2 Mine, through the physical similarity simulation, the research on the roof movement law of the fully mechanized mining face under the mining conditions of large dip angle (depression angle and elevation angle are more than 40° and 20°, respectively) is studied. The distribution law of abutment pressure, movement law, and distribution range of water‐conducting fracture zone after mining are emphasized. Meanwhile, the paper analyzes and compares the related mining pressure law of inclined longwall fully mechanized mining face under general conditions, forming a systematic, comprehensive, and scientific understanding of the law of mining pressure under such conditions. This achievement is of great significance to the prevention and control of water, support design, safety production, environmental improvement, improvement of enterprise efficiency, and advancement of coal science and technology.
Determination of Morphine in Human Urine by the Novel Competitive Fluorescence Immunoassay
Authors: Cao Jie , Chen Xiao-Ying , Zhao Wu-Rong
Published: February 2019

A competitive fluorescence immunoassay for the identification and quantification of morphine has been developed on the basis of hapten-coated plate format. Hapten was prepared through covalent conjugating a morphine derivative with albumin bovine. In the immunoassay, the hapten was inoculated on a 96-well plate and then bound with monoclonal antibodies labeled with a signal indicating dye, fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). Unbound FITC-antibodies were rinsed off from the plate. The fluorescein intensity decreases in the presence of morphine molecules due to the competitively binding to antibodies against hapten. The intensity is inversely correlated with the concentration of morphine. In quantitative analysis for urine samples, we obtained a linearity range of 0.2 μg/mL∼2.5 μg/mL, along with a detection limit of c.a. 1 ng/mL. The fluorescence immunoassay shows low cross-reactivity (below 10%) to 6-acetylmorphine, 3-acetylmorphine, and heroine. The developed method produced comparable results to the standard GC-MS/MS method. In conclusion, a rapid and efficient screening tool for morphine in clinical human urine has been established.
Two New Geraghty Type Contractions in Gb-Metric Spaces
Authors: Wang Yixiao , Chen Chunfang
Published: February 2019

In this work, two Geraghty type contractions are introduced in Gb-metric spaces, and some fixed point theorems about the contractions are proved. At the end of this article, a theorem about unique solution of an integral function is proved.