bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bayesian Maximum-A-Posteriori Approach with Global and Local Regularization to Image Reconstruction Problem in Medical Emission Tomography
Authors: Denisova Natalya
Published: November 2019

The Bayesian approach Maximum a Posteriori (MAP) provides a common basis for developing statistical methods for solving ill-posed image reconstruction problems. MAP solutions are dependent on a priori model. Approaches developed in literature are based on prior models that describe the properties of the expected image rather than the properties of the studied object. In this paper, such models have been analyzed and it is shown that they lead to global regularization of the solution. Prior models that are based on the properties of the object under study are developed and conditions for local and global regularization are obtained. A new reconstruction algorithm has been developed based on the method of local statistical regularization. Algorithms with global and local regularization were compared in numerical simulations. The simulations were performed close to the real oncologic single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) study. It is shown that the approach with local regularization produces more accurate images of ‘hot spots’, which is especially important to tumor diagnostics in nuclear oncology.
Stochastic Gradient Annealed Importance Sampling for Efficient Online Marginal Likelihood Estimation
Authors: Cameron Scott A. , Eggers Hans C. , Kroon Steve
Published: November 2019

We consider estimating the marginal likelihood in settings with independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) data. We propose estimating the predictive distributions in a sequential factorization of the marginal likelihood in such settings by using stochastic gradient Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques. This approach is far more efficient than traditional marginal likelihood estimation techniques such as nested sampling and annealed importance sampling due to its use of mini-batches to approximate the likelihood. Stability of the estimates is provided by an adaptive annealing schedule. The resulting stochastic gradient annealed importance sampling (SGAIS) technique, which is the key contribution of our paper, enables us to estimate the marginal likelihood of a number of models considerably faster than traditional approaches, with no noticeable loss of accuracy. An important benefit of our approach is that the marginal likelihood is calculated in an online fashion as data becomes available, allowing the estimates to be used for applications such as online weighted model combination.
Empirical Performance Models of MAC Protocols for Cooperative Platooning Applications
Authors: Aslam Aqsa , Santos Pedro M. , Santos Frederico , Almeida Luís
Published: November 2019

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANET) enable vehicles to exchange information on traffic conditions, dynamic status and localization, to enhance road safety and transportation efficiency. A typical VANET application is platooning, which can take advantage of exchanging information on speed, heading and position to allow shorter inter-vehicle distances without compromising safety. However, the platooning performance depends drastically on the quality of the communication channel, which in turn is highly influenced by the medium access control protocol (MAC). Currently, VANETs use the IEEE 802.11p MAC, which follows a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) policy that is prone to collisions and degrades significantly with network load. This has led to recent proposals for a time-division multiple access (TDMA)-based MAC that synchronize vehicles’ beacons to prevent or reduce collisions. In this paper, we take CSMA/CA and two TDMA-based overlay protocols, i.e., deployed over CSMA/CA, namely PLEXE-slotted and RA-TDMAp, and carry out extensive simulations with varying platoon sizes, number of occupied lanes and transmit power to deduce empirical models that provide estimates of average number of collisions per second and average busy time ratio. In particular, we show that these estimates can be obtained from observing the number of radio-frequency (RF) neighbours, i.e., number of distinct sources of the packets received by each vehicle per time unit. These estimates can enhance the online adaptation of distributed applications, particularly platooning control, to varying conditions of the communication channel.
The Influence of Parasitic Components on LLC Resonant Converter
Authors: Li Fang , Hao Ruixiang , Lei Haodong , Zhang Xinyi , You Xiaojie
Published: November 2019

In recent years, the LLC resonant converter has been widely used in DC–DC conversion applications. However, the parasitic components of the LLC resonant converter have a significant impact in practical applications, such as influence on the conduction loss and the soft-switching of power devices, the voltage oscillation across rectifier diodes, the unregulated output voltage at light load condition and so on. It is hard to analyze the higher-order circuits by the conventional analysis methods. Focusing on the operational principle of the LLC converter with parasitic components, the differential equation model is presented and solved by the numerical method in this paper. The simulation results verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis. The causes of two different frequency oscillations and the voltage spike are clarified. The design considerations and a specific example of the LLC converter are given. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation results, and the soft-switching of primary-side switches can be achieved in the prototype.
Preliminary Study on the Use of Biodiesel Obtained from Waste Vegetable Oils for Blending with Hydrotreated Kerosene Fossil Fuel Using Calcium Oxide (CaO) from Natural Waste Materials as Heterogeneous Catalyst
Authors: Ozkan S. , Puna J. F. , Gomes J. F. , Cabrita T. , Palmeira J. V. , Santos M. T.
Published: November 2019

In this experimental work, calcium from natural seafood wastes was used as a heterogeneous catalyst separately or in a blend of “shell mix” for producing biodiesel. Several chemical reaction runs were conducted at varied reaction times ranging from 30 min to 8 h, at 60 °C, with a mass content of 5% (Wcat./Woil) and a methanol/oil molar ratio of 12. After the purification process, the biodiesel with fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) weight content measured was higher than 99%, which indicated that it was a pure biodiesel. This work also showed that the inorganic solid waste shell mixture used as the heterogeneous catalyst can be reused three times and the reused mixture still resulted in a FAME content higher than 99%. After 40 different transesterification reactions were performed using liquid (waste cooking oils) and solid (calcium seafood shells) wastes for producing biodiesel, under the specific conditions stated above, we found a successful, innovative, and promising way to produce biodiesel. In addition, blends prepared with jet fuel A1 and biodiesel were recorded with no invalid results after certain tests, at 25 °C. In this case, except for the 10% blend, the added biodiesel had no significant effect on the viscosity (fluidity) of the biojet fuel.
A Study on Utility of Retrofit that Minimizes the Replacement of Heat-Source System in Large Offices
Authors: Kim Hyemi , Park Kyung-soon , Cho Soolyeon , Song Young-hak
Published: November 2019

In a general building retrofit process, the reinforcement of insulation performance or air-tightness in walls and windows are conducted to reduce the maximum cooling and heating load of buildings. A heat source consists of heat-source equipment and water-pipe systems, which are replaced with high-efficient specification materials. Most of them are simply replaced with the same capacity as the previous heating equipment. This study aims to investigate matters required for decision making in a retrofit plan, such as conducting an investigation of the maximum load reduction in buildings obtained by the retrofit and the capacity of heat-source equipment that reflects the reduction, and the re-use or replacement of the water-pipe system, etc. in advance. This study verified that when the capacity of heat-source equipment was reduced, the pipe diameter of the water-pipe system was also decreased, but if existing pipes were re-used, the transportation power of the pump was reduced due to the reduction in flow velocity. The changes in maximum cooling and heating load through retrofit were quantitatively verified compared to that of the initial design of the building based on previous study results, and flow rates of cool and hot water were determined by re-calculating the capacity of the heat-source equipment. Using the results, the water-pipe system was re-designed, and the annual transportation power of the pump was calculated through simulations. The calculation results verified that the transportation power decreased by up to approximately 10% when oversized pipes were re-used from the existing water-pipe system. Additionally, when the capacity of the heat-source equipment was decreased, reasonable measures considering remodeling, construction duration, and cost were derived.
Optimal Power Flow for Transmission Power Networks Using a Novel Metaheuristic Algorithm
Authors: Li Zelan , Cao Yijia , Dai Le Van , Yang Xiaoliang , Nguyen Thang Trung
Published: November 2019

In the paper, a modified coyote optimization algorithm (MCOA) is proposed for finding highly effective solutions for the optimal power flow (OPF) problem. In the OPF problem, total active power losses in all transmission lines and total electric generation cost of all available thermal units are considered to be reduced as much as possible meanwhile all constraints of transmission power systems such as generation and voltage limits of generators, generation limits of capacitors, secondary voltage limits of transformers, and limit of transmission lines are required to be exactly satisfied. MCOA is an improved version of the original coyote optimization algorithm (OCOA) with two modifications in two new solution generation techniques and one modification in the solution exchange technique. As compared to OCOA, the proposed MCOA has high contributions as follows: (i) finding more promising optimal solutions with a faster manner, (ii) shortening computation steps, and (iii) reaching higher success rate. Three IEEE transmission power networks are used for comparing MCOA with OCOA and other existing conventional methods, improved versions of these conventional methods, and hybrid methods. About the constraint handling ability, the success rate of MCOA is, respectively, 100%, 96%, and 52% meanwhile those of OCOA is, respectively, 88%, 74%, and 16%. About the obtained solutions, the improvement level of MCOA over OCOA can be up to 30.21% whereas the improvement level over other existing methods is up to 43.88%. Furthermore, these two methods are also executed for determining the best location of a photovoltaic system (PVS) with rated power of 2.0 MW in an IEEE 30-bus system. As a result, MCOA can reduce fuel cost and power loss by 0.5% and 24.36%. Therefore, MCOA can be recommended to be a powerful method for optimal power flow study on transmission power networks with considering the presence of renewable energies.
A Novel Framework for Cost Optimization of Renewable Energy Installations: A Case Study of Nigeria
Authors: Aliyu Aliyu , Tekbiyik-Ersoy Neyre
Published: November 2019

The merits of utilizing renewable energy sources (RESs) in electricity generation, especially in the developing countries, are to improve the electricity access, economic development and energy sustainability. Nigeria is a developing country with an acute electricity problem. The country is blessed with rich renewable energy (RE) resources. However, most of these resources are yet to be exploited. A look at the energy sector in Nigeria suggests that for the country to be energy sufficient, it must embrace domestic RESs in its energy mix. However, RE technologies are capital intensive. Hence, by using Nigeria as a motivation, this study aims at developing a general framework that can be used for any country or region in determining the optimal total capacities of RESs to be installed in different locations, to increase the use of RE in a cost-effective manner. The designed optimization problem aims to minimize the total cost of installing RE technologies while satisfying some predetermined constraints that include demand and supply, RE potential, area and system reserve requirement. To this end, three different scenarios, namely prospective off-grid, on-grid, and all-off-grid are introduced. The first scenario aims at finding the optimal cost of installing RESs in order to improve electricity access at each off-grid installation location (a distribution company (DISCO) location with electricity access level below 50%). The second scenario optimizes cost of installing RESs for on-grid installation locations (DISCO locations (DLs) with electricity access level of 50% and above). The third scenario finds the optimal cost of installing off-grid RESs for all the DLs. Linear optimization technique is used to solve the problem. The results show that the total installation costs of the first and second scenarios (which means having off-grid installations for some DLs and having on-grid installations for other DLs) are $97.46 billion and $114.03 billion respectively, with a total cost of $211.49 billion. On the other hand, the result of third installation scenario (only off-grid installations for all DLs), is found to be $244.33 billion. These results reveal that the combination of off-grid and on-grid installations (first and second scenarios) has the minimum installation cost, for the case study of Nigeria. As the framework presented in this study is used to provide the minimum RE related total installation cost and related RE planning in Nigeria, it can also be useful for other countries or regions considering RE planning.
A Study on the Performance of a Cascade Heat Pump for Generating Hot Water
Authors: Boahen Samuel , Choi Jong Min
Published: November 2019

The use of cascade heat pumps for hot water generation has gained much attention in recent times. The big question that has attracted much research interest is how to enhance the performance and energy saving potential of these cascade heat pumps. This study therefore proposed a new cycle to enhance performance of the cascade heat pump by adopting an auxiliary heat exchanger (AHX) in desuperheater, heater and parallel positions at the low stage (LS) side. The new cascade cycle with AHX in desuperheater position was found to have better performance than that with AHX at heater and parallel positions. Compared to the conventional cycle, heating capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) of the new cascade cycle with AHX in desuperheater position increased up to 7.4% and 14.9% respectively.
A Novel Photovoltaic Array Outlier Cleaning Algorithm Based on Sliding Standard Deviation Mutation
Authors: Hu Aoyu , Sun Qian , Liu Hao , Zhou Ning , Tan Zhan’ao , Zhu Honglu
Published: November 2019

There is a large number of outliers in the operation data of photovoltaic (PV) array, which is caused by array abnormalities and faults, communication issues, sensor failure, and array shutdown during PV power plant operation. The outlier will reduce the accuracy of PV system performance analysis and modeling, and make it difficult for fault diagnosis of PV power plant. The conventional data cleaning method is affected by the outlier data distribution. In order to solve the above problems, this paper presents a method for identifying PV array outliers based on sliding standard deviation mutation. Considering the PV array output characteristics under actual environmental conditions, the distribution of array outliers is analyzed. Then, an outlier identification method is established based on sliding standard deviation calculation. This method can identify outliers by analyzing the degree of dispersion of the operational data. The verification part is illustrated by case study and algorithm comparison. In the case study, multiple sets of actual operating data of different inverters are cleaned, which is selected from a large grid-connected power station. The cleaning results illustrate the availability of the algorithm. Then, the comparison against the quantile-algorithm-based outlier identification method explains the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Modeling of Light Pipes for the Optimal Disposition in Buildings
Authors: Baglivo Cristina , Bonomolo Marina , Congedo Paolo Maria
Published: November 2019

A light pipe is an excellent solution to transport and distribute daylight into environments without or with little lighting, guaranteeing comfort inside the rooms. As stated in the literature, the evaluation of the performances of light pipes presents numerous complexities, making the work very difficult for technicians and designers. This study is aimed to present a methodology that is able to identify the potential of light pipes using indices such as daylight autonomy (DA), continuous daylight autonomy (DAc), and useful daylight illuminance (UDI). This paper presents an analysis of daylight obtained by several configurations of simple models of light pipes installed into a 5 × 5 m plant area room. All simulations are carried out in a DAYSIM environment, which allows calculating the annual availability of daylight based on a RADIANCE raytracer backward. Several daylight conditions were analyzed for different light pipe configurations, considering different pipe lengths and a variable number of light pipes. The light pipes are tested also in the horizontal position, for different orientations. The results of all the combinations were compared with the performances of a window with dimensions equal to 1/8 of the internal surface, which was in accordance with the minimum value to be guaranteed by the Italian Regulation (D.M. 5 July 1975 n. 190) for different orientations. The results indicated a difference in daylight distribution, showing a strong correlation between the percentage levels of DA and DAc with the length and number of pipes, during different periods of the year. The simulated model is strongly influenced by the aspect ratio (R = diameter/length). The results show that the illuminance levels decrease drastically, increasing the length.
Gasification Characteristics and Kinetics of Unburned Pulverized Coal in Blast Furnaces
Authors: Zan Rian , Wang Wei , Xu Runsheng , Schenk Johannes , Zheng Heng , Wang Haoxiang
Published: November 2019

Pulverized coal injected into a blast furnace (BF) burns incompletely in a very limited amount of time. A considerable amount of unburned pulverized coal (UPC) escapes from the raceway to the coke layer. The unburned pulverized coal reacts with CO2 in the coke layer, and this has a very significant impact on the operation of the BF. The gasification reaction characteristics of the UPC with CO2 were assessed by thermogravimetric analysis. The microstructure and specific surface area of the pulverized coal and UPC were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and a specific surface area testing apparatus together with the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method, respectively. The results showed that Qingding UPC requires a higher temperature to complete the gasification reaction. At the same heating rate, the Tm (maximum reaction rate temperature) of the Shenhua UPC is much lower and the reaction rate is larger than those of the Qingding UPC. An increased heating rate is beneficial for the gasification reaction of the two UPCs. The kinetics analysis results showed that the optimal mechanism function models for the Shenhua and Qingding UPCs are chemical reaction models. The apparent activation energies of gasification of the Shenhua UPC and Qingding UPC under different conditions were 269.89–223.41 KJ/mol and 266.70–251.54 KJ/mol, respectively.
Role of Shearing Dispersion and Stripping in Wax Deposition in Crude Oil Pipelines
Authors: Wang Zhihua , Xu Yunfei , Zhao Yi , Li Zhimin , Liu Yang , Hong Jiajun
Published: November 2019

Wax deposition during crude oil transmission can cause a series of negative effects and lead to problems associated with pipeline safety. A considerable number of previous works have investigated the wax deposition mechanism, inhibition technology, and remediation methods. However, studies on the shearing mechanism of wax deposition have focused largely on the characterization of this phenomena. The role of the shearing mechanism on wax deposition has not been completely clarified. This mechanism can be divided into the shearing dispersion effect caused by radial migration of wax particles and the shearing stripping effect caused by hydrodynamic scouring. From the perspective of energy analysis, a novel wax deposition model was proposed that considered the flow parameters of waxy crude oil in pipelines instead of its rheological parameters. Considering the two effects of shearing dispersion and shearing stripping coexist, with either one of them being the dominant mechanism, a shearing dispersion flux model and a shearing stripping model were established. Furthermore, a quantitative method to distinguish between the roles of shearing dispersion and shearing stripping in wax deposition was developed. The results indicated that the shearing mechanism can contribute an average of approximately 10% and a maximum of nearly 30% to the wax deposition process. With an increase in the oil flow rate, the effect of the shearing mechanism on wax deposition is enhanced, and its contribution was demonstrated to be negative; shear stripping was observed to be the dominant mechanism. A critical flow rate was observed when the dominant effect changes. When the oil flow rate is lower than the critical flow rate, the shearing dispersion effect is the dominant effect; its contribution rate increases with an increase in the oil flow temperature. When the oil flow rate is higher than the critical flow rate, the shearing stripping effect is the dominant effect; its contribution rate increases with an increase in the oil flow temperature. This understanding can be used to design operational parameters of the actual crude oil pipelines and address the potential flow assurance problems. The results of this study are of great significance for understanding the wax deposition theory of crude oil and accelerating the development of petroleum industry pipelines.
Intelligent Energy Management Strategy for Automated Office Buildings
Authors: Noubissie Tientcheu Simplice Igor , Chowdhury Shyama P. , Olwal Thomas O.
Published: November 2019

The increasing demand to reduce the high consumption of end-use energy in office buildings framed the objective of this work, which was to design an intelligent system management that could be utilized to minimize office buildings’ energy consumption from the national electricity grid. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and lighting are the two main consumers of electricity in office buildings. Advanced automation and control systems for buildings and their components have been developed by researchers to achieve low energy consumption in office buildings without considering integrating the load consumed and the Photovoltaic system (PV) input to the controller. This study investigated the use of PV to power the HVAC and lighting equipped with a suitable control strategy to improve energy saving within a building, especially in office buildings where there are reports of high misuse of electricity. The intelligent system was modelled using occupant activities, weather condition changes, load consumed and PV energy changes, as input to the control system of lighting and HVAC. The model was verified and tested using specialized simulation tools (Simulink®) and was subsequently used to investigate the impact of an integrated system on energy consumption, based on three scenarios. In addition, the direct impact on reduced energy cost was also analysed. The first scenario was tested in simulation of four offices building in a civil building in South Africa of a single occupant’s activities, weather conditions, temperature and the simulation resulted in savings of HVAC energy and lighting energy of 13% and 29%, respectively. In the second scenario, the four offices were tested in simulation due to the loads’ management plus temperature and occupancy and it resulted in a saving of 20% of HVAC energy and 29% of lighting electrical energy. The third scenario, which tested integrating PV energy (thus, the approach utilized) with the above-mentioned scenarios, resulted in, respectively, 64% and 73% of HVAC energy and lighting electrical energy saved. This saving was greater than that of the first two scenarios. The results of the system developed demonstrated that the loads’ control and the PV integration combined with the occupancy, weather and temperature control, could lead to a significant saving of energy within office buildings.
Shifts in Climate–Growth Relationships of Sky Island Pines
Authors: Marquardt Paula E. , Miranda Brian R. , Telewski Frank W.
Published: November 2019

Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation may affect plant responses, and mountainous regions in particular are sensitive to the impacts of climate change. The Santa Catalina Mountains, near Tucson, Arizona, USA, are among the best known Madrean Sky Islands, which are defined by pine-oak forests. We compared the sensitivity and temporal stability of climate–growth relationships to quantify the growth responses of sympatric taxa of ponderosa pine to changing climate. Three taxa (three-needle, mixed-needle, and five-needle types) collected from southern slopes of two contact zones (Mt. Lemmon, Mt. Bigelow) were evaluated. Positive climate–growth correlations in these semiarid high-elevation pine forests indicated a seasonal shift from summer- to spring-dominant precipitation since 1950, which is a critical time for reproduction. Mixed- and five-needle types responded to winter precipitation, and growth was reduced for the five-needle type when spring conditions were dry. Growth trends in response to temperature and specific to site were observed, which indicated the climate signal can be weakened when data are combined into a single chronology. Significant fluctuations in temperature–growth correlations since 1950 occurred for all needle types. These results demonstrated a dramatic shift in sensitivity of annual tree growth to the seasonality of the limiting factor, and a climatic trend that increases local moisture stress may impact the stability of climate–growth relationships. Moreover, output from temperature–growth analyses based on ring-width data (for example from semiarid sites) that does not account for positive and negative growth trends may be adversely affected, potentially impacting climate reconstructions.
Feature Fusion Text Classification Model Combining CNN and BiGRU with Multi-Attention Mechanism
Authors: Zhang Jingren , Liu Fang’ai , Xu Weizhi , Yu Hui
Published: November 2019

Convolutional neural networks (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) have gained wide recognition in the field of natural language processing. However, due to the pre- and post-dependence of natural language structure, relying solely on CNN to implement text categorization will ignore the contextual meaning of words and bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM). The feature fusion model is divided into a multiple attention (MATT) CNN model and a bi-directional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) model. The CNN model inputs the word vector (word vector attention, part of speech attention, position attention) that has been labeled by the attention mechanism into our multi-attention mechanism CNN model. Obtaining the influence intensity of the target keyword on the sentiment polarity of the sentence, and forming the first dimension of the sentiment classification, the BiGRU model replaces the original BiLSTM and extracts the global semantic features of the sentence level to form the second dimension of sentiment classification. Then, using PCA to reduce the dimension of the two-dimensional fusion vector, we finally obtain a classification result combining two dimensions of keywords and sentences. The experimental results show that the proposed MATT-CNN+BiGRU fusion model has 5.94% and 11.01% higher classification accuracy on the MRD and SemEval2016 datasets, respectively, than the mainstream CNN+BiLSTM method.
Randomized Single-Case Experimental Designs in Healthcare Research: What, Why, and How?
Authors: Tanious René , Onghena Patrick
Published: November 2019

Health problems are often idiosyncratic in nature and therefore require individualized diagnosis and treatment. In this paper, we show how single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) can meet the requirement to find and evaluate individually tailored treatments. We give a basic introduction to the methodology of SCEDs and provide an overview of the available design options. For each design, we show how an element of randomization can be incorporated to increase the internal and statistical conclusion validity and how the obtained data can be analyzed using visual tools, effect size measures, and randomization inference. We illustrate each design and data analysis technique using applied data sets from the healthcare literature.
Outdoor Endurance Training with Air Pollutant Exposure Versus Sedentary Lifestyle: A Comparison of Airway Immune Responses
Authors: Santos Juliana de Melo Batista dos , Foster Roberta , Jonckheere Anne-Charlotte , Rossi Marcelo , Luna Junior Luiz Antonio , Katekaru Catherine Machado , de Sá Matheus Cavalcante , Pagani Lucas Guimarães , Almeida Francine Maria de , Amaral Jônatas do Bussador , Vieira Rodolfo de Paula , Bachi Andre Luis Lacerda , Bullens Dominique Magdalena A , Vaisberg Mauro
Published: November 2019

Although regular exercise-training improves immune/inflammatory status, the influence of air pollutants exposure during outdoor endurance training compared to a sedentary lifestyle has not yet been clarified. This study aimed to compare the immune/inflammatory responses in the airways of street runners and sedentary people after acute and chronic particulate matter (PM) exposure. Forty volunteers (street runners (RUN, n = 20); sedentary people (SED, n = 20)) were evaluated 1 (acute) and 10 (chronic) weeks after PM exposure. Cytokines [interferon (IFN)-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-13, and IL-17A] in nasal lavage fluid, salivary antibacterial peptides (lactoferrin (LTF), cathelicidin (LL-37), defensin-α 1–3), and secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), plasma club cell protein (CC16), and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) were analyzed. After acute exposure, the RUN group showed lower levels of IL-13, IL-10, and FeNO, but higher defensin-α than the SED group. After chronic exposure, the RUN group showed elevation of IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-17A, and a decrease of FeNO levels, whereas the SED group showed elevation of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and a decrease of IL-13 levels. Comparing these groups, the RUN group showed higher levels of SIgA and LTF, and lower FeNO levels than the SED group. In relation to the Th immune response analysis after acute and chronic PM exposure, the RUN group showed a pattern associated with Th1, while in the SED group, a Th2 pattern was found. Both groups showed also a Th17 immune response pattern. Our results allow us to suggest that the immune/inflammatory status of the respiratory tract after acute and chronic PM exposure was improved by the long-standing regular practice of outdoor endurance exercise compared to a sedentary lifestyle.
Lifestyle E-Coaching for Physical Activity Level Improvement: Short-Term and Long-Term Effectivity in Low Socioeconomic Status Groups
Authors: Spelt Hanne , Tsiampalis Thomas , Karnaki Pania , Kouvari Matina , Zota Dina , Linos Athena , Westerink Joyce
Published: November 2019

E-coaching applications can improve people’s lifestyles; however, their impact on people from a lower socioeconomic status (low SES) is unknown. This study investigated the effectiveness of a lifestyle e-coaching application in encouraging people facing low SES disadvantages to engage in a more active lifestyle over a course of 19 weeks. In this bicountry study, 95 people with low activity level (GR: 50, NL: 45) used a mobile application linked to a wearable activity tracker. At the start and after 6 and 19 weeks, self-reported physical activity levels, attitudes, and intention towards increasing activity levels, perceived behavioral control, and wellbeing were measured. Results indicated that participants using the lifestyle e-coaching application reported significantly more often an increase in activity levels than a parallel control group. Additionally, the people using the application also more often reported increased levels of wellbeing and perceived behavioral control. Therefore, lifestyle e-coaching applications could be a cost-effective solution for promoting healthier lifestyles in low-SES populations.
Anthropogenic Effects on Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotopes of River Water in Cities
Authors: Li Xiangnan , Weng Baisha , Yan Denghua , Qin Tianling , Wang Kun , Bi Wuxia , Yu Zhilei , Dorjsuren Batsuren
Published: November 2019

Stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes are important indicators for studying water cycles. The isotopes are not only affected by climate, but are also disturbed by human activities. Urban construction has changed the natural attributes and underlying surface characteristics of river basins, thus affecting the isotopic composition of river water. We collected urban river water isotope data from the Global Network for Isotopes in Rivers (GNIR) database and the literature, and collected river water samples from the Naqu basin and Huangshui River basin on the Tibetan Plateau to measure hydrogen and oxygen isotopes. Based on 13 pairs of urban area and non-urban area water samples from these data, the relationship between the isotopic values of river water and the artificial surface area of cities around rivers was analyzed. The results have shown that the hydrogen and oxygen isotope (δD and δ18O) values of river water in urban areas were significantly higher than those in non-urban areas. The isotopic variability of urban and non-urban water was positively correlated with the artificial surface area around the rivers. In addition, based on the analysis of isotope data from 21 rivers, we found that the cumulative effects of cities on hydrogen and oxygen isotopes have led to differences in surface water line equations for cities with different levels of development. The combined effects of climate and human factors were the important reasons for the variation of isotope characteristics in river water in cities. Stable isotopes can not only be used to study the effects of climate on water cycles, but also serve as an important indicator for studying the degree of river development and utilization.
An Eye Tracking Study of Anti-Smoking Messages on Toxic Chemicals in Cigarettes
Authors: Ranney Leah M. , Kowitt Sarah D. , Queen Tara L. , Jarman Kristen L. , Goldstein Adam O.
Published: November 2019

The US Food and Drug Administration is tasked with communicating information to the public about the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke. Our study used eye tracking method to test the effectiveness of messages about the harmful chemicals in cigarettes smoke among adult smokers. A sample size of 211 current cigarette smokers viewed four communication messages that included: Health effects of a chemical in cigarette smoke and an image depicting the health effect. The messages focused on arsenic, formaldehyde, uranium, and general health. Eye tracking recorded the length of time participants viewed the text and the image. After each message, the participants were asked about the messages’ effectiveness in changing attitudes towards smoking. We analyzed the data using multilevel modeling, and of the 211 smokers, 59.7% were female, 36.5% were Black, and 21.3% had a high school degree or less. Compared to the general message, the messages about formaldehyde and uranium were more discouraging to smoking (p < 0.05). Messages about formaldehyde were more believable and made participants want to quit more than the general messages. Increasing message dose was significantly associated with discouraging participants from smoking and made participants want to quit (p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that anti-smoking messages, containing chemical information, can successfully increase negative attitudes toward smoking cigarettes and potentially encourage quitting.
Associations of Leisure-Time Physical Activity Trajectories with Fruit and Vegetable Consumption from Childhood to Adulthood: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study
Authors: Lounassalo Irinja , Hirvensalo Mirja , Kankaanpää Anna , Tolvanen Asko , Palomäki Sanna , Salin Kasper , Fogelholm Mikael , Yang Xiaolin , Pahkala Katja , Rovio Suvi , Hutri-Kähönen Nina , Raitakari Olli , Tammelin Tuija
Published: November 2019

A physically active lifestyle and a diet rich in vegetables and fruits have a central role in promoting health. This study examined the associations between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) trajectories and fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC) from childhood to middle age. The data were drawn from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study with six age cohorts. Participants were 9 to 18 years (n = 3536; 51% females) at baseline in 1980 and 33 to 48 years at the last follow-up in 2011. LTPA and FVC were self-reported. LTPA trajectories were identified using latent profile analyses, after which the mean differences in FVC across the trajectories were studied. Active, low-active, decreasingly and increasingly active trajectories were identified for both genders. An additional trajectory describing inactivity was identified for females. Those who were persistently active or increased their LTPA had higher FVC at many ages when compared to their inactive or low-active counterparts (p < 0.05). In females prior to age 42 and in males prior to age 24, FVC was higher at many ages in those with decreasing activity than in their inactive or low-active counterparts (p < 0.05). The development of LTPA and FVC from childhood to middle age seem to occur in tandem.
Workflow and Strategies for Recruitment and Retention in Longitudinal 3D Craniofacial Imaging Study
Authors: Denadai Rafael , Tu Junior Chun-Yu , Tsai Ya-Ru , Tsai Yi-Ning , Hsieh Emma Yuh-Jia , Pai Betty CJ , Chen Chih-Hao , Kane Alex , Lo Lun-Jou , Chou Pang-Yun
Published: November 2019

Longitudinal epidemiological studies are considered the gold standard for understanding craniofacial morphologic development, but participant recruitment and retention can be challenging. This study describes strategies used to recruit and maintain a high level of participation in a longitudinal study involving annual three-dimensional (3D) craniofacial soft-tissue imaging from healthy Taiwanese Chinese elementary school students aged 6 to 12 years. The key aspects for project delineation, implementation, and the initial three-year practical experiment are portrayed in an integrated multistep workflow: ethics- and grant-related issues; contact, approval, and engagement from partners of the project (school stakeholders and parents); a didactic approach to recruit the students; research staff composition with task design; three station-based data collection days with two educative activities (oral hygiene and psychosocial interaction stations) and one 3D craniofacial imaging activity; and reinforcement tactics to sustain the longitudinal annual participation after the first enrollment. Randomly selected students and teachers answered an experience satisfaction questionnaire (five-point Likert scale ranging from one to five) designed to assist in understanding what they think about the data collection day. Measures of frequency (percentage) and central tendency (mean) were adopted for descriptive analysis. Six of seven contacted schools accepted participation in the project. All parents who attended the explanatory meetings agreed to join the project. A cohort of 676 students (336 girls) participated at baseline enrollment, with a follow-up rate of 96% in the second data collection. The average questionnaire-related scores were 4.2 ± 0.7 and 4.4 ± 0.6 for teachers and students, respectively. These 3D craniofacial norms will benefit multidisciplinary teams managing cleft-craniofacial deformities in the globally distributed ethnic Chinese population, particularly useful for phenotypic variation characterization, conducting quantitative morphologic comparisons, and therapeutic planning and outcome assessment. The described pathway model will assist other groups to establish their own age-, sex-, and ethnic-specific normative databases.
Selected Predictors of the Sense of Intimacy in Relationships of Young Adults
Authors: Czyżowska Dorota , Gurba Ewa , Czyżowska Natalia , Kalus Alicja , Sitnik-Warchulska Katarzyna , Izydorczyk Bernadetta
Published: November 2019

The main research objective of this study was seeking the predictive role of closeness to parents, attachment, identity style, identity commitment, type of relationship, and having children in intimacy among young women and men. Many studies indicate differences in the level of engagement, communication, and satisfaction in relationships. The study group comprised 227 people, including 114 women (M = 29.99; SD = 4.36), and 113 men (M = 30.00; SD = 4.33). A total of 40% of the subjects were married, and the remaining 60% subjects were in informal relationships; 101 people had children and the other individuals were childless. The following instruments were used: The Miller Social Intimacy Scale, questionnaires to assess closeness and attachment, and the Identity Style Inventory. The significance of the differences and the stepwise regression analysis were performed. The results of the study demonstrated a higher level of intimacy in a relationship with a partner among women than men. The nature of a relationship does not matter to the sense of intimacy. However, closeness to parents during childhood and adolescence, the model of interpersonal relations, and the identity style are predictors of intimacy in a relationship. The study results can be used in creating preventive and educational programs focused on family life and satisfied relationships.
The Nitrogen-Removal Efficiency of a Novel High-Efficiency Salt-Tolerant Aerobic Denitrifier, Halomonas Alkaliphile HRL-9, Isolated from a Seawater Biofilter
Authors: Ren Jilong , Wei Chenzheng , Ma Hongjing , Dai Mingyun , Fan Jize , Liu Ying , Wu Yinghai , Han Rui
Published: November 2019

Aerobic denitrification microbes have great potential to solve the problem of NO3−-N accumulation in industrialized recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs). A novel salt-tolerant aerobic denitrifier was isolated from a marine recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and identified as Halomonas alkaliphile HRL-9. Its aerobic denitrification performance in different dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperatures, and C/N ratios was studied. Investigations into nitrogen balance and nitrate reductase genes (napA and narG) were also carried out. The results showed that the optimal conditions for nitrate removal were temperature of 30 °C, a shaking speed of 150 rpm, and a C/N ratio of 10. For nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) (initial concentration 101.8 mg·L−1), the sole nitrogen source of the growth of HRL-9, the maximum NO3−-N removal efficiency reached 98.0% after 24 h and the maximum total nitrogen removal efficiency was 77.3% after 48 h. Nitrogen balance analysis showed that 21.7% of NO3−-N was converted into intracellular nitrogen, 3.3% of NO3−-N was converted into other nitrification products (i.e., nitrous nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, and organic nitrogen), and 74.5% of NO3−-N might be converted to gaseous products. The identification of functional genes confirmed the existence of the napA gene in strain HRL-9, but no narG gene was found. These results confirm that the aerobic denitrification strain, Halomonas alkaliphile HRL-9, which has excellent aerobic denitrification abilities, can also help us understand the microbiological mechanism and transformation pathway of aerobic denitrification in RASs.
A Study on The Driving Factors and Spatial Spillover of Carbon Emission Intensity in The Yangtze River Economic Belt under Double Control Action
Authors: Ding Xuhui , Cai Zhongyao , Xiao Qianqian , Gao Suhui
Published: November 2019

It is greatly important to promote low-carbon green transformations in China, for implementing the emission reduction commitments and global climate governance. However, understanding the spatial spillover effects of carbon emissions will help the government achieve this goal. This paper selects the carbon-emission intensity panel data of 11 provinces in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2004 to 2016. Then, this paper uses the Global Moran’s I to explore the spatial distribution characteristics and spatial correlation of carbon emission intensity. Furthermore, this paper constructs a spatial econometric model to empirically test the driving path and spillover effects of relevant factors. The results show that there is a significant positive correlation with the provincial carbon intensity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, but this trend is weakening. The provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai are High–High agglomerations, while the provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou are Low–Low agglomerations. Economic development, technological innovation, and foreign direct investion (FDI) have positive effects on the reduction of carbon emissions, while industrialization has a negative effect on it. There is also a significant positive spatial spillover effect of the industrialization level and technological innovation level. The spatial spillover effects of FDI and economic development on carbon emission intensity fail to pass a significance test. Therefore, it is necessary to promote cross-regional low-carbon development, accelerate the R&D of energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies, actively enhance the transformation and upgrade industrial structures, and optimize the opening up of the region and the patterns of industrial transfer.
Monitoring Differential Subsidence along the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway with Multiband SAR Data
Authors: Shi Min , Chen Beibei , Gong Huili , Li Xiaojuan , Chen Wenfeng , Gao Mingliang , Zhou Chaofan , Lei Kunchao
Published: November 2019

High-speed railways have strict standards of infrastructure deformation and post-construction settlement. The interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has the ability to detect ground deformation with a high accuracy and wide coverage and is becoming a useful tool for monitoring railway health. In this study, we analyzed the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway (BTIR) track using InSAR time-series analysis with different data sets. First, by using RADARSAT-2 images, we examined the areas along the BTIR with significant subsidence. Then, we characterized these areas by means of X-band TerraSAR-X data. We adopted the expectation (Ex) and entropy (En) method, combined with GIS spatial analysis, to analyze the ground settlement differences on both sides of the railway. The results show that the area with the most severe differential settlement occurs between 12 and 20 km along the railway and within 120 to 20 m on both sides of the Chaoyang–Tongzhou section (CTS). Thereafter, we analyzed the reasons for the large difference in this area by considering different factors, e.g., regional land subsidence, groundwater level changes, and the dynamic load. In addition, we studied the impact of regional subsidence on the safe operation of the BTIR. The results show that the maximum different settlement along the BTIR is within the safe range, according to the high-speed railway design standard between 2010 and 2015. This study aims to provide technical support for assessing the impact of subsidence on the safety of railway operations.