bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the Influence of Zhenwu Tang on the Pharmacokinetics of Digoxin in Rats Using HPLC-MS/MS
Authors: Li Chao , Liang Dahu , Liu Yanhao , Shen Chaozhuang , Wang Xiaohu , Yang Bin , Li Xianghong , Wang Weijia , Xu Maodi , Pu Zhichen , Hu Hua , Wu Zijing , Xie Haitang , Sun Hua
Published: September 2021

Digoxin (DIG) is a positive inotropic drug with a narrow therapeutic window that is used in the clinic for heart failure. The active efflux transporter of DIG, P-glycoprotein (P-gp), mediates DIG absorption and excretion in rats and humans. Up to date, several studies have shown that the ginger and Poria extracts in Zhenwu Tang (ZWT) affect P-gp transport activity. This study aimed to explore the effects of ZWT on the tissue distribution and pharmacokinetics of DIG in rats. The deionized water or ZWT (18.75 g/kg) was orally administered to male Sprague–Dawley rats once a day for 14 days as a pretreatment. On day 15, 1 hour after receiving deionized water or ZWT, the rats were given the solution of DIG at 0.045 mg/kg dose, and the collection of blood samples was carried out from the fundus vein or excised tissues at various time points. HPLC-MS/MS was used for the determination of the DIG concentrations in the plasma and the tissues under investigation. The pharmacokinetic interactions between DIG and ZWT after oral coadministration in rats revealed significant reductions in DIG Cmax and AUC0-∞, as well as significant increases in T1/2 and MRT0-∞. When coadministered with ZWT, the DIG concentration in four of the investigated tissues statistically decreased at different time points except for the stomach. This study found that combining DIG with ZWT reduced not only DIG plasma exposure but also DIG accumulation in tissues (heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys). The findings of our study could help to improve the drug's validity and safety in clinical applications and provide a pharmacological basis for the combined use of DIG and ZWT.
Anthelminthic, Anti-Inflammatory, Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Activities and FTIR Analyses of Vernonia camporum Stem-Bark
Authors: Osei Akoto Clement , Acheampong Akwasi , Boakye Yaw Duah , Asante Bernard , Ohene Samuel , Amankwah Francis
Published: September 2021

Vernonia camporum is used ethnomedicinally to treat diseases such as malaria, fever, hypertension, mouth sores, pains, inflammation, and skin rashes in Africa. This study aims at investigating the biological activities (anthelminthic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial) and separating some of the biologically active components in the methanol crude extract of the stem-bark of Vernonia camporum. Phytochemical screening, anthelminthic (Lumbricus terrestris (earthworm)), anti-inflammatory (egg albumin denaturation), antioxidant (DPPH and H2O2 scavenging and total antioxidant capacity (TAC)), and antimicrobial (agar and broth dilution method) assays were performed on the extracts. Column chromatography and FTIR spectroscopic analysis were employed to separate and analyze the least polar constituents of the methanol extract. The preliminary phytochemical analyses revealed the presence of secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, phenols, tannins, saponins, terpenoids, flavonoids, steroids, phytosterols, proteins and amino acids, phlobatannins, glycosides, cardiac glycosides, coumarins, and anthocyanins. The extracts (methanol and hexane) showed a higher concentration-dependent anthelminthic activity. The extracts exhibited high concentration-dependent anti-inflammatory activities with IC50 values of 35.83 ± 3.984 and 53.91 ± 5.8413 µg/mL, respectively. The IC50 values for methanol and hexane extracts in the DPPH assay were 17.70 ± 3.430 and 29.54 ± 1.5437 µg/mL, and those of the H2O2 assay were 243.20 ± 0.1528 and 352.20 ± 12.64 µg/mL, respectively. TAC results for methanol and hexane extracts were recorded as 31.592 ± 1.682 and 30.232 ± 0.445 gAAE/100 g, respectively. The extracts were observed to exhibit antimicrobial activity against test organisms with MICs ranging from 0.1953 to 25.00 mg/mL. Chromatographic separations gave four fractions. FTIR analysis indicated the presence of various functional groups in purified fractions of the methanol extract that confirms the presence of the phytochemicals identified in the screening test. The results indicate that both extracts of V. camporum possess anthelminthic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities supporting the traditional usage of this plant.
Influence of Maternal Infection and Pregnancy Complications on Cord Blood Telomere Length
Authors: Tung Keith T. S. , Hung Catherine M. W. , Chan Ko Ling , Wong Rosa S. , Tsang Hing Wai , Wong Wilfred H. S. , Lo Camilla K. M. , Tso Winnie W. Y. , Chua Gilbert T. , Yee Benjamin K. , Wong Ian C. K. , Leung W. C. , Ip Patrick
Published: September 2021

Background. Exposure to suboptimal intrauterine environment might induce structural and functional changes that can affect neonatal health. Telomere length as an important indicator of cellular health has been associated with increased risk for disease development. Objectives. This study was aimed to examine the independent and combined effects of maternal, obstetric, and foetal factors on cord blood telomere length (TL). Methods. Pregnant women at the gestational age of 20th to 24th week who attended the antenatal clinic of a major local hospital in Hong Kong were recruited. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire on demographics, health‐related quality of life, and history of risk behaviors. Medical history including pregnancy complications and neonatal outcomes was obtained from electronic medical records of both mother and neonate. Umbilical cord blood was collected at delivery for TL determination. Results. A total of 753 pregnant women (average age: 32.18 ± 4.51 years) were recruited. The prevalence of maternal infection, anaemia, and hypertension during pregnancy was 30.8%, 30.0%, and 6.0%, respectively. The adjusted regression model displayed that maternal infection was negatively associated with cord blood TL (β = −0.18, p = 0.026). This association became even stronger in the presence of antenatal anaemia, hypertension, delivery complications, or neonatal jaundice (β = −0.25 to −0.45). Conclusions. This study consolidates evidence on the impact of adverse intrauterine environment at the cellular level. Maternal infection was significantly associated with shorter cord blood TL in a unique manner such that its presence may critically determine the susceptibility of telomere to other factors.
Renoprotection Induced by Aerobic Training Is Dependent on Nitric Oxide Bioavailability in Obese Zucker Rats
Authors: Neves Rodrigo Vanerson Passos , Corrêa Hugo de Luca , de Sousa Neto Ivo Vieira , Souza Michel Kendy , Costa Fernando , Haro Anderson Sola , Deus Lysleine Alves , Reis Andrea Lucena , Simões Herbert Gustavo , Andrade Rosângela Vieira , Assumpção Cláudio Oliveira , Stone Whitley , Prestes Jonato , Vieira Elaine Cristina , de Cássia Marquetti Durigan Rita , Cruzat Vinicius , Rosa Thiago S.
Published: September 2021

Aerobic training (AT) promotes several health benefits that may attenuate the progression of obesity associated diabetes. Since AT is an important nitric oxide (NO-) inducer mediating kidney‐healthy phenotype, the present study is aimed at investigating the effects of AT on metabolic parameters, morphological, redox balance, inflammatory profile, and vasoactive peptides in the kidney of obese‐diabetic Zucker rats receiving L‐NAME (N(omega)‐nitro‐L‐arginine methyl ester). Forty male Zucker rats (6 wk old) were assigned into four groups (n = 10, each): sedentary lean rats (CTL‐Lean), sedentary obese rats (CTL‐Obese), AT trained obese rats without blocking nitric oxide synthase (NOS) (Obese+AT), and obese‐trained with NOS block (Obese+AT+L‐NAME). AT groups ran 60 min in the maximal lactate steady state (MLSS), five days/wk/8 wk. Obese+AT rats improved glycemic homeostasis, SBP, aerobic capacity, renal mitochondria integrity, redox balance, inflammatory profile (e.g., TNF‐α, CRP, IL‐10, IL‐4, and IL‐17a), and molecules related to renal NO- metabolism (klotho/FGF23 axis, vasoactive peptides, renal histology, and reduced proteinuria). However, none of these positive outcomes were observed in CTL‐Obese and Obese+AT+L‐NAME (p < 0.0001) groups. Although Obese+AT+L‐NAME lowered BP (compared with CTL‐Obese; p < 0.0001), renal damage was observed after AT intervention. Furthermore, AT training under conditions of low NO- concentration increased signaling pathways associated with ACE‐2/ANG1‐7/MASr. We conclude that AT represents an important nonpharmacological intervention to improve kidney function in obese Zucker rats. However, these renal and metabolic benefits promoted by AT are dependent on NO- bioavailability and its underlying regulatory mechanisms.
Clinical Observation on the Nursing Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Combined with Solution-Focused Brief Therapy in Uremic Peritoneal Dialysis Patients and Influence on Nutritional Status
Authors: Wang Yiqian , Lin Huazhi , Wang Lihua , Cao Jun , Zheng Dan , Zhu Jing
Published: September 2021

Objective. To explore the nursing effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) combined with solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) in uremic peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients and its influence on nutritional status. Methods. A prospective study was conducted on 108 uremia patients undergoing PD who were admitted to the First People’s Hospital of Wenling from March 2018 to December 2020. In accordance with the wishes of the patients, according to random number method, the patients were divided into control group (n = 54) and experimental group (n = 54). Patients in the control group were given routine care. Patients in the experimental group were given MBSR combined with SFBT. The clinical data, biochemical indicators, complication, compliance, nutritional status, and quality of life of the two groups were compared. Results. After intervention, the serum hemoglobin, serum albumin levels, and urea clearance index of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group

P
<
0.05

. Compared with the control group, the experimental group had a lower incidence of complications

P
<
0.05

. After intervention, the compliance score of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group

P
<
0.05

. After intervention, the malnutrition inflammation score of the experimental group was lower than that of the control group

P

<

0.05

. After intervention, the Kidney Disease and Quality of Life-36 scores of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group

P
<
0.05

. Conclusion. MBSR combined with SFBT has a good nursing effect in uremia patients undergoing PD and can increase the patient’s treatment compliance, improve the quality of life, and improve the nutritional status.
Prediction of Compressive Strength of Geopolymer Concrete Based on Support Vector Machine and Modified Cuckoo Algorithm
Authors: Zhang Daming , Sun Fangjin , Liu Tiantian
Published: September 2021

Coal gangue‐based geopolymer concrete is an environmentally friendly material made from coal gangue, solid waste from the coal mine. Compressive strength is one of the most important indexes for concretes. Different oxide contents of coal gangue will affect the compressive strength of the geopolymer concrete directly. However, there is little study on the relationship between oxide contents and compressive strength of the geopolymer concrete. Experiments are commonly used methods of determining the compressive strength of concretes, including geopolymer concrete, which is time‐consuming and inefficient. Therefore, in the work here, a support vector machine and a modified cuckoo algorithm are utilized to predict the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete. An orthogonal factor is introduced to modify the traditional cuckoo algorithm to update new species and accelerate computation convergence. Then, the modified cuckoo algorithm is employed to optimize the parameters in the support vector machine model. Then, the compressive strength predictive model of coal gangue‐based geopolymer concrete is established with oxide content of raw materials as the input and compressive strength as the output of the model. The compressive strength of coal gangue‐based geopolymer concrete is predicted with different oxide contents in raw materials, and the effects of different oxide contents and oxide combinations on compressive strength are studied and analyzed. The results show that the support vector machine and the modified cuckoo algorithm are valid and accurate in predicting the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete. And, coal gangue geopolymer concrete compressive strength is significantly affected by oxide contents.
Review on Silver Nanoparticle Synthesis Method, Antibacterial Activity, Drug Delivery Vehicles, and Toxicity Pathways: Recent Advances and Future Aspects
Authors: Lekha D. Chandra , Shanmugam R. , Madhuri K. , Dwarampudi L. Priyanka , Bhaskaran Mahendran , Kongara Deepak , Tesfaye Jule Leta , Nagaprasad N. , Bhargavi V. L. Nirmal , Krishnaraj Ramaswamy
Published: September 2021

Silver nanoparticles in the range from 1 to 100 nm are widely used in industrial applications as catalysis, electronics, and photonics, and they have unique properties such as optical, electrical, and magnetic characteristics that can be used as antimicrobial, biosensor textile, cosmetics, composite fibers, and electronic components and to amend shelf life of food substances. The main objective of the present review was to focus on formulation methods of silver nanoparticles with recent advances and future aspects. Silver nanoparticle shows very high potential towards biological applications. Several physicals, chemical, and various biological techniques have been employed to synthesize and stabilize silver nanoparticles. For the manufacture of silver nanoparticles, multiple methods, including chemical simplification with different natural and inorganic decreasing agents, physicochemical reduction, electrochemical procedures, and radiolysis, are employed. Silver nanoparticles are the single most manufacturer-identified material that can be used in all nanotechnology products. They can be used in food packing polymers to enhance the shelf lifespan. The present review is aimed at different types of synthesis and details of silver nanoparticles used as drug delivery vehicles, antibacterial activity, toxicity, recent advances, and future aspects.
Impaired Cognitive Empathy in Outpatients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Zhang Hang-Bin , Ou Hang , Meng Dian-Huai , Lu Qian , Zhang Lei , Lu Xi , Yin Zhi-Fei , He Chuan , Shen Ying
Published: September 2021

Background. In recent years, a growing number of researchers showed significant interest in psychological and social interventions to manage chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. Cognitive and emotional empathy is an attractive and valuable sociopsychological factor that may provide protection and resilience against chronic MSK pain. However, its effect on outpatients remains underexplored. Objective. To compare the empathy ability between chronic MSK pain outpatients and healthy controls and explore the relationship between cognitive/emotional empathy and chronic pain. Methods. Patients with chronic MSK pain (

n
=
22

) and healthy controls (

n
=
26

) completed the pain assessment and empathy ability task, utilizing a multidimensional empathy assessment tool with satisfactory reliability and validity (i.e., the Chinese version of the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET-C)). Results. The data indicated that the chronic MSK pain outpatients had impaired cognitive empathy (i.e., lower squared cognitive empathy accuracy: Student’s

t
=
−
2.119

,

P
=
0.040

, and longer task completion time: Student’s

t
=
3.382

,

P
=
0.002

) compared to healthy controls, and cognitive empathy was negatively correlated with pain intensity (

r
=
−
0.614

,

P
=
0.002

). Further, the impaired cognitive empathy was present in identifying positive, but not negative emotions. Conclusion. These results indicate that chronic MSK pain is associated with impaired empathy ability. Our studies contribute to offering a potential direction for developing psychosocial interventions to treat chronic MSK pain.
Systematic Review of Setting‐Based Interventions for Preventing Childhood Obesity
Authors: Angawi Khadijah , Gaissi Anood
Published: September 2021

Introduction. Child obesity is recognized as one of the major public health problems globally, which demands multicomponent and comprehensive interventions. The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate, synthesize, and combine the existing evidence of various setting‐based interventions across developed and developing countries that aim to prevent childhood obesity. Methods. An electronic and systematic search was conducted on setting‐based interventions related to childhood obesity both in developed and developing countries. A study was considered eligible if it was a randomized controlled trial that focused on home‐based, school‐based, or community‐based intervention for childhood obesity and published in English from 2010 to 2020. A wide range of electronic bibliographic databases, such as PubMed, Medline, Embase, and ERIC were searched. The various studies were carried out among children aged 4‐18 years old. A total of 32 studies were identified; out of which 24 were school‐based interventions, and the remaining were nonschool‐based. Results. The studies in this review highlighted important school and nonschool‐based interventions to avoid obesity among children and adolescents. School‐based interventions that had considered both physical activity (PA) and diet along with home elements showed great effectiveness. These findings reveal that the specific intervention components such as nutrition education curriculum, prolonged time for PA, and upgrading self‐efficacy of study participants should be considered to prevent obesity across developed and developing countries. However, the findings from nonschool‐based interventions were restricted by the scarcity of the studies. Conclusion. Multisetting and multipronged strategies are required to avoid or reduce childhood obesity across the globe. However, additional studies are needed with a large sample size. Further study designs based on theory should be conducted in nonschool settings for the creation of meaningful and detailed guidelines that can support the prevention of obesity in children.
Thin Film Flow of Tangent Hyperbolic Fluid with Nonlinear Mixed Convection Flow and Entropy Generation
Authors: Ibrahim Wubshet , Gizewu Tezera
Published: September 2021

This paper examined the three-dimensional steady thin film flow of tangent hyperbolic fluid with nonlinear mixed convection flow and entropy generation past a stretching surface under the influence of magnetic field. For the flow problem, the Cattaneo–Christov heat and mass diffusion model was employed to examine heat and mass transfer characteristics and impacts of the normally directed magnetic field. To transform nonlinear PDEs into ODEs, the variable transformation technique was used. The bvp4c algorithm was implemented to solve these ODEs. The behavior of every leading parameter on the velocities, temperature, concentration profile, entropy generation, and Bejan number was reported with tabular and figurative form. The results show that as the values of Br increase, the entropy generation enhances, but the Bejan number decreases. Moreover, as the values of B increase, the opposite characteristics are observed in entropy generation and Bejan number graphs. Furthermore, the skin friction coefficient number, local Nusselt number, and Sherwood number are graphically discussed for the active involved parameters. The best agreement is recorded when we compare this paper with the previous literature for various values of

M

.
Experimental Study on Physical Similar Model of Fault Activation Law Based on Distributed Optical Fiber Monitoring
Authors: Zhang Dingding , Duan Yanyan , Du Wengang , Chai Jing
Published: September 2021

The impact ground pressure in coal mining is closely related to the fault structure, and the fault activation pattern is different when the working face advances along the upper and lower plates of the fault, respectively. In this paper, the F16 positive fault in the southern part of Yima coalfield is used as a prototype to carry out the physical similar model test simulating the process of the working face advancing from the upper and lower plates of the fault, and PPP‐BOTDA optical fiber sensing technique is used to study the overburden deformation law and fault activation law when the working face is located in the upper and lower plates of the fault, respectively. The study shows that the key stratum breakage is closely related to the fault movement, and the shear stress concentration range occurs within the key stratum. The additional shear stress concentration at the fault surface caused by the working face advancing in the lower plate is much larger than that at the upper plate, which is the reason for the serious fault destabilization phenomenon at the lower plate. The upper rock layer on the fault face is affected by the mining action of the working face before the lower one, and the working face is affected by the fault in a larger range when advances in the lower plate than that in the upper plate, and the risk of fault activation instability occurs earlier when the working face advances in the lower plate than that in the upper plate. The distributed optical fiber sensing technology is used to verify the basic conclusions that the impact of the working face advancing from the lower plate is much greater than that from the upper plate, which is more likely to cause fault activation. The preferential placement of the working face in the upper plate in the fault area will be beneficial to mine pressure control. The results of the study provide an experimental basis for the application of distributed optical fiber sensing technology to the study of fault activation law.
Design and Investigation of a Nonlinear Damper Based on Energy Dissipation through Shock and Dry Friction to Suppress Critical Self‐Excited Vibrations in Drilling Systems
Authors: Kulke Vincent , Ostermeyer Georg-Peter , Hohl Andreas
Published: September 2021

In this paper, a passive damper based on energy dissipation through shock and dry friction (shock‐friction damper) is investigated regarding its design and effectiveness for damping self‐excited torsional vibrations similar to those occurring in deep drilling. The results are compared to the results of conventional friction dampers. The effectiveness of the damper for different operational drilling parameters that change during the drilling process, such as the weight on the bit and the rotary speed of the bit, is analyzed. Two linear reduced order models of a drill string that are based on a complex finite element model are set up. One is reduced using the component mode synthesis and one is reduced to the identified critical mode. A lumped mass represents the inertia of a forcedly connected nonlinear damper. A combined reduced order model of the complex system and the inertia damper is introduced to investigate its dynamic motion and stability. Particular focus is on the energy flow within the dynamic system and on the change of the dissipation energy in the contact. A semi‐analytical solution is derived using the harmonic balance method that is used to investigate the damping effect for various designs and operational parameters. Herein, the modal properties as well as parameters of the damper are examined regarding the damping effect and the stability of the system. Finally, the capability of the mechanism to suppress the self‐excitation due to the bit–rock interaction in a drilling system is discussed, and recommendations are made with respect to the design parameters and placement of the damper.
Orthodontic, Maxillofacial Surgery, and Prosthodontic Rehabilitation Supported by Miniscrew in a Patient with Cleft Lip and Palate
Authors: De Stefani Alberto , Bruno Giovanni , Barone Martina , Gracco Antonio
Published: September 2021

Aim. This paper is aimed at reporting the clinical case of a patient with cleft lip and palate treated with a multidisciplinary approach. Case Report. An 11-year-old patient presented cleft lip and palate, with persistent oronasal communication, tooth displacement, and upper and lower crowding with a deep curve of Spee. He was treated with metal bracket orthodontic therapy, graft surgery, and prosthetic rehabilitation supported by miniscrews. Conclusions. Cleft lip and/or palate patients require adequate management of the case to resolve the anomalies connected to their condition and to improve their quality of life.
Hierarchical Attention‐Based Multimodal Fusion Network for Video Emotion Recognition
Authors: Liu Xiaodong , Li Songyang , Wang Miao
Published: September 2021

The context, such as scenes and objects, plays an important role in video emotion recognition. The emotion recognition accuracy can be further improved when the context information is incorporated. Although previous research has considered the context information, the emotional clues contained in different images may be different, which is often ignored. To address the problem of emotion difference between different modes and different images, this paper proposes a hierarchical attention‐based multimodal fusion network for video emotion recognition, which consists of a multimodal feature extraction module and a multimodal feature fusion module. The multimodal feature extraction module has three subnetworks used to extract features of facial, scene, and global images. Each subnetwork consists of two branches, where the first branch extracts the features of different modes, and the other branch generates the emotion score for each image. Features and emotion scores of all images in a modal are aggregated to generate the emotion feature of the modal. The other module takes multimodal features as input and generates the emotion score for each modal. Finally, features and emotion scores of multiple modes are aggregated, and the final emotion representation of the video will be produced. Experimental results show that our proposed method is effective on the emotion recognition dataset.
Effect of Acupuncture on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Animal Models: A Systematic Review
Authors: Li Yan , Zhang Lijia , Gao Jinjin , Yan Jun , Feng Xue , He Xiting , Jin Hong , Li Xinyu , Cui Zhengyi , Zhao Junfei , Liu Fengyi , Liu Xiaowai , Liu Yongfei , Ren Wan , Liu Songjiang
Published: September 2021

Background. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders among women of reproductive age. As a widely used complementary and alternative therapy, acupuncture is increasingly used to treat PCOS. However, the effect of acupuncture in treating PCOS is uncertain, and the mechanisms are unclear. This systematic review aims to determine the efficacy of acupuncture on PCOS in animal preclinical models. Methods. Experimental animal studies of acupuncture in PCOS animal models were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database from inception to December 2020. The risk of bias was assessed using the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) risk of bias tool. Results. A total of 358 studies were screened based on the title and abstract, and 31 studies were included. A total of 722 animals were involved, and all studies used either Wistar rats or SD rats. Twenty-six studies used electroacupuncture, 9 studies used manual acupuncture, and 5 of them employed both electroacupuncture and manual acupuncture. A total of 22 acupoints were involved; 7 studies followed the modern acupuncture pattern, and the rest followed classic acupuncture theory. Conclusions. The present review summarizes the current evidence of the effects of acupuncture on PCOS in animal models. Unfortunately, we could not draw a definite conclusion due to the methodological weakness of the included studies and the high heterogeneity. Well-designed studies are needed in the future to fill this gap.
[Retracted] Application of Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm in Uncertain Logistics Transportation Scheduling
Authors: Yuan Yunmei , Li Hongyu , Ji Lili
Published: September 2021

Nowadays, finding the optimal route for vehicles through online vehicle path planning is one of the main problems that the logistics industry needs to solve. Due to the uncertainty of the transportation system, especially the last‐mile delivery problem of small packages in uncertain logistics transportation, the calculation of logistics vehicle routing planning becomes more complex than before. Most of the existing solutions are less applied to new technologies such as machine learning, and most of them use a heuristic algorithm. This kind of solution not only needs to set a lot of constraints but also requires much calculation time in the logistics network with high demand density. To design the uncertain logistics transportation path with minimum time, this paper proposes a new optimization strategy based on deep reinforcement learning that converts the uncertain online logistics routing problems into vehicle path planning problems and designs an embedded pointer network for obtaining the optimal solution. Considering the long time to solve the neural network, it is unrealistic to train parameters through supervised data. This article uses an unsupervised method to train the parameters. Because the process of parameter training is offline, this strategy can avoid the high delay. Through the simulation part, it is not difficult to see that the strategy proposed in this paper will effectively solve the uncertain logistics scheduling problem under the limited computing time, and it is significantly better than other strategies. Compared with traditional mathematical procedures, the algorithm proposed in this paper can reduce the driving distance by 60.71%. In addition, this paper also studies the impact of some key parameters on the effect of the program.
The Nearer, the Better? The Impact of Cultural and Geographic Distance on Crowdfunding Project Attractiveness
Authors: Fan Hui , Gao Teng , Liu Shuman
Published: September 2021

Information asymmetry between backers and project creators impedes the crowdfunding success. Consequently, creators usually rely on various information to alleviate information asymmetry. Particularly, the location information of both backers and creators embodies their geographic and cultural distance, which may affect crowdfunding project attractiveness. Whereas current literature almost ignores the role cultural distance in crowdfunding, this research focuses on the reward-based crowdfunding, so that it becomes salient to form the appreciation and judgment of the innovative, creative, or artistic nature of projects. Meanwhile, geographic distance is examined to join the debates between flat world hypothesis and home bias proposition. A series of econometric models are examined based on a sample of 264 fundraising projects collected from Kitckstarter.com through Python program. Results show that cultural distance exerts a U-shape effect, which initially impedes the crowdfunding performance but promote projects when large enough. Geographic distance generally exerts insignificant impact on crowdfunding performance. Furthermore, cultural and geographic distance exerts the asymmetric effects on experienced versus new backers. This article underscores the important implications of cultural distance on reward-based crowdfunding. By showing the differential effects of cultural and geographic distance on experience versus new backers, it empirically infers the social capital as the underlying mechanism.
Utterance Clustering Using Stereo Audio Channels
Authors: Dong Yingjun , MacLaren Neil G. , Cao Yiding , Yammarino Francis J. , Dionne Shelley D. , Mumford Michael D. , Connelly Shane , Sayama Hiroki , Ruark Gregory A.
Published: September 2021

Utterance clustering is one of the actively researched topics in audio signal processing and machine learning. This study aims to improve the performance of utterance clustering by processing multichannel (stereo) audio signals. Processed audio signals were generated by combining left‐ and right‐channel audio signals in a few different ways and then by extracting the embedded features (also called d‐vectors) from those processed audio signals. This study applied the Gaussian mixture model for supervised utterance clustering. In the training phase, a parameter‐sharing Gaussian mixture model was obtained to train the model for each speaker. In the testing phase, the speaker with the maximum likelihood was selected as the detected speaker. Results of experiments with real audio recordings of multiperson discussion sessions showed that the proposed method that used multichannel audio signals achieved significantly better performance than a conventional method with mono‐audio signals in more complicated conditions.
Geospatial Multicriteria Analysis for Earthquake Risk Assessment: Case Study of Fujairah City in the UAE
Authors: Al-Dogom Diena , Al-Ruzouq Rami , Kalantar Bahareh , Schuckman Karen , Al-Mansoori Saeed , Mukherjee Sunanda , Al-Ahmad Hussain , Ueda Naonori
Published: September 2021

A clear understanding of the spatial distribution of earthquake events facilitates the prediction of seismicity and vulnerability among researchers in the social, physical, environmental, and demographic aspects. Generally, there are few studies on seismic risk assessment in United Arab Emirates (UAE) within the geographic information system (GIS) platform. Former researches and recent news events have demonstrated that the eastern part of the country experiences jolts of 3‐5 magnitude, specifically near Fujairah city and surrounding towns. This study builds on previous research on the seismic hazard that extracted the eastern part of the UAE as the most hazard‐prone zone. Therefore, this study develops an integrated analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and machine learning (ML) for risk mapping considering eight geospatial parameters—distance from shoreline, schools, hospitals, roads, residences, streams, confined area, and confined area slope. Experts’ opinions and literature reviews were the basis of the AHP ranking and weighting system. To validate the AHP system, support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF) classifiers were applied to the datasets. The datasets were split into 60 : 40 ratio for training and testing. Results show that SVM has the highest accuracy of 79.6% compared to DT and RF with a “predicted high” precision of 87.5% attained from the model. Risk maps from both AHP and ML approaches were developed and compared. Risk analysis was categorised into 5 classes “very high,” “high,” “moderate,” “low,” and “very low.” Both approaches modelled relatable spatial patterns as risk‐prone zones. AHP approach concluded 3.6% as “very high” risk zone, whereas only 0.3% of total area was identified from ML. The total area for the “very high” (20 km2) and “high” (114 km2) risk was estimated from ML approach.
The Value of Combining Carbon Dioxide Gap and Oxygen-Derived Variables with Lactate Clearance in Predicting Mortality after Resuscitation of Septic Shock Patients
Authors: Ahmed Walid , Laimoud Mohamed
Published: September 2021

Background. Achieving hemodynamic stabilization does not prevent progressive tissue hypoperfusion and organ dysfunction during resuscitation of septic shock patients. Many indicators have been proposed to judge the optimization of oxygen delivery to meet tissue oxygen consumption. Methods. A prospective observational study was conducted to evaluate and validate combining CO2 gap and oxygen-derived variables with lactate clearance during early hours of resuscitation of adults presenting with septic shock. Results. Our study included 456 adults with a mean age of 63.2 ± 6.9 years, with 71.9% being males. Respiratory and urinary infections were the origin of about 75% of sepsis. Mortality occurred in 164 (35.9%) patients. The APACHE II score was 18.2 ± 3.7 versus 34.3 ± 6.8 (

p
<
0.001

), the initial SOFA score was 5.8 ± 3.1 versus 7.3 ± 1.4 (

p
=
0.001

), while the SOFA score after 48 hours was 4.2 ± 1.8 versus 9.4 ± 3.1 (

p
<
0.001

) in the survivors and nonsurvivors, respectively. Hospital mortality was independently predicted by hyperlactatemia (OR: 2.47; 95% CI: 1.63–6.82,

p
=
0.004

), PvaCO2 gap (OR: 2.62; 95% CI: 1.28–6.74,

p
=
0.026

), PvaCO2/CavO2 ratio (OR: 2.16; 95% CI: 1.49–5.74,

p
=
0.006

), and increased SOFA score after 48 hours of admission (OR: 1.86; 95% CI: 1.36–8.13,

p
=
0.02

). A blood lactate cutoff of 40 mg/dl at the 6th hour of resuscitation (T6) had a 92.7% sensitivity and 75.3% specificity for predicting hospital mortality (AUROC = 0.902) with 81.6% accuracy. Combining the lactate cutoff of 40 mg/dl and PvaCO2/CavO2 ratio cutoff of 1.4 increased the specificity to 93.2% with a sensitivity of 75.6% in predicting mortality and with 86.8% accuracy. Combining the lactate cutoff of 40 mg/dl and PvaCO2 gap of 6 mmHg increased the sensitivity to 93% and increased the specificity to 98% in predicting mortality with 91% accuracy. Conclusion. Combining the carbon dioxide gap and arteriovenous oxygen difference with lactate clearance during early hours of resuscitation of septic shock patients helps to predict hospital mortality more accurately.
Technical Composition and Creation of Interactive Installation Art Works under the Background of Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Cao Yuan , Han Zhi , Kong Rui , Zhang Canlin , Xie Qiu
Published: September 2021

Interactive installation art is a kind of art that uses specific software and computer hardware as a platform, a platform for interaction between humans and machines or different people through computer hardware. It is an interactive art that uses material installations in nature as a medium. Traditional interactive installation art is not safe and convenient, in order to solve the shortcomings of traditional interactive installation art. This article introduces artificial intelligence technology by studying the overview, development, and application of artificial intelligence. The encryption algorithm for artificial intelligence data protection and the BP neural network prediction model under artificial intelligence are also introduced to ensure the safety of interactive installation art works. The part also introduces the creation tools and creation process of interactive installation art works. Finally, in the analysis part, a questionnaire analysis of the World Expo is carried out. The results of this article show that the art of connecting inserts is the most complete and open design era. Advances in science and technology, the development of digital art, and the needs of human life have led to the development of interconnected input technologies. In addition, in the survey of people’s satisfaction with artificial intelligence, we can conclude that 89% of people think that the security of artificial intelligence technology is very high. Yes, 92% of people think that artificial intelligence technology has a fast computing speed, 86% of people think that artificial intelligence technology is low in cost.
Appropriateness of the Empirical Antibiotics Prescribed and Their Concordance with National Guidelines for Three Selected Infections among Cancer Patients in a Tertiary Care Centre in Sri Lanka
Authors: Chathuranga Gayashan , Dissanayake Thushari , Fernando Neluka , Wanigatunge Chandanie
Published: September 2021

Background. Prophylactic and empirical antibiotic use is essential in cancer patients due to the underlying immune deficiencies. We examined the spectrum of causative bacteria and the appropriateness of empirical antibiotic prescription for three selected infections in cancer patients. Methodology. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Institute of Cancer (NIC), Sri Lanka, from June 2018 to February 2019. Bacterial isolates obtained from adult cancer patients with a diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI), or urinary tract infections (UTI) were included. Causative bacteria were identified and the antibiotic susceptibility was determined by standard microbiological methods. Empirical therapy was defined as appropriate if the isolated pathogen was susceptible in vitro to the given antibiotic. Results. A total of 155 bacterial isolates were included in the analysis. LRTI were the most prevalent infections (37.2%, 55/148) encountered during the study period. Majority (90.9%) of the isolated bacteria were ESKAPE pathogens. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most frequent pathogen causing LRTI (42.4%, 25/59), whereas Escherichia coli (32%, 16/50) and Staphylococcus aureus (26.1%, 12/46) predominated in UTI and SSTI, respectively. Meropenem was the most prescribed empirical antibiotic for LRTI (29.1%, 16/55) and SSTI (26.6%, 11/43) while it was ceftazidime for UTI (36%, 18/50). Only 20.6% (32/155) of the isolated bacteria were susceptible to the empirical antibiotic prescribed while 48.4% (75/155) were resistant to them. The prescribed empirical antibiotic did not have the spectrum of activity for the isolated bacteria in 29% (45/155) of cases. Conclusion. High resistance rates were observed against the prescribed empirical antibiotics. National empirical antibiotic guidelines should be revised with updated data on causative organisms and their susceptibility patterns to ensure appropriate empirical antibiotic prescription.
A Deep Multimodal Model for Predicting Affective Responses Evoked by Movies Based on Shot Segmentation
Authors: Wang Chunxiao , Zhang Jingjing , Jiang Wei , Wang Shuang
Published: September 2021

Predicting the emotions evoked in a viewer watching movies is an important research element in affective video content analysis over a wide range of applications. Generally, the emotion of the audience is evoked by the combined effect of the audio-visual messages of the movies. Current research has mainly used rough middle- and high-level audio and visual features to predict experienced emotions, but combining semantic information to refine features to improve emotion prediction results is still not well studied. Therefore, on the premise of considering the time structure and semantic units of a movie, this paper proposes a shot-based audio-visual feature representation method and a long short-term memory (LSTM) model incorporating a temporal attention mechanism for experienced emotion prediction. First, the shot-based audio-visual feature representation defines a method for extracting and combining audio and visual features of each shot clip, and the advanced pretraining models in the related audio-visual tasks are used to extract the audio and visual features with different semantic levels. Then, four components are included in the prediction model: a nonlinear multimodal feature fusion layer, a temporal feature capture layer, a temporal attention layer, and a sentiment prediction layer. This paper focuses on experienced emotion prediction and evaluates the proposed method on the extended COGNIMUSE dataset. The method performs significantly better than the state-of-the-art while significantly reducing the number of calculations, with increases in the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) from 0.46 to 0.62 for arousal and from 0.18 to 0.34 for valence in experienced emotion.
Trigonelline Extends the Lifespan of C. Elegans and Delays the Progression of Age‐Related Diseases by Activating AMPK, DAF‐16, and HSF‐1
Authors: Zeng Wen-Yu , Tan Lin , Han Cong , Zheng Zhuo-Ya , Wu Gui-Sheng , Luo Huai-Rong , Li Su-Lian
Published: September 2021

Trigonelline is the main alkaloid with bioactivity presented in fenugreek, which was used in traditional medicine in Asian countries for centuries. It is reported that trigonelline has anti‐inflammatory, anti‐oxidant, and anti‐pathogenic effects. We are wondering whether trigonelline have anti‐aging effect. We found that 50 μM of trigonelline had the best anti‐aging activity and could prolong the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) by about 17.9%. Trigonelline can enhance the oxidative, heat, and pathogenic stress resistance of C. elegans. Trigonelline could also delay the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as AD, PD, and HD, in models of C. elegans. Trigonelline could not prolong the lifespan of long‐lived worms with loss‐of‐function mutations in genes regulating energy and nutrition, such as clk-1, isp-1, eat-2, and rsks-1. Trigonelline requires daf-16, hsf-1, and aak-2 to extend the lifespan of C. elegans. Trigonelline can also up‐regulate the expression of daf-16 and hsf-1 targeted downstream genes, such as sod-3, gst-4, hsp-16.1, and hsp-12.6. Our results can be the basis for developing trigonelline‐rich products with health benefits, as well as for further research on the pharmacological usage of trigonelline.
Intelligent Algorithm-Based Analysis on Ultrasound Image Characteristics of Patients with Lower Extremity Arteriosclerosis Occlusion and Its Correlation with Diabetic Mellitus Foot
Authors: Wu YunShuang , Shen Yan , Sun Hailing
Published: September 2021

Objective. The study focused on the correlation between lower extremity arteriosclerosis and diabetic mellitus (DM) foot, and it was explored by virtue of ultrasound images processed by an intelligent algorithm. Methods. A total of 60 DM foot patients admitted to our hospital in the past three years were selected and divided into two groups according to their condition. Patients with DM foot alone were in group B (30 cases), and patients with DM foot combined with lower extremity arteriosclerosis occlusion were in group C (30 cases). 30 healthy people were in group A as a control. Color Doppler ultrasound was used to examine the arteries of the lower extremities of all subjects. It the intramedia thickness (IMT) from the femoral artery to the dorsal foot artery was recorded, whether there was plaque in the artery or knowing the size of the plaque, its echo, and distribution, and whether the artery had stenosis. Next, the stenosis percentage was calculated. Additionally, the general information of patients was analyzed. At the same time, an intelligent algorithm was used to process ultrasound images, and its effects on image quality were evaluated. Results. Doppler ultrasound images processed by Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) had less noise and better quality, and key information about the lesion was clearly displayed. There was no statistical difference between the general data of the three groups of patients; group B and group C had higher IMT value, plaque incidence, arterial stenosis incidence, and degree of stenosis versus group A, and there were statistically significant differences between groups B and C. In particular, the incidence of femoral artery stenosis and the degree of stenosis were significantly higher in group C than in group B. The rate of stenosis above grade I in group C was as high as 71%, while that in group B was only 19%; in Group C, the incidence of stenosis above grade II was 30%, and that in group B was 13.1%. Compared with group A, group B and group C had decreased peak arterial blood velocity (PSV), resistance index (RI), and pulse index (PI), and there were statistically significant differences between groups B and C. Conclusion. DM foot is a risk factor for arteriosclerosis occlusion; color Doppler ultrasound demonstrates good diagnostic effects on arteriosclerosis occlusion; the algorithm proposed in this study can improve the quality of Doppler ultrasound images and has a high application value.