bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sliding Mode Control of VTOL System
Authors: Jacob Jerry , Selva Kumar S
Published: November 2019

QUANSER QNET 2.0 Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) system is a hardware device setup developed by National Instruments to study flight dynamics and vertical take-off and landing control. It has a DC Motor fan and adjustable counter weight. This is used exclusively for NI-ELVIS platform and LabVIEW software. The LabVIEW software is used to identify the model of the system by the method of best fit. The obtained second order model is tested for the open loop response using MATLAB SIMULINK. The various control methods like Proporional+Integral+Velocity (PIV) and Sliding Mode Control (SMC) are used to find the response of the system. It is found that the sliding mode controller provides better results compared to the PIV controller. Along with this, the actuator control is done using PI controller and it’s response along with the system is analyzed and compared for both PIV and Sliding Mode Controller.
Strain dependent hysteresis in XNBR-CNT nanocomposites
Authors: Manoj N R , Sasikumar K. , Jayesh P , Mukundan T.
Published: November 2019

Advanced nanocomposites are in the focus now owing to their prominently enhanced properties that can be designed even at low filler loading. The current literature has not much explored the application of nanocomposites for vibration damping applications – especially the impact of transient strain effects.This study focusses on the effect of incorporation of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) in carboxylated nitrile rubber (XNBR) and the effect of applied strain and volume fraction of MWNT on the damping properties, as studied in a universal testing machine in tensile and compression modes.In the compression mode, the percent damping decreases initially up to 0.5 vf of MWNT and then increases and remains constant. The percent damping varies from 16-35%. In the tensile mode, the damping increases continuously with increasing nanofiller content, with percent damping varying from 22-38%. The results indicate that the same nanocomposite behaves differently depending on the type and amount of strain, especially where the damping is important as in the case of vibration isolation and vibration damping applications.
Effectiveness of corrosion resistance of strontium and barium coated rebars – a preliminary comparative study
Authors: Ananthkumar M , Mini K M
Published: November 2019

Pigments produced using core shell methods are getting popular nowadays in corrosion resistance of reinforcement bars which are embedded inside the concrete. Present paper reports the comparison of corrosion resistance offered by pigments prepared using strontium and barium phosphate and coated over a reinforcement bar (rebar). Performance of nine rebars of diameter 12 mm coated using epoxy, strontium phosphate (SP) and barium phosphate (BP) in three different accelerated corrosion mediums such as 3.5 weight % NaCl solution, saturated calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 solution and 1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution have been studied. Various tests such as elcometer analysis, open circuit potential measurement, half-cell potential measurement and EIS were conducted and the results were recorded. The results of these tests showed that the strontium phosphate shows a better corrosion resistance compared with barium and epoxy coating.
Biomass derived functional carbon from Sargassum Wightii seaweed for supercapacitors
Authors: Divya P. , Prithiba A. , Rajalakshmi R.
Published: November 2019

In this present work, microporous functional carbon is prepared by a single step pyrolysis method of driedSargassumWightiiseaweeds (SW) as crushed powder without activation and tested for supercapacitors. Although the complete study presented here on seaweeds ofSargassumWightii(SW), the synthesis technique is standard and relevant to most forms of dried biomass. The morphological studies were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy (RAMAN), field emission scanning microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The behaviour of the functional carbon were performed by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge and discharge (CD) and Impedance analysis. In aqueous electrolyte (1M H2SO4), by using three-electrode system shows highest capacitance of 354 F/g. Furthermore, it was observed that the carbonized temperature has significant role in the electrochemical performance, as the carbonized sample at 700°C showed best activity compared to the samples carbonized at 800°C and 900°C without any external activation. The electrochemical act obviously shows that the carbon produced from dried SW seaweeds can be used as a favourable material for electrodes in the application of supercapacitors.
Optimisation of system parameters for the removal of Metformin in a photocatalytic reactor employing TiO2
Authors: Chinnaiyan Prakash , Thampi S G , Bharath Krishnaa AC , Sasi Malavika , Tejashwi L
Published: November 2019

There is strong evidence that presence of emerging contaminants in environment including pharmaceutical compounds at very dilute concentration have deteriorating effects on various species. In general the concentration of these pollutants detected in environment ranges between ng/L to μg/L, but their concentration is elevated (mg/L) in the point sources including pharmaceutical industrial effluent. In India, highest concentration of Ciproflaxin (31 mg/L) was reported in the effluent from a generic medicine production centre in Hyderabad. To improve the removal of these emerging contaminants, pre-treatment of the highly concentrated pharmaceutical wastewater can be done before it is let into a domestic waste water treatment plant. In this work, treatment of synthetic pharmaceutical industry effluent containing critical pharmaceutical contaminants (PC) Metformin employing a photocatalytic system was investigated. Chosen factors include concentrations of contaminants (50 – 100 mg/L), TiO2 dosage (500 – 1000 mg/L) and reaction time (10-30 min). MINITAB software was employed to perform the standard regression analysis and the corresponding second-order polynomial equation was constructed between the chosen response (contaminant removal) and the three factors.
Design and performance analysis of 6T SRAM cell on different CMOS technologies with stability characterization
Authors: Saun Shikha , Kumar Hemant
Published: November 2019

With the advent of portable devices, the demand for static random-access memory (SRAM) is increasing with large use of SRAM in System on Chip and high-performance VLSI circuits. SRAM optimization has become a focal point for research work, as 60% to 70% area of the chip is consumed by the memories. The performance parameters optimization can lead to the overall optimization of the performance of the chip. In this paper design and analysis of the 6T SRAM cell at different technologies using PTM (Predictive Technology Model) model has done with the aim of reducing power dissipation while maintaining stability. Then the performance of SRAM cell is compared on the basis of power dissipation i.e. dynamic power dissipation and static power dissipation, delay, Power Delay Product (PDP) and Static Noise Margin (SNM).SRAM cell read stability and write-stability are major concerns in nanometer CMOS technologies, due to the progressive increase in intra-die variability and Vdd scaling. Cell stability is also examined by the calculation of SNM with the help of the butterfly curve method at different CMOS technologies. Effect of variation of channel length on static power consumption, dynamic power consumption, delay, PDP and SNM is also measured. SNM variation is also observed with the variation of the supply voltage.
Experimental study on mechanical properties of modified concrete prepared with M-sand, Silica fume and Steel fiber
Authors: Yeshwanthi Roy S , Thiagarajan K , Umamaheswari N
Published: November 2019

This experimental study is aimed at finding the effect of reducing the usage of conventional materials for concrete. The mechanical properties of modified concrete prepared with manufactured sand (M-sand), silica fume and steel fiber are tested and compared with that of conventional concrete. For modified concrete, cement is replaced by silica fume, river sand by manufactured sand and steel fibers are also added. The objective of using M-sand is to reduce the usage of river sand as it is becoming uneconomical in the field of construction. The benefits of using silica fume is to increase the strength of concrete. Steel fibers are added to concrete to increase the tensile strength of concrete. The percentage replacement of river sand by M sand is 40%, cement by silica fume is 5% and hooked end fibers are added at 0.6% to concrete mix during concrete mix preparations. The optimum value of % replacement is decided with the results obtained and it can be concluded that the use of unconventional materials in production of concrete can be encouraged.
An IoT Solution for Cattle Health Monitoring
Authors: Suresh Akhila , Sarath T V
Published: November 2019

Animal husbandry is an increasingly popular business where cattle are nurtured for food and other products. The productivity of cattle farms is largely affected by the health conditions of the cattle. Cattle with a communicable disease can drastically bring down the productivity of the whole farm. So it is highly recommended to identify unhealthy cattle. In this context IoT can contribute a lot in terms of developing an autonomous system for health monitoring of cattle. A system is developed in this work consisting of data gathering, mobile nodes and IoT cloud platform. The data gathering node is provided with various sensors to sense the health parameters of the cattle and these data gets transmitted to the mobile node with the TDMA scheme in order to prevent data collision. The mobile node acts a gateway to the IoT cloud platform where data analytics on the sensor data is carried out to identify unhealthy cattle and the owner of the farm and the vet gets notified.
Automated Melanoma Recognition in Dermoscopy Images via Very Deep Residual Networks
Authors: Prathiba M , Jose Deepa , Saranya R , Nandhinidevi
Published: November 2019

Automated melanoma recognition using image processing technique from the available dermoscopic images in deep learning is difficult task because of the contrast and variation of melanoma in skin. It is mainly a non-invasive method so that it cannot contact with skin more forcefully. To overcome these disadvantages this research work proposes a method using very deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs). For more accurate classification in this method we are using FCRN and CNN with the effective training limited data. Initially, Performance of Segmentation is done using residual networks using a image from the dataset followed by Classification by neural networks to check the abnormalities in skin. In this kind of classification technique the network has more specified features from the segmented portion alone. The proposed technique is mainly evaluated on datasets and experimental results that would show the performance in histogram and PSNR ratio.
Segregation of Plastic and Non-plastic Waste using Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Tarun Kancharla , Sreelakshmi K , Peeyush K P
Published: November 2019

Due to industrialization and urbanization the rapid rise in the volumeand amount of hazardous waste and the disposal of it is becoming a burgeoning problem that the world is facing today. One of the best ways out for this problem is to collect, sort and reuse or recycle these waste. So this paper proposes an architecture which sorts waste materials into plastic and non-plastic using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). CNN is one among the efficient machine learning techniques, which is able to provide maximum learning efficiency. This technique requires less parameter for training compared to the standard neural network. A dataset of waste materials required for our setup is collected. They are trained and tested using CNN. The proposed architecture with CNN gives an accuracy of 0.978. The proposed design also consists of a prototype, which acts as a real-time classifier. This system reduces the human efforts in separating plastics from non-plastics.
Remote monitoring of BLDC motor using LabVIEW and zigbee
Authors: Vaishakh J K , Vanitha V
Published: November 2019

Brushless DC motors (BLDC) are preferred over brushed motors in industries because of many advantages such as increased reliability, reduced noise, higher speed range, better speed-torque characteristics, higher efficiency and high torque to weight ratio. This paper focuses on the remote monitoring of parameters of BLDC motor such as Temperature, Voltage, Current and Speed using Zigbee wireless technology and virtual instrumentation tool, LabVIEW. The results shown during the tests are accurate and the low-cost system is able to efficiently transmit the parameters remotely using ZigBee and display them on the LabVIEW front panel. The system can be of great importance in industries as it is not possible to manually access the motors functioning in hazardous environment. This system can also be used for predictive maintenance where the parameters monitored can be used to study the lifetime of the motor. The hardware requirements of the system are Arduino Microcontroller, two Zigbee (one as coordinator and other as end device), BLDC motor, an optical encoder for determining the speed of the motor, LM35 Temperature sensor for measuring the temperature, Current transducer, ACS712, for measuring the input current and Voltage transformer for stepping down the voltage before giving the input to Arduino to measure the voltage.
Design and implementation of framework for higher education enrolment through ICT enabled application using JEE
Authors: Hegde Vinayak , Rashmi Nayak S , Charitha S
Published: November 2019

Education is a vital tool for a country’s economic growth. The growing competence in the world has increased the demand in the tertiary education sector. As a result, the higher education enrollment process becomes tedious and time-consuming. A lot of educational institutions face issues in the enrollment process. For instance, analysing the huge data of various student demographics, grouping similarities, finding loopholes, determining the categories etc. Therefore, an analytical framework serves as a tool for a reliable and efficient enrollment process. The design and implementation of the framework for higher education enrollment through ICT enabled applications using JEE stands as a vanguard technology. The framework contains an academic dashboard with statistical representations of various categories of the enrolled student’s data, generating daily matrix reports, Google API visualizations for quicker understanding and also a counselor ranking which depicts the success rate of each counselor etc. By harnessing accurate parameters like the number of walk-ins, the number of walk-ins but not purchased applications, applications purchased but not submitted, submitted but not enrolled etc. institutions can enroll the optimal number of students. In addition, tracking enrollment trends over time provide institutions with a better glimpse of the huge data and helps them in better and effective decision making resulting in an increased reputation of the institutions. This paper focuses on data capturing through the ICT enabled an application that is developed. Based on the data captured, analysis and decisions are made.
Frequency domain analysis for the classification of parkinson’s disease patients
Authors: Kamalraj S , Rejith K N , Prasanna Venkatesan G K D
Published: November 2019

In this paper, Emotional recognition in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been analyzed in frequency domain using Entropy, Energy-Entropy and Teager Energy-Entropy features. Classification results were observed using three classifiers namely Probabilistic Neural Network, K-Nearest Neighbors Algorithm and Support Vector Machine. Emotional EEG stimuli such as happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust were used to categorize the PD patients and healthy controls (HC). For each EEG signal, the alpha, beta and gamma band frequency features are obtained for three different feature extraction methods (Spectral Entropy, Spectral Energy-Entropy, and Spectral Teager Energy-Entropy). The proposed Spectral Energy–Entropy feature performs well for all six emotions for different classifiers when compared to other features, whereas different features with classifiers give variant results for few emotions with highest accuracy of 96.8%.
Design and analysis of a new axial flux permanent magnet synchronous generator for wind
Authors: Antipov V N , Grozov A D , Ivanova A V
Published: November 2019

The paper deals with a new design of a low-speed disk permanent magnet axial flux synchronous machine for decentralized power generation, which has improved weight-size parameters. In the new design the value of the air gap value is reduced by removing all inter-coil connections from the gap and also a concentrated winding with a high winding coefficient is applied. A two-rotor prototype of this design is created (150 W, 83 V, 250 rpm) and its magnetic circuit and the concentrated windings arrangement are described, as well as the results of the machine experimental study. The 2D finite element analysis is used to determine the effect of the air gap value effect on the disk slotless generator parameters. The method of rational choice of the machine main dimensions and the parameters of its winding according to nominal data and electromagnetic loads limitations are presented. Comparison of parameters and characteristics of a 20-pole-pair 5 kW synchronous wind generator with the new design and cylindrical one with tangential magnetization is performed. The proposed slotless design exceeds the cylindrical one in efficiency and requires less material costs. The limitations are the higher value of the outer machine diameter and the required large magnets mass.
Natural ferruginous manganese ore as a potential low-cost adsorbent for Congo red dye removal from aqueous solution
Authors: Shah Khizar Hussain , Ghafoor Abdul , Fahad Muhammad , Ali Sajjad , Ahmad Haroon
Published: November 2019

In the present work adsorption characteristics of natural ferruginous manganese ore (FMO) was investigated to assess its potential as an efficient and economic adsorbent for Congo red (CR) dye removal from the aqueous solutions. The characterization of FMO was initially performed using different analytical techniques of XRD, XRF, SEM-EDS, FTIR and pH PZC. The effects of different adsorption parameters, such as, pH, adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, contact time and temperature were further investigated in detail. The equilibrium time required to reach maximum uptake was noted at 90 min with 83% removal efficiency. The mean free adsorption energy (E) estimated using D-R model was 1.12 kJ.mol−1 indicating the physical adsorption of CR on FMO. The adsorption data showed a good fitting to the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second order kinetic model with higher regression-coefficient (R2). The adsorption process thermodynamics parameters (∆H, ∆S and ∆G) revealed endothermic and spontaneous nature of reaction accompanied by entropical changes occurred at solid-solution interface. The maximum adsorption capacity of FMO was observed to be 76.9 mg g−1 which is well comparable to the values reported in literature. It is necessary to mention that we are reporting first time the potential of FMO as adsorbent for CR removal and results would be of great importance for the application of FMO for environmental decontamination.
Predators’ consumption of unpalatable prey does not vary as a function of bitter taste perception
Authors: Hämäläinen Liisa , Mappes Johanna , Thorogood Rose , Valkonen Janne K , Karttunen Kaijamari , Salmi Tuuli , Rowland Hannah M
Published: November 2019

Many prey species contain defensive chemicals that are described as tasting bitter. Bitter taste perception is, therefore, assumed to be important when predators are learning about prey defenses. However, it is not known how individuals differ in their response to bitter taste, and how this influences their foraging decisions. We conducted taste perception assays in which wild-caught great tits (Parus major) were given water with increasing concentrations of bitter-tasting chloroquine diphosphate until they showed an aversive response to bitter taste. This response threshold was found to vary considerably among individuals, ranging from chloroquine concentrations of 0.01 mmol/L to 8 mmol/L. We next investigated whether the response threshold influenced the consumption of defended prey during avoidance learning by presenting birds with novel palatable and defended prey in a random sequence until they refused to attack defended prey. We predicted that individuals with taste response thresholds at lower concentrations would consume fewer defended prey before rejecting them, but found that the response threshold had no effect on the birds’ foraging choices. Instead, willingness to consume defended prey was influenced by the birds’ body condition. This effect was age- and sex-dependent, with adult males attacking more of the defended prey when their body condition was poor, whereas body condition did not have an effect on the foraging choices of juveniles and females. Together, our results suggest that even though taste perception might be important for recognizing prey toxicity, other factors, such as predators’ energetic state, drive the decisions to consume chemically defended prey.
NCMCMDA: miRNA–disease association prediction through neighborhood constraint matrix completion
Authors: Chen Xing , Sun Lian-Gang , Zhao Yan
Published: November 2019

Emerging evidence shows that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in diverse fundamental and important biological processes associated with human diseases. Inferring potential disease related miRNAs and employing them as the biomarkers or drug targets could contribute to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of complex human diseases. In view of that traditional biological experiments cost much time and resources, computational models would serve as complementary means to uncover potential miRNA–disease associations. In this study, we proposed a new computational model named Neighborhood Constraint Matrix Completion for MiRNA–Disease Association prediction (NCMCMDA) to predict potential miRNA–disease associations. The main task of NCMCMDA was to recover the missing miRNA–disease associations based on the known miRNA–disease associations and integrated disease (miRNA) similarity. In this model, we innovatively integrated neighborhood constraint with matrix completion, which provided a novel idea of utilizing similarity information to assist the prediction. After the recovery task was transformed into an optimization problem, we solved it with a fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm. As a result, the AUCs of NCMCMDA in global and local leave-one-out cross validation were 0.9086 and 0.8453, respectively. In 5-fold cross validation, NCMCMDA achieved an average AUC of 0.8942 and standard deviation of 0.0015, which demonstrated NCMCMDA’s superior performance than many previous computational methods. Furthermore, NCMCMDA was applied to three different types of case studies to further evaluate its prediction reliability and accuracy. As a result, 84% (colon neoplasms), 98% (esophageal neoplasms) and 98% (breast neoplasms) of the top 50 predicted miRNAs were verified by recent literature.
Towards Economic Decoupling? Mapping Chinese Discourse on the China–US Trade War
Authors: Wei Li
Published: November 2019

Tremendous changes have occurred in China–US relations since Donald J. Trump took office in the White House, but the most significant event is the outbreak of the China–US trade war, whose unprecedented scale and impact has drawn wide attention in China and sparked considerable debate. This article aims to review the four main stages of this great debate on the China–US trade war among China’s influential intellectuals and prominent thinkers. It covers the three-year period since beginning of the Trump administration. The initial argument among Chinese academics was whether or not there could ever be a trade war, which led to a dividing line between optimists and pessimists. Soon after, when China-US relations took a sharp downturn and a trade war seemed inevitable, Chinese scholars shifted their focus to reasons why the United States should wage a trade war against China. This culminated in three different perspectives embodied respectively in the structural conflict theory, institutional conflict theory, and the theory on exporting domestic problems. After China and the United States began slapping additional tariffs on one another’s exported goods, and with the flare-up of the Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation (ZTE) and Huawei incidents, the debate on how to respond to a trade war cleaved between the ‘whole nation system school’ and the ‘market reform school’. As to coping with the technology war, Chinese intellectuals were divided between the paths of ‘independent innovation’ and ‘open innovation’. More recently, in view of the many signs that the China–US trade war could continue indefinitely, and an economic decoupling of the two nations is no longer unimaginable, a fierce debate has arisen between those that advocate full preparations for such economic decoupling and those who insist on further links with the US economy. Although the main themes of the four stages of the debate differ somewhat, they share a certain degree of consistency as regards the conceptual pedigree of the debating parties. Their divergence derives, in essence, from different perspectives on such issues as state power versus market force, independence versus interdependence, and zero-sum competition of power versus win-win economic cooperation. This also exemplifies the competing views in Chinese academia on classical political economy.
Chronic inflammation within the vascular wall in pulmonary arterial hypertension: more than a spectator
Authors: Huertas Alice , Tu Ly , Humbert Marc , Guignabert Christophe
Published: November 2019

This review seeks to provide an update of preclinical findings and available clinical data on the chronic persistent inflammation and its direct role on the pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) progression. We reviewed the different mechanisms by which the inflammatory and immune pathways contribute to the structural and functional changes occurring in the three vascular compartments: the tunica intima, tunica media, and tunica adventitia. We also discussed how these inflammatory mediator changes may serve as a biomarker of the PAH progression and summarize unanswered questions and opportunities for future studies in this area.
Geographic variability in the alarm calls of the European ground squirrel
Authors: Schneiderová Irena , Štefanská Lucie , Kratochvíl Lukáš
Published: November 2019

Geographic variability in vocalizations has been documented in many mammalian species. We examined to what extent it applies to the alarm calls of the European ground squirrel Spermophilus citellus. We recorded the calls of 82 adult individuals from 5 natural colonies in the Czech Republic and 24 adult individuals from an artificial seminatural colony located in a Czech zoo. The founders of this colony originated from 4 different natural colonies in the Czech Republic. Our results showed that there are hardly any differences in the acoustic structure of the alarm calls between male and female European ground squirrels. Discriminant function analysis showed the highest degree of discriminability for the most isolated sites (54–74% of individuals classified correctly), whereas the lowest degree of discriminability was found for 2 interconnected colonies (38–40% individuals classified correctly). Individuals from the artificial seminatural colony were often classified correctly to this colony (58% classified correctly); however, the precision of the classification was comparatively relatively low, that is, many individuals from other colonies were incorrectly classified into this seminatural colony. This likely corresponds to the different origins of its founders. These findings indicate that there is a rather substantial geographic variability in the alarm calls of the European ground squirrel, and our study highlights its possible impact on conservation measures such as establishing artificial colonies or reintroductions.
Ticagrelor monotherapy versus aspirin in patients undergoing multiple arterial or single arterial coronary artery bypass grafting: insights from the TiCAB trial
Authors: Sandner Sigrid E , Schunkert Heribert , Kastrati Adnan , Wiedemann Dominik , Misfeld Martin , Böning Andreas , Tebbe Ulrich , Nowak Bernd , Stritzke Jan , Laufer Günther , von Scheidt Moritz
Published: November 2019

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the effect of ticagrelor monotherapy on outcomes after multiple arterial grafting (MAG) or single arterial grafting (SAG) in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

METHODS

In a post hoc, non-randomized analysis of the TiCAB (Ticagrelor in CABG; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01755520) trial, we compared event rates for ticagrelor versus aspirin in patients undergoing MAG and SAG. Primary outcome was the composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), stroke or repeat revascularization 1 year after CABG. Secondary outcomes included individual components of the primary end point, all-cause death and bleeding.

RESULTS

Among 1753 patients, 998 patients underwent MAG and 755 patients underwent SAG. There was no significant difference in the 1-year primary composite outcome for ticagrelor versus aspirin with MAG [7.2% vs 7.9%; hazard ratio (HR) 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.57–1.43; P = 0.66] or SAG (12.3% vs 8.6%; HR 1.47, 95% CI 0.93–2.31; P = 0.10). Event rates for cardiovascular death, MI, stroke, repeat revascularization and all-cause death were similar for both treatment groups with MAG and SAG. No significant difference in major bleeding was observed for ticagrelor versus aspirin with MAG (2.6% vs 2.7%; HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.44–2.05; P = 0.90) or SAG (5.8% vs 4.0%; HR 1.49, 95% CI 0.77–2.89; P = 0.24).

CONCLUSIONS

In patients undergoing either MAG or SAG in the TiCAB trial, ticagrelor monotherapy compared with aspirin did not affect the rate of cardiovascular death, non-fatal MI, stroke or repeat revascularization, or the rate of bleeding, at 1 year after CABG.
Longitudinal Change in Cortisol Levels Across the Adult Life Span
Authors: Moffat Scott D , An Yang , Resnick Susan M , Diamond Michael P , Ferrucci Luigi
Published: November 2019

Background

Cortisol is a key stress hormone implicated in the pathogenesis of many age-related diseases. Longitudinal information on cortisol exposure has been restricted to animal models and a small number of human studies. The purpose of the present study was to quantify longitudinal change in cortisol across the adult life span.

Methods

We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of 24-hour urinary free cortisol excretion from ages 20 to 90 years and older. Participants were 1,814 men and women from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging who provided a total of 5,527 urine specimens for analysis. The average duration of longitudinal follow-up was 6.6 years. The primary outcome measure was 24-hour urinary free cortisol to creatinine ratio (UFC/Cr) as determined by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Results

UFC/Cr follows a U-shaped pattern across the life span with decreases in UFC/Cr in the 20s and 30s, relative stability in the 40s and 50s, and increases thereafter. This pattern of change was robust with respect to adjustment for several potential confounding factors.

Conclusions

Age-related changes in cortisol exposure raise important questions about the potential protective or exacerbating role of cortisol exposure in predicting medical, physiological, and behavioral outcomes.
Automatic detection of Western rock lobster using synthetic data
Authors: Mahmood Ammar , Bennamoun Mohammed , An Senjian , Sohel Ferdous , Boussaid Farid , Hovey Renae , Kendrick Gary
Published: November 2019

Underwater imaging is being extensively used for monitoring the abundance of lobster species and their biodiversity in their local habitats. However, manual assessment of these images requires a huge amount of human effort. In this article, we propose to automate the process of lobster detection using a deep learning technique. A major obstacle in deploying such an automatic framework for the localization of lobsters in diverse environments is the lack of large annotated training datasets. Generating synthetic datasets to train these object detection models has become a popular approach. However, the current synthetic data generation frameworks rely on automatic segmentation of objects of interest, which becomes difficult when the objects have a complex shape, such as lobster. To overcome this limitation, we propose an approach to synthetically generate parts of the lobster. To handle the variability of real-world images, these parts were inserted into a set of diverse background marine images to generate a large synthetic dataset. A state-of-the-art object detector was trained using this synthetic parts dataset and tested on the challenging task of Western rock lobster detection in West Australian seas. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first automatic lobster detection technique for partially visible and occluded lobsters.
Cooperative optimal control for descriptor multi-agent systems
Authors: Zhang Liping , Zhang Guoshan
Published: November 2019

This paper provides a theory analysis of cooperative optimal control problem for leader-follower descriptor multi-agent systems. Based on the linear quadratic regulator theory, the state feedback controller is designed to guarantee the consensus of multi-agent systems and minimize a local performance index, which is independent of the graph topology, the control gain matrix is obtained by solving a generalized Riccati equation. Because the local optimal protocol devised cannot guarantee the global optimality of the entire system, the inverse optimal control theory is applied to design distributed control protocols that ensure consensus and global optimality with respect to some global performance index. The defined performance index is related to the interaction topology, whose Laplacian matrix is constrained to be diagonalizable. Finally, two numerical examples and comparisons are supplied to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Toward Phylomics in Entomology: Current Systematic and Evolutionary Morphology
Authors: Boudinot Brendon E
Published: November 2019

Morphology, encompassing the study of phenotypic form and function, is one of the ancient branches of human knowledge and is foundational for organismal classification. Two decades into the current century, the specialized biological knowledge of the history and pattern of evolution has been revolutionized by genome-scale sequencing technologies, and cryptic variation within and among species is quantifiable even with a few genetic markers. The application of statistical phylogenetic models of nucleotide and amino acid substitution to sequence data has enabled revised interpretations of morphological identities—be they population-level generalizations, such as species diagnoses, or the definition and homology of specific anatomical entities—and evolutionary transformation across the tree of life (e.g., insect genitalia, ancestral morphology of Polyneoptera). These models are also being adapted for phylogenetic analysis of morphological data, allowing explicit incorporation of fossil terminals and their stratigraphic information. In this special collection of research in Insect Systematics & Diversity (ISD), we present six papers on the topic of Current Techniques in Morphology. These papers span an arc from integrated methods of phenotype observation and visualization to methods and background for phylogenetic modeling of morphological characters. In this editorial, I review the central role of anatomical classification and anatomical terminology in systematic by way of outlining the special collection. I argue ultimately for a reconceptualization of phylogenetic morphology.
Transmission of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli between broilers and humans on broiler farms
Authors: van Hoek Angela H A M , Dierikx Cindy , Bosch Thijs , Schouls Leo , van Duijkeren Engeline , Visser Michael
Published: November 2019

Background

ESBL and AmpC β-lactamases are an increasing concern for public health. Studies suggest that ESBL/pAmpC-producing Escherichia coli and their plasmids carrying antibiotic resistance genes can spread from broilers to humans working or living on broiler farms. These studies used traditional typing methods, which may not have provided sufficient resolution to reliably assess the relatedness of these isolates.

Methods

Eleven suspected transmission events among broilers and humans living/working on eight broiler farms were investigated using whole-genome short-read (Illumina) and long-read sequencing (PacBio). Core genome MLST (cgMLST) was performed to investigate the occurrence of strain transmission. Horizontal plasmid and gene transfer were analysed using BLAST.

Results

Of eight suspected strain transmission events, six were confirmed. The isolate pairs had identical ESBL/AmpC genes and fewer than eight allelic differences according to the cgMLST, and five had an almost identical plasmid composition. On one of the farms, cgMLST revealed that the isolate pairs belonging to ST10 from a broiler and a household member of the farmer had 475 different alleles, but that the plasmids were identical, indicating horizontal transfer of mobile elements rather than strain transfer. Of three suspected horizontal plasmid transmission events, one was confirmed. In addition, gene transfer between plasmids was found.

Conclusions

The present study confirms transmission of strains as well as horizontal plasmid and gene transfer between broilers and farmers and household members on the same farm. WGS is an important tool to confirm suspected zoonotic strain and resistance gene transmission.
Zinc supplementation during in vitro embryo culture increases inner cell mass and total cell numbers in bovine blastocysts1
Authors: Wooldridge Lydia K , Nardi Madison E , Ealy Alan D
Published: November 2019

Deficiencies in current embryo culture media likely contribute to the poor blastocyst development rates and pregnancy retention rates for in vitro produced (IVP) bovine embryos. Of special concern is the lack of micronutrients in these media formulations. One micronutrient of interest is zinc, an essential trace element involved with various enzyme and transcription factor activities. The objective of this work was to describe whether zinc sulfate supplementation during in vitro embryo culture affects bovine embryo development and blastomere numbers. Either 0, 2, 20, or 40 µM zinc sulfate was supplemented to presumptive zygotes cultured in synthetic oviductal fluid containing AAs and bovine serum albumin for 8 d. None of the treatments affected cleavage rates. Percentage of blastocysts on days 7 and 8 postfertilization was not affected by supplementing 2 or 20 µM zinc but were reduced (P < 0.05) with 40 µM zinc. In blastocysts harvested on day 8, inner cell mass (ICM) and total cell number were increased (P < 0.05) with 2 µM zinc supplementation but not with the other zinc concentrations. Numbers of trophectoderm cells were not affected by zinc treatment. In conclusion, supplementing zinc during bovine embryo culture did not impact blastocyst development but improved ICM cell numbers. This improvement in ICM cell number may have implications for improved pregnancy retention rates after IVP embryo transfer as smaller ICM sizes are associated with poor pregnancy success in cattle.
Reaction of threonine synthase with the substrate analogue 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoate: implications into the proton transfer at the active site
Authors: Machida Yasuhiro , Murakawa Takeshi , Sakai Akiko , Shoji Mitsuo , Shigeta Yasuteru , Hayashi Hideyuki
Published: November 2019

Threonine synthase catalyses the conversion of O-phospho-l-homoserine and a water molecule to l-threonine and has the most complex catalytic mechanism among the pyridoxal 5′-phosphate-dependent enzymes. In order to study the less-characterized earlier stage of the catalytic reaction, we studied the reaction of threonine synthase with 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoate, which stops the catalytic reaction at the enamine intermediate. The global kinetic analysis of the triphasic spectral changes showed that, in addition to the theoretically expected pathway, the carbanion is rapidly reprotonated at Cα to form an aldimine distinct from the external aldimine directly formed from the Michaelis complex. The Kd for the binding of inhibitor to the enzyme decreased with increasing pH, showing that the 2-amino-group-unprotonated form of the ligand binds to the enzyme. On the other hand, the rate constants for the proton migration steps within the active site are independent of the solvent pH, indicating that protons are shared by the active dissociative groups and are not exchanged with the solvent during the course of catalysis. This gives an insight into the role of the phosphate group of the substrate, which may increase the basicity of the ε-amino group of the catalytic lysine residue in the active site.
The internal anatomy of Sandersiella chilenica Stuardo & Vega, 2011 (Crustacea: Cephalocarida)
Authors: Valdovinos-Zarges Claudio
Published: November 2019

The gross internal anatomy of the cephalocarid crustacean Sandersiella chilenicaStuardo & Vega, 2011 is described based on light microscopy of histological sections of three specimens of the type series, all collected in coastal soft bottoms off central Chile. Observations mainly concern the nervous, digestive, and reproductive systems, heart, haemocoel, and skeleto-musculature. The main organ systems and musculature are similar to those previously described for Hutchinsoniella macracanthaSanders, 1955, Lightiella magdaleninaCarcupino, Floris, Addis, Castelli & Curini-Galletti, 2006, and Sandersiella sp.
TeV-peaked candidate BL Lac objects
Authors: Costamante L
Published: November 2019

BL Lac objects can be extreme in two ways: with their synchrotron emission, peaking beyond 1 keV in their spectral energy distribution, or with their gamma-ray emission, peaking at multi-TeV energies up to and beyond 10–20 TeV, like 1ES 0229+200. This second type of extreme BL Lacs – which we can name TeV-peaked BL Lacs – is not well explained by the usual synchrotron self-Compton scenarios for BL Lacs. These sources are also important as probes for the intergalactic diffuse infrared background and cosmic magnetic fields, as well as possible sites of production of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. However, all these studies are hindered by their still very limited number. Here I propose a new, simple criterium to select the best candidates for TeV observations, specifically aimed at this peculiar type of BL Lac objects by combining X-ray, gamma-ray, and infrared data. It is based on the observation of a clustering towards a high X-ray to GeV gamma-ray flux ratio, and it does not rely on the radio flux or X-ray spectrum. This makes it suitable to find TeV-peaked sources also with very faint radio emission. Taking advantage of the Fermi all-sky gamma-ray survey applied to the ROMA-BZCAT and Sedentary Survey samples, I produce an initial list of 47 TeV-peaked candidates for observations with present and future air-Cherenkov telescopes.
Direct Effects of the Environment on AGN Triggering in SDSS Spiral Galaxies: Merger-AGN connection
Authors: Kim Minbae , Choi Yun-Young , Kim Sungsoo S
Published: November 2019

We examine whether galaxy environments directly affect triggering nuclear activity in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) local spiral galaxies using a volume-limited sample with the r-band absolute magnitude Mr < −19.0 and 0.02 < z < 0.055 selected from the SDSS Data Release 7. To avoid incompleteness of the central velocity dispersion σ of the volume-limited sample and to fix the black hole mass affecting AGN activity, we limit the sample to a narrow σ range of 130 < σ < 200 km s−1. We define a variety of environments as a combination of neighbour interactions and local density on a galaxy. After the central star formation rate (which is closely related to AGN activity level) is additionally restricted, the direct impact of the environment is unveiled. In the outskirts of rich clusters, red spiral galaxies show a significant excess of the AGN fraction despite the lack of central gas. We argue that they have been pre-processed before entering the rich clusters, and due to mergers or strong encounters in the in-fall region, their remaining gases efficiently lose angular momentum. Furthermore, we find many star-forming galaxies and only a few starburst-AGN composite hosts with the highest [OIII] luminosity. We claim that they are a gas-rich merger product in groups or are group galaxies in-falling into clusters, indicating that many AGN signatures may be obscured during the merger events.
Quantum mechanics at high redshift – Modelling Damped Lyman–α absorption systems
Authors: Lee C C , Webb J K , Carswell R F
Published: November 2019

For around 100 years, hydrogen spectral modelling has been based on Voigt profile fitting. The semi-classical Voigt profile is based on a 2-level atom approximation. Whilst the Voigt profile is excellent for many circumstances, the accuracy is insufficient for very high column density damped Lyman-α absorption systems. We have adapted the quantum-mechanical Kramers-Heisenberg model to include thermal broadening, producing a new profile, the KHT profile. Interactions involving multiple discrete atomic levels and continuum terms, not accounted for in the Voigt model, generate asymmetries in the Lyman line wings. If not modelled, this can lead to significant systematics in parameter estimation when modelling real data. There are important ramifications in particular for measurements of the primordial deuterium abundance. However, the KHT model is complicated. We therefore present a simplified formulation based on Taylor series expansions and look-up tables, quantifying the impact of the approximations made. The KHT profile has been implemented within the widely-used VPFIT code.