bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ultrasonographic Imaging Protocol and Sonoanatomy of the Lumbar Spine in Healthy Dogs
Authors: Abako Justyna , Holak Piotr , Bajon Joanna , Zhalniarovich Yauheni
Published: May 2022

Ultrasound is an imaging technique commonly used in veterinary medicine. Ultrasound devices are widely available, their means of examination are relatively short and cheap, and they do not generate ionizing radiation. In addition, ultrasound generally does not need to be performed under general anesthesia. This study was performed on 23 canine cadavers with full clinical histories and with no confirmed pathological changes in the spine region. The imaging modalities were established in dogs in lateral recumbency, with the selected side being the uppermost angle, in a neutral position. All dogs were examined in the transverse and longitudinal planes. Sacral crest, intertransverse ligament, vertebral canal floor, vertebral body, and intervertebral discs were only visible in the longitudinal plane. Vertebral arch, supraspinal ligament, dorsal wall of the vertebral canal and muscles were visualized only in the transverse plane. This article provides a brief and relatively easy-to-perform protocol for ultrasound imaging of the lumbar spine of dogs. In addition, it presents a detailed description of the sonoanatomy of the area under investigation.
Testing for the “Blues”: Using the Modified Emotional Stroop Task to Assess the Emotional Response of Gorillas
Authors: Vonk Jennifer , McGuire Molly , Leete Jessica
Published: May 2022

We adapted the emotional Stroop task developed for primates to test whether gorillas would show response slowing for images of ‘negative’ compared to images of ‘positive’ items placed within previously reinforced borders. Three zoo-housed male gorillas participated in six phases of an emotional Stroop paradigm. In Phase One, they learned to select blue borders over yellow borders in a forced choice task presented on the touchscreen. In Phase Two, neutral yellow or blue two-dimensional shapes were placed within the borders. On congruent trials, blue images were presented within both blue and yellow borders. On incongruent trials, yellow images were placed within both blue and yellow borders. We continued to use these trials as control trials in subsequent phases. We predicted that response latencies would be slower and accuracy would be lower on incongruent trials. Although the gorillas responded more quickly to incongruent trials, in contrast to predictions, they were more accurate on congruent trials, consistent with predictions. Therefore, we proceeded with Phase Three in which photographs of images assumed to have positive and negative valences for the gorillas were placed within the borders. On test trials, the same positive or negative image was placed within both borders. In Phase Four, a positive image was paired with a negative image on each trial and the positive image appeared in either the blue (congruent trials) or yellow border (incongruent trials). Phases Five and Six replicated Phases Three and Four with images of novel positive and negative items. The gorillas responded more quickly on congruent trials compared to incongruent trials on test trials but not on control trials throughout Phases 3–6. These findings provide some validation for the emotional Stroop task to test attentional shift with emotionally valenced items.
Use of Milk Infrared Spectral Data as Environmental Covariates in Genomic Prediction Models for Production Traits in Canadian Holstein
Authors: Tiezzi Francesco , Fleming Allison , Malchiodi Francesca
Published: May 2022

The purpose of this study was to provide a procedure for the inclusion of milk spectral information into genomic prediction models. Spectral data were considered a set of covariates, in addition to genomic covariates. Milk yield and somatic cell score were used as traits to investigate. A cross-validation was employed, making a distinction for predicting new individuals’ performance under known environments, known individuals’ performance under new environments, and new individuals’ performance under new environments. We found an advantage of including spectral data as environmental covariates when the genomic predictions had to be extrapolated to new environments. This was valid for both observed and, even more, unobserved families (genotypes). Overall, prediction accuracy was larger for milk yield than somatic cell score. Fourier-transformed infrared spectral data can be used as a source of information for the calculation of the ‘environmental coordinates’ of a given farm in a given time, extrapolating predictions to new environments. This procedure could serve as an example of integration of genomic and phenomic data. This could help using spectral data for traits that present poor predictability at the phenotypic level, such as disease incidence and behavior traits. The strength of the model is the ability to couple genomic with high-throughput phenomic information.
Pre-Treatment of Swine Oviductal Epithelial Cells with Progesterone Increases the Sperm Fertilizing Ability in an IVF Model
Authors: Cimini Costanza , Moussa Fadl , Taraschi Angela , Ramal-Sanchez Marina , Colosimo Alessia , Capacchietti Giulia , Mokh Samia , Valbonetti Luca , Tagaram Israiel , Bernabò Nicola , Barboni Barbara
Published: May 2022

Mammalian spermatozoa are infertile immediately after ejaculation and need to undergo a functional modification, called capacitation, in order to acquire their fertilizing ability. Since oviductal epithelial cells (SOECs) and progesterone (P4) are two major modulators of capacitation, here we investigated their impact on sperm functionality by using an IVF swine model. To that, we treated SOECs with P4 at 10, 100, and 1000 ng/mL before the coincubation with spermatozoa, thus finding that P4 at 100 ng/mL does not interfere with the cytoskeleton dynamics nor the cells’ doubling time, but it promotes the sperm capacitation by increasing the number of spermatozoa per polyspermic oocyte (p < 0.05). Moreover, we found that SOECs pre-treatment with P4 100 ng/mL is able to promote an increase in the sperm fertilizing ability, without needing the hormone addition at the time of fertilization. Our results are probably due to the downregulation in the expression of OVGP1, SPP1 and DMBT1 genes, confirming an increase in the dynamism of our system compared to the classic IVF protocols. The results obtained are intended to contribute to the development of more physiological and efficient IVF systems.
Effect of Dietary Organic and Inorganic Sulfur on the Performance of Coccidiosis Vaccine Challenged Broiler Chickens
Authors: Jeon Yong-Sung , Kim Yoo-Bhin , Lee Hyun-Gwan , Park Jina , Heo Yun-Ji , Chu Gyo-Moon , Lee Kyung-Woo
Published: May 2022

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary sulfur from either organic (methyl sulfonyl methane, MSM) or inorganic (sodium sulfate, SS) sources on the growth performance of broiler chickens challenged against a high-dose coccidiosis vaccine. A total of 320 day-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly placed into 32 pens of 10 birds each (keeping 16 pens/control group and 8 pens/treatment group until 21 days post-hatch) and reared for 28 days. The experimental diets were formulated by mixing a corn and soybean meal-based control diet with MSM or SS. At 21 days post-hatch, half (n = 8) of the control and all of the sulfur-added diet-fed (i.e., MSM and SS) groups were challenged with a 30-fold dose of a commercially available Eimeria vaccine (Livacox® T coccidiosis vaccine). Unchallenged control chicks (n = 8) were considered as the negative control group. At 21 days (before coccidiosis vaccine challenge), the production parameters and cecal short-chain fatty acids were not affected by dietary treatments. The concentrations of total antioxidant capacity in liver samples were elevated in both the MSM and SS groups compared with the control group (p = 0.001). During 21 to 28 days (i.e., one week post coccidiosis vaccine challenge), challenge tended to lower body weight and feed intake by an average of 5.3% (p = 0.262) and 2.8% (p = 0.504), respectively, but to increase the feed conversion ratio by an average of 2.7% (p = 0.087) compared with the non-challenged control groups. None of dietary sulfur groups affected the body weight gain, feed intake, or feed conversion ratio of vaccine-challenged chickens. Mild Eimeria-specific lesions were noted in duodenum (p = 0.006), jejunum (p = 0.017), and ceca (p = 0.047), but dietary sulfur treatments did not affect the Eimeria-induced gut lesion scores. At 28 days, Eimeria challenge significantly impaired (p = 0.001) the apparent ileal digestibility of crude protein and crude ash compared with the naïve control group. Dietary MSM increased the apparent ileal digestibility of crude ash by 15.5% on average compared with the coccidiosis vaccine control group. We conclude that dietary antioxidant sulfur of organic or inorganic origins at the inclusion level (i.e., 0.7 g sulfur/kg of diet) has a limited effect on the growth performance of chickens challenged with coccidiosis vaccine.
The Comparative Effectiveness of Ceftolozane/Tazobactam versus Aminoglycoside- or Polymyxin-Based Regimens in Multi-Drug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections
Authors: Caffrey Aisling R. , Appaneal Haley J. , Liao J. Xin , Piehl Emily C. , Lopes Vrishali , Dillon Ryan J. , Puzniak Laura A. , LaPlante Kerry L.
Published: May 2022

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections are challenging to treat due to multi-drug resistance (MDR) and the complexity of the patients affected by these serious infections. As new antibiotic therapies come on the market, limited data exist about the effectiveness of such treatments in clinical practice. In this comparative effectiveness study of ceftolozane/tazobactam versus aminoglycoside- or polymyxin-based therapies among hospitalized patients with positive MDR P. aeruginosa cultures, we identified 57 patients treated with ceftolozane/tazobactam compared with 155 patients treated with aminoglycoside- or polymyxin-based regimens. Patients treated with ceftolozane/tazobactam were younger (mean age 67.5 vs. 71.1, p = 0.03) and had a higher comorbidity burden prior to hospitalization (median Charlson 5 vs. 3, p = 0.01) as well as higher rates of spinal cord injury (38.6% vs. 21.9%, p = 0.02) and P. aeruginosa-positive bone/joint cultures (12.3% vs. 0.7%, p < 0.0001). Inpatient mortality was significantly lower in the ceftolozane/tazobactam group compared with aminoglycosides or polymyxins (15.8% vs. 27.7%, adjusted odds ratio 0.39, 95% confidence interval 0.16–0.93). There were no significant differences observed for the other outcomes assessed. In hospitalized patients with MDR P. aeruginosa, inpatient mortality was 61% lower among patients treated with ceftolozane/tazobactam compared to those treated with aminoglycoside- or polymyxin-based regimens.
Resistance to Ceftazidime/Avibactam, Meropenem/Vaborbactam and Imipenem/Relebactam in Gram-Negative MDR Bacilli: Molecular Mechanisms and Susceptibility Testing
Authors: Gaibani Paolo , Giani Tommaso , Bovo Federica , Lombardo Donatella , Amadesi Stefano , Lazzarotto Tiziana , Coppi Marco , Rossolini Gian Maria , Ambretti Simone
Published: May 2022

Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a serious global threat due to the rapid global spread and limited antimicrobial options for treatment of difficult-to-treat (DTR) infections sustained by MDR pathogens. Recently, novel β-lactams/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations (βL-βLICs) have been developed for the treatment of DTR infections due to MDR Gram-negative pathogens. Although novel βL-βLICs exhibited promising in vitro and in vivo activities against MDR pathogens, emerging resistances to these novel molecules have recently been reported. Resistance to novel βL-βLICs is due to several mechanisms including porin deficiencies, increasing carbapenemase expression and/or enzyme mutations. In this review, we summarized the main mechanisms related to the resistance to ceftazidime/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam and imipenem/relebactam in MDR Gram-negative micro-organisms. We focused on antimicrobial activities and resistance traits with particular regard to molecular mechanisms related to resistance to novel βL-βLICs. Lastly, we described and discussed the main detection methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of such molecules. With increasing reports of resistance to novel βL-βLICs, continuous attention should be maintained on the monitoring of the phenotypic traits of MDR pathogens, into the characterization of related mechanisms, and on the emergence of cross-resistance to these novel antimicrobials.
Nanofiltration as an Efficient Tertiary Wastewater Treatment: Elimination of Total Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance Genes from the Discharged Effluent of a Full-Scale Wastewater Treatment Plant
Authors: Oliveira Micaela , Leonardo Inês Carvalho , Silva Ana Filipa , Crespo João Goulão , Nunes Mónica , Crespo Maria Teresa Barreto
Published: May 2022

Wastewater reuse for agricultural irrigation still raises important public health issues regarding its safety, due to the increasing presence of emerging contaminants, such as antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes, in the treated effluents. In this paper, the potential for a commercial Desal 5 DK nanofiltration membrane to be used as a tertiary treatment in the wastewater treatment plants for a more effective elimination of these pollutants from the produced effluents was assessed on laboratory scale, using a stainless steel cross-flow cell. The obtained results showed high concentrations of total bacteria and target carbapenem and (fluoro)quinolone resistance genes (blaKPC, blaOXA-48, blaNDM, blaIMP, blaVIM, qnrA, qnrB and qnrS) not only in the discharged, but also in the reused, effluent samples, which suggests that their use may not be entirely safe. Nevertheless, the applied nanofiltration treatment achieved removal rates superior to 98% for the total bacteria and 99.99% for all the target resistance genes present in both DNA and extracellular DNA fractions, with no significant differences for these microbiological parameters between the nanofiltered and the control tap water samples. Although additional studies are still needed to fully optimize the entire process, the use of nanofiltration membranes seems to be a promising solution to substantially increase the quality of the treated wastewater effluents.
Selection and Optimization of an Innovative Polysaccharide-Based Carrier to Improve Anthocyanins Stability in Purple Corn Cob Extracts
Authors: Ferron Lucia , Milanese Chiara , Colombo Raffaella , Pugliese Raffaele , Papetti Adele
Published: May 2022

The extraction process of alcohol-insoluble polysaccharides from exhausted Moradyn cob (Zea mays L. cv. Moradyn) (EMCP), camelina cake (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) (CCP), and common bean seeds (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) (CBP) was investigated and optimized by Response Surface Methodology. Each fraction was tested at different core/carrier ratios in the encapsulation of Moradyn cob extract (MCE), a rich source of antioxidant anthocyanins, and the obtained ingredients were screened for their encapsulation efficiency (EE%) and extraction process sustainability. The ingredients containing 50% and 75% CCP had EE% higher than 60% and 80%, respectively, and were selected for further studies. Preliminary structural analysis indicated CCP was mostly composed of neutral polysaccharides and proteins in a random-coiled conformation, which was also unchanged in the ingredients. CCP-stabilizing properties were tested, applying an innovative stress testing protocol. CCP strongly improved MCE anthocyanins solid-state stability (25 °C, 30% RH), and therefore it could be an innovative anthocyanins carrier system.
Drought and UV Radiation Stress Tolerance in Rice Is Improved by Overaccumulation of Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Flavonoids
Authors: Jan Rahmatullah , Khan Muhammad-Aaqil , Asaf Sajjad , Lubna  , Waqas Muhammad , Park Jae-Ryoung , Asif Saleem , Kim Nari , Lee In-Jung , Kim Kyung-Min
Published: May 2022

Drought and ultraviolet radiation (UV radiation) are the coexisting environmental factors that negatively affect plant growth and development via oxidative damage. Flavonoids are reactive, scavenging oxygen species (ROS) and UV radiation-absorbing compounds generated under stress conditions. We investigated the biosynthesis of kaempferol and quercetin in wild and flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H) overexpresser rice plants when drought and UV radiation stress were imposed individually and together. Phenotypic variation indicated that both kinds of stress highly reduced rice plant growth parameters in wild plants as compared to transgenic plants. When combined, the stressors adversely affected rice plant growth parameters more than when they were imposed individually. Overaccumulation of kaempferol and quercetin in transgenic plants demonstrated that both flavonoids were crucial for enhanced tolerance to such stresses. Oxidative activity assays showed that kaempferol and quercetin overaccumulation with strong non-enzymatic antioxidant activity mitigated the accumulation of ROS under drought and UV radiation stress. Lower contents of salicylic acid (SA) in transgenic plants indicated that flavonoid accumulation reduced stress, which led to the accumulation of low levels of SA. Transcriptional regulation of the dehydrin (DHN) and ultraviolet-B resistance 8 (UVR8) genes showed significant increases in transgenic plants compared to wild plants under stress. Taken together, these results confirm the usefulness of kaempferol and quercetin in enhancing tolerance to both drought and UV radiation stress.
Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Practice of Medicine
Authors: Suh Hyo-Joong , Son Junggab , Kang Kyungtae
Published: May 2022

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) based on machine and deep learning are transforming certain medical disciplines [...]
Deep Learning-Based End-to-End Language Development Screening for Children Using Linguistic Knowledge
Authors: Oh Byoung-Doo , Lee Yoon-Kyoung , Kim Jong-Dae , Park Chan-Young , Kim Yu-Seop
Published: May 2022

Language development is inextricably linked to the development of fundamental human abilities. A language problem can result from abnormal language development in childhood, which has a severe impact on other elements of life. As a result, early treatment of language impairments in children is critical. However, because it is difficult for parents to identify atypical language development in their children, optimal diagnosis and treatment periods are frequently missed. Furthermore, the diagnosis process necessitates a significant amount of time and work. As a consequence, in this study, we present a deep learning-based language development screening model based on word and part-of-speech and investigate the effectiveness of a large-scale language model. For the experiment, we collected data from Korean children by transcribing the utterances of children aged 2, 4, and 6 years. Convolutional neural networks and the notion of Siamese networks, as well as word and part-of-speech information, were used to determine the language development level of children. We also investigated the effectiveness of employing KoBERT and KR-BERT among Korean-specific large-scale language models. In 5-fold cross-validation study, the proposed model has an average accuracy of 78.0%. Furthermore, contrary to predictions, the large-scale language models were shown to be ineffective for representing children’s utterances.
Biogas Production Enhancement through Chicken Manure Co-Digestion with Pig Fat
Authors: Buivydas Egidijus , Navickas Kęstutis , Venslauskas Kęstutis , Žalys Bronius , Župerka Vidmantas , Rubežius Mantas
Published: May 2022

Chicken manure and pig fat are found abundantly around the globe, and there is a challenge to get rid of them. This waste has considerable energy potential to be recovered into fuel, but extracting this energy from some by-products, especially fat, isn’t an easy task. When anaerobic digestion technology stepped to the level of anaerobic co-digestion, the utilisation of hardly degradable waste became feasible. Our research was conducted on anaerobic co-digestion of chicken manure as the primary substrate with pig fat as a fat reach supplement in a semi-continuous mode at different organic load rates. The influence of fat waste on the process of biogas production from chicken manure and the composition of the obtained products was determined using an organic load rate of 3.0–4.5 kg VS·(m3·day)−1. A sturdy and continuously growing biogas production was observed at all organic load rates, implying the synergetic effect on chicken manure and pig fat co-digestion. The highest specific methane yield, 441.3 ± 7.6 L·kg VS−1, was observed at an organic load rate of 4.5 kg VS·(m3·day)−1. The research results showed that co-digestion of chicken manure with pig fat is an appropriate measure for fat utilisation and contributes to the increase in biogas yield, methane concentration, and overall methane yield at investigated organic load rates.
The Mechanical Structure Contact Mechanism Analysis Considering Modified Tangential Stiffness with Friction’s Effect
Authors: Niu Zhiyang , Chen Bing , Chen Hongwei , Hao Jiawei , Qi Junde , Wang Mingwei
Published: May 2022

This paper proposes a modified tangential contact stiffness model considering friction’s effect, which is the first key step to establish the dynamic model of the fixture-workpiece system, and this is the foundation of vibration suppression for the manufacturing process of aerospace blades. According to Love’s elastic deformation, the model’s derivation process starts with the potential function in each coordinate axis’s direction respectively. The generalized Hertz contact theory is employed to calculate the contact forces in this model. The symmetrical characteristic of the contact area has simplified the derivation process to obtain the eventual tangential contact stiffness model. A validation experiment focusing on a tangential stiffness measuring is achieved by putting two spherical objects in contact together to get the tangential contact stiffness. Based on the data collected in this experiment, a comparison with a most similar existed model is carried out, and the result shows that the relative error of this modified model are all less than 10%, while the original model’s (the most similar model) relative error exceeding 50% captures more than 3/4 of the 30 data sets randomly selected in each experiment group, and that means the modification of this paper brings great improvement to the contact stiffness model.
Big Data-Driven Measurement of the Service Capacity of Public Toilet Facilities in China
Authors: Fu Bo , Xiao Xiao , Li Jingzhong
Published: May 2022

Public health facility planning is one of the important contents of national land planning, which needs to balance geospatial equity and service capacity. However, assessment models and data acquisition methods based on a geosystemic analysis perspective have been lacking for a long time. By focusing on urban public toilets and taking the highly urbanized city of Shenyang, China as the study area, this study developed a new data strategy for urban public facilities with points of interests (POI) big data as the main data source, and subsequently corrected the POI data and analyzed the errors through a field survey, and conducted an empirical assessment oriented toward spatial equity and service capacity to discover the development dynamics of urban facilities over the past ten years and the impacting factors. We found that the integrated population and spatial elements could more accurately evaluate the service capacity of public toilets. Meanwhile, POI data have value in the research of public health facilities, but there are some errors in data quality and data access. The study empirically explores the geographic analysis methods of field research data (small data) and POI data (big data) with empirical contributions.
Synthetical Modal Parameters Identification Method of Damped Oscillation Signals in Power System
Authors: Li Huan , Bu Siqi , Wen Jiong-Ran , Fei Cheng-Wei
Published: May 2022

It is vital to improve the stability of the power system by accurately identifying the modal parameters of damped low-frequency oscillations (DLFO) and controlling the oscillation in time. A new method based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD), stochastic subspace identification (SSI), and Prony algorithms, called synthetical modal parameters identification (SMPI) method, is developed by efficiently matching the modal parameters of DLFO which are acquired from the SSI and Prony algorithm. In this approach, EMD is used for denoising the raw oscillation signals thereby enhancing the noise resistance, and then using the SSI and Prony algorithms to identify the precise modal parameters assisted by parameter matching. It is demonstrated that the proposed SMPI method holds great accuracy in identifying full modal parameters including natural frequencies, damping ratios, amplitudes, and phase angles with simulated signals with known modal parameters and real-time signals from some power system case studies. The strategy of SMPI has effectively overcome the weakness of a single approach, and the identification results are promising to heighten the stabilization of power systems. Besides, SMPI shows the potential to troubleshoot in different fields, such as construction, aeronautics, and marine, for its satisfactory robustness and generalization ability.
Secondary Mandible Reconstruction with Computer-Assisted-Surgical Simulation and Patient-Specific Pre-Bent Plates: The Algorithm of Virtual Planning and Limitations Revisited
Authors: Bhandari Kishor , Lin Chih-Hung , Liao Han-Tsung
Published: May 2022

Despite the known advantages of virtual surgical planning and three-dimensional (3D) printing, translation of virtual planning to actual operation is a challenge, especially in secondary mandibular reconstruction. Patients who underwent secondary microvascular mandibular reconstruction were retrospectively reviewed and categorized into three categories as follows: (i) defect not crossing the midline (category I); (ii) defects crossing the midline with availability of previous imaging data (category II) and; (iii) defects crossing the midline with unavailability of previous imaging data (category III). The resulting 3D printed models were used as an effective guide for plate bending during secondary reconstruction surgery. Accuracy of the reconstruction was evaluated by superimposing post-operative images over virtual plan. Out of eleven patients, five were category I, three were category II, and three were category III. The mean linear discrepancy between the planned and post-operative position was measured. A Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to compare mean discrepancy among the groups showed no significant difference between group I and group II (p > 0.05) whereas comparison of groups I and II with group III showed a significant difference (p < 0.01). The proposed algorithm for the generation of defect template for manual plate bending during secondary reconstruction of mandibular defects is valid with acceptable accuracy in various defect configurations.
Multi-Objective Optimal D-PMU Placement for Fast, Reliable and High-Precision Observations of Active Distribution Networks
Authors: Sun Yuce , Hu Wei , Kong Xiangyu , Shen Yu , Yang Fan
Published: May 2022

The distribution-level phasor measurement unit(D-PMU), as a new type of measurement equipment, can support the fast and high-precision observations of active distribution networks. This paper presents a new D-PMU optimal placement method that can be used to reconcile investments with the reliability of high-precision observation systems. The multi-objective optimization model primarily considers the influence of topology changes and N-1 contingencies on observation reliability. Its objectives include minimizing the number of D-PMUs, maximizing network measurement redundancy (NMR) and the average number of observable buses under N-1 contingencies (ANOBC). The model is extended to a form of multi-topology weighting and is combined with zero-injection buses and other measurements. We take the observability of high-weight topology set as the constraint. The model can be solved using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-III (NSGA-III), which gives the set of Pareto optimal solutions. Then, the D-PMU placement order determination method based on the spatial electrical distance is proposed to improve the effect of state estimation faster. IEEE standard systems are taken to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. With the same number of D-PMUs, this method derives more ANOBC and NMR than other methods. When considering topology changes, the proposed method can use fewer additional D-PMUs to substantially increase the ANOBC and NMR.
Improved U-Net++ with Patch Split for Micro-Defect Inspection in Silk Screen Printing
Authors: Yoon Byungguan , Lee Homin , Jeong Jongpil
Published: May 2022

The trend of multi-variety production is leading to a change in the product type of silk screen prints produced at short intervals. The types and locations of defects that usually occur in silk screen prints may vary greatly and thus, it is difficult for operators to conduct quality inspections for minuscule defects. In this paper, an improved U-Net++ is proposed based on patch splits for automated quality inspection of small or tiny defects, hereinafter referred to as ‘fine’ defects. The novelty of the method is that, to better handle defects within an image, patch level inputs are considered instead of using the original image as input. In the existing technique with the original image as input, artificial intelligence (AI) learning is not utilized efficiently, whereas our proposed method learns stably, and the Dice score was 0.728, which is approximately 10% higher than the existing method. The proposed model was applied to an actual silk screen printing process. All of the fine defects in products, such as silk screen prints, could be detected regardless of the product size. In addition, it was shown that quality inspection using the patch-split method-based AI is possible even in situations where there are few prior defective data.
Driving Fatigue Detection Based on the Combination of Multi-Branch 3D-CNN and Attention Mechanism
Authors: Xiang Wenbin , Wu Xuncheng , Li Chuanchang , Zhang Weiwei , Li Feiyang
Published: May 2022

Fatigue driving is one of the main causes of traffic accidents today. In this study, a fatigue driving detection system based on a 3D convolutional neural network combined with a channel attention mechanism (Squeeze-and-Excitation module) is proposed. The model obtains information of multiple channels of grayscale, gradient and optical flow from the input frame. The temporal and spatial information contained in the feature map is extracted by three-dimensional convolution, after which the feature map is fed to the attention mechanism module to optimize the feature weights. EAR and MAR are used as fatigue analysis criteria and, finally, a full binary tree SVM classifier is used to output the four driving states. In addition, this study uses the frame aggregation strategy to solve the frame loss problem well and designs application software to record the driver’s status in real time while protecting the driver’s facial privacy and security. Compared with other classical fatigue driving detection methods, this method extracts features from temporal and spatial dimensions and optimizes the feature weights using the attention mechanism module, which significantly improves the fatigue detection performance. The experimental results show that 95% discriminative accuracy is achieved on the FDF dataset, which can be effectively applied to driving fatigue detection.
An Experimental Investigation of Passive Jet Control Method on Bridge Tower Wake
Authors: Huang Yewei , Chen Wenli
Published: May 2022

In this study, we employed a four-hole cobra probe to measure the wake characteristics of a rec-tangular bridge tower model in a wind tunnel. The scale of the model was 1:30, and the Reynolds number varied from 1.38 × 105 to 2.27 × 105 by changing the yaw angle. A measurement plane with 9 × 19 measurement points was horizontally set at the middle height behind the model. The wake characteristics of the test model without control, i.e., the baseline case, was first tested in the yaw angle range from 0° to 90°; then, four kinds of passive jet control cases were tested to study their control effects on the bridge tower wake. To evaluate the wake characteristics, three main aspects, i.e., mean velocity, turbulence intensity, and velocity frequency, were investigated. The meas-urement results indicate that the passive jet control method can achieve an effect in suppressing the turbulence of the wake but can slightly modify the mean velocity distribution. The dominant frequency distribution region was eliminated when the yaw angle was small but slightly expanded at a large angle. The differences between cases show a trend that the larger the suction coefficient is, the better the control effects are.
Assessing the Effect of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles on the Thermomechanical Performance of Different Forms of Carbon Allotropes/Epoxy Hybrid Nanocomposites
Authors: Stavropoulos Sotirios G. , Sanida Aikaterini , Psarras Georgios C.
Published: May 2022

The incorporation of ceramic nanoinclusions in carbon nanocomposites can induce additional functionality in the field of magnetic properties, piezoelectricity, etc. In this study, series of nanocomposites, consisting of different carbon nanoinclusions (carbon black, MWCNTs, graphene nanoplatelets, nanodiamonds) and magnetite nanoparticles incorporated into a commercially available epoxy resin were developed varying the filler type and concentration. Experimental data from the static tensile tests and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) demonstrated that the elastic tensile modulus and storage modulus of hybrid nanocomposites increase with an increase in filler content up to almost 100% due to the inherent filler properties and the strong interactions at the interface between the epoxy matrix and the nanoinclusions. Strong interactions are implied by the increasing values of the glass transition temperature recorded by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). On the contrary, tensile strength and fracture strain of the nanocomposites were found to decrease with filler content. The results highlight the potentials and capabilities of developing hybrid multifunctional nanocomposites with enriched properties while holding their structural integrity.
Projection of Extreme Temperature Events over the Mediterranean and Sahara Using Bias-Corrected CMIP6 Models
Authors: Babaousmail Hassen , Ayugi Brian , Rajasekar Adharsh , Zhu Huanhuan , Oduro Collins , Mumo Richard , Ongoma Victor
Published: May 2022

Climate change continues to increase the intensity, frequency and impacts of weather and climate extremes. This work uses bias-adjusted Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase six (CMIP6) model datasets to investigate the future changes in temperature extremes over Mediterranean (MED) and Sahara (SAH) regions. The mid- (2041–2070) and far-future (2071–2100) are studied under two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios. Quantile mapping function greatly improved the performance of CMIP6 by reducing the notable biases to match the distribution of observation data, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC). Results show persistent significant warming throughout the 21st century, increasing with the increase in radiative forcing. The MED will record a higher increase in temperature extremes as compared to SAH. The warming is supported by the projected reduction in cold days (TX10p) and cold nights (TN10p), with the reduction in the number of cold nights exceeding cold days. Notably, warm spell duration index (WSDI) and summer days (SU) have a positive trend in both timelines over the entire study area. There is a need to simulate how climate sensitive sectors, such as water and agriculture, are likely to be affected by projected changes under different scenarios for informed decision making in the choice and implementation of adaptation and mitigation effective measures.
Spatiotemporal Variations and Climatological Trends in Precipitation Indices in Shaanxi Province, China
Authors: Wang Shuangtao , Cao Zhe , Luo Pingping , Zhu Wei
Published: May 2022

Precipitation, as an important part of the hydrological cycle, is often related to flood and drought. In this study, we collected daily rainfall data from 21 rainfall stations in Shaanxi Province from 1961 to 2017, and calculated eight extreme climate indices. Annual and seasonal concentration indices (CI) were also calculated. The trends in the changes in precipitation were calculated using the M–K test and Sen’s slope. The results show that the precipitation correlation index and CI (concentration index) in Shaanxi Province are higher in the south and lower in the north. For the annual scale, the CI value ranges from 0.6369 to 0.6820, indicating that Shaanxi Province has a high precipitation concentration and an uneven distribution of annual precipitation. The eight extreme precipitation indices of most rainfall stations showed a downward trend during the study period, and more than half of the stations passed the 0.05 confidence interval test. Among them, the Z value of PRCPTOT (annual total precipitation in wet days) at Huashan station reached −6.5270. The lowest slope of PRCPTOT reached −14.3395. This shows that annual rainfall in Shaanxi Province has been decreasing in recent decades. These findings could be used to make decisions about water resources and drought risk management in Shaanxi Province, China.
Differentiating Semi-Volatile and Solid Particle Events Using Low-Cost Lung-Deposited Surface Area and Black Carbon Sensors
Authors: Haugen Molly J. , Singh Ajit , Bousiotis Dimitrios , Pope Francis D. , Boies Adam M.
Published: May 2022

Low-cost particle sensors have proven useful in applications such as source apportionment, health, and reactivity studies. The benefits of these instruments increase when used in parallel, as exemplified with a 3-month long deployment in an urban background site. Using two lung-deposited surface area (LDSA) instruments, a low-cost method was developed to assess the solid component of an aerosol by applying a catalytic stripper to the inlet stream of one LDSA instrument, resulting in only the solid fraction of the sample being measured (LDSAc). To determine the semi-volatile fraction of the sample, the LDSAC was compared to the LDSA without a catalytic stripper, thus measuring all particles (LDSAN). The ratio of LDSA (LDSAC/LDSAN) was used to assess the fraction of solid and semi-volatile particles within a sample. Here, a low ratio represents a high fraction of semi-volatile particles, with a high ratio indicating a high fraction of solid particles. During the 3-month urban background study in Birmingham, UK, it is shown that the LDSA ratios ranged from 0.2–0.95 indicating a wide variation in sources and subsequent semi-volatile fraction of particles. A black carbon (BC) instrument was used to provide a low-cost measure of LDSA to BC ratio. Comparatively, the LDSA to BC ratios obtained using low-cost sensors showed similar results to high-cost analyses for urban environments. During a high LDSAC/LDSAN ratio sampling period, representing high solid particle concentrations, an LDSA to BC probability distribution was shown to be multimodal, reflecting urban LDSA to BC ratio distributions measured with laboratory-grade instrumentation. Here, a low-cost approach for data analyses presents insight on particle characteristics and insight into PM composition and size, useful in source apportionment, health, and atmospheric studies.
Convection Initiation Associated with the Merger of an Immature Sea-Breeze Front and a Gust Front in Bohai Bay Region, North China: A Case Study
Authors: Zheng Jingjing , Abulikemu Abuduwaili , Wang Yan , Kong Meini , Liu Yiwei
Published: May 2022

The mechanism for convection initiation (CI) associated with the merger of an immature sea-breeze front (SBF) and gust front (GF) that occurred in North China on 31 July 2010 was investigated based on both observations and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulation. The results show that many CIs occurred continuously in the merging area, and eventually resulted in an intense mesoscale convective system (MCS). The WRF simulation captured the general features of the SBF, GF, their merger processes and associated CIs, as well as the resulting MCS. Quantitative Lagrangian vertical momentum budgets, in which the vertical acceleration was decomposed into dynamic and buoyant components, were conducted along the backward trajectories of air parcels within a convective cell initiated in the merger processes. It was found that both of the dynamic and buoyant accelerations played important roles for the CI. The buoyant acceleration was dominated by the warming due to the latent heat release within the convective cell. Further decomposition of the dynamic acceleration showed the vertical twisting and extension contributed significantly to the dynamic acceleration, while the horizontal curvature was rather small. The vertical twisting was generated due to the vertical shear of horizontal wind, while the extension indicated convergences owing to a mid-level blocking convergence effect and squeezing, and (or) merging of the convergent leading edges of both fronts during their merger processes. The weak convergent leading edge of the immature SBF played an important role for the formation of the convergences.
An Investigation of Near Real-Time Water Vapor Tomography Modeling Using Multi-Source Data
Authors: Tong Laga , Zhang Kefei , Li Haobo , Wang Xiaoming , Ding Nan , Shi Jiaqi , Zhu Dantong , Wu Suqin
Published: May 2022

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) tomography is a well-recognized modeling technique for reconstruction, which can be used to investigate the spatial structure of water vapor with a high spatiotemporal resolution. In this study, a refined near real-time tomographic model is developed based on multi-source data including GNSS observations, Global Forecast System (GFS) products and surface meteorological data. The refined tomographic model is studied using data from Hong Kong from 2 to 11 October 2021. The result is compared with the traditional model with physical constraints and is validated by the radiosonde data. It is shown that the root mean square error (RMSE) values of the proposed model and traditional model are 0.950 and 1.763 g/m3, respectively. The refined model can decrease the RMSE by about 46%, indicating a better performance than the traditional one. In addition, the accuracy of the refined tomographic model is assessed under both rainy and non-rainy conditions. The assessment shows that the RMSE in the rainy period is 0.817 g/m3, which outperforms the non-rainy period with the RMSE of 1.007 g/m3.
Higher Responsiveness of Pattern Generation Circuitry to Sensory Stimulation in Healthy Humans Is Associated with a Larger Hoffmann Reflex
Authors: Solopova Irina A. , Selionov Victor A. , Blinov Egor O. , Dolinskaya Irina Y. , Zhvansky Dmitry S. , Lacquaniti Francesco , Ivanenko Yury
Published: May 2022

The state and excitability of pattern generators are attracting the increasing interest of neurophysiologists and clinicians for understanding the mechanisms of the rhythmogenesis and neuromodulation of the human spinal cord. It has been previously shown that tonic sensory stimulation can elicit non-voluntary stepping-like movements in non-injured subjects when their limbs were placed in a gravity-neutral unloading apparatus. However, large individual differences in responsiveness to such stimuli were observed, so that the effects of sensory neuromodulation manifest only in some of the subjects. Given that spinal reflexes are an integral part of the neuronal circuitry, here we investigated the extent to which spinal pattern generation excitability in response to the vibrostimulation of muscle proprioceptors can be related to the H-reflex magnitude, in both the lower and upper limbs. For the H-reflex measurements, three conditions were used: stationary limbs, voluntary limb movement and passive limb movement. The results showed that the H-reflex was considerably higher in the group of participants who demonstrated non-voluntary rhythmic responses than it was in the participants who did not demonstrate them. Our findings are consistent with the idea that spinal reflex measurements play important roles in assessing the rhythmogenesis of the spinal cord.
Genome-Directed Cell Nucleus Assembly
Authors: Razin Sergey V. , Ulianov Sergey V.
Published: May 2022

The cell nucleus is frequently considered a cage in which the genome is placed to protect it from various external factors. Inside the nucleus, many functional compartments have been identified that are directly or indirectly involved in implementing genomic DNA’s genetic functions. For many years, it was assumed that these compartments are assembled on a proteinaceous scaffold (nuclear matrix), which provides a structural milieu for nuclear compartmentalization and genome folding while simultaneously offering some rigidity to the cell nucleus. The results of research in recent years have made it possible to consider the cell nucleus from a different angle. From the “box” in which the genome is placed, the nucleus has become a kind of mobile exoskeleton, which is formed around the packaged genome, under the influence of transcription and other processes directly related to the genome activity. In this review, we summarize the main arguments in favor of this point of view by analyzing the mechanisms that mediate cell nucleus assembly and support its resistance to mechanical stresses.
The Intricate Evolutionary Balance between Transposable Elements and Their Host: Who Will Kick at Goal and Convert the Next Try?
Authors: Yoth Marianne , Jensen Silke , Brasset Emilie
Published: May 2022

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile DNA sequences that can jump from one genomic locus to another and that have colonized the genomes of all living organisms. TE mobilization and accumulation are an important source of genomic innovations that greatly contribute to the host species evolution. To ensure their maintenance and amplification, TE transposition must occur in the germ cell genome. As TE transposition is also a major threat to genome integrity, the outcome of TE mobility in germ cell genomes could be highly dangerous because such mutations are inheritable. Thus, organisms have developed specialized strategies to protect the genome integrity from TE transposition, particularly in germ cells. Such effective TE silencing, together with ongoing mutations and negative selection, should result in the complete elimination of functional TEs from genomes. However, TEs have developed efficient strategies for their maintenance and spreading in populations, particularly by using horizontal transfer to invade the genome of novel species. Here, we discuss how TEs manage to bypass the host’s silencing machineries to propagate in its genome and how hosts engage in a fightback against TE invasion and propagation. This shows how TEs and their hosts have been evolving together to achieve a fine balance between transposition and repression.