bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Remote Natural Language Sampling of Parents and Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Role of Activity and Language Level
Authors: Butler Lindsay K. , La Valle Chelsea , Schwartz Sophie , Palana Joseph B. , Liu Cerelia , Peterman Natalie , Shen Lue , Tager-Flusberg Helen
Published: May 2022

Natural language sampling (NLS) is a common methodology in research and clinical practice used to evaluate a child's spontaneous spoken language in a naturalistic context. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that results in heterogeneous language profiles. NLS has emerged as a useful method for better understanding language use and development in this population. Prior work has examined the effects that contexts (e.g., home, lab) and conversational partners (e.g., examiner, parent) have on childrens language production, but less is known about remote collection of interactions between parents and children with ASD at home. Increasing our understanding of in-home remote NLS with children with ASD will improve naturalistic approaches to language assessment in children with ASD. We analyzed natural language samples of 90 dyads of parents and four- to seven-year old children with ASD collected remotely in the home using items and activities from the family's own home. The 15-min parent-child interactions were transcribed and analyzed for the child's language level measured by the number of different words. We examined the range of activities and the relationship between activities and the child's language level. We found that in-home parent-child activities fell into 13 descriptive categories, but we found no significant difference in child's language level (measured by the mean number of different words) across activities. We found that dyads involving children with higher language levels engaged in significantly fewer different activities compared to children with lower language levels. We found no difference in the number of different words elicited in the five most frequent activities in our sample. These results support the feasibility of remote in-home language sampling. While the types of activities that parent-child dyads engaged in did not affect the richness of language elicited, the number of different activities was associated with the child's language level. Allowing parents to steer children with lower language levels toward more different activities may allow children with lower language to more fully demonstrate their spoken language abilities.
Isothermal Titration Calorimetry in Biocatalysis
Authors: Hagedoorn Peter-Leon
Published: May 2022

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is a popular chemical analysis technique that can be used to measure macromolecular interactions and chemical and physical processes. ITC involves the measurement of heat flow to and from a measurement cell after each injection during a titration experiment. ITC has been useful to measure the thermodynamics of macromolecular interactions such as protein-ligand or protein-protein binding affinity and also chemical processes such as enzyme catalyzed reactions. The use of ITC in biocatalysis has a number of advantages as ITC enables the measurement of enzyme kinetic parameters in a direct manner and, in principle, can be used for most enzymes and substrates. ITC approaches have been developed to measure reversible and irreversible enzyme inhibition, the effects of molecular crowding on enzyme activity, the activity of immobilized enzymes and the conversion of complex polymeric substrates. A disadvantage is that in order to obtain accurate kinetic parameters special care has to be taken in proper experimental design and data interpretation, which unfortunately is not always the case in reported studies. Furthermore, special caution is necessary when ITC experiments are performed that include solvents, reducing agents and may have side reactions. An important bottleneck in the use of calorimetry to measure enzyme activity is the relatively low throughput, which may be solved in the future by sensitive chip based microfluidic enzyme calorimetric devices.
Effects of Acute Interval Exercise on Arterial Stiffness and Cardiovascular Autonomic Regulatory Responses: A Narrative Review of Potential Impacts of Aging
Authors: Liu Wei-Long , Lin Yi-Yuan , Mündel Toby , Chou Chun-Chung , Liao Yi-Hung
Published: May 2022

The physiological changes associated with aging deleteriously impact cardiovascular function and regulation and therefore increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. There is substantial evidence that changes in the autonomic nervous system and arterial stiffness play an important role in the development of cardiovascular disease during the aging process. Exercise is known to be effective in improving autonomic regulation and arterial vascular compliance, but differences in the type and intensity of exercise can have varying degrees of impact on vascular regulatory responses and autonomic function. There is still little evidence on whether there are differences in the response of exercise interventions to cardiovascular modulatory effects across the lifespan. In addition, acute interval exercise challenges can improve autonomic modulation, although the results of interval exercise on autonomic physiological parameters vary. Therefore, this narrative review focuses on evaluating the effects of acute interval exercise on blood pressure regulation and autonomic responses and also incorporates studies investigating different age groups to evaluate the effects of acute interval exercise on the autonomic nervous system. Herein we also summarize existing literature examining the acute cardiovascular responses to varied modes of interval exercise, as well as to further compare the benefits of interval exercise with other types of exercise on autonomic regulation and arterial stiffness. After reviewing the existing literature, it has been shown that with advancing age, changes in the autonomic nervous activity of interval exercise result in significant impacts on the cardiovascular system. We document that with advancing age, changes in the autonomic nerves lead to aging of the nervous system, thereby affecting the regulation of blood pressure. According to the limited literature, interval exercise is more effective in attenuating arterial stiffness than continuous exercise, but the difference in exercise benefits may depend on the training mode, intensity, duration of exercise, and the age of participants. Therefore, the benefits of interval exercise on autonomic and arterial stiffness improvement still warrant investigation, particularly the impact of age, in future research.
Atrioventricular Block Necessitating Chronic Ventricular Pacing After Tricuspid Valve Surgery in Patients With a Systemic Right Ventricle: Long-Term Follow-Up
Authors: Nederend Marieke , Jongbloed Monique R. M. , Kiès Philippine , Vliegen Hubert W. , Bouma Berto J. , Regeer Madelien V. , Koolbergen Dave R. , Hazekamp Mark G. , Schalij Martin J. , Egorova Anastasia D.
Published: May 2022

Background

Patients with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) after an atrial switch or congenitally corrected TGA (ccTGA) are prone to systemic right ventricular (sRV) failure. Tricuspid valve (TV) regurgitation aggravates sRV dysfunction. Timely TV surgery stabilizes sRV function, yet the development of atrioventricular (AV)-conduction disturbances in the course of sRV failure can contribute to sRV dysfunction through pacing-induced dyssynchrony. This study aims to explore the incidence, timing, and functional consequences of AV-block requiring ventricular pacing after TV surgery in patients with sRV.

Methods

Consecutive adolescent and adult patients with an sRV who underwent TV surgery between 1989 and 2020 and followed-up at our center were included in this observational cohort study.

Results

The data of 28 patients (53% female, 57% ccTGA, and a mean age at surgery 38 ± 13 years) were analyzed. The mean follow-up was 9.7 ± 6.8 years. Of the remaining 22 patients at the risk of developing high degree AV-block after TV surgery, 9 (41%) developed an indication for chronic ventricular pacing during follow-up, of which 5 (56%) within 24 months postoperatively (3 prior to hospital discharge). The QRS duration, a surrogate marker for dyssynchrony, was significantly higher in patients with chronic left ventricular pacing than in patients with native AV-conduction (217 ± 24 vs. 116 ± 23 ms, p = 0.000), as was the heart failure biomarker NT-pro-BNP [2,746 (1,242–6,879) vs. 495 (355–690) ng/L, p = 0.004] and the percentage of patients with ≥1 echocardiographic class of deterioration of systolic sRV function (27 vs. 83%, p = 0.001). Of the patients receiving chronic subpulmonary ventricular pacing (n = 12), 9 (75%) reached the composite endpoint of progressive heart failure [death, ventricular assist device implantation, or upgrade to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)]. Only 4 (31%) patients with native AV-conduction (n = 13) reached this composite endpoint (p = 0.027).

Conclusion

Patients with a failing sRV who undergo TV surgery are prone to develop AV-conduction abnormalities, with 41% developing an indication for chronic ventricular pacing during 10 years of follow-up. Patients with chronic subpulmonary ventricular pacing have a significantly longer QRS complex duration, have higher levels of the heart failure biomarker NT-pro-BNP, and are at a higher risk of deterioration of systolic sRV function and progressive heart failure.
N1-Methyladenosine (m1A) Regulation Associated With the Pathogenesis of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Through YTHDF3 Modulating Macrophage Polarization
Authors: Wu Yihao , Jiang Deying , Zhang Hao , Yin Fanxing , Guo Panpan , Zhang Xiaoxu , Bian Ce , Chen Chen , Li Shuixin , Yin Yuhan , Böckler Dittmar , Zhang Jian , Han Yanshuo
Published: May 2022

Objectives

This study aimed to identify key AAA-related m1A RNA methylation regulators and their association with immune infiltration in AAA. Furthermore, we aimed to explore the mechanism that m1A regulators modulate the functions of certain immune cells as well as the downstream target genes, participating in the progression of AAA.

Methods

Based on the gene expression profiles of the GSE47472 and GSE98278 datasets, differential expression analysis focusing on m1A regulators was performed on the combined dataset to identify differentially expressed m1A regulatory genes (DEMRGs). Additionally, CIBERSORT tool was utilized in the analysis of the immune infiltration landscape and its correlation with DEMRGs. Moreover, we validated the expression levels of DEMRGs in human AAA tissues by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Immunofluorescence (IF) staining was also applied in the validation of cellular localization of YTHDF3 in AAA tissues. Furthermore, we established LPS/IFN-γ induced M1 macrophages and ythdf3 knockdown macrophages in vitro, to explore the relationship between YTHDF3 and macrophage polarization. At last, RNA immunoprecipitation-sequencing (RIP-Seq) combined with PPI network analysis was used to predict the target genes of YTHDF3 in AAA progression.

Results

Eight DEMRGs were identified in our study, including YTHDC1, YTHDF1-3, RRP8, TRMT61A as up-regulated genes and FTO, ALKBH1 as down-regulated genes. The immune infiltration analysis showed these DEMRGs were positively correlated with activated mast cells, plasma cells and M1 macrophages in AAA. RT-qPCR analysis also verified the up-regulated expression levels of YTHDC1, YTHDF1, and YTHDF3 in human AAA tissues. Besides, IF staining result in AAA adventitia indicated the localization of YTHDF3 in macrophages. Moreover, our in-vitro experiments found that the knockdown of ythdf3 in M0 macrophages inhibits macrophage M1 polarization but promotes macrophage M2 polarization. Eventually, 30 key AAA-related target genes of YTHDF3 were predicted, including CD44, mTOR, ITGB1, STAT3, etc.

Conclusion

Our study reveals that m1A regulation is significantly associated with the pathogenesis of human AAA. The m1A “reader,” YTHDF3, may participate in the modulating of macrophage polarization that promotes aortic inflammation, and influence AAA progression by regulating the expression of its target genes.
Wasserstein Uncertainty Estimation for Adversarial Domain Matching
Authors: Wang Rui , Zhang Ruiyi , Henao Ricardo
Published: May 2022

Domain adaptation aims at reducing the domain shift between a labeled source domain and an unlabeled target domain, so that the source model can be generalized to target domains without fine tuning. In this paper, we propose to evaluate the cross-domain transferability between source and target samples by domain prediction uncertainty, which is quantified via Wasserstein gradient flows. Further, we exploit it for reweighting the training samples to alleviate the issue of domain shift. The proposed mechanism provides a meaningful curriculum for cross-domain transfer and adaptively rules out samples that contain too much domain specific information during domain adaptation. Experiments on several benchmark datasets demonstrate that our reweighting mechanism can achieve improved results in both balanced and partial domain adaptation.
Numerical Investigation on Interference of Multiple Hydraulic Fractures in Layered Formation
Authors: Li Zhichao , Wang Shuren , Li Lianchong , Zhang Jiyun
Published: May 2022

Staged treatment in vertical wells is extensively applied in layered formation to obtain commercial exploitation of hydrocarbon resources. Large-sized heterogeneities always exist between multiple hydraulic fractures in different layers. To reveal the interference of multiple hydraulic fractures in layered formation, a series of numerical investigations were conducted based on the cohesive zone finite element method. The results show that the sole stress interference is too small to exert an effective impact on adjacent pay zones, which is quite different from those in horizontal wells. The flow distribution in one pay zone can reach 56.2%, which is more than five times the magnitude of the least 10.5% during the fracturing in three pay zones. The fracture size heterogeneities are mainly caused by the interference of the fluid flow into multiple perforation tunnels in different pay zones. To further clarify how the flow distribution in the pay zones is affected, five related factors, including perforating thickness, pay zone thickness, rock permeability, minimum horizontal stress of the pay zone, and rock strength, are analyzed. The results show that it is through the manner of flow distribution adjustment in each pay zone that the five factors affect the fracture size. This study is of critical importance to clarify how the multiple hydraulic fractures from vertical wells interfere in layered formation and explain why the hydraulic fractures we get in the field are far away from what we want ideally.
Stress Distribution Law of Full-Length Anchorage Bolt in Rectangular Roadway
Authors: Pang Dongdong , He Kai , Xu Yatao , Chang Jucai , Niu Xingang , Li Chuanming
Published: May 2022

To study the evolution law of axial force and shear stress of a full-length anchorage bolt in a rectangular roadway during roadway driving and working face mining, based on the stress analysis of the bolt, considering the elastic parameters and geometric size of the bolt, the effect of a bearing plate on surrounding rock, roadway cross-section shape, roadway deformation degree, and roadway elastic parameters, elastic mechanics and mathematical analysis methods were used to establish the mechanical model describing the interaction between the bolt and surrounding rock, and the mechanical formulas for calculating the axial force and shear stress of the bolt were derived. Taking the mining roadway of 1,131(1) working face in the Zhujidong coal mine of the Huainan mining area as the engineering background, the axial force and shear stress of the bolt in the middle of the roof and side of the rectangular roadway with the advance of driving face and working face were analyzed. The mechanical model and theoretical analysis results are verified by installing force measuring bolts with the same mechanical properties as the field and observing the real axial force distribution of the bolts.
Formation of an Intracontinental Orogen Above the Permo-Triassic Mantle Convection Cell in the Paleo-Tethys Tectonic Realm due to Far-Field Stress Derived From Continental Margins
Authors: Zhao Lei , Zhai Mingguo , Zhou Xiwen
Published: May 2022

The identification of intraplate orogens seemingly poses challenges to the plate tectonic theory. Delineating the formation processes of intraplate orogens can provide clues for the better understandings of the above issue. Although still controversial, the Indosinian (Permo-Triassic) orogeny in the South China Block (SCB) is potentially a good example of intracontinental orogen. In this paper, we carry out studies on the Indosinian high-grade rocks in the northeastern Cathaysia Block of the SCB, hoping to cast light on the features and formation processes of intraplate orogenic belts. These rocks exhibit HP/HT granulite facies mineral assemblages and reaction textures imply that they witnessed eclogite-facies metamorphism. Their clockwise P-T trajectories with isothermal decompression stages suggest significant crustal thickening followed by quick orogenic collapse. Immobile whole-rock trace elements indicate basaltic protoliths features, resembling E-MORB and OIB, respectively. SIMS zircon U-Pb age dating confirms Indosinian metamorphic ages of ∼248 Ma and a protolith age of ∼953 Ma. The mantle-like O isotopic compositions of the Neoproterozoic magmatic zircon cores further attest that they were primarily mantle derived rocks. The whole-rock Sm-Nd isotopic compositions show more enriched features because of metamorphic alteration, while zircon Lu-Hf isotopic results show primitive characteristics with Neoproterozoic model ages. These features suggest that the high-grade mafic rocks, as well as the metamorphosed early Precambrian metasedimentary rocks hosting them, are all continental crust components and juvenile oceanic crust components featuring plate margins are absent during the SCB Indosinian orogeny. Characteristics of these high-grade rocks and their spatial occurrences are both consistent with the proposal of an intracontinental orogen. After summarizations and comparisons of the Indosinian plate margin activities around the SCB, we suggest that this northeast-southwest trending orogenic belt is geometrically consistent with two mantle convection cells, with one conveying the SCB northward to collide with the North China Craton, and the other conveying the Paleo-Pacific plate northwestwards to form an active continental margin along the southeast SCB. The driving mechanism of the formation of the SCB Indosinian intracontinental orogenic belt could have broad implications for other intraplate orogens around the world.
Spatiotemporal Pattern Evolution of Urban Ecosystem Resilience Based on “Resistance-Adaptation-Vitality”: A Case Study of Nanchang City
Authors: Duo Linghua , Li Yanan , Zhang Ming , Zhao Yuxi , Wu Zhenhua , Zhao Dongxue
Published: May 2022

With the rapid development of the economy and society in recent years, the ecological environment has deteriorated significantly. The governments at all levels, departments, and relevant scholars have begun to pay attention to urban ecological construction and research on urban disaster prevention and mitigation. The concept of resilience has gained widespread attention in this context. However, at present, urban ecological resilience research is still in its infancy, and there are many qualitative but few quantitative studies in terms of assessment methods. This study explores the complex dynamic evolution mechanism of urban ecosystem resilience based on the three resilience characteristics and selects Nanchang, an important ecological barrier in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and a model area for integrated management of the Great Lakes basin, as an assessment target. This study establishes a quantitative measurement and evaluation framework for urban ecological resilience in three dimensions (resistance, adaptation, and vitality) and conducts a comprehensive evaluation of urban ecosystem resilience. The results show that the trend of land-use change from 1990 to 2020 is mainly characterized by the continuous decrease in arable land and ecological land (forestland, grassland, and water) and the continuous increase in construction land, among which the land-use dynamic attitude of construction land is the largest, reaching 5.33% from 1990 to 2005. During the study period, the overall ecosystem resilience of Nanchang showed a gradual decline and was always at a moderate-to-low level, with a long-term distribution pattern of “low in the middle and high in the surrounding areas” and clear spatial heterogeneity. This study helps clarify the security status of the regional ecosystem and provides a reference for exploring the complex dynamic evolution mechanism of ecological resilience.
Ground Surface Deformation in the Hanging Wall of the Jinshandian Underground Iron Mine in China
Authors: Wang Tianlong , Chen Congxin , Xia Kaizong , Zhang Chuqiang , Wang Yue , Liu Xuanting
Published: May 2022

When sublevel caving is used in metal mines, the stress state in the rock mass that initially existed around the mined-out area will be destroyed. This will lead to the rock strata deforming and moving and also, potentially, to large-scale collapse and cracking of the ground surface. Such ground surface deformation can cause significant damage to buildings and other structures. Therefore, it is very important to study the mechanism responsible for this ground surface deformation so that methods can be devised to protect the mine’s production facilities as well as the property and safety of nearby residents. In this study, the mechanism responsible for the surface deformation of the hanging wall in the eastern part of the Jinshandian iron mine was investigated by analyzing monitoring data collected in situ on the surface (from 2008 to 2020) and other related information (occurrence of surface cracking and collapse and geological conditions). The results show that the ground surface deformation can be divided into four stages (initial, creep, slow, and accelerating deformation stages). A flexural toppling failure model is proposed to account for the surface deformation. The model suggests that large-scale deformation of the ground surface at the hanging wall occurs due to the combined effect of in situ ground stress, occurrence of steep dip discontinuities and faults, the dips and strikes of the two parallel orebodies, and underground mining activity. Furthermore, the surface deformation can be divided into six regions corresponding to caved, rapidly-accelerating deformation, slowly-accelerating deformation, acceptable deformation, slight deformation, and no deformation zones. In the rapidly-accelerating deformation zone, the ratio of the horizontal to vertical displacement is greater than 1 and some major cracks can be found. Large-scale cracks begin to form when the horizontal velocity of the ground surface is greater than 1 mm/day.
Tractography of Porcine Meniscus Microstructure Using High-Resolution Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors: Shen Jikai , Zhao Qi , Qi Yi , Cofer Gary , Johnson G. Allan , Wang Nian
Published: May 2022

To noninvasively evaluate the three-dimensional collagen fiber architecture of porcine meniscus using diffusion MRI, meniscal specimens were scanned using a 3D diffusion-weighted spin-echo pulse sequence at 7.0 T. The collagen fiber alignment was revealed in each voxel and the complex 3D collagen network was visualized for the entire meniscus using tractography. The proposed automatic segmentation methods divided the whole meniscus to different zones (Red-Red, Red-White, and White-White) and different parts (anterior, body, and posterior). The diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics were quantified based on the segmentation results. The heatmap was generated to investigate the connections among different regions of meniscus. Strong zonal-dependent diffusion properties were demonstrated by DTI metrics. The fractional anisotropy (FA) value increased from 0.13 (White-White zone) to 0.26 (Red-Red zone) and the radial diffusivity (RD) value changed from 1.0 × 10-3 mm2/s (White-White zone) to 0.7 × 10-3 mm2/s (Red-Red zone). Coexistence of both radial and circumferential collagen fibers in the meniscus was evident by diffusion tractography. Weak connections were found between White-White zone and Red-Red zone in each part of the meniscus. The anterior part and posterior part were less connected, while the body part showed high connections to both anterior part and posterior part. The tractography based on diffusion MRI may provide a complementary method to study the integrity of meniscus and nondestructively visualize the 3D collagen fiber architecture.
Design and Optimization of a Modular Wireless Charging Scheme for Electric Buses With High Misalignment Tolerance
Authors: He Rui , Gao Jian , Yang Aixi , Zhou Jing
Published: May 2022

Modular design helps to improve the reliability and power density of power electronic systems, so cascading of power electronics modules is an effective method to improve the overall stability of the system. The application of the wireless power transfer (WPT) system to electric buses faces the challenge of higher power requirement; modularization provides a solution to the design of the wireless charging system for electric buses. A modular wireless charging system for electric buses is proposed in this study; the system consists of five identical 6.6 kW wireless charging modules distributed relatively disperse on the chassis. Through the design of coil layout, different modules on the receiver side can be decoupled from each other, which facilitate independent control. Each module utilizes the bipolar-solenoid coupling structure, which proves to have a high misalignment tolerance. In order to reduce the electromagnetic radiation for passengers on the electric bus, shielding is added on the receiver side. Five independent modules work collaboratively to compose a 30 kW wireless charging system for electric buses. The DC-DC efficiency is 87.44% in an aligned position at 200 mm transmission distance. With closed-loop control, the proposed system has high misalignment tolerance in the horizontal X-Y plane. Compared with the open loop control scheme, the average efficiency of the proposed system increases by 22.1% within 300 mm misalignment.
Semi-Empirical Model of Droplet Size Distribution From the Maximum Entropy Principle in Sodium Spray
Authors: Zou Wenbin , Zou Zhenyu , Tong Lili , Peng Cheng
Published: May 2022

When a sodium leakage accident occurs in the sodium-cooled fast reactor, the leaked sodium reacts violently with the air in the form of droplets, resulting in the phenomenon of sodium spray fire. The droplet size distribution formed by liquid sodium injection is the key factor affecting the accident analysis of sodium spray fire. Based on the theory of the maximum entropy principle, a semi-empirical model of sodium spray droplet size distribution is constructed, which is constrained by the mass equation or the momentum equation with viscous resistance, respectively. Based on the existing liquid fuel droplet size distribution experiment results and the sodium spray fire experiment results, the semi-empirical model is verified, which shows that the prediction result with the semi-empirical model constrained by the momentum equation is in good agreement with the experimental result with the error of about 20%. Furthermore, the proposed sodium spray droplet model is compared with other models of the empirical model, the semi-empirical model, and the model based on the maximum entropy principle constrained by the simplified mass equation. The simulation result with the proposed model matches the experimental data better with minor error.
IASA-Based Capacity Allocation Optimization Study for a Hydro–Pumped Storage–Photovoltaic–Wind Complementary Clean Energy Base
Authors: Zhang Jinliang , Ji XiaoHong , Ren Yan , Yang Jian , Qiao Yifan , Jin Xin , Yao Shuai , Qiao Ruoyu
Published: May 2022

Photovoltaic and wind power is uncontrollable, while a hydro–pumped storage–photovoltaic–wind complementary clean energy base can ensure stable power transmission in the whole system through power quantity regulation by the hydropower station and the pumped storage station. Reasonable allocation of installed capacities of various power sources in the system can improve the reliability and economy of systematic power supply. A system model was built generalizing the hydropower station and the pumped storage station as an energy storage unit, compensating and regulating the natural output process to match the system output and the load and to establish a correlation between the installed capacity of the base and the output index. Installed capacity allocation optimization was studied through an optimization model built with an initial investment of the base as the objective function and with power supply guarantee rate, power abandonment rate, and installed capacity as restraints and solved using improved artificial sheep algorithm (IASA) based on the shepherd dog supervision mechanism. A Yellow River clean energy base was selected for a case study analyzing the influence of power supply guarantee rate and power abandonment rate on installed capacity allocation and investment. For the two most important parameters in the optimization process, that is, the power supply guarantee rate and the power abandonment rate, after qualitative and quantitative analysis, it is found that the power supply guarantee rate has a greater impact on the initial investment. In this study, a combination of the power abandonment rate of 18% and the guaranteed rate of 90% is finally selected for the optimization calculation. The case study indicates that sole increase of installed photovoltaic or wind capacity resulted in the increase of both power supply guarantee rate and power abandonment rate; an appropriate increase in the installed capacity of the pumped storage station raised the power supply guarantee rate and lowered the power abandonment rate; and the optimal installed capacity allocation of the photovoltaic, wind, pumped storage, and hydropower under a specific load condition of the case project is 4.6:1.4:1.7:1.
Multi-Fault Diagnosis of Lithium-Ion Battery Systems Based on Correlation Coefficient and Similarity Approaches
Authors: Yu Quanqing , Li Jianming , Chen Zeyu , Pecht Michael
Published: May 2022

The continuous occurrence of lithium-ion battery system fires in recent years has made battery system fault diagnosis a current research hotspot. For a series connected battery pack, the current of each cell is the same. Although there are differences in parameters such as internal ohmic resistance, the relative change of parameters between cells is small. Therefore, the correlation coefficient of voltage signals between different cells can detect the faulty cell. Inspired by this, this paper proposes an improved Euclidean distance method and a cosine similarity method for online diagnosis of multi-fault in series connected battery packs, and compares them with the correlation coefficient method. The voltage sensor positions are arranged according to the interleaved voltage measurement design. The multi-fault involved in this study, including connection faults, sensor faults, internal short-circuit faults and external short-circuit faults, will lead to abnormal sensor readings at different positions, which in turn will cause changes in correlation coefficient, Euclidean distance and cosine similarity to achieve fault detection. Fault experiments were conducted to verify the feasibility of the three methods in a series connected battery pack.
A Short-Term Wind Power Forecast Method via XGBoost Hyper-Parameters Optimization
Authors: Xiong Xiong , Guo Xiaojie , Zeng Pingliang , Zou Ruiling , Wang Xiaolong
Published: May 2022

The improvement of wind power prediction accuracy is beneficial to the effective utilization of wind energy. An improved XGBoost algorithm via Bayesian hyperparameter optimization (BH-XGBoost method) was proposed in this article, which is employed to forecast the short-term wind power for wind farms. Compared to the XGBoost, SVM, KELM, and LSTM, the results indicate that BH-XGBoost outperforms other methods in all the cases. The BH-XGBoost method could yield a more minor estimated error than the other methods, especially in the cases of wind ramp events caused by extreme weather conditions and low wind speed range. The comparison results led to the recommendation that the BH-XGBoost method is an effective method to forecast the short-term wind power for wind farms.
How Negative Frames Can Undermine Public Support for Studying Solar Geoengineering in the U.S
Authors: Bolsen Toby , Palm Risa , Kingsland Justin T.
Published: May 2022

Scientists and policymakers have become interested in the viability of solar geoengineering as a way to manipulate the Earth’s temperature in the face of unabated global warming. This paper reports the results from a survey experiment designed to test predictions about the effects of exposure to framed messages about basic scientific research on solar geoengineering. Our findings reinforce other survey research showing that solar geoengineering is a generally unfamiliar concept, but also show that this topic has not yet become politicized. In addition, despite treatments of equal valence, we find that negative information can exert a more powerful influence than positive information on support for establishing a research program to study solar geoengineering. The results have implications for understanding how framing can influence public support for research on new technologies to mitigate climate change.
What Influences Shifts in Urban Nature Site Visitation During COVID-19? A Case Study in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Authors: Talal Michelle L. , Gruntman Michal
Published: May 2022

Urban nature sites are crucial places for the promotion of human health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are few interdisciplinary studies that simultaneously investigate the impact of a range of social and environmental factors on potential shifts in urban nature site visitation. We sought to do this by analyzing both geospatial data of the amenities and environmental features of urban nature sites with a web-based survey of urban nature site visitation in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. We found that 53% of surveyed participants decreased visitation during the pandemic, while 26% increased visitation, 21% had no change, and only 1.7% were first-time visitors of urban nature sites. We developed a multiple linear regression model for shifts in visitation frequency during the pandemic, and found that a relative increase in visitation was positively associated with higher ratings of the physical and mental health contribution of the urban nature sites, higher nature maintenance and accessibility ratings, and visiting with a spouse, but negatively associated with variables such as car transportation, visit length, shrub habitat, age, and visiting alone or for romantic dates. Our results suggest that the perceived health benefits and accessibility of urban nature sites could be key in motivating visitation during the pandemic more than the specific environmental features or amenities of these sites. Given the on-going threats of the pandemic and other environmental crises, it is imperative to continue supporting the creation, maintenance, and monitoring of urban nature sites for not only urban ecosystems and biodiversity, but also so that they can contribute to the health of all urban residents.
TGFβ2 is a Prognostic Biomarker for Gastric Cancer and is Associated With Methylation and Immunotherapy Responses
Authors: Han Bangling , Fang Tianyi , Wang Yimin , Zhang Yongle , Xue Yingwei
Published: May 2022

TGFβ signaling plays a key role in cancer progression and by shaping tumor architecture and inhibiting the anti-tumor activity of immune cells. It was reported that high expression of TGFβ can promote the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells in a variety of tumors. However, there are few studies on TGFβ2 and its methylation in gastric cancer. We analyzed the Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital (HMUCH) sequencing data and used public data to explore the potential function and prognostic value of TGFβ2 and its methylation in gastric cancer. In this study, we used the ssGSEA algorithm to quantify 23 methylation sites related to TGFβ2. Survival analysis showed that high expression of TGFβ2 and hypomethylation levels of TGFβ2 were negative factors in the prognosis of gastric cancer. Functional enrichment analysis of methylation revealed that methylation of different TGFβ2 methylation scores was mainly involved in energy metabolism, extracellular matrix formation and cell cycle regulation. In the gastric cancer microenvironment TGFβ2 was associated with high levels of multiple immune cell infiltration and cytokine expression, and high TGFβ2 expression was significantly and positively correlated with stemness markers, stromalscore and EMT. Gene set enrichment analysis also revealed an important role of TGFβ2 in promoting EMT. In addition, we discussed the relationship between TGFβ2 and immunotherapy. The expression of PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 was elevated in the TGFβ2 high expression group. Also when TGFβ2 was highly expressed, the responsiveness of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) was significantly enhanced. This indicates that TGFβ2 may become an indicator for predicting the efficacy of immunosuppressive agents and a potential target for immunotherapy.
Benefits and Challenges of Pre-clustered Network-Based Pathway Analysis
Authors: Castresana-Aguirre Miguel , Guala Dimitri , Sonnhammer Erik L. L.
Published: May 2022

Functional analysis of gene sets derived from experiments is typically done by pathway annotation. Although many algorithms exist for analyzing the association between a gene set and a pathway, an issue which is generally ignored is that gene sets often represent multiple pathways. In such cases an association to a pathway is weakened by the presence of genes associated with other pathways. A way to counteract this is to cluster the gene set into more homogenous parts before performing pathway analysis on each module. We explored whether network-based pre-clustering of a query gene set can improve pathway analysis. The methods MCL, Infomap, and MGclus were used to cluster the gene set projected onto the FunCoup network. We characterized how well these methods are able to detect individual pathways in multi-pathway gene sets, and applied each of the clustering methods in combination with four pathway analysis methods: Gene Enrichment Analysis, BinoX, NEAT, and ANUBIX. Using benchmarks constructed from the KEGG pathway database we found that clustering can be beneficial by increasing the sensitivity of pathway analysis methods and by providing deeper insights of biological mechanisms related to the phenotype under study. However, keeping a high specificity is a challenge. For ANUBIX, clustering caused a minor loss of specificity, while for BinoX and NEAT it caused an unacceptable loss of specificity. GEA had very low sensitivity both before and after clustering. The choice of clustering method only had a minor effect on the results. We show examples of this approach and conclude that clustering can improve overall pathway annotation performance, but should only be used if the used enrichment method has a low false positive rate.
Sirtuins—Novel Regulators of Epigenetic Alterations in Airway Inflammation
Authors: Wu Shunyu , Liu Huanhai
Published: May 2022

Histone modification is an important epigenetic alteration, and histone deacetylases are involved in the occurrence and development of various respiratory diseases. Sirtuins (SIRTs) have been demonstrated to play an important role in the formation and progression of chronic inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract. SIRTs participate in the regulation of oxidative stress and inflammation and are related to cell structure and cellular localization. This paper summarizes the roles and mechanisms of SIRTs in airway inflammation and describes the latest research on SIRT modulators, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for the study of potential epigenetic alteration-inducing drug targets.
Tolerance of a Vascularized Composite Allograft Achieved in MHC Class-I-mismatch Swine via Mixed Chimerism
Authors: Lellouch Alexandre G. , Andrews Alec R. , Saviane Gaelle , Ng Zhi Yang , Schol Ilse M. , Goutard Marion , Gama Amon-Ra , Rosales Ivy A. , Colvin Robert B. , Lantieri Laurent A. , Randolph Mark A. , Benichou Gilles , Cetrulo Curtis L.
Published: May 2022

Background

Vascularized composite allografts (VCAs) allow reconstruction of devastating injuries and amputations, yet require lifelong immunosuppression that is associated with significant morbidity. Induction of immune tolerance of VCAs would permit widespread use of these procedures. VCAs are acquired from deceased donors most likely to be fully-MHC-mismatched (in contrast to living-related renal transplant donor-recipient pairs matched at one MHC haplotype). After achieving VCA tolerance in a swine model equivalent to clinical living-related renal transplants (single-haplotype MHC mismatches: e.g., “mother-daughter”/haploidentical), we tested our protocol in MHC class I, class II, and fully-MHC-mismatched pairs. Although class II mismatched swine demonstrated similar results as the haploidentical scenario (stable mixed chimerism and tolerance), our protocol failed to prevent rejection of class I and full mismatch VCAs. Here, we describe a new adapted conditioning protocol that successfully achieved tolerance across MHC class-I-mismatch barriers in swine.

Methods

Swine were treated with non-myeloablative total body and thymic irradiation two days prior to infusion of bone marrow cells from an MHC class I-mismatched donor. They also received a short-term treatment with CTLA4-Ig (Belatacept®) and anti-IL6R mAb (Tociluzimab®) and were transplanted with an osteomyocutaneous VCA from the same donor.

Results

Stable mixed chimerism and tolerance of MHC class-I-mismatched VCAs was achieved in 3 recipients. Allograft tolerance was associated with a sustained lack of anti-donor T cell response and a concomitant expansion of double negative CD4-CD8- T cells producing IL-10.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the first successful mixed chimerism-induced VCA tolerance in a large animal model across a MHC class-I-mismatch. Future studies aimed at fully-mismatched donor-recipient pairs are under investigation with this protocol.
A Decentralized Kidney Transplant Biopsy Classifier for Transplant Rejection Developed Using Genes of the Banff-Human Organ Transplant Panel
Authors: van Baardwijk Myrthe , Cristoferi Iacopo , Ju Jie , Varol Hilal , Minnee Robert C. , Reinders Marlies E. J. , Li Yunlei , Stubbs Andrew P. , Clahsen-van Groningen Marian C.
Published: May 2022

Introduction

A decentralized and multi-platform-compatible molecular diagnostic tool for kidney transplant biopsies could improve the dissemination and exploitation of this technology, increasing its clinical impact. As a first step towards this molecular diagnostic tool, we developed and validated a classifier using the genes of the Banff-Human Organ Transplant (B-HOT) panel extracted from a historical Molecular Microscope® Diagnostic system microarray dataset. Furthermore, we evaluated the discriminative power of the B-HOT panel in a clinical scenario.

Materials and Methods

Gene expression data from 1,181 kidney transplant biopsies were used as training data for three random forest models to predict kidney transplant biopsy Banff categories, including non-rejection (NR), antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR), and T-cell-mediated rejection (TCMR). Performance was evaluated using nested cross-validation. The three models used different sets of input features: the first model (B-HOT Model) was trained on only the genes included in the B-HOT panel, the second model (Feature Selection Model) was based on sequential forward feature selection from all available genes, and the third model (B-HOT+ Model) was based on the combination of the two models, i.e. B-HOT panel genes plus highly predictive genes from the sequential forward feature selection. After performance assessment on cross-validation, the best-performing model was validated on an external independent dataset based on a different microarray version.

Results

The best performances were achieved by the B-HOT+ Model, a multilabel random forest model trained on B-HOT panel genes with the addition of the 6 most predictive genes of the Feature Selection Model (ST7, KLRC4-KLRK1, TRBC1, TRBV6-5, TRBV19, and ZFX), with a mean accuracy of 92.1% during cross-validation. On the validation set, the same model achieved Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.965 and 0.982 for NR and ABMR respectively.

Discussion

This kidney transplant biopsy classifier is one step closer to the development of a decentralized kidney transplant biopsy classifier that is effective on data derived from different gene expression platforms. The B-HOT panel proved to be a reliable highly-predictive panel for kidney transplant rejection classification. Furthermore, we propose to include the aforementioned 6 genes in the B-HOT panel for further optimization of this commercially available panel.
Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of The Interaction Between HIV Infection And COVID-19: Two Years’ Evidence Summary
Authors: Wang Yehua , Xie Yewei , Hu Siyue , Ai Wei , Tao Yusha , Tang Huilin , Jing Fengshi , Tang Weiming
Published: May 2022

Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people living with HIV (PLWH) were considered to be at risk of worse COVID-19 outcomes once infected. However, the existing evidence is inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to compare the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, severe COVID-19 symptoms, and mortality among PLWH and patients without HIV.

Method

The articles included studies published in PubMed, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane between December 1, 2019, and December 1, 2021. We included the original studies published in English focusing on observational studies assessing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, severe COVID-19 symptoms, and mortality among PLWH. Four independent reviewers extracted data. STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology-Modified (STROBE-M) checklist was used for quality assessment. For the results with heterogeneity I2 >75%, a random-effects model was employed. Otherwise, a fixed-effects model was used. The risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, severe COVID-19 symptoms, and mortality were compared with and without HIV.

Results

We included a total of 32 studies and 71,779,737 study samples, of whom 797,564 (1.11%) were PLWH. Compared with COVID-19 patients without HIV infection, PLWH had comparable risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (adjusted Risk Ratio=1.07, 95% CI: 0.53-2.16, I2 = 96%, study n=6, n=20,199,805) and risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms (aRR=1.06, 95% CI: 0.97-1.16, I2 = 75%, n=10, n=2,243,370). PLWH, if infected with SARS-CoV-2, were found to have an increased risk of mortality compared with people without HIV (aRR=1.30, 95% CI: 1.09-1.56, I2 = 76%, study n=16, n=71,032,659). This finding was consistent across different subgroup analyses.

Conclusion

PLWH are at increased risk of COVID-19 related mortality once infected. The local health system should, on the one hand, strengthen COVID-19 prevention and clinical management among PLWH to avoid infection and, on the other hand, sustain the HIV care continuum for PLWH for HIV management.