bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pains and Gains of Peer Reviewing in Software Engineering
Authors: Medvidović Nenad
Published: July 2021

A young software engineering researcher is invited to be an associate editor (AE) of a major journal in our field. The researcher is very excited. By this point, she has amassed a nice career track-record. She has also been recognized via a number of invitations to serve on our conferences' program committees. But this somehow feels different and more important: there are multiple conferences each year, and all of them have PCs staffed with dozens of members (not uncommonly over 100 in recent years), while there are comparatively fewer journals and, at any point in time, the sizes of their editorial boards are a fraction of a typical conference PC. This is a major additional sign of recognition of the young researcher's expertise and stature in the community. So, the researcher quickly and enthusiastically accepts the invitation.
Comparing fine-grained source code changes and code churn for bug prediction - A retrospective
Authors: Pinzger Martin , Giger Emanuel , Gall Harald C.
Published: July 2021

More than two decades ago, researchers started to mine the data stored in software repositories to help software developers in making informed decisions for developing and testing software systems. Bug prediction was one of the most promising and popular research directions that uses the data stored in software repositories to predict the bug-proneness or number of bugs in source files. On that topic and as part of Emanuel's PhD studies, we submitted a paper with the title Comparing fine-grained source code changes and code churn for bug prediction [8] to the 8th Working Conference on Mining Software Engineering, held 2011 in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii. Ten years later, it got selected as one of the finalists to receive the MSR 2021 Most Influential Paper Award. In the following, we provide a retrospective on our work, describing the road to publishing this paper, its impact in the field of bug prediction, and the road ahead.
Beyond Casual Resemblance: Rigorous Frameworks for Comparing Regeneration Across Species
Authors: Srivastava Mansi
Published: July 2021

The majority of animal phyla have species that can regenerate. Comparing regeneration across animals can reconstruct the molecular and cellular evolutionary history of this process. Recent studies have revealed some similarity in regeneration mechanisms, but rigorous comparative methods are needed to assess whether these resemblances are ancestral pathways (homology) or are the result of convergent evolution (homoplasy). This review aims to provide a framework for comparing regeneration across animals, focusing on gene regulatory networks (GRNs), which are substrates for assessing process homology. The homology of the wound-induced activation of Wnt signaling and of adult stem cells provides examples of ongoing studies of regeneration that enable comparisons in a GRN framework. Expanding the study of regeneration GRNs in currently studied species and broadening taxonomic sampling for these approaches will identify processes that are unifying principles of regeneration biology across animals. These insights are important both for evolutionary studies of regeneration and for human regenerative medicine.
Expanded in situ aging indicators for lithium-ion batteries with a blended NMC-LMO electrode cycled at sub-ambient temperature
Authors: Smith Alexander James , Svens Pontus , Varini Maria , Lindbergh Göran , Lindström Rakel Wreland
Published: July 2021

An important step toward safer and more reliable lithium-ion battery systems is the development of better methods for detection and characterization of battery degradation. For a method to be suitable for online application (e.g., onboard an electric vehicle), it must be simple, explanatory, and non-invasive. In this work, we develop and track aging indicators over the life of 18650-format lithium-ion batteries with a blended NMC532-LMO positive electrode and graphite negative electrode. Cells are cycled until reaching 80 % of their original capacity under combinations of four different cycling conditions: ambient and sub-ambient temperatures (29 and 10 °C) and fast and mild rates (2.7 and 1.0C). Loss of lithium inventory dominates aging for all cases, with additional loss of NMC capacity under the combination of sub-ambient temperature and mild rate. A novel, easily acquired polarization factor (supported by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) complements capacity fade analysis; it correlates well with ultimate cell lifetime and indicates changes in active aging processes. These processes are further revealed by differential voltage analysis (DVA) and incremental capacity analysis (ICA). New indicators and aging scenarios are evaluated for these techniques and supported by post mortem analysis. From in operando cycling data and a single, slow discharge curve, these four methods (capacity fade, polarization factor, DVA, and ICA) comprise a simple, explanatory, and non-invasive toolbox for evaluating aging online in lithium-ion battery systems.
Increased endothelial sodium channel activity by extracellular vesicles in human aortic endothelial cells: putative role of MLP1 and bioactive lipids
Authors: Nouri Mohammad-Zaman , Yu Ling , Liu Lauren P. , Chacko Kevin M. , Denslow Nancy D. , LaDisa Jr. John F. , Alli Abdel A.
Published: July 2021

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain biological molecules and are secreted by cells into the extracellular milieu. The endothelial sodium channel (EnNaC) plays an important role in modulating endothelial cell stiffness. We hypothesized EVs secreted from human aortic endothelial cells (hAoECs) positively regulate EnNaC in an autocrine-dependent manner. A comprehensive lipidomic analysis using targeted mass spectrometry was performed on multiple preparations of EVs isolated from the conditioned media of hAoECs or complete growth media of these cells. Cultured hAoECs challenged with EVs isolated from the conditioned media of these cells resulted in an increase in EnNaC activity when compared with the same concentration of media-derived EVs or vehicle alone. EVs isolated from the conditioned media of hAoECs but not human fibroblast cells were enriched in MARCKS-like protein 1 (MLP1). The pharmacological inhibition of the negative regulator of MLP1, protein kinase C, in cultured hAoECs resulted in an increase in EV size and release compared with vehicle or pharmacological inhibition of protein kinase D. The MLP1-enriched EVs increased the density of actin filaments in cultured hAoECs compared with EVs isolated from human fibroblast cells lacking MLP1. We quantified 141 lipids from glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, and sphingolipids in conditioned media EVs that represented twice the number found in control media EVs. The concentrations of sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine were higher in conditioned media EVs. These results provide the first evidence for EnNaC regulation in hAoECs by EVs and provide insight into a possible mechanism involving MLP1, unsaturated lipids, and bioactive lipids.
Hepatic ADTRP overexpression does not influence lipid and glucose metabolism
Authors: Defour Merel , van Weeghel Michel , Hermans Jill , Kersten Sander
Published: July 2021

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are a group of transcription factors belonging to the nuclear receptor superfamily. Since most target genes of PPARs are implicated in lipid and glucose metabolism, regulation by PPARs could be used as a screening tool to identify novel genes involved in lipid or glucose metabolism. Here, we identify Adtrp, a serine hydrolase enzyme that was reported to catalyze the hydrolysis of fatty acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids (FAHFAs), as a novel PPAR-regulated gene. Adtrp was significantly upregulated by PPARα activation in mouse primary hepatocytes, liver slices, and whole liver. In addition, Adtrp was upregulated by PPARγ activation in 3L3-L1 adipocytes and in white adipose tissue. ChIP-SEQ identified a strong PPAR-binding site in the immediate upstream promoter of the Adtrp gene. Adenoviral-mediated hepatic overexpression of Adtrp in diet-induced obese mice caused a modest increase in plasma nonesterified fatty acids but did not influence diet-induced obesity, liver triglyceride levels, liver lipidomic profiles, liver transcriptomic profiles, plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, glycerol, and glucose levels. Moreover, hepatic Adtrp overexpression did not lead to significant changes in FAHFA levels in plasma or liver and did not influence glucose and insulin tolerance. Finally, hepatic overexpression of Adtrp did not influence liver triglycerides and levels of plasma metabolites after a 24-h fast. Taken together, our data suggest that despite being a PPAR-regulated gene, hepatic Adtrp does not seem to play a major role in lipid and glucose metabolism and does not regulate FAHFA levels.
Inhibition of lipid phosphatase SHIP1 expands myeloid-derived suppressor cells and attenuates rheumatoid arthritis in mice
Authors: So Eui-Young , Sun Changqi , Wu Keith Q. , Dubielecka Patrycja M. , Reginato Anthony M. , Liang Olin D.
Published: July 2021

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating autoimmune disease of unknown cause, characterized by infiltration and accumulation of activated immune cells in the synovial joints where cartilage and bone destructions occur. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are of myeloid origin and are able to suppress T cell responses. Src homology 2 domain-containing inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1) was shown to be involved in the regulation of MDSC differentiation. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of inhibition of SHIP1 on the expansion of MDSCs in RA using a collagen-induced inflammatory arthritis (CIA) mouse model. In DBA/1 mice, treatment with a small molecule-specific SHIP1 inhibitor 3α-aminocholestane (3AC) induced a marked expansion of MDSCs in vivo. Both pretreatment with 3AC of DBA/1 mice prior to CIA induction and intervention with 3AC during CIA progression significantly reduced disease incidence and severity. Adoptive transfer of MDSCs isolated from 3AC-treated mice, but not naïve MDSCs from normal mice, into CIA mice significantly reduced disease incidence and severity, indicating that the 3AC-induced MDSCs were the cellular mediators of the observed amelioration of the disease. In conclusion, inhibition of SHIP1 expands MDSCs in vivo and attenuates development of CIA in mice. Small molecule-specific inhibition of SHIP1 may therefore offer therapeutic benefit to patients with RA and other autoimmune diseases.
PPARα agonist fenofibrate attenuates iron-induced liver injury in mice by modulating the Sirt3 and β-catenin signaling
Authors: Mandala Ashok , Chen William J. , Armstrong Austin , Malhotra Milan R. , Chavalmane Sanmathi , McCommis Kyle S. , Chen Anping , Carpenter Danielle , Biswas Pratim , Gnana-Prakasam Jaya P.
Published: July 2021

Hepatic intracellular iron accumulation has been implicated in the pathophysiology of chronic liver diseases. In this study, we identified a novel mechanism involved in the progression of fibrosis. Excess iron accumulation in liver caused downregulation of PPARα-Sirt3-Wnt signaling leading to fibrosis. This work has significant translational potential as PPARα agonist fenofibrate could be an attractive therapeutic drug for the treatment of liver disorders associated with iron overload.
Nr4A1 modulates inflammation-associated intestinal fibrosis and dampens fibrogenic signaling in myofibroblasts
Authors: Pulakazhi Venu Vivek Krishna , Alston Laurie , Iftinca Mircea , Tsai Yi-Cheng , Stephens Matthew , Warriyar K. V. Vineetha , Rehal Sonia , Hudson Grace , Szczepanski Holly , von der Weid Pierre-Yves , Altier Christophe , Hirota Simon A.
Published: July 2021

Fibrosis and increased muscle thickening contribute to stricture formation and intestinal obstruction, a complication that occurs in 30%–50% of patients with CD within 10 yr of disease onset. More than 50% of those who undergo surgery to remove the obstructed bowel will experience stricture recurrence. To date, there are no drug-based approaches approved to treat intestinal strictures. In the current submission, we identify NR4A1 as a novel target to treat inflammation-associated intestinal fibrosis.
Airway diameter at different transpulmonary pressures in ex vivo sheep lungs: implications for deep inspiration-induced bronchodilation and bronchoprotection
Authors: Dong Shou-Jin , Wang Lu , Chitano Pasquale , Coxson Harvey O. , Paré Peter D. , Seow Chun Y.
Published: July 2021

Deep inspiration (DI)-induced bronchodilation is the first line of defense against bronchoconstriction in healthy subjects. A hallmark of asthma is the lack of this beneficial effect of DI. The mechanism underlying the bronchodilatory effect of DI is not clear. Understanding the mechanism will help us unravel the mystery of asthma pathophysiology. It has been postulated that straining airway smooth muscle (ASM) during a DI could lead to bronchodilation and bronchoprotection. The hypothesis is currently under debate, and a central question is whether ASM is sufficiently stretched during a DI for its contractility to be compromised. Besides bronchoconstriction, another contributor to lung resistance is airway heterogeneity. The present study examines changes in airway diameter and heterogeneity at different lung volumes. Freshly explanted sheep lungs were used in plethysmographic measurements of lung resistance and elastance at different lung volumes, whereas the airway dimensions were measured by computed tomography (CT). The change in airway diameter informed by CT measurements was applied to isolated airway ring preparations to determine the strain-induced loss of ASM contractility. We found that changing the transpulmonary pressure from 5 to 30 cmH2O led to a 51% increase in lung volume, accompanied by a 46% increase in the airway diameter with no change in airway heterogeneity. When comparable airway strains measured in the whole lung were applied to isolated airway rings in either relaxed or contracted state, a significant loss of ASM contractility was observed, suggesting that DI-induced bronchodilation and bronchoprotection can result from strain-induced loss of ASM contractility.
Signal-averaged resting sympathetic transduction of blood pressure: is it time to account for prevailing muscle sympathetic burst frequency?
Authors: Nardone Massimo , Incognito Anthony V. , Kathia Muhammad M. , Omazic Lucas J. , Lee Jordan B. , Teixeira André L. , Xie Shengkun , Vianna Lauro C. , Millar Philip J.
Published: July 2021

Calculating the blood pressure (BP) response to a burst of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), termed sympathetic transduction, may be influenced by an individual’s resting burst frequency. We examined the relationships between sympathetic transduction and MSNA in 107 healthy males and females and developed a normalized sympathetic transduction metric to incorporate resting MSNA. Burst-triggered signal averaging was used to calculate the peak diastolic BP response following each MSNA burst (sympathetic transduction of BP) and following incorporation of MSNA burst cluster patterns and amplitudes (sympathetic transduction slope). MSNA burst frequency was negatively correlated with sympathetic transduction of BP ( r = −0.42; P < 0.01) and the sympathetic transduction slope ( r = −0.66; P < 0.01), independent of sex. MSNA burst amplitude was unrelated to sympathetic transduction of BP in males ( r = 0.04; P = 0.78), but positively correlated in females ( r = 0.44; P < 0.01) and with the sympathetic transduction slope in all participants ( r = 0.42; P < 0.01). To control for MSNA, the linear regression slope of the log-log relationship between sympathetic transduction and MSNA burst frequency was used as a correction exponent. In subanalysis of males (38 ± 10 vs. 14 ± 4 bursts/min) and females (28 ± 5 vs. 12 ± 4 bursts/min) with high versus low MSNA, sympathetic transduction of BP and sympathetic transduction slope were lower in participants with high MSNA (all P < 0.05). In contrast, normalized sympathetic transduction of BP and normalized sympathetic transduction slope were similar in males and females with high versus low MSNA (all P > 0.22). We propose that incorporating MSNA burst frequency into the calculation of sympathetic transduction will allow comparisons between participants with varying levels of resting MSNA.
Selective auditory attention modulates cortical responses to sound location change in younger and older adults
Authors: Ozmeral Erol J. , Eddins David A. , Eddins Ann Clock
Published: July 2021

In complex acoustic scenes, listeners take advantage of spatial cues to selectively attend to sounds that are deemed immediately relevant. At the neural level, selective attention amplifies electrical responses to spatial changes. We tested whether older and younger listeners have comparable modulatory effects of attention to stimuli moving in the free field. Results indicate that although older listeners do have depressed overall responses, selective attention enhances spatial-change tuning in younger and older listeners alike.
A Micro-Doppler Frequency Ambiguity Resolution Method Based on Complex-Valued U-Net
Authors: Long Ming , Yang Jun , Xia Saiqiang , Lv Mingjiu , Wei Xu , Chen Wenfeng
Published: July 2021

In order to resolute the micro-Doppler frequency ambiguity caused by radar pulse repetition frequency not high enough (i.e., pulse dimension does not satisfy the requirement of Nyquist sampling theorem), this paper presents a micro-Doppler frequency ambiguity resolution method based on complex-valued U-net. The echo sequence is interpolated by zeros in the pulse dimension to increase the equivalent pulse repetition frequency, so that the echo sequence after zero interpolation contains the real micro-Doppler frequency; at the same time, some new frequency components are generated. The variation law of the echo sequence frequency after zero interpolation is analyzed. Then, the echo sequence in time domain after zero interpolation is transformed to the time-frequency domain by short-time Fourier transform (STFT). Finally, the time-frequency results can be segmented by the model, which is trained by complex-valued U-net to eliminate the redundant frequencies generated by zero interpolation; thus, the reconstruction of real micro-Doppler frequency is realized. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed method can solve the problem of micro-Doppler frequency ambiguity. Compared with fully convolution network (FCN) and fully convolution residual network (FCRN), the proposed method has better performance and robustness.
Mechanical Behavior of the Reinforced Retaining Wall under Vehicle Load
Authors: Liu Yong , Yao Zhanyong , Shao Mingxia , Liu Hongzhe , Zhao Yulong
Published: July 2021

This study primarily aims to explore the mechanical behavior and influence factors of the reinforced retaining wall subject to vehicle loads. Mohr–Coulomb model was adopted to simulate and analyze the structural characteristics of the reinforced retaining wall by the finite element method. Its mechanical behavior was investigated in accordance with relevant theories. The results showed that the vertical and horizontal maximum displacement of the reinforced retaining wall occurs at the wall surface of the retaining wall, the maximum internal soil pressure appears at the middle and lower part of the retaining wall, and the maximum tensile strain of the tension bar acts on the wall rupture surface. As impacted by static vehicle load, the largest settlement is located at the parking position, and the maximum horizontal displacement and wall stability will vary with the vehicle position. Moreover, the closer the vehicle to the reinforcement is, the greater the lateral Earth pressure will be imposed on the upper part of the reinforcement body. With the variation of the vehicle position, the tension stress of the geogrid will vary noticeably.
Polydatin Induces Differentiation and Radiation Sensitivity in Human Osteosarcoma Cells and Parallel Secretion through Lipid Metabolite Secretion
Authors: Luce Amalia , Lama Stefania , Millan Pilar Chacon , Itro Annalisa , Sangiovanni Angelo , Caputo Carlo , Ferranti Pasquale , Cappabianca Salvatore , Caraglia Michele , Stiuso Paola
Published: July 2021

Osteosarcoma is a bone cancer characterized by the production of osteoid tissue and immature bone from mesenchymal cells. Osteosarcoma mainly affects long bones (femur is most frequently site) and occur in children and young adults with greater incidence. Here, we investigated the role accomplished by polydatin, a natural antioxidative compound, in promoting osteogenic differentiation alone or after radiation therapy on osteosarcoma cells. In vitro, polydatin significantly induced cell cycle arrest in S‐phase and enhanced bone alkaline phosphatase activity. Moreover, the differentiation process was paralleled by the activation of Wnt‐β‐catenin pathway. In combination with radiotherapy, the pretreatment with polydatin promoted a radiosensitizing effect on osteosarcoma cancer cells as demonstrated by the upregulation of osteogenic markers and reduced clonogenic survival of tumor cells. Additionally, we analyzed, by mass spectrometry, the secretion of sphingolipid, ceramides, and their metabolites in osteosarcoma cells treated with polydatin. Overall, our results demonstrate that polydatin, through the secretion of sphingolipids and ceramide, induced osteogenic differentiation, alone and in the presence of ionizing therapy. Future investigations are needed to validate the use of polydatin in clinical practice as a potentiating agent of radiotherapy‐induced anticancer effects.
Hilbert Implication Algebra and Some Properties
Authors: Gerima Tefera Dejen
Published: July 2021

The concepts of Hilbert implication algebra and generalized Hilbert implication algebra are introduced. The comparison theorem of Hilbert implication algebra and generalized Hilbert implication algebra is proved. In addition, the idea of groupoid and commutative Hilbert implication algebras is investigated. Ideals and filters in Hilbert implication algebras are also discussed. In general, different theorems which show different properties are proved.
A New Method of Identifying Core Designers and Teams Based on the Importance and Similarity of Networks
Authors: Liu Dianting , Huang Kangzheng , Wu Danling , Zhang Shenglan
Published: July 2021

In the process of product collaborative design, the association between designers can be described by a complex network. Exploring the importance of the nodes and the rules of information dissemination in such networks is of great significance for distinguishing its core designers and potential designer teams, as well as for accurate recommendations of collaborative design tasks. Based on the neighborhood similarity model, combined with the idea of network information propagation, and with the help of the ReLU function, this paper proposes a new method for judging the importance of nodes—LLSR. This method not only reflects the local connection characteristics of nodes but also considers the trust degree of network propagation, and the neighbor nodes’ information is used to modify the node value. Next, in order to explore potential teams, an LA‐LPA algorithm based on node importance and node similarity was proposed. Before the iterative update, all nodes were randomly sorted to get an update sequence which was replaced by the node importance sequence. When there are multiple largest neighbor labels in the propagation process, the label with the highest similarity is selected for update. The experimental results in the related networks show that the LLSR algorithm can better identify the core nodes in the network, and the LA‐LPA algorithm has greatly improved the stability of the original LPA algorithm and has stably mined potential teams in the network.
Giant Posttraumatic Angiolipoma of the Forearm: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Fotiadis Athanasios , Ioannidis Petros , Skandalos Ioannis , Papastergiou Stergios , Vrettakos Aristeidis , Tzigkalidis Theodoros , Vampertzis Themistoklis
Published: July 2021

Angiolipoma is a type of lipoma, a benign soft tissue tumor. It is distinguished by the excessive degree of vascular proliferation and the presence of mature adipocytes. It occurs commonly on the trunk and extremities. Angiolipomas larger than 4 cm are classified as “giant,” and due to their size, histological evaluation is necessary to exclude malignancy. We report a case of a male patient who suffered from a giant noninfiltrating intramuscular angiolipoma which formed after venipuncture in the antecubital fossa. Clinical examination showed a palpable painless soft mass. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a giant angiolipoma on the right forearm. Surgical removal of the mass was performed, and the biopsy was negative for malignancy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in the literature of posttraumatic intramuscular angiolipoma. Physicians and orthopedic/general surgeons should be aware of the possibility of soft tissue masses in a posttrauma situation.
Identification of a Ferroptosis-Related Signature Associated with Prognosis and Immune Infiltration in Adrenocortical Carcinoma
Authors: Chen Xi , Yan Lijun , Jiang Feng , Lu Yu , Zeng Ni , Yang Shufang , Ma Xianghua
Published: July 2021

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignant tumor with poor prognosis. Ferroptosis, a new form of cell death, differs from other forms of cell death and plays a vital role in tumor progress. Our study aimed to establish a ferroptosis-related signature with prognostic value in ACC. RNA-seq data and corresponding clinical characteristics for ACC were downloaded from TCGA and GEO databases. Genes included in ferroptosis risk signature were assessed by univariable and multivariable Cox regression analysis as well as lasso regression analysis. The prognostic value of the ferroptosis risk signature was assessed using K-M and ROC curves. Furthermore, we performed GSEA to discover the enriched gene sets in high-risk group. Additionally, TIMER website was applied to detect a possible connection between the signature and immune cells infiltration. ssGSEA was performed to evaluate scores of immune cells and immune-related pathways in two groups. A ferroptosis signature comprised of six genes (SLC7A11, TP53, HELLS, ACSL4, PCBP2, and HMGB1) was constructed to predict prognosis and reflect the immune infiltration in ACC. Patients in high-risk group were inclined to have worse prognosis. The ferroptosis model performed well in predicting prognosis and could be served as an independent indicator in ACC. GSEA revealed that gene sets correlated with biological processes including cell cycle, DNA replication, base excision repair, and P53 signaling pathway were highly enriched in high-risk group. In addition, we discovered that the expressional levels of hub genes were linked to six immune cells’ infiltration in ACC tumor. ssGSEA revealed that contents of most immune cells significantly decreased in the high-risk group. In conclusion, the novel ferroptosis risk signature could be useful in predicting prognosis and reflecting immune infiltration in ACC. It also brings us new insights into the possible value of targeting ferroptosis during the therapy of ACC.
Maximum Multicommodity Flow with Intermediate Storage
Authors: Khanal Durga Prasad , Pyakurel Urmila , Dhamala Tanka Nath
Published: July 2021

The multicommodity flow problem deals with the transshipment of more than one commodity from respective sources to corresponding sinks without violating the capacity constraints. Due to the capacity constraints, flows out from the sources may not reach their sinks, and so, the storage of excess flows at intermediate nodes plays an important role in the maximization of flow values. In this paper, we introduce the maximum static as well as maximum dynamic multicommodity flow problems with intermediate storage. We present polynomial and pseudopolynomial time algorithms for the former and latter problems, respectively. We also present the solution procedures to these problems in contraflow network having symmetric as well as asymmetric arc transit times. We transform the solutions in continuous-time settings by using natural transformation.
Stochastic Programming of Sustainable Waste Cooking Oil for Biodiesel Supply Chain under Uncertainty
Authors: Geng Nana , Fu Qihong , Sun Yixiang
Published: July 2021

As an important emission reduction source for the transportation industry, biofuel has received strong support from the Chinese government. However, the development of the biofuel industry is still struggling. The high degree of uncertainty makes the development of the industry face huge challenges. Kitchen waste, as a biodiesel raw material with a large yield, has good development prospects. Reuse of kitchen waste can solve public health and safety problems. This paper proposes a two-stage stochastic programming model under supply disturbance to optimize the supply chain from the perspective of contract. Then current three main flow directions of kitchen waste are analysed and the reasonable price for biodiesel operators to purchase is determined. By signing contracts with the biodiesel operators, restaurant is guaranteed and encouraged to provide a certain percentage of kitchen waste to meet the demand for biodiesel production. Using actual case in the Yangtze River Delta region, the performance of the stochastic programming model under disturbance was compared. Through the sensitivity analysis of different parameters, this paper determines the influence of its supply chain network design and expected total system cost. Through the optimization of the waste cooking oil (WCO) for biodiesel supply chain, this paper can effectively improve the efficiency of the supply chain, reduce system costs, increase the profits of biofuel operators, and promote the sustainable development of the biofuel industry.
Huotan Jiedu Tongluo Decoction Inhibits Balloon-Injury-Induced Carotid Artery Intimal Hyperplasia in the Rat through the PERK-eIF2α-ATF4 Pathway and Autophagy Mediation
Authors: Tian Tenghui , Yu Keying , Zhang Miao , Shao Xiao , Chang Liping , Shi Rui , Yao Baojin , Deng Yue
Published: July 2021

In-stent restenosis (ISR) is the main factor affecting the outcome of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and its main pathological feature is neointimal hyperplasia. Huotan Jiedu Tongluo decoction (HTJDTLD) is an effective traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription for the treatment of vascular stenosis diseases. However, the precise anti-ISR mechanism of HTJDTLD remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether HTJDTLD can inhibit the excessive activation of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and reduce the level of autophagy factors through regulating the PERK-eIF2α-ATF4 pathway, thereby inhibiting the proliferation of the intima of blood vessels damaged by balloon injury (BI) and preventing the occurrence of ISR. In this study, a 2F Fogarty balloon was used to establish a common carotid artery (CCA) BI model in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Then, HTJDTLD (16.33 g/kg/d) or atorvastatin (1.19 mg/kg/d) was administered by gavage. Four weeks later, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Masson staining of the injured CCA were performed to observe the histological changes in the CCA. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to assess the proliferation and dedifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in the CCA. Western blotting and RT-PCR were used to measure the expression of ERS- and autophagy-related proteins and mRNAs in the CCA. The results indicated that HTJDTLD significantly alleviated BI-induced carotid artery intimal hyperplasia and fibrosis and reduced the neointimal area (NIA) and NIA/medial area (MA) ratio. In addition, HTJDTLD inhibited the proliferation and dedifferentiation of VSMCs, reduced the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and increased the smooth-muscle-α-actin- (SMα-actin-) positive area. HTJDTLD also significantly reduced the expression of the ERS-related factors: GRP78, p-PERK/PERK, p-eIF2α/eIF2α, ATF4, and CHOP. In addition, the expression of the autophagy-related factors, Beclin1, LC3B, and ATG12, was significantly decreased. In addition, in vitro experiments showed that HTJDTLD inhibited the above-mentioned ERS signal molecules in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and rat aortic smooth muscle cells (A7R5) induced by tunicamycin (TM) and played a crucial role in protecting cells from damage. HTJDTLD may be a very promising drug for the treatment of ISR.
Hilbert–Schmidt Independence Criterion Subspace Learning on Hybrid Region Covariance Descriptor for Image Classification
Authors: Liu Xi , Yang Peng , Zhan Zengrong , Ma Zhengming
Published: July 2021

The region covariance descriptor (RCD), which is known as a symmetric positive definite (SPD) matrix, is commonly used in image representation. As SPD manifolds have a non-Euclidean geometry, Euclidean machine learning methods are not directly applicable to them. In this work, an improved covariance descriptor called the hybrid region covariance descriptor (HRCD) is proposed. The HRCD incorporates the mean feature information into the RCD to improve the latter’s discriminative performance. To address the non-Euclidean properties of SPD manifolds, this study also proposes an algorithm called the Hilbert-Schmidt independence criterion subspace learning (HSIC-SL) for SPD manifolds. The HSIC-SL algorithm is aimed at improving classification accuracy. This algorithm is a kernel function that embeds SPD matrices into the reproducing kernel Hilbert space and further maps them to a linear space. To make the mapping consider the correlation between SPD matrices and linear projection, this method introduces global HSIC maximization to the model. The proposed method is compared with existing methods and is proved to be highly accurate and valid by classification experiments on the HRCD and HSIC-SL using the COIL-20, ETH-80, QMUL, face data FERET, and Brodatz datasets.
A Multiattention‐Based Supervised Feature Selection Method for Multivariate Time Series
Authors: Cao Li , Chen Yanting , Zhang Zhiyang , Gui Ning
Published: July 2021

Feature selection is a known technique to preprocess the data before performing any data mining task. In multivariate time series (MTS) prediction, feature selection needs to find both the most related variables and their corresponding delays. Both aspects, to a certain extent, represent essential characteristics of system dynamics. However, the variable and delay selection for MTS is a challenging task when the system is nonlinear and noisy. In this paper, a multiattention‐based supervised feature selection method is proposed. It translates the feature weight generation problem into a bidirectional attention generation problem with two parallel placed attention modules. The input 2D data are sliced into 1D data from two orthogonal directions, and each attention module generates attention weights from their respective dimensions. To facilitate the feature selection from the global perspective, we proposed a global weight generation method that calculates a dot product operation on the weight values of the two dimensions. To avoid the disturbance of attention weights due to noise and duplicated features, the final feature weight matrix is calculated based on the statistics of the entire training set. Experimental results show that this proposed method achieves the best performance on compared synthesized, small, medium, and practical industrial datasets, compared to several state‐of‐the‐art baseline feature selection methods.
Visualization of Multivariate Time‐Series Characteristics of Ground Loss Caused by Shield Tunneling
Authors: Wen Zhu , Rong Xiaoli , Gao Fei , Wang Zhen , An Dong
Published: July 2021

Ground loss due to earth pressure balance shield tunneling eventually leads to a surface settlement which can be an issue of great concern. However, the existing machine learning methods ignore the continuous and dynamic nature of EPB shield tunneling. In this work, a multivariate time‐series (MTS) model for ground loss is proposed based on an analysis of factors and processes related to ground loss combined with the characteristics of original time‐series data involving multiple parameters recorded by EPB shield machines in real time. A method of visualizing MTS features based on a residual network and multichannel fully convolutional neural network is also presented. The validity of the proposed ground‐loss model is verified via calculation and comparison with 13 EPB shield construction projects carried out in typical urban areas featuring soft soil. Thermal maps are thus obtained to visualize the classification contributions, which provide a visual basis for feature analysis.
Antiplatelet Therapy with Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Use in Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: A Review of Clinical Applications and Mechanisms
Authors: Li Yuxuan , Li Yan , Li Bin , Liu Yang , Zhang Jingqian , Kuang Wu , Lu Jinjin , Cao Zheng , Cui Jie , Fan Zongjing , Guo Bin , Li Dong
Published: July 2021

Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) is common in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) after PCI treatment, which seriously affects the efficacy of revascularization and hinders the postoperative recovery of patients; therefore, the current study is focused on determining effective methods in the treatment of MIRI. Antiplatelet therapy is a routine treatment for ACS, and its benefits for treating MIRI have been previously verified. With the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), many TCM preparations are widely used in the clinic. Many basic and clinical studies have shown that TCM can be used together with antiplatelet drugs, and the safety and efficacy when TCM is included in the treatment are better than when antiplatelet drugs are used alone. This paper summarizes the current research progress of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine in the treatment of MIRI to provide a theoretical basis for further research and clinical treatment.
Experimental Study of the Aggregate Shapes in Self‐Compaction
Authors: Mohaddes Pour Mehrdad , Razavi Taheri Seyed Sina
Published: July 2021

Compaction operations have a vital role in embankments or rock fills to avoid settlement, but in some projects, such as marine ones, it is hardly possible to accomplish compaction operations due to the problems and executive limitations. In situations with no possibility of compaction, it is recommended to use single‐size or self‐compacted materials. From a theoretical point of view, self‐compacted materials consist of coarse aggregates with no vast domain of gradation. In this case, the porosity of the materials in the dense state is not significantly different from the loose one, and a relatively dense condition occurs after it is poured; thus, the mass of materials will undergo lower volumetric changes in the future. In this study, the self‐compacted characteristic of materials has been investigated using real aggregates with different gradations (the ratio of the largest to the smallest aggregate size of 1, 2, 4, and 8). The gradation and shape of aggregates are the main variables examined in the research. Real aggregates have been used in order to compare the study of self‐compacted idea with ideal aggregates and the effects of sphericity and angularity of them. According to the experiments carried out on samples in the present work, it was observed that, without compaction operations, even ideal materials would not be in fully self‐compacted state. However, relatively denser conditions can be achieved by observing the necessary points. Moreover, aggregates with high sphericity have better self‐compacted property. Furthermore, the more uniform gradation and bigger size of materials lead to more self‐compacted pile of materials.
Moving Camera-Based Object Tracking Using Adaptive Ground Plane Estimation and Constrained Multiple Kernels
Authors: Liu Tao , Liu Yong
Published: July 2021

Moving camera-based object tracking method for the intelligent transportation system (ITS) has drawn increasing attention. The unpredictability of driving environments and noise from the camera calibration, however, make conventional ground plane estimation unreliable and adversely affecting the tracking result. In this paper, we propose an object tracking system using an adaptive ground plane estimation algorithm, facilitated with constrained multiple kernel (CMK) tracking and Kalman filtering, to continuously update the location of moving objects. The proposed algorithm takes advantage of the structure from motion (SfM) to estimate the pose of moving camera, and then the estimated camera’s yaw angle is used as a feedback to improve the accuracy of the ground plane estimation. To further robustly and efficiently tracking objects under occlusion, the constrained multiple kernel tracking technique is adopted in the proposed system to track moving objects in 3D space (depth). The proposed system is evaluated on several challenging datasets, and the experimental results show the favorable performance, which not only can efficiently track on-road objects in a dashcam equipped on a free-moving vehicle but also can well handle occlusion in the tracking.
A Vehicle Fuel Consumption Model on Reconstructed Roads Based on the Roughness and Its Measurement Method
Authors: Liu Qiang , Xie Jianguang , Zhang Zhixiang
Published: July 2021

The fuel consumption model for a vehicle forms a basis and method for evaluating the social benefit of road reconstruction. Based on the theoretical fuel consumption model of vehicles, the influence mechanism of the apparent parameters of the road surface on the fuel consumption of vehicles and their sensitivity was analysed. The baseline state was defined on the basis of the roughness, a parameter with significant influence. In addition, a method for acquiring fuel consumption parameters was proposed to establish a one‐parameter relational model for the roughness and fuel consumption of vehicles in the baseline state based on measured data. Moreover, by considering the effects of the friction coefficient, deflection of the road surface, and vehicle speed on the fuel consumption, a modified model for the fuel consumption of vehicles applicable to road reconstruction was established. Finally, a method for measuring the energy‐saving benefit of vehicles was proposed based on the characteristics of reconstructed roads. The research provides a basis for evaluating the social benefit acquired from reconstructed roads.
Current Status of Indigenous and Highly Productive Chicken Breeds in Ethiopia
Authors: Tolasa Bayesa
Published: July 2021

In Ethiopia, chicken production plays an important role in providing human food consumption, growth of domestic products, and creating employment opportunities. Despite their importance, the production and reproduction performance of chickens in the country is under expectation owing to the gap between low productive indigenous and low adaptive ability of highly productive chicken breeds. By considering this, the present paper aims to deliver, synthesize, and summarize the compiled information on the current status of indigenous and highly productive chicken breeds. Currently, there are several highly productive chicken breeds available in Ethiopia. Among these, Rhode Island Red, Fayoumi, Potchefstroom Koekoek, Sasso, Bovan Brown, Issa Brown, and Leghorn are being kept under various husbandry systems. Besides, indigenous chicken ecotypes such as barley plumage color, red plumage color, white plumage color, and black plumage color have been characterized in the country. However, the average annual egg production of indigenous and highly productive chicken breeds did not exceed 60 and 250 eggs, respectively. On the other hand, the meat production ability of indigenous chickens is limited as cockerels and pullets may reach 1.5 and 1.05 kilogram live weight at 6 months of age, respectively. Concerning the husbandry system, a majority of owners supplied feed to chickens on the ground and water in plastic containers while scavenging is being the common feeding system in most parts of the country. Furthermore, the majority of the owners are using no separate housing system and treat their chickens traditionally. Thus, awareness should be emphasized on enhancing the improvement of chicken husbandry systems for better production and reproduction performance.
Food Addiction, Saturated Fat Intake, and Body Mass Index in Peruvian Adults: A Cross-Sectional Survey
Authors: Lopez-Lopez Dulce E. , Saavedra-Roman Ivett K. , Calizaya-Milla Yaquelin E. , Saintila Jacksaint
Published: July 2021

Background. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) constitute one of the main public health problems and represent a greater risk of mortality and morbidity for the world population. The objective of the study was to determine food addiction, saturated fat intake, and body mass index (BMI) in Peruvian adults. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional online survey was applied to 394 Peruvian adults over 18 years old residing in the three regions of the country. Participant data was collected through a prestructured online electronic survey. Food addiction was assessed using the Yale Food Addiction Scale self-administered questionnaire. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to measure saturated fat intake. Finally, the sociodemographic and anthropometric variables were collected through a registration form. Results. There were no significant differences in food addiction between men and women (

p
<
0.05

). More than half of the participants who presented food addiction are overweight (54.1%,

p
<
0.001

). The highest proportion of those who had a high intake of saturated fat had a food addiction (62.6%,

p
<
0.001

). The highest percentage of men who were overweight was higher compared to women (49.7% vs. 38.4%,

p
<
0.05

). Conclusion. The findings of this study suggest that addictive eating behaviors and high saturated fat intake should be considered as part of efforts to prevent problems related to eating, obesity, and CVD.
A BigBiGAN-Based Loop Closure Detection Algorithm for Indoor Visual SLAM
Authors: Zhong Qiubo , Fang Xiaoyi
Published: July 2021

Loop closure detection serves as the fulcrum of improving the accuracy and precision in simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). The majority of loop detection methods extract artificial features, which fall short of learning comprehensive data information, but unsupervised learning as a typical deep learning method excels in self-access learning and clustering to analyze the similarity without handling the data. Moreover, the unsupervised learning method does solve restrictions on image quality and singleness semantics in many traditional SLAM methods. Therefore, a loop closure detection strategy based on an unsupervised learning method is proposed in this paper. The main component adopts BigBiGAN to extract features and establish an original bag of words. Then, the complete bag of words is used to detect loop closing. Finally, a considerable validation check of the ORB descriptor is added to verify the result and output outcome of loop closure detection. The proposed algorithm and other compared algorithms are, respectively, applied on Autolabor Pro1 to execute the indoor visual SLAM. The experiment shows that the proposed algorithm increases the recall rate by 20% compared with ORB-SLAM2 and LSD-SLAM. And it also improves at least 40.0% accuracy than others and reduces 14% time loss of ORB-SLAM2. Therefore, the presented SLAM based on BigBiGAN does benefit much the visual SLAM in the indoor environment.