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Background. Polyherbal formulations (PLFs) have been widely used for liver protection, treatment for hepatic dysfunction, and regeneration. They can also enhance appetite and protect the gastrointestinal tract from injury. In spite of the prevalent use, there is a need of scientific evidence on their effectiveness and safety. The objective of the present study was to assess the hepatoprotective effect of polyherbal formulations (commercially available in Bangladesh namely Heptaliv, Holyliv, Icturn, and J-deenar) in CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Methods. In this study, Swiss albino mice were treated for 7 days with distilled water or PLFs (2.6 and 5.2 ml/kg body weight/day, per os.) followed by single subcutaneous injection of CCl4 (1 ml/kg body weight, diluted with olive oil in 1 : 1 ratio) on day 8. Twenty-four hours after CCl4 administration, the mice were monitored for the effects of PLFs on liver morphology, biochemical parameters including serum aspartate transaminase (AST), serum alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and total bilirubin. Phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time and histopathology changes in liver tissues were also monitored. Results. CCl4 administration caused significant hepatotoxicity as evidenced by marked elevation in AST, ALT, ALP, and total bilirubin. Phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time and infiltration of inflammatory cells and centrizonal necrosis on histological examination of liver demonstrated hepatic injury after CCl4 administration. However, the administration of Icturn and J-deenar polyherbal formulations at the higher dose significantly decreased the levels of AST, ALT, ALP, and total bilirubin. Moreover, pentobarbitone-induced sleeping time and histopathological analysis also revealed significant improvement as result of treatment with formulations Icturn and J-deenar. Conclusion. Our results confirmed that polyherbal formulations (Icturn and J-deenar) can significantly prevent CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in mice, demonstrating their protective effect for liver.

A large-scale persistent strong dense fog (SDF) event that occurred from December 30, 2016, to January 5, 2017, in central and eastern China is analyzed by using a variety of data, including high-resolution satellite and surface observations, meteorological tower observations, fine-resolution sounding observations, and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The results show the following: (1) The SDF event has the characteristics of long duration, wide influence range, large intensity, and serious air pollution. During the study period, there are 531 stations with SDF events, covering an area of over 360,000 km2. There were five stations in Hebei province where the fog lasted for more than 77 hours, and even some stations did not dissipate during the day. (2) Radiation fog and advection fog alternate in this SDF event, namely, radiation fog (20:00 BT on December 30 to 14:00 on January 1), advection radiation fog (20:00 on January 1 to 08:00 on January 2), radiation fog (night on January 2 to daytime on January 3), and advection radiation fog (night on January 3 to January 5). The characteristic of radiation fog is that the central and eastern part of China was controlled by “L” type high pressure. In the stage of advection radiation fog, the combined effect of weak cold advection and radiation cooling leads to the occurrence of SDF. (3) Regarding the duration of the fog event, the inversion structure is continuously maintained at night and in the morning near the stratum, and when the fog intensity is strong, the inversion intensity is correspondingly large, the fog top is lower than the inversion layer top, and the top of the SDF is between 80 and 400 meters.

This paper studies the security location mechanism of the sensor network node under the attack of Sybil and analyzes the safe attacks which are possibly accepted and safe requirement in the location system. Since RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) possesses the energy transmission function, different transmission energy will cause it to produce different RSSI readings. Furthermore, this kind of method cannot increase the burden on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). It conducts an analysis between two receiving nodes, compares RSSI ratios to tickle the problem of time inconsistency of RSSI, and sets a threshold to detect Sybil by the emulation results. Research shows that the ratio value of different receiving nodes by using RSSI can resolve time difference because of the RSSI or unreliability which results from the asymmetry of transmission ratio. The thesis makes a comparison that the number of receiving nodes has an influence on attack effect. Utilizing the RSSI ratio values can exactly detect the Sybil attack. Emulation findings demonstrate that the detection method put forward by the thesis owns better security.

Aim. To study the anti-inflammatory and liver regenerative effects of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) on a porcine model of ischemia-reperfusion (IR) and hemihepatectomy. Methods. Eighteen healthy Bama miniature pigs were randomly divided into the sham-operated (sham), untreated IR injury (IRI), and ADSC-transplanted (ADSC) groups. Hepatic IR was established by laparoscopic hemihepatectomy. ADSCs were transplanted directly into the liver parenchyma after the surgery. Hepatic inflammation and liver regeneration were evaluated by histopathological examination and assessment of relevant cytokines and other factors. Results. ADSC transplantation successfully ameliorated the IRI-induced histopathological damage and the high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines like IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. In addition, the ADSCs enhanced the expression of the anti-inflammatory IL-10, regenerative factors including HGF, Cyclin D1, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and angiogenic factors like VEGF, ANG-1, and ANG-2. Conclusions. ADSCs attenuated the hepatic IRI-induced inflammatory response and promoted liver regeneration.

Let Ω∈Ls(Sn-1) for s⩾1 be a homogeneous function of degree zero and b be BMO functions. In this paper, we obtain some boundedness of the parametric Marcinkiewicz integral operator μΩρ and its higher-order commutator [bm,μΩρ] on Herz spaces with variable exponent.

In the early December 2013, dense fog involving heavy pollutants lasted for 9 days in the Yancheng area. The characteristics, formation, and lasting mechanisms of this persistent fog were analyzed based on observational data at the Sheyang site, reanalysis data, and final analysis data from NCEP/NCAR, combining with the weather background and meteorological and physical variable fields. Results include that (1) the fog process was characterized by long duration, low visibility, and high pollutants concentration, (2) the atmospheric general circulation contributed to the sustainability and development of the heavily polluted fog, (3) deep inversion was the key thermal factor causing the heavily polluted fog, (4) the fog exhibited obvious outbreaks with good visibility weather turned to severe fog several times, and (5) the weak cold air invasion and radiative cooling were the triggering factors to the sudden enhancement of the fog.

We define the new central Morrey space with variable exponent and investigate its relation to the Morrey-Herz spaces with variable exponent. As applications, we obtain the boundedness of the homogeneous fractional integral operator TΩ,σ and its commutator [b,TΩ,σ] on Morrey-Herz space with variable exponent, where Ω∈Ls(Sn-1) for s≥1 is a homogeneous function of degree zero, 0

Distributed discrete-time coordinated tracking control problem is investigated for multiagent systems in the ideal case, where agents with a fixed graph combine with a leader-following group, aiming to expand the function of the traditional one in some scenes. The modified union switching topology is derived from a set of Markov chains to the edges by introducing a novel mapping. The issue on how to guarantee all the agents tracking the leader is solved through a PD-like consensus algorithm. The available sampling period and the feasible control gain are calculated in terms of the trigonometric function theory, and the mean-square bound of tracking errors is provided finally. Simulation example is presented to demonstrate the validity of the theoretical results.

We propose an iterative learning control algorithm (ILC) that is developed using a variable forgetting factor to control a mobile robot. The proposed algorithm can be categorized as an open-closed-loop iterative learning control, which produces control instructions by using both previous and current data. However, introducing a variable forgetting factor can weaken the former control output and its variance in the control law while strengthening the robustness of the iterative learning control. If it is applied to the mobile robot, this will reduce position errors in robot trajectory tracking control effectively. In this work, we show that the proposed algorithm guarantees tracking error bound convergence to a small neighborhood of the origin under the condition of state disturbances, output measurement noises, and fluctuation of system dynamics. By using simulation, we demonstrate that the controller is effective in realizing the prefect tracking.

Through studying tracking problems of the wheeled mobile robot, this paper proposed a discrete iterative learning control approach based on PID with strong adaptability, fast convergence, and small error. This algorithm used discrete PID to filter rejection and restrained the influence of interference and noise on trajectory tracking, which made it more suitable for engineering application. The PID-type iterative learning convergence condition and certification procedure are presented. The results of simulation reveal that the PID-type ILC holds the features of simplicity, strong robustness, and high repeating precision and can well meet the control requirement of nonlinear discrete system.

The effects of different levels of kinetin (KT) application on the growth, biomass, contents of chlorophyll (Chl a, Chl b, and carotenoid), arsenic uptake, and activities of antioxidant enzymes in maize seedlings under arsenic (As) stress were investigated by a hydroponic experiment. The results showed that KT supplementation increased the biomass in terms of root length, root number, fresh weight, and seedling length, and KT treatments also improved the contents of Chl a, As uptake, and Chl a : b ratio compared to cases with As treatment alone. However, no significant changes were observed in carotenoid content, and a reduction was found in Chl b content of seedlings. KT also increased the activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the leaves of maize seedlings when 0.1 mg/L KT and As were applied, which decreased the content of malondialdehyde (MDA). These results suggested that KT could alleviate the toxicity of As to maize seedlings by keeping the stability of chlorophyll, enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and inhibiting the lipid peroxidation. In conclusion, the alleviation effect of KT in maize seedlings exposed to As stress was clearly observed in the present study.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) botnets have emerged as one of the serious threats to Internet security. To prevent effectively P2P botnet, in this paper, a mathematical model which combines the scale-free trait of Internet with the formation of P2P botnet is presented. Explicit mathematical analysis demonstrates that the model has a globally stable endemic equilibrium when infection rate is greater than a critical value. Meanwhile, we find that, in scale-free network, the critical value is very little. Hence, it is unrealistic to completely dispel the P2P botnet. Numerical simulations show that one can take effective countermeasures to reduce the scale of P2P botnet or delay its outbreak. Our findings can provide meaningful instruction to network security management.

Considering that some zooplankton can be harvested for food in some bodies of water, a phytoplankton-zooplankton model with continuous harvesting of zooplankton only is proposed and investigated. By using environmental carrying capacity as a parameter, possible dynamic behaviors, such as stability, global stability, Hopf bifurcation, and transcritical bifurcations, are analyzed. The optimal harvesting policy is disposed by imposing a tax per unit biomass of zooplankton. The problem of determining the optimal harvest policy is solved by using Pontryagin's maximum principle subject to the state equations and the control constraints, and the impact of tax is also discussed. Finally, some numerical simulations are performed to justify analytical findings.

A contamination sensor based on an array of microfibers with nanoscale-structured film using evanescent field is proposed and demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. When the molecular contaminants deposit on the nanoscale-structured film, the refractive index of the film will change and the additional loss will be produced due to the disturbance of evanescent field. The possibility of the sensor is demonstrated theoretically by using three-dimensional finite-difference time domain (3D-FDTD). The corresponding experiments have also been carried out in order to demonstrate the theoretical results. Microfibers are fabricated by using hydrogen-oxygen flame-heated scanning fiber drawing method and the nanoscale-structured film coated on the surface of microfibers is deposited by using dip coating process. Then an array of microfibers is assembled to demonstrate the feasibility of the device. The experimental results show that contaminants detection with the device can agree well with the results measured by the laser-scattering particle counter, which demonstrates the feasibility of the new type of contaminant sensor. The device can be used to monitor contaminants on-line in the high-power laser system.

This paper presents a unique ESO-based fuzzy sliding-mode controller (FSMC-ESO) for a 3-DOF serial-parallel hybrid humanoid arm (HHA) for the trajectory tracking control problem. The dynamic model of the HHA is obtained by Lagrange method and is nonlinear in dynamics with inertia uncertainty and external disturbance. The FSMC-ESO is based on the combination of the sliding-mode control (SMC), extended state observer (ESO) theory, and fuzzy control (FC). The SMC is insensitive to both internal parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. The motivation for using ESO is to estimate the disturbance in real-time. The fuzzy parameter self-tuning strategy is proposed to adjust the switching gain on line according to the running state of the system. The stability of the system is guaranteed in the sense of the Lyapunov stability theorem. The effectiveness and robustness of the designed FSMC-ESO are illustrated by simulations.

The large high-power solid lasers, such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of America and the Shenguang-III (SG-III) laser facility of China, can output over 2.1 MJ laser pulse for the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. Because of the enhancement of operating flux and the expansion of laser driver scale, the problem of contamination seriously influences their construction period and operation life. During irradiation by intense laser beams, the contaminants on the metallic surface of beam tubes can be transmitted to the optical surfaces and lead to damage of optical components. For the high-power solid-state laser facilities, contamination control focuses on the slab amplifiers, spatial filters, and final-optical assemblies. In this paper, an effective solution to control contaminations including the whole process of the laser driver is put forward to provide the safe operation of laser facilities, and the detailed technical methods of contamination control such as washing, cleanliness metrology, and cleanliness protecting are also introduced to reduce the probability of laser-induced damage of optics. The experimental results show that the cleanliness level of SG-III laser facility is much better to ensure that the laser facility can safely operate at high energy flux.

Introduction. Family member with IBD is the greatest risk factor for developing the disease. The hematological profileof first-degree relatives (FDRs) of Crohn's disease (CD) patients was studied in order to identify healthy FDRs at risk to develop disease. Materials and methods. Thirty CD patients, 90 FDRs, and 28 non-related individuals (controls) were enrolled. Hematological profile and C-reactive protein were determined. Results. All hematological parameters were significantly different in CD patients compared to controls, with significantly higher levels of CRP, WBC, PMN, MONO, and PLT and lower Hb and lymphocyte count. The hematological profile of FDRs showed values between the controls and CD patients with ten FDRs that their parameters matched those of CD patients and significantly different from other FDRs. This group was defined as high-risk relatives (HRRs). Conclusions. Analysis of the hematological profile and CRP level might be proven as a fast, reliable, and less money-consuming tool to identify FDRs with a probable increased risk to develop the disease.

Classical scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that attacks the central nervous system of sheep and goats. Since its discovery in the 18th century, the disease has caused enormous economic losses and public health impacts in continental Europe. In the late 20th century, classical scrapie began to spread to places, such as Asia and the Americas, becoming a disease of global concern. In this study, based on prion occurrence records and high-resolution environmental layers, a risk assessment of classical scrapie in China was performed using a maximum entropy model. The model achieved an area under the curve value of 0.906 (95% confidence interval, 0.0883-0.0929). Sheep distribution density, road density, goat distribution density, minimum temperature of the coldest month, port density, and precipitation of the driest quarter were identified as important factors affecting the occurrence of classical scrapie. The risk map showed that potential high-risk areas in China were mainly located in Northeast China, North China, and Northwest China. This study can provide a valuable reference for the prevention of classical scrapie in China. According to the environmental variables and risk areas of classical scrapie, implementing monitoring and early warning measures in these areas is recommended to reduce the possibility of classical scrapie occurrence and transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the data-frame theory, sensemaking is a macrocognitive process in which people try to make sense of or explain their observations by processing a number of explanatory structures called frames until the observations and frames become congruent. During the sensemaking process, the parietal cortex has been implicated in various cognitive tasks for the functions related to spatial and temporal information processing, mathematical thinking, and spatial attention. In particular, the parietal cortex plays important roles by extracting multiple representations of magnitudes at the early stages of perceptual analysis. By a series of neural network simulations, we demonstrate that the dissociation of different types of spatial information can start early with a rather similar structure (i.e., sensitivity on a common metric), but accurate representations require specific goal-directed top-down controls due to the interference in selective attention. Our results suggest that the roles of the parietal cortex rely on the hierarchical organization of multiple spatial representations and their interactions. The dissociation and interference between different types of spatial information are essentially the result of the competition at different levels of abstraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Family member with IBD is the greatest risk factor for developing the disease. The hematological profile of first-degree relatives (FDRs) of Crohn's disease (CD) patients was studied in order to identify healthy FDRs at risk to develop disease. Materials and methods. Thirty CD patients, 90 FDRs, and 28 non-related individuals (controls) were enrolled. Hematological profile and C-reactive protein were determined. Results. All hematological parameters were significantly different in CD patients compared to controls, with significantly higher levels of CRP, WBC, PMN, MONO, and PLT and lower Hb and lymphocyte count. The hematological profile of FDRs showed values between the controls and CD patients with ten FDRs that their parameters matched those of CD patients and significantly different from other FDRs. This group was defined as high-risk relatives (HRRs). Conclusions. Analysis of the hematological profile and CRP level might be proven as a fast, reliable, and less money-consuming tool to identify FDRs with a probable increased risk to develop the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]