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Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI). Methods: The Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodical (VIP), Wanfang, and Chinese Biological Medicine (CBM) databases were electronically searched from their inception to 10 April 2019. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scale were used as outcomes to assess effectiveness with respect to cognitive function. Assessment of risk of bias (ROB) and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) assessment were performed by two reviewers independently. Data were analyzed using Review Manager (RevMan) 5.3. Results: A total of 28 trials with 2144 participants were included in the qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis. Four of the 28 trials (14%) were assessed as being at overall low ROB, 24 of the 28 trials (86%) were assessed as having overall high ROB. The quality of evidence for both MoCA and MMSE were deemed to be very low by the GRADE criteria. Results indicated that acupuncture groups may be benefiting more than non-acupuncture groups with respect to variation of MoCA scores (merged mean difference (MMD): 2.66, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.18 to 3.13, p < 0.00001; heterogeneity: χ2 = 35.52, p = 0.0007, I2 = 63%), and the heterogeneity decreased in both subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis. In addition, acupuncture groups might be benefiting more than non-acupuncture groups in terms of changes in MMSE score (MMD = 2.97, 95% CI = 2.13 to 3.80, p < 0.00001; heterogeneity: χ2 = 269.75; p < 0.00001; I2 = 92%), and the heterogeneity decreased in subgroup analysis. Only one RCT addressed adverse events, and the symptoms were mild and did not affect treatment and evaluation. Conclusion: Acupuncture could be effective and safe for PSCI. Nevertheless, the results should be interpreted cautiously due to the high ROB of included trials and very low quality of evidence for assessed outcomes.

Background/Aims A strong correlation between depression and irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) has been identified. The aim of this study is to identify the correlations among depression, structural factors, gastrointestinal (GI) and extra-GI symptoms, and efficacy of neuromodulators in patients with IBS-D. Methods Patients meeting the Rome III Diagnostic Criteria for IBS-D were enrolled. The intestinal symptoms and psychological states were evaluated using IBS-specific symptom questionnaires and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Results In total, 410 patients with IBS-D were enrolled, 28.8% (118/410) had comorbid depression. Patients with depression did not readily experience improvement in abdominal pain/discomfort after defecation, and had a higher prevalence of passing mucus, overlapping functional dyspepsia, and extra-GI symptoms. The structural factor “mental disorders” significantly correlated with main bowel symptom score and degree of pre-defecation abdominal pain/discomfort. No structural factor significantly correlated with bowel movements or stool form. Patients who had passing mucus, overlapping functional dyspepsia and extra-GI painful symptoms have higher score of “anxiety/somatization.” Patients with sexual dysfunction have higher score of “retardation symptoms.” In total, 28.3% of patients with IBS-D were prescribed neuromodulators. Baseline scores of “anxiety/somatization” and “retardation symptoms” positively correlated with improvement of diarrhea after paroxetine, and “sleep disturbances” positively correlated with improvement of abdominal pain/discomfort and diarrhea after mirtazapine. Conclusions Comorbid depression and higher scores of structural factors might aggravate GI and extra-GI symptoms other than bowel movements and stool form. Structural factors of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale correlated with efficacy of paroxetine and mirtazapine in patients with IBS-D. (J Neurogastroenterol Motil 2020;26:505-513)

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most serious and prevalent health issues all over the world. The evolution of CKD can last for many years until the death of patients, and the method of treatment mainly includes medication, dialysis, and transplantation with the evolution of the disease. It has been validated by many empirical studies that for severe CKD patients, the optimal treatment is transplantation if a suitable kidney is available, otherwise the patients should initiate dialysis at a suitable time. It has also been validated that the initiation time of dialysis significantly impacts not only the direct treatment results, but also the success of a future possible kidney transplantation. Motivated by this consideration, we investigate the decision-making problem of the optimal treatment approach to maximize the patient’s total reward including pre-transplant reward and post-transplant reward (if applicable), considering the possibility of having a suitable kidney transplantation in the future. A Markov decision process model is established in which the status of the process is described by the patient health status. We present some structural properties of the decision-making problem, which are used to choose the optimal treatment approach in different health status of patients. We collect the clinical data in the simulation experiments to obtain the fitted curves of the evolution process of different CKD patients, and compare the simulation results with the actual clinical data to demonstrate the advantage of our model.

Background Acupuncture has been widely used for acute low back pain (LBP), yet there remains continued controversy regarding its efficacy. Therefore, we aimed to critically evaluate the evidence for acupuncture as an effective treatment for acute LBP. Methods English and Chinese databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that involved acupuncture for acute LBP published up to May 2020. Data on the outcomes of pain intensity, functional status, and analgesic use were extracted. The meta-analysis was performed using the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.3, and pooled data were expressed as mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Of the 13 eligible RCTs identified, 11 RCTs (involving 707 patients) provided moderate-quality evidence that acupuncture has a statistically significant association with improvements in VAS (visual analog scale) score [MD: -1.75 (95% CI: -2.39, -1.12)]. Two studies indicated that acupuncture did not influence the RMDQ (Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire) scores more than the control treatment [MD: -2.34 (95% CI: -5.34, 0.67)]. Three studies suggested that acupuncture influenced the ODI (Oswestry Disability Index) scores more than the control treatment [MD: -12.84 (95% CI: -23.94, -1.74)]. Two studies suggested that acupuncture influenced the number of pills more than the control treatment [MD: -3.19 (95% CI: -3.45, -2.92)]. Conclusions Acupuncture treatment of acute LBP was associated with modest improvements in the VAS score, ODI score, and the number of pills, but not the RMDQ score. Our findings should be considered with caution due to the low power original studies. High-quality trials are needed to assess further the role of acupuncture in the treatment of acute LBP.

Background: Aberrant expression of caveolin-1 (CAV-1) is involved in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the results have been inconsistent due to the small size of sample in the individual study. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis and evaluated the association of CAV-1 protein overexpression and clinicopathological significance by using Review Manager 5.2. Pooled ORs and HR with corresponding CIs were calculated. Results: Nine studies were included in the meta-analysis with 810 HCC and 172 cirrhosis patients. CAV-1 protein overexpression was correlated with the risk of cirrhosis; OR was 3.25, p=0.01. Furthermore, the rate of CAV-1 protein overexpression was significantly higher in HCC with cirrhosis than HCC without cirrhosis, suggesting that the CAV-1 protein overexpression likely initiated carcinogenesis in liver with cirrhosis and subsequently contributed to the progression of HCC. In addition, CAV-1 protein overexpression was strongly associated with poor differentiated HCC and invasion; ORs were 2.61 and 2.71, respectively. CAV-1 protein overexpression was strongly correlated with poor overall survival in patients with HCC; HR was 0.4, p=0.03. Conclusions: In summary, CAV-1 protein overexpression is at risk for liver cirrhosis and HCC derived from cirrhosis, and CAV-1 is also a promising prognostic predictor in HCC.

Background Opposing needling has an obvious curative effect in the treatment of post-stroke hemiplegia; however, the mechanism of the opposing needling in the treatment of post-stroke hemiplegia is still not clear. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of opposing needling on the excitability of primary motor cortex (M1) of healthy participants and patients with post-stroke hemiplegia, which may provide insight into the mechanisms of opposing needling in treating post-stroke hemiplegia. Methods This will be a single-blind, randomised, sham-controlled trial in which 80 healthy participants and 40 patients with post-stroke hemiplegia will be recruited. Healthy participants will be randomised 1:1:1:1 to the 2-Hz, 50-Hz, 100-Hz, and sham electroacupuncture groups. Patients with post-stroke hemiplegia will be randomised 1:1 to the opposing needling or conventional treatment groups. The M1 will be located in all groups by using neuroimaging-based navigation. The stimulator coil of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) will be moved over the left and right M1 in order to identify the TMS hotspot, followed by a recording of resting motor thresholds (RMTs) and motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) of the thenar muscles induced by TMS before and after the intervention. The primary outcome measure will be the percent change in the RMTs of the thenar muscles at baseline and after the intervention. The secondary outcome measures will be the amplitude (μV) and latency (ms) of the MEPs of the thenar muscles at baseline and after the intervention. Discussion The aim of this trial is to explore the effect of opposing needling on the excitability of M1 of healthy participants and patients with post-stroke hemiplegia. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900028138. Registered on 13 December 2019.

PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of combined microwave ablation (MWA) and osteoplasty as a palliative therapy for painful bone metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS As an extension of a previous limited single-center study, a retrospective review was conducted for 147 patients (77 male, 70 female) with painful bone metastases who underwent MWA combined with osteoplasty. In total, 102 (69.4%), 41 (27.9%), and 4 (2.7%) patients had spinal metastases, extraspinal metastases, and both, respectively. Treatment efficacy was determined by comparing visual analog scale (VAS) scores, daily morphine equivalent opioid consumption, and Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores before treatment and during the follow-up period (mean follow-up, 9.8 months; range 3-16). RESULTS The mean VAS score significantly declined from 6.4 ± 2.3 before treatment to 3.2 ± 2.1, 1.9 ± 1.6, 1.8 ± 1.6, 1.8 ± 1.6, and 1.9 ± 1.6 at 24 hours, 1 week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks after treatment, respectively (P < .01). Furthermore, the mean daily morphine equivalent opioid consumption was significantly reduced from 81.5 ± 32.8 mg before treatment to 40.0 ± 20.6, 32.4 ± 10.2, 26.4 ± 10.0, 21.5 ± 8.3, and 19.3 ± 7.4 mg. The mean ODI score also declined after treatment (P < .0001). Major complications occurred in 4 of 147 patients, with 1 pathologic fracture, 1 nerve injury, and 2 mild skin infections. Minor cement leakages were observed at 69 sites (32.8%). CONCLUSIONS MWA combined with osteoplasty is an effective and safe treatment for painful bone metastases.

Our study explores the factors influencing investors&rsquo, behavior in the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market in China, and the relationships among them from the perspective of investors. The primary component analysis method was used to divide the P2P lending platforms into five categories. Then, a structural equation model was applied to analyze the interrelationship. Our results show that more exceptional operating ability, profitability, and security of the platform help to improve investor&rsquo, s investment behavior. Operation ability is the most significant influencing factor, which also influences other factors to different degrees. After the analysis of the results, we found that the security degree of P2P lending platforms in China differs, and the risk due to the lack of bank depository for platforms is the most serious. In terms of the background, investors are less interested in the state-owned platforms compared to the bank- or listed-company-owned platforms, although the background strength of the state-owned platforms is more powerful.

We demonstrate amorphous Ge0.92Sn0.08 surface illuminated metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors on flexible substrates for visible wavelength. Photodetection at 633 nm is achieved with an I-V response up to 10-4 A for a 2 V bias voltage. Different evaporation rate effects on the amorphous GeSn MSM photodetector are examined. Bending/strain effects on device performance were studied by evaluating the current density versus voltage characteristics. Amorphous GeSn thin film deposition on polyethylene terephthalate flexible substrate and Ni/Au-GeSn-Ni/Au MSM photodetector finger pattern deposition were performed via thermal evaporation. Photocurrent and dark current densities of amorphous GeSn MSM photodetectors were obtained at 1.36 A/cm2 and 0.24 A/cm2, respectively, where the photocurrent to dark current contrast ratio was found to be equal to 5.6. We also examined the evaporation rate, strain, and bending effect.

Compared to the booming industry of AIMDSS, the usage of AIMDSS among healthcare professionals is relatively low in the hospital. Thus, a research on the acceptance and adoption intention of AIMDSS by health professionals is imperative. In this study, an integration of Unified theory of user acceptance of technology and trust theory is proposed for exploring the adoption of AIMDSS. Besides, two groups of additional factors, related to AIMDSS (task complexity, technology characteristics, and perceived substitution crisis) and health professionals’ characteristics (propensity to trust and personal innovativeness in IT) are considered in the integrated model. The data set of proposed research model is collected through paper survey and Internet survey in China. The empirical examination demonstrates a high predictive power of this proposed model in explaining AIMDSS adoption. Finally, the theoretical contribution and practical implications of this research are discussed.

AIM To analyze predictors of healthcare-seeking behavior among Chinese patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and their satisfaction with medical care. METHODS Participating patients met IBS Rome III criteria (excluding those with organic diseases) and were enrolled in an IBS database in a tertiary university hospital. Participants completed IBS questionnaires in face-to-face interviews. The questionnaires covered intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms, medical consultations, colonoscopy, medications, and self-reported response to medications during the whole disease course and in the past year. Univariate associations and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify predictors for frequent healthcare-seeking behavior (≥ 3 times/year), frequent colonoscopies (≥ 2 times/year), long-term medications, and poor satisfaction with medical care. RESULTS In total, 516 patients (293 males, 223 females) were included. Participants’ average age was 43.2 ± 11.8 years. Before study enrollment, 55.2% had received medical consultations for IBS symptoms. Ordinary abdominal pain/discomfort (non-defecation) was an independent predictor for healthcare-seeking behavior (OR = 2.07, 95%CI: 1.31-3.27). Frequent colonoscopies were reported by 14.7% of patients (3.1 ± 1.4 times per year). Sensation of incomplete evacuation was an independent predictor for frequent colonoscopies (OR = 2.76, 95%CI: 1.35-5.67). During the whole disease course, 89% of patients took medications for IBS symptoms, and 14.7% reported they were satisfied with medical care. Patients with anxiety were more likely to report dissatisfaction with medical care (OR = 2.08, 95%CI: 1.20-3.59). In the past year, patients with severe (OR = 1.74, 95%CI: 1.06-2.82) and persistent (OR = 1.66, 95%CI: 1.01-2.72) IBS symptoms sought medical care more frequently. CONCLUSION Chinese patients with IBS present high rates of frequent healthcare-seeking behavior, colonoscopies, and medications, and low satisfaction with medical care. Intestinal symptoms are major predictors for healthcare-seeking behavior.

Phase transitions in correlated materials can be manipulated at the nanoscale to yield emergent functional properties, promising new paradigms for nanoelectronics and nanophotonics. Vanadium dioxide (VO2), an archetypal correlated material, exhibits a metal–insulator transition (MIT) above room temperature. At the thicknesses required for heterostructure applications, such as an optical modulator discussed here, the strain state of VO2 largely determines the MIT dynamics critical to the device performance. We develop an approach to control the MIT dynamics in epitaxial VO2 films by employing an intermediate template layer with large lattice mismatch to relieve the interfacial lattice constraints, contrary to conventional thin film epitaxy that favors lattice match between the substrate and the growing film. A combination of phase-field simulation, in situ real-time nanoscale imaging, and electrical measurements reveals robust undisturbed MIT dynamics even at preexisting structural domain boundaries and si...

The 53.125 Gbps transmission is experimentally investigated over a next-generation wideband multimode optical fiber (NG-WBMMF) using transmitter optical sub-assemblies (TOSAs) and wideband receiver optical sub-assemblies (ROSAs) developed for 25 Gbps short wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) operation. A commercial 100 Gbps four-level pulse amplitude modulation integrated circuit (PAM4 IC) evaluation kit with real-time digital signal processing (DSP) is used. Dual wavelength transmission (2 λ × 53.125 Gbps) tests over 300 m of NG-WBMMF are carried out for the wavelength pairs 850, 880 nm and 910, 940 nm with a 4 × 1 optical MUX/DeMUX in the link. Measured pre-forward error correction (FEC) bit error ratio (BER) below the KP4 FEC threshold of 2.4 × 10–4 indicates the feasibility of 100/200 Gbps transmission over NG-WBMMF using a PAM4 chipset with real-time DSP. Single wavelength transmission (1 λ × 53.125 Gbps) using long wavelength TOSAs at 976 and 1066 nm is also studied. Pre-FEC BER below 2.4 × 10–4 is achieved over 300 m at 976 nm and 200 m at 1066 nm. Single wavelength tests from 850 to 940 nm had the same results as the 976 nm wavelength. Thus, this is the first experiment which shows the potential of 400 Gbps transmission with eight SWDM wavelength windows over a single NG-WBMMF using SWDM TOSAs, ROSAs, and commercial 100 Gbps PAM4 chipset.

Two system transmission experiments are reported which indicate the feasibility of transmitting an aggregated speed of >200 Gb/s over a single next-generation wide-band multimode optical fiber (NG-WBMMF) using a shortwave wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) and a four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4), using optics rated for ${\text{25 Gb/s}}$ NRZ operation. The first experiment leverages predistorted KR4 ${\text{51.5625 Gb/s}}$ electrical PAM4 signaling generated by an arbitrary waveform generator to drive SWDM TOSAs at 850, 880, 910, and 940 nm. The received optical PAM4 signals are then post processed offline with linear equalizers to improve the eye quality. Detailed analysis of the height and width of the received optical eyes indicates an aggregated ${\text{206.25 Gb/s}}$ speed is achievable on a single NG-WBMMF beyond 150 m. In the second experiment, a commercial PAM4 IC evaluation kit with real-time digital signal processing is adopted to generate and detect PAM4 signals at KP4 FEC rate of ${\text{53.125 Gb/s}}$ per wavelength. The SWDM wavelength range is extended with additional tests at 980 nm. Pre-FEC BER below threshold of ${\text{2.4}}\times {\text{10}}^{-4}$ is achieved up to 300 m across all five wavelengths demonstrating an aggregated speed of ${\text{265.625 Gb/s}}$ over a single MMF.

Background Hemiplegia after stroke is one of the main dysfunctions in stroke patients. Acupuncture had been widely used for poststroke spastic hemiplegia (PSSH), but the efficiency was unclear. This study aimed to examine the efficiency and safety of acupuncture for individuals with PSSH. Methods We searched nine databases from their inception to 27th July 2019. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for the treatment of PSSH met the screening criteria. The quality of methodology was evaluated by Cochrane's risk of bias tool. RevMan 5.3 was used to perform the meta-analysis. The primary outcome was the Fugl-Myer Assessment (FMA) score, and the secondary outcomes were the Ashworth Scale for Spasticity (ASS) and Barthel Index (BI) scores. To evaluated the safety of acupuncture therapy, researchers scanned the full text to collect adverse events. Results Researchers retrieved 2452 articles in total, after screening, thirty-eight studies with 2628 participants of were included. In this meta-analysis, twenty-seven trials revealed that acupuncture therapy was associated with an increase in FMA scores compared with rehabilitation training (RT) (MD: 8.43, 95% CI, 6.57 to 10.28, p Conclusions This review discovered that acupuncture might be a safe and effective adjuvant therapy for individuals with PSSH. Nevertheless, there were methodological limitations in the included RCTs, and well-designed and large-scale studies should be carried out to confirm our results.

Sera anti-enteric neuronal antibodies (AENA), neuronal inflammation, and degeneration in myenteric plexus in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were reported. Effects of sera AENA in patients with IBS are unclear.Patients with IBS met Rome III criteria were enrolled. Controls included healthy subjects (HS) and patients with slow transit functional constipation, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, and autoimmune diseases. Indirect immunofluorescence was used to detect AENA. Anti-enteric neuronal antibodies intensities were termed as "1" = weak fluorescence (mild positive); "2" = moderate fluorescence (moderate positive); "3" = very high fluorescence (intensive positive). Intensities of ≥1 were defined as positive and ≥2 were defined as obvious positive. Cultured myenteric neurons of small intestine from guinea pigs and human SH-Sy5Y cells were incubated with fetal bovine serum (FBS), HS sera, or IBS sera with or without AENA. Indirect immunofluorescence with anti-PGP9.5/DAPI/anti-active caspase-3 or TUNEL, Western blot, and flow cytometry were used to detect apoptosis.Overall, 293 patients with IBS were enrolled (41.7 ± 11.5 years). AENA-positive and obvious positive rates in IBS were higher than HS (76.8% vs 33%; 43.7% vs 7%; all P 0.001). Myenteric neurons incubated with AENA moderate or intensive positive IBS sera showed higher rates of anti-active caspase-3 and TUNEL-positive cells than HS or FBS (20% ± 7.3% and 35% ± 13.3% vs 4.3% ± 1.5% and 0.9% ± 0.4%, respectively; 6.2% ± 2.0% and 10.2% ± 4.6% vs 1.3% ± 1.9% and 0.5%±0.5%, respectively; all P 0.05). Human SH-Sy5Y cells incubated with AENA moderate or intensive positive IBS sera showed increased cleaved caspase-3 and Bax expression and decreased Bcl-2 expression. Flow cytometry showed apoptosis rates of these two groups were higher than that of AENA mild positive, negative, HS, and FBS (7.6%±0.8% and 10.7%±1.3% vs 5.0%±0.8%, 3.8%±0.3%, 3.4%±0.2% and, 2.8%±0.2%, P 0.05).The AENA obvious positive rate in patients with IBS was higher than HS, and sera with higher levels of AENA promoted neuronal apoptosis. AENA-mediated neuropathy might exist in a subset of patients with IBS.

Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is one of the most prevalent cardiovascular diseases, known for its high mortality and morbidity worldwide. Based on pre-existing evidence, LGALS3 has been found to be closely associated with cardiac diseases. Hence, the objective of our study is to explore the potential function of KCNQ1OT1/microRNA-204-5p (miR-204-5p)/ LGALS3 axis on myocardial IR injury and the underlying mechanism. A myocardial IR injury mouse model was established in vivo and an in vitro cardiomyocyte model was induced by hypoxia/Reoxygenation exposure. Next, gain- and loss-of-function experiments were employed in order to measure the viability and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes and the area of ischemic infarct by CCK-8, TUNEL staining and Evans blue/TTC double staining. LGALS3 was found to be highly expressed in myocardial IR injury. The downregulation of LGALS3 resulted in the alleviation of myocardial IR injury in mouse models. In addition, KCNQ1OT1 could promote the LGALS3 expression by binding to miR-204-5p, which led to aggravated myocardial IR injury. In conclusion, KCNQ1OT1 binds to miR-204-5p to exacerbate myocardial IR injury in mice through the up-regulation of LGALS3, providing a novel insight for myocardial IR injury treatment.

Background: Sustained Inflations (SI) and Intermittent Positive Pressure Ventilation (IPPV) are two interventions to prevent Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). The aim of this study is to assess the effect of these two interventions. Methods: The databases of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) will be comprehensively searched from inception to September 2019. All RCTs and quasi-RCTs which compare the efficacy of SI vs IPPV among preterm infants are eligible. We will assess the methodological quality using the Cochrane Handbook version 5.1.0. A meta-analysis will be performed using RevMan 5.3 software and the results will be presented using risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Conclusions: This study will provide strong evidence for assessing the effect of SI and IPPV on BPD or death among preterm infants. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42019135816.

In the last few years, cloud computing as a new computing paradigm has gone through significant development, but it is also facing many problems. One of them is the cloud service selection problem. As increasingly boosting cloud services are offered through the internet and some of them may be not reliable or even malicious, how to select trustworthy cloud services for cloud users is a big challenge. In this paper, we propose a multi-dimensional trust-aware cloud service selection mechanism based on evidential reasoning (ER) approach that integrates both perception-based trust value and reputation based trust value, which are derived from direct and indirect trust evidence respectively, to identify trustworthy services. Here, multi-dimensional trust evidence, which reflects the trustworthiness of cloud services from different aspects, is elicited in the form of historical users' feedback ratings. Then, the ER approach is applied to aggregate the multi-dimensional trust ratings to obtain the real-time trust value and select the most trustworthy cloud service of certain type for the active users. Finally, the fresh feedback from the active users will update the trust evidence for other service users in the future.

In this paper, we address the problem of trust management in multi-cloud environments based on a set of distributed Trust Service Providers (TSPs). These are independent third-party providers/trust agents, trusted by Cloud Providers (CPs), Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and Cloud Service Users (CSUs), that provide trust related services to cloud participants. TSPs are distributed over the clouds, and they elicit raw trust evidence from different sources and in different formats. This evidence is information regarding the adherence of a CSP to a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for a cloud-based service and the feedback sent by CSUs. Using this information, they evaluate an objective trust and a subjective trust of CSPs. TSPs communicate among themselves through a trust propagation network that permits a TSP to obtain trust information about a CSP from other TSPs. Experiments show that our proposed framework is effective and relatively stable in differentiating trustworthy and untrustworthy CSPs in a multi-cloud environment.

In this paper, we address the cloud service trustworthiness evaluation problem, which in essence is a multi-attribute decision-making problem, by proposing a novel evaluation model based on the fuzzy gap measurement and the evidential reasoning approach. There are many sources of uncertainties in the process of cloud service trustworthiness evaluation. In addition to the intrinsic uncertainties, cloud service providers face the problem of discrepant evaluation information given by different users from different perspectives. To address these problems, we develop a novel fuzzy gap evaluation approach to assess cloud service trustworthiness and to provide evaluation values from different perspectives. From the evaluation values, the perception-importance, delivery-importance, and perception-delivery gaps are generated. These three gaps reflect the discrepancy evaluation of cloud service trustworthiness in terms of perception utility, delivery utility, and importance utility, respectively. Finally, the gap measurement of each perspective is represented by a belief structure and aggregated using the evidential reasoning approach to generate final evaluation results for informative and robust decision making. From this hybrid two-stage evaluation process, cloud service providers can get improvement suggestions from intermediate information derived from the gap measurement, which is the main advantage of this evaluation process.

Statistical studies on the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of two-dimensional photonic crystal (PhC) slab cavities show that fabrication errors in the size and position of etched air holes follow Gaussian distribution. The influences on the characteristics of PhC cavities are then investigated and compared with those caused by fabrication error with widely-accepted uniform distribution through finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulation. As expected, Gaussian distribution in fabrication error has more significant impact on cavity characteristics than uniform distribution simply by their difference in the fourth moment.

We demonstrate 51.5625Gbps PAM4 transmission over ≥ 150 m next generation wide band MMF using SWDM TOSAs from 850 nm to 940 nm indicating an aggregated 206.25 Gb/s speed achievable on a single WBMMF.

This chapter investigates a novel multi-objective model of a batch scheduling problem with constraint of the mould capability, and the objective is to minimize both the total completion time of the jobs and the total cost of the moulds. It is extremely difficult to obtain an optimal solution to this type of complex problems in a reasonable computational time. In view of this, this chapter presents a new multi-objective algorithm based on the features of Gravitational Search Algorithm to find Pareto optimal solutions for the given problem. In the proposed algorithm a novel Pareto frontier adjustment strategy is designed and proven to improve the convergence of solutions and increase convergence speed. We examined a set of test problems to validate the high efficiency of the proposed multi-objective gravitational search algorithm based on a variety of metrics. Finally, a multi-attribute decision making method is employed to determine the trade-off solutions derived from the Pareto optimal set and thus solve the problem optimally.

We report here electrically-pumped membrane reflector surface-emitters on silicon based on transferred InGaAsP QW structures sandwiched in between two single-layer Fano resonance photonic crystal membrane reflectors on silicon substrate.

With the increasing demand for cloud services, trust management has become a challenging and important issue in a cloud computing environment. In a trust management mechanism, trust feedback is used to derive trust evaluation results. However, the reliability of the trust feedback from cloud service users needs to be considered, because unreliable trust feedback can produce wrong trust results. In this paper, we first propose a trust management framework for cloud computing environments, and then we introduce an effective reliability-based filtering mechanism to ensure the reliability of trust feedback for cloud computing services. The filtering mechanism uses two important factors, namely, familiarity and consistency, to filter out unreliable trust feedback. Our experiments show that our proposed reliability-based trust management mechanism is effective.

The authors report here a method of protecting the sidewall for the selective release of InGaAsP quantum-well (QW) heterostructure from InP substrates. An intact sidewall secured by SiO2 was demonstrated during the sacrificial layer selective etching, resulting in the suspended InGaAsP QW membranes which were later transferred to the Si substrate with polydimethylsiloxane stamp. The quality of the transferred InGaAsP QW membranes has been validated through photoluminescence and EL measurements. This approach could extend to arbitrary targeting substrate in numerous photonics and electronics applications.

In this paper, a three-layer trust conceptive framework for cloud is introduced, which is including both the validity of the “hard trust” guaranteed by security mechanisms and technical devices, and “soft trust” ensured by social, legal and human factors. In addition, the trust relationship between consumers and cloud venders is considered in our framework. Through the combination and integration of the three layer trust in the framework, the gap between these trust factors can be bridged.

During the past few decades, a large extension in the delivery and process capability of network resources have evoked the demand of high available, reliable, security, customized, networked and toward Multi-Source Information Service(MSIS). Accordingly, Cloud Computing has been one of the research hotspots in computer science and network engineering area, which is a revolution of computing paradigm whereby all the resources in the network as a huge resource pool are delivered as integrated and on-demand services in the form of, i.e. CaaS, MaaS, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc. Besides, the services provided in Cloud Computing are largely oriented to the requirement of information services today. Thus, Cloud Computing provides an opportunity of development and environment for new service pattern of MSIS. This purpose of this article is to put forward some issues associated with Cloud Computing and the nature part of the relation between MSIS and Cloud Computing, and to propose a novel view of information service concept that is characterized by multi-source in the service process model and service management, which combines the top-down and bottom-up process approaches into an integrated one by using an information exchange platform provided by the cloud.

(1) Engineering Research Center of Open Source Software and Real-time Systems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China

The growing number of crisis situations around the world in recent years has highlighted the urgent need to improve the capability of Emergency Response Systems. When an emergency happens, the most important response is to promptly evacuate victims or potential victims from dangerous areas to safe places. The use of decision support systems can not only improve the efficiency of evacuation but also reduce losses on life and property. But existing computer-based decision support systems mainly aim at simplifying the evacuation process. The evacuation plans produced by them are difficult to follow and Emergency Response Personnel (ERP) cannot readily access emergency evacuation information in real time. In this paper, we present Blue Arrow, a web-based spatially-enabled decision support system for emergency evacuation planning. Based on their specific requirements, ERP can use the Blue Arrow System to generate various evacuation plans that have intuitive turn-by-turn instructions. These evacuation plans depend not only on the spatial information, but also on the underlying road network information. The Blue Arrow System implements different evacuation plans using the different variants of CCRP algorithm that focus on optimizing various aspects of the evacuation planning process including evacuation time and capacity.

Polycrystalline GeSn thin films on Si substrates with a Sn composition up to 4.5% have been fabricated and characterized. The crystalline structure, surface morphology, and infrared (IR) absorption coefficient of the annealed GeSn thin films were carefully investigated. It was found that the GeSn thin films with a Sn composition of 4.5% annealed at 450 °C possessed a desirable polycrystalline structure according to X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and Raman spectroscopy analyses. In addition, the absorption coefficient of the polycrystalline GeSn thin films in the IR region was significantly better than that of the single crystalline bulk Ge.

Cajal-Retzius cells are reelin-secreting neurons in the marginal zone of the neocortex and hippocampus. The aim of this study was to investigate Cajal-Retzius cells in Alzheimer's disease pathology. Results revealed that the number of Cajal-Retzius cells markedly reduced with age in both wild type and in mice over-expressing the Swedish double mutant form of amyloid precursor protein 695 (transgenic (Tg) 2576 mice). Numerous reelin-positive neurons were positive for activated caspase 3 in Tg2576 mice, suggesting that Cajal-Retzius neuronal loss occurred via apoptosis in this Alzheimer's disease model. Compared with wild type, the number of Cajal-Retzius cells was significantly lower in Tg2576 mice. Western blot analysis confirmed that reelin levels were markedly lower in Tg2576 mice than in wild-type mice. The decline in Cajal-Retzius cells in Tg2576 mice was found to occur concomitantly with the onset of Alzheimer's disease amyloid pathology and related behavioral deficits. Overall, these data indicated that Cajal-Retzius cell loss occurred with the onset and development of Alzheimer's disease.

The properties of photonic-crystal (PhC) cavity modes are investigated for applications in single-photon emitters. Hexagonal-lattice PhC H1 and L3 cavities are fabricated in a GaAs slab containing InAs quantum dots. The cavity modes are characterized by polarization-dependent micro-photoluminescence measurements. Split and nearly degenerate dipole modes in H1 cavities are demonstrated in the same batch of samples, and a single L3 cavity mode with specific polarization is clearly observed. The results reveal that the L3 PhC cavity exhibits fairly excellent performance even with remarkable distortion and is favorable for single-photon emitters. Finite-difference time-domain simulations show that the verticality of the air-hole sidewall has a significant influence on the properties of PhC cavity modes.