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The survival of microglia depends on the colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF1R) signaling pathway under physiological conditions. Ki20227 is a highly selective CSF1R inhibitor that has been shown to change the morphology of microglia. However, the effects of Ki20227 on the progression of ischemic stroke are unclear. In this study, male C57BL/6 mouse models of focal cerebral ischemic injury were established through the occlusion of the middle cerebral artery and then administered 3 mg/g Ki20227 for 3 successive days. The results revealed that the number of ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1/bromodeoxyuridine double positive cells in the infarct tissue was reduced, the degree of edema was increased, neurological deficits were aggravated, infarct volume was increased, and the number of peri-infarct Nissl bodies was reduced. The number of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling-positive cells in the peri-infarct tissue was increased. The expression levels of Bax and Cleaved caspase-3 were up-regulated. Bcl-2 expression was downregulated. The expression levels of inflammatory factors and oxidative stress-associated factors were increased. These findings suggested that Ki20227 blocked microglial proliferation and aggravated the pathological progression of ischemia/reperfusion injury in a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion model. This study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Lanzhou University Second Hospital (approval No. D2020-68) on March 6, 2020.

In this paper, we propose a brain–computer interface (BCI)-based Human-in-the-Loop (Hit-Loop) agent for human and artificial intelligence (AI) colearning in music listening and appreciation with an Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) application. The novel BCI-based Hit-Loop agent contains human intelligence with BCI-based AIoT-Fuzzy Markup Language (FML) and BCI-FML agents, as well as machine intelligence with AI-FML Hit-Loop and AIoT-FML agents. We used FML to facilitate communication between humans and the AI-FML robots through an AIoT-FML Learning Tool (AIoT-FML-LT), which was the core technology of the AI-FML Hit-Loop agent for the BCI-based music listening and appreciation application. Furthermore, the novel AIoT-FML-LT in conjunction with the BCI-FML and AIoT-FML agents was developed and presented for music listening and student learning. Moreover, the BCI-based AIoT-FML and AI-FML Hit-Loop agents were applied in English language learning, and the AIoT-FML-LT assisted in measuring student learning performance in Taiwan and Japan. The human-like high-level knowledge base and rule base were constructed by various domain experts, as well as the personalized electroencephalography (EEG) and student English learning data sets collected using the BCI device and AIoT-FML-LT, respectively, and were applied to machine learning models such as deep learning and particle swarm optimization. Additionally, the AIoT-FML-LT was connected to the AIoT-FML Hit-Loop agent for human and robot colearning. The relationship between human perceptions and the AIoT-FML Hit-Loop agent in terms of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and brain corresponding to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, and mind are discussed. Finally, the students learned human language and AI language by using the AI-FML robots and AIoT-FML-LT together with the human English learning and AI-FML machine learning models, respectively. The experimental results reveal that the BCI-based Hit-Loop agent for human and AI-FML robot colearning in conjunction with AIoT applications can effectively facilitate music listening and appreciation application as well as English listening in Taiwan and Japan. The learning behavior and performance of the students also improved after incorporation of the human and robot colearning model.

Female carriers with X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (XL-CGD) who have

Since the Anyue Gasfield, located in the central Sichuan paleo-uplift of the Sichuan Basin, was discovered, great efforts have been made to work on natural gas exploration and discovery in the Sinian–Lower Paleozoic in the north slope of present paleo-uplift which has similar depositional settings. It is verified by the breakthrough of natural gas exploration in the second Member of Upper Sinian Dengying Formation in the north slope of central Sichuan paleo-uplift by wildcat well PT1 and the new sign of natural gas exploration in the Canglangpu Formation of Lower Cambrian and the fourth Member of Dengying Formation by Well JT1 that there are also favorable conditions for the formation of large-scale gas province in the north slope. In order to determine the natural gas exploration potential of Sinian–Lower Paleozoic in the central Sichuan paleo-uplift and provide the guidance for the following exploration deployment, this paper analyzed the petroleum geological conditions of Sinian–Lower Paleozoic in the north slope. And the following research results were obtained. First, the marginal platform belts in the second and the fourth Member of Sinian Dengying Formation in the north slope are basically separated areally, and they are superior to the Gaoshiti–Moxi area in terms of marginal platform width and sedimentary thickness and are intrinsically advantageous in sedimentation. Second, compared with the Gaoshiti–Moxi area, the reservoirs of Sinian Dengying Formation in the north slope are better in reservoir conditions, and many sets of quality reservoirs are developed vertically in Sinian–Cambrian. Third, hydrocarbon accumulation elements of Sinian Dengying Formation are better allocated in the north slope. Lithological traps are developed with a larger cumulative area. Wells JT1 and PT1 verify that there is gas in the lithological trap of the fourth and the second Member of Dengying Formation and large-scale lithological gas reservoirs are developed in the slope setting. In conclusion, compared with the Gaoshiti–Moxi area, the Sinian–Lower Paleozoic in the north slope is superior in petroleum geological conditions and has the advantage of multi-layer stereoscopic exploration vertically, presenting a great natural gas exploration potential and promising exploration prospects, so it is a new important strategic zone of conventional natural gas exploration in the Sichuan Basin.

The development of Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) promotes the wide application of Raman spectroscopy in chemical and biomolecular detection. SERS detection relies on analytes in close contact with the metallic surface, and therefore direct molecular trace detection in the liquid phase is difficult. In this paper, static liquid phase SERS detection was performed simply using a capillary without pre-functionalization. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with an optimized size ensure localized surface plasmons in resonance with the exciting laser light. Grazing incidence and multimode interference in the capillary ensure that the longitudinal Raman signal is effectively excited and accumulated. An enhancement factor as high as 108 and a detection limit of 10−9 M of crystal violet in aqueous solution have been achieved.

Elevated postprandial triglyceride (TG) concentrations are linked to a relatively high risk of cardiovascular disease. Eccentric endurance exercise, such as downhill walking and running, can provide metabolic benefits similar to concentric exercise. However, whether eccentric exercise affects postprandial lipemia remains unknown. Nine healthy young men performed level running (trial) or downhill running (DR trial, -15% slope) at 60% [INSIDE:1]O2max or rest (CON trial) for 30 min in a randomized crossover design. The participants were fed a high-fat meal the next day. Blood and expired gas samples were collected before and 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 h after the meal. Muscle soreness was measured using a visual analog scale. The DR trial induced mild muscle damage. During the 6-h postprandial period, serum TG concentrations and area under the curve (AUC) were similar across the three trials. The DR trial had a significantly higher AUC of nonesterified fatty acid concentrations and a significantly lower AUC of glucose concentrations than the CON trial. The results suggested that neither moderate-intensity DR nor running a level surface had a significant effect on lipemia after a high-fat meal. However, DR improved the postprandial glycemic response.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been widely used owing to its high sensitivity and rapid response. In particular, 3D SERS-active platforms greatly extend the interaction area and ensure the ability to directly detect trace amounts of molecules in liquids. A silver-coated capillary, with the ability of liquid sampling and light guiding, provides a new platform for high-performance SERS substrates. In this paper, the silver mirror reaction was used for coating silver on the outer wall of the capillary. PDMS was used as a coating material to protect the silver film. Because of the silver coating, Mie scattering and Raman scattering in the liquid channel can be refocused and reflected back which greatly reduces the propagation loss and extends the interaction length. An enhancement factor as high as 108 and a detection limit of 10−10 M of rhodamine 6G in aqueous solution have been achieved. Moreover, the SERS intensity is homogeneous across the end face of the liquid channel, with the relative standard deviation (RSD) value changing within 7%. The large area and high homogeneity greatly reduce the requirement of light coupling precision and liquid injection pressure. Using a common flange optical fiber connector, the capillary can be simply connected and aligned with a multimode fiber with a detection limit of 10−8 M. The experiment results show great potential for the development of an optofluidic integrated system in the future.

Electronic commerce (E-commerce) plays a pragmatic role in enhancing the developing countries’ socioeconomic status. It is believed that the integration of E-commerce into small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)’ business operations can boost up a nation’s economy. Numerous Malaysian SMEs have integrated E-commerce into their business operations in recent years. However, only part of them continued to use it. According to SME survey, the company website adoption among SMEs was 32.6% in first quarter of 2017, 29.6% in third quarter of 2017 and 32.2% in 2018. The discontinue use of E-commerce in SMEs’ business operation would bring negative impact to the firm. Thus, there is a need to promote continuance usage of E-commerce for SMEs. Hence, the objective of this study is to find out the factors affecting E-commerce continuance intention among SMEs in Perak and Penang. A total of 47 SMEs that located in Penang and Perak participated in this study. The findings of this study revealed that manufacturing SMEs’ E-commerce continuance intention is significantly influenced by perceived benefits, organizational readiness, and external pressure. This study enriches the understanding of the determinants of E-commerce continuance intention and has critical implications for government agencies and non-profit organizations in promoting continuance usage of E-commerce for SMEs.

A freeform lens construction is proposed to form a specific rotation symmetric beam profile with collimation in this paper. In the proposed approach, two freeform surfaces are constructed segment-by-segment using a numerical method based on Snell's law to produce an output beam profile which has both good irradiance uniformity and high collimation. It is shown that as the number of segments used to construct the freeform surfaces increases, the output beam profile approaches the specific profile. A sparse design point freeform surface construction method is additionally proposed which allows the beam profile to approach the desirable distribution with a fewer number of segments. The proposed method is used to construct freeform lenses for producing output beams with two user-defined irradiance patterns, i.e., annular and triangular distributions. The simulation results show that either demonstrated irradiance distribution is close to the specific distribution. Overall, the present results show that the proposed method provides a versatile and efficient approach for designing freeform lenses with a specific distribution of the output beam profile and good collimation.

In recent years, content-based image retrieval has been of concern because of practical needs on Internet services, especially methods that can improve retrieving speed and accuracy. The SIFT feature is a well-designed local feature. It has mature applications in feature matching and retrieval, whereas the raw SIFT feature is high dimensional, with high storage cost as well as computational cost in feature similarity measurements. Thus, we propose a hashing scheme for fast SIFT feature-based image matching and retrieval. First, a training process of the hashing function involves geometric and topological information being introduced; second, a geometry-enhanced similarity evaluation that considers both the global and details of images in evaluation is explained. Compared with state-of-the-art methods, our method achieves better performance.

Strainburst, defined as a burst that occurs on the periphery of tunnels, is always associated with intact and hard brittle rocks and high geo-stress. In practical engineering, the prevention of strainburst by bolting does not achieve the desired effects. Deep insight into the strainburst process and mechanisms under bolt support conditions is necessary to ensure safe underground construction. In this study, strainburst characteristics under bolt support conditions were investigated using a true-triaxial rockburst testing system, which was equipped with an acoustic emission monitoring system. High-speed cameras were also used to capture the ejection failure process. Two indicators, namely kinetic energy and maximum decibel, were used to comprehensively evaluate the rockburst intensity. In addition, characteristic stresses, failure mode and cracking mechanisms under different bolt spacing conditions were investigated. The test results demonstrated that rockburst is greatly affected by the bolt arrangement. Rockburst changes from the way occurring in the form of a local failure in weak area to the way striking the bolt position and even the overall free face with the decrease in bolt spacing. The use of the bolt increases the rockburst intensity, but the intensity decreases as the bolt spacing decreases. Characteristic stresses including crack initiation stress, crack damage stress and peak strength increase monotonously with the use of bolt and the decreasing bolt spacing. During the strainburst, tensile failure dominates the cracking process regardless of bolt spacing; however, with the use of bolt and decrease in bolt spacing, tensile splitting near the free face become less obvious and the proportion of shear failure gradually increased.

A fluorographene sensing membrane on silicon nitride (Si3N4) for light-addressable potentiometric sensors (LAPS) is investigated. Three layers of monolayer graphene grown using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) were transferred and stacked on a Si3N4 LAPS and then treated with CF4 plasma with a filter shielding. Clear fluorination of the 3-layer graphene is proven by studying the Raman spectrum, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurement. The pH sensitivity and linearity of this fluorographene sensing membrane are 56.8 mV/pH and 99.4%, respectively. The drift coefficient and hysteresis are 2.6 mV/h and 2.9 mV, respectively. This sensing performance is comparable to a Si3N4 sensing membrane. A significant negative bias shift in the photocurrent versus gate bias characteristics can be observed in the fluorographene sensing membrane, which could be explained by the fact that the work function increases owing to the dipole effect of carbon–fluorine bonds. A two-dimensional (2D) image of photocurrent measured in a pH 7 buffer solution for a sample with fluorographene and a Si3N4 sensing membrane on the same surface is generated by the scanning controlled by an X Y stage and LAPS measurement system. The high and the low photocurrents of the fluorographene and Si3N4 sensing membrane can be clearly distinguished in the static 2D pH image with an appropriate gate bias voltage. Through these experimental results, fluorographene is proven to be a suitable pH-sensing membrane. Further study on surface immobilization is suggested for biomedical targets in the future.

Background/Objective: Taiwan is facing a high prevalence of physical inactivity in children and adolescents, which has led to rising obesity and morbidity levels in young people. Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) joined the Global Matrix 3.0 to share the local information on childhood physical activity and related factors with the international community. This study reports the grades for 10 indicators endorsed by the Global Matrix 3.0. Methods: The local data for school-aged children and youth (∼5–17 year-olds) from 2010 to 2018 were used to determine the grades. The highest priority was given to the national survey data released by the government or academic institutions, followed by academic publications using nationally representative samples. Government or academic publications relying on only regional samples were excluded. Results: The data showed very poor Overall Physical Activity and Organized Sport Participation (F and D−, respectively). The grades for Active Transportation and Sedentary Behavior were C−. Low physical activity levels and high screen time may have led to sub-optimal Physical Fitness levels (B−). The central and local governments have recognized the importance of physical activity by creating related policy and improving facilities. Therefore, School, Community and the Built Environment, and Government Strategies and Investments all received the grade of B+. Active Play and Family and Peers received INC for a lack of sufficient data. Conclusions: Despite great effort by the governments and schools, physical activity and fitness levels are low while sedentary behavior is prevalent in Taiwanese children and youth. Keywords: Adolescent, Children, Physical activity, Physical fitness, Policy

Sepsis is a major cause of patient mortality and morbidity from bacterial infections. Although neutrophils are known to be important in the development of sepsis, how distinctive neutrophil subtypes regulate inflammatory processes involved in septicemia remains unclear. Preconditioning protects organisms against subsequent higher-dose exposures to the same, or even different, stimuli. Several studies have reported various effects of preconditioning on immune cells. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying neutrophil-mediated protection through preconditioning in sepsis remain unknown. Methods: Flow cytometry was conducted to sort the mice peritoneal lavage cells and the blood samples from patients with sepsis. Western blotting and ELISA were carried out to elucidate the expression of TLR9 signal transduction pathway proteins. Histological analysis was used to assess the effect of InP on intestine and liver structure in tlr9-/- and cav-1-/- mice. Fluorescence microscopy, Co-IP, and FRET were carried out to determine the association of TLR9 with Cav-1. Results: We show that membrane toll-like receptor-9 positive (mTLR9+) neutrophils exert a protective effect against fatal bacterial infections through the process of inflammatory preconditioning (InP). InP, which occurs in the setting of a low-dose bacterial challenge, active ingredient is Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA), triggers the membrane translocation of TLR9 from the neutrophil cytosol, where it binds to Cav-1. Our findings showed that InP enables TLR9 to facilitate MyD88-mediated TRAF3 and IRF3 signal transduction. Depletion of either TLR9 or Cav-1 largely eliminates the neutrophil-mediated InP effect in sepsis models in vitro and in vivo. Further, examination of clinical samples from patients with sepsis showed that clinical outcomes and likelihood of recovery are closely correlated with mTLR9 and Cav-1 expression in circulating neutrophils. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the TLR9-Cav-1 axis is a critical signaling pathway involved in the regulation of neutrophil-dependent MPLA mediated InP, and the presence of mTLR9+ neutrophils could be an attractive indicator of clinical outcomes in bacterial sepsis that could be further explored as a potential therapeutic target.

Background: Graft impingement is one of the main concerns in double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (DB-ACLR). Impingement between the anteromedial (AM) and posterolateral (PL) bundles has been postulated to cause graft deterioration or rerupture, but this has not been thoroughly investigated, and the interbundle impingement pressure (IIP) has not been well researched. Purpose: To determine the IIP between the AM and PL bundles in the native anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and in DB-ACLR with individualized and nonindividualized double-tunnel placement. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: A total of 30 fresh-frozen, nonpaired, human cadaveric knees were randomly divided into 3 groups of 10 knees: native intact ACL (NI group), DB-ACLR tunnel placement using the preserved remnant procedure (individualized reconstruction) (PR group), and DB-ACLR tunnel placement using the bony landmark procedure (nonindividualized reconstruction) (BL group). Pressure sensors were inserted between the AM and PL bundles. The knee was moved passively from full extension to full flexion, and the IIP between the 2 ACL bundles was measured every 15°. Similarly, the impingement pressure was measured between the ACL and intercondylar roof and between the ACL and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). Results: No significant differences were found in the maximum, mean, or minimum ACL-roof and ACL-PCL impingement pressures among the 3 groups. The IIP significantly increased when the knee joint was flexed >120° in all 3 groups ( P < .001). Compared with the other 2 groups, the BL group had significantly higher maximum and mean IIP throughout the range of knee movement ( P < .001) and from maximum extension to 120° of flexion ( P < .001). The BL group also had significantly higher minimum IIP than the other 2 groups when knee flexion was >120° ( P < .001). No significant differences were seen in maximum, minimum, or mean IIP between the NI and PR groups. Conclusion: The PR procedure (individualized DB-ACLR) was more consistent with the interbundle biomechanical conditions of the native ACL, whereas the BL procedure (nonindividualized DB-ACLR) had higher maximum and mean IIP. The IIP was higher than the ACL–intercondylar roof or ACL-PCL pressures, and it increased significantly when knee flexion was >120°. Clinical Relevance: These data suggest that surgeons can perform individualized DB-ACLR using preserved remnants for tunnel placement as impingement-free DB-ACLR.

With the increased incidence of diabetes, the number of diabetic patients who require surgical treatment is also increasing. Unfortunately, practices in this area lack standardisation. The purpose of this multidisciplinary, evidence-based guidelines for perioperative blood glucose management is to provide a comprehensive set of recommendations for clinicians treating diabetes with different types of surgery. The intended audience comprises Chinese endocrinologists, surgeons, anaesthetists, clinical pharmacists, nurses and professionals involved in perioperative blood glucose management. The guidelines were formulated as follows. First, a multidisciplinary expert group was established to identify and formulate key research questions on topics of priority according to the Population, Intervention, Comparator and Outcomes (PICO) process. We conducted a meta-analysis of available studies using Review Manager version 5.3, as appropriate. We pooled crude estimates as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals using a random-effects model, and used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation methods to assess the quality of the retrieved evidence. Finally, 32 recommendations were gathered that covered 11 fields-management and coordination, endocrinologists' consultation, diabetes diagnosis, surgery timing and anaesthesia method, blood glucose target values and monitoring frequency, hypoglycaemia treatment, oral administration of blood glucose lowering drugs, use of insulin, enteral and parenteral nutritional, postoperative treatment and medication and education and training. Twenty-five systematic reviews and meta-analyses were conducted for these guidelines to address the PICO questions. These guidelines are intended to improve perioperative blood glucose management and help doctors in specifying medical diagnosis and treatment, and will be implemented / disseminated extensively in China.

It is known that climate change causes a decrease in the profit gained from agricultural production. This work designs and establishes weather boxes equipped with functions of rainfall prediction, frosting forecast, and lightning detection. With the wireless connection and the build-in decision mode, weather boxes can deliver early-warning by sending texting messages to the users and actuating the corresponding action to response the extreme climate. To implement rainfall and frosting prognostication, two different datasets are analyzed by the technology of data mining. One of the datasets is acquired from the Central Weather Bureau, and the other is from the proposed weather box monitoring the agricultural environment. From the experimental results, the prediction model constructed from the data which is collected by the proposed weather box exhibits a higher accuracy in rainfall forecasting than those based on the Central Weather Bureau.

A cross-polarized common-path temporal interferometer using balanced detection was developed for measuring refractive index transients due to plasmas or Kerr effect with a sensitivity of 0.5 mrad and a temporal resolution of 10 fs.

With the progress of the electricity market deregulation and the gradual loss of monopoly status, especially in China, electric power enterprises, as well as power exchange centers, are seeking new business models to enhance their core competitiveness. Carrying out diversified and customized value-added services for various market participants will benefit improving the service quality level of the enterprises and increasing market operation efficiency. In this paper, through comparison with existing value-added services in other industries, some potential value-added service business models in the power industry are proposed. Meanwhile, a literature survey on the status quo of value-added services in the power industry is presented and critically reviewed, which also evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of customer classification methods and other techniques for developing value-added services for electricity transaction.

Ischemic stroke can induce rapid activation of the microglia. It has been reported that the microglia's survival is dependent on colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) signaling and that pharmacological inhibition of CSF1R leads to morphological changes in the microglia in the healthy brain. However, the impact of CSF1R inhibition on neuronal structures and motor ability after ischemia-reperfusion remains unclear. In this study, we investigated microglial de-ramification, proliferation, and activation after inhibition of CSF1R by a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (ki20227) in a mouse model of global cerebral ischemia induced by bilateral common carotid artery ligation (BCAL). In addition to microglial morphology, we evaluated the mRNA expression of cytokines, chemokines, and inflammatory receptors. Our results show that pharmacological inhibition of CSF1R in ischemic mice resulted in the blockade of microglial proliferation and a shift in microglial morphology reflected by excessive de-ramification and a more activated phenotype accompanied by an enhanced innate immune response. Furthermore, we show that pharmacological inhibition of CSF1R in ischemic mice resulted in the aggravation of neuronal degeneration and behavioral impairment. Intravital two-photon imaging revealed that although pharmacological inhibition of CSF1R did not affect the recovery of dendritic structures, it caused a significant increase in spine elimination during reperfusion in ischemic mice. These findings suggest that pharmacological inhibition of CSF1R induces a blockade of microglial proliferation and causes acute activation of the microglia accompanied by a severe inflammatory response. It aggravates neuronal degeneration, loss of dendritic spines, and behavioral deficits after transient global cerebral ischemia.

The proposed conceptual framework in this research was developed by Venkatesh. The framework will extend the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Useful Technology (UTAUT) model by incorporating with other variables in order to determine the factors that influence the intention of e-wallet adoption among the consumers from the respective countries: Malaysia and Thailand. By integrating with other variables which are based on the usage of e-wallet, the research outcome will be able to provide more comprehensive and better explanations on the consumer behaviour instead of just focusing on the technology characteristics. Furthermore, this research will also compare the results between Malaysian consumers and Thai consumers in order to explain the factors of e-wallet adoption and consumer behaviour between the two countries.

In recent years, the increase in the number of students in classrooms has demanded more efficient analytics software tools for educators such as to grade, track and store student's learning activities and providing quick feedbacks. Analytics also refers to the scientific process that examines data to formulate conclusions and to present paths to make decisions. In this paper we demonstrate an analytics quiz and tests system that could be used by educators to analyze and improve questionnaires based on students' performance and to introduce the current possibilities in incorporating AI and analytics. An analysis of the system using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with participants' results revealed that the web data analytics system has helped the instructors to determine the point of modifications in improving the quiz and tests questions especially for individual student as opposed to the traditional method since it is more tedious to grade and analyze the results.

Background To illustrate a novel technique of treating anterior cruciate ligament injury. Methods If the ACL stump is strong enough and of good quality, we combine the ACL reconstruction and repair together. Results It is assumed that this will be better for the knee biomechanics in contrast to the simple reconstruction. This technique may also save the graft. That means we can only harvest one tendon gracilis or semitendinosus to satisfy the need of the knee stability. Conclusions This technique of combining the reconstruction and repair protects the knee proprioceptive feelings, accelerate the revascularization and strengthen the reconstructed ACL. This technique may also save the ligament graft and avoid the complications of the donor site. We are looking forward to comparing the outcomes of this technique to the outcomes of simple ACL reconstruction.

Although distant supervision automatically generates training data for relation extraction, it also introduces false-positive (FP) and false-negative (FN) training instances to the generated datasets. Whereas both types of errors degrade the final model performance, previous work on distant supervision denoising focuses more on suppressing FP noise and less on resolving the FN problem. We here propose H-FND, a hierarchical false-negative denoising framework for robust distant supervision relation extraction, as an FN denoising solution. H-FND uses a hierarchical policy which first determines whether non-relation (NA) instances should be kept, discarded, or revised during the training process. For those learning instances which are to be revised, the policy further reassigns them appropriate relations, making them better training inputs. Experiments on SemEval-2010 and TACRED were conducted with controlled FN ratios that randomly turn the relations of training and validation instances into negatives to generate FN instances. In this setting, H-FND can revise FN instances correctly and maintains high F1 scores even when 50% of the instances have been turned into negatives. Experiment on NYT10 is further conducted to shows that H-FND is applicable in a realistic setting., Comment: The first two authors are equally contributed

Forage sorghum is an important raw material for winemaking and livestock feed. It has many excellent agronomic traits. Its genome-wide sequencing work has been completed. Molecular marker-assisted selection technology is widely used in sorghum breeding work. The number of genetic loci affecting the sorghum agronomic traits has been Be positioned. Tillering, as an important plant type trait, has an important influence on the physiological characteristics of sorghum, such as the tolerance, lodging resistance and light absorption efficiency. At present, considerable progress has been made in gene mapping of plant height, ear length, leaf morphology and other traits of forage sorghum. However, the progress of gene mapping for tillering is relatively slow due to the fact that tillering traits are easily affected by various factors. This study summarized the recent research progress of QTL mapping for tillering traits and other agronomic traits in sorghum, and proposed that some conserved sequences with high homology were retained during the evolution of different crop varieties, which proved that there was correlation between different traits of the same species. In sorghum breeding research, combining genetic engineering breeding with experimental statistics and quantitative genetics can better reveal the contribution of various factors to sorghum agronomic traits, improve breeding efficiency and reduce the loss of human and material resources.

The Sinian Dengying Fm in the Sichuan Basin is a set of fractured-vuggy reservoirs mainly dominated by sedimentation and karstification, and characterized by small fractures and vugs, complex stratigraphy and lithology, and strong vertical and lateral reservoir heterogeneity. As a result, the drilling rates are lower and single-well gas productivity varies greatly there. And the reservoir identification results based on seismic data in this area are ambiguous. In view of this, the Deng 4 Member in the Gaoshiti buried structure on the southern flank of the Leshan–Longnüsi palaeohigh was precisely divided in stratigraphy. Then, the types of reservoir assemblages were determined based on gas well logging and test data, and the seismic response characteristics of typical wells with different types of reservoir assemblages and the seismic modes of high productivity wells were studied by using high-resolution seismic data. It is indicated that the Deng 4 Member in this area is divided into three types of reservoir assemblages, which correspond to three seismic modes. Seismic mode I: It presents the seismic response characteristics of “wide wave troughs + double highlights” or “wide wave troughs + complex waves”, indicating that fractures and vugs are developed. It is the preferred seismic mode of high productivity wells in the stage of development. In this mode, the technology of highly deviated wells or horizontal wells can be implemented. Seismic mode II: It presents the seismic response characteristics of “wide wave troughs”, indicating that fractures and vugs are relatively developed. It is the mode of moderate productivity wells. In this mode, the technology of highly deviated wells can be implemented. Seismic mode III: It presents the seismic response characteristics of “wide wave troughs + highlights”, indicating that fractures and vugs are underdeveloped. It is mode of low productivity wells, in which the technology of horizontal wells can be implemented. The new understandings on seismic modes were applied on site. It is shown that the reservoir drilling rate is over 60% and the average gas production rate during the production test of 8 wells is up to 75.34 × 104 m3/d. It is concluded that the seismic mode of high productivity wells based on seismic facies, fracture and vug prediction and integrated target design provides a support for the well arrangement and drilling trajectory adjustment in natural gas exploration and development in the Gaoshiti area and good results have been achieved. Keywords: Sichuan Basin, Gaoshiti area, Sinian, Dengying Formation, Karst, Fractured-vuggy reservoir, Seismic response, Seismic mode of high productivity well, Fracture and vug prediction

The design and optimization of Concentrated Solar Power-Photovoltaic (CSP-PV) hybrid system is a hot topic in the field of solar energy. By merging the advantages of these two forms of power generation, this system can provide the cheap and controllable solar energy. To match the demand of the grid, the proportion of different energy sources in this hybrid system need to be optimized carefully. However, most related works just consider the balance of energy output and consumption in the level of the power plant, while the key parameters of the CSP plant generally in varied forms with different situations. Thus, a method can optimize all the main parameters of the CSP and the hybrid system in the same time is in need. In this way, we process a method based on the artificial fish-swarm algorithm to complete the global optimization of CSP-PV Hybrid System, the experimental result proven the effectiveness of the method.

Currently, global warming is worsening, causing the difficulty of cultivating crops in open fields, and leading to unstable quality of crops. Plant factories provide a well-controlled growth environment for precisely cultivating plants. However, uneven temperature distributions (UTDs) still occur at each cultivation shelf in plant factories, which decreases the yields (fresh weight) of plants. In this study, a wireless sensor network (WSN)-based automatic temperature monitoring and fan-circulating system for precision cultivation in plant factories is proposed, and it is built upon the technologies of WSN, ordinary kriging spatial interpolation, and automation control, to precisely find the UTD areas of cultivation shelves. Once a UTD area occurs, the fan-circulating system can be triggered immediately to automatically trace the area and circulate the air. This action can effectively improve the air flow in the cultivation zone, providing optimal growth conditions for plants. The proposed system has been deployed in two plant factories that grew Boston lettuces, and a series of performance evaluation experiments were conducted. The experimental results indicate that the fresh weight of the harvested lettuces increases by 61–109% when employing the proposed system that efficiently and significantly decreases the variation of the temperature in the cultivation zone.

The performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules under outdoor operation is greatly affected by their location and environmental conditions. The temperature of a PV module gradually increases as it is exposed to solar irradiation, resulting in degradation of its electrical characteristics and power generation efficiency. This study adopts wireless sensor network (WSN) technology to develop an automatic water-cooling system for PV modules in order to improve their PV power generation efficiency. A temperature estimation method is developed to quickly and accurately estimate the PV module temperatures based on weather data provided from the WSN monitoring system. Further, an estimation method is also proposed for evaluation of the electrical characteristics and output power of the PV modules, which is performed remotely via a control platform. The automatic WSN-based water-cooling mechanism is designed to avoid the PV module temperature from reaching saturation. Equipping each PV module with the WSN-based cooling system, the ambient conditions are monitored automatically so that the temperature of the PV module is controlled by sprinkling water on the panel surface. The field-test experiment results show an increase in the energy harvested by the PV modules of approximately 17.75% when using the proposed WSN-based cooling system.

Summary Objectives Tryptophan is the precursor for cerebral serotonin, which could result in exercise-induced central fatigue. Branched-chain amino acids supplementation could alleviate central fatigue by competing with tryptophan for crossing blood-brain barrier. This study investigated the effect of branched-chain amino acids and arginine on physical and skill performance in 2 consecutive days of exercise. Equipment and methods Eleven male college basketball players participated in this double-blind cross-over study. Each trial lasted two days with one session of basketball drills and two basketball skill tests on each day. The subjects consumed 0.17 g/kg BCAA and 0.04 g/kg arginine (AA trial) or placebo. Results Total time to complete vertical jumps, ladder suicide sprint, key combination, and full court combination was significantly faster in the second half of the basketball drill session on day 2 in the AA trial than that in the placebo trial (AA: 256.3 ± 4.8 s; placebo: 266.7 ± 6.4 s, P = 0.031). The improvement coincided with significantly lower post-exercise free tryptophan/BCAA ratio in the AA trial (AA: 0.105 ± 0.043; placebo: 0.177 ± 0.019, P

Scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) and scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM) are used to investigate the doping profile of saddle-fin (S-fin) devices in a 30-nm dynamic-random-access-memory (DRAM) technology. Due to the limited resolution of SCM, SCM cannot provide a clear doping profile of an S-fin array device. In the meantime, SSRM and focused ion beam milling during sample preparation provide an opportunity to obtain a 2-D and scanning line doping profile. The common-source region between two adjacent buried word lines is treated with an additional phosphorus (P) implantation with energy and dosage modification to have a doping profile modification in the array devices of DRAM product. With condition of the medium energy and high dosage in this additional P implantation, the row hammer effect of 30-nm DRAM could be minimized by the localized shielding effect from the electric field by a depletion effect. The junction profile of the additional P implantation is about 10 nm deeper than that of the control sample, as verified by SSRM and technology computer-aided design simulation. The experimental results of the doping profile can be used to support a mechanism of improvement of row hammer. The SSRM methodology proposed in this study could be used to optimize the doping profiles in DRAMs for future scaling technology.

Preclinical Research Doxorubicin (DOX) is commonly used for the treatment of breast cancer and lymphoma. However, its clinical use has been severely limited due to cardiotoxicity, requiring the development of safer and more efficient pharmaceutical formulations of DOX. Advances in nanotechnology have provided new ways to administer chemotherapeutic drugs like DOX are conveyed into the body and to tumor sites. These Nanotechnology approaches have aided in the selective accumulation of DOX into tumor sites via the enhanced permeability and retention. However, the absence of active targeting ligands still hinders the effective delivery of DOX. Among all active targeting ligands developed to date, RGD peptide (Arginylglycylaspartic acid) occupies a unique position owing to its inherent safety, biocompatibility, and targeting ability. Accordingly, modification of DOX with RGD ligand is anticipated to improve transport of DOX into tumor cells. In this review, we discuss using RGD peptide for improving the therapeutic efficacy of DOX nanomedicine. Drug Dev Res 78 : 283-291, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Three cutaneous nerves are particularly vulnerable to injury during orthopaedic procedures around the wrist, namely the superficial radial nerve, the palmar cutaneous branch of the median nerve and the dorsal cutaneous branch of the ulnar nerve. These nerves are prone to the development of painful neuromas when injured. In this article, the relevant anatomy and the principles of management of such neuromas are reviewed.

Recently, advances in intelligent mobile device and positioning techniques have fundamentally enhanced social networks, which allows users to share their experiences, reviews, ratings, photos, check-ins, etc. The geographical information located by smart phone bridges the gap between physical and digital worlds. Location data functions as the connection between user's physical behaviors and virtual social networks structured by the smart phone or web services. We refer to these social networks involving geographical information as location-based social networks (LBSNs). Such information brings opportunities and challenges for recommender systems to solve the cold start, sparsity problem of datasets and rating prediction. In this paper, we make full use of the mobile users’ location sensitive characteristics to carry out rating prediction. We mine: 1) the relevance between user's ratings and user-item geographical location distances, called as user-item geographical connection, 2) the relevance between users’ rating differences and user-user geographical location distances, called as user-user geographical connection. It is discovered that humans’ rating behaviors are affected by geographical location significantly. Moreover, three factors: user-item geographical connection, user-user geographical connection, and interpersonal interest similarity, are fused into a unified rating prediction model. We conduct a series of experiments on a real social rating network dataset Yelp. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms existing models.

How to promote the energy harvesting performance of traditional two-stage inverters used in photovoltaic (PV) systems is a critical issue in the PV applications. This paper reviews the prevalent maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques and the difficulties and performances of using different stage inverter architectures. Based on the findings of the reviews, this study proposes a new hybrid MPPT algorithm to speedily track the MPP of the PV arrays. The algorithm can be used in a single-phase two-stage PV inverter, where the direct current (dc) sensors for tracking the MPP are not required. A current mode control with a phase-locked function is also proposed to combine with the hybrid MPPT method and implemented in the PV inverter. A grid-tied PV power conditioning (PVPC) system with a capacity rating of 4 kW was constructed as a test sample system. An extensive series of experiments were conducted to examine the basic performance for tracking the dynamic MPP of PV array provided by the proposed method. The test results show that the proposed hybrid MPPT method could produce more energy of 2.72% than the traditional P&O method. Moreover, the comparative experiments for several kinds of microprocessor- and digital signal processor (DSP)-based commercial inverters using different MPPT methods were also conducted. Experimental results demonstrate that the commercial inverter equipped with the proposed hybrid MPPT algorithm has a better energy harvesting performance comparing to other commercial inverters with various MPPT methods. The developed hybrid MPPT algorithm and control scheme are promisingly in energy harvest and are ready to use in the commercial PV systems.

Low-carbohydrate-high-fat (LCHF) diets have been used as a means of weight loss and control of symptoms in several clinical conditions. There is emerging evidence that the metabolic changes induced by LCHF diets enhance endurance performance. The aims of this review are to examine the evidence of LCHF diets in improving various aspects of athletic performance. Long-term LCHF dietary intake may help control body weight and fat mass while maintaining lean body mass in athletes in weight-sensitive sports. LCHF-adapted endurance athletes can reach the maximal fat oxidation rate of approximately 1.5 g/min, with a lower carbohydrate oxidation rate and similar muscle glycogen content and a resynthesis rate compared to their counterparts consuming high-carbohydrate-low-fat (HCLF) diets. The elevated fat oxidation rate and glycogen sparing effect may improve performance in ultra-endurance events. These metabolic changes may also prevent the decline in performance in later stages of repeated high-intensity movements, in which the aerobic metabolism becomes more important. However, elevated blood concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids and ammonia during exercise after LCHF diets may lead to early development of central fatigue. It appears that at least several months of adaptation to a LCHF diet are required for the metabolic changes and restoration of muscle glycogen to occur. Further investigations on LCHF diets are needed regarding (1) performance after weight loss in weight-categorized sports; (2) repeated high-intensity exercise performance; (3) development of central fatigue during endurance events; (4) perceptual-motor performance during prolonged intermittent sports; and (5) ideal dietary fatty acid compositions.

Laboratory chemical hood noise is often neglected because it is usually well below control levels mandated by noise exposure standards. However, noise caused by motors and fans is often annoying to those working in a hood for long periods of time. Workers handling ototoxic chemicals such as those found in pharmaceutical setting within the confines of a noisy hood may be more susceptible to hearing damage and a study of noise patterns of hoods is worthwhile. This manuscript presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling technique adapted to predict high levels of noise in a hood, and spectrum measurement conducted to analyze characteristics of the noise.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting nearly five million people worldwide. Among all drug delivery system, oral administration is the most preferable route for colon-specific targeting and the treatment of IBD. Herein, an amphiphilic curcumin polymer (PCur) composed of hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrophobic curcumin (Cur) linked by disulfide bond was synthesized and characterized. The sufficient solubility, nano-scaled size and close to the neutral surface potential of PCur lead to preferential accumulation of the active drug in the inflamed regions of the gut. Moreover, PCur showed limited drug release and enhanced robustness under the physiological pH of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), and a significantly elevated release was observed when responding to a bacterial reduction in the colon. Furthermore, cellular studies confirmed PCur had low cytotoxicity and increased transmembrane permeability, resulting in improved oral bioavailability evidenced by in vivo pharmacokinetics of rats. Finally, with DSS-induced murine model of IBD, we demonstrated that orally administered PCur ameliorated the inflammatory progression in the colon and could protect mice from IBD. In conclusion, it is illustrated that the developed PCur conjugate could potentially be employed as a colon-specific candidate for IBD treatment.

Recent studies have shown that circulating serotonin plays a potential role in bone metabolism. However, conflicting results have been reported for the relationship between serum serotonin concentrations and bone mineral density (BMD). We investigated whether the serum serotonin concentrations related to BMD in Chinese postmenopausal women. Serum serotonin and bone turnover concentrations of 117 premenopausal women and 262 asymptomatic postmenopausal women were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. BMD at the lumbar spine and femoral neck was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The relationship between serotonin and BMD was investigated. The postmenopausal women had lower mean serum serotonin concentrations compared to the premenopausal women. Serotonin concentrations were negatively associated with age, weight, BMI, fat mass, and β-CTX concentrations in postmenopausal women. No significant correlations were found between serotonin and these parameters in premenopausal women. In postmenopausal women, age- and BMI-adjusted serotonin concentrations were positively correlated with BMD of the lumbar spine and femoral neck. Multiple regression analyses showed serum serotonin and β-CTX were the predictors for lumbar spine BMD. Only serum serotonin was the determinant for femoral neck BMD. In conclusion, lower serum serotonin concentrations are linked to low lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD in postmenopausal women.

As the main force of new energy generation, photovoltaic power generation is widely used in microgrid. Considering the coordinated operation of photovoltaic and energy storage system (ESS) in the island operation mode, the control strategy of voltage stability and power balance was studied for the low-voltage DC microgrid composed of the distributed generations. When the loads of DC microgrid system change abruptly, the DC bus power will be excessive or deficient, which will affect the stability of bus voltage. In this paper, a parallel structure of ESS and photovoltaic cell was used, and a bidirectional DC/DC converter was used to connect the energy storage battery with the DC bus. Based on RBF neural network tuning PID control, an improved bidirectional DC/DC converter operation mode control algorithm was proposed. When the system load changed suddenly, the voltage stability and power balance of DC bus were realized simultaneously. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm was verified by simulation.

The traditional communication technology between electric vehicles (EVs) and DC charging piles often causes problems such as low reliability, high cost of communication line and high maintenance cost. The power line communication (PLC) technology is a mature technology and has the advantages of simplifying charging cable, reducing cable cost, which has certain practicability and feasibility. This paper deeply analyzes the channel characteristics, noise characteristics and uses OFDM as transmission method for the PLC signal between EVs and DC charging piles. The bit error rate (BER) is a measure index in this paper, this paper calculates the BER under various working conditions in order to determine the performance of OFDM technology in the power line channel. The simulation results indicate that PLC technology based on OFDM could meet the communication demand between EVs and DC charging piles, which have some certain utilities.

Low-voltage direct current (DC) microgrid based on distributed generation (DG), the problems of load mutation affecting the DC bus under island mode, and the security problems that may arise when the DC microgrid is switched from island mode to grid-connected mode are considered. Firstly, a DC bus control algorithm based on disturbance observer (DOB) was proposed to suppress the impact of system load mutation on DC bus in island mode. Then, in a grid-connected mode, a pre-synchronization control algorithm based on a neural network adaptive control was proposed, and the droop controller was improved to ensure better control accuracy. Through this pre-synchronization control, the microgrid inverters output voltage could quickly track the power grid&rsquo, s voltage and achieve an accurate grid-connected operation. The effectiveness of the algorithms was verified by simulation.

With the increase of metal ore production, the mining vehicle transportation pressure is getting bigger and bigger, and the mining vehicle wheel is carrying heavy objects for a long time, causing serious wear and abnormal speed, resulting in a safety accident. system. There is a large sliding friction between the abnormal wheel of the mine car and the track. If the high temperature is generated for a long time, the system uses the infrared thermal imager to collect the abnormal heat of the abnormal wheel, and transmits the image information to the computer via Ethernet. After the image analysis and processing, the identification of the abnormal wheel of the mine car operation is realized, and the purpose of eliminating the wheel fault in time is achieved.

Due to the extensive application of deep learning in processing time series and recent progress, LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) neural network is the most commonly used and most powerful tool for time series models. The LSTM neural network is used to predict Apple stocks by using single feature input variables and multi-feature input variables to verify the prediction effect of the model on stock time series. The experimental results show that the model has a high accuracy of 0.033 for the multivariate input and is accurate, which is in line with the actual demand. For the univariate feature input, the predicted squared absolute error is 0.155, which is inferior to the multi-feature variable input.

International audience; Conventional image aesthetic quality prediction aims at predicting the average score of a picture or its aesthetic class (good/bad quality). However, aesthetic prediction is intrinsically subjective, and images with similar mean aesthetic scores/class might display very different levels of consensus by human raters. Recent work has dealt with aesthetic subjectiv-ity by predicting the distribution of human scores. However, predicting the distribution is not directly interpretable in terms of subjectivity, and might be sub-optimal compared to directly estimating subjectivity descriptors computed from ground-truth scores. In this paper, we propose several measures of subjectivity, ranging from simple statistical measures such as the standard deviation of the scores, to newly proposed descriptors inspired by information theory. We evaluate the prediction performance of these measures when they are computed from predicted score distributions or when they are directly learned from ground-truth data. We find that the latter strategy provides in general better results, though there is still a large space for improvement in aesthetic subjectivity prediction.

In this paper, a novel parallel dual-pressure Kalina cycle system is presented to utilize the low-grade geothermal energy. In order to highlight the performance of the proposed cycle, the comparison of parallel dual-pressure Kalina cycle system and the basic Kalina cycle system is conducted and set at the same boundary conditions. The maximal net power output of cycle is considered as the single-objective function based on particle swarm optimization algorithm. The exergy analysis and economic cost for both cycles are investigated at design conditions. Furthermore, as operating at off-design conditions, the variation ranges of geothermal energy mass flux and inlet temperature are 7.5–14 kg/s and 136–150 °C, respectively. The sliding pressure regulation strategy is applied to response to the variations of geothermal energy parameters. The two-levels evaporation pressures in the parallel dual-pressure Kalina cycle are adjusted to remain the invariable temperature difference between geothermal energy inlet temperature of evaporators and the corresponding turbine inlet temperature. The results show that, at design conditions, the maximal net power output of parallel dual-pressure Kalina cycle and basic Kalina cycle is 329.62KW and 274.94KW, the corresponding exergy efficiency is 44.52% and 33.39%. Besides, the condenser contributes to the largest exergy destruction ratio in parallel dual-pressure Kalina cycle and basic Kalina cycle, which are 33.96% and 44.94% of overall exergy destruction, respectively. According to the off-design performance investigation, it is shown that the higher geothermal energy mass flux and inlet temperature are in favor of the larger net power output for both cycles. The thermodynamic evaluation shows that the proposed parallel dual-pressure Kalina cycle exhibits a more excellent performance in terms of net power output and exergy efficiency than basic Kalina cycle.

In order to solve the inert trading and irrational trading of electricity retailers in the spot market trading environment, increase the income of electricity retailers and reduce transaction risk, a spot trading strategy considering multiple constraints for electricity retailers is proposed. Similar days are selected by analyzing the date type and the temperature difference of the spot market trading day, on the basis of similar days, the electricity consumption information of electricity retailers’ agent users, day-ahead and real-time electricity price of sport trading market are predicted, combing the user-side excess profit recovery fee, mid-to-long term shortage recovery fee and mid-to-long term curve deviation recovery fee restrictions in Shanxi Province spot trading rules, optimize the mid-to-long term daily 96 points daily electricity purchase curve and day-ahead 96 points daily electricity biding curve, and use the real data of Shanxi spot market transactions to calculate the multi-day income of the electricity retailers to verify the practicability of the spot trading strategies.