Search results for: J. Wang

Authors: Joy Marie Mora, Mark Daniel De Luna, Tsair-Wang Chung

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Transesterification reaction of soybean oil with methanol was carried out to produce fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) using calcined alkali metal (Na and Li) supported by pumice silica as the solid base catalyst. Pumice silica catalyst was activated by loading alkali metal ions to its surface via an ion-exchange method. Response surface methodology (RSM) in combination with Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to optimize the operating parameters in biodiesel production, namely: reaction temperature, methanol to oil molar ratio, reaction time, and catalyst concentration. Using the optimized sets of parameters, FAME yields using sodium and lithium silicate catalysts were 98.80% and 98.77%, respectively. A pseudo-first order kinetic equation was applied to evaluate the kinetic parameters of the reaction. The prepared catalysts were characterized by several techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) sorptometer, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the reusability of the catalysts was successfully tested in two subsequent cycles.

Keywords: alkali metal, biodiesel, Box-Behnken design, heterogeneous catalyst, kinetics, optimization, pumice, transesterification

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Authors: Tasir Khan, Yejuan Wang

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The study of extreme rainfall events is very important for flood management in river basins and the design of water conservancy infrastructure. Evaluation of quantiles of annual maximum rainfall (AMRF) is required in different environmental fields, agriculture operations, renewable energy sources, climatology, and the design of different structures. Therefore, the annual maximum rainfall (AMRF) was performed at different stations in Pakistan. Multiple probability distributions, log normal (LN), generalized extreme value (GEV), Gumbel (max), and Pearson type3 (P3) were used to find out the most appropriate distributions in different stations. The L moments method was used to evaluate the distribution parameters. Anderson darling test, Kolmogorov- Smirnov test, and chi-square test showed that two distributions, namely GUM (max) and LN, were the best appropriate distributions. The quantile estimate of a multi-parameter PD offers extreme rainfall through a specific location and is therefore important for decision-makers and planners who design and construct different structures. This result provides an indication of these multi-parameter distribution consequences for the study of sites and peak flow prediction and the design of hydrological maps. Therefore, this discovery can support hydraulic structure and flood management.

Keywords: RAMSE, multiple frequency analysis, annual maximum rainfall, L-moments

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Authors: Nanxi Miao, Junjie Wang

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The discovery of 2D materials with distinct compositions and properties has been a research aim since the report of graphene. One of the latest members of the 2D material family is MXene, which is produced from the topochemical deintercalation of the A layer from a laminate MAX phase. Recently, analogous 2D MBenes (transitional metal borides) have been predicted by theoretical calculations as excellent alternatives in applications such as metal-ion batteries, magnetic devices, and catalysts. However, the practical applications of two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal borides (MBenes) have been severely hindered by the lack of accessible MBenes because of the difficulties in the selective etching of traditional ternary MAB phases with orthorhombic symmetry (ort-MAB). Here, we discover a family of ternary hexagonal MAB (h-MAB) phases and 2D hexagonal MBenes (h-MBenes) by ab initio predictions and experiments. Calculations suggest that the ternary h-MAB phases are more suitable precursors for MBenes than the ort-MAB phases. Based on the prediction, we report the experimental synthesis of h-MBene HfBO by selective removal of in from h-MAB Hf2InB2. The synthesized 2D HfBO delivered a specific capacity of 420 mAh g-1 as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries, demonstrating the potential for energy-storage applications. The discovery of this h-MBene HfBO added a new member to the growing family of 2D materials and provided opportunities for a wide range of novel applications.

Keywords: 2D materials, DFT calculations, high-throughput screening, lithium-ion batteries

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Authors: Md Rafiqul Islam, Ashir Ahmed, Anwaar Ulhaq, Abu Raihan M. Kamal, Yuan Miao, Hua Wang

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Mental health of people is equally important as of their physical health. Mental health and well-being are influenced not only by individual attributes but also by the social circumstances in which people find themselves and the environment in which they live. Like physical health, there is a number of internal and external factors such as biological, social and occupational factors that could influence the mental health of people. People living in poverty, suffering from chronic health conditions, minority groups, and those who exposed to/or displaced by war or conflict are generally more likely to develop mental health conditions. However, to authors’ best knowledge, there is dearth of knowledge on the impact of workplace (especially the highly stressed IT/Tech workplace) on the mental health of its workers. This study attempts to examine the factors influencing the mental health of tech workers. A publicly available dataset containing more than 65,000 cells and 100 attributes is examined for this purpose. Number of machine learning techniques such as ‘Decision Tree’, ‘K nearest neighbor’ ‘Support Vector Machine’ and ‘Ensemble’, are then applied to the selected dataset to draw the findings. It is anticipated that the analysis reported in this study would contribute in presenting useful insights on the attributes contributing in the mental health of tech workers using relevant machine learning techniques.

Keywords: mental disorder, diagnosis, occupational stress, IT workplace

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Authors: Bingjie Wang, Su-Yeon Kwon, Ik-Joong Kang

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A Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) as the principle for enhancing Raman scattering by molecules adsorbed on rough metal surfaces or by nanostructures is used to detect the concentration change of γ-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA). As for the gold-chitosan nanoshell, it is made by using chitosan nanoparticles crosslinking with sodium tripolyphosphate(TPP) for the first step to form the chitosan nanoparticles, which would be covered with the gold sequentially. The size of the fabricated product was around 100nm. Based on the method that the sulfur end of the MPA linked to gold can form the very strong S–Au bond, and the carboxyl group, the other end of the MPA, can easily absorb the GABA. GABA is the mainly inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system in the human body. It plays such significant role in reducing neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system. When the system formed, it generated SERS, which made a clear difference in the intensity of Raman scattering within the range of GABA concentration. So it is obtained from the experiment that the calibration curve according to the GABA concentration relevant with the SERS scattering. In this study, DLS, SEM, FT-IR, UV, SERS were used to analyze the products to obtain the conclusion.

Keywords: chitosan-gold nanoshell, mercaptopropionic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, surface-enhanced Raman scattering

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Authors: Nazli Eslamirad, Peter C. Junk, Jun Wang, Glen B. Deacon

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Since coordination behavior of pyrazoles and pyrazolate ions are widely versatile towards a great range of metals such as d-block, f-block as well as main group elements; they attract interest as ligands for preparing compounds. A variety of rare-earth pyrazolate complexes have been synthesized by redox transmetalation/protolysis (RTP) previously, therefore, a variety of rare-earth pyrazolate complexes using two pyrazoles, 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (Me₂pzH) and 3,5-di-tert -butylpyrazolate (t-Bu₂pzH), in which the structures span the whole La-Lu array beside Sc and Y has been synthesized by RTP reaction. There have been further developments in this study: Synthesizing structure of [Tb(Me₂pz)₃(thf)]₂ which is isomorphous with those of the previously reported [Dy(Me₂pz)₃(thf)]₂ and [Lu(Me₂pz)₃(thf)]₂ analogous that has two µ-1(N):2(Nʹ)-Me2pz ligands (the most common pyrazolate ligation for non-rare-earth complexes). Previously most of the reported compounds using t-Bu2pzH were monomeric compounds however the lanthanum derivative [La(Me₂pz)₃thf₂] ,which has been reported previously without crystal structure, has now been structurally characterized, along with cerium and lutetium analogue. Also a polymeric structure with samarium has now been synthesized which the neodymium analogue has been reported previously and comparing these polymeric structures can support the idea that the geometry of Sm(tBu₂pz)₃ affect the coordination of the solvent. Also, by using 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) instead of tetrahydrofuran (THF) new [Er(tBu₂pz)₃ (dme)₂] has now been reported.

Keywords: lanthanoid complexes, pyrazolate, redox transmetalation/protolysis, x-ray crystal structures

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Authors: B. Wang, W. H. Or, S.C. Lee, Y.C. Leung, B. Organ

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This study presents an investigation of diesel vehicle particulate-phase emissions with neat ultralow sulphur diesel (B0, ULSD) and 5% waste cooking oil-based biodiesel blend (B5) in Hong Kong. A Euro VI light duty diesel vehicle was tested under transient (New European Driving Cycle (NEDC)), steady-state and idling on a chassis dynamometer. Chemical analyses including organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), as well as 30 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 10 oxygenated PAHs (oxy-PAHs) were conducted. The OC fuel-based emission factors (EFs) for B0 ranged from 2.86 ± 0.33 to 7.19 ± 1.51 mg/kg, and those for B5 ranged from 4.31 ± 0.64 to 15.36 ± 3.77 mg/kg, respectively. The EFs of EC were low for both fuel blends (0.25 mg/kg or below). With B5, the EFs of total PAHs were decreased as compared to B0. Specifically, B5 reduced total PAH emissions by 50.2%, 30.7%, and 15.2% over NEDC, steady-state and idling, respectively. It was found that when B5 was used, PAHs and oxy-PAHs with lower molecular weight (2 to 3 rings) were reduced whereas PAHs/oxy-PAHs with medium or high molecular weight (4 to 7 rings) were increased. Our study suggests the necessity of taking atmospheric and health factors into account for biodiesel application as an alternative motor fuel.

Keywords: biodiesel, OC/EC, PAHs, vehicular emission

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Authors: Chengcao Sun, Shujun Li, Cuili Yang, Yongyong Xi, Liang Wang, Feng Zhang, Dejia Li

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Recently, the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) NEAT1 has been identified as an oncogenic gene in multiple cancer types and elevated expression of NEAT1 was tightly linked to tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the molecular basis for this observation has not been characterized in progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In our studies, we identified NEAT1 was highly expressed in NSCLC patients and was a novel regulator of NSCLC progression. Patients whose tumors had high NEAT1 expression had a shorter overall survival than patients whose tumors had low NEAT1 expression. Further, NEAT1 significantly accelerates NSCLC cell growth and metastasis in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Additionally, by using bioinformatics study and RNA pull down combined with luciferase reporter assays, we demonstrated that NEAT1 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for has-miR-377-3p, antagonized its functions and led to the de-repression of its endogenous targets E2F3, which was a core oncogene in promoting NSCLC progression. Taken together, these observations imply that the NEAT1 modulated the expression of E2F3 gene by acting as a competing endogenous RNA, which may build up the missing link between the regulatory miRNA network and NSCLC progression.

Keywords: long non-coding RNA NEAT1, hsa-miRNA-377-3p, E2F3, non-small cell lung cancer, tumorigenesis

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Authors: Jingwei Wang, Anthony G. Fane, Jia Wei Chew

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The use of fluidized Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) as a means of mitigation membrane fouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) has received much attention in recent years, especially in anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactors (AFMBRs). It has been affirmed that the unsteady-state tangential shear conferred by GAC fluidization on membrane surface suppressed the extent of membrane fouling with energy consumption much lower than that of bubbling (i.e., air sparging). In a previous work, the hydrodynamics of the fluidized GAC particles were correlated with membrane fouling mitigation effectiveness. Results verified that the momentum transfer from particle to membrane held a key in fouling mitigation. The goal of the current work is to understand the effect of fluidized GAC on membrane critical flux. Membrane critical flux values were measured by a vertical Direct Observation Through the Membrane (DOTM) setup. The polystyrene particles (known as latex particles) with the particle size of 5 µm were used as model foulant thus to give the number of the foulant on the membrane surface. Our results shed light on the positive effect of fluidized GAC enhancing the critical membrane flux by an order-of-magnitude as compared to that of liquid shear alone. Membrane fouling mitigation was benefitted by the increasing of power input.

Keywords: membrane fouling mitigation, liquid-solid fluidization, critical flux, energy input

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Authors: Tu-Chieh Hung, Wei-Mon Yan, Xiao-Dong Wang, Yu-Xian Huang

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This work employs a combined optimization procedure including a simplified conjugate-gradient method and a three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer model to study the optimal geometric parameter design of double-layered microchannel heat sinks. The overall thermal resistance RT is the objective function to be minimized with number of channels, N, the channel width ratio, β, the bottom channel aspect ratio, αb, and upper channel aspect ratio, αu, as the search variables. It is shown that, for the given bottom area (10 mm×10 mm) and heat flux (100 W cm-2), the optimal (minimum) thermal resistance of double-layered microchannel heat sinks is about RT=0.12 ℃/m2W with the corresponding optimal geometric parameters N=73, β=0.50, αb=3.52, and, αu= 7.21 under a constant pumping power of 0.05 W. The optimization process produces a maximum reduction by 52.8% in the overall thermal resistance compared with an initial guess (N=112, β=0.37, αb=10.32 and, αu=10.93). The results also show that the optimal thermal resistance decreases rapidly with the pumping power and tends to be a saturated value afterward. The corresponding optimal values of parameters N, αb, and αu increase while that of β decrease as the pumping power increases. However, further increasing pumping power is not always cost-effective for the application of heat sink designs.

Keywords: optimization, double-layered microchannel heat sink, simplified conjugate-gradient method, thermal resistance

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Authors: Qiang Xu, Xingxin Wu, Wenjie Guo, Xingqi Wang, Yang Sun, Renxiang Tan

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The phosphatase SHP-2 is known to exert regulatory activities on cytokine receptor signaling and the dysregulation of SHP-2 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of diseases. Here we report several small molecule regulators of SHP-2 for the treatment of T cell-mediated diseases. The new cyclodepsipeptide trichomides A, isolated from the fermentation products of Trichothecium roseum, increased the phosphorylation of SHP-2 in activated T cells, and ameliorated contact dermatitis in mice. The trichomides A’s effects were significantly reversed by using the SHP-2-specific inhibitor PHPS1 or T cell-conditional SHP-2 knockout mice. Another compound is a cerebroside Fusaruside isolated from the endophytic fungus Fusarium sp. IFB-121. Fusaruside also triggered the tyrosine phosphorylation of SHP-2, which provided a possible mean of selectively targeting STAT1 for the treatment of Th1 cell-mediated inflammation and led to the discovery of the non-phosphatase-like function of SHP-2. Namely, the Fusaruside-activated pY-SHP-2 selectively sequestrated the cytosolic STAT1 to prevent its recruitment to IFN-R, which contributed to the improvement of experimental colitis in mice. Blocking the pY-SHP-2-STAT1 interaction, with SHP-2 inhibitor NSC-87877 or using T cells from conditional SHP-2 knockout mice, reversed the effects of fusaruside. Furthermore, the fusaruside’s effect is independent of the phosphatase activity of SHP-2, demonstrating a novel role for SHP-2 in regulating STAT1 signaling and Th1-type immune responses.

Keywords: SHP-2, small molecules, T cell, T cell-mediated diseases

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Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Fang-An Kuo, Chau-Yi Chou, Yu-Bin Fang

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2016 has become the year of the Artificial Intelligence explosion. AI technologies are getting more and more matured that most world well-known tech giants are making large investment to increase the capabilities in AI. Machine learning is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed, and deep learning is a subset of machine learning that uses deep neural network to train a machine to learn  features directly from data. Deep learning realizes many machine learning applications which expand the field of AI. At the present time, deep learning frameworks have been widely deployed on servers for deep learning applications in both academia and industry. In training deep neural networks, there are many standard processes or algorithms, but the performance of different frameworks might be different. In this paper we evaluate the running performance of two state-of-the-art distributed deep learning frameworks that are running training calculation in parallel over multi GPU and multi nodes in our cloud environment. We evaluate the training performance of the frameworks with ResNet-50 convolutional neural network, and we analyze what factors that result in the performance among both distributed frameworks as well. Through the experimental analysis, we identify the overheads which could be further optimized. The main contribution is that the evaluation results provide further optimization directions in both performance tuning and algorithmic design.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, convolutional neural networks

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Authors: Jun Wang, Ge Zhang

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Machine learning has been used in many areas today. It thrives at reviewing large volumes of data and identifying patterns and trends that might not be apparent to a human. Given the huge potential benefit and the amount of data available in the financial market, it is not surprising to see machine learning applied to various financial products. While future prices of financial securities are extremely difficult to forecast, we study them from a different angle. Instead of trying to forecast future prices, we apply machine learning algorithms to predict the direction of future price movement, in particular, whether a sector Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) would outperform or underperform the market in the next week or in the next month. We apply several machine learning algorithms for this prediction. The algorithms are Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Decision Tree (DT), Gaussian Naive Bayes (GNB), and Neural Networks (NN). We show that these machine learning algorithms, most notably GNB and NN, have some predictive power in forecasting out-performance and under-performance out of sample. We also try to explore whether it is possible to utilize the predictions from these algorithms to outperform the buy-and-hold strategy of the S&P 500 index. The trading strategy to explore out-performance predictions does not perform very well, but the trading strategy to explore under-performance predictions can earn higher returns than simply holding the S&P 500 index out of sample.

Keywords: machine learning, ETF prediction, dynamic trading, asset allocation

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Authors: Chia-Hui Chen, Chien-Kuo Wang

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Background: Full field digital mammography (FFDM) is widely used in diagnosis of breast cancer. Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has recently been introduced into the clinic and is being used for screening for breast cancer in the general population. Hence, the radiation dose delivered to the patients involved in an imaging protocol is of utmost concern. Aim: To compare the surface radiation dose (ESD) of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and full-field digital mammography (FFDM) by using breast phantoms. Method: We analyzed the average entrance surface dose (ESD) of FFDM and DBT by using breast phantoms. Optically Stimulated luminescent Dosimeters (OSLD) were placed in a tissue-equivalent Breast phantom at difference sites of interest. Absorbed dose measurements were obtained after digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and full-field digital mammography (FFDM) exposures. Results: An automatic exposure control (AEC) is proposed for surface dose measurement during DBT and FFDM. The mean ESD values for DBT and FFDM were 6.37 mGy and 3.51mGy, respectively. Using of OSLD measured for surface dose during DBT and FFDM. There were 19.87 mGy and 11.36 mGy, respectively. The surface exposure dose of DBT could possibly be increased by two times with FFDM. Conclusion: The radiation dose from DBT was higher than that of FFDM and the difference in dose between AEC and OSLD measurements at phantom surface.

Keywords: full-field digital mammography, digital breast tomosynthesis, optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters, surface dose

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Authors: Longfei Wang, Selçuk Köse

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Hardware Trojan becomes great concern as integrated circuit (IC) technology advances and not all manufacturing steps of an IC are accomplished within one company. Real-time hardware Trojan detection is proven to be a feasible way to detect randomly activated Trojans that cannot be detected at testing stage. On-chip sensors serve as a great candidate to implement real-time hardware Trojan detection, however, the optimization of on-chip sensors has not been thoroughly investigated and the location of Trojan has not been carefully explored. On-chip sensor ellipse distribution method and equivalent mapping technique are proposed based on the characteristics of on-chip power delivery network in this paper to address the optimization and distribution of on-chip sensors for real-time hardware Trojan detection as well as to estimate the location and current consumption of hardware Trojan. Simulation results verify that hardware Trojan activation can be effectively detected and the location of a hardware Trojan can be efficiently estimated with less than 5% error for a realistic power grid using our proposed methods. The proposed techniques therefore lay a solid foundation for isolation and even deactivation of hardware Trojans through accurate location of Trojans.

Keywords: hardware trojan, on-chip sensor, power distribution network, power/ground noise

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Authors: Y. Chiang, J. R. Wang, J. H. Yang, Y. S. Tseng, C. Shih, S. W. Chen

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Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP) is a BWR/6 plant in Taiwan. There is more concern for the safety of Spent Fuel Pools (SFPs) in Taiwan after Fukushima event. In order to estimate the safety of Kuosheng NPP SFP, by using MELCOR2.1 and SNAP, the safety analysis of Kuosheng NPP SFP was performed combined with the mitigation strategy of NEI 06-12 report. There were several steps in this research. First, the Kuosheng NPP SFP models were established by MELCOR2.1/SNAP. Second, the Station Blackout (SBO) analysis of Kuosheng SFP was done by TRACE and MELCOR under the cooling system failure condition. The results showed that the calculations of MELCOR and TRACE were very similar in this case. Second, the mitigation strategy analysis was done with the MELCOR model by following the NEI 06-12 report. The results showed the effectiveness of NEI 06-12 strategy in Kuosheng NPP SFP. Finally, a sensitivity study of SFP quenching was done to check the differences of different water injection time and the phenomena during the quenching. The results showed that if the cladding temperature was over 1600 K, the water injection may have chance to cause the accident more severe with more hydrogen generation. It was because of the oxidation heat and the “Breakaway” effect of the zirconium-water reaction. An animation model built by SNAP was also shown in this study.

Keywords: MELCOR, SNAP, spent fuel pool, quenching

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Authors: Hong Li, Tingxian Li, Xudong Wang, Qinghuo Lin

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Excess-iron (Fe) stresses involved in legume symbiotic nitrogen fixation are not understood. Our objectives were to investigate the tolerance of yardlong-bean plants to soil excess-Fe stress and antagonistic effects of organic amendments and rhizobial inoculants on plant root nodulation and stem ureide formation. The study was conducted in the tropical Hainan Island during 2012-2013. The soil was strongly acidic (pH 5.3±0.4) and highly variable in Fe concentrations(596±79 mg/kg). The treatments were arranged in a split-plot design with three blocks. The treatment effects were significant on root nodulation, stem ureide, amino acids, plant N/Fe accumulation and bean yields (P<0.05). The yardlong-bean stem allantoin, amino acids and nitrate concentrations and relative ureide % declined with high soil Fe concentrations (>300 mg/kg). It was concluded that the co-variance of excess Fe stress could inhibit legume symbiotic N fixation efficiency. Organic amendments and rhizobial inoculants could help improve crop tolerance to excess Fe stress.

Keywords: atmospheric N fixation, root nodulation, soil Fe co-variance, stem ureide, yardlong-bean plants

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Authors: Mohammad Muhebbullah Ibne Hoque, Zheng Jun, Wang Guoying

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Salinity stress is one of the most important abiotic factors contributing to crop growth and yield loss. Exploring the genetic basis is necessary to develop maize varieties with salinity tolerance. In order to discover the inherent basis for salinity tolerance traits in maize, 121 polymorphic SSR markers were used to analyze 163 F2 individuals derived from a single cross of inbred line B73 (a salt susceptible inbred line) and CZ-7 (a salt tolerant inbred line). A linkage map was constructed and the map covered 1195.2 cM of maize genome with an average distance of 9.88 cM between marker loci. Ten salt tolerance traits at seedling stage were evaluated for QTL analysis in maize seedlings. A total of 41 QTLs associated with seedling shoot and root traits were detected, with 16 and 25 QTLs under non-salinity and salinity condition, respectively. And only 4 major stable QTLs were detected in two environments. The detected QTLs were distributed on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and chromosome 10. Phenotypic variability for the identified QTLs for all the traits was in the range from 6.27 to 21.97%. Fourteen QTLs with more than 10% contributions were observed. Our results and the markers associated with the major QTL detected in this study have the potential application for genetic improvement of salt tolerance in maize through marker-assisted selection.

Keywords: salt tolerance, seedling stage, root shoot traits, quantitative trait loci, simple sequence repeat, maize

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Authors: Valentina L. Kouznetsova, Jonathan W. Wang, Igor F. Tsigelny

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Metabolomics has become a rising field of research for various diseases, particularly cancer. Increases or decreases in metabolite concentrations in the human body are indicative of various cancers. Further elucidation of metabolic pathways and their significance in cancer research may greatly spur medicinal discovery. We analyzed the metabolomics profiles of lung cancer. Thirty-three metabolites were selected as significant. These metabolites are involved in 37 metabolic pathways delivered by MetaboAnalyst software. The top pathways are glyoxylate and dicarboxylate pathway (its hubs are formic acid and glyoxylic acid) along with Citrate cycle pathway followed by Taurine and hypotaurine pathway (the hubs in the latter are taurine and sulfoacetaldehyde) and Glycine, serine, and threonine pathway (the hubs are glycine and L-serine). We studied interactions of the metabolites with the proteins involved in cancer-related signaling networks, and developed an approach to metabolomics biomarker use in cancer diagnostics. Our analysis showed that a significant part of lung-cancer-related metabolites interacts with main cancer-related signaling pathways present in this network: PI3K–mTOR–AKT pathway, RAS–RAF–ERK1/2 pathway, and NFKB pathway. These results can be employed for use of metabolomics profiles in elucidation of the related cancer proteins signaling networks.

Keywords: cancer, metabolites, metabolic pathway, signaling pathway

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Authors: Rida Kanwal, Wang Yuhui, Song Weiguo

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Wildfires are one of the most prominent threats to ecosystems, human health, and economic activities, with wind acting as a critical driving factor. This study combines machine learning (ML) and remote sensing (RS) to assess the effects of wind on wildfires in Chongqing Province from August 16-23, 2022. Landsat 8 satellite images were used to estimate the difference normalized burn ratio (dNBR), representing prefire and postfire vegetation conditions. Wind data was analyzed through geographic information system (GIS) mapping. Correlation analysis between wind speed and fire radiative power (FRP) revealed a significant relationship. An autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was developed for wind forecasting, and linear regression was applied to determine the effect of wind speed on FRP. The results identified high wind speed as a key factor contributing to the surge in FRP. Wind-rose plots showed winds blowing to the northwest (NW), aligning with the wildfire spread. This model was further validated with data from other provinces across China. This study integrated ML, RS, and GIS to analyze wildfire behavior, providing effective strategies for prediction and management.

Keywords: wildfires, machine learning, remote sensing, wind speed, GIS, wildfire behavior

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Authors: Mawloud Mosbah, Bachir Boucheham

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We present here the results for a comparative study of some techniques, available in the literature, related to the relevance feedback mechanism in the case of a short-term learning. Only one method among those considered here is belonging to the data mining field which is the K-Nearest Neighbours Algorithm (KNN) while the rest of the methods is related purely to the information retrieval field and they fall under the purview of the following three major axes: Shifting query, Feature Weighting and the optimization of the parameters of similarity metric. As a contribution, and in addition to the comparative purpose, we propose a new version of the KNN algorithm referred to as an incremental KNN which is distinct from the original version in the sense that besides the influence of the seeds, the rate of the actual target image is influenced also by the images already rated. The results presented here have been obtained after experiments conducted on the Wang database for one iteration and utilizing colour moments on the RGB space. This compact descriptor, Colour Moments, is adequate for the efficiency purposes needed in the case of interactive systems. The results obtained allow us to claim that the proposed algorithm proves good results; it even outperforms a wide range of techniques available in the literature.

Keywords: CBIR, category search, relevance feedback, query point movement, standard Rocchio’s formula, adaptive shifting query, feature weighting, original KNN, incremental KNN

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Authors: Pablo Raul Yanyachi, Alfredo Mamani Saico, Jorch Mendoza, Wang Xinsheng

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The Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) plays a pivotal role in the operation of nanosatellites such as Cubesats, managing orientation and stability during space missions. Within the ADCS, Reaction Wheels (RW) are electromechanical devices responsible for adjusting and maintaining satellite orientation through the application of kinetic moments. This study focuses on the characterization and analysis of a specific Reaction Wheel integrated into an ADCS prototype developed at the National University of San Agust´ın, Arequipa (UNSA). To achieve this, a single-axis Test Bench was constructed, where the reaction wheel consists of a brushless motor and an inertia flywheel driven by an Electronic Speed Controller (ESC). The research encompasses RW characterization, energy consumption evaluation, dynamic modeling, and control. The results have allowed us to ensure the maneuverability of ADCS prototypes while maintaining energy consumption within acceptable limits. The characterization and linearity analysis provides valuable insights for sizing and optimizing future reaction wheel prototypes for nanosatellites. This contributes to the ongoing development of aerospace technology within the scientific community at UNSA.

Keywords: test bench, nanosatellite, control, reaction wheel

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Authors: Yilin Wang, Ayumi Goto

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Although most females will experience menopause due to social value habits of cultural factors, some Chinese women may lack the confidence to talk about the problems they are experiencing while going through menopause. Also, sometimes the inappropriateness of medical terminology leads to panic when women face the symptoms associated with menopause. On top of that, when women avoid discussing menopause as a topic, others are less likely to pay attention to the needs of menopausal women as their bodies change. This research will compare the experience of Chinese menopausal women and diasporic Chinese women's perceptions of menopause. A qualitative study will be conducted by collecting and analyzing experiences and perceptions to compare differences in women's perceptions of menopause, considering cultural and social factors. In addition, the study will gather information on the differences in the conceptualization of menopause between the Chinese and Canadian medical fields. Co-design sessions will be held to establish how to bring menopause to the attention of people other than women. Furthermore, a support network for menopause women will be created through these co-design sessions. It is hoped that this research will contribute to a proper understanding of menopause and provide support for Chinese women. This research is built upon feminist standpoint theory and inclusive design theory. The results of this study will be presented in this paper.

Keywords: menopause, feminist standpoint theory, Chinese national & diasporic women, inclusive design

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Authors: Yi Tse Wang, Che Hsiu Chen, Zih Jian Huang, Hon Wen Cheng

Abstract:

Stretching treatments enhanced flexibility. On the other hand, decreases in hamstrings strength have been reported after stretching, especially with static stretching or passive stretching. Stretching has been shown to be more effective than static stretching to improve muscle performance, but a clear consensus for the effect of dynamic stretching on muscle performance has not been achieved. The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effect of a dynamic stretching, static stretching and eccentric exercise protocol on hamstrings stiffness, flexibility and muscle strength. Forty-five healthy active men (height 179.9 cm; weight 71.5 kg; age 22.5 years) were participated in 3 randomly ordered testing sessions: dynamic stretching (DS), active static stretching (ASS), and passive static stretching (PSS). All the stretch were performed 30 seconds and repeated 6 times. There was a 30-second interval between repetitions. The outcome measures were isokinetic concentric contraction (60°/s), eccentric contraction (30°/s) peak torque, muscle flexibility after stretching. The results showed that the muscle flexibility (3.6%, 3.9% and 1.59%, respectively) increased significantly after DS, PSS and ASS. Hamstring isokinetic concentric peak torque (-6.4%, -8.0% and -5.8%, respectively) and eccentric peak torque (-5.8%, -4.5% and -5.4%, respectively) decreased significantly after DS, PSS and ASS. Hence, although the stretching protocols improve hamstrings flexibility immediately, reduced hamstring muscle eccentric and concentric peak torque.

Keywords: hamstrings injury, warm-up, muscle performance, muscle stretching

Procedia PDF Downloads 383

Authors: Feng-Tsai Weng, Rick Wang, Yan-Cong Liao

Abstract:

Passivation is a kind of surface treatment for material to reinforce the corrosion resistance specially the stainless alloy. Passive film, is to getting more potential compared to their status before passivation. An oxidation film can be formed on the surface of stainless steel, which has a strong corrosion resistance ability after passivation treatment. In this research, a new passivation technology is proposed for a special stainless alloy which contains a 12-14% Chromium. This method includes the A-A-A (alkaline-acid-alkaline) process basically, which was developed by Carpenter that can neutralize trapped acid. Besides, a corrosion resistant coating layer was obtained by immersing the parts in a water bath of mineral oil at high temperature. Salt spray test ASTM B368 was conducted to investigated performance of corrosion resistant of the passivated stainless steel alloy parts. Results show much better corrosion resistant that followed a coating process after A-A-A Passivation process, than only using A-A-A process. The passivation time is with more than 380 hours of salt spray test ASTM B368, which is equal to 3000 hours of Salt spray test ASTM B117. Proposed passivation method of stainless steel can be completed in about 3 hours.

Keywords: passivation, alkaline-acid-alkaline, stainless steel, salt spray test

Procedia PDF Downloads 364

Authors: Yuhua Wang, Mu Li, Jinggen Liu

Abstract:

Aim: To investigate the different effects of heroin and milk in activating the corticostriatal system that plays a critical role in reward reinforcement learning. Methods: Male SD rats were trained daily for 15 d to self-administer heroin or milk tablets in a classic runway drug self-administration model. Immunohistochemical assay was used to quantify Arc protein expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and the ventrolateral striatum (VLS) in response to chronic self-administration of heroin or milk tablets. NMDA receptor antagonist MK801 (0.1 mg/kg) or dopamine D1 receptor antagonist SCH23390 (0.03 mg/kg) were intravenously injected at the same time as heroin was infused intravenously. Results: Runway training with heroin resulted in robust enhancement of Arc expression in the mPFC, the NAc and the DMS on d 1, 7, and 15, and in the VLS on d 1 and d 7. However, runway training with milk led to increased Arc expression in the mPFC, the NAc and the DMS only on d 7 and/or d 15 but not on d 1. Moreover, runway training with milk failed to induce increased Arc protein in the VLS. Both heroin-seeking behavior and Arc protein expression were blocked by MK801 or SCH23390 administration. Conclusion: The VLS is likely to be critically involved in drug-seeking behavior. The NMDA and D1 receptor-dependent Arc expression is important in drug-seeking behavior.

Keywords: arc, mesocorticolimbic system, drug rewarding behavior, NMDA receptor

Procedia PDF Downloads 391

Authors: Yan Pang, Xiang Wang, Zhaomiao Liu

Abstract:

Droplet microfluidics, in which nanoliter to picoliter droplets acted as individual compartments, are common to a diverse array of applications such as analytical chemistry, tissue engineering, microbiology and drug discovery. The droplet generation in a simplified two dimension T-shape microchannel with the main channel width of 50 μm and the side channel width of 25 μm, is simulated to investigate effects of the forced fluctuation of the side wall on the droplet generation and flow. The periodic fluctuations are applied on a length of the side wall in the main channel of the T-junction with the deformation shape of the double-clamped beam acted by the uniform force, which varies with the flow time and fluctuation periods, forms and positions. The fluctuations under most of the conditions expand the distribution range of the droplet size but have a little effect on the average size, while the shape of the fixed side wall changes the average droplet size chiefly. Droplet sizes show a periodic pattern along the relative time when the fluctuation is forced on the side wall near the T-junction. The droplet emerging frequency is not varied by the fluctuation of the side wall under the same flow rate and geometry conditions. When the fluctuation period is similar with the droplet emerging period, the droplet size shows a nice stability as the no fluctuation case.

Keywords: droplet generation, droplet size, flow flied, forced fluctuation

Procedia PDF Downloads 282

Authors: Jia-Sin Li, Ying-Fang Wang, Cheing-Tong Yan

Abstract:

In this study, an integrated approach of Google Spreadsheet and QR code which is free internet resources was used to improve the inspection procedure. The mobile phone Application（App）was also designed to combine with a web page to create an automatic checklist in order to provide a new integrated information of inspection management system. By means of client-server model, the client App is developed for Android mobile OS and the back end is a web server. It can set up App accounts including authorized data and store some checklist documents in the website. The checklist document URL could generate QR code first and then print and paste on the machine. The user can scan the QR code by the app and filled the checklist in the factory. In the meanwhile, the checklist data will send to the server, it not only save the filled data but also executes the related functions and charts. On the other hand, it also enables auditors and supervisors to facilitate the prevention and response to hazards, as well as immediate report data checks. Finally, statistics and professional analysis are performed using inspection records and other relevant data to not only improve the reliability, integrity of inspection operations and equipment loss control, but also increase plant safety and personnel performance. Therefore, it suggested that the traditional paper-based inspection method could be replaced by the APP which promotes the promotion of industrial security and reduces human error.

Keywords: checklist, Google spreadsheet, APP, self-inspection

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Jian-You Wang, Feng Yi Hsu, Chieh-Hsi Wu

Abstract:

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is an androgen-dependent disorder caused by excess testosterone in blood capillaries or excess enzyme activity of 5α- reductase in hair follicles. Plants, alone or in combination, have been widely used for hair growth promotion since ancient times in Asia. In this study, the efficacy of a traditional Chinese herbal formula, Shen-Ying-Yang-Zhen-Dan (SYYZD) with different kinds of extract solvents, facilitating hair regrowth in testosterone-induced hair loss have been determined. The study was performed by treating with either 95 % ethanol aqueous extracts, 50% ethanol aqueous extracts or deionized water extracts orally in four-week-old male S.D. rats that experienced hair regrowth interruption induced by testosterone treatment. The 50% ethanol aqueous extracts group showed better hair regrowth promotion activities than either 95% ethanol aqueous extracts or deionized water extracts groups in 14 days treatment. In conclusion, our results suggest that 50% ethanol aqueous SYYZD extracts have hair growth promoting potential and may be beneficial as an alternative medicine for androgenetic alopecia treatment.

Keywords: Shen-Ying-Yang-Zhen-Dan, androgenic alopecia, hair loss, hair growth promotion, hair regrowth effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 778

Authors: Asif Mahmood, Shama Shama, Hao Ni, Hao Wang, Yu Ling, Hui Xu, Shixing Yang, Qais Ahmad Naseer, Wen Zhang

Abstract:

Cardiovirus is a genus of viruses belonging to the family Picornaviridae. Here, we used viral metagenomic techniques to detect the viral nucleic acid in the fecal samples from wild rats in Zhenjiang city in China. Fecal samples were collected from 20 wild rats and pooled into four sample pools and then subjected to libraries construction which were then sequenced on Illumina MiSeq platform. The sequenced reads were analyzed using viral metagenomic analysis pipeline. A novel cardiovirus from feces of a wild rat was identified, named amzj-2018, of which the complete genome was acquired. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete amino acid sequence of polyprotein revealed that amzj-2018 formed a separate branch located between clusters of Saffold virus and Rat Theilovirus 1 (RTV-1). Phylogenetic analysis based on different regions of the polyproteins, including P1, P2, P3, and P2+P3, respectively, showed discordant trees, where the tree based on P3 region indicated that amzj-2018 clustered separately between Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus and RTV-1. The complete genome of a cardiovirus was determined from the feces of wild rats which belonged to a novel type of cardiovirus based on phylogenetic analysis. Whether it is associated with disease needs further investigation.

Keywords: cardiovirus, viral metagenomics, genomic organization, phylogenetic analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 20