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Traffic forecasting plays a critical role in intelligent transportation systems aiming to accurately estimate future short-term or long-term traffic conditions. The utilization of neural network-based methods for traffic forecasting has demonstrated significant success. Those models aggregate spatial and temporal information from historical traffic records. The final output module of these models typically utilizes either a fully connected network to directly produce the results or a recurrent neural network to generate results step by step. However, these approaches fail to consider the spatial-temporal dependencies between predicted future traffic conditions, which hinders their forecasting performance. To address this limitation as well as improve forecasting accuracy, we propose a novel traffic prediction framework called the Generative Corrective Network. This framework consists of two procedures: a generative model that captures the spatial temporal relationships inherent in historical traffic condition and generates initial predictions, and a corrective model that amends and updates previous results by considering the relationships among future traffic data to be predicted. To implement this generative corrective network, we design an instantiation utilizing adaptive and dynamic graph convolutional networks with gated recurrent units networks (ADGCN-GRU) based on encoder–decoder structure for the generator, and a local asynchronous attention model conducted on the the representation learning of space and time information and the preliminary results for the corrector. Experiments conducted on two real-world traffic datasets demonstrate that our model can effectively improve forecasting performance compared to existing neural network-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of advanced practice nursing has evolved globally over the past decades and has become an important component in the contemporary healthcare system. The term 'advanced practice nurse' is used to refer to nurses practising at a higher level than traditional nurses and is defined as a registered nurse who has acquired the expert knowledge base, complex decision‐making skills and clinical competencies for expanded practice. In 2003, Singapore embarked on the development of advanced practice nurses as an initiative to improve the nursing professional image, retain excellent clinical nurses and fill the gaps in the provision of healthcare services for the ageing population. This paper documents Singapore's journey of advanced practice nursing development and shares our unique learning experience in the aspects of education, certification, registration and scope of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain-inspired spiking neuron networks (SNNs) have attracted widespread research interest due to their low power features, high biological plausibility, and strong spatiotemporal information processing capability. Although adopting a surrogate gradient (SG) makes the non-differentiability SNN trainable, achieving comparable accuracy for ANNs and keeping low-power features simultaneously is still tricky. In this paper, we proposed an energy-efficient spike-train level spiking neural network with spatio-temporal conversion, which has low computational cost and high accuracy. In the STCSNN, spatio-temporal conversion blocks (STCBs) are proposed to keep the low power features of SNNs and improve accuracy. However, STCSNN cannot adopt backpropagation algorithms directly due to the non-differentiability nature of spike trains. We proposed a suitable learning rule for STCSNNs by deducing the equivalent gradient of STCB. We evaluate the proposed STCSNN on static and neuromorphic datasets, including Fashion-Mnist, Cifar10, Cifar100, TinyImageNet, and DVS-Cifar10. The experiment results show that our proposed STCSNN outperforms the state-of-the-art accuracy on nearly all datasets, using fewer time steps and being highly energy-efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) can utilize spatio-temporal information and have the characteristic of energy efficiency, being a good alternative to deep neural networks (DNNs). The event-driven information processing means that SNNs can reduce the expensive computation of DNNs and save a great deal of energy consumption. However, high training and inference latency is a limitation of the development of deeper SNNs. SNNs usually need tens or even hundreds of time steps during the training and inference process, which causes not only an increase in latency but also excessive energy consumption. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel training method based on backpropagation (BP) for ultra-low-latency (1–2 time steps) SNNs with multi-threshold. In order to increase the information capacity of each spike, we introduce the multi-threshold Leaky Integrate and Fired (LIF) model. The experimental results show that our proposed method achieves average accuracy of 99.56%, 93.08%, and 87.90% on MNIST, FashionMNIST, and CIFAR10, respectively, with only two time steps. For the CIFAR10 dataset, our proposed method achieves 1.12% accuracy improvement over the previously reported directly trained SNNs with fewer time steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping optimization of network-on-chips (NoCs) for specific applications has become one of the most important keys of the SoC top-level design. However, the topology of NoC applied is usually regular topology, such as mesh, torus, etc., which may generate a large number of isomorphic solutions during the process of NoC mapping, which may reduce the convergence speed of mapping algorithms. In this paper, we proposed a generic-based hyper-heuristic algorithm named IRC-GHH for NoC mapping. To reduce the influence of isomorphic solutions, we analyzed the symmetry of NoC topology and proposed crossover operators based on the isomorphic solution to optimize the algorithm. We studied the situation of invalid crossovers and eliminated invalid iterations by adopting an isomorphic replacement crossover (IRC) strategy. To prevent the algorithm from falling into evolutionary stagnation in the late iteration, we introduce an adaptive mechanism to increase the usage frequency of the IRC operator automatically. Compared with GHH without IRC, the GHH with IRC can achieve, on average 15.25% communication energy reduction and 7.84% communication delay reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the evolution pattern of traffic condition and making accurate prediction play a vital role in intelligent transportation systems (ITS). With the massive increase of available traffic data, deep learning-based models have attracted considerable attention for their impressive performance in traffic forecasting. However, the majority of existing approaches neglect to model of asynchronously dynamic spatio-temporal correlation and fail to consider the impact of historical traffic data on future condition. Additionally, the attribute of deep learning method presents challenges in interpreting the explicit spatiotemporal relationships. In order to enhance the accuracy of traffic prediction as well as extract comprehensive and explainable spatial–temporal relevance in traffic networks, we propose a novel attention-based local spatial and temporal relation discovery (ALSTRD) model. Our model firstly implements feature representation learning to effectively express latent input traffic information. Then, a local attention mechanism structure is established to model asynchronous dependencies of historical input data. Finally, another attention network and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient method are introduced to extract the elaborate influence of the historical traffic condition of neighboring roads on the future condition of the target road. The experiment results on several datasets demonstrate that our model achieves significant improvements in prediction accuracy compared to other baseline methods, which can be attributed to its ability to extract the fine-grained correlation among historical traffic data and capture the dynamic association between past and future data. In addition, the incorporation of attention mechanism and Pearson Correlation Coefficient promotes the model's ability to elucidate spatiotemporal correlations among traffic data, thereby providing a more robust explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a general method to design a unique type of a non-Hermitian electromagnetic double-near-zero index medium by a two-dimensional photonic crystal. The synergy of a nonsymmorphic glide symmetry of the lattice, a period-doubling of the unit cell, and the non-Hermitian perturbation of the photonic crystal induces a phase transition in the eigenvalue spectrum. Near the Brillouin zone center, such a photonic crystal is effectively an anisotropic double-near-zero index medium. Along the direction of interest, the real parts of its effective permittivity and permeability are simultaneously near zero, while the imaginary parts of the effective parameters are nonzero values with opposite signs, leading to a real and positive effective refractive index. This medium enables many fascinating applications such as an angular sensor, a coherent perfect absorber, and a laser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel machine learning regression-based single-event transient (SET) modeling method is proposed. The proposed method can obtain a reasonable and accurate SET model without introducing complex physical mechanisms, which are not suitable for circuit-level simulation, into the model. To capture the essential physics behind these current transients caused by SET in the circuit-level simulations, we collect plenty of SET current data under different conditions [e.g., different linear energy transfer (LET), different drain bias voltage, different strike position, etc.] to train the SET model. To show the effectiveness of the proposed modeling method, we build a SET pulse current model by learning SET current data of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) 130-nm bulk CMOS obtained by TCAD simulation. A multilayer feedforward neural network is used to build the SET pulse current model and the built SET model takes into account the dependence of time, LETs, drain bias voltages, and strike positions. The results from the model are validated with the simulation from TCAD. The trained SET pulse current model is implemented as a Verilog-A current source in the Cadence Specter circuit simulator, and an inverter with five fan-outs is used to show the practicability and reasonableness of the proposed SET pulse current model for circuit-level single-event effect (SEE) simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let B n denote the family of all maximal bipartite planar graphs on n vertices. Given a family of graphs H , let B n (H) denote the family of all maximal bipartite planar graphs on n vertices which are not H -free. For graph G and a family of graphs H , if G is not H -free, the rainbow number of H in G , denoted by r b (G , H) , is the minimum positive integer t , such that any t -edge-colored graph G contains a rainbow copy of some graph in H. The rainbow number of H in maximal bipartite planar graph, denoted by r b (B n (H) , H) , is defined as max { r b (G , H) | G ∈ B n (H) }. A cycle on l vertices is denoted by C l. The graph obtained by arbitrarily adding one pendant edge at one vertex of a cycle C l is denoted by C l +. For any positive integer k , let C k ≔ { C 4 , C 6 , ... , C 2 k + 2 } and C k , 2 i 0 + ≔ (C k ∖ { C 2 i 0 }) ∪ { C 2 i 0 + } for some i 0 ∈ { 2 , 3 , ... , k + 1 }. In this paper, we firstly prove that r b (B n , C k) = r b (B n , C k , 2 i 0 +) = n + n − 2 k + 2 − 1 for any n ≥ max { 2 k + 2 , 5 } and k + 1 ≥ i 0 ≥ 2. We then obtain that r b (B n (H) , H) = 2 n − 4 for any n ≥ | V (H) | and k ≥ 3 , where H ∈ { C 2 k , C 2 k + }. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The recent discovery and realizations of higher-order topological insulators enrich the fundamental studies on topological phases. Here, we report three-dimensional (3D) wave-steering capabilities enabled by topological boundary states at three different orders in a 3D phononic crystal with nontrivial bulk topology originated from the synergy of mirror symmetry of the unit cell and a non-symmorphic glide symmetry of the lattice. The multitude of topological states brings diverse possibilities of wave manipulations. Through judicious engineering of the boundary modes, we experimentally demonstrate two functionalities at different dimensions: 2D negative refraction of sound wave enabled by a first-order topological surface state with negative dispersion, and a 3D acoustic interferometer leveraging on second-order topological hinge states. Our work showcases that topological modes at different orders promise diverse wave steering applications across different dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fourier matrix is fundamental in discrete Fourier transforms and fast Fourier transforms. We generalize the Fourier matrix, extend the concept of Fourier matrix to higher order Fourier tensor, present the spectrum of the Fourier tensors, and use the Fourier tensor to simplify the high order Fourier analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-efficient, controllable, and non-destructive chemical prelithiation of VO 2 (B) electrodes have been successfully accomplished via a Li-BP derivative/THF reagent, gaining a high-energy and long-life Li-ion battery. [Display omitted] • A non-destructive chemical prelithiation of VO 2 (B) anodes was achieved using a reductive Li-arene reagent. • The prelithiated VO 2 (B) anode exhibited an initial Coulombic efficiency of nearly 100 %. • The SEI layer formed on the prelithiated VO 2 (B) electrode contained a variety of favorable functions. • The Prelithiation VO 2 (B)||NCM811 full cell realized a rise in the energy density of at least 20 %. VO 2 (B) stands as a promising anode material, comparable to the disordered rock-salt phase Li 3+x V 2 O 5 , owning to its ease of preparation, suitable redox potential, and remarkable rate capability. However, the practical application of VO 2 (B) anodes faces substantial limitations due to its low initial coulombic efficiency (ICE) and instability of solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer during cycling. In this study, we introduce a highly efficient, controllable, and non-destructive chemical prelithiation method utilizing a reductive Li-arene reagent, formed by dissolving Li-metal to THF solutions containing biphenyl derivatives. This method enables the VO 2 (B) anode to achieve an ICE of nearly 100 %. The investigation on the chemical composition and mechanical properties of SEI layers reveals that the prelithiated VO 2 (B) electrode contains a more favorable LiF component, fewer adverse byproducts, and exhibits a thinner thickness with high structural strength. Kinetic analysis demonstrates that the prelithiation treatment accelerates the diffusion of lithium ions, reduces interfacial reaction resistances, and maintains interface stability during cycling. To demonstrate the practical application, we assemble a well-designed Prelithiation VO 2 (B)||NCM811 full cell, achieving an enhancement in the energy density of at least 20 %. This work underscores the potential of prelithiated VO 2 (B) electrodes for developing lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with high-safety and high-energy/power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: TMPRSS2: ETS gene fusion occurs recurrently in a high proportion of prostate cancer (PCa) patients in Western countries. However, for Chinese PCa patients, no solid conclusion could be drawn from the present studies, as the results varied considerably between the limited reports. Results: In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of such gene rearrangements in a small number of Chinese PCa patients and discovered that 6 out of 27 (22.2%) were found to harbor the TMPRSS2: ERG fusion, the ratio was much lower than that in Western countries. Furthermore, we first identified TMPRSS2: EGR1 gene fusion, suggesting other chromosome rearrangements besides ETS gene family harbor in prostate cancer. The hybrid transcript was predicted to encode a truncated EGR1 protein by ORF finder, which might play a key role in prostate cancer. Conclusions: We reported that the total occurrence rate of TMPRSS2: ERG fusion gene in this small group of Chinese patients was lower than the reported frequencies in European descent patients but comparable to other reported frequencies in Asian populations. The occurrence of TMPRSS2: EGR1 gene fusion suggested other chromosome rearrangements in prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Icariin (ICA) has been used as a promising anti-aging drug; however, its underlying molecular mechanism is yet to be elucidated. The present study aimed to determine the anti-aging molecular mechanisms of ICA. D-galactose (D-gal) was used to generate a cell aging model. IMR-90 human lung fibroblasts were pretreated with different concentrations of ICA (1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 µmol/l) for 6 h and subsequently incubated with D-gal (200 mmol/l) at 37°C for 72 h. Senescence of IMR-90 cells was assessed by senescence-associated-β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) staining assay. Cell viability, and the expression levels of p53/p21, sirtuin (SIRT) 1/6 and p50/p65 were determined via the MTT assay and western blotting respectively. The results demonstrated that D-gal notably increased the proportion of SA-β-Gal-positive cells and decreased the viability of IMR-90 cells; however, pretreatment with ICA reversed the effects of D-gal on IMR-90 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, it was also demonstrated that the activation of p53/p21 and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling, and downregulation of SIRT1/6 may be involved in IMR-90 cells, in D-gal-induced aging and ICA may effectively prevent IMR-90 cells from these changes induced by D-gal. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that the anti-aging molecular mechanisms of ICA may be associated with the regulation of the SIRT1/NF-κB pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network-on-chip (NoC) has become one of the most common interconnection architectures to integrate multicore system. However, the performance, hardware costs, and power consumption of NoC are sensitive to many parameters, such as topology, the number and depth of virtual channels (VCs), routing algorithms, and flow control mechanisms. In order to find the best NoC solution for different applications, a fast and flexible NoC simulator is necessary. In this article, we present an ultrafast field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based NoC simulator called SRNoC, which is able to be configured via host on PC. In SRNoC, we proposed switch–router architecture and virtual boundary technology. Switch–router is an architecture which makes SRNoC support irregular or custom NoC topology by configuring the NoC topology in hardware. Virtual boundary is a novel configurable virtualization mechanism which can store boundary traffic and use the stored boundary traffic to simulate large NoC in virtualized mode. By employing the switch–router architecture and virtual boundary, SRNoC demonstrates 45 × -3077 × speed-up against Booksim and maintains the same level of simulation accuracy. This simulator has three main advantages: 1) configured switch–router can support irregular and custom topologies in a nonvirtualized mode; 2) virtual boundary can improve the simulation speed in virtualized mode, effectively; and 3) embedded models can provide evaluation of packet latency, power consumption, and temperature distribution. Due to the switch–router architecture and virtual boundary, SRNoC can simulate a 30-node (5 × 6) NoC in nonvirtualized mode and 3072-node (64 × 48) in virtualized mode on a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commutation matrix was first introduced in statistics as a transposition matrix by Murnaghan in 1938. In this paper, we first investigate the commutation matrix which is employed to transform a matrix into its transpose. We then extend the concept of the commutation matrix to commutation tensor and use the commutation tensor to achieve the unification of the two formulae of the linear preserver of the matrix rank, a classical result of Marcus in 1971. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Split-ring resonators (SRRs) and complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs) are widely used in microwave devices. Considering its advantages of fluidity, high metallic conductivity, and extreme deformability, liquid metal is expected to enrich the tunability of SRR and CSRR. Here, a stretchable resonator based on CSRR, using liquid metal as the conducting layer and Ecoflex as the dielectric layer, is prepared by 3D printing. From the transmission spectra, we find that the resonant frequency can be continuously tuned from 3.77 to 3.40 GHz by stretching the resonator, which exhibits a stable quality factor, high ductility, excellent stretchability, and linearity. We then study the coupling between magnons in a yttrium iron garnet film and microwave photons in CSRRs. The anti-crossing effects are observed in transmission coefficient spectra by changing either the strength of the magnetic field or the size of the CSRR. The coupling strength g/2π is determined to be 63 MHz at a coupling frequency of 3.77 GHz and magnetic field of 800 Oe. Our findings could promote the development of reconfigurable metamaterials and cavity optomagnonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Fabricating crystalline silicon solar cells with high efficiency and excellent flexibility. • Investigating the effect of pyramid size on optical reflectivity and mechanical properties. • High consistency between mechanical simulations and experiments. • Instructiveness for building integrated photovoltaics and wearable photovoltaics. Flexible solar cells are widely researched for their potential usage in photovoltaics integrated into buildings, cars, unmanned arial vehicle and wearable electronics. The thin crystalline silicon solar cell (60–90 μm) is prone to crack due to surface texture when it is under bending. Here we investigated the effect of pyramid size on optical reflectivity and mechanical properties of silicon wafers. We find that smaller and uniform pyramids are beneficial for obtaining efficient and flexible silicon solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Alteration" geologically refers to chemical composition and/or structural changes of minerals under the influences of hydrothermal fluids, surface water, seawater, or other environmental conditions. In this paper, we use the word "alteration" to refer to chemical component and structural changes in jade artifacts caused by human activity and natural weathering, which is different from the term in geology. "Mercury alteration", a kind of black alteration related to Hg, is unique among the several types of alteration that occur in Chinese ancient jades. Mercury alteration often appears on ancient jade artifacts unearthed from high-grade tombs of the pre-Qin period (before 221 B.C.). Therefore, ancient jades with mercury alteration have attracted substantial attention from Chinese archaeologists. This paper reports the use of materials analytic techniques to study such ancient jade fragments. The studied jade samples date to the middle and late periods of the Spring and Autumn Period (~500 B.C.) and were unearthed from Lizhou'ao Tomb in Jiangxi Province, China. Structural analyses revealed the internal microstructure of the ancient jade fragments and the microdistribution of the mercury alteration. The jade fragments exhibit typical characteristics of round holes and structural hierarchy, which imply that the jades were heated before burial. The black alteration on these jade samples was found to be rich in Hg. The results of this study will be widely useful in the study of ancient jade artifacts and jade culture in Chinese archeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A rapid progress of low-impact development type of best management practices for urban storm water runoff quantity and quality control at a global scale has occurred in the past decade. In-depth research on low-impact development type of best management practices as useful technologies and measures to control stormwater runoff is being conducted worldwide. This paper presents a literature review of the environmental and economic evaluation of low-impact development type of best management practices through life cycle perspective. Research gap and future agenda are also proposed. Results show that life cycle assessment or life cycle cost analysis for low-impact development type of best management practices are widely documented. However, certain challenges still exist. Most works involved only on-site or facility scale or just considered certain environmental effect aspect. In addition, the lack of onsite monitoring data of water quality and quantity affects further research on low-impact development type of best management practices evaluation. In most emerging and developing countries, low-impact development type of best management practices implementation is still in the start-up stage. Quantitative life cycle assessment or life cycle cost analysis studies of low-impact development type of best management practices can provide necessary and useful information for decision-makers in regional scale low-impact development type of best management practices arrangement. Low-impact development type of best management practices database based on specific regions should also be established to support further in-depth research. Finally, low-impact development type of best management practices can offer various benefits to urban eco-systems. Researchers should provide a combination of environmental, economic, and social benefits of low-impact development type of best management practices to fulfill sustainability. Graphical abstract Image 109192 Highlights • Operation stage of LID-BMPs can generate much environmental benefit. • Construction and maintenance generate high environmental and economic burdens. • Most emerging countries lack indigenized research on LID-BMPs. • Regional scale implementation of LID-BMPs is significant for city planning. • LID-BMPs provide economic benefits by reducing cost of water treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a leading cause of kidney failure. Previous studies demonstrated the therapeutic potential of Astragalus polysaccharide in treating diabetic nephropathy. Astragalus and Hongqi both come from the leguminous plant Astragalus, but their species and genera are different, belonging to the same family and different genera of traditional Chinese medicinal plants. However, the effects of Hedysarum polybotrys polysaccharide (HPS), a polysaccharide compound from Hongqi, on DKD, including its components and efficacy, have remained elusive. The present study utilized db/db mice as a DKD animal model administered with low (30 mg/kg) and high doses (60 mg/kg) of HPS, in addition to glyburide (7.2 mg/kg). Blood and urine samples were collected from mice and blood glucose, serum creatinine, urinary albumin excretion and urinary β2-microglobulin were measured. In addition, apoptosis and histological changes in kidney tissue were observed using TUNEL and HE staining, respectively, and the secretion and expression of inflammatory factors in kidney tissue were detected using EILSA and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Furthermore, we the expression of fibrosis-related proteins and NF-κB signaling pathway proteins was determined using western blot analysis. HPS was found to reduce the blood glucose concentration, serum creatinine levels, urinary albumin excretion rates and urinary β2-microglobulin in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, HPS treatment mitigated apoptosis and pathological damage in the kidney tissues of DKD mice. The expression levels of fibrosis-related proteins fibronectin, α-smooth muscle actin and TGF-β1 were observed to be decreased in kidney tissues of DKD mice following HPS treatment. The secretion levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1β) were also reduced in kidney tissues, with high-dose HPS treatment found to be more effective, similar to the effects mediated by the glyburide. Further mechanistic analysis revealed that the therapeutic effects of HPS on DKD mice may be mediated by inhibiting the high mobility group box 1/receptor for advanced glycation end-products/toll-like receptor 4 pathway. In conclusion, the present findings could provide insight for the treatment of DKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Carposina coreana Kim is the most serious pest of Cornus officinalis. In recent years, its damage to C. officinalis has become increasingly serious, causing enormous economic losses in China. Here, the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model was used to predict the distribution of C. coreana under current climate scenarios and future climate scenarios in China with ArcGIS software. Suitable areas for C. coreana under the current climate scenarios were mainly distributed in central China, and the highly suitable areas were distributed in southern Shaanxi, southwestern Henan, and northwestern Hubei. Under future climate scenarios, the boundaries of the suitable areas for C. coreana tended to shift to northern China. Given the predictive results of this study, we can clearly see the future diffusion trend of C. coreana in China, which has important theoretical significance for the control of this pest in China. Carposina coreana is an important pest of Cornus officinalis, distributed in China, Korea, and Japan. In recent years, its damage to C. officinalis has become increasingly serious, causing enormous economic losses in China. This study and prediction of current and future suitable habitats for C. coreana in China can provide an important reference for the monitoring, early warning, prevention, and control of the pest. In this study, the potential distributions of C. coreana in China under current climate and future climate models were predicted using the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model with ArcGIS software. The distribution point data of C. coreana were screened using the buffer screening method. Nineteen environmental variables were screened using the knife-cut method and variable correlation analysis. The parameters of the MaxEnt model were optimized using the kuenm package in R software. The MaxEnt model, combined with key environmental variables, was used to predict the distribution range of the suitable area for C. coreana under the current (1971–2000) and four future scenarios. The buffer screening method screened data from 41 distribution points that could be used for modeling. The main factors affecting the distribution of C. coreana were precipitation in the driest month (Bio14), precipitation in the warmest quarter (Bio18), precipitation in the coldest quarter (Bio19), the standard deviation of seasonal variation of temperature (Bio4), minimum temperature in the coldest month (Bio6), and average temperature in the coldest quarter (Bio11). The feature class (FC) after the kuenm package optimization was a Q-quadratic T-threshold combination, and the regularization multiplier (RM) was 0.8. The suitable areas for C. coreana under the current climate model were mainly distributed in central China, and the highly suitable areas were distributed in southern Shaanxi, southwestern Henan, and northwestern Hubei. The lowest temperature in the coldest month (Bio6), the average temperature in the coldest quarter (Bio11), and the precipitation in the warmest quarter (Bio18) all had good predictive ability. In future climate scenarios, the boundary of the suitable area for C. coreana in China is expected to shift northward, and thus, most of the future climate scenarios would shift northward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Let G = (V (G) , E (G)) be a graph and ϕ be a proper total k -coloring of G by using the color set { 1 , 2 , ... , k }. For any v ∈ V (G) , let f (v) = ∑ u v ∈ E (G) ϕ (u v) + ϕ (v). The coloring ϕ is neighbor sum distinguishing , if f (u) ≠ f (v) for each edge u v ∈ E (G). The neighbor sum distinguishing total chromatic number of G , denoted by χ Σ ′ ′ (G) , is the smallest integer k such that G admits a k -neighbor sum distinguishing total coloring. In this paper, by using the famous Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, we determine χ Σ ′ ′ (G) for any 2-degenerate graph G with Δ (G) ≥ 6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the combined effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and depression on spatial memory in old rats, aiming to better understand the comorbidity of the two diseases in geriatric patients. Methods The SD rats were assigned into five groups: adult control group (n =6), elderly control group (n =6), elderly COPD group (n =6), elderly depression group (n =6) and elderly COPD with depression group (n =6). Smoking and chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) with solitary support were used to induce COPD model, depression model, respectively, and the both were applied for the comorbidity model. Learning and memory deficits were assessed by Morris water maze (MWM) test. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum and hippocampus tissue were determined by Xanthinoxidase method and Thiobarbituric acid reaction (TBAR) method, respectively. Results The results of pulmonary histology, lung function, open-field test and sucrose consumption demonstrated the comorbidity models of COPD and depression in elderly rats were successfully established using smoking and CUMS with solitary support. Compared with the elderly control group, the group of COPD with depression had obviously longer time of latency and longer travel distance to reach the platform in MWM test (LSD- t =-10.116, p =0.000; LSD- t =-6.448, p =0.000). The SOD activity in serum and hippocampus decreased significantly (LSD- t =2.629, P =0.014; LSD- t =2.215, P =0.044) and the MDA content in serum and hippocampus increased significantly (LSD- t =-2.140, P =0.042; LSD- t =-2.070, P =0.049) in elderly COPD with depression group. Conclusions COPD in comorbidity of depression could induce spatial memory deficit in old rats. The mechanisms might be related to the overloaded and free radical metabolic imbalance. These results suggest a potential therapeutic target for comorbidity of COPD and depression in geriatric patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A positive semidefinite matrix can be written as a Gramian matrix, and a completely positive matrix can therefore be written as a Gramian matrix of some nonnegative vectors. In this paper, we introduce Gramian tensors and study 2-dimension completely positive tensors and { 0 , 1 } − C P tensors. Also investigated are the complete positive multi-hypergraph which are a generalized form of cp graphs. We also provide a necessary and sufficient condition for a 2-dimensional tensor to be completely positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The HIV-1 transactivator of transcription (Tat) is a neurotoxin involved in the pathogenesis of HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The neurotoxic effects of Tat are mediated directly via AMPA/NMDA receptor activity and indirectly through neuroinflammatory signaling in glia. Emerging strategies in the development of neuroprotective agents involve the modulation of the endocannabinoid system. A major endocannabinoid, anandamide (N -arachidonoylethanolamine, AEA), is metabolized by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). Here we demonstrate using a murine prefrontal cortex primary culture model that the inhibition of FAAH, using PF3845, attenuates Tat-mediated increases in intracellular calcium, neuronal death, and dendritic degeneration via cannabinoid receptors (CB 1 R and CB 2 R). Live cell imaging was used to assess Tat-mediated increases in [Ca2+] i , which was significantly reduced by PF3845. A time-lapse assay revealed that Tat potentiates cell death while PF3845 blocks this effect. Additionally PF3845 blocked the Tat-mediated increase in activated caspase-3 (apoptotic marker) positive neurons. Dendritic degeneration was characterized by analyzing stained dendritic processes using Imaris and Tat was found to significantly decrease the size of processes while PF3845 inhibited this effect. Incubation with CB 1 R and CB 2 R antagonists (SR141716A and AM630) revealed that PF3845-mediated calcium effects were dependent on CB 1 R, while reduced neuronal death and degeneration was CB 2 R-mediated. PF3845 application led to increased levels of AEA, suggesting the observed effects are likely a result of increased endocannabinoid signaling at CB 1 R/CB 2 R. Our findings suggest that modulation of the endogenous cannabinoid system through inhibition of FAAH may be beneficial in treatment of HAND. Highlights • Neuronal injury is a major component of HAND pathology. • Endocannabinoid drugs show promise as a treatment for neurodegenerative disease. • Assessment of cannabinoid based interventions in neuroAIDS is limited. • FAAH inhibition blocks Tat induced neuronal dysfunction via cannabinoid receptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G = ( V ( G ), E ( G )) be a graph and ϕ be a proper k -total coloring of G . Set f ϕ ( v ) = ∑ u v ∈ E ( G ) ϕ ( u v ) + ϕ ( v ) , for each v  ∈  V ( G ). If f ϕ ( u ) ≠  f ϕ ( v ) for each edge uv  ∈  E ( G ), the coloring ϕ is called a k -neighbor sum distinguishing total coloring of G . The smallest integer k in such a coloring of G is the neighbor sum distinguishing total chromatic number, denoted by χ Σ ″ ( G ) . In this paper, by using the famous Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, we determine χ Σ ″ ( G ) for any planar graph G with Δ( G ) ≥ 13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a flexible energy‐ and delay‐aware mapping approach is proposed for the co‐optimisation of energy consumption and communication latency for network‐on‐chips (NoCs). A novel genetic‐based hyper‐heuristic algorithm (GHA) is proposed as the core algorithm. This algorithm consists of bottom‐level optimisation which includes a variety of operators and top‐level optimisation which selects suitable operators through a 'reward' mechanism. As this algorithm can select suitable operators automatically during the mapping process, it noticeably improves convergence speed and demonstrates excellent stability. Compared to the random algorithm, GHA can achieve on average 23.28% delay reduction and 11.81% power reduction. Compared to state‐of‐the‐art mapping algorithms, GHA produces improved mapping results with less time, especially when the size of NoC is large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a low power and crosstalk avoidance coding called Crosstalk Avoidance Green Coding (CAGC) is proposed and combined with capacitively charge-sharing transmitter (CCS) to provide reliable and energy-efficient interconnections for network-on-chip (NoC). The proposed CAGC consists of Green Modified Coding (GMC) and Adaptive Temporal Coding (ATC). The GMC achieves more energy reduction by modifying the mapping between original set and converted set. And the ATC reduces crosstalk by transmitting a shielding code in the case of Worst-Case-Crosstalk (WCC). In order to further reduce the power consumption of NoCs, CCS is applied to achieve a swing-voltage reduction to 10% of the supply voltage. Based on SMIC 0.13 μm CMOS technology, the simulation results show that CAGC and CCS can achieve 37.51% and 73% energy reduction compared to the full swing transmitter without low power codec, respectively. However, the combination of CAGC and CCS not only achieves 81% energy reduction, but also increases reliability by improving the ability of crosstalk avoidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiking neural networks (SNNs), as one of the brain-inspired models, has spatio-temporal information processing capability, low power feature, and high biological plausibility. The effective spatio-temporal feature makes it suitable for event streams classification. However, neuromorphic datasets, such as N-MNIST, CIFAR10-DVS, DVS128-gesture, need to aggregate individual events into frames with a new higher temporal resolution for event stream classification, which causes high training and inference latency. In this work, we proposed a spatio-temporal compression method to aggregate individual events into a few time steps of synaptic current to reduce the training and inference latency. To keep the accuracy of SNNs under high compression ratios, we also proposed a synaptic convolutional block to balance the dramatic changes between adjacent time steps. And multi-threshold Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) models with learnable membrane time constants are introduced to increase their information processing capability. We evaluate the proposed method for event stream classification tasks on neuromorphic N-MNIST, CIFAR10-DVS, and DVS128 gesture datasets. The experiment results show that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art accuracy on nearly all datasets, using fewer time steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the interaction between different hardening techniques and the search for the optimal hardening scheme, we propose a machine learning based prediction model for single event burnout (SEB) hardening design of power MOSFETs in this paper. The feedforward neural networks are used to build the prediction model, which covers at least three commonly used SEB hardening techniques considering their interaction and predicts the variations in the radiation tolerance and the critical electrical parameters under the complex hardening conditions. Then, based on the prediction model, we can search for the optimal value of each hardening parameter to obtain the optimal hardening scheme, for which the radiation hardness can be greatly improved while keeping the critical electrical parameters at an acceptable level using the search algorithm. The prediction model proposed in this paper provides a new research method for the radiation hardening design of aerospace electronic devices, and it effectiveness has been successfully verified by the TCAD simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let A be an mth order n-dimensional tensor, where m, n are some positive integers and N:= m( n−1). Then A is called a Hankel tensor associated with a vector v ∈ ℝ if A = v for each k = 0, 1,..., N whenever σ = ( i ,..., i ) satisfies i +· · ·+ i = m+ k. We introduce the elementary Hankel tensors which are some special Hankel tensors, and present all the eigenvalues of the elementary Hankel tensors for k = 0, 1, 2. We also show that a convolution can be expressed as the product of some third-order elementary Hankel tensors, and a Hankel tensor can be decomposed as a convolution of two Vandermonde matrices following the definition of the convolution of tensors. Finally, we use the properties of the convolution to characterize Hankel tensors and (0,1) Hankel tensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is considered a chronic disease that specifically targets the brain and causes HIV-1-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Endocannabinoids (eCBs) elicit neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory actions in several central nervous system (CNS) disease models, but their effects in HAND remain unknown. HIV-1 does not infect neurons, but produces viral toxins, such as transactivator of transcription (Tat), that disrupt neuronal calcium equilibrium and give rise to synaptodendritic injuries and cell death, the former being highly correlated with HAND. Consequently, we tested whether the eCBs N -arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide/AEA) and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol (2-AG) offer neuroprotective actions in a neuronal culture model. Specifically, we examined the neuroprotective actions of these eCBs on Tat excitotoxicity in primary cultures of prefrontal cortex neurons (PFC), and whether cannabinoid receptors mediate this neuroprotection. Tat-induced excitotoxicity was reflected by increased intracellular calcium levels, synaptodendritic damage, neuronal excitability, and neuronal death. Further, upregulation of cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB 1 R) protein levels was noted in the presence of HIV-1 Tat. The direct application of AEA and 2-AG reduced excitotoxic levels of intracellular calcium and promoted neuronal survival following Tat exposure, which was prevented by the CB 1 R antagonist rimonabant, but not by the CB 2 R antagonist AM630. Overall, our findings indicate that eCBs protect PFC neurons from Tat excitotoxicity in vitro via a CB 1 R-related mechanism. Thus, the eCB system possesses promising targets for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders associated with HIV-1 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A k-total coloring of a graph G is a mapping ϕ: V ( G) ⋃ E( G) → {1; 2,..., k} such that no two adjacent or incident elements in V ( G) ⋃ E( G) receive the same color. Let f( v) denote the sum of the color on the vertex v and the colors on all edges incident with v: We say that ϕ is a k-neighbor sum distinguishing total coloring of G if f( u) 6 ≠ f( v) for each edge uv ∈ E( G): Denote χ( G) the smallest value k in such a coloring of G: Pilśniak and Woźniak conjectured that for any simple graph with maximum degree Δ( G), χ ≤ Δ( G)+3. In this paper, by using the famous Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, we prove that for K -minor free graph G with Δ( G) > 5; χ = Δ( G) + 1 if G contains no two adjacent Δ-vertices, otherwise, χ( G) = Δ( G) + 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cost-combined life-cycle assessment was conducted to estimate the environmental and economic burdens of a low impact development best management practice (LID-BMP) treatment train system in China. Results showed that climate change, human toxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity and fossil depletion dominantly contributed to the overall environmental effect. Infiltration pit exhibited the highest environmental effects because of high consumption of PVC and non-woven fabrics, whereas grassed swale and buffer strip had the lowest environmental impacts. The operation phase showed great environmental benefits because a LID-BMP treatment train system can significantly reduce the emissions of heavy metals, suspended solids, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus to water. From an economic perspective, constructed wetland exhibited the highest economic burdens where the costs of graded gravel and bedding plants had a significant function, whereas grassed swale had the lowest economic burdens because of low consumption of raw materials. Optimizing the efficiency of PVC, non-woven fabric consumption, and road transport is an effective way to improve the potential environmental performance of LID-BMP construction phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Identifying diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers that could be targeted in the therapy of pancreatic cancer is essential. Objective. Investigations were conducted with respect to plasma miRNA (miR-21, miR-210, miR-155, miR-196a, miR-20a, and miR-25) expression and clinicopathologic factors to evaluate the prognostic value of miRNAs in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Methods. Plasma miRNAs were detected by real-time quantitative PCR, and the association with clinicopathologic factors was subsequently performed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results. Six miRNAs expressed significantly higher in PDAC patients than in normal individuals were identified. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed. It was evident that miRNA expression associated with PDAC, lymph node metastasis, serosal infiltration, and comprehensive therapy reached significance for overall survival. High miR-196a expression was associated with poor survival (P=0.001), whereas high miR-210 expression was significantly associated with improved survival (P=0.003). Multivariate survival analysis indicated that the miR-210 and miR-196a expression signature, lymph node metastasis, and comprehensive therapy were independent factors affecting overall survival. Conclusions. MiRNA expression profile is distinctive in PDAC. Aberrant expression of certain miRNAs was remarkably involved in shaping the overall survival time, which include miR-196a overexpression and decreased miR-210 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Completely positive graphs have been employed to associate with completely positive matrices for characterizing the intrinsic zero patterns. As tensors have been widely recognized as a higher-order extension of matrices, the multi-hypergraph, regarded as a generalization of graphs, is then introduced to associate with tensors for the study of complete positivity. To describe the dependence of the corresponding zero pattern for a special type of completely positive tensors—the { 0 , 1 } completely positive tensors, the completely positive multi-hypergraph is defined. By characterizing properties of the associated multi-hypergraph, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for any ( 0 , 1 ) associated tensor to be { 0 , 1 } completely positive. Furthermore, a necessary and sufficient condition for a uniform multi-hypergraph to be a completely positive multi-hypergraph is proposed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bottom-up approach combined with national and provincial statistical data was used to evaluate the potential environmental effects of electricity generation scenarios based on five mature biomasses in China. Coal-based electricity generation technology was used as control. Uncertainty analysis was conducted to confirm and add credibility to this study. The electricity generation capacities of municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, and corn straw account for approximately 0.86%, 0.085%, and 8.18%, respectively, of electricity generated in China in 2012. The estimated national environmental burden caused by biomass-based electricity generation was mainly observed in eastern China, which can be attributed to the relatively high population density and economic levels of this region. For each biomass-based scenario, the key factors that contribute to the overall environmental burden include direct emissions of nitrogen oxides, phosphorus, mercury, and particulate matter. In addition, carbon dioxide pollution generated from methane incineration, road transport, and electricity consumption play a dominant role in the overall environmental burden. The environmental benefits of biomass mainly vary depending on the technologies applied and their electricity generation efficiency. Compared with the corn straw scenario, coal-based electricity generation technology yields strong environmental benefits in most key categories with the exception of climate change and human toxicity. Accordingly, biomass is not unconditionally cleaner than fossil fuel. The utilization and popularization of biomass-based electricity generation technologies must be systematically and scientifically evaluated to avoid secondary pollution generation and pollutant transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have demonstrated that long-term developmental effects of neonatal anesthesia were more prominent in males. We tested whether steroids, in general, and sex steroids, in particular, are involved in the mediation of sevoflurane-caused paradoxical cortical seizures during the early postnatal period. Methods: Cortical electroencephalograms, hippocampal synaptic activity, serum levels of steroids and the loss of the righting reflex (LORR), a marker of anesthetic effect, were measured on postnatal days 4–6 in Sprague Dawley rats of both genders exposed to 2.1% sevoflurane. Results: Episodes of seizures, persistent spikes in electroencephalograms and increases in serum corticosterone were similar in both genders. In the order of increasing potency, the corticosteroid receptor antagonist RU 28318, the estradiol receptor antagonist ICI 182780 and the estradiol synthesis inhibitor formestane decreased sevoflurane-induced seizures. Exogenous estradiol increased sevoflurane-caused seizures, spikes and serum levels of corticosterone. These estradiol-enhanced seizures and spikes were depressed by ICI 182780 and the NKCC1 inhibitor, bumetanide, while RU 28318 decreased seizures only. In hippocampal CA1 neurons, estradiol increased the amplitude, rise time and area under the curve of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABAAR)-mediated miniature postsynaptic currents. Exogenous estradiol shortened, while ICI 182780 and formestane lengthened the time needed for sevoflurane to induce LORR. Conclusion: These findings provide evidence for gender- independent acute electroencephalographic effects of sevoflurane at this age. Corticosterone and estradiol are involved in the mediation of sevoflurane-induced seizures. Estradiol, but not corticosterone, also contributes to sevoflurane- caused spikes, by enhancing GABAAR-mediated excitation in the cortex. By increasing GABAA R-mediated inhibition in more mature caudal regions of the brain, estradiol contributes to sevoflurane-induced LORR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend Vandermonde matrices to generalized Vandermonde tensors. We call an mth order n-dimensional real tensor $$A = (A_{i_1 i_2 } \cdots _{i_m } )$$ a type-1 generalized Vandermonde (GV) tensor, or GV tensor, if there exists a vector v = ( v, v,..., v) such that $${A_{{i_1},{i_2} \ldots {i_m}}} = v_{{i_1}}^{{i_2} + {i_3} + \ldots + {i_m} - m + 1},$$ and call A a type-2 ( mth order n dimensional) GV tensor, or GV tensor, if there exists an ( m − 1)th order tensor $$B = \left( {{B_{{i_1}{i_2} \ldots {i_{m - 1}}}}} \right)$$ such that $${A_{{i_1},{i_2} \ldots {i_m}}} = B_{{i_1}{i_{2 \ldots {i_{m - 1}}}}}^{{i_m} - 1},$$. In this paper, we mainly investigate the type-1 GV tensors including their products, their spectra, and their positivities. Applications of GV tensors are also introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal studies provide strong evidence that general anesthetics (GAs), administered during the early postnatal period, induce long-term cognitive and neurological abnormalities. Because the brain growth spurt in rodents is delayed compared to that in humans, a fundamental question is whether the postnatal human brain is similarly vulnerable. Sevoflurane and propofol, GAs that share positive modulation of the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABA A R) function cause marked increase in corticosterone levels and induce long-term developmental alterations in synaptic activity in rodents. If synaptogenesis is affected, investigation of mechanisms of the synaptic effects of GAs is of high interest because synaptogenesis in humans continues for several years after birth. Here, we compared long-term synaptic effects of etomidate with those of propofol. Etomidate and propofol both positively modulate GABA A R activity, but in contrast to propofol, etomidate inhibits the adrenal synthesis of corticosterone. Postnatal day (P) 4, 5, or 6 rats received five injections of etomidate, propofol, or vehicle control during 5 h of maternal separation. Endocrine effects of the anesthetics were evaluated by measuring serum levels of corticosterone immediately after anesthesia or maternal separation. The frequency and amplitude of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons were measured at P24-40 and P ≥ 80. Only propofol caused a significant increase in serum corticosterone levels (F (4.26) = 17.739, P < 0.001). In contrast to increased frequency of mIPSCs in the propofol group (F (4.23) = 8.731, p < 0.001), mIPSC activity in the etomidate group was not different from that in the vehicle groups. The results of this study together with previously published data suggest that anesthetic-caused increase in corticosterone levels is required for GABAergic GAs to induce synaptic effects in the form of a long-term increase in the frequency of hippocampal mIPSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An m th order n -dimensional Hankel tensor is defined as a tensor A satisfying A i 1 … i m ≡ A i 1 + ⋯ + i m − m for some numbers A 0 , A 1 , … , A m ( n − 1 ) . A Hankel tensor possesses a Vandermonde decomposition (VD) A = ∑ k = 1 r λ k u k m where u k = ( 1 , w k , w k 2 , … , w k n − 1 ) T is called a Vandermonde vector (V-vector). A is called a Vandermonde tensor (V-tensor) if A has a VD with each λ k = 1 . V-tensors are the natural extension of Vandermonde matrices. It is easy to see that all even order V-tensors are positive semidefinite (psd) and thus copositive. An odd order real symmetric tensor is psd only if it is zero. The problem when an odd order Hankel tensor is copositive is open. We present a necessary and sufficient condition for a rank-2 odd-order symmetric real tensor to be copositive. Some necessary conditions for a general V-tensor to be copositive are also presented. The singularity of V-tensors is also investigated, and we show that a V-tensor A is singular if its V-rank is less than its dimension. This condition becomes necessary if A is of odd order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A NSGA-III-based LID-BMPs spatial optimization framework was proposed. • Receiving waters responses were incorporated in the framework. • LSTM model was utilized as a surrogate model to accelerate model simulation. • Significant cost-effective optimal solutions were delivered. • Imperviousness drives the process of spatial optimization. Deep insights into the receiving waters responses to optimal spatial allocation of LID-BMPs are considered extremely important. This study addressed the urgent need to incorporate receiving waters responses into the spatial allocation optimization of LID-BMPs and demonstrated the efficiency of the approach to guide watershed management. The integration of an overland-river coupling model and the NSGA-III algorithm resulted in the proposal of a general simulation-optimization framework for the optimal layout of LID-BMPs. The coupled model was swapped out for the surrogates to increase computational efficiency. When 40.71%, 36.06%, and 61.80% reductions in runoff volume, flood volume, and TP concentration are achieved, the newly proposed framework can save 34.44% and 16.31% cost compared to the approach that does not consider receiving waters responses and refined spatial allocation, respectively. Results indicate that the incorporation of receiving waters responses and refined spatial allocation are essential for the optimal design of LID-BMPs. This new framework offers the potential for more cost-effective high-cost solutions. The results of spatial optimization are significantly influenced by imperviousness. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) signaling has been implicated in innate immunity and acute inflammation following acute lung injury (ALI). As such, modulating inflammatory response through TLR4 represents an attractive therapeutic approach to treat ALI. Increasing evidence demonstrates that hyaluronan (HA) can modulate TLR4 activation and has shown early promise as a therapeutic agent in ALI. However, the mechanism associated with HA has not been fully elucidated. In the current study, we sought to determine the effects of HA on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory response and gain insights into the mechanism of action in mice with intratracheal instillation of LPS. Our results demonstrate that in contrast to mice challenged with LPS, pretreatment with HA significantly inhibited inflammatory cell recruitment, attenuated lung injury and suppressed the level of cytokine/chemokine in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Investigation of the mechanism responsible for inhibition of LPS activation showed HA treatment significantly inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 and protein expression of myeloid differentiation primary response protein (MyD88) and TIR-domain-containing adapter-inducing interferon-β (TRIF) and p38 MAPK, JNK and ERK activation in lung tissue. Furthermore, we compared the protection effect of HA in TLR4-deficient mice with those of genetically matched wild type (WT) mice in an acute model of lung injury. However, in TLR4-deficient mice, HA pretreatment before LPS instillation fail to affect the LPS response. Therefore, our findings suggest that HA pretreatment attenuated LPS-induced ALI and the anti-inflammatory function of HA was partial dependent on TLR4, which shed new light on potential elements that regulate the lung injury response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background 1.5 million children under 12 months of age are exposed to general anesthesia annually in the United States alone. Human and especially animal studies provide evidence that exposure to general anesthesia during the early postnatal period may lead to long-term neurocognitive abnormalities via poorly understood mechanisms. We investigated whether an immature stress response system and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) type A receptor activities are involved in mediating these abnormalities. Methods Sprague–Dawley rats at postnatal days 4, 5 or 6 were anesthetized with 2.1% sevoflurane for 6 h; maternally separated and house reared rats served as controls. Results Sevoflurane anesthesia markedly increased corticosterone levels in rat pups of both genders. In adulthood, these rats responded to stress with heightened secretion of corticosterone and a greater increase in corticosterone levels in males versus females. Only male rats, previously exposed to neonatal sevoflurane, had a higher frequency of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in CA1 neurons, spent a shorter time in open arms of the elevated plus maze (EPM) and exhibited impaired prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle. Pretreatment of male rats prior to sevoflurane with the Na + -K + -2Cl − cotransporter inhibitor, bumetanide, or the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, RU28318, normalized endocrine responses to stress and the EPM behavior in adulthood, while only those pretreated with bumetanide exhibited normalized PPI of startle responses. Neither bumetanide nor RU28318 altered the effect of sevoflurane on synaptic activity. Conclusions Sevoflurane-enhanced neuronal excitation and elevated corticosteroid levels at the time of anesthesia contribute to the mechanisms initiating neonatal sevoflurane-induced long-term endocrine and neurobehavioral abnormalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle assessment was performed by using the ReCiPe model to estimate the environmental effects of three food waste (FW)-based biogas generation scenarios. Uncertainty analysis was also conducted to confirm and add credibility to the study. Results showed that the potential impacts of human toxicity, freshwater eutrophication, marine ecotoxicity, and fossil depletion had dominant contributions to the overall environmental impact. Electricity consumption during anaerobic digestion (AD) and the transportation of raw materials during landfill stage exhibited high potential impacts. The FW to landfill scenario with and without energy recovery had the highest environmental impact. Moreover, uncertainty analysis indicated that landfill was unsuitable for treating FW. Increasing biogas generation capacity, improving electricity generation efficiency, optimizing the energy structure of China, and decreasing electricity consumption during the AD stage are effective ways for reducing the adverse effects on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firstly we study necessary and sufficient conditions for the constant row sums symmetric inverse eigenvalue problem to have a solution and sufficient conditions for the symmetric stochastic inverse eigenvalue problem to have a solution. Then we introduce the concept of general solutions for the symmetric stochastic inverse eigenvalue problem and the concept of totally general solutions for the $3\times3$ symmetric stochastic inverse eigenvalue problem. Finally we study the necessary and sufficient conditions for the symmetric stochastic inverse eigenvalue problems of order 3 to have general solutions, and the necessary and sufficient conditions for the symmetric stochastic inverse eigenvalue problems of order 3 to have a totally general solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the invertibility of the fourth-order cubic tensors and present several necessary and sufficient conditions for such tensors to be invertible. We also introduce tensors in statistics and use the fourth-order tensors to simplify the expressions of the higher order derivatives of a multivariate function. Finally, we define the covariance tensor of a random matrix X as a fourth-order tensor D [ X ] and show that D [ X ] is positive definite if X is square symmetric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The authors studied whether neonatal propofol anesthesia affects development of the endocrine and neural systems.Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized using intraperitoneal propofol for 5 h on postnatal days (P) 4, 5, or 6. Pups that received either saline or intralipid, but not those in the negative control groups, were also maternally separated for 5 h. Serum levels of corticosterone were measured immediately after anesthesia and in adulthood after prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle testing (≥P80), followed by measurement of hippocampal neuronal activity.Results: Propofol acutely increased corticosterone levels to 146.6 ± 23.5 ng/ml (n = 6) versus 16.4 ± 3.5 ng/ml (n = 6) and 18.4 ± 3.2 ng/ml (n = 6) in saline- and intralipd-treated pups, respectively. In adulthood, the propofol group exhibited exacerbated endocrine responses to stress in a form of increased corticosterone levels (1,171.58 ± 149.17 ng/ml [n = 15] vs. 370.02 ± 36.01 ng/ml [n = 10] in the saline group). The propofol group had increased the frequency of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in CA1 neurons of male and female rats, but reduced prepulse inhibition of startle was detected only in males. The Na-K-2Cl cotransporter inhibitor bumetanide, administered to pups before propofol injection, alleviated long-term endocrine and prepulse inhibition abnormalities. Exogenous corticosterone, administered to naive pups, induced synaptic and endocrine but not prepulse inhibition effects, similar to those of propofol.Conclusion: Propofol-caused acute increases in corticosterone levels and γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor-mediated excitation at the time of anesthesia may play mechanistic roles in development of exacerbated endocrine responses to stress and neurobehavioral abnormalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA)-based cognitive radio network (CRN) is considered where cognitive radio users (CRUs) can only access the frequency bands not being occupied by primary users (PUs) while keeping the cross-channel interference to each PU under a specified threshold. In this paper, we investigate the ergodic sum capacity of all CRUs in OFDMA-based networks and consider the constraints on the long-term transmit power of all CRUs, the long-term interference thresholds of PUs, and the statistical proportional fairness of all CRUs. In OFDMA-based CRNs, the number of available subchannels is smaller than that of CRUs in some OFDM symbol durations. To deal with this time-varying nature of available spectrum resource and achieve the ergodic sum capacity of all CRUs, we propose an optimal resource-allocation algorithm under the given constraints. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve substantial capacity gains for CRUs over the traditional resource-allocation algorithm and maintain the statistical proportional rate constraints of all CRUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]