Search

Verticillium wilt is a significant disease that affects cotton plants, which can lead to stunted growth and reduced yield. To address this, a multi-spectral comprehensive monitoring disease index model is developed using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to monitor the severity of cotton Verticillium wilt. First, multi-spectral dates were collected from Hexacopter (HY-6X) and the phenotype disease grade of cotton plants at monitoring sites was investigated. Then, a new indicator for cotton diseases was established using the correlation coefficient method and optimal index factor method and the regression models for four types of cotton diseases were established. The results show that cotton plants with different severity of Verticillium wilt have different spectral characteristics in the near-infrared and visible light bands. As the disease severity increased, the spectral reflectance of the cotton canopy increased from 470-656nm. Combined Difference Vegetation Index (DVI) with B3-B5-B8, a new index, UAV multispectral comprehensive monitoring disease index is created. Taking the comprehensive indicator as the independent variable, a regression model including multiple-linear regression, partial least squares regression, principal component analysis and support vector machine regression is established. The results show the support vector machine regression model has the highest accuracy (prediction set R2 = 0.91, RMSE = 0.07; validation set R2 = 0.89, RMSE = 0.08; and the linear relationship is significant at the 95% level). Compared with other indicators, using UAV for monitoring cotton disease severity will be the optimal model for motoring the severity of cotton diseases.

In this work we consider the boundary value problems for Sturm-Liouville operators with a constant delay  under eigenparameter boundary condition. Under some assumptions, the uniqueness of the inverse specteal problems is proved, where the potential, parameters in boundary conditions and the delay are uniquely determined by two spectra of the different boundary conditions.

Time of Day Variation in Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Service Members: Results from an Ecological Momentary Assessment Study Jing Wang, Ph.D.1,2, Quinn M. Biggs, Ph.D., M.P.H.1,2, Sasha Baghdadi, B.S.1,2, Natasha Dhanraj, B.S.1,2, Joseph Hooke, B.S.1,2, Arrey Thomas, B.S.1,2, Carol S. Fullerton, Ph.D.1, Rohul Amin, M.D.1,3, & Robert J. Ursano, M.D.1 1Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD 2Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD 3Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD Materials and Methods Results Introduction 1Hoge, C. W., Riviere, L. A., Wilk, J. E., Herrell, R. K., & Weathers, F. W. (2014). The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in US combat soldiers: a head-to-head comparison of DSM-5 versus DSM-IV-TR symptom criteria with the PTSD checklist. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(4), 269–277. 2Stone, A. A., & Shiffman, S. S. (1994). Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) In Behavioral Medicine. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 16, 199-202. 3Schwartz, J. E., & Stone, A. A. (2007). Analysis of real-time momentary data: A practical guide. In A. A. Stone, S. Shiffman, A. Atienza, & L. Nebeling (Eds.), The science of real-time data capture (pp. 76–113). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Conclusions Disclaimers: The opinions and assertions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences or the Department of Defense. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or policies of The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The views expressed in this poster are those of the authors and do no, RITM0040469, Rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are high in U.S. military Service Members1 ? Little is known about how posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and the four PTSD subscales (intrusion, avoidance, negative cognition, and hyperarousal) change throughout the day ? Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a relatively new method of capturing current experiences while respondents are engaged in their normal daily routines2 ? This study used a cutting edge EMA methodology to assess daily variability in PTSS and PTSD subscales in U.S. military Service Members with PTSD

Label Distribution Learning (LDL) is a novel machine learning paradigm that assigns label distribution to each instance. Many LDL methods proposed to leverage label correlation in the learning process to solve the exponential-sized output space; among these, many exploited the low-rank structure of label distribution to capture label correlation. However, recent studies disclosed that label distribution matrices are typically full-rank, posing challenges to those works exploiting low-rank label correlation. Note that multi-label is generally low-rank; low-rank label correlation is widely adopted in multi-label learning (MLL) literature. Inspired by that, we introduce an auxiliary MLL process in LDL and capture low-rank label correlation on that MLL rather than LDL. In such a way, low-rank label correlation is appropriately exploited in our LDL methods. We conduct comprehensive experiments and demonstrate that our methods are superior to existing LDL methods. Besides, the ablation studies justify the advantages of exploiting low-rank label correlation in the auxiliary MLL.

Native speakers can judge whether a sentence is an acceptableinstance of their language. Acceptability provides a means ofevaluating whether computational language models are pro-cessing language in a human-like manner. We test the abilityof language models, simple language features, and word em-beddings to predict native speakers’ judgments of acceptabil-ity on English essays written by non-native speakers. We findthat much sentence acceptability variance can be captured by acombination of misspellings, word order, and word similarity(r = 0.494). While predictive neural models fit acceptabilityjudgments well (r = 0.527), we find that a 4-gram model isjust as good (r = 0.528). Thanks to incorporating misspellings,our 4-gram model surpasses both the previous unsupervisedstate-of-the art (r = 0.472), and the average native speaker(r = 0.46), demonstrating that acceptability is well capturedby n-gram statistics and simple language features.

Entrepreneurship education can teach, or at the very least, guide people in starting their own businesses and aims to create future business owners among today's youth. Students' entrepreneurial aspirations are receiving a lot of attention from governments worldwide because of the stiff job market and dynamic labor market. Its impact becomes more pronounced in a university setting because students have better potential for entrepreneurship and are closer to making their professional choices. Though most universities provide entrepreneurship courses, little attention has been given to the impact of entrepreneurship education vis-a-vis students' intentions to start their own businesses. Generally, the course curriculum has to be restructured to achieve desired outcomes and entrepreneurial abilities and activities should be bolstered alongside formal education and training, where entrepreneurial intent plays an essential role in the initial stages’ decision-making process. This study examines whether higher education universities have boosted student attitudes towards entrepreneurship through reviews of documented research and academic studies. Taking an entrepreneurship education program has a positive impact on the decision-making process of an entrepreneur. Additionally, it was established that self-efficacy in entrepreneurial decision-making has a beneficial impact on entrepreneurial intention. It was also discovered that entrepreneurial self-efficacy was a significant mediator between entrepreneurial activity and intention. This study aims to determine if and how entrepreneurship education affects students' intentions. Keywords: entrepreneurial intention; education learning; entrepreneurship education; learning motivation

A sustainable approach of Desmodesmus sp. GIEC-179: Klebsiella pneumoniae (DUT-XJR-t-1.2) co-culture ratios were optimized to remove tetracycline (TET) from synthetic wastewater. To enhance the tetracycline removal performance, the effect of microalgae-bacterial co-culture ratio, maximum TET concentration, effective inoculum amount, growth temperature and pH were studied. The optimized ratio 1:2 of Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae showed the optimal removal percentage at the temperature of 25 °C, pH 7 and 10% inoculum amount; and the removal of TET was recorded as 95%. Moreover, this study explored the Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae (1:2) nutrient (COD, NH4+ and PO43−) exchange relationship and their interaction of TET removal to better understand their fundamental mechanism. According to the results of this study, Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae co-culture could be a green option for bio-removal of tetracycline from wastewater.

A sustainable approach of Desmodesmus sp. GIEC-179: Klebsiella pneumoniae (DUT-XJR-t-1.2) co-culture ratios were optimized to remove tetracycline (TET) from synthetic wastewater. To enhance the tetracycline removal performance, the effect of microalgae-bacterial co-culture ratio, maximum TET concentration, effective inoculum amount, growth temperature and pH were studied. The optimized ratio 1:2 of Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae showed the optimal removal percentage at the temperature of 25 °C, pH 7 and 10% inoculum amount; and the removal of TET was recorded as 95%. Moreover, this study explored the Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae (1:2) nutrient (COD, NH4+ and PO43−) exchange relationship and their interaction of TET removal to better understand their fundamental mechanism. According to the results of this study, Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae co-culture could be a green option for bio-removal of tetracycline from wastewater.

Entrepreneurship education can teach, or at the very least, guide people in starting their own businesses and aims to create future business owners among today's youth. Students' entrepreneurial aspirations are receiving a lot of attention from governments worldwide because of the stiff job market and dynamic labor market. Its impact becomes more pronounced in a university setting because students have better potential for entrepreneurship and are closer to making their professional choices. Though most universities provide entrepreneurship courses, little attention has been given to the impact of entrepreneurship education vis-a-vis students' intentions to start their own businesses. Generally, the course curriculum has to be restructured to achieve desired outcomes and entrepreneurial abilities and activities should be bolstered alongside formal education and training, where entrepreneurial intent plays an essential role in the initial stages’ decision-making process. This study examines whether higher education universities have boosted student attitudes towards entrepreneurship through reviews of documented research and academic studies. Taking an entrepreneurship education program has a positive impact on the decision-making process of an entrepreneur. Additionally, it was established that self-efficacy in entrepreneurial decision-making has a beneficial impact on entrepreneurial intention. It was also discovered that entrepreneurial self-efficacy was a significant mediator between entrepreneurial activity and intention. This study aims to determine if and how entrepreneurship education affects students' intentions. Keywords: entrepreneurial intention; education learning; entrepreneurship education; learning motivation

Person-mean of SI With PTSD Without PTSD Participants • Current and former military Service members (N = 156) were recruited from a military medical center as part of a larger study of PTSD symptoms • Demographic characteristics: age: M = 41.7 (SD = 13.7); male: 60.3%; Caucasian: 64.1%; Bachelor’s degree or higher: 55.8%. There were no differences between those with and without PTSD in categorical demographic characteristics. Individuals with PTSD were younger than those without PTSD, t = 2.35, p = .020 Measures • Probable PTSD: assessed with the 20-item PCL-5.6 Endorsement of PTSD required at least one qualifying traumatic event, meeting DSM-5 criteria B-E,7 and a symptom severity score ³ 38. Upon enrollment, n = 78 had PTSD and n = 78 did not have PTSD • SI: assessed with one item from the PHQ-9: Thoughts that you would be better off dead or hurting yourself in some way.8,9 Response choices were modified to a 0 (Not At All) to 10 (Extremely) range. SI was assessed four times daily (fixed interval, 4 hours apart) for 15 consecutive days Analyses • Each participant’s daily SI scores were averaged to produce a daily mean and all SI scores were averaged across the 15-day period to produce a person-mean Disclaimers: The opinions and assertions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences or the Department of Defense. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or policies of The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The views expressed in this abstract are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Army/Navy/Air Force, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government. Methods Introduction Results DAIL, RITM0023224, Suicidal ideation (SI) is a known risk factor for suicide. SI is significantly and positively correlated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in civilian2 and military populations. For decades, most suicide research focused on long-term risk factors that did not accurately predict suicide risk. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA)5 is a method of experience sampling that is well suited to assessing daily symptom change. Recent EMA studies of SI suggest that SI fluctuates substantially in short periods of time. Little is known about whether daily variation in SI differs between those with and without PTSD. This study used an EMA methodology to examine daily variation in SI among military Service members with and without PTSD.

In this paper, we use three different kinds of observational data, including 130 strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems, type Ia supernovae (SNeIa: Pantheon and Union2.1) and 31 Hubble parameter data points ($H(z)$) from cosmic chronometers to constrain the phenomenological model ($\rho_x\varpropto\rho_m a^{\xi}$). By combining these three kinds of data (Union2.1+SGL+$H(z)$), we get the parameter value at the confidence interval of $2\sigma$, $\Omega_{X,0} = 0.69\pm0.34$, $\omega_x = -1.24\pm0.61$, $\xi = 3.8\pm3.9$ and $H_0 = 70.22\pm0.86$ kms$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$. According to our results, we find that the $\Lambda$CDM model is still the model which is in best agreement with the observational data at present, and the coincidence problem is not alleviated. In addition, the $\Omega_X$ and $\Omega_m$ have the same order of magnitude in $00.645$, it is necessary to introduce the dark energy interacting with dark matter., Comment: Accepted for publication in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics

In this paper, we investigate the possible deviations of the cosmic distance duality relation (CDDR) using the combination of the largest SNe Ia (Pantheon) and compact radio quasar (QSO) samples through two model-independent approaches. The deviation of CDDR is written as $D_L(z)/D_A(z)(1+z)^{-2}=\eta(z)$ and $\eta(z)=e^{\tau(z)/2}$, with the parameterizations of $F_1$ ($\tau(z) = 2\epsilon_1 z$) and $F_2$ ($\tau(z) = (1+z)^{2\epsilon_2}-1$). Furthermore, in order to compare the two resulting distances, two cosmological-model-independent methods, i.e., the nearby SNe Ia method and the GP method are employed to match the two distinct data at the same redshift. Our findings indicate that, compared with the results obtained in the literature, there is an improvement in precision when the latest SNe Ia and QSO samples are used. Specially, in the framework of nearby SNe Ia method, the CDDR would be constrained at the precision of $\Delta\epsilon_{1} = 0.013$ in Model $F_1$ and $\Delta\epsilon_{2}=0.018$ in Model $F_2$. Regarding the GP method, one observes that a larger data size would produce more stringent constraints on the CDDR parameters. Therefore, accompanied by further developments in cosmological observations and the analysis methods, our analysis provides an insight into the evidence for unaccounted opacity sources at an earlier stage of the universe, or at the very least the new physics involved., Comment: Accepted by CJP, 10 pages, 9 figures

Li M, Ning J, Li Z, Wang J, Zhao C, Wang L. Onco Targets Ther. 2018;11:6295–6304. The Editor-in-chief and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of images within the article with images from other publications. Specifically: The western blot bands for GAPDH in Figure 3C appear to have been duplicated with the western blot bands for β-actin in Figure 4C from Wen et al, 2015 (https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2015.4165) and the western blot bands for GAPDH in Figure 5B from Dong et al, 2016 (https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2016.4604). The cell invasion image from Figure 3B panel sh-LINC00152 appears to have been duplicated with the cell invasion image in Figure 2E panel pFER1L4 from Fei et al, 2018 (https://doi.org/10.1159/000495554). The tumor images shown in Figure 5B appear to have been duplicated with tumor images in Figure 5B from Qu et al, 2018 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.01.024). The authors responded to our queries but were unable to provide an explanation for the alleged image duplication. The authors agreed with the decision to retract the article. Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”. This retraction relates to this paper

Ji Li,1,* Wang Jing,2,* Xiaoyang Zhai,2 Wenxiao Jia,2 Hui Zhu,2 Jinming Yu1 1Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430060, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, 250117, Shandong, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hui Zhu; Jinming Yu Tel +86-531-67626782; +86-531-67626947Email drzhuh@126.com; sdyujinming@163.comPurpose: A new tool based on clinical characteristics and molecular factors (Lung-molGPA) was developed to predict the survival of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer but was has not been validated. This study aims to validate the feasibility of the Lung-molGPA in NSCLC.Patients and Methods: Patients diagnosed NSCLC between Feb 2012 and July 2018 were retrospectively reviewed and scored using the Lung-molGPA tool to compare clinical outcomes. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by Cox regression analyses.Results: A total of 618 patients (524 adenocarcinoma [ADC], 94 non-adenocarcinoma [non-ADC]) were collected. For all patients, the median survival time (MST) was 33.0 months (33.6 and 28 months in the ADC and non-ADC groups, respectively; p = 0.21). In the ADC group, the MST for patients with a Lung-molGPA score of 3.5 to 4 was more than 4 years, while the MST was only 25 months in patients scoring 0– 1, 30.0 months in patients scoring 1.5– 2, and 35.0 months for scores of 2.5– 3 (p = 0.048). For the non-ADC group, the MST for scores 0– 1, 1.5– 2, 2.5– 3, and 3.5– 4 were 12.0, 20.2, 29.0, and 33.0 months, respectively (p = 0.017).Conclusion: Our findings provided evidence validating the Lung-molGPA score as a useful tool to determine treatment strategies and to predict prognosis. The model is stil

At present, there is a delay in the transmission and acceptance of information in the total budget management of enterprises, which can only provide a basis for short-term decision-making, but has limitations on long-term decision-making. However, big data analysis can increase the efficiency of capital operations, carry out budget supervision and help companies make long-term decisions. This dissertation attempts to solve the problems above by using the Lasso method and the GM-Model. Based on big data, a series of experiments are carried out on the comprehensive budget management of enterprises to study the methods and application effects of big data analysis and prediction of enterprise income. Finally, through experiments, it is found that the predicted value of the first three years is larger than the actual value, and the deviation is gradually reduced in the following years. However, the actual income in 2001 is almost the same as the predicted value. These results indicate that using this method more accurately requires a large data from different years to support and operate.

At present, there is a delay in the transmission and acceptance of information in the total budget management of enterprises, which can only provide a basis for short-term decision-making, but has limitations on long-term decision-making. However, big data analysis can increase the efficiency of capital operations, carry out budget supervision and help companies make long-term decisions. This dissertation attempts to solve the problems above by using the Lasso method and the GM-Model. Based on big data, a series of experiments are carried out on the comprehensive budget management of enterprises to study the methods and application effects of big data analysis and prediction of enterprise income. Finally, through experiments, it is found that the predicted value of the first three years is larger than the actual value, and the deviation is gradually reduced in the following years. However, the actual income in 2001 is almost the same as the predicted value. These results indicate that using this method more accurately requires a large data from different years to support and operate.

At present, there is a delay in the transmission and acceptance of information in the total budget management of enterprises, which can only provide a basis for short-term decision-making, but has limitations on long-term decision-making. However, big data analysis can increase the efficiency of capital operations, carry out budget supervision and help companies make long-term decisions. This dissertation attempts to solve the problems above by using the Lasso method and the GM-Model. Based on big data, a series of experiments are carried out on the comprehensive budget management of enterprises to study the methods and application effects of big data analysis and prediction of enterprise income. Finally, through experiments, it is found that the predicted value of the first three years is larger than the actual value, and the deviation is gradually reduced in the following years. However, the actual income in 2001 is almost the same as the predicted value. These results indicate that using this method more accurately requires a large data from different years to support and operate.

At present, there is a delay in the transmission and acceptance of information in the total budget management of enterprises, which can only provide a basis for short-term decision-making, but has limitations on long-term decision-making. However, big data analysis can increase the efficiency of capital operations, carry out budget supervision and help companies make long-term decisions. This dissertation attempts to solve the problems above by using the Lasso method and the GM-Model. Based on big data, a series of experiments are carried out on the comprehensive budget management of enterprises to study the methods and application effects of big data analysis and prediction of enterprise income. Finally, through experiments, it is found that the predicted value of the first three years is larger than the actual value, and the deviation is gradually reduced in the following years. However, the actual income in 2001 is almost the same as the predicted value. These results indicate that using this method more accurately requires a large data from different years to support and operate.

At present, there is a delay in the transmission and acceptance of information in the total budget management of enterprises, which can only provide a basis for short-term decision-making, but has limitations on long-term decision-making. However, big data analysis can increase the efficiency of capital operations, carry out budget supervision and help companies make long-term decisions. This dissertation attempts to solve the problems above by using the Lasso method and the GM-Model. Based on big data, a series of experiments are carried out on the comprehensive budget management of enterprises to study the methods and application effects of big data analysis and prediction of enterprise income. Finally, through experiments, it is found that the predicted value of the first three years is larger than the actual value, and the deviation is gradually reduced in the following years. However, the actual income in 2001 is almost the same as the predicted value. These results indicate that using this method more accurately requires a large data from different years to support and operate.

Evapotranspiration is one of the most important components of the hydrological cycle as it accounts for more than two-thirds of the global precipitation losses. Indeed, the accurate prediction of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is highly significant for many watershed activities, including agriculture, water management, crop production and several other applications. Therefore, reliable estimation of ETo is a major concern in hydrology. ETo can be estimated using different approaches, including field measurement, empirical formulation and mathematical equations. Most recently, advanced machine learning models have been developed for the estimation of ETo. Among several machine learning models, evolutionary computing (EC) has demonstrated a remarkable progression in the modeling of ETo. The current research is devoted to providing a new milestone in the implementation of the EC algorithm for the modeling of ETo. A comprehensive review is conducted to recognize the feasibility of EC models and their potential in simulating ETo in a wide range of environments. Evaluation and assessment of the models are also presented based on the review. Finally, several possible future research directions are proposed for the investigations of ETo using EC., Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-08-13 (johcin)

Evapotranspiration is one of the most important components of the hydrological cycle as it accounts for more than two-thirds of the global precipitation losses. Indeed, the accurate prediction of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is highly significant for many watershed activities, including agriculture, water management, crop production and several other applications. Therefore, reliable estimation of ETo is a major concern in hydrology. ETo can be estimated using different approaches, including field measurement, empirical formulation and mathematical equations. Most recently, advanced machine learning models have been developed for the estimation of ETo. Among several machine learning models, evolutionary computing (EC) has demonstrated a remarkable progression in the modeling of ETo. The current research is devoted to providing a new milestone in the implementation of the EC algorithm for the modeling of ETo. A comprehensive review is conducted to recognize the feasibility of EC models and their potential in simulating ETo in a wide range of environments. Evaluation and assessment of the models are also presented based on the review. Finally, several possible future research directions are proposed for the investigations of ETo using EC., Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-08-13 (johcin)

Cost and time performance are considered to be the most important aspects in the construction industry. The exceptional conditions that took place in Iraq since the beginning of the third millennia had a huge vicious impact on the cost and time performance of local constructionprojects. This may represent the principal motivation for the local authorities to enact some four successive legislations in order to control the performance of the construction industry. In this research, an evaluation is made to the cost and time performance of local construction projects and their variation due to the multiple changes in the internal factors that affect project performance,and changes in the surrounding events include legislative, economic, and security environment during the period that lasted from 2003 to 2014. Data is collected from 30 governmental projects to conduct the evaluation. A comprehensive questionnaire is performed to estimate a quantitative value for the impact of several factors that concern both the owner and the contractor, with special consideration to their variation through the successive legislation periods. These estimates are, in turn, utilized in a system dynamics model, in which the project development process is simulated. The final cost and duration changes in the project are accumulated in the form of stocks to give an indication of the cost and time performance of the project. The developed model returned a progressive reduction of 10.9% for the change in project cost and 135.37% for the change in project schedule throughout the eleven years period., Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-06-10 (oliekm)

Cost and time performance are considered to be the most important aspects in the construction industry. The exceptional conditions that took place in Iraq since the beginning of the third millennia had a huge vicious impact on the cost and time performance of local constructionprojects. This may represent the principal motivation for the local authorities to enact some four successive legislations in order to control the performance of the construction industry. In this research, an evaluation is made to the cost and time performance of local construction projects and their variation due to the multiple changes in the internal factors that affect project performance,and changes in the surrounding events include legislative, economic, and security environment during the period that lasted from 2003 to 2014. Data is collected from 30 governmental projects to conduct the evaluation. A comprehensive questionnaire is performed to estimate a quantitative value for the impact of several factors that concern both the owner and the contractor, with special consideration to their variation through the successive legislation periods. These estimates are, in turn, utilized in a system dynamics model, in which the project development process is simulated. The final cost and duration changes in the project are accumulated in the form of stocks to give an indication of the cost and time performance of the project. The developed model returned a progressive reduction of 10.9% for the change in project cost and 135.37% for the change in project schedule throughout the eleven years period., Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-06-10 (oliekm)

Evapotranspiration is one of the most important components of the hydrological cycle as it accounts for more than two-thirds of the global precipitation losses. Indeed, the accurate prediction of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is highly significant for many watershed activities, including agriculture, water management, crop production and several other applications. Therefore, reliable estimation of ETo is a major concern in hydrology. ETo can be estimated using different approaches, including field measurement, empirical formulation and mathematical equations. Most recently, advanced machine learning models have been developed for the estimation of ETo. Among several machine learning models, evolutionary computing (EC) has demonstrated a remarkable progression in the modeling of ETo. The current research is devoted to providing a new milestone in the implementation of the EC algorithm for the modeling of ETo. A comprehensive review is conducted to recognize the feasibility of EC models and their potential in simulating ETo in a wide range of environments. Evaluation and assessment of the models are also presented based on the review. Finally, several possible future research directions are proposed for the investigations of ETo using EC., Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-08-13 (johcin)

Native speakers can judge whether a sentence is an acceptable instance of their language. Acceptability provides a means of evaluating whether computational language models are processing language in a human-like manner. We test the ability of computational language models, simple language features, and word embeddings to predict native English speakers judgments of acceptability on English-language essays written by non-native speakers. We find that much of the sentence acceptability variance can be captured by a combination of features including misspellings, word order, and word similarity (Pearson's r = 0.494). While predictive neural models fit acceptability judgments well (r = 0.527), we find that a 4-gram model with statistical smoothing is just as good (r = 0.528). Thanks to incorporating a count of misspellings, our 4-gram model surpasses both the previous unsupervised state-of-the art (Lau et al., 2015; r = 0.472), and the average non-expert native speaker (r = 0.46). Our results demonstrate that acceptability is well captured by n-gram statistics and simple language features., Comment: 10 pages (8 pages + 2 pages of references), 1 figure, 7 tables

With the rapid growth of multi-modal data, cross-media retrieval has aroused many research interests. In this paper, the cross-media retrieval includes two tasks: query image retrieves relevant text and query text retrieves relevant images. With the development of sparse representation, two independent sparse representation classifiers are used to map the heterogeneous features of images and texts into their common semantic space before implementing similarity comparison. The proposed method makes full use of semantic information, and it is effective in the retrieving task. The performance of this method was evaluated on Wiki dataset, NUS-WIDE dataset, Wiki dataset with CNN features and Pascal dataset with CNN features. The experimental results validate its effectiveness compared with several state-of-the-art algorithms on the Mean Average Precision and other performance indexes.

Ning An,1 Haoyi Wang,2 Ji Li,3 Xiaoyang Zhai,3 Wang Jing,3 Wenxiao Jia,3 Li Kong,3 Hui Zhu,3 Jinming Yu3 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Hematology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hui Zhu; Jinming YuDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan 250117, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/fax +86 531 6762 6782; +86 531 6762 6947Email drzhuh@126.com; sdyujingming@163.comPurpose: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EGFR mutation are suffering from a high incidence of brain metastasis (BM). It is still controversial whether cranial radiotherapy could be delayed when the EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) used as first-line therapy for EGFR-positive patients with BM. This study aims to investigate the therapeutic effect of TKIs combined with concurrent cranial radiotherapy on BM.Patients and methods: NSCLC patients with EGFR mutation and BM were retrospectively analyzed from January 2013 to December 2016 in Shandong Cancer Hospital. Identified cases were treated with first-line EGFR-TKIs with or without concurrent cranial radiation.Results: A total of 64 eligible patients were enrolled in this study, while 35 patients received first-line EGFR-TKIs plus cranial radiotherapy (RT+TKI group) and 29 patients received first-line EGFR-TKIs only (TKI alone group). The intracranial progression-free survival (PFS) of the RT+TKI group was significantly longer than the TKI alone group (25 vs 16 months; p=0.019), but no significant differences were observed between the two group

Ning An,1,* Haoyi Wang,2,* Hui Zhu,3 Weiwei Yan,3 Wang Jing,3 Li Kong,3 Yan Zhang,3 Jinming Yu3 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Hematology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yan Zhang; Jinming YuDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan 250117, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 5 316 762 6782; +86 5 316 762 6947Fax +86 53 167 62 6782; +86 5 316 762 6947Email Zhangyan0681@163.com; sdyujingming@163.comAbstract: EGFR)-targeted drugs have been the first-line treatment for patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially exon 19 deletions and L858R mutation in exon 21. However, there is insufficient evidence for other less common types of EGFR mutations, such as delE709_T710insD (del 18). Recent studies have revealed that these rare genotypes could be targetable if appropriate mutations, such as delE709_T710insD (del 18). Recent studies have revealed that these rare genotypes could be targetable if appropriate EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors are selected. Here we reported a stage â…£ NSCLC patient with delE709_T710insD mutation who responded well to afatinib, a second-generation TKI. Afatinib had taken good control of the patient’s brain metastasis with a progression-free survival of 11 months and an overall survival exceeded 21 months, although he had received multi-line therapy. This case demonstrates EGFR delE709_T710insD is a rare but potentially afatinib responsive mutation in NSCLC, which m

This paper has been Retracted.Minghe Li, 1,2 Jun Ning, 3 Zhihong Li, 4 Jing Wang, 5 Cong Zhao, 5 Lei Wang 6 1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Stomatology Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China; 2Key Laboratory of Tooth Development and Bone Remodeling, School of Stomatology Jilin University, Changchun, China; 3Department of Gynaecology II, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China; 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China; 5Department of Endodontics, School of Stomatology Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China; 6Department of Periodontology, School of Stomatology Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China Background: LINC00152 plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis and progression of multiple types of cancer. However, the biological significance of LINC00152 and its potential role in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain to be determined. In the present study, we investigated the role of LINC00152 and the underlying mechanism of its oncogenic activity in OSCC. Materials and methods: The expression of LINC00152 in OSCC tissues and cell lines was detected using qRT-PCR. Cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion were measured using a cell counting kit, colony formation assay, wound healing, and transwell invasion assays, respectively. The target gene of LINC00152 was confirmed using a dual-luciferase reporter assay and qRT-PCR. A nude mouse model was established to analyze the function of LINC00152 in vivo. Results: LINC00152 expression was significantly upregulated in OSCC tissues and cell lines compared with that in normal counterparts. Upregulated LINC00152 served as an independent prognostic predictor in patients with OSCC. Moreover, knockdown of LINC00152 inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion, and suppressed the epithelial to mesenchymal transition in vitro, as well as impairing tumor growth in vivo. A

Media Industries Journal: vol. 1, no. 3, (dlps) 15031809.0001.311, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.15031809.0001.311, This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. Please contact mpub-help@umich.edu to use this work in a way not covered by the license.

Aim To select appropriate preprocessing methods for different substrates by comparing the effects of four different preprocessing methods on touch DNA samples and to determine the effect of various storage times on the results of touch DNA sample analysis. Method Hand touch DNA samples were used to investigate the detection and inspection results of DNA on different substrates. Four preprocessing methods, including the direct cutting method, stubbing procedure, double swab technique, and vacuum cleaner method, were used in this study. DNA was extracted from mock samples with four different preprocessing methods. The best preprocess protocol determined from the study was further used to compare performance after various storage times. DNA extracted from all samples was quantified and amplified using standard procedures. Results The amounts of DNA and the number of alleles detected on the porous substrates were greater than those on the non-porous substrates. The performances of the four preprocessing methods varied with different substrates. The direct cutting method displayed advantages for porous substrates, and the vacuum cleaner method was advantageous for non-porous substrates. No significant degradation trend was observed as the storage times increased. Conclusion Different substrates require the use of different preprocessing method in order to obtain the highest DNA amount and allele number from touch DNA samples. This study provides a theoretical basis for explorations of touch DNA samples and may be used as a reference when dealing with touch DNA samples in case work.

Aim To select appropriate preprocessing methods for different substrates by comparing the effects of four different preprocessing methods on touch DNA samples and to determine the effect of various storage times on the results of touch DNA sample analysis. Method Hand touch DNA samples were used to investigate the detection and inspection results of DNA on different substrates. Four preprocessing methods, including the direct cutting method, stubbing procedure, double swab technique, and vacuum cleaner method, were used in this study. DNA was extracted from mock samples with four different preprocessing methods. The best preprocess protocol determined from the study was further used to compare performance after various storage times. DNA extracted from all samples was quantified and amplified using standard procedures. Results The amounts of DNA and the number of alleles detected on the porous substrates were greater than those on the non-porous substrates. The performances of the four preprocessing methods varied with different substrates. The direct cutting method displayed advantages for porous substrates, and the vacuum cleaner method was advantageous for non-porous substrates. No significant degradation trend was observed as the storage times increased. Conclusion Different substrates require the use of different preprocessing method in order to obtain the highest DNA amount and allele number from touch DNA samples. This study provides a theoretical basis for explorations of touch DNA samples and may be used as a reference when dealing with touch DNA samples in case work.

Ge Song,1,2,* Wang Jing,3,* Song Xue,1,2 Hongbo Guo,4 Jinming Yu1,2 1Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Jinan-Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences; 2Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital Affiliated with Shandong University, Jinan, 3Department of Radiation Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shandong Cancer Hospital Affiliated with Shandong University, Jinan, China *These authors contributed equally to the work Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the incidence of nodal skip metastasis (NSM) to identify the risk factors that influence NSM and to assess the prognostic value of NSM in patients with thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Patients and methods: Between January 2009 and December 2013, 285 patients with ESCC with positive lymph nodes who underwent complete resection were enrolled.Results: For the entire group, NSM occurred in 32.3% (92/285) of patients. The median survival time and 5-year survival rate in the NSM group were 28 months and 12.0%, respectively, compared with 36.3 months and 25.0%, respectively, in the non-NSM group (P=0.008). Both N stage (P=0.001) and T stage (P=0.014) were associated with the incidence of NSM. NSM (P=0.008), T stage (P=0.000), and N stage (P=0.000) were independent prognostic factors for survival. In the NSM group, T stage (P=0.014) and N stage (P=0.000) were independent prognostic factors for survival.Conclusion: It was concluded that NSM is common in ESCC and is associated with poor survival. Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, surgery, nodal skip metastasis, incidence, risk factors, prognosis

As a novel oral drug delivery system, proliposome was applied to improve the solubility of active components of Ginkgo biloba extract (GbE). There are currently few reports focusing on the pharmacokinetic characteristics of proliposome of GbE (GbP). A rapid and sensitive ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous quantification of active components of GbP and a commercial tablet product (Ginaton) in rat plasma was developed and successfully validated. The method was applied to the comparative pharmacokinetic evaluation of GbP and Ginaton in rat plasma. The results indicated that GbP has a significant effect on absorption, elimination and bioavailability of flavonoids and terpenoid lactones in comparison with Ginaton. The obtained results would be helpful for evaluating the absorption mechanism in the gastrointestinal tract in pharmacokinetic level and guiding the development of the novel oral drug delivery system.

As a novel oral drug delivery system, proliposome was applied to improve the solubility of active components of Ginkgo biloba extract (GbE). There are currently few reports focusing on the pharmacokinetic characteristics of proliposome of GbE (GbP). A rapid and sensitive ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous quantification of active components of GbP and a commercial tablet product (Ginaton) in rat plasma was developed and successfully validated. The method was applied to the comparative pharmacokinetic evaluation of GbP and Ginaton in rat plasma. The results indicated that GbP has a significant effect on absorption, elimination and bioavailability of flavonoids and terpenoid lactones in comparison with Ginaton. The obtained results would be helpful for evaluating the absorption mechanism in the gastrointestinal tract in pharmacokinetic level and guiding the development of the novel oral drug delivery system.

A new calcium(II) complex with anti-inflammatory drug naproxen as ligand was synthesized and characterized. The binding mechanisms of calcium(II)–naproxen complex to human serum albumin (HSA) were investigated under simulative physiological conditions. The acting forces for the binding mechanisms were hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces. Calcium(II)–naproxen complex and naproxen sodium may competitively bind to HSA at the same active Site I. Albumin binding weakened under the coexistence of the two substances. Thus, combining naproxen sodium and calcium(II)–naproxen complex may enhance treatment efficacy because of the synergistic effect.

Cabin air filters are the main barrier for protecting automobile passengers from on road particulate matter. There are many studies about the evaluation of their performance in terms of filtration efficiency. However, the knowledge about the loading capacity of them is still lacking. Meanwhile, there has been no quantitative method to estimate the proper filter service life time. This study focuses on testing the loading capacity of different types of cabin air filters under the conditions of different relative humidity values and particle types. The results indicate that when the relative humidity increases, the activated carbon coated filters can adsorb significant amounts of water with no significant increase of the pressure drop. The normal fibrous filters show in contrast negligible water adsorbance. Compared with the filters loaded by Arizona road dust only, loading the filters by Arizona road dust and soot particles simultaneously will result in the steeper loading curves as well as the shift of most penetrating particle size to the smaller diameter. Finally, a new method to estimate the proper service life time of the cabin air filters is suggested based on the loading curves. © 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research

Cabin air filters are the main barrier for protecting automobile passengers from on road particulate matter. There are many studies about the evaluation of their performance in terms of filtration efficiency. However, the knowledge about the loading capacity of them is still lacking. Meanwhile, there has been no quantitative method to estimate the proper filter service life time. This study focuses on testing the loading capacity of different types of cabin air filters under the conditions of different relative humidity values and particle types. The results indicate that when the relative humidity increases, the activated carbon coated filters can adsorb significant amounts of water with no significant increase of the pressure drop. The normal fibrous filters show in contrast negligible water adsorbance. Compared with the filters loaded by Arizona road dust only, loading the filters by Arizona road dust and soot particles simultaneously will result in the steeper loading curves as well as the shift of most penetrating particle size to the smaller diameter. Finally, a new method to estimate the proper service life time of the cabin air filters is suggested based on the loading curves. © 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research

This report focuses on organizational identifiers from the perspective of academic institutions. Their ranks and reputation often determine their success in obtaining funding and attracting or retaining faculty. Identifiers provide the "glue" for institutions and funder systems to support comparing and ranking the outputs of the research process; assessing the impact of grants between institutions and their funders; and tracking and collating publications between researchers and their publishers. The report outlines a number of scenarios where the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) can be used to disambiguate organizations, including real-world examples.