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AbstractObjectiveDesignStudy sampleResultsConclusionsApproximately 30–50% of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) patients show poor response to systemic steroid therapy. Additionally, the most appropriate treatment for patients with refractory sudden sensorineural hearing loss (RSSNHL) is unknown. This study aimed to explore the best treatment for RSSNHL.Using a frequentist contrast-based model and PRISMA guidelines, this study compared five salvage regimes: intratympanic injection of steroids (ITS), hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy, post auricle steroid injection (PSI), ITS combined with HBO therapy, and continued systemic steroids.We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases for randomised controlled trials and cohort studies comparing treatment regimens for RSSNHL.Compared with the control group (no additional treatment), PSI and ITS demonstrated significant improvements. The mean hearing gain was greater after PSI (11.1 dB [95% CI, 4.4–17.9]) than after ITS (7.7 dB [95% CI, 4.8–10.7]). When a restricted definition of RSSNHL was used, the ITS + HBO therapy showed the largest difference in improvement for pure tone average compared with the control group (14.5 dB [95% CI, 4.2–25.0]).The administration of either PSI or ITS leads to the greatest therapeutic effect in patients with RSSNHL. However, a consensus on the definition of RSSNHL is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of digital transformation has profoundly impacted the diversified development of Chinese family firms. Consequently, this study investigates the influence of digital transformation on the diversification strategies of Chinese family firms, employing a sample of Chinese-listed family firms from 2016 to 2020. The findings reveal a significant contribution of digital transformation to the diversification of Chinese family firms. The analysis shows that second-generation involvement plays a moderating role, negatively affecting both digital transformation and diversification. Furthermore, the study highlights that the positive impact of digital transformation on diversification strategy is particularly notable among family firms characterised by low family authority and high innovation capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article published in the journal Remote Sensing. The correction addresses mistakes in the legend for Figure 5b,c and Figure 9, which occurred during the proofreading stage. The authors confirm that these corrections do not affect the figure captions or the scientific conclusions of the article. The corrected legend for Figure 5 provides information on the seasonal variation of the joint probability distribution of liquid water clouds over the Indochina Peninsula, while the corrected legend for Figure 9 presents the marginal probabilities of cloud top pressure with respect to cloud optical thickness in different regions. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses two methods for reconstituting injectable poly-D,L-lactic acid (PDLLA) using vacuum-assisted hydration (VAH). The first method, known as the "wet" VAH method, involves attaching a syringe containing sterile water for injection (SWFI) to a syringe housing PDLLA lumps and creating negative pressure to draw the SWFI into the lumps. The second method, known as the "dry" VAH method, involves creating a vacuum within both syringes before introducing the SWFI. Both methods are based on Boyle's law and can be completed in less than 1 minute. However, practitioners must follow aseptic procedures and have a thorough understanding of the process to avoid contamination or process failure. [Extracted from the article]

The Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) connects everything with intelligence, while the increase in energy consumption generated by numerous electronic devices puts forward an impending demand on the power supply. Energy harvesting technology has emerged as a compelling innovation technology for the net zero emissions of the power supply for the AIoT. Although significant advances have been witnessed in energy harvesting, some issues such as poor electrical output, weak environmental adaptability, and low reliability are difficult to satisfactorily resolve. Mechanical intelligent energy harvesting can be defined as the system identifying the external excitation or its own state and reacting to it, rather than relying on electrical sensing elements or a central controller for certain adaptive or programmed functions. The adaptive and programmed functions exhibit great potential in solving the above‐mentioned issues that seriously restrict the development of the energy harvesting technology. Here, a generalized definition of mechanical intelligent energy harvesting is given critically and the design methodology is elaborated. The typical reported energy harvesting systems with the characteristics of mechanical intelligence are reviewed. The key research directions in mechanical intelligent energy harvesting are discussed. The mechanical intelligence is expected to revolutionize the development of the energy‐harvesting technology and pave the way for applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A more accurate and efficient millimeter-wave imaging algorithm for a monostatic system is presented in this paper. Firstly, a more precise physical model is implemented, which considers the propagation loss of both the incident wave and scattered wave. However, this physical model cannot be processed using classical mathematical methods such as spherical wave decomposition and Weyl identity. Instead, the method of stationary phase (MSP) is applied to derive the imaging formula. As a result, the proposed algorithm achieves superior imaging results for multiple targets at different ranges. Additionally, the range stacking technique is introduced to avoid time-consuming interpolation, which also contributes to improving computational efficiency comparing to the algorithms employing interpolation. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the computation time by half. The proposed algorithm has been further verified through real data collected with our in-house developed prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete regeneration of deer antlers is based on the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of antlers have an important role in antler regeneration and rapid growth and development. HGF is mainly synthesized and secreted by mesenchymal cells. After binding to its receptor c-Met, which transduces signals into cells to stimulate cell proliferation and migration in various organs to promote tissue morphogenesis and angiogenesis. However, the role and mechanism of the HGF/c-Met signaling pathway on antler MSCs are still unclear. In this study, we established antler MSCs with overexpression and interference of HGF gene by lentivirus and small interference RNA, observed the effect of HGF/c-Met signal pathway on the proliferation and migration of antler MSCs, and detected the expression of downstream related signal pathway genes, to explore the mechanism of HGF/c-MET signal pathway on the proliferation and migration of antler MSCs. The results showed that the HGF/c-Met signal affects the expression of RAS, ERK and MEK genes, regulates the proliferation of pilose antler MSCs through Ras/Raf, MEK/ERK pathway, affects the expression of Gab1, Grb2, AKT and PI3K genes, and regulates the migration of MSCs of pilose antler through Gab1/Grb2 and PI3K/AKT pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and more accurate millimeter-wave imaging algorithm, applied to a close-range monostatic personnel screening system, with consideration of dual path propagation loss, is presented in this paper. The algorithm is developed in accordance with a more rigorous physical model for the monostatic system. The physical model treats incident waves and scattered waves as spherical waves with a more rigorous amplitude term as per electromagnetic theory. As a result, the proposed method can achieve a better focusing effect for multiple targets in different range planes. Since the mathematical methods in classical algorithms, such as spherical wave decomposition and Weyl identity, cannot handle the corresponding mathematical model, the proposed algorithm is derived through the method of stationary phase (MSP). The algorithm has been validated by numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. Good performance in terms of computational efficiency and accuracy has been observed. The synthetic reconstruction results show that the proposed algorithm has significant advantages compared with the classical algorithms, and the reconstruction by using full-wave data generated by FEKO further verifies the validity of the proposed algorithm. Finally, the proposed algorithm performs as expected over real data acquired by our laboratory prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HLA‐C*14:155 differs from HLA‐C*14:02:01:01 by one nucleotide in exon 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isorhamnetin (IRh), which has a wide range of pharmacological effects, is one of the most significant active components in the fruits of Hippophae rhamnoides L. and the leaves of Ginkgo biloba L. It protects the heart and brain, in addition to possessing anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, organ protection, and anti-obesity properties. We sought to assess IRh's anti-psoriatic activity, explore its immunomodulatory properties in reducing the severity of psoriatic symptoms, and evaluate its potential immunotherapeutic effects. We used IRh to treat imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis in BALB/C mice and examined the underlying mechanisms. The outcomes demonstrated that IRh reduced epidermal hyperplasia, lowered PASI scores, and improved histopathological psoriasiform lesions in IMQ-induced mice. IRh attenuated the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA), and also reversed the reduction caused by IMQ of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in skin tissues. Additionally, IRh effectively inhibited IMQ's ability to increase proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-6, IL-17A, and transcription factor NF-κB. Furthermore, IRh significantly reduced the percentage of Th1 and Th17 in the spleens of mice treated with IMQ and suppressed the maturation of splenic dendritic cells. Overall, our research suggests that IRh protects against oxidative stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, with potential for the development of new and potent medication for the treatment of psoriasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the Taiwan Strait, the geographical channel effect (GCE) has been observed in the Taipei Basin during winters. This study explored the potential links amongst GCE phenomena in the basin, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) events, and position of the continental high-pressure system (CHPS). Principal component analysis was applied to classify the CHPS distribution patterns influencing PM2.5 concentrations and meteorological parameters in the Taipei metropolis. In addition, non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis and Dwass–Steel–Critchlow–Fligner tests were applied to compare the parameters amongst distinct groups. Moreover, track analysis was utilised to trace the trajectories of air masses. The merged Dark Target Aerosol Angstrom Exponent (Ocean), Deep Blue Aerosol Angstrom Exponent (Land), and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) 3 km (Land and Ocean) of Terra/MODIS and Aqua/MODIS were used to confirm the connection of long-range PM2.5 transport. Two features in the atmospheric environment induce double GCEs: (1) wind direction below 90° in most of the upwind area of the Taisumi and Xindian River Basins; (2) CHPS centres moved across 110° E. Double GCEs can reduce the magnitude of PM2.5 air pollution and shape the distribution of PM2.5; however, they cannot prevent PM2.5 events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Filler injection for lower eyelid rejuvenation remains a difficult subject due to many complicated anatomic changes as the face ages. Objectives: To propose an alternative, simple, and effective filler injection method in lower eyelids for Asian patients. Methods: Any patient who has tear trough deformities, infra‐orbital hollows, nasojugal grooves, dark eye circles, as well as mild eyebags is a potential candidate for this method. Our filler choice is injectable poly‐d,l‐lactic acid (PDLLA; AestheFill; REGEN). PDLLA must be reconstituted with sterile water for injection (SWFI) before administration. When the patient's troughs, grooves, or volume deficit are classes II and III, 3–4 ml of SWFI and 1 ml of lidocaine are used. When the deficits are class I, 5–7 ml of SWFI and 1 ml of lidocaine are used. With the fanning injection technique, a wide region that covers all the deficits is evenly injected. The depth is under the dermis layer. The total amount of filler injection is not more than 2 ml on each side. Results: Since 2019, we have injected more than 100 patients by following these steps in Taiwan. The level of patient satisfaction is high. Only some mild and transient post‐injection complications such as edema, erythema, and ecchymosis were found. Conclusions: We propose an alternative, simple and effective method for non‐surgical lower eyelid rejuvenation for Asian patients. However, anyone who wants to perform this procedure should be well‐trained and knowledgeable about the anatomy, product, and procedure to prevent adverse events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exacerbated precipitation–temperature relationship can lead to compound extremes. The role of clouds in such a relationship is relatively uncertain. Here, we investigate the cloud–precipitation–temperature relationships over the Indochina Peninsula during the summer monsoon transition. The negative correlation between cloudiness/precipitation and surface maximum temperature is valid on seasonal and interannual timescales. The near-surface temperature exhibits interdecadal variability and a long-term warming trend. The warming trend has accelerated in the past two decades. In the anomalous warm years, the remarkably strong western Pacific subtropical high inhibits the development of clouds, especially the middle and high cloud-top regimes, leading to the suppression of deep convection and precipitation. There are more optically thin (moderate to thick) clouds with smaller (larger) effective radii in the high cloud-top regime for the warm (cold) years. The dominance of shallow cumulus is a distinct feature in the warm years. The daytime heating of enhanced surface insolation due to decreased cloudiness is worsened by the dry condition of the precipitation deficit. The water vapor warming effect can prevent an efficient drop in nighttime temperature, thereby exacerbating the warm condition under the warming trend. The cloud–precipitation–temperature relationships coupling with the monsoon development can be used to diagnose the regional scale cloud–climate interactions in climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human reliability analysis (HRA) is a proactive approach to model and evaluate systematic human errors and has been extensively implemented in various complicated systems. The assessment of human errors relies heavily on the knowledge and experience of experts in real‐world cases. Moreover, there are usually specific sorts of uncertainty while experts use linguistic labels to evaluate human failure events. In this context, this paper seeks to establish a new model based on the hesitant fuzzy matrix (HFM) and the cognitive reliability and error analysis method (CREAM) to conduct a quantitative analysis of human errors. This model handles the multiple crisp scores of the common performance conditions (CPCs) given by experts according to the context description in terms of CPCs, determines the weights of CPCs by the HFM, and elicits the human error probability (HEP) point estimation formula considering consequences based on the CREAM. Finally, the effectiveness and practicality of the presented HFM‐CREAM model are demonstrated through the emergency response analysis of the steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) in nuclear power plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deformations in dam structures can have a critical impact on dam safety and life. Accurate methods for dam deformation prediction and safety evaluation are thus highly needed. Dam deformations can be predicted based on many factors. The analysis of these influences on the deformation of the dam reveals a problem that deserves further attention: dam deformation lags behind environmental factors of the water level and temperature as well as the time lag of the temporal dam deformation data. In this paper, a hybrid deep learning model is proposed to enhance the accuracy of dam deformation forecasting based on lag indices of these factors. In particular, dam deformations are predicted using deep networks based on gated recurrent units (GRUs), which can effectively capture the temporal characteristics of dam deformation. In addition, an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm is used for optimizing the GRU hyperparameters. Furthermore, the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise algorithm (CEEMDAN) and the partial autocorrelation function (PACF) are exploited to select the lag factor indices. The accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed CEEMDAN–PACF–IPSO–GRU hybrid model were evaluated and compared with those of other existing models in terms of four different evaluation indices (MAE, MSE, R2 , and RMSE) and using 9-year historical data for the case of a pulp-masonry arch dam in China. The experimental results show that our model outperforms other models in terms of the deformation prediction accuracy (R2 increased by 0.16%–9.74%, while the other indices increased by 14.55% to reach 96.69%), and hence represents a promising framework for general analysis of dam deformations and other types of structural behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological vision mechanism plays a very important role in detecting object contour information, so the research of bio-inspired contour detection has attracted widespread attention. In the visual physiological mechanism of contour detection, complex cells in the primary visual cortex (V1) receive the target edges output by simple cells, and subsequently aggregate and integrate the edges into contours. Inspired by the receptive field properties of complex cells in the V1 area, we design a contour detection network with an encoder-decoder structure, called the clustered suppression network. In the encoding network, we propose a feature aggregation encoding framework inspired by the clustered distribution properties of complex cells. At the same time, based on the inhibition mechanism properties of the non-classical receptive field of complex cells and the response properties to motion edges, we propose a suppression module and a spatial motion detection module, which are integrated into the encoding network. In the decoding network, we propose a highly aggregated decoding network inspired by the horizontal connection properties of complex cells. Choosing the BSDS500 natural scene dataset as the experimental object, the F-score is selected as the evaluation index. The average optimal F-score on a single-scale of the proposed method is 0.802. Concurrently, the NYUD-v2 dataset and BIPED dataset are used for further verification and achieved good results. The codes are available at https://github.com/smallsunq/CSNet-Contour-detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A newly constructed thermal dissociation cavity ring-down spectrometer (TD-CRDS) for the simultaneous measurement of ambient total peroxy nitrates (ΣPNs, RO 2 NO 2), total alkyl nitrates (ΣANs, RONO 2), and NO 2 was presented in this work. ΣPNs and ΣANs were detected as NO 2 with the CRDS instrument after thermal dissociation. PNs and ANs completely dissociated at 180 °C and 360 °C, with conversion efficiencies of 96 % and 99 %, respectively. The effects of NO 2 and NO on measurement in different temperatures and two types of thermal dissociation inlet (TDI) were further explored. The influence of ambient NO 2 and NO on PNs and ANs in the improved TDI (TDI-2) was significantly improved. To further enhance the measurement accuracy, the consistency of the observed NO 2 in the three channels was tested, which achieved good agreement. The detection limits of the TD-CRDS instrument for NO 2 , ΣPNs, and ΣANs were determined as 6.5, 6.8, and 8.6 pptv (10 s, 1σ), respectively. Observations of PNs and ANs were conducted in a suburban site in Hefei, China, from September 2–30, 2021, using the TD-CRDS instrument, and the consecutive time series of PNs and ANs were derived, verifying the capability of the TD-CRDS instrument for continuous field observations of ΣPNs and ΣANs. [Display omitted] • A newly developed three-channel TD-CRDS instrument could simultaneously quantify ΣPNs, ΣANs, and NO 2. • The effects of NO 2 and NO on the measurements of PNs and ANs greatly ameliorated in the improved TDI. • The dissociation of PNs at 360 °C essentially did not affect the measurement of ANs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine acupuncture-related treatments' effects and duration on improving cognitive function, physical function, and quality of life in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Data sources: Eight electronic databases were searched for eligible randomized controlled trials from database inception to January 2021, including Medline, PubMed, EBSCO, Embase, Cochrane, Airiti Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and China Journal Full-text Database. Review methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted on acupuncture types, cognitive function, activity of daily life, muscle strength and quality of life. Results: Sixty-six studies in total with 4191 participants, the overall risk of bias was classified 60% as low and 24% as high. Acupuncture-related treatments for cognitive function and self-care ability revealed a moderate effect size, with a significant difference in noninvasive and invasive remedies (p < 0.001). Cognitive function showed significant differences in 6, 8, 12, and 24 weeks while self-care ability in the latter two weeks (p < 0.001). Meta-regression analysis showed cognitive function increased by 0.05 points (p = 0.002) and self-care ability decreased by 0.02 points (p = 0.04) after weekly treatment. There was a significant difference in muscle strength (p = 0.0003). Conclusion: Acupuncture-related treatments effectively improved cognitive function with the treatment lasted 6 weeks at least, but self-care ability started showing effects after 12 weeks of treatment. The improvement of muscle strength was also confirmed. Acupuncture-related treatments, particularly noninvasive ones, have few complications and high safety, perhaps providing patients and caregivers diversified choices and clinical care guidelines for reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Oxidative stress has been proven to be essential in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC). Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effect of Gegen Qinlian decoction (GQ) on the Nrf2 pathway in the treatment of UC and explore the potential mechanism. Methods. The UC rat model was induced by 5% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) aqueous solution, and UC rats were treated with GQ orally. The effect of GQ on UC rats was recorded. Human clonal colon adenocarcinoma cells (Caco-2) stimulated by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were employed in this study. After being stimulated with TNF-α for 2 hours, Caco-2 cells were cultured with GQ or its major components (puerarin, baicalin, berberine, and liquiritin) for 22 hours. In addition, the Nrf2 gene of Caco-2 cells was silenced and then cultured with GQ for 22 hours. The contents of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), and malondialdehyde (MDA) in colonic tissues and Caco-2 cells were detected by assay kits. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) in Caco-2 cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot were employed to detect the mRNA and protein expression of Nrf2 and its related target genes in colon tissues and Caco-2 cells. Results. GQ alleviated the injured colonic mucosa and activated the expression of Nrf2 in UC rats. In TNF-α stimulated Caco-2 cells and Nrf2 silenced Caco-2 cells, GQ also reversed the inhibitory effect of Nrf2. Furthermore, the major components of GQ could activate Nrf2 signaling in TNF-α stimulated cells as well. Moreover, the contents of SOD, GSH, MDA, and ROS were restored to normal after treatment with GQ or its major components. Among these components, puerarin, berberine, and liquiritin appear to have a better effect on activating Nrf2 in vitro. Overall, GQ can alleviate UC by increasing the activity of Nrf2/ARE signaling and enhancing the effect of antioxidant stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive observations of the nocturnal atmospheric oxidation of NO 3 and N 2 O 5 were conducted at a suburban site in Changzhou in the YRD using cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) from 27 May to 24 June, 2019. High concentrations of NO 3 precursors were observed, and the nocturnal production rate of NO 3 was determined to be 1.7 ± 1.2 ppbv/hr. However, the nighttime NO 3 and N 2 O 5 concentrations were relatively low, with maximum values of 17.7 and 304.7 pptv, respectively, illustrating the rapid loss of NO 3 and N 2 O 5. It was found that NO 3 dominated the nighttime atmospheric oxidation, accounting for 50.7%, while O 3 and OH only contributed 34.1% and 15.2%, respectively. For the reactions of NO 3 with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), styrene was found to account for 60.3%, highlighting its dominant role in the NO 3 reactivity. In general, the contributions of the reactions between NO 3 and VOCs and the N 2 O 5 uptake to NO 3 loss were found to be about 39.5% and 60.5%, respectively, indicating that N 2 O 5 uptake also played an important role in the loss of NO 3 and N 2 O 5 , especially under the high humidity conditions in China. The formation of nitrate at night mainly originated from N 2 O 5 uptake, and the maximum production rate of NO 3 − reached 6.5 ppbv/hr. The average NO x consumption rate via NO 3 and N 2 O 5 chemistry was found to be 0.4 ppbv/h, accounting for 47.9% of the total NO x removal. The predominant roles of NO 3 and N 2 O 5 in nitrate formation and NOx removal in the YRD region was highlighted in this study. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General theory of holographic inversion with linear frequency modulation (GHI-LFM) has been proposed recently, providing the framework for further advances in the holographic methods for image reconstruction with millimeter-wave linear frequency modulation (LFM) radar. Here, accelerated holographic imaging (AHI)-LFM, an AHI method for LFM radar that exploits range stacking, is proposed. The method is developed and validated for the purpose of whole-body security screening. The image quality and the computational efficiency are compared with the original GHI-LFM algorithm. It is demonstrated that the AHI-LFM algorithm improves the reconstruction speed by at least an order of magnitude while preserving the same image quality for the image sizes arising in practical whole-body security screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical decisions about whether and how to integrate sustainability measures into the life cycle activities of green buildings are made in the early architectural design phase. To this end, researchers have advocated the use of various green building simulation technologies (GBSTs) to perform sustainability analyses to support integrated architectural design processes, cross-disciplinary communications, and evidence-based decision making. However, the adoption of GBSTs in architectural design practices remains limited. Building on the technology acceptance model, this paper investigates the determinants and mechanisms that influence the adoption of GBSTs in practice. Empirical data collected from architectural designers in Taiwan through qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey show that perceived usefulness is a strong predictor of designers' intentions to adopt GBSTs. Job relevance, result demonstrability, compatibility, and competitive advantage are also important determinants of GBST adoption. Practical recommendations are offered to encourage greater adoption of GBSTs in architectural design practices. Theoretically, this research extends the technology adoption literature in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry by broadening and deepening the understanding of context-specific determinants of GBST adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edge detection is of critical importance for middle-level and high-level tasks in computer vision. Existing edge detection methods usually use VGG16 as the encoding network and achieve exceptional performance through transfer learning, which has the characteristics of high parameters and high computational cost. Researchers have implemented edge detection by designing decoding networks. Unlike existing methods, this paper is inspired by the effective mechanisms of edge detection in the parallel pathway of biological vision and proposes a new lightweight encoding–decoding structure for edge detection networks, which we refer to as XYW-Net. In the encoding network, we drew inspiration from the receptive field properties of X-type cells, Y-type cells, and W-type cells involved in the parallel pathway, and developed more meticulous convolutional models. Based on the structure of the parallel pathway, the three cell modules are combined into a novel encoding network and excellent feature extraction performance is obtained. Within the decoding network, this paper draws inspiration from the feature integration ability of the inferotemporal cortex (IT) and introduces a novel feature integration module to constitute the decoding network. Experiments show that the proposed network in this paper obtains the Optimal Dataset Scale (ODS) = 0.812 on the BSDS500 dataset with only 0.79 M parameters. Additionally, the model has exhibited outstanding ODS performance on various publicly available edge detection datasets, including NYUD, BIPEDv1, and Multicue. Moreover, future research could concentrate on implementing more efficient antagonistic mechanisms and devising networks grounded in higher-level visual cortical mechanisms. This could further augment the performance and efficiency of edge detection networks. We encourage researchers to delve into these directions within the field. The codes are available at https://github.com/PXinTao/XYW-Net. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart floor is an indispensable component of future smart buildings, it is urgent to develop a low-cost, self-powered, and high reliability smart floor. Herein, we propose a disposable cups inspired self-powered smart floor (DCIS-floor) for trajectory recognition and human-interactive sensing. The conical surface of the cup-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is greater than the projected area, resulting in an increased working area of functional materials on a limited floor. This enables more power generation units to be arranged on the limited floor while ensuring that each unit can generate sufficient electricity. Both pressure and shear force are applied as two conical surfaces contact, increasing the degree of contact between functional materials while avoiding excessive frictional force and wear during working process. Compared to cylindrical structures, conical structures offer greater flexibility in contact-separation without intricate machining and assembly, which is ideal for efficient large-area manufacturing. In the experiments, DCIS-floor achieves object motion trajectory recognition, visual recognition based trajectory wireless sensing, and pressure distribution sensing functions. Utilizing a convolutional neural network for data analysis, DCIS-floor realizes personnel identification. This work provides an effective method for smart floors in the safety monitoring, intelligent identification, and emergency rescue of future smart buildings. [Display omitted] • A disposable cups inspired self-powered smart floor is proposed. • The conical surfaces increase the contact degree between functional materials. • The conical structures offer greater flexibility in contact-separation motion. • The trajectory printing and human-interactive sensing system is realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Different statin classes showed protective effects: hydrophilic statins (aHR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.17–0.85), lipophilic statins (aHR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.21–0.50). • Cumulative defined daily doses (cDDD) showed dose–response relationship for stroke risk reduction. • Pravastatin and atorvastatin demonstrated significant reductions in stroke occurrence. • Statin use during CCRT period associated with lower risk of radiation-induced stroke in NPC patients. • Implications for stroke risk reduction warrant further investigation in clinical trials. This cohort study aimed to evaluate the impact of statin use on ischemic stroke risk in patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) undergoing standard concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Using data from the Taiwan Cancer Registry Database, we conducted an inverse probability of treatment-weighted Cox regression analysis to examine the association between statin use during CCRT and ischemic stroke risk. The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for ischemic stroke in the statin group compared to the non-statin group was 0.70 (95 % CI: 0.54–0.92; P < 0.0107). This protective effect was observed across different statin classes, with hydrophilic statins such as pravastatin showing an aHR of 0.37 (95 % CI: 0.17–0.85) and lipophilic statins including atorvastatin displaying an aHR of 0.32 (95 % CI: 0.21–0.50) compared to non-statin use. Analysis of cumulative defined daily doses (cDDD) revealed a dose–response relationship, with lower stroke risk observed in higher quartiles of cDDD. Additionally, patients with a daily defined dose (DDD) > 1 had a reduced risk of stroke with an aHR of 0.49 (95 % CI: 0.31–0.63), while those with DDD ≤ 1 showed an aHR of 0.59 (95 % CI: 0.40–0.84). Our study provides evidence supporting the beneficial effects of statin use during the CCRT period in reducing radiation-induced stroke risk among patients with advanced NPC undergoing definitive CCRT. Notably, pravastatin and atorvastatin demonstrated significant reductions in stroke occurrence. Furthermore, the findings suggest a dose–response relationship, where higher cumulative doses and greater daily dose intensity of statin use were associated with a lower risk of stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate poverty alleviation (APA) is crucial to building a well-off society in an all-round way. Companies and the capital market are implementers of APA. In the context of stock price collapse risk (SPCR), this paper verifies whether the APA by state-owned listed enterprises (SOLEs) could effectively suppress SPCR. Empirical results show that SOLEs engaging in APA and investing heavily in APA have a relatively low SPCR. This conclusion holds after the control of robustness and endogenous factors. Information disclosure system mediates the effect of APA on SPCR. Besides, APA suppresses SPCR more significantly in central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and public welfare SOEs. Further analysis indicates that good institutional environment, strong poverty alleviation pressure, poverty experience of executives, and model of party organization governance can effectively enhance the influence of APA on SPCR. The research results suggest that SOLEs actively engaging in APA can effectively suppress SPCR by disclosing APA information. This is an organic manifestation of APA effectiveness in the capital market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics is the booster of economic development, and it is imperative to further improve the logistics energy efficiency and adjust its development model. This paper is an attempt to investigate the logistics energy efficiency and main influencing factors of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which is the most economically intensive region that spans East, Central, and West China. The input-oriented SBM-DEA model is employed to identify factors such as energy input, undesirable output, and service capacity output as well as the logistics energy efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Belt. Energy efficiency is then further decomposed into pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency, and technical efficiency, from the perspective of which provinces and cities are compared. The research results show that the logistics energy efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Belt needs to be further improved and that energy efficiency differs greatly among cities and provinces, indicating that the development is quite unbalanced in different areas. Therefore, the local government should develop development strategies according to the main influencing factors and constraints to the local logistics industry, so as to optimize and upgrade the energy structure of the logistics industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulated by the "Belt and Road" Initiative (BRI), Chinese enterprises are participating in the markets of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). With the Chinese local SOEs from 2007 to 2017 as samples, this paper empirically verified the impact of the introduction of foreign-invested shares (foreign shares for short) on the international competitiveness of these enterprises, as well as the mediation effect of the BRI strategy. In this paper, we propose neuro -fuzzy network based correlation analysis and empirical analysis found that there's a significant positive correlation between the introduction of foreign shares and the international competitiveness of Chinese local SOEs, that is, compared with local SOEs without foreign shares, those with foreign shares enjoy stronger international competitiveness when participating in the Central and Eastern European market; after the mediation effect of BRI has been taken into consideration, the introduction of foreign shares further strengthened the positive impact on the international competitiveness of these enterprises. This is because the BRI has significantly promoted the participation of Chinese SOEs in the Central and Eastern European market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, contour detection algorithm has made obvious progress with the help of convolutional neural networks. The aim of this paper is to present a novel network connecting low‐ and high‐resolution features to make the network achieving richer feature representation. First, VGG net is used as encoding part with outputting the features of different resolutions, and then the feature maps are combined in some specific resolution with up‐ or down‐sample method. The combining process can be stack step‐by‐step. The proposed network makes the encoding part deeper to extract richer convolutional features. The experiments have shown that the proposed method improves the contour detection performances and outperform some existed convolutional neural networks based methods on BSDS500 and NYUD‐V2 datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Undetectable HCV RNA 12 weeks after the end of treatment (SVR12) has been the valid efficacy endpoint in the era of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Its concordance with SVR4 and SVR24 and long-term durability is unknown in Taiwanese chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. Methods: A total of 1080 CHC patients who received all-oral DAAs and an achieved end-of-treatment virological response (EOTVR), defined as undetectable HCV RNA at the end of therapy, were consecutively enrolled. HCV RNA was monitored 4, 12, and 24 weeks after EOT. Patients who achieved SVR24, defined as undetectable HCV RNA 24 weeks after EOT, were followed annually for assessing SVR durability. Results: Eleven (1.02%) patients experienced HCV RNA reappearance after EOT. The most frequent timing of RNA reappearance was observed at SVR4 (n = 7), followed by SVR12 (n = 3) and SVR 24 (n = 1). The positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of SVR4 in predicting SVR12 were 99.7% and 100%, respectively, whereas the PPV and NPV of SVR12 in predicting SVR24 were 99.9% and 100%, respectively. Pyrosequencing confirmed delayed relapse rather than reinfection for the patient who had detectable HCV RNA at SVR24. Among 978 patients who achieved SVR24, after a median follow-up period of 17.3±8.2 months, the SVR durability is 100% up to a 4-year follow-up. Conclusion: Achievement of SVR12 provides excellent durability of HCV seroclearance after DAA therapy. On-demand HCV RNA beyond SVR12 should be recommended for patients with unexplainable abnormal liver function or high-risk behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In July 2018, Super Typhoon Maria moved in the northwestward direction, passed by the northern tip of Taiwan Island, and severely impacted the coasts along Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces, China. In this paper, the storm surge and wind waves induced by Typhoon Maria are numerically simulated using a weather research and forecasting (WRF) model and the wind–surge–wave modeling suite [semi-implicit cross-scale hydroscience integrated system model (SCHISM)—wind wave model III (WWMIII)]. Numerical results are compared against available field measurements, including winds, atmospheric pressures, storm tides, and wave parameters. Using the model results, the significance of waves on modulating storm surges during Typhoon Maria is examined. Wind waves contribute significantly to surge heights in the Taiwan Strait and in nearshore waters. The models are then employed to conduct numerical experiments by reducing the topographic heights of Taiwan to 25% of their original values so as to investigate their effects on wind fields, surges, and currents. From these results, we observe that reduced topography weakens the wind intensity on the eastern side of the island while intensifying the wind on the other side of the island by up to 10 m/s, which is due to the terrain-induced blocking and channeling effects. The scenario with reduced topography also shows elevated surge heights on the right-hand side of typhoon landfalling coasts but slightly attenuated surge in the Taiwan Strait. Storm surge tends to increase the southwestwardly flux via the Taiwan Strait with maximum current velocities increased by approximately 0.5 m/s, compared with the case induced by astronomical tides only. The reduced island topography slightly weakens the southwestwardly current, decreasing maximum flux by approximately 16%, relative to the hindcast simulation using the original island topography. The results in this study indicate that the presence of island influences the propagation of surge wave with elevated surge height and storm-induced flux in the Taiwan Strait, this blocking effect weakens with reduced island topographic heights; meanwhile, the terrain-induced channeling effect, which alters the typhoon circulation and further impacts the surge pattern, is prone to forming in the case of high island topography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Springtime is the biomass burning (BB) season in Indochina. BB emissions are transported to East Asia and Taiwan at elevations of between 2000 and 4000 m and then transported downward to the near-surface layer when weather conditions are favorable. In this study, a numerical model, the Weather Research Forecast with Chemistry (WRF–Chem) model with tracer simulation was employed to explore the downward transport mechanisms and evaluate their potential effects on the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and near-surface layer during the springtime (Feb.–April) in 2018. Ambient backscatter was measured through LiDAR, aerosol optical depth was measured by MODIS and Himawari-8 satellites and by ground observations from the stations of AERONET. The data were applied to identify the transport mechanisms and evaluate the performance of the model. We summarized the downward transport mechanisms surrounding Taiwan, including the thermal effects of mountain downslope circulations (MDC), frontal secondary circulation (FSC) downward transport, and the mixing of MDC and FSC (MMF). Over Taiwan, the contributions of BB emissions for the MDC to the near-surface layer (<500 m), PBL (<1500 m), and free atmosphere (1500–6000 m) were 0.4%, 4.7%, and >95%, respectively, during springtime in 2018. For the FSC (MMF) mechanisms, the BB contributions to the near-surface layer, PBL, and free atmosphere were 2.5% (3.3%), 15.7% (17.1%), and 84.3% (82.9%), respectively. MMF occurred the most frequently among these three mechanisms and had the largest effect on the near-surface layer and PBL. The downward contributions of BB in different regions, including Taiwan, southern China, and the East China Sea (ECS), were also evaluated. Southern China had the highest value (11.0% [2.1%]) in the PBL (near-surface layer), followed by Taiwan and the ECS (8.2% [1.2%] and 4.5% [0.4%]). Overall, this research fills a gap in our understanding of the mechanisms by which BB emissions are transported to the surface and how they affect air quality in East Asia in general and Taiwan in particular. • We analyzed the BB emissions transport from Indochina to East Asia in general. • The downward transport mechanisms of aloft BB emissions have been explored. • The Impacts of BB emission on the PBL over the study regions were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a general theory of the holographic image reconstruction with linear frequency modulation (LFM) radars. For the first time, the system limitations in terms of the object extent and distance are derived and explicitly related to the LFM radar frequency-modulation slope $\gamma $. The holographic inversion formula is improved to account for the spherical spread of the scattered wave. The theory and the generalized holographic inversion algorithm are validated by synthetic benchmark data as well as experimental data from an in-house LFM-radar prototype operating at 29.9-GHz central frequency and bandwidth of 5.8 GHz. Experiments confirm that the lateral spatial resolution is about 5 mm. For optimal performance, the system is calibrated using a simple but effective calibration approach based on a measurement with a metallic plate. Experiments, with a volunteer carrying metallic and nonmetallic objects, demonstrate very good performance in realistic scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the smart grid and big data environment, accurate and large amount of power load data for users can be obtained with the wide application of non-intrusive load monitoring technology. In the research process of customers' information, information security protection of users' electricity data has become a research hotspot urgently. This article proposes a new type of load decomposition method for electric vehicle load information and compares it with hidden Markov model algorithm to verify its accuracy. On this basis, the elliptic curve encryption algorithm is used to encrypt the users' electricity data, and the function and effectiveness of the encryption algorithm are verified by comparing the load decomposition of the electric vehicle with the unencrypted data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been significant progress in contour detection with the development of convolutional neural networks. To improve the detection performance of the object contour in the complex scenes, we proposed a novel lateral refinement network (LRNet) that extracts feature information from multiple refinement modules. In addition, we modified LRNet to train an effective contour detector, called lateral refinement contour (LRC). LRNet expands the generic refinement architecture and has different refinement levels that make the refinement network deeper to extract richer convolutional features. The low-level refinement modules explicitly exploit information available along the side output of the down-sampling process, and the high-level refinement modules attempt to fuse the low-level output features. The proposed method improves the performance of image-to-image predictions by deep-stacking all the meaningful refinement levels in a holistic manner. Using the pre-trained VGG16 network and Resnet network as backbones to train LRNet, we achieved state-of-the-art performance on several available datasets. The experimental results on the BSDS dataset are ODS = 0.816 and ODS = 0.820, and the experimental results on the NYUD-v2 dataset are ODS = 0.761 and ODS = 0.760. Especially, the results on BSDS500 surpassed the human-level performance under stricter criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Projection adjustment is a technique that improves the rate of convergence, as measured by the number of iterations needed to achieve a given level of performance, of the Kaczmarz algorithm (KA) for iteratively solving a system of consistent linear equations, however at the cost of requiring additional time per iteration and increased storage. This hinders the applicability of the previously published Kaczmarz algorithm with projection adjustment (KAPA) to large-scale problems. An enhancement EKAPA of KAPA that uses projection adjustment only for a small subset of the equations is proposed for significantly reducing the time and storage requirements. An analysis of the behavior of EKAPA is provided. An illustration is given to show that EKAPA using a small subset of the equations for projection adjustment can achieve a speed-up over KA similar to that of KAPA in terms of the number of iterations, but requires much less computer time and storage; hence, it is more suitable for large-scale problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the key technology for Internet of things, wireless sensor networks have received more attentions in recent years. Mobile localization is one of the significant topics in wireless sensor networks. In wireless sensor network, non-line-of-sight propagation is a common phenomenon leading to the growing non-line-of-sight error. It is a fatal impact for the localization accuracy of the mobile target. In this article, a novel method based on the nearest neighbor variable estimation is proposed to mitigate the non-line-of-sight error. First, the linear regression model of the extended Kalman filter is used to obtain the residual of the distance measurement value. After that, the residual analysis is used to complete the identification of the measurement value state. Then, by analyzing the statistical characteristics of the non-line-of-sight residual, the nearest neighbor variable estimation is proposed to estimate the probability density function of residual. Finally, the improved M-estimation is proposed to locate the mobile robot. Experiment results prove that the accuracy and robustness of the proposed algorithm are better than other methods in the mixed line-of-sight/non-line-of-sight environment. The proposed algorithm effectively inhibits the non-line-of-sight error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of intelligent transportation systems, enormous amounts of delay-sensitive vehicular services have been emerging and challenge both the architectures and protocols of vehicular networks. However, existing cloud computing-embedded vehicular networks cannot guarantee timely data processing or service access, due to long propagation delay and traffic congestion at the cloud center. Meanwhile, the current distributed network architecture does not support scalable network management, leading the intelligent data computing policies to be undeployable. With this motivation, we propose to introduce fog computing into vehicular networks and define the Multiple Time-constrained Vehicular applications Scheduling (MTVS) issue. First, to improve the network flexibility and controllability, we introduce a Fog-based Base Station (FBS) and propose a Software-Defined Networking (SDN)-enabled architecture dividing the networks into network, fog, and control layers. To address MTVS issue, instead of normal centralized computing-based approaches, we propose to distribute mobile delay-sensitive task in data-level over multiple FBSs. In particular, we regard the fog layer of SDN-enabled network as an FBS-based network and propose to distribute the computing task based on the FBSs along multiple paths in the fog layer. By Linear Programming, we optimize the optimal data distribution/transmission model by formulating the delay computation model. Then, we propose a hybrid scheduling algorithm including both local scheduling and fog scheduling, which can be deployed on the proposed SDN-enabled vehicular networks. Simulation results demonstrate that our approach performs better than some recent research outcomes, especially in the success rate for addressing MTVS issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years has seen Chinese enterprises competing to broaden the scope of business through the internationalization strategy. The proliferation of the strategy is attributable to the favorable environment created by the Chinese government with the increasingly stringent requirements on corporate social responsibility. The external pressure of social responsibility has also stimulated the fulfillment of social responsibility within the enterprises. Against this backdrop, this paper constructs a mathematical model with the constraint of external social responsibility pressure and applies the model to examine the effect of the internationalization strategy of Chinese enterprises on enterprise value. The research finds that: First, the internationalization strategy enhances the enterprise value; the stakeholders will jointly promote the strategy once they are aware of its significance. Second, with the increase in the external pressure of social responsibility, the enterprises will promote enterprise value through the implementation of social responsibility. Third, the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility contributes to the proliferation of internationalization strategy and further enhances the long-term enterprise value. These modeling conclusions are validated through an empirical test. This research enriches the exploration into the internationalization strategy of enterprises in emerging markets and pioneers the study on the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility from the external angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The saline infusion test (SIT) is a common confirmatory test for primary aldosteronism (PA). According to the guideline, a postinfusion plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) of 5‐10 ng/dL is considered indeterminate, and recommendations for diagnostic strategies are currently limited in this situation. Objective: To explore whether an addition of the captopril challenge test (CCT) could improve the diagnostic accuracy in patients with indeterminate SIT. Methods: A total of 280 hypertensive patients with high risk of PA completed this study. Subjects were defined as SIT indeterminate based on their PAC post‐SIT. These patients then underwent the CCT where PACs post‐CCT >11 ng/dL were considered positive. Using fludrocortisone suppression test (FST) as the reference standard, diagnostic parameters including area under the receiver‐operator characteristic curves (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Results: There were 65 subjects (23.2%) diagnosed as PA indeterminate after SIT. With the addition of CCT, true‐positive numbers increased from 134 to 147, and false‐negative numbers decreased from 27 to 14. Compared to SIT alone, a combination of SIT and CCT showed a higher AUC (0.91 [0.87,0.94] vs 0.87 [0.83,0.91], P =.041) and an increased sensitivity for the diagnosis of PA (0.91 [0.86,0.95] vs 0.83 [0.76,0.89], P =.028), while the specificity remained similar. In the subgroup with indeterminate SIT results, using PAC post‐CCT resulted in a 36% higher AUC than using PAC post‐SIT alone for the diagnosis of PA. Conclusion: For patients under investigation for possible PA who have indeterminate SIT results, an addition of CCT improves the diagnostic accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The multiphase computed tomography angiography (mCTA) is superior to the noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) in selecting patients that would benefit from mechanical thrombectomy following an acute ischemic stroke (AIS). It remains unclear whether the longer examination time of mCTA worsens outcomes of intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV r-tPA) or increases the risk of hemorrhagic transformation (HT) compared to NCCT in Asian stroke patients. Methods: Between January 2011 and December 2017, 199 AIS patients receiving IV r-tPA with initial National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores between 6 and 25 were enrolled in a single medical center. Onset-to-needle time (ONT), door-to-needle time (DNT), and creatinine levels before and after thrombolysis were recorded. We evaluated NIHSS scores 2, 24 h after treatment, and at discharge, the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at discharge, and mortality rate. The presence of HT was reviewed within 7 days after thrombolysis. Results: DNT, perithrombolysis creatinine levels, NIHSS, and mRS scores at the emergency room were similar between the NCCT and mCTA groups. ONT was shorter in the mCTA group. AIS patients got more significant neurologic improvement (NIHSS decrease ≥4) after thrombolysis and physically independent (mRS ≤2) at discharge in the mCTA group. Mortality rates, symptomatic, and total HT rates were similar between the NCCT and mCTA groups. Conclusion: Comparing to NCCT, mCTA-based IV r-tPA would not delay DNT nor worsen the outcome. Furthermore, mCTA provides more information for early identification of candidates for mechanical thrombectomy in Asian AIS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human energy harvesting for powering wearable or portable electronics has been extensively studied. We propose an electromagnetic energy harvester with a magnetic orbit (EMH-MO) for low-frequency and irregular human motion energy harvesting. A circular uniform low potential orbit is designed using the reasonable arrangement of multiple magnetic fields. Driven by irregular excitations, the moving magnet is magnetically modulated to move more regularly along the noncontact magnetic orbit, which is conducive to electromechanical energy conversion. A theoretical model is established to characterize the proposed energy harvester. Both simulations and experiments indicate that EMH-MO can work effectively under ultralow frequency (<5 Hz) weak excitation. The peak-peak open-circuit voltage is 4.3 V, and the average power is 0.33 mW under a reciprocating motion of 10 Hz and 20 mm. Besides, the EMH-MO can effectively harvest energy from walking, jogging, and running of people with different physical characteristics (chunky males, tall males, and petite females). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work an approach to representing debris floods and flows is proposed, based on a depth-integrated mathematical model and smooth particle hydrodynamics numerical technique. The main contributions of the present work are twofold: (a) an improved rheological Bingham model where solid fraction concentration can change as solids are entrained by the current and (b) implementation of boundary conditions describing the injection process of water from channel weirs into the domain. The model has been applied to the case of Lo Wai debris flood (Hong Kong, August 2005). Numerical results obtained with the proposed model are in reasonable agreement with field observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a two-layer depth-integrated smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model is applied to investigate the effects of landslide propagation on the impulsive waves generated when entering a water body. In order to deal with the open boundary in practical engineering problems, an absorbing boundary method, based on Riemann invariants which can be applied to arbitrary geometries, is implemented. In order to examine the accuracy of the proposed formulation, the model is tested against both available laboratory tests and numerical examples from the literature. Then, it is adopted to model the characteristics of the impulse waves generated by the Halaowo landslide in the Jinsha River, China. The results provide a technical basis for the emergency plan to the Halaowo landslide and benefit the disaster prevention policy, which helps mitigating future hazards in similar reservoir areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relevant physiological studies have revealed that the response of the classical receptive field (CRF) to visual stimuli could be suppressed by non‐CRF (nCRF) inhibition of the kernel in the primary visual cortex (V1). Based on this mechanism, many bio‐inspired contour detection models have been proposed, which are mainly achieved through CRF responses and nCRF surround inhibition calculation. In fact, the dynamic characteristics of neurons play an important role in contour detection in biological vision. Inspired by these visual mechanisms, the authors propose a contour detection model that emulates these dynamic characteristics. By introducing a multi‐bandwidth Gabor filter, according to the target image, they can effectively adjust the weight ratios of the filter to protect the contours and filter the background textures in the calculation of CRF responses. Additionally, they logarithmically modulate the nCRF inhibition kernel to make texture suppression more flexible and effective, thus improving the accuracy of detection algorithm as a whole. Compared with existing bio‐inspired contour detection models, the proposed model is more effective at contour detection, which will aid engineering applications that utilise pattern recognition in machine vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Salivary characteristics are altered in gastrointestinal diseases and related to oral taste disorder. However, specific salivary biochemical characteristics and their relationships with oral taste disturbances in chronic non‐atrophy gastritis (CNAG) remain uncertain. Methods: Seventy patients with CNAG and 70 subjects in healthy control group (HCG) were enrolled in our study. The levels of salivary flow rate (SFR), pH, salivary α‐amylase (sAA) activity, total protein density (TPD), chloride concentration, and calcium concentration were determined before and after citric acid stimulation and compared between CNAG with and without oral taste disturbances. Results: Average body mass index (BMI) of CNAG (17.75 ± 2.08) was lower than that of HCG (21.96 ± 1.72, P < 0.01). Compared with HCG, CNAG showed increased TPD and calcium concentration but decreased SFR both before and after acid stimulation (P < 0.01), as well as reduced sAA and salivary chloride responses to acid stimulation (P < 0.01). Compared with CNAG with normal BMI (24.29%, 17/70), sAA activity response to acid stimulation was reduced in those with low BMI (75.71%, 53/70, P < 0.05). Under resting condition, CNAG with dry mouth (55.71%, 39/70) showed increased SFR and decreased TPD (P < 0.05), as compared with CNAG without dry mouth (44.29%, 31/70). Compared with CNAG without bitter taste (57.14%, 40/70), pH was decreased in those with bitter taste (42.86%, 30/70) under both resting and stimulated conditions (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Decreased sAA activity may reflect malnutrition state and be one potential marker of poor digestion, decreased salivary pH may contribute to bitter taste perception, and reduced TPD might be a cause of dry mouth in CNAG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs), the sensors are deployed at different areas of the ocean, which perform information collection and delay-sensitive routing to the data center for further processing or industrial computing. However, in UASNs, the network states have spatiotemporal characteristics due to tides or autonomous underwater vehicles. To steadily route the traffic especially when the spatiotemporal characteristics of the UASNs are considered, a network architecture with intelligent traffic engineering or routing policies is indispensable. In this paper, we employ software-defined networking (SDN) technology and propose an SDN-enabled distributed architecture for UASNs. Based on the proposed architecture, we propose a scheme DSR-SDN for delay-sensitive spatiotemporal routing in SDN-enabled UASNs. The DSR-SDN includes three phases: First, topology awareness; second, spatiotemporal characteristics estimation; and third, routing computation. Particularly, with SDN features, DSR-SDN provides topology awareness based on a proposed software-defined beaconing scheme. Based on the detected topology, the spatiotemporal characteristics of the network states are estimated based on a proposed SDN-based hierarchical node localizing approach SDN-HL. Lead by the SDN controllers, SDN-HL makes use of the proposed “minimum weighted gap” formulation and Adam algorithm to optimize the localization and builds the indirect links to increase the localization rate. To route the traffic through the network with spatiotemporal characteristics, we adopt the time-expanded network approach, based on which a spatiotemporal route decision can be made before the routing starts. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme, i.e., DSR-SDN, can conduct accurate spatiotemporal characteristic estimation for the network states and provide delay-sensitive spatiotemporal routing for the sensed data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a cluster of metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors is influenced by environmental, lifestyle, and genetic factors. We explored whether coffee consumption and the rs301 variant of the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene are related to MetS. Methods: We conducted multiple logistic regression analyses using data gathered from 9523 subjects in Taiwan Biobank (TWB). Results: Our findings indicated that individuals who consumed coffee had a reduced odds ratio (OR) for MetS (0.750 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.653–0.861) compared to non-coffee drinkers. Additionally, the risk of MetS was lower for individuals with the 'TC' and 'CC' genotypes of rs301 compared to those with the 'TT' genotype. Specifically, the OR for MetS was 0.827 (95% CI 0.721–0.949) for the 'TC' genotype and 0.848 (95% CI 0.610–1.177) for the 'CC' genotype. We observed an interaction between coffee consumption and the rs301 variant, with a p-value for the interaction of 0.0437. Compared to the reference group ('no coffee drinking/TT'), the ORs for MetS were 0.836 (95% CI 0.706–0.992) for 'coffee drinking/TT', 0.557 (95% CI 0.438–0.707) for 'coffee drinking/TC', and 0.544 (95% CI 0.319–0.927) for 'coffee drinking/CC'. Notably, MetS was not observed in non-coffee drinkers regardless of their rs301 genotype. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that rs301 genotypes may protect against MetS in Taiwanese adults who consume coffee compared to non-coffee drinkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]