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The treatment and repair strategies for reflective and fatigue cracking that initiate at the pavement surface (i.e., top-down cracking) and at the bottom of the asphalt concrete layer (i.e., bottom-up cracking) are noticeably different. However, pavement management engineers are facing difficulties in identifying these cracks in the field because they usually appear in visually identical patterns. The objective of this study was to develop artificial neural network (ANN) and convolutional neural network (CNN) applications to differentiate and classify top-down, bottom-up, and cement-treated reflective cracking in in-service flexible pavements using deep-learning models. The developed CNN model achieved an accuracy of 93.8% in the testing and 91% in the validation phases, and the ANN model showed an overall accuracy of 92%. The ANN classification tool was developed based on variables related to pavement and crack characteristics including pavement age, annual average daily traffic, thickness of the asphalt concrete layer, type of base, crack orientation, and crack location. Key words: artificial neural network, convolutional neural network, cement-treated reflective cracking, bottom-up cracking, top-down cracking. Les strategies de traitement et de reparation de fissuration reflective et de fissuration de fatigue qui commencent a la surface de la chaussee (c.-a-d. fissuration de haut en bas) et au bas de la couche de beton asphaltique (c.-a-d. fissuration de bas en haut) sont nettement differentes. Cependant, les ingenieurs en gestion des chaussees eprouvent des difficultes a identifier ces fissures sur le terrain, car habituellement elles semblent identiques visuellement. L'objectif de cette etude etait de developper des applications de reseau de neurones artificiels (RNA) et de reseau de neurones a convolution (RNC) pour differencier et classer les fissures reflectives descendantes, ascendantes et traitees au ciment dans les chaussees flexibles en service a l'aide de modeles d'apprentissage profond. Le modele RNC developpe a atteint une precision de 93,8 % dans les essais et de 91 % dans les phases de validation et le modele RNA a montre une precision globale de 92 %. L'outil de classification RNA a ete elabore en fonction de variables liees aux caracteristiques de la chaussee et des fissures, y compris l'age de la chaussee, le trafic quotidien moyen, l'epaisseur de la couche de beton asphaltique, le type de base, l'orientation des fissures et l'emplacement des fissures. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : reseau de neurones artificiels, reseau de neurones a convolution, fissuration reflective traitee au ciment, fissuration ascendante, fissuration descendante., Introduction Evaluating pavement condition is an essential component of pavement management systems (PMSs) to plan for necessary maintenance and rehabilitation activities and to maintain the road network in acceptable conditions [...]

In this study, cold plasma treatments are employed to modify peanuts. This study systematically investigates the effects of various plasma treatment conditions, including power, duration, and gas type, on the microstructure of peanut seed coats and embryos. Observations under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) reveal that as plasma treatment power increases from 100 W to 500 W, the etching level of peanut seed coats significantly intensifies, surface roughness deepens, and concavities become more pronounced. Additionally, micro-pores on the seed coat gradually enlarge and form cracks. Specifically, when the plasma treatment is set at 200 W for 60 s, the oxygen (O2) treatment group shows interconnected cracks on the peanut seed coat surface, with lipid particles exuding and protein particles and polymers decomposing. In contrast, the helium (He) treatment group displays clear cell structures and deep grooves, with no noticeable lipid particles exuding around surface cracks. The argon (Ar) treatment group exhibits a distinct rectangular cell structure with clear boundaries, and although surface cracks form, only a few protein particles escape from the cracks. The embryo surface structure becomes looser after plasma treatment, leading to the disintegration of lipid particles, protein particles, and polymers, affecting the fusion and migration of large and small lipid bodies within the peanut's internal structure. Increasing treatment duration intensifies the etching phenomenon, resulting in more lipid particles exuding, which indicates a positive correlation between lipid particles exuding and treatment duration. This study sheds light on the mechanisms underlying changes in peanut microstructure due to cold plasma treatment, providing scientific evidence for improving peanut quality, enhancing oil extraction efficiency, and optimizing food processing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity of cell types in the brain and how these change during different developmental stages, remains largely unknown. The life cycle of insects is short and goes through 4 distinct stages including embryonic, larval, pupal, and adult stages. During postembryonic life, the larval brain transforms into a mature adult version after metamorphosis. The silkworm, Bombyx mori, is a lepidopteran model insect. Here, we characterized the brain cell repertoire of larval and adult B. mori by obtaining 50 708 single‐cell transcriptomes. Seventeen and 12 cell clusters from larval and adult brains were assigned based on marker genes, respectively. Identified cell types include Kenyon cells, optic lobe cells, monoaminergic neurons, surface glia, and astrocyte glia. We further assessed the cell type compositions of larval and adult brains. We found that the transition from larva to adult resulted in great expansion of glial cells. The glial cell accounted for 49.8% of adult midbrain cells. Compared to flies and ants, the mushroom body kenyon cell is insufficient in B. mori, which accounts for 5.4% and 3.6% in larval and adult brains, respectively. Analysis of neuropeptide expression showed that the abundance and specificity of expression varied among individual neuropeptides. Intriguingly, we found that ion transport peptide was specifically expressed in glial cells of larval and adult brains. The cell atlas dataset provides an important resource to explore cell diversity, neural circuits and genetic profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underground diaphragm walls are commonly used as a support system for the construction of subway stations, working together with inner side walls of subway stations to withstand the pressure from surrounding soils. However, the effect of diaphragm walls on the seismic response of subway stations is still not well understood yet, or at least not well considered during design. In this paper, a series of 1 g shaking table tests is designed to investigate the seismic response of a typical two‐story and three‐span subway station considering the influence of underground diaphragm walls. The stratum is simulated by synthetic model soil (a mixture of sand and sawdust), and the model structure and diaphragm walls are made by granular concrete with galvanized steel wires. A test case of the structure without diaphragm walls is also involved and taken as a benchmark comparison to understand the impact of diaphragm walls on the seismic response of subway station. The seismic excitations for the test include actual seismic records with the amplitude of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 g, respectively. Based on the test data analysis, a comprehensive discussion is conducted on the influence of diaphragm walls on the seismic design of underground structures. Current misconceptions that ignoring the role of diaphragm walls is a conservative way in seismic design of underground structures are also reviewed. Results show that the presence of underground diaphragm walls would enhance the lateral stiffness of the structure, and thus significantly reduce the lateral deformation of subway stations during earthquakes. Notably, the structure with diaphragm walls also exhibits a significant amplification in acceleration response and experiences greater dynamic earth pressures on the sidewalls, and furthermore the strains at the connection between the sidewalls and diaphragm walls are dramatically amplified during the earthquake. It is worth noting that these adverse effects of the diaphragm walls on the amplification of dynamic earth pressures on the structure as well as the increase of internal forces at the sidewalls end‐diaphragm walls connection should be carefully considered in the seismic design of underground structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a damage sparse imaging method using multipath-scattered Lamb waves. It leverages a large number of echoes and reverberations in the recorded signal that may be usually ignored in conventional methods. First, reflections of Lamb waves at free edges are viewed as waves transmitted from a virtual transducer which is located at the mirror point of the actual one. On this basis, an optimized transducers-layout strategy is proposed based on the multipath propagation model of the Lamb wave. Benefiting from that, the direct damage-scattered wave and several waves scattered by both the damage and edges could be separately identified in the time domain, and further, each wave could be matched with a sensing path (either actual or virtual) in the expanded sensor network. Subsequently, a dictionary is constructed from the Lamb wave propagation and scattering model. By solving the sparse reconstruction problem, the pixel value of each point in the region of interest is obtained, and the whole area can be finally visualized. The proposed method is validated using experiments conducted on an aluminum plate with simulated damages. Results show that the damages can be correctly detected and accurately localized with only a single transmitter–receiver pair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of microorganisms to manage aflatoxin contamination is a gentle and effective approach. The aim of this study was to test the removal of AFB1 from AFB1-contaminated peanut meal by a strain of Meyerozyma guilliermondii AF01 screened by the authors and to optimize the conditions of the biocontrol. A regression model with the removal ratio of AFB1 as the response value was established by means of single-factor and response surface experiments. It was determined that the optimal conditions for the removal of AFB1 from peanut meal by AF01 were 75 h at 29 °C under the natural pH, with an inoculum of 5.5%; the removal ratio of AFB1 reached 69.31%. The results of simulating solid-state fermentation in production using shallow pans and fermentation bags showed that the removal ratio of AFB1 was 68.85% and 70.31% in the scaled-up experiments, respectively. This indicated that AF01 had strong adaptability to the environment with facultative anaerobic fermentation detoxification ability. The removal ratio of AFB1 showed a positive correlation with the growth of AF01, and there were no significant changes in the appearance and quality of the peanut meal after fermentation. This indicated that AF01 had the potential to be used in practical production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Xianglong. Lv, Chunxin. Wo, Jing. Yao, Wei. Lu, Zilong. Yu, Yue. Qin, Yue. Wang, Zhongjie. Zhang, Yu. Wu, Yuanxin. Huang, Lin. Wang Background: There is an urgent clinical need [...]

Objectives Maternal health-seeking behaviors are critical to improving maternal and child health in low-income countries. This study investigates associations between maternal decision-making input and their health-seeking behaviors in the first 1000-day period between pregnancy and a child's second birthday in Nepal. Methods We used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2018 in 16 districts of Nepal. Among the 3648 households surveyed, 1910 mothers of a child 0 to 24 months with complete data were included for analyses. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between decision-making input and the utilization of antenatal, delivery and postnatal care services, and attendance at health mothers' group (HMG) meetings. We also used negative binomial regression to assess the relationship between her decision-making input and participation in growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) in the 6 months prior to the survey. For each relationship examined, we adjusted for clustering, as well as potentially confounding factors at individual and household levels. Results After adjusting for confounders, maternal decision-making input had a small but positive and significant association with receiving at least 4 antenatal care visits (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.02, 1.17), attendance at GMP in the 6 months prior to the survey (IRR = 1.02, 95% CI 1.00, 1.04), and HMG attendance (OR = 1.10, 95% CI 1.03, 1.17), but not with receiving at least 3 postnatal care visits or delivering in a health institution. Conclusions for Practice Our findings indicated that empowering women and mothers in household decision-making might warrant greater attention when developing future policies and programs in Nepal., Author(s): Zhongjie Zhang [sup.1] [sup.2] , Kenda Cunningham [sup.2] , Ramesh Prasad Adhikari [sup.2] , Subash Yogi [sup.2] [sup.3] , Shraddha Manandhar [sup.2] , Pooja Pandey Rana [sup.2] , Anne [...]

Due to the common operating characteristics of medium duty (MD) gasoline engines, achieving higher load at the expense of fuel efficiency is not an acceptable tradeoff. EGR dilution-stoichiometric combustion can suppress the knocking and improve the thermal efficiency, but has problems such as slow combustion rate and poor combustion stability, which have limitations in optimizing combustion for MD gasoline engines with strong swirl. The experimental investigations in this study focus on the interaction of charge motion and EGR on anti-knock performance and thermal efficiency under different load conditions, and verifies the potential to improve the thermal efficiency of inclined swirl combustion system. The results show that at low-medium load, the tumble-dominated inclined swirl scheme can enhance the effectiveness of EGR in knock suppression, thus reducing the introduction of EGR to avoid its adverse effects on the combustion duration. At medium-high load, although the above benefit wears off, it can enhance the anti-knock performance and thus advance the spark timing by increasing the EGR tolerance. The EGR ratio corresponding to the highest thermal efficiency increases with higher load. The difference in the in-cylinder flow field will affect the combustion rate in a high EGR dilution and high load condition. The scheme adopting the compound intake ports and inverse cuneiform-shaped combustion chamber can improve both EGR tolerance and initial combustion rate under high EGR dilution, with the most significant improvement in thermal efficiency, and the improvement range will increase along with the increase of load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]