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Stroke was the third leading cause of global disability-adjusted life years and its treatment drugs were limited. Researchers still need to find reliable diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. This study aimed to explore hub genes associated with ischemic stroke (IS) through bioinformatics analysis and identify its potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The microarray data sets of GSE58294 and GSE16561 related to IS were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and differential expression analysis were integrated to find overlapping genes, and then hub genes were screened by Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression. NetworkAnalyst database was used to construct the TF-gene network and miRNA-TF regulatory network of the hub genes. DGIdb and CMap databases were used to predict targeted drugs and small molecule compounds. Through the Comprehensive analysis of GSE58294 and GSE16561, 10 hub genes were screened by LASSO regression, namely ARG1, LY96, ABCA1, SLC22A4, CD163, TPM2, SLC25A42, ID3, FAM102A and CD79B. NetworkAnalyst database analysis showed that ABCA1 was the hub gene most regulated by miRNA and TF. TRRUST and NetworkAnalyst databases showed that SP1 (P=0.0246) was a key transcription factor for hub genes. Finally, DGIdb database analysis identified 7 therapeutic drugs targeted with ABCA1 and SLC22A4, and 4 small molecule compounds targeted with ID3 and SLC22A4 were obtained from CMap database. We identified IS-related diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic drugs, which can provide new insights for the diagnosis and treatment of IS.

Summary Current photocatalytic uranium (U) extraction methods have intrinsic obstacles, such as the recombination of charge carriers, and the deactivation of catalysts by extracted U. Here we show that, by applying a bias potential on the photocatalyst, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) method can address these limitations. We demonstrate that, owing to efficient spatial charge-carriers separation driven by the applied bias, the PEC method enables efficient and durable U extraction. The effects of multiple operation conditions are investigated. The U extraction proceeds via single-step one-electron reduction, resulting in the formation of pentavalent U, which can facilitate future studies on this often-overlooked U species. In real seepage water the PEC method achieves an extraction capacity of 0.67 gU m−3·h−1 without deactivation for 156 h continuous operation, which is 17 times faster than the photocatalytic method. This work provides an alternative tool for U resource recovery and facilitates future studies on U(V) chemistry., Graphical abstract, Highlights • Efficient and durable U extraction by a photoelectrochemical method • Spatial separation of charge carriers is achieved by the applied bias potential • Stable pentavalent U is produced under ambient conditions • The proposed photoelectrochemical method is economically feasible, Chemistry; Environmental chemical engineering; Analytical chemistry; Environmental chemistry

We focus on spatial attention weighting to improve feature representation power of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and propose a concise and efficient spatial attention unit based on local similarity, which is termed Local Spatial Attention Module (LSAM). Spatial neighbor points likely share similar attention. A hyper-parameter is adopted to select appropriate size of spatial neighborhood for local similarity. LSAM can be easily embedded in existing CNNs for joint end-to-end training and the cost of consumed resources is negligible. Extensive classification experiments with various backbone networks demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed LSAM.

Aeration scouring is currently the most common membrane fouling control technology. The optimization of aeration parameters, such as the aeration aperture, aeration pore spacing, and aerator layout height, can improve the efficiency of aeration and reduce the energy consumption of aeration. However, the simulation results cannot guide engineering practices well due to the limitations in the model precision of computational fluid dynamics. On this basis, the study compared and selected the computational fluid dynamics turbulence model. The DES model was used to study the influence of aeration parameters on membrane fouling control. The study showed that the DES turbulence model had a higher precision and accuracy in predicting the average shear force and the instantaneous shear force distribution on the membrane surface than the k-e turbulence model. The average error of the DES turbulence model simulation of a bubble height was only 1.33%, which was 14.33% lower than the 15.66% of k-e. An aeration pore spacing of 20 mm, a height of 100 mm, and an aeration aperture of 2.0 mm were the best layout parameters. The degree of influence of the aeration aperture, the aeration pore spacing, and the height of the aerator layout on the shear force of the membrane surface decreased sequentially. The influence of each interaction on the average shear force of the membrane surface was negligible. Among these parameters, the main reason for the membrane surface shear force was the change in the flow velocity caused by aeration. By calculating the fitting equation and the critical value of the shear force, the critical value of the liquid velocity on the membrane surface that could remove membrane fouling was 0.232 m/s. Although the numerical simulation and optimization of a flat membrane bioreactor air scouring for membrane fouling control were carried out with pure water, it still plays a significant impact on the actual membrane fouling control. These results could guide the optimization design of aeration parameters for flat membrane bioreactors and provide a reference for the analysis of aeration scour control membrane pollution control research.

Inflammation and immunity are important in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is involved in the inflammatory responses of injured brain tissues. Emerging studies have focused on the effect of isoflurane (ISO) pretreatment on cerebral ischemia, however, the association between ISO pretreatment and TLR4 during cerebral ischemia remains to be elucidated. In the present study, the protective role of ISO pretreatment in rats with focal cerebral ischemia reperfusion was investigated and the molecular mechanism was discussed. Using a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model, triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining was utilized to measure the infarct volume and brain edema and immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the MCAO-induced TLR4 expression and localization. Western blot analyses were conducted to quantify the protein expression levels of TLR4, myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88) and nuclear factor (NF)-κB in ischemic brain tissue at different time points. The results demonstrated that, following ISO pretreatment, the neurological deficits, brain edema and cerebral infarct size caused by ischemia/reperfusion were attenuated. The astrocyte and microglial activation in the brain tissue was decreased. In addition, the expression levels of TLR4, MyD88 and NF-κB were decreased. The present study indicated that ISO pretreatment may protect the brain from ischemic damage by downregulating the expression levels of TLR4, MyD88 and NF-κB.

The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation was used to investigate the aerodynamic characteristic of a canard guided rocket based on the technology of high quality point-to-point multi-block structured grid. The results of numerical simulation and experiments showed that the method is highly credible, and the method could be used to the rockets with semblable configurations. The canard guided rocket was designed with different noses, canards and fins. The N-S equations were solved numerically by the finite volume method, and the multi-grid method was adopted to accelerate the convergence. With these strategies the aerodynamic characteristics of rocket, nose, canard and fin were educed, and the change law was summarized. The results will provide the support for the optimization of anard guided rocket in engineering design.

This paper presents the design and experimental verification of the ridge gap waveguide, appearing in the gap between parallel metal plates. It also describes the basic ideas of how local waveguides and transmission lines can propagate along desired paths in the air gap between two metal surfaces. The principle of operation is related to the performance of artificial magnetic conductors, AMC surfaces and soft and hard surfaces. And by evaluating the quality factor, a study and quantification of losses in ridge gap waveguide compared to losses in ideal standard rectangular waveguide is also presented.

A single-arm rectangular spiral antenna with a tilted beam working in 1.9GHz–2.2GHz frequency band is presented in this paper. The spiral is printed on a finite-size dielectric substrate backed by a finite-size conducting plane. Both the substrate and conducting planes are square with a side length L of less than 0.6λ o (λ o : wavelength in free space). The radiation pattern is dependent on the outermost arm peripheral length C. The spiral whose peripheral length is within 2λ g g (λ g : the guided wavelength of the current) radiates a tilted beam of circular polarization. The simulated results for the radiation pattern, gain, and VSWR are presented.

Considering the characteristic of user distribution and access type, a planning algorithm for PON and WiMAX convergence network in urban district is proposed, which can minimize the total deployment cost and achieve the optimal planning result. The numerical results reveal that the proposed convergence algorithm performances better than planning wired and wireless network separately, and better than the common fiber deployment method in urban district.

EPON and WiMAX Convergence Network integrates the “master-slave and peer-to-peer combined” EPON network structure that supports protection switching with the WiMAX technology. Directing at the complicated architecture and various types of topology of the convergence network, this article proposes an automatic discovery method and a layout algorithm for network topology to facilitate the network management. Adopting the automatic discovery technology which based on SNMP, the automatic discovery method will automatically discover the active and passive devices without increasing the burden of the network. The layout algorithm actually includes the topology auto-adapt layout algorithm when the devices have been discovered and the auto-relayout algorithm when the topology has been changed by the user. The layout algorithm will draw reasonable and distinct topology maps for the user to check through and edit.

This article proposes a heuristic based PON network planning solution which gives multi-hierarchy planning and fiber routing optimization to save the overall cost. It is simulated to be feasible.

Transportation ontology is the main means of knowledge sharing for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). In order to handle the uncertainty of transportation knowledge, this paper proposes a new series of fuzzy ontology models. Fuzzy ontology introduces fuzzy concepts like values of property and focuses on the semantic relationships between fuzzy concepts, including set relations, order relations, equivalence relations and semantic association relations. Taking the traffic accident analysis system as an example, this paper builds the transportation knowledge ontology and knowledge sharing system with Web Ontology Language (OWL), which shows that these fuzzy ontology models facilitate knowledge management for ITS on the Semantic Web.

Dempster-Shafer evidence theory is a powerful reasoning method in handling uncertain problems. Since Zadeh highlighted the counter-intuitive behaviour of Dempser’s combination rule, a lot of alternative rules have been proposed. However, most of these rules are merely the “patching” of the Dempser’s rule and lack of adequate consideration for evidence compatibility. In this paper, a modified combination rule is proposed based on the concept of evidence ullage. The suggested rule is a general extension of Dempster’s combination rule and aims at solving the counter-intuitive behaviour of evidence theory caused by evidence conflict and evidence compatibility. The parameters of evidence ullage and evidence tendency factor in the modified rule are also discussed and given. Calculated results show that the new rule can resolve the conflict and compatibility problems effectively.

The effects of propofol on glucose metabolism in different cerebral regions were observed, using positron emission tomography (PET) technology, to determine a possible cerebral target region. Seven healthy volunteers were injected with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose developing agent for PET scanning whilst awake (control group T1), during sedation (induced by 1.5 μg/ml propofol administered by target controlled injection [TCI], group T2) and when unconsciousness (induced by 2.5 μg/ml propofol administered by TCI, group T3). Whole brain glucose metabolism was reduced during propofol anaesthesia; this was initially observed in the cortical areas at the lower dose of propofol (group T2) but extended to the subcortical regions, especially the thalamus and hippocampus, at the higher dose (group T3). This suggests that these regions of the brain might be important targets that are susceptible to propofol.

Based on Simplified Finite State Machine (SFSM) as an improved model, an approach for passive testing consistency is proposed. The improved model is introduced and the algorithm complexity is analysed. Also, this approach is implemented with the EPON Tester, and proved to be feasible to analyze Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP) consistency.

Fuzzy knowledge is the base of fuzzy systems. Ontology is adopted as a standard for sharing and reusing knowledge on the semantic Web, and fuzzy ontology is an extension of domain ontology for solving the uncertainty problems. In order to achieve fuzzy knowledge sharing for fuzzy systems, this paper utilizes fuzzy ontology to represent formally the fuzzy linguistic variables, considering the semantic relationships between fuzzy concepts defined in fuzzy linguistic variable ontologies. The process to construct fuzzy linguistic variables ontology is discussed. Taking the fuzzy control system of washing machine for example, this paper builds the fuzzy knowledge sharing system with Web ontology language (OWL), which shows that this research facilitates knowledge management for fuzzy systems on the semantic Web.

Ontology is adopted as a standard for knowledge representation and sharing in collaborative design on the semantic Web. Fuzzy ontology is an extension of domain ontology for solving the uncertainty problems. To represent formally the fuzzy knowledge more effectively, this paper proposes a series of fuzzy ontology models that consists of fuzzy domain ontology, using intuitionistic fuzzy set, and fuzzy linguistic variable ontologies, considering semantic relationships between fuzzy concepts, including set relation, order relation and equivalence relation. The fuzzy ontology introduces the fuzzy concepts as values of properties and extends the ordinary relationships to fuzzy relationships and intuitionistic fuzzy relationships. The application, which uses fuzzy ontology to model knowledge of intelligent transportation, shows that these models can overcome the localization of other fuzzy ontology models, and this research facilitates the fuzzy knowledge sharing and reuse on the semantic Web.

This paper demonstrates a low cost MEMS variable optical attenuator (VOA) with high performance for the wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) applications. Two single-mode fibers (SMFs) are used as the input and output of VOA. A shutter is actuated into the optical path by an electrostatic comb-type actuator. The device is fabricated on a single silicon wafer by a novel simple bulk-silicon micromachining technology called the twice boron-diffusion/etching (TBDE) process. Performance measurements of the fabricated VOA show that the insertion loss (IL), the attenuation range, the return loss (RL), the wavelength dependent loss (WDL) and the polarization dependent loss (PDL) are 50 dB

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), the most common complication of herpes zoster (HZ), plays a major role in decreased life quality of HZ patients. However, the neural mechanisms underlying PHN remain unclear. Here, using a PHN rat model at 2 weeks after varicella zoster virus infection, we found that spinal astrocytes were dramatically activated. The mechanical allodynia and spinal central sensitization were significantly attenuated by intrathecally injected L-α-aminoadipate (astrocytic specific inhibitor) whereas minocycline (microglial specific inhibitor) had no effect, which indicated that spinal astrocyte but not microglia contributed to the chronic pain in PHN rat. Further study was taken to investigate the molecular mechanism of astrocyte-incudced allodynia in PHN rat at post-infection 2 weeks. Results showed that nitric oxide (NO) produced by inducible nitric oxide synthase mediated the development of spinal astrocytic activation, and activated astrocytes dramatically increased interleukin-1β expression which induced N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR) phosphorylation in spinal dorsal horn neurons to strengthen pain transmission. Taken together, these results suggest that spinal activated astrocytes may be one of the most important factors in the pathophysiology of PHN and "NO-Astrocyte-Cytokine-NMDAR-Neuron" pathway may be the detailed neural mechanisms underlying PHN. Thus, inhibiting spinal astrocytic activation may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for clinical management of PHN.