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Refereed/Peer-reviewed Low cost “sailwing” aerofoils of flexible nylon mounted between a rigid leading edge of circular cross section and a rigid flat trailing edge were investigated in the 1970s and 1980s. Wind tunnel measurements of lift and drag of these aerofoils over the full range of angles of attack were published, but no predictions were made for a complete wind turbine incorporating them. Another paper stated that a sailwing turbine with aerofoils incorporating pivoting aerodynamic profile leading edges was found to exert considerable starting torque. In the present paper, published lift and drag data have been used to predict the performance of a small Darrieus hydrokinetic or wind turbine with sailwing aerofoils, using a standard multiple streamtube model over the full range of tip-speed ratios (TSRs) from 0.5 to 3. To provide a fair comparison, this method is also used to predict the performance of the turbine with symmetrical NACA0018 and cambered Gö420 blade profiles. At all examined TSRs, average torque and power of the turbine with flexible blades are higher than the turbines with rigid blades. For instance, at TSR of 2.5, the flexible blade turbine achieved 55 % and 165 % higher average torque than the turbines with symmetrical and cambered blades, respectively. This finding is attributed to the fact that the flexible blade camber reverses with reversing incidence, producing high lift coefficients at low incidence. Drag is higher for the flexible aerofoil, probably due to separation at the circular cross section leading edge, and measures are suggested to improve this. The flexible aerofoils are very cheap and simple to fabricate, making them an attractive option for affordable hydrokinetic turbines. At all examined TSRs, average torque and power of the turbine with flexible blades are higher than the turbines with rigid blades. For instance, at TSR of 2.5, the flexible blade turbine achieved 55 % and 165 % higher average torque than the turbines with symmetrical and cambered blades, respectively. This finding is attributed to the fact that the flexible blade camber reverses with reversing incidence, producing high lift coefficients at low incidence. Drag is higher for the flexible aerofoil, probably due to separation at the circular cross section leading edge, and measures are suggested to improve this. The flexible aerofoils are very cheap and simple to fabricate, making them an attractive option for affordable hydrokinetic turbines.

Heterocyclic skeleton (Azoles) and different energetic groups containing high performing explosives are highly emerged in recent years to meet the challenging requirements of energetic materials in both military and civilian applications with improved performance. For this purpose tetrazole (Azole) is identified as an attractive heterocyclic backbone with energetic functional groups nitro (-NO2), nitrato (-ONO2), nitrimino (-NNO2), and nitramino (–NH–NO2) to replace the traditionally used high performing explosives. The tetrazole based compounds having these energetic functional groups demonstrated advanced energetic performance (detonation velocity and pressure), densities, and heat of formation (HOF) and became a potential replacement of traditional energetic compounds such as RDX. This review presents a summary of the recently reported nitro-tetrazole energetic compounds containing poly-nitro, di/mono-nitro, nitrato/nitramino/nitrimino, bridged/bis/di tetrazole and nitro functional groups, describing their preparation methods, advance energetic properties, and further applications as high-performing explosives, especially those reported in the last decade. This review aims to provide a fresh concept for designing nitro-tetrazole based high performing explosives together with major challenges and perspectives.

The performance of a subgrade composed of layered soilbags fabricated from polypropylene (PP) woven geotextiles filled with calcareous sands was investigated. Dynamic load tests were performed in an indoor model groove. The vibration acceleration, soil pressure and vertical deformation were analysed, and a vibration attenuation coefficient and deformation reduction ratio were developed. The results showed that the common quartz sand subgrade was softer than the calcareous sand subgrade subjected to traffic loads. The calcareous sand filling subgrade showed different acceleration attenuation features and the soilbag reinforcement reduced the cumulative deformation. Through the combined effects of a woven PP bag and expandable polyethylene foam, the subgrade reinforced with soilbags made from the composite material showed the best performance.

Voltage sag is a frequently occurring power quality disturbance in the industries equipped with adjustable speed drives (ASD). A detailed investigation of voltage sag effects on ASD performance with the novel mathematical analyses to estimate the ASD parameters during different types of voltage sag is discussed in this article. The effects of voltage sags are mitigated using an enhanced synchronous reference frame (ESRF) theory-based dynamic voltage restorer (DVR). The working principle of the ESRF theory-based DVR during sag is also described. The investigation of the effects of type A, type B and type F voltage sags on ASD parameters are veried using the simulation and the experimental studies. Further, these effects are mitigated by the ESRF theory-based DVR using the developed simulation and experimental models. The ESRF controller of DVR is working effectively during voltage sags by improving its transient response, which tightly regulates the DClink voltage of ASD around its reference value. Also, the steadystate response of DVR is enhanced during severe voltage sag, which further validates the ability of the ESRF theory-based DVR. This type of improved performance of ASD during voltage sags cannot be obtained using other existing SRF theories of the DVR.

Metal-air batteries (MABs) have attracted considerable attention as a novel energy technology that can alleviate the severe energy crisis and environmental pollution. Two primary processes, including oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occur on the air cathode and dominate the battery performance during battery charging and discharging. Recently, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) emerge as promising cathode catalysts due to their structure and composition superiority. The unique characteristics of MOFs and COFs contribute to improved performance. This review mainly summarizes the recent applications of MOFs and COFs in a series of MABs, mainly including lithium- and zinc-air batteries. Additionally, some critical issues are emphasized regarding MOFs and COFs used in other MABs limited progress, their fabrication and alternatives to potential problems.

Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCap) and related copolymers have been used as kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) to combat gas hydrate formation in oil and gas field production flow lines. It is known that the addition of certain solvents to the KHI polymer can enhance its ability to hinder gas hydrate formation. In an earlier study, a wide range of alcohols, glycol ethers, and ketones were investigated as synergetic solvents with PVCap. In that study, an outstanding synergetic effect was achieved by 4-methyl-1-pentanol (iHexOl). This report builds on that study by investigating iHexOl in more detail as well as some newly synthesized solvents predicted by the first study to have good synergism. Both slow constant cooling (SCC) and isothermal KHI experiments were conducted in high-pressure steel rocking cells using a structure II-forming natural gas mixture. The KHI polymer concentration, solvent concentration, and mixed solvent systems were investigated. The solvent synergist water solubility, also in brines, and partitioning to the liquid hydrocarbon phase are shown to be important factors to consider for optimizing KHI performance. Further, it was observed that the optimal molecular weight distribution for the KHI polymer when used with a solvent synergist is not the same as the optimum distribution when using the polymer alone.

Human detection is a technology that detects human shapes in the image and ignores everything else. However, modern person detectors have some inefficiencies in detecting pedestrians during video surveillance at night, and the accuracy rate is still insufficient. Therefore, this paper aims to increase the accuracy rate for automatic human detection at night from thermal infrared (TIR) images and real-time video sequences. For this purpose, a new architecture is proposed to enhance the backbone of the Tiny-yolov3 network. The enhanced network used the YOLOv3 algorithm’s tasks with the K-means clustering method to extract more complex features of a person. This network was pre-trained on the MS. COCO dataset to obtain the initial weights. Through the comparison with other related methods showed that the experimental results have achieved the significantly improved performance of human detection from thermal imaging in terms of accuracy, speed, and detection time. The method has achieved a high accuracy rate (90%) compared with the TF-YOLOv3 (88%) trained on the DHU Night Dataset. Although the method has achieved an accuracy rate equal to the YOLOv3-Human (90%), the detection time (4.88 ms) is less, Furthermore, the method has a higher accuracy rate (49.8%) than the YOLO (29.36%) and TF-YOLOv3 (29.8%) with lower detection time (8 ms) on the FLIR Dataset. In addition, the model has achieved a good TP detection for multiple small size of person. By improving the performance of human detection in thermal imaging at night, the method will be able to detect intruders in the night surveillance system.

Natural bioactive ingredients have lower bioavailability because of their chemical instability and poor water solubility, which limits their applications in functional foods. Among diverse biopolymers that can be used to construct delivery systems of bioactives, chitosan has attracted extensive attention due to its unique cationic nature, excellent mucoadhesive properties and easy modification. In this review, chitosan and its composites-based food-grade delivery systems as well as the factors affecting their performance are summarized. Modification, crosslinking, combination with other biopolymer or utilization of coating material can effectively overcome the instability of pure chitosan-based carriers under acidic conditions, thereby constructing chitosan and its complex-based carriers with conspicuously improved performance. Furthermore, the applications of chitosan-based delivery systems in nutrition and health as well as their future development trends and challenges are discussed. Functional food ingredients, functional food packaging and biological health are potential applications of chitosan-based food-grade delivery systems. The research trends of nutraceutical delivery systems based on chitosan and its composites include co-delivery of nutrients and essential oils, targeted intestinal delivery, stimulus responsive/sustained release and their applications in real foods. In conclusion, food industry will be significantly promoted with the continuous innovation and development of chitosan-based nutraceutical delivery systems.

OBJECTIVE We developed a clinical sign that improves the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the Head Impulse Paradigm (HIMP) Test by adding the Suppression Head Impulse Paradigm (SHIMP) Test using a diagnostic headband. METHODS Prospective and descriptive study analyzing the function of 1,255 horizontal semicircular canals of subjects with differing vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gains who showed-up with symptoms related to neurotology (Montevideo, Uruguay, March 2017 to March 2019). The clinical HIMP and SHIMP tests were assessed and the amplitudes of overt saccades were compared to each other. Clinical findings were contrasted against vHIT gains. CONCLUSION The HIMP and SHIMP combined test using the H/S headband has high specificity and low sensibility. This test association can identify healthy individuals among individuals typically misdiagnosed as ill by the conventional HIT or HIMP maneuver of the HIMP test, as originally described by Halmagyi and Curthoys. Therefore, we recommend using the headband assisted HIMP/SHIMP test, instead of exclusively relying on positive HIMP results.

Test responses are mostly the chief basis for diagnosis, but educational appraisals of learners who experience difficulties mostly fail to account for the length of time the learner employs to respond to cognitive tasks. Impulsive children have been shown to experience challenges in school, not because they are less intelligent than the non-impulsive ones, but because of their fast conceptual tempo. This study employed a cognitive modelling procedure in attempt to reduce impulsivity in children, and subsequently enhance their performances in English language and Mathematics. A total of 93 primary four pupils who had been identified as impulsive, participated in the study. They were divided into four groups using the Solomon Four Group Experimental Design. The findings were that the experimental groups showed a reduction in impulsivity relative to the control groups at posttest and delayed posttest measures. The reduced impulsivity in the experimental groups translated into improved performance in Mathematics but this was not observed in the subjects’ performances in the English language. The results provide preliminary support for the efficacy of cognitive modelling training intervention as a mechanism for reducing impulsivity in children and enhancing their performance in Mathematics.

A proposed core–shell gate all-around junctionless field-effect transistor (CS GAA JLFET) is studied using extensive simulations. An oppositely doped core is sandwiched between the shells to achiev...

Background: Regulators increasingly use formalized programs that are based on continuing professional development (CPD) activities to ensure that physicians are fit to practice. There is convincing evidence regarding the positive effects of CPD activities on performance and patient outcomes. However, there is limited available studies, investigating its effect in anesthesia, specifically. Moreover, although there exists considerable evidence linking specific CPD activities to improved performance, only few studies have investigated the effect of combinations of activities, or formalized systems, as a whole. Consequently, to address this uncertainty regarding the impact of CPD activities, within anesthesiology, this systematic review aims to establish which activities anesthesiologists are engaged in and their impact on clinical competence and subsequent patient outcomes. Methods: A systematic review of the current literature regarding CPD for fully qualified anesthesiologists will be undertaken. Characteristics of the included studies will be summarized descriptively, and the screening process will be outlined using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis flow diagram. Given the diverse methods adopted within medical education research, it is anticipated that there will be significant heterogeneity between the included studies and therefore, a meta-analysis will not be possible and a narrative synthesis approach will be usd. The outcomes of interest include type of CPD learning activity and/or assessment method anesthesiologists are engaged in; and their effectiveness, either as standalone activities or as part of formalized systems. Conclusion: The aim of the study was to give an overview of the breadth and nature of CPD activities, and their effects on fully qualified anesthesiologists' clinical competences and patient outcomes.

Objective: Longitudinal neuroimaging data have been widely used to predict clinical scores for automatic diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in recent years. However, incomplete temporal neuroimaging records of the patients pose a major challenge to use these data for accurately diagnosing AD. In this paper, we propose a novel method to learn an enriched representation for imaging biomarkers, which simultaneously captures the information conveyed by both the baseline neuroimaging records of all the participants in a studied cohort and the progressive variations of the available follow-up records of every individual participant. Methods: Taking into account that different participants usually take different numbers of medical records at different time points, we develop a robust learning objective that minimizes the summations of a number of not-squared $\ell _2$ -norm distances, which, though, is difficult to efficiently solve in general. Thus we derive a new efficient iterative algorithm with rigorously proved convergence. Results: We have conducted extensive experiments using the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset. Clear performance gains have been achieved when we predict different cognitive scores using the enriched biomarker representations learned by our new method. We further observe that the top selected biomarkers by our proposed method are in perfect accordance with the known knowledge in existing clinical AD studies. Conclusion: All these promising experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of our new method. Significance: We anticipate that our new method is of interest to biomedical engineering communities beyond AD research and have open-sourced the code of our method online. 1 1 The code package of this paper have been made publicly available online at https://github.com/lyujian/Improved-Prediction-of-Cognitive-Outcomes

This letter investigates a wireless communication system deploying distributed reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). Existing works have assumed that perfect timing synchronization is available among all the cooperative RISs. For practical considerations, we first study cooperative reflection design for multi-RIS-aided communication systems taking into account timing synchronization errors. We aim to minimize the mean-squared error of the recovered data in the presence of timing offsets subject to the unit modulus constraints imposed on the phase shifts of the RISs. In order to handle this sophisticated nonconvex problem, we develop a computationally-efficient algorithm based on the majorization-minimization framework where the RIS phase shift matrices and the timing offset equalizer are respectively developed in a semi-closed form and a closed form. Numerical examples validate the improved performance of our proposed design compared with various schemes.

The integrity of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) isolated from solid tissues is critical for analyses such as long-range PCR, but is typically assessed under conditions that fail to provide information on the individual mtDNA strands. Using denaturing gel electrophoresis, we show that commonly-used isolation procedures generate mtDNA containing several single-strand breaks per strand. Through systematic comparison of DNA isolation methods, we identify a procedure yielding the highest integrity of mtDNA that we demonstrate displays improved performance in downstream assays. Our results highlight the importance of isolation method choice, and serve as a resource to researchers requiring high-quality mtDNA from solid tissues.

Caffeine and nitrates have both been reported to enhance performance in power efforts, however, it is not clear which supplement is most effective. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of caffeine and nitrates on the performance of semi-professional soccer players during different fitness tests. Ten male soccer players in a randomized crossover design were assigned to receive caffeine (5 mg/kg body mass) (CG), nitrate ((250 mL/150 mg of NO3−) (NG), or a placebo (PG) on three different occasions. In each treatment, the participants performed the following tests: 10 m and 30 m sprints, the Illinois agility test, a countermovement jump test, a squat jump test, and a repeated sprint test (6 × 40 m). Caffeine boosted performance in jumps (CMJ: CGvsPG, p = 0.018, SJ: CGvsPG, p = 0.045 and CGvsNG, p = 0.001) and limited the decrease in performance in the RSA test (CGvsPG, p = 0.012). Nitrates limited the decrease in performance in the RSA test (NGvsPG, p = 0.035). In conclusion, the two supplements limited the decrease in performance in the test of repeated sprints, with caffeine showing a greater effect. Among the other tests, only caffeine improved performance, and only in the jumps. Thus, we can conclude that supplementation with caffeine 1 h before these kinds of activities at a dosage of 5 mg/kg of body weight can enhance performance.

OBJECTIVE To report the audiological, rehabilitative, and surgical outcomes of revision surgery for pediatric auditory brainstem implant (ABI) users. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort. SETTING Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS Five pediatric ABI users who had revision surgery for device malfunctions. INTERVENTIONS Revision surgery for ABI malfunctions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The findings of free-field audiometry with the device, the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale, and the pattern discrimination, word identification, sentence recognition, and expressive and receptive language tests before the device failure and after revision surgery were obtained from the patient records and compared. RESULTS The revision rate for pediatric ABI was 6.45%. The Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale and expressive-receptive language scores showed improvements following revision surgery, while the aided thresholds, pattern perception, and word identification scores did not change. Individual differences in performance for these measures were observed. CONCLUSION Equal or improved performance after the revision surgeries in the current study showed that revision surgery is successful and important for pediatric ABI users. It is essential to consider remedying the loss of auditory input in sensitive periods of pediatric development.

Given barriers to vertical integration during clinical rotations, many struggle with employing effective virtual strategies to revisit foundational sciences during clerkship. To address this, we developed virtual geriatric pharmacology self-learning modules (SLMs) for a fourth-year geriatric elective using cases, interactive exercises, resources, feedback, and quizzes. To evaluate effectiveness, learners were administered a pre- and post-elective quiz with survey. Learners improved performance after using SLMs, valued pharmacology clerkship integration and reinforcement, and agreed SLMs improved understanding, confidence, and attitudes. Thus, SLMs were an effective virtual method for integrating pharmacology that could be modified to teach other foundational sciences during clerkships.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the anti-aging durability of asphalt and asphalt mixture under the conditions of inherent and improved performance. The research contents include: the mechanical properties (dynamic stability, bending strain, freeze-thaw splitting tensile strength ratio (TSR)) of different modified asphalt mixtures were tested by using the best modified asphalt.Design/methodology/approachThe anti-aging durability of different modified asphalt was analyzed by using the results of macro tests such as penetration and softening point as evaluation indexes. Meanwhile, the change of the asphalt colloid instability index (Ic) in the aging process was used as the evaluation index to verify the results of the macroscopic test, and the best modified asphalt was obtained. On this basis, the composition of different modified asphalt mixtures was designed by using the best modified asphalt. Meanwhile, water stability was used as evaluation indexes to study the anti-aging durability of different modified asphalt mixtures.FindingsThe results show that styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) modified asphalt has better aging resistance. Due to the special storage time, the performance of rubber asphalt is also the best. Meanwhile, in terms of modified asphalt mixture, its high temperature performance and durability of anti-aging is as follows: 4% SBS /16% rubber modified asphalt mixture (IV) > 4% SBS modified asphalt mixture (II) > asphalt mixture (90#) (I) > 16% rubber modified asphalt mixture (III). The low temperature performance and durability of anti-aging is as follows: Ⅱ > IV > Ⅰ > Ⅲ. The water stability performance and durability of anti-aging is as follows: IV > Ⅲ > Ⅱ > Ⅰ.Originality/valueThe research results have important theoretical and guiding significance for exploring the change of intrinsic properties and improved properties of asphalt and asphalt mixture in the aging process and revealing the anti-aging mechanism of different modified asphalt mixtures.

The successful development of biosensors is a result of a combination of technological achievements from various disciplines. A prerequisite for the creation of a successful biosensor is the placement of the biomolecules in specific locations with high resolution, on the sensor substrate, and the immobilization of the biomolecules with techniques that are able to ensure the bioactivity of the biomaterials while at the same time guarantee their attachment to the sensor surface for a desirable period of time. Furthermore, the future of biosensors depicts the need of development of new generation of biosensors with improved performance, increased sensitivity and selectivity while being able to monitor the results in real time and detect multiple analytes with the same sensor simultaneously. To satisfy those high expectations, the scientific community develops techniques to improve the electronic part and the signal of the biosensor device while also various techniques are investigated for the digital printing and functionalization of the sensor surface with the bio materials. To this end, this review tutorial focuses on direct write bioprinting techniques that have been used extensively for the printing of the biomaterials on various type of surfaces including sensor devices. We review the recent advancements of the techniques, in the field of biosensor development and explore their potential to be used for the creation of an all printed device rather than techniques used only for spotting biomaterials. Such advancements are expected to expand the biosensor availability and lower the cost while having a high impact to multiple disciplines.

ConspectusPolymer-based organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) have attracted great attention owing to their significantly improved performance and the recently emerged prospects for broad applic...

We prepared quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) with a tungsten oxide (WO3) hole injection layer (HIL) produced via thermal evaporation. Placement of a WO3 layer between the indium tin oxide ...

Study objective To develop a novel predictive model for emergency department (ED) hourly occupancy using readily available data at time of prediction with a time series analysis methodology. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of all ED visits from a large academic center during calendar year 2012 to predict ED hourly occupancy. Due to the time-of-day and day-of-week effects, a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average with external regressor (SARIMAX) model was selected. For each hour of a day, a SARIMAX model was built to predict ED occupancy up to 4-h ahead. We compared the resulting model forecast accuracy and prediction intervals with previously studied time series forecasting methods. Results The study population included 65,132 ED visits at a large academic medical center during the year 2012. All adult ED visits during the first 265 days were used as a training dataset, while the remaining ED visits comprised the testing dataset. A SARIMAX model performed best with external regressors of current ED occupancy, average department-wide ESI, and ED boarding total at predicting up to 4-h-ahead ED occupancy (Mean Square Error (MSE) of 16.20, and 64.47 for 1-hr- and 4-h- ahead occupancy, respectively). Our 24-SARIMAX model outperformed other popular time series forecasting techniques, including a 60% improvement in MSE over the commonly used rolling average method, while maintaining similar prediction intervals. Conclusion Accounting for current ED occupancy, average department-wide ESI, and boarding total, a 24-SARIMAX model was able to provide up to 4 h ahead predictions of ED occupancy with improved performance characteristics compared to other forecasting methods, including the rolling average. The prediction intervals generated by this method used data readily available in most EDs and suggest a promising new technique to forecast ED occupancy in real time.

For intelligent transportation systems (ITS), predicting urban traffic crowd flows is of great importance. However, it is challenging to represent various complex spatial relationships across distinct regions, as well as dynamic temporal relations among various time periods. To overcome this challenge, we propose DHSTNet, a novel deep Spatio-temporal neural network for predicting traffic crowd flows. Our proposed approach consists of four components: (i) the closeness component considers spontaneous changes of the traffic crowd flows; (ii) the period influence component frequently characterizes variations of daily flows; (iii) the weekly influence component characterizes the weekly arrangements of crowd flows; and (iv) the external branch component identifies various external influences. Our model applies diverse weights to individual branches. Then, it fuses the outcomes of the four features. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets demonstrate the advantage of the proposed model over the compared baseline methods. Moreover, to verify the generalization of the proposed model, we apply the proposed attention-based mechanism with a previously proposed model, resulting in a hybrid approach known as Att-DHSTNet, to forecast short-term crowd flows. Experimental results also confirm improved performance.

The present work was conducted to study the effect of replacement corn silage (CS) by duckweed silage (DS) improved the performance of growing Barki lambs using one of the following rations: R1: 2% of body weights (BW) concentrate feed mixture (CFM) + CS (control), R2: 1.5% of BW (CFM + DS), R3: 1.75% of BW( CFM + DS) and R4: 2% of BW (CFM + DS). Results showed the silages had good smell and were free from any signs of molds in all groups. Digestibility trial was conducted using twelve mature local Barki breed were divided four groups (3 animals each) and were determined digestibility coefficients. Animals in group R3 recorded (P 0.05) among the three tested groups treatment in all blood parameters. The second experimental trials were twenty Barki lambs with average body weight of 20.00 ± 2.0 kg /head were used. Lambs were divided into four groups (5 animals each) and fed the four respective rations with the same regime of feeding the experimental lasted for month. R3 recorded the highest value of average daily gain compared with R4, R1 and R2. Also, R3 recorded the best value of feed conversion (g DM/g gain) were (4.43) followed by the R2 (4.76), followed by R1 (5.51) than R4(5.65). It was concluded that replacing corn silage by duckweed silage to rations of growing Barki lambs could improve their performance, digestibility, average daily gain and feed conversion. However, for improved performance of the lambs and economic benefits (R3) is recommended.

Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the preparation conditions of nano-hybrid wood/polymer composites with montmorillonite (MMT) and furfuryl alcohol (FA). The effects of MMT amount, impregnation pressure and impregnation time on weigh percent gain (WPG) of treated samples were evaluated with Box-Behnken design (BBD) of a 3-level-3-factor from RSM. The predictive model for the response was extremely significant (p < 0.01). The determination coefficient (√R2) and the adjusted determination coefficient (VR2) of this model were 0.9651 and 0.9203, respectively. The optimal preparation conditions obtained by RSM design with the assistance of Design Expert were determined as follows: 4 wt% MMT amount, 0.8 MPa impregnation pressure, and 80 min impregnation time. It could be concluded from the SEM images that MMT and FA coated the cell walls and filled cell lumens. Moreover, the thermal stability was also investigated. The effects of preparation conditions were further validated by analyzing the water uptake ratio (WU), modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) of the pristine samples and the treated samples prepared under optimized conditions.

We have been conducting a survey on the birth prevalence of orofacial clefts, including cleft lip with or without cleft palate and cleft palate, in the Tokai area in central Japan every year for 37 years. Along with the yearly trends in the birth prevalence of orofacial clefts in that area for the past 37 years, we discuss whether the artificial abortion rate of fetuses with orofacial clefts has increased through the improved performance of ultrasonic imaging equipment. We also compare the yearly trends in the birth prevalence of congenital anomalies, including orofacial clefts, in Japan with those in other countries or areas where artificial abortion due to birth defects is legally permitted, and discuss the impact of improved accuracy of ultrasound imaging on the rate of artificial termination of pregnancy. The fact that the birth prevalence of orofacial clefts has basically remained unchanged for more than 30 years, even with recent more detailed prenatal diagnosis based on the improvement of ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, has allowed us tentatively to conclude that prenatal diagnosis is not currently threatening the right to life of the fetuses with orofacial clefts. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

In this paper, an enhanced independent component analysis (ICA) method is proposed for blind separation of noisy mixture signals. Considering the conventional ICA methods always have an inadequate capacity of resisting noisy effect. This phenomenon is usually encountered in wireless receiving processing. To obtain the improved separation quality, two mechanisms are conducted to formulate the modified cost function and the powerful optimization learning for investigating an enhanced ICA method.The fundamental of the proposed method is derived from the minimum bit error rate (BER) criterion and the Nesterov-accelerated adaptive moment estimation (Nadam) optimization approach. The main work of this paper includes the following facets. Firstly, a maximum likelihood (ML) principle cost function with minimum BER constraint is derived. Secondly, the modified cost function is by utilizing Nadam learning processing. Lastly, theoretical analysis and experiment results verify the improved performance quality of the proposed enhanced ICA method compared with popular representative ICA methods.

This paper works on the solution to Voltage Constrained Optimal Power Flow (VCOPF) problem with the requisite allocation of thyristor-controlled series compensator (TCSC) in IEEE 6-bus and 14-bus transmission network to cut down system power losses and to revamp bus voltage profile. The Newton–Raphson algorithm computes the power flow under normal and overloaded operating conditions. The optimal TCSC location is identified by the Cuckoo Search algorithm (CS) and optimal size is determined using an ant-lion optimizer (ALO). The quadratic fuel cost is chosen as the objective and is subjugated to the equality and inequality constraints. The proposed methodology is validated by contrasting the results to the other hybrid methods such as Fuzzy-Gravitational search algorithm (F-GSA), Improved GSA-Firefly algorithm (IGSA-FA) and Radial basis function neural network-GSA (RBFNN-GSA). The statistical analysis is also carried out for validating the efficacy of the algorithm when compared with other reported methods in the literature. The simulation results obtained on standard test systems manifest the improved performance of proposed hybrid cuckoo search and ant lion optimizer (CS-ALO) in comparison with the other optimization techniques that have emerged in the recent state-of-the-art-literature.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is an aggressive and rare malignancy with poor prognosis. However, there are no reliable prognostic biomarkers for PCNSL in clinical practice. Here, we aimed to identify a reliable prognostic biomarker for predicting the survival of PCNSL patients. In this study, multiplex immunofluorescence and digital imaging analysis were used to characterize tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) immunophenotypes and the expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 on TAMs, with regard to prognosis from diagnostic tumor tissue samples of 59 PCNSL patients. We found that the M2-to-M1 ratio was a more reliable prognostic biomarker for PCNSL than M1-like or M2-like macrophage infiltration. In addition, the combination of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on TAMs and the M2-to-M1 ratio in PCNSL demonstrated improved performance in prognostic discrimination than PD-L1-positive TAMs or M2-to-M1 ratio. To validate the prognostic significance of the combined TAMs associated biomarkers, they were integrated into the International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group (IELSG) index and termed as IELSG-M index. Kaplan-Meier plots showed that the IELSG-M index could discriminate patients into low-, intermediate- or high-risk subgroups, better than IELSG, in terms of prognosis. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of IELSG-M was 0.844 for overall survival; superior to the IELSG model (0.580). Taken together, this study's findings showed that the combination of PD-L1 on TAMs and the M2-to-M1 ratio could be strong prognostic predictive biomarkers for PCNSL and the IELSG-M index had improved prognostic significance than the IELSG index.

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are currently employed for the manufacturing of completely functional parts and have gained the attention of high-technology industries such as the aerospace, automotive, and biomedical fields. This is mainly due to their advantages in terms of low material waste and high productivity, particularly owing to the flexibility in the geometries that can be generated. In the tooling industry, specifically the manufacturing of dies and molds, AM technologies enable the generation of complex shapes, internal cooling channels, the repair of damaged dies and molds, and an improved performance of dies and molds employing multiple AM materials. In the present paper, a review of AM processes and materials applied in the tooling industry for the generation of dies and molds is addressed. AM technologies used for tooling applications and the characteristics of the materials employed in this industry are first presented. In addition, the most relevant state-of-the-art approaches are analyzed with respect to the process parameters and microstructural and mechanical properties in the processing of high-performance tooling materials used in AM processes. Concretely, studies on the AM of ferrous (maraging steels and H13 steel alloy) and non-ferrous (stellite alloys and WC alloys) tooling alloys are also analyzed.

Soybean is an important commodity worldwide. Abiotic conditions can adversely disturb crop growth and final yield. The transcription factor Dehydration-Responsive Element-Binding Proteins 2 (DREB2) act as a regulator of drought-responses. This study aimed to characterize soybean plants genetically modified with GmDREB2A;2 FL and GmDREB2A;2 CA for molecular, physiological, and agronomic responses, at different developmental periods. Results showed that seedlings from GmDREB2A;2 FL event presented lower growth reduction under osmotic treatment during germination. The GmDREB2A;2 FL and GmDREB2A;2 CA events showed improved performance in experiments of water deficit imposed in the vegetative period and higher rates in physiological parameters. In the reproductive period, there was a trend of higher yield compounds in GM GmDREB2A;2 FL event when compared to other genotypes and treatments. It was suggested that GmDREB2A;2 FL event presented superior performance due to the higher expression levels of the cisgene and drought-induced genes.

CO2 electroreduction offers a promising approach to alleviate global warming and reduce petroleum consumption simultaneously, due to its capability to convert the greenhouse gas CO2 to valuable fuels and chemicals by using renewable electricity. Electrocatalyst has an essential impact on the CO2 electroreduction performance. Among the diverse exploited materials, Cu is the only monometallic electrocatalyst that can produce CO and hydrocarbons. However, its activity, selectivity, and durability are not satisfactory for practical applications. Here, we make a comprehensive survey of the recent progress in enhancing Cu-based electrocatalysts with the strategies such as oxidation pre-treatment, heteroatom doping, morphological control, and surface modification. This review provides an overview of the current status and future opportunities for Cu-catalyzed CO2 electroreduction. It may contribute to the rational design of Cu-based electrocatalysts with improved performance and thus advance practical CO2 electrolyzer development.

The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of donor funding on the performance of water utilities in Kenya. The study employed the use of a census by targeting all 88 regulated Water Services Providers (WSPs) in Kenya for a period of two years, 2016 and 2017. Data pertaining to the support received from the donors were obtained from the publications of the WSPs, Development Partners, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and Office of Auditor General (OAG). Performance data of the various WSPs were extracted from the Impact reports produced by Water Regulatory Board (WASREB), for the periods 2016/7 to 2017/8. Presentation of the data was done through the use of tables and charts with the application of SPSS. The study found that donor funding issued as Output Based Approach (OBA) leads to improved performance. This finding is expected to assist the Kenyan Government in negotiating for the Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding to be aligned to the government flagship projects under the Medium Term Plans (MTP). The study recommends OBA as the best way of issuing donor funding.

Ninety-seven children aged 4-11 (49 males, 48 females, mostly White) were given the opportunity to improve their problem-solving performance by devising and implementing a novel cognitive offloading strategy. Across two phases, they searched for hidden rewards using maps that were either aligned or misaligned with the search space. In the second phase, maps were presented on rotatable turntables, thus allowing children to manually align all maps and alleviate mental rotation demand. From age six onwards, children showed strong evidence of both mentally rotating misaligned maps in phase 1 and manually aligning them in phase 2. Older children used this form of cognitive offloading more frequently, which substantially improved performance and eliminated the individual differences observed in phase 1.

The present research examined the role of metacognitive confidence in understanding to what extent people’s valenced thoughts guide their performance in academic settings. First, students were asked to engage in positive or negative thinking about exams in their major area of study (Study 1) or about themselves (Studies 2 and 3). The valence of these primary cognitions was manipulated to be positive or negative. Furthermore, a metacognitive variable, the perceived validity of the primary cognitions, was measured or varied to be relatively high or low. Finally, performance was assessed using a knowledge test (Study 1), a geometric shapes task (Study 2) or a selection of questions from the Graduate Record Examination (Study 3). In accordance with self-validation theory, we predicted and found that metacognitive confidence (relative to doubt) increased the impact of primary cognitions on performance. When thoughts were positive, increased confidence in the primary cognitions improved performance. However, when thoughts were negative, the same confidence validated the negative primary cognitions and reduced performance. Thus, metacognitive confidence can lead to opposite findings on performance depending on whether it validates performance-relevant positive thoughts or negative thoughts. Variations in the perceived validity of thoughts mediated the obtained effects. Therefore, we conclude that understanding the process of thought validation can help in specifying why and when metacognitive confidence is likely to work or to backfire in producing the desired performance effects, Research was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (ES) [PSI2017-83303-C2-1-P] Grant to Pablo Briñol

Bertolaccini, AL, da Silva, AA, Teixeira, EL, Schoenfeld, BJ, and de Salles Painelli, V. Does the expectancy on the static stretching effect interfere with strength-endurance performance? J Strength Cond Res 35(9): 2439-2443, 2021-Static stretching (SS) may interfere with strength performance. Such interference, however, may be partially attributed to the subjects' or researcher's expectancy about the SS effects. We aimed to examine whether the manipulation of subjects' expectancy of SS on force production could influence strength-endurance during unilateral knee extension exercise. Eighteen strength-trained men were randomly divided into positively biased (PB; N = 9) or negatively biased (N = 9) groups on the possible effects of SS on performance. Subjects' total number of repetitions and total volume of exercise were assessed during strength-endurance tests (4 sets performed to failure at 70% of 1 repetition maximum) performed under 2 different conditions on separate days: Control-no stretching (CON); or SS. Static stretching consisted of 3 sets of 3 stretching exercises, lasting 30 seconds each. Data were analyzed using mixed models. Neither the total number of repetitions nor the total volume was significantly different between the CON and SS conditions, nor for type of bias (all p0.05). However, the number of repetitions in the last set of exercise was greater during SS compared with CON for the PB group (p = 0.01). Although previous negative or positive information about SS did not interfere with the total number of repetitions and total volume of exercise, previous positive information about SS improved performance in the last set of exercise. Expectancy therefore may have played a partial role influencing strength-endurance in previous studies.

Fault detection and identification (FDI) systems are responsible for detecting and identifying errors as fast as possible with high reliability. These systems should be robust against noise and avoid false warnings. Herein, the perspective of using wavelet filters for noise reduction in FDI systems has been investigated. To achieve that, a wavelet filter and a wavelet‐hybrid filter are presented and compared in noise reduction with conventional filters, such as linear filters (finite impulse response (FIR) and infinite impulse response), median filter, and FIR‐median hybrid filter (SWFMH). The comparison is conducted in two steps: (a) noise reduction of a noisy sample signal from a gas turbine and (b) increasing the fault detection accuracy of a gas turbine FDI system in the presence of noisy data. In step one, a conventional noisy sample signal of a gas turbine is presented, and the performances of different filters in noise reduction of the signal have been studied. In step two, considering that excessive filtering can result in the loss of useful information for an FDI system's diagnostics, the performances of an FDI system coupled with different filters have been evaluated. For this purpose, an FDI system utilising an adaptive neuro‐fuzzy inference system and gas path analysis has been designed. It is demonstrated that, in some cases, the wavelet filters have a lower denoising capability for a noisy sample signal, but when used together with the FDI system, they have better performance. Therefore, wavelet filters are better suited for use in FDI systems.

Sensing of bioelectrical potentials using a non-contact method remains promising for the long-term recording of heart biopotential signals. Recording electrocardiogram (ECG) in non-contact mode incorporates dielectric materials into capacitive bioelectrodes. Dielectrics have a strong influence on non-contact bioelectrodes because the coupling capacitance relies primarily on the dielectric properties of the material. This review seeks to present an evaluation of relevant literature concerning various dielectrics that have been documented. It examines the extent of existing constraints in biosensing performance, biocompatibility, bioelectrode ergonomics, skin contact impedance and biosignal processing, and how they affect capacitive ECG measurement. It is also discussed that the performance of bioelectrodes is determined by materials’ dielectric properties, making the choice of materials an essential factor in non-contact ECG recording applications. Finally, suggestions to enable the development of non-contact bioelectrodes with improved performance were highlighted.

Current microRNA (miRNA) prediction methods are generally based on annotation criteria that tend to miss potential functional miRNAs. Recently, new miRNA annotation criteria have been proposed that could lead to improvements in miRNA prediction methods in plants. Here, we investigate the effect of the new criteria on miRNA prediction in Arabidopsis thaliana and present a new degradome assisted functional miRNA prediction approach. We investigated the effect by applying the new criteria, and a more permissive criteria on miRNA prediction using existing miRNA prediction tools. We also developed an approach to miRNA prediction that is assisted by the functional information extracted from the analysis of degradome sequencing. We demonstrate the improved performance of degradome assisted miRNA prediction compared to unassisted prediction and evaluate the approach using miRNA differential expression analysis. We observe how the miRNA predictions fit under the different criteria and show a potential novel miRNA that has been missed within Arabidopsis thaliana. Additionally, we introduce a freely available software ‘PAREfirst’ that employs the degradome assisted approach. The study shows that some miRNAs could be missed due to the stringency of the former annotation criteria, and combining a degradome assisted approach with more permissive miRNA criteria can expand confident miRNA predictions.

Introduction Bone anchored hearing solutions are a well-known option for patients with a conductive, mixed conductive-sensorineural hearing loss and those with single-sided deafness. Objective The aim of the present study was to evaluate the Ponto bone-anchored hearing system in terms of behavioral performance and self-reported outcomes, by comparing unaided and aided performance (softband and abutment), as well as aided performance with the sound processor on softband (preoperatively) versus abutment (postoperatively). Methods Fourteen adult bone-anchored candidates, with either a bilateral (n = 12) or unilateral (n = 2) conductive or mixed hearing loss, participated in the present study. Sound-field hearing thresholds were evaluated unaided and aided (softband and abutment). A speech-in-noise test was also performed unaided and aided for two spatial configurations (S0N90; implanted side; S0N90; nonimplanted side). The Glasgow Health Status Inventory and the Speech, Spatial and Quality of sound questionnaires were administered pre- and postsurgery to compare quality of life and perceived unaided and aided performance. Skin reaction (Holgers scores) was evaluated at 15 days, 6 weeks, and 10 weeks after surgery. Results Significant improvements postoperatively relative to unaided were obtained for sound-field thresholds at all tested frequencies. Additionally, sound-field thresholds were significantly improved with the sound processor on abutment relative to the softband at frequencies > 1 kHz. Improved performance postoperatively relative to unaided was also obtained in the speech-in-noise test and in self-reported outcomes. Conclusions Improvements in behavioral performance and self-reported outcomes were obtained with the sound processor mounted on abutment.