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The black soldier fly is a valuable resource insect capable of transforming organic waste while producing antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The inhibition zone assay (IZA) is a method used to demonstrate the antimicrobial activity of AMPs. This study aimed to examine the experimental principles and establish a standardized IZA method. Results indicated that the AMPs extract consisted of proteins ranging in molecular weights from 0 to 40 kDa. The AMPs diffused radially on an agar plate through an Oxford cup. The diffusion radius was influenced by the concentration and volume of the AMPs but ultimately determined by the mass of the AMPs. The swabbing method was found to be effective for inoculating bacteria on the agar plate. Among the conditions tested, the plate nutrient concentration was the most sensitive factor for the IZA, followed by bacterial concentration and incubation time. Optimal conditions for the IZA included a nutrient plate of 0.5× TSA, a bacterial concentration of 106 CFU/mL, and an incubation time of 12 h, with oxytetracycline (OTC) at 0.01 mg/mL serving as the positive control. The antimicrobial-specific activity of AMPs could be standardized by the ratio of inhibition zone diameters between AMPs and OTC. These findings contribute to the standardization of the IZA method for profiling the antimicrobial activity of AMPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crash risk analysis and prediction are considered the premise of highway traffic safety control, which directly affects the accuracy and effectiveness of traffic safety decisions. A highway traffic crash risk prediction method considering temporal correlation characteristics is proposed in this research. Firstly, the case-control sample analysis method is used to extract 6 time series sample data composed of crash traffic flow data and corresponding non-crash traffic flow data for crash risk analysis and prediction. Secondly, the multiparameter fusion clustering analysis method is used to indicate that the sample data of different time series have different effects on the crash risk. Then, the random forest model is used to screen several traffic flow variables that affect the highway crash risk. Thereafter, the downstream mean speed (ASD1D2), the upstream mean occupancy (AOU1U2), and the speed difference (DSU1D1) on the nearest detector were determined as the explanatory variables of the crash risk prediction model. Finally, based on the three variables, the dynamic Bayesian network model for highway traffic crash risk prediction is proposed. The overall prediction accuracy of this model is 84.9%, the crash prediction accuracy is 60.8%, and the non-crash prediction accuracy is 92.3%. Also, the prediction results show that the dynamic Bayesian model has better prediction effect than the static Bayesian model for the same sample data., Author(s): Liping Zhao (corresponding author) [1]; Feng Li [1]; Dongye Sun (corresponding author) [2]; Fei Dai [1] 1. Introduction Research on road traffic safety has a long history. Early studies [...]

The hydro-mechanical transmission system (HMTS) operates either in power split transmission mode (PSTM) or power reflux transmission mode (PRTM). Although PRTM is often ignored as a transition mode, this study reveals that the HMTS operating in the PRTM can accumulate the power input from the power source in the form of reflux power (in some references, scholars also refer to the reflux power as circulating power), thereby enabling the HMTS to exhibit a similar transmission performance as hydrodynamic transmission systems. Accordingly, this study applies the PRTM to the starting of construction vehicles and refers to the HMTS operating only in the PRTM as the power reflux hydro-mechanical transmission system (PHTS). By analyzing the internal relationship between the configuration and the power flow, transmission characteristics, energy storage mechanism, and energy loss mechanism of the PHTS, the optimal PHTS configuration suitable for construction vehicles was explored. The results indicate that reasonable configurations can enable the PHTS to significantly improve the efficiency of the construction vehicle transmission system, reducing energy consumption while ensuring power performance. Expanding the displacement ratio control range of the hydraulic speed regulation mechanism and combining the PRTM with the PSTM in an orderly manner can widen the high-efficiency range of the vehicle transmission system without increasing the number of vehicle gears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]