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Effective extraction and visualization of complex target features from volume data are an important task, which allows the user to analyze and get insights of the complex features, and thus to make reasonable decisions. Some state-of-the-art techniques allow the user to perform such a task by interactively exploring in multiple linked parameter space views. However, interactions in the parameter space using trial and error may be unintuitive and time-consuming. Furthermore, switching between multiple views may be distracting. Some other state-of-the-art techniques allow the user to extract the complex features by directly interacting in the data space and subsequently visualize the extracted features in 3D view. They are intuitive and effective techniques for the user, as the user is familiar with the data space, and they do not require many trial and error to get the features. However, these techniques usually generate less accurate features. In this paper, we proposed a semiautomatic Gaussian mixture model-based target feature extraction and visualization method, which allows the user to quickly label single or multiple complex target features using lasso on two slices of the volume data and subsequently visualize the automatically extracted features in 3D view. We have applied it to various univariate or multivariate volume datasets from the medical field to demonstrate its effectiveness. Moreover, we have performed both qualitative and quantitative experiments to compare its results against the results from two state-of-the-art techniques and the ground truths. The experimental results showed that our method is able to generate the closest results to the ground truth.

Fiber ingestion during the suckling period is helpful for gut development and probiotic colonization. Xylooligosaccharides (Xos) and xylan (Xyl) were selected to investigate the effects of different polymerization degree fiber ingestion on the growth performance and microbiota fermentation capacity of pre- and post-weanling piglets. An in vitro fermentation trial was also conducted to verify the microbial fermentation capacity of weanling piglet fecal microbiota. Results showed that Xos and Xyl ingestion had no significant effect on the piglet body weight and D-lactate level in the plasma at 21 d during the suckling period. After weaning, piglets in the Xyl group had a lower average daily gain (ADG) (P < 0.05), vitro dry matter (DM) fermentability (P < 0.05) and activity of xylanase (P < 0.05) than the control and Xos groups. The Xos group had no significant difference in the ADG when compared with the control group, but a significantly lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P < 0.05) than the control group, which means a high feed efficiency in the Xos group. The highest carbohydrate digestion and absorption ability of fecal microbiota (P < 0.05) was found in the Xos group. Meanwhile, the Xos group had the highest butyrate production ability (P < 0.05) and activity of xylanase (P < 0.05) during in vitro fermentation. The ingestion of Xyl during the suckling period had negative effects on the feed efficiency and hindgut fermentation capacity of weanling piglets. Xylooligosaccharide ingestion to suckling piglets improves growth performance and feed efficiency after weaning through increasing the fermentation capacity of microbiota and fiber-degrading enzyme secretion.

Background Iodine plays an important role in pregnancy. How to maintain adequate iodine intake amongst pregnant women in each trimester of pregnancy to prevent adverse birth outcomes in central China is a challenge for clinical practice. Methods 870 pregnant women and their infants were enrolled in the study. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was measured using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Maternal and newborn information were obtained during follow-up. Multinomial logistic regression models were established. Results Median UIC of pregnant women was 172 ± 135 μg/L which is currently considered to be sufficient. Multivitamin supplements containing iodine, iodized salt intake and frequent milk intake were significantly associated with higher UIC. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that multivitamin supplements containing iodine and milk consumption were risk factors for more than adequate iodine (UIC ≥ 250 μg/L). Iodine-rich diet was significantly related to heavier birthweight, larger head circumference and longer femur length of the newborns while more than adequate iodine intake (UIC ≥ 250 μg/L) was a risk factor for macrosomia. Logistic regression models based on potential risk factors involving iodine containing supplements and iodine-rich diet were established to predict and screen pregnant women with high risk of more than adequate iodine intake among local pregnant women in different trimesters and guide them to supplement iodine reasonably to prevent the risk. Conclusions Multivitamin supplements containing iodine and milk consumption were risk factors for maternal UIC ≥ 250 μg/L which was a risk factor for macrosomia. Iodine monitoring models were established to provide guidance for pregnant women to reduce the risk of more than adequate iodine intake, thereby contributing to reduce the risk of having a macrosomia.

Effects of different dietary fiber (DF) sources on short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) production and absorption in the hindgut of growing pigs were studied by an in vivo–vitro (ileal cannulated pigs and fecal inoculum-based fermentation) method. Thirty-six cannulated pigs (body weight: 48.5 ± 2.1 kg) were randomly allocated to 6 treatments containing the same DF content (16.5%), with either wheat bran (WB), corn bran (CB), sugar beet pulp (SBP), oat bran (OB), soybean hulls (SH), or rice bran (RB) as DF sources. Pigs were allowed 15 days for diet adaptation, and then, fresh ileal digesta and feces were collected to determine SCFA concentration which was normalized for food dry matter intake (DMI) and the hindgut DF fermentability. Fecal microbiota was inoculated into the freeze-dried ileal digesta samples to predict the ability of SCFA production and absorption in the hindgut by in vitro fermentation. The SH group had the largest concentration of total SCFA and propionate in ileal digesta and fecal samples of growing pigs (p < 0.05). Nonetheless, the predicted acetate, total SCFA production, absorption in the SBP group were the highest (p < 0.01), but the lowest in the OB group (p < 0.01) among all groups. Even SBP and OB group had a similar ratio of soluble DF (SDF) to insoluble DF (IDF). The CB group had high determined ileal and fecal butyrate concentration but the lowest butyrate production and absorption in the hindgut (p < 0.01). Overall, the source of DF had a great impact on the hindgut SCFA production and absorption, and SBP fiber had a great potential to increase hindgut SCFA production and absorption.

Three experiments were conducted to determine the digestible (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) values, and apparent (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AAs) in degossypolized cottonseed protein (DCP), and to evaluate the effects of DCP as a replacement for soy protein concentrate (SPC) or fish meal (FM) on growth performance and diarrhea frequency of nursery pigs. In Exp. 1, 12 barrows (38.5 ± 3.0 kg initial BW) were allotted into 2 dietary treatments to determine the DE and ME values of DCP. In Exp. 2, 12 barrows (31.5 ± 2.2 kg initial BW) fitted with ileal T-cannula were allotted into 2 dietary treatments to determine the AID and SID of AAs in DCP using the exogenous indicator method. In Exp. 3, 144 nursery pigs (7.4 ± 1.1 kg initial BW) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments, including a control diet with 10% SPC and 4% FM, and 3 experimental diets formulated by replacing SPC with 5% or 10% DCP or replacing FM with 4% DCP, respectively. The results showed that the concentrations of crude protein (CP) and most AAs in DCP were close to those in SPC, but the fiber levels in DCP was greater than that in SPC. The DE and ME values of DCP were 19.11 and 17.77 MJ/kg on dry matter (DM) basis, respectively, and the AID and SID of indispensable AAs were ranged from 0.73 to 0.93 and 0.76 to 0.94, respectively. There were no differences in growth performance, diarrhea frequency and ATTD of gross energy (GE), DM and CP among the 4 treatments during day 0–28 fed to nursery pigs. However, pigs fed diets with 10% DCP had lower (P

The scientific and reasonable prediction of energy consumption in WEDM process is the key for energy-saving optimization of wire-cutting process in the design stage. The existing research about WEDM energy-saving studies mainly focus on the pulsed power control strategies. And, the research on non-pulsed energy consumption of WEDM is deficient. The non-pulsed energy consumption takes up a larger proportion in the whole WEDM process through theoretical analysis and case verification, and the energy consumption characteristics are equally representative. Therefore, the paper analyzes the energy characteristics based on non-pulsed energy consumption subunits of WEDM. A non-pulsed auxiliary energy consumption and feeding energy prediction model is established, and a WEDM machine tool is used for the experiment. The accuracy of the prediction model proposed in this paper can reach more than 96%. The raise and establishment of the model provides the basis for energy saving optimization of the subsequent wire cutting process.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary Chinese herb medicine extracted from Dandelion root on growth performance, serum immune markers, faecal bacterial community and their metabolites in weaned pigs. The results showed that dietary Dandelion root extract (CHE) supplementation decreased (P

Non-digestible polysaccharides are of great significance to human and animal intestinal health. Cellulose, arabinoxylan, β−glucan and glucomannan were selected in the present study to investigate the fermentation characteristics and fiber-degrading enzyme kinetics by inoculating pig fecal microbiota in vitro. Our results showed that fermentation of arabinoxylan and β-glucan produced the highest amount of acetate and lactate, respectively. The abundance of Prevotella_9 was the highest in β-glucan group and positively correlated with lactate and acetate. Glucomannan fermentation produced the highest amount of butyrate, and the abundance of Lachnospiraceae_XPB_1014_group and Bacteroides were the lowest. A significant negative correlation was found between Lachnospiraceae_XPB_1014_group, Bacteroides and butyrate. Exo-β-1,4-xylanase had the highest activity at 24 h during arabinoxylan fermentation. The activity of β-glucosidase and β-mannosidase at 36 h were higher than those at 15 h in the glucomannan group. The abundance of Prevotella_9 was positively correlated with β-glucosidase while Lachnospiraceae_XPB_1014_group and Bacteroides were negatively correlated with β-xylosidase. Our findings demonstrated the β-glucan and arabinoxylan promote proliferation of Prevotella_9, with the preference to secret β-glucosidase, β-mannosidase and the potential to produce lactate and acetate. Butyrate production can be improved by inhibiting the proliferation of Lachnospiraceae_XPB_1014_group and Bacteroides, which have the lack of potential to secret β-xylosidase.

Aims Type 2 diabetes is considered to be one of the essential risks of adverse outcomes in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).1 Metformin and insulin were suggested to affect the outcomes. However, divergent views are still expressed. We aim to gain further insight into metformin and insulin in both pre-admission and in-hospital usage in COVID-19 patients with pre-existed type 2 diabetes. Main methods This is a multicentral retrospective study of the hospital confirmed COVID-19 patients between January 19 to April 09, 2020, who admitted to 3 main hospitals in Xiangyang city, China. The effect of type 2 diabetes, metformin, and insulin on COVID-19 were analyzed, respectively. Clinical characteristics, blood laboratory indices, clinical observational indices, and outcomes of these cases were collected. Key findings A total of 407 confirmed COVID-19 patients (including 50 pre-existed type 2 diabetes) were eligible in our study. COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes had more adverse outcomes than non-diabetes (OR2: mortality: 1.46 [95% CI3 1.11, 1.93]; P, Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image

With the rapid development of e-commerce, more and more manufacturers are building multiple channels to expand the sales of their products. Under this trend, different channel strategies are very prone to channel conflicts. After channel conflicts occur, the cooperation between enterprises may break or even end the cooperative relationship. This article provides reasonable channel strategies for supply chain members under different channel structures, maintains the stability of channels and supply chains, and provides support for enterprises in channel strategy decisions. The results show that manufacturers can reasonably adjust the wholesale price to maintain the stability of the channel and supply chain. The addition of channels for manufacturers increases their own interests and damages the interests of other members. With the increase of channels, the utility of traditional retailers will decrease with the increase of traditional retailer’s fairness concern.

This study was conducted to determine the DE, ME, and apparent (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA in different wheat cultivars fed to growing pigs. In Exp. 1, twelve crossbred growing barrows were allotted to a replicated 6 × 6 Latin square design to determine the DE and ME contents of 12 different wheat cultivars. In Exp. 2, twelve growing barrows with a simple T-cannula were used to determine the AID and SID of AA in 10 different wheat cultivars. Pigs were randomly allotted to a replicated 6 × 6 Latin square design and fed one nitrogen-free diet and 10 different cultivars of wheat diets. Among different wheat cultivars, the concentrations of GE, CP, NDF, ADF, and starch ranged from 4,385 to 4,458 kcal/kg, 12.95% to 18.14%, 9.16% to 13.89%, 1.93% to 2.92% and 60.81% to 70.77%, respectively (DM basis). There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in the DE, ME values, and the ATTD of GE in 12 different cultivars of wheat in Exp. 1. The DE and ME contents and the ATTD of GE ranged (P < 0.05) from 3,922 to 4,067 kcal/kg DM, 3,759 to 3,941 kcal/kg DM and 88.14% to 90.31%, respectively. The best prediction equations of DE and ME for different cultivars of wheat cultivars were DE = -2,738 - (40.8 × % ADF) + (1.7 × GE) - (51.5 × % Xylans) - (95.7 × % Ash) + (22.3 × % EE), R2 = 0.98, and ME = -2,990 + (1.7 × GE) - (50.2 × % Xylans) - (87.6 × % Ash), R2 = 0.88, respectively. There were also differences (P < 0.05) in the AID and SID of CP and indispensable AA, expect for His, in 10 wheat cultivars in Exp. 2. The AID and SID of CP, Lys, and Met ranged (P < 0.05) from 82.02% to 89.46%, 74.13% to 84.73%, 87.35% to 92.49% and 87.56% to 94.04%, 80.56% to 89.89%, 89.56% to 94.45%, respectively. In conclusion, the chemical composition, energy contents, and most AA digestibility in different cultivars of wheat varied widely.

The widespread use of sand casting technology has brought tremendous pressure on the environment due to its energy consumption, waste discharge, and process related carbon emissions. A plan should begin at the design phase of the casting, in order to achieve low carbon sand castings or sand castings with low greenhouse gas emissions. Accurate prediction of carbon emission in sand casting is the basis for carbon emission reduction. To calculate and reduce carbon emission of sand castings during the sand casting process design phase, a low carbon process design method of sand casting based on process design parameters is proposed. The process design of sand casting includes various parameters. Three types of sand casting carbon source model were built by three categories of process design parameters analysis of sand mold casting. so as to predict the carbon emission of sand mold casting. The feasibility of the proposed method to estimating the carbon emission in the process design stage was validated by using a practical example. Through the comparison of the two process design schemes based on this method, it can be proved that carbon emissions have decreased significantly. Moreover, we can know the amount of carbon emissions from each type of carbon source can be predicted. A low carbon sand casting process during the sand casting process design phase can be created by this method. The optimization of process design parameters was useful to the reduce carbon emissions of the sand casting and benefited to achieve the aim of reach sustainable manufacturing.

Complex environmental information and lighting conditions will affect the usability of automotive augmented reality display in the outdoor environment. In this way, users’ recognition and semantic understanding of AR-HUD information may be affected. The driver’s cognitive performance directly affects the driving safety and driving experience, so the color-coding of AR-HUD is very important for the driver to identify information easily, quickly, and accurately. Taken the automotive AR-HUD display as the object, this paper compared the visibility and significance of foreground object colors in different backgrounds in the way of combining both subjective and objective experiment methods. The experimental results show that the color of white, cyan, and green are recommended to be used in automotive AR-HUD display, which has a positive influence to improving the automobile AR-HUD color design.

The traditional manufacturing industry has low utilization rate of resources, in order to reduce the pressure it brings to environmental sustainable development. To explore the application of carbon benefit in improving resource efficiency level. This paper starts from the perspective of product feature design, and develops a carbon benefit model of feature design scheme from the perspectives of time carbon benefit and economic carbon benefit under the consideration of carbon emission. Taking traditional sand casting as a case, this paper analyzes the function of holes in process design and the carbon benefit of different hole-making schemes. It is better to adopt hole-making scheme of machine under the condition of producing single or a few castings, economic carbon benefit is 0.011 yuan/kgCO2 higher. When produced in large volume, the economic carbon benefit of the sand core hole-making scheme is better, and the impact on environment can be reduced by 0.317 kgCO2/h. In this paper, carbon emission and resource utilization in the subsequent production process are controlled in the product design stage, so as to improve the resource level and efficiency of traditional manufacturing industry. By improving the feature design scheme, enterprises can design feasible energy saving and emission reduction scheme.

The emergence of new technologies has accelerated the process of sustainable development, gradually moving traditional manufacturing away from labor-intensive low-end towards high value-added and high-quality production. In order to study the application effectiveness of new technologies, the production of single or small batch castings in the traditional foundry industry is taken as the analysis object by using traditional manufacturing method, additive manufacturing (ink-jet bonding 3D printing) and subtractive manufacturing (sand mold milling), from the aspects of resources consumption, environmental impact and production efficiency. Among them, the resources consumption takes material, energy, and human resources into comprehensive consideration, while the environmental impact takes carbon emission as the main evaluation index, and the production efficiency is determined according to the actual casting output of the enterprise, this evaluation method is applicable to most of the traditional manufacturing industries. The results indicate that in the production of this kind of castings, additive and subtractive manufacturing have better resource utilization and significantly reduced the carbon emission of sand casting process by about 20.78% and 4.82%, respectively. Besides, the production efficiency of additive and subtractive manufacturing are 92.66% and 91.39% respectively, which has superiority not only in production capacity but also in economic benefits. According to the research conclusion, reference of what or whether new technologies can be used in traditional manufacturing to realize sustainability is provided, which has certain practical significance.

Energy saving and emission reduction in traditional manufacturing can be achieved by reducing the occurrence of defective products. Most of the existing optimization methods are obtained by referring to production experience and technical manual, which are time-consuming and laborious. Thus, a method of process selection and optimization for defective products in the design phase is required. In this paper, a process design strategy based on design parameters for eliminating sand casting defects is proposed. Firstly, the technological process and hole-type defects of sand casting are analyzed. The process design parameters are divided into three categories to propose a process design strategy. Three specific optimization schemes named OSP (structure parameters optimized process), OGP (gating system parameters optimized process), and OPP (processing parameters optimized process) are derived. Then a carbon emission prediction model is established to evaluate the effect of these schemes, and a sustainable manufacturing evaluation method with six indicators is also raised. Finally, a case study illustrates that 21%–24% of process carbon emission was saved after optimization on average. Among the strategies, OSP has the best energy-saving performance of average carbon emission, which is 4% lower than the others. OGP has the largest proportion of recyclable resources while OPP has the highest process yield and lowest adjustment cost. The results show that the proposed strategies can effectively improve the process yield, quality of casting, and decrease carbon emissions. The strategy raised in the paper supports the sustainable development of traditional manufacturing methods.

Through analyzing the value of the activities in the process of express delivery, the model of logistics value chain analysis (LVCA) of express enterprises is constructed. Using the model, the express enterprises can identify the key activities from the whole process of express delivery from senders to receivers, and those key activities constitute the logistics competitiveness of express enterprises. Then a model of logistics competitiveness is established, which includes four aspects: strategic location, network optimization, value-added services and performance measures. Those four aspects form the core logistics competitiveness for express enterprises.

The use of antiplatelet agents in patients with ischemic stroke is recommended. In this study, we compared the efficacy and safety of the treatment of clopidogrel plus aspirin (ASA) and that of ASA alone in patients with mild stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA). Randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies of Clop + ASA vs. ASA therapy in the patients with minor stroke/TIA were identified by electronic bibliographic searches. The primary result was recurrent stroke, while myocardial infarction (MI) as well as vascular mortalities were the secondary result, and major hemorrhagic events were the safety result. A comparative analysis of binary outcomes was performed on the treatment groups, with the employment of fixed effect models and the measurement of risk ratios (95% CI). Five RCT studies involving 9,527 patients were included. Compared with the group with ASA treatment, there was significant reduction in the incidence of recurrent stroke in the group with Clop + ASA (RR=0.76, 95% CI=0.67-0.87, P