Advances in crowd analysis for urban applications through urban event detection

The recent expansion of pervasive computing technology has contributed with novel means to pursue human activities in urban space. The urban dynamics unveiled by these means generate an enormous amount of data. These data are mainly endowed by portable and radio-frequency devices, transportation systems, video surveillance, satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, and social networking services. This has opened a new avenue of opportunities, to understand and predict urban dynamics in detail, and plan various real-time services and applications in response to that. Over the last decade, certain aspects of the crowd, e.g., mobility, sentimental, size estimation and behavioral, have been analyzed in detail and the outcomes have been reported. This paper mainly conducted an extensive survey on various data sources used for different urban applications, the state-of-the-art on urban data generation techniques and associated processing methods in order to demonstrate their merits and capabilities. Then, available open-access crowd data sets for urban event detection are provided along with relevant application programming interfaces. In addition, an outlook on a support system for urban application is provided which fuses data from all the available pervasive technology sources and finally, some open challenges and promising research directions are outlined

Nonlinear Analysis of Isotropic Slab Bridges under Extreme Traffic Loading

Probabilistic analysis of traffic loading on a bridge traditionally involves an extrapolation from measured or simulated load effects to a characteristic maximum value. In recent years, Long Run Simulation, whereby thousands of years of traffic are simulated, has allowed researchers to gain new insights into the nature of the traffic scenarios that govern at the limit state. For example, mobile cranes and low-loaders, sometimes accompanied by a common articulated truck, have been shown to govern in most cases. In this paper, the extreme loading scenarios identified in the Long Run Simulation are applied to a non-linear, two-dimensional (2D) plate finite element model. For the first time, the loading scenarios that govern in 2D nonlinear analyses are found and compared to those that govern for 2D linear and 1D linear/nonlinear analyses. Results show that, for an isotropic slab, the governing loading scenarios are similar to those that govern in simple one-dimensional (beam) models. Furthermore, there are only slight differences in the critical positions of the vehicles. It is also evident that the load effects causing failure in the 2D linear elastic plate models are significantly lower, i.e. 2D linear elastic analysis is more conservative than both 2D nonlinear and 1D linear/nonlinear

Anticancer and cytotoxic effects of troxerutin on HeLa cell line: an in-vitro model of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is one of the grave uterine tumors which leads to death in women worldwide. Troxerutin (TRX) as a bioflavonoid compound has many pharmacological effects such as anti-neoplastic, radioprotective, and anti-cancer. The present study was designed to examine the cytotoxic effect of TRX on human HeLa tumor cells. Human HeLa cells were cultured and treated with different doses of TRX (20�640 mg/ml) to evaluate the effective half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) after 24 h. MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) test was used for cell proliferation assay. Also, the Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-3, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) protein expression levels were detected with immunoblotting analysis. The malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity levels were measured via their commercial kits. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The result showed that TRX at 320 mg/ml concentration (IC50) has a growth inhibitory effect against HeLa cells at 24 h treatment (P � 0.01). Moreover, it increased the MDA concentration and also decreased the GPx and SOD activity levels at 320 mg/ml concentration versus control (P < 0.001). Also, TRX significantly up-regulated the Bax, cleaved caspase-3 and TNF-α proteins expression levels (P < 0.01) and down-regulated the Bcl-2 protein expression in HeLa tumor cells at 320 mg/ml concentration compared to control (P < 0.05). Our study showed that 24 h of treatment with TRX (320 mg/ml) has apoptotic and growth inhibitory effects against HeLa cells. It can induce inflammation (at least via up-regulating the TNF-α protein expression) and oxidative stress in human HeLa cells. © 2020, Springer Nature B.V

Ultrasonic assisted synthesis of a novel ternary nanocomposite based on carbon nanotubes/zeolitic imidazolate framework-67/polyaniline for solid-phase microextraction of organic pollutants

In the present research, a new nanoporous composite coating of polyaniline (PANI), modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF) was successfully fabricated by a layer-by-layer strategy through electrodeposition method on a stainless steel wire and ultrasonic-assisted. The optimization of the coating was done with design expert 10.0.7.0 software, while the crucial factors were optimized using a central composite design (CCD). The characteristics of the nanocomposite were examined by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The applicability of this home-made coating fiber was assessed for the headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) of trace amounts of some organic pollutants in aqueous samples followed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The significant parameters affecting the extraction efficiency, such as desorption and sorption conditions along with ionic strength, were also investigated. Validation experiments showed that the optimized method has wide linear ranges from 0.005 to 1000 μg L�1, very low limits of detection (0.0003�0.0008 μg L�1) and excellent repeatability (0.2�9.7). The relative recoveries obtained by spiking the target analytes in aqueous samples were in the range 83.4�111.2. The combination of modified CNTs, ZIF-67, and aniline in the nanocomposite create attractive opportunities for the development a new coating fiber with a porous structure, strong adhesion to the surface of the wire, excellent thermal stability, long lifespan and high extraction efficiency suggesting the potential of this SPME fiber for routine analysis in real samples. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Activators of SIRT1 in the kidney and protective effects of SIRT1 during acute kidney injury (AKI) (effect of SIRT1 activators on acute kidney injury)

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a complex disorder and a clinical condition characterized by acute reduction in renal function. If AKI is not treated, it can lead to chronic kidney disease, which is associated with a high risk of death. SIRT1 (silent information regulator 1) is an NAD-dependent deacetylase. This enzyme is responsible for the processes of DNA repair or recombination, chromosomal stability, and gene transcription. This enzyme also plays a protective role in many diseases, including AKI. In this study, we review the mechanisms that mediate the protective effects of SIRT1 on AKI, including SIRT1 activators. © 2021, Japanese Society of Nephrology

Calculation of the dynamic allowance for railway bridges from direct measurement

In a traditional deterministic assessment, a dynamic amplification factor (DAF) is applied to the static loading in order to account for dynamics. The codified DAF values are appropriately conservative in order to consider the wide range of structures and load effects to which they are applied. In the current analysis, a site specific assessment dynamic ratio (ADR) is calculated from direct measurement on an eighty year old steel truss railway bridge. The ADR is defined as the ratio of characteristic total stress to the characteristic static stress. The application of an ADR is a relatively new concept which has rarely been considered for railway bridges. An assessment performed on the bridge in question showed a decrease in the dynamic allowance when considering the site specific ADR, corresponding to a twenty-six percent decrease in the calculated stress. The measurements available were also used to derive a robust stochastic model for dynamic allowance which considered the correlation between DAF and stress level. The developed model was applied to a probabilistic assessment and resulted in a nine percent increase in reliability. © Civil-Comp Press, 2016

Nonlinear analysis of isotropic slab bridges under extreme traffic loading

Probabilistic analysis of traffic loading on a bridge traditionally involves an extrapolation from measured or simulated load effects to a characteristic maximum value. In recent years, long run simulations, whereby thousands of years of traffic are simulated, have allowed researchers to gain new insights into the nature of the traffic scenarios that govern at the limit state. For example, mobile cranes and low-loaders, sometimes accompanied by a common articulated truck, have been shown to govern in most cases. In this paper, the extreme loading scenarios identified in the long-run simulation are applied to a non-linear, two-dimensional (2D) plate finite element model. For the first time, the loading scenarios that govern in 2D nonlinear analyses are found and compared to those that govern for 2D linear and one-dimensional (1D) linear and nonlinear analyses. Results show that, for an isotropic slab, the governing loading scenarios are similar to those that govern in simple 1D (beam) models. Furthermore, there are only slight differences in the critical positions of the vehicles. It is also evident that the load effects causing failure in the 2D linear elastic plate models are significantly lower, i.e., 2D linear elastic analysis is more conservative than both 2D nonlinear and 1D linear and nonlinear analyses. ©, 2015, National Research Council of Canada. All Rights Reserved