Predictors of everyday functional impairment in older patients with schizophrenia: A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveThis study investigates the prevalence of everyday functional impairment among older adults with schizophrenia and builds a predictive model of functional decline.MethodsA total of 113 hospitalized older patients enrolled in this study. Functional impairment is defined according to the Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ). Patients who scored <9 could function independently daily, while those who scored ≥9 had problems in everyday functional activities. Data collected include sociodemographic characteristics, depressive symptoms, social support, and physical comorbidities, which were classified according to the eight anatomical systems of the human body.ResultsThe sample comprised 75% female participants with a mean age of 63.74 ± 7.42 years old. A total of 33.6% had a functional impairment, while cognitive impairment was present in 63.7%. Independent participants had better urinary system and respiratory system health (P < 0.05). After adjusting for the potential confounders of age, disease course, physical comorbidities, psychiatric symptoms, the ability to independently carry out daily activities, and cognitive function, we found that impaired everyday function is associated with poor cognition, depressive symptoms, first admission, psychiatric symptoms (especially positive symptoms), ADL, and respiratory and urinary system diseases.ConclusionEveryday functional capacity is predicted by disease course, admission time, cognition, depressive symptoms, severity of psychosis, ability to carry out daily activities, and respiratory and urinary system health status. Urinary system diseases contribute significantly to the prediction of impaired function. Future studies should focus on health status, drug use, and everyday functional recovery in older patients with schizophrenia

Review of Experimental Studies on Application of FRP for Strengthening of Bridge Structures

In recent years, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been widely used as a new type of high-performance material in concrete structures. FRP composites have the advantages of high strength, light weight, and corrosion resistance. Based on existing studies in the literature, this paper reviews the development and applications of FRP materials for the strengthening and rehabilitation of bridge structures. The types and properties of FRP composites are summarized, and the applications and development of FRP sheets, FRP bars, FRP grids, and prestressed FRP tendons for bridge structures are discussed. Different types of FRP composites result in different failure characteristics and bearing capacities. Moreover, this paper covers the FRP strengthening methods and the response properties of the flexural performance, bonding performance, and ductility. Significant conclusions regarding the strengthening/repair of bridge structures with FRP composites are presented. The review details the current state of knowledge and research on strengthening bridge structures with FRP composites and is helpful for better understanding and establishing design criteria

A New Approach for Free Vibration Analysis of Thin-Walled Box Girder Considering Shear Lag Effect

The thin-walled box girder (T-WBG) is widely applied in the long-span bridge structures during the past decades due to its lighter self-weight and better mechanical properties. The shear lag effect (SLE), an essential aspect of T-WBG which governs the stress and the deformation, is rather necessary to be revealed properly. The extraordinary issue of T-WBG analysis nowadays is the SLE impact on its dynamical response to external load. This paper proposes an improved finite element method (FEM) to obtain the realistic vibration characteristics of the T-WBG considering the SLE by theory analysis and formula derivation. Firstly, based on the classical plate and shell theory as well as beam theory, the T-WBG was divided into shell subunit for the roof and beam subunit for web and floor, respectively. Secondly, a 3-order polynomial which is consistent with the experiment results was adopted as the axial-displacement interpolation function of the roof subunit, whose nodal displacements parameters were also taken as the basic. Thirdly, the nodal displacement parameters of the web subunit and floor subunit were deduced by the basic according to the principle of deflection consistency. It is shown through a numerical example that the proposed method is much more economical to achieve reasonable accuracy than traditional FEM analysis software when dealing with the free vibration problem of the T-WBG considering the SLE. Besides, it is also observed that the natural frequency values considering the SLE have a trend of decreasing markedly in general, and the influence of SLE on higher-order frequency is more significant than on the lower one under the boundary condition of cantilever supported, while a contrary effect under the boundary condition of simple supported

Friction Characteristics of Post-Tensioned Tendons of Full-Scale Structures Based on Site Tests

In the design of prestressing concrete structures, the friction characteristics between strands and channels have an important influence on the distribution of prestressing force, which can be considered comprehensively by curvature and swing friction coefficients. However, the proposed friction coefficient varies widely and may lead to an inaccurate prestress estimation. In this study, four full-scale field specimens were established to measure the friction loss of prestressing tendons with electromagnetic sensors and anchor cable dynamometers to evaluate the friction coefficient. The least square method and Bayesian quantile regression method were adopted to calculate the friction coefficient, and the results were compared with that in the specifications. Field test results showed that Bayesian quantile regression method was more effective and significant in the estimation of the friction coefficient

The development trend of influenza in China from 2010 to 2019

In this study, we quantify and evaluate the transmission capacity of different types of influenza, and evaluate the flu vaccination effect. Taking the influenza cases reported by the National Influenza Center of China from 2010 to 2019 as the research object (http://www.chinaivdc.cn/cnic), we established the SEIABR model to calculate the influenza infection rate and R0 for each year from 2010 to 2019, and calculate the influenza A and B influenza infection rates. We further added vaccination measures to the SEIABR model, and analysis the impact of different vaccination rates on the spread of influenza. We find that the range of β(infection rate) is $$6.03 \times {10^{ - 10}}$$ to $$9.66 \times {10^{ - 10}}$$, and the average is $$\left({7.95 \pm 1.27} \right) \times {10^{ - 10}}$$, the range of R0 is .98 to 1.47, and the average is 1.21. Simulation result suggest that vaccine coverage needed to reach 60%-80% to control the spread of influenza virus in China when the vaccine effectiveness was 20%-40%. When the vaccine effectiveness is 40%-60%, vaccine coverage needs to reach 40%-60% to control the spread of influenza virus in China. In China, the infection rate of influenza A is higher than influenza B, to better control the spread of the flu virus, we suggest that we also need to increase the number of people vaccinated or improve the efficiency of vaccines(the current vaccination coverage is probably less than 20%)

Reliability Assessment and Residual Life Estimation of Concrete Girder Bridges Strengthened by Carbon Fiber during the Service Stage

In recent decades, carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) have been widely used to repair and maintain concrete structures around the world. Since the parameter uncertainties of load and resistance are very important for the reliability assessment of RC bridge strengthened by CFRP, this paper presents a method to estimate the reliability and residual life of RC bridges strengthened by CFRP. In the proposed method, uncertainties of material properties, geometry parameters, load model, and time-dependent resistance model are taken into account. The proposed method combines the inverse reliability method and the calculation method of load and resistance of RC bridge strengthened by CFRP and is illustrated by an example RC bridge strengthened by CFRP during the service stage. The results indicate that the proposed approach can provide valid information regarding parameter uncertainties for the reliability of RC bridge strengthened by CFRP during the service stage. Additionally, the effects of parameter uncertainty of the reliability and residual life of RC bridge strengthened by CFRP during the service stage are analyzed and discussed. The proposed method is more robust and reliable than the traditional method

Dynamic Coupling Analysis of Vehicle-Bridge System for Long-Span Suspension Bridge Based on Backpropagation Neural Network Method

As the suspension bridge structures become more flexible and the forms of the vehicle load become more diverse, the dynamic coupling problem of the vehicle-bridge system has become gradually prominent in long-span suspension bridges, resulting in an increase in accuracy and efficiency requirements for dynamic coupling analysis of the vehicle-bridge system. Conventional method such as finite element method (FEM) for dynamic coupling analysis of vehicle-bridge system often requires separate iteration of vehicle system and bridge system, and the contact and coupling interactions between them are used as the link for convergence inspection, which is too computationally intensive and time-consuming. In addition, the dynamic response of the vehicle-bridge coupling system obtained by FEM cannot be expressed explicitly, which is not convenient for engineering application. To overcome these drawbacks mentioned above, the backpropagation (BP) neural network technology is proposed to the dynamic coupling analysis of the vehicle-bridge system of long-span suspension bridges. Firstly, the BP neural network was used to approximate the dynamic response of the suspension bridge in the vehicle-bridge coupling system, and the complex finite element analysis results were thus explicitly displayed in the form of a mathematical analytical expression. And then the dynamic response of the suspension bridge under vehicle load was obtained by using a dynamic explicit analysis method. It is shown through a numerical example that, compared with FEM, the proposed method is much more economical to achieve reasonable accuracy when dealing with the dynamic coupling problem of the vehicle-bridge system. Finally, an engineering case involving a detailed finite element model of a long-span suspension bridge with a main span of 1688 m is presented to demonstrate the applicability and efficiency under the premise of ensuring the approximation accuracy, which indicates that the proposed method provides a new approach for dynamic coupling analysis of the vehicle-bridge system of long-span suspension bridges

Photocatalytic removal of antibiotics from natural water matrices and swine wastewater via Cu(I) coordinately polymeric carbon nitride framework

The overuse of refractory antibiotics in animal husbandry has caused serious aqueous environment pollution. Polymeric carbon nitride (CN) based photocatalysis, a promising method to address antibiotic pollution issues, has encountered with restricted efficiency because of the sluggish charge transfer and unexploited water matrices influence. In this study, an efficient metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT) was successfully implanted into the Cu(I) coordinately polymeric carbon nitride framework (Cu-CNF) via the bonds of coordinated Cu(I) with organic N and few inorganic O atoms. The Cu-CNF photocatalysts were endowed with high-efficient chlortetracycline hydrochloride (CTC-HCl) removal in deionized water. To insure the feasibility of the Cu-CNF in antibiotics removal from different water matrices, a systematical exploration covering the reaction kinetics, the physicochemical stability, and the influence of specific water matrices on CTC-HCl removal was carried out by various ways. Results showed that the photo-induced MLCT route with shorter transfer distance was able to broaden light absorption of CN in the whole visible region, contributing to more available excitons and accelerating separation of the photoexcited electron-hole pairs. The boosted active oxidative species (h+, O2− and ∙OH) in porous Cu-CNF were found to promote the dechlorination and benzene ring cleavage process to favor the final mineralization of CTC-HCl molecules. Under the synergistic influence of water constituents, the removal efficiency of CTC-HCl was highest in river water (68.2%), followed by tap water (45.7%), and swine wastewater (33.1%). It was found that the existence of the high concentration NOx-N and NH3-N in the swine wastewater were responsible for the collapsed removal efficiency of CTC-HCl. Natural organic matter in river water and tap water was the main factor for the decreased CTC-HCl removal efficiency.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Projects of the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 51708195、21776066、51521006、51739004)

RPN-FCN based rust detection on power equipment

Abstract This paper proposes a novel RPN-FCN based rust detection approach. The RPN-FCN generates region proposals with RPN and performs full convolution for semantic segmentation of rust. The experimental result demonstrate that this approach improves the accuracy of rust detection compared with other neural networks