Thermoplastic composite beam structures from mixtures of recycled HDPE and rubber crumb for acoustic energy absorption

The use of recycled rubber crumb in the design and production of thermoplastic-rubber composites as sound absorbers can provide solutions to noise pollution and for the recovery of post-consumer materials from both packaging and waste tyres. The work of this study is concerned with the effect of rubber crumb incorporation in high density polyethylene (HDPE) and also in HDPE glass-fibre composites on acoustic, mechanical and physical properties. Recycled HDPE compounds containing variable concentrations of cured rubber crumb particles were prepared by twin screw extrusion. Thermal analysis has revealed a significant increase in the level of crystallinity of the HDPE component by increasing the rubber content in the mixes. Standard three-point bending and notched impact test specimens were manufactured by injection moulding and large-scale beam samples were produced by compression moulding using an ad-hoc method that allows variation of the through-thickness elastomer content as a means of obtaining composition gradients. The flexural modulus and impact strength varied monotonically with rubber crumb concentration. A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique was used to determine the acoustic performance of the beams over a wide frequency range. The graded structures produced large improvements in acoustic absorption properties in the frequency range 2-6 kHz, notably from composite beams containing 20% rubber and also in some multilayer beams with rubber concentration gradients

Enhancing the nutritional value of bread by the addition of insect powder: a novel class of food protein additives

The shortage of protein resources has become an urgent issue, and insects have been identified as a promising source of animal protein. The present study aimed to investigate the potential of insect powder as a novel class of food protein additives in bread. In this study, three species of insect powder were compared to traditional protein sources to conduct a preliminary analysis of their nutritional value. These insect powders were then added to flour and baked to produce a high-protein bread. The results indicated that the insects used in this experiment were rich in protein and amino acids. Additionally, insect proteins extracted via the alkali extraction method exhibited a lower molecular weight than common proteins. The addition of insect powder did not affect the rheological properties of the bread but increased the protein content of the product while giving the bread a darker colour and a unique insect flavour.</p

The Roles and Recognition of Haptic-Ostensive Actions in Collaborative Multimodal Human-Human Dialogues

The RoboHelper project has the goal of developing assistive robots for the elderly. One crucial component of such a robot is a multimodal dialogue architecture, since collaborative task-oriented human-human dialogue is inherently multimodal. In this paper, we focus on a specific type of interaction, Haptic-Ostensive (H-O) actions, that are pervasive in collaborative dialogue. H-O actions manipulate objects, but they also often perform a referring function. We collected 20 collaborative task-oriented human-human dialogues between a helper and an elderly person in a realistic setting. To collect the haptic signals, we developed an unobtrusive sensory glove with pressure sensors. Multiple annotations were then conducted to build the Find corpus. Supervised machine learning was applied to these annotations in order to develop reference resolution and dialogue act classification modules. Both corpus analysis, and these two modules show that H-O actions play a crucial role in interaction: models that include H-O actions, and other extra-linguistic information such as pointing gestures, perform better. For true human-robot interaction, all communicative intentions must of course be recognized in real time, not on the basis of annotated categories. To demonstrate that our corpus analysis is not an end in itself, but can inform actual human-robot interaction, the last part of our paper presents additional experiments on recognizing H-O actions from the haptic signals measured through the sensory glove. We show that even though pressure sensors are relatively imprecise and the data provided by the glove is noisy, the classification algorithms can successfully identify actions of interest within subjects

Aberrant wound healing in an epidermal interleukin-4 transgenic mouse model of atopic dermatitis

Wound healing in a pre-existing Th2-dominated skin milieu was assessed by using an epidermal specific interleukin-4 (IL-4) transgenic (Tg) mouse model, which develops a pruritic inflammatory skin condition resembling human atopic dermatitis. Our results demonstrated that IL-4 Tg mice had delayed wound closure and re-epithelialization even though these mice exhibited higher degrees of epithelial cell proliferation. Wounds in IL-4 Tg mice also showed a marked enhancement in expression of inflammatory cytokines/chemokines, elevated infiltration of inflammatory cells including neutrophils, macrophages, CD3+ lymphocytes, and epidermal dendritic T lymphocytes. In addition, these mice exhibited a significantly higher level of angiogenesis as compared to wild type mice. Furthermore, wounds in IL-4 Tg mice presented with larger amounts of granulation tissue, but had less expression and deposition of collagen. Taken together, an inflamed skin condition induced by IL-4 has a pronounced negative influence on the healing process. Understanding more about the pathogenesis of wound healing in a Th2- dominated environment may help investigators explore new potential therapeutic strategies

Expression profiles and associations of muscle regulatory factor (MRF) genes with growth traits in Tibetan chickens

<p>1. Muscle regulatory factors (MRFs), including Myf5, Myf6 (MRF4/herculin), MyoD and MyoG (myogenin), play pivotal roles in muscle growth and development. Therefore, they are considered as candidate genes for meat production traits in livestock and poultry.</p> <p>2. The objective of this study was to investigate the expression profiles of these genes in skeletal muscles (breast muscle and thigh muscle) at 5 developmental stages (0, 81, 119, 154 and 210 d old) of Tibetan chickens. Relationships between expressions of these genes and growth and carcass traits in these chickens were also estimated.</p> <p>3. The expression profiles showed that in the breast muscle of both genders the mRNA levels of MRF genes were highest on the day of hatching, then declined significantly from d 0 to d 81, and fluctuated in a certain range from d 81 to d 210. However, the expression of <i>Myf5, Myf6</i> and <i>MyoG</i> reached peaks in the thigh muscle in 118-d-old females and for <i>MyoD</i> in 154-d-old females, whereas the mRNA amounts of MRF genes in the male thigh muscle were in a narrow range from d 0 to d 210.</p> <p>4. Correlation analysis suggested that gender had an influence on the relationships of MRF gene expression with growth traits. The RNA levels of <i>MyoD, Myf5</i> genes in male breast muscle were positively related with several growth traits of Tibetan chickens (<i>P < </i>0.05). No correlation was found between expressions of MRF genes and carcass traits of the chickens.</p> <p>5. These results will provide a base for functional studies of MRF genes on growth and development of Tibetan chickens, as well as selective breeding and resource exploration.</p

The global prevalence of premature ovarian insufficiency: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of this review was to answer the global prevalence of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), and explore the associated factors including etiopathology and regions with POI. The search was conducted on reports from a total of eight databases that comprised Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, China BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science and Ovid MEDLINE® between 1946 and 2021. To analyze the source of heterogeneity, we performed subgroup analysis based on different etiologies and regions. Meta-analysis was carried out by Stata14.0 software. The results showed that the global overall prevalence of POI among women was 3.5%. By subgroup analysis, the prevalence of POI among women with iatrogenic etiology was 11.2%, followed by autoimmunity (10.5%); the prevalence of POI by region was 11.3% at the highest in North America followed by South America (5.4%); and the prevalence of POI was 5.3% in a developing country, higher than 3.1% in a developed country. The trend of prevalence of POI over the past 20 years was on the rise (although p > 0.05). We recommend that health and medical institutions strengthen public health awareness, achieve health-education goals related to POI and increase women’s awareness of and attention to POI.</p

DS_10.1177_0022034518784936 – Supplemental material for Identification and Functional Studies of MYO1H for Mandibular Prognathism

<p>Supplemental material, DS_10.1177_0022034518784936 for Identification and Functional Studies of MYO1H for Mandibular Prognathism by R. Sun, Y. Wang, M. Jin, L. Chen, Y. Cao and F. Chen in Journal of Dental Research</p

Analysis and prediction of the discharge characteristics of the lithium-ion battery based on the Grey system theory

The capacity/state-of-charge (SoC) and voltage of lithium–ion batteries are of prime importance in electric vehicles (EVs), so their condition-monitoring techniques are extensively studied. This study focuses on the application of the grey system theory to the parameters analysing and predicting behaviour during the discharge/charge cycles of the battery. First, Grey relation analysis is applied to study and analyse the relationship between capacity/SoC and various influencing factors. Second, the segment Grey prediction model is proposed in order to test and improve the accuracy of the capacity/SoC prediction. Finally, based on the ageing data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Prognostics Data Repository, the effects of different Grey theory models, such as the GM(1,1), the Verhulst model and the segment Grey prediction model, are investigated. The results show that: (i) the GRA is efficient in figuring out the relationship between the capacity/SoC and various influencing factors; (ii) the segment Grey prediction model is an effective mode of prediction for EV batteries, because its accuracy is more reliable than other two Grey models; and (iii) the segment Grey prediction model is suitable for predicting the capacity/SoC of batteries under various loading conditions

Computational explorations of the interaction between laccase and bisphenol A: influence of surfactant and different organic solvents

Bisphenol A (BPA), as an environmental endocrine disruptor can cause damage to the reproductive, nervous and immune systems. Laccase can be used to degrade BPA. However, laccase is easily deactivated, especially in organic solvents, but the specific details are not clear. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the reasons for changes in laccase activity in acetonitrile (ACN) and dimethyl formamide (DMF) solutions. In addition, the effects of ACN and DMF on the activity of laccase and surfactant rhamnolipid (RL) on the degradation of BPA by laccase were investigated. Results showed that addition of ACN changed the structure of the laccase, not only decreasing the van der Waals interaction that promoted the binding of laccase with BPA, but also increasing the polar solvation free energy that hindered the binding of laccase with BPA, so it weakened the laccase activity. DMF greatly enhanced the van der Waals interaction between laccase and BPA, and played a positive role in their binding. The addition of surfactant RL alleviated the effect of organic solvent on the activity of laccase by changing the polar solvation energy. The mechanism of surfactant RL affecting laccase activity in ACN and DMF is described, providing support for understanding the effect of organic solvents on laccase.</p

Efficacy, acceptability, and tolerability of antidepressant treatments for patients with post-stroke depression: a network meta-analysis

<div><p>The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy, acceptability, and tolerability of antidepressants in treating post-stroke depression (PSD) by performing a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of the current literature. Eligible studies were retrieved from online databases, and relevant data were extracted. The primary outcome was efficacy as measured by the mean change in overall depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes included discontinued treatment for any reason and specifically due to adverse events. Fourteen trials were eligible, which included 949 participants and 9 antidepressant treatments. Few significant differences were found for all outcomes. For the primary outcome, doxepin, paroxetine, and nortriptyline were significantly more effective than a placebo [standardized mean differences: −1.93 (95%CI=−3.56 to −0.29), −1.39 (95%CI=−2.59 to −0.21), and −1.25 (95%CI=−2.46 to −0.04), respectively]. Insufficient evidence exists to select a preferred antidepressant for treating patients with post-stroke depression, and our study provides little evidence that paroxetine may be the potential choice when starting treatment for PSD. Future studies with paroxetine and larger sample sizes, multiple medical centers, and sufficient intervention durations is needed for improving the current evidence.</p></div