Experimental Investigation on OSB Webbed Laminated Bamboo Lumber Box Shaped Joists

A novel bamboo-wood box beam was introduced in this paper, which consisted of laminated bamboo lumber flanges and OSB webs. Four-point bending tests were conducted on composite beams to investigate the effects of shear span ratio and stiffeners on failure mode and strength. The results showed that the composite beams with shear span ratio less than two failed in web shear failure, but for the others, the beams failed in twist and delamination of OSB in flanges. The load carrying capacity of beams decreased with the increase of shear span ratio. However, the mechanical performance of beams can be improved moderately by the presence of stiffeners, and theultimate bearing capacity and initial stiffness was increased by 16.5% and 13.1% respectively

Significant Wave Height Estimation Using Multi-Satellite Observations from GNSS-R

This study proposes a significant wave height (SWH) retrieval method based on multi-satellite observations using Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R). The algorithm obtains the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) through delay-Doppler maps (DDMs) and introduces an offset correction that combines the differences between the elevation angles of multi-satellites. The correction improves the correlation between SNR and SWH and thus enables the estimation of SWH. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm was verified by experiments and a performance comparison with the traditional estimation method based on SNR. The estimation results of the proposed algorithm, with a mean absolute percentage error of 8.26%, a root mean square error of 0.1671 m, and a maximum error of 0.32 m, better matched the true values than the traditional SNR-based method. The method is intended to improve the retrieval accuracy of SWH based on the GNSS-R technique, and to provide services for sea-state information monitoring and ship navigation

Significant Wave Height Estimation Using Multi-Satellite Observations from GNSS-R

This study proposes a significant wave height (SWH) retrieval method based on multi-satellite observations using Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R). The algorithm obtains the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) through delay-Doppler maps (DDMs) and introduces an offset correction that combines the differences between the elevation angles of multi-satellites. The correction improves the correlation between SNR and SWH and thus enables the estimation of SWH. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm was verified by experiments and a performance comparison with the traditional estimation method based on SNR. The estimation results of the proposed algorithm, with a mean absolute percentage error of 8.26%, a root mean square error of 0.1671 m, and a maximum error of 0.32 m, better matched the true values than the traditional SNR-based method. The method is intended to improve the retrieval accuracy of SWH based on the GNSS-R technique, and to provide services for sea-state information monitoring and ship navigation

The role of Mitochondrial Fission Proteins in Mitochondrial Dynamics in Kidney Disease

Mitochondria have many forms and can change their shape through fusion and fission of the outer and inner membranes, called “mitochondrial dynamics”. Mitochondrial outer membrane proteins, such as mitochondrial fission protein 1 (FIS1), mitochondrial fission factor (MFF), mitochondrial 98 dynamics proteins of 49 kDa (MiD49), and mitochondrial dynamics proteins of 51 kDa (MiD51), can aggregate at the outer mitochondrial membrane and thus attract Dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) from the cytoplasm to the outer mitochondrial membrane, where DRP1 can perform a scissor-like function to cut a complete mitochondrion into two separate mitochondria. Other organelles can promote mitochondrial fission alongside mitochondria. FIS1 plays an important role in mitochondrial–lysosomal contacts, differentiating itself from other mitochondrial-fission-associated proteins. The contact between the two can also induce asymmetric mitochondrial fission. The kidney is a mitochondria-rich organ, requiring large amounts of mitochondria to produce energy for blood circulation and waste elimination. Pathological increases in mitochondrial fission can lead to kidney damage that can be ameliorated by suppressing their excessive fission. This article reviews the current knowledge on the key role of mitochondrial-fission-associated proteins in the pathogenesis of kidney injury and the role of their various post-translational modifications in activation or degradation of fission-associated proteins and targeted drug therapy

Exploring Hybrid Monte Carlo in Bayesian Computation

Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) has been successfully applied to molecular simulation problems since its introduction in the late 1980s. Its use in Bayesian computation, however, is relatively recent and rare (Neal 1996). In this article, we investigate statistical models in which HMC shows an edge over the more standard Monte Carlo techniques such as the Metropolis algorithm and the Gibbs sampler. The models under investigation include the indirect observation model, nonlinear state-space model and non-linear random-effects model. We also propose two methods, the multi-point method and parallel tempering, for improving HMC’s efficiency

A Novel Method to Perceive Self-Vehicle State Based on Vehicle Video by Image Similarity Calculation

Perceiving self-vehicle state based on vehicle information can provide key information for unmanned driving and improve vehicle safety monitoring ability. However, existing studies mainly perceive the vehicle state using out-of-vehicle sensors, positioning systems and in-vehicle sensors, and these methods have their own limitations. In recent years, video image processing has been introduced to transportation research. Despite this and the popularity of vehicle videos, self-vehicle state perception based on vehicle videos captured by the drive recorder remains an unworked area. Therefore, this paper proposed a novel method to perceive self-vehicle state which contains “move” and “stop” by calculating the image similarity of the static region between two adjacent video frames. The static region extraction is based on You Only Look At CoefficenTs (YOLACT) instance segmentation model, which can avoid the interference of surroundings like cars and pedestrians. We acquired actual tram vehicle videos to validate our method which can accurately perceive the state and state transition continuously and real-timely in different complex scenes at any time, even if it stops and restarts within only 3 seconds. The approach gives a new thought and inspiration for studies of videos and illustrates that based on vehicle videos we can not only obtain the vehicle’s environment information but also perceive the self-vehicle state. And the proposed approach can be an alternative for estimating self-vehicle state when traditional methods are not available

Research on Road Network Partitioning Considering the Coupling of Network Connectivity and Traffic Attributes

The urban road network is a large and complex system characterized by significant heterogeneity arising from different spatial structures and traffic demands. To facilitate effective management and control, it is necessary to partition the road network into homogeneous sub-areas. In this regard, we aim to propose a hybrid method for partitioning sub-areas with intra-area homogeneity, inter-area heterogeneity, and similar sizes, called CSDRA. It is specifically designed for bidirectional road networks with segment weights that encompass traffic flow, speed, or roadside facility evaluation. Based on community detection and spectral clustering, this proposed method comprises four main modules: initial partition, partitioning of large sub-areas, reassignment of small sub-areas, and boundary adjustment. In the preliminary partitioning work, we also design a road network reconstruction method which further helps to enhance the intra-area homogeneity and inter-area heterogeneity of partitioning results. Furthermore, to align with the requirement for comparable work units in practical traffic management and control, we control the similarity in the size of sub-areas by enforcing upper and lower bound constraints on the size of the sub-areas. We verify the outperformance of the proposed method by an experiment on the partitioning of an urban road network in Guangzhou, China, where we employ sidewalk barrier-free score data as segment weights. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of both the road network reconstruction method and the CSDRA proposed in this paper, as they significantly improve the partitioning outcomes compared with other methods using different evaluation indicators corresponding to the partitioning objectives. Finally, we investigate the influence of constraint parameters on the evaluation indicator. Our findings indicate that appropriately configuring these constraint parameters can effectively minimize sub-region size variations while having minimal impact on other aspects

Experimental Investigation on OSB Webbed Laminated Bamboo Lumber Box Shaped Joists

A novel bamboo-wood box beam was introduced in this paper, which consisted of laminated bamboo lumber flanges and OSB webs. Four-point bending tests were conducted on composite beams to investigate the effects of shear span ratio and stiffeners on failure mode and strength. The results showed that the composite beams with shear span ratio less than two failed in web shear failure, but for the others, the beams failed in twist and delamination of OSB in flanges. The load carrying capacity of beams decreased with the increase of shear span ratio. However, the mechanical performance of beams can be improved moderately by the presence of stiffeners, and theultimate bearing capacity and initial stiffness was increased by 16.5% and 13.1% respectively

Advances in Multiomic Analyses of Frailty Biomarkers in the Elderly

Early diagnosis of frailty is of great value in helping the elderly to regain their health, as it is a non-specific state of reduced physiological reserve, resistance to disease and ability to recover from stress caused by the impairment in homeostasis maintained by multiple systems with sarcopenia as the basic characteristic. Recent developments in multiomic techniques provide new approaches to the detection of potentially specific, stable and reliable biomarkers of pre-frailty. We collected and reviewed recent advances in multiomic techniques for identifying frailty biomarkers, involving genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, which can assist in assessing the risk of frailty, exploring potential mechanisms of frailty and developing targeted interventions to support healthy aging