Evolutionary multiobjective optimization in engineering management: an empirical application in infrastructure systems

Generally multiple objectives exist in transportation infrastructure management, such as minimum cost and maximum service capacity. Although solution methoak of multiobjective optimization problems have undergone continual development over the part several decades, the methods available to date are not particularly robust, and none of them perform well on the broad classes. Because genetic algorithms work with apopulation ofpoints, they can capture a number of solutions simultaneously, and easily incorporate the concept of a Pareto optimal set in their optimization process. In this paper, a genetic algorithm is modified to deal with an empirical application for the rehabilitation planning of bridge decks, at a network level, by minimizing the rehabilitation cost and deterioration degree simultaneously

Modeling and analyses of the retirement of deteriorated structures

With the increasing stock of aging structures, the strategy to model and analyse the retirement of deteriorated structures is becoming a challenging research field. As the converse of construction of new projects, the retirement of constructed facilities puts forward some new management and economics themes as well as environmental issues or adds some new contents even though the same issues are faced in construction. This research aims to model and analyse the maintenance and demolition activities of constructed facilities from economic and environmental perspectives. Both cost and carbon dioxide of maintenance and demolition activities are formulated based on those of construction activities and applied to an empirical study on deteriorated bridges. Further modelling and analysis is investigated to elaborate the demolition stage of a structure. The developed modelling and analysis methodology may enable the decision maker to determine the retirement strategy for a deteriorated structure

CA2: Cyber Attacks Analytics

The VAST Challenge 2020 Mini-Challenge 1 requires participants to identify the responsible white hat groups behind a fictional Internet outage. To address this task, we have created a visual analytics system named CA2: Cyber Attacks Analytics. This system is designed to efficiently compare and match subgraphs within an extensive graph containing anonymized profiles. Additionally, we showcase an iterative workflow that utilizes our system's capabilities to pinpoint the responsible group.Comment: IEEE Conference on Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST) Challenge Workshop 202

Expression of an IRF-3 fusion protein and mouse estrogen receptor, inhibits hepatitis C viral replication in RIG-I-deficient Huh 7.5 cells

Interferon Regulatory Factor-3 (IRF-3) plays a central role in the induction of interferon (IFN) production and succeeding interferon-stimulated genes (ISG) expression en route for restraining hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Here, we established a stable Huh7.5-IRF3ER cell line expressing a fusion protein of IRF-3 and mouse estrogen receptor (ER) to examine IFN production and anti-HCV effects of IRF-3 in retinoic acid inducible-gene-I (RIG-I) deficient Huh 7.5 cells. Homodimerization of the IRF-3ER fusion protein was detected by Western blotting after treatment with the estrogen receptor agonist 4-hydrotamoxifen (4-HT) in Huh7.5-IRF3ER cells. Expression of IFN-α, IFN-β, and their inhibitory effects on HCV replication were demonstrated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Peak expression of IFN-α and IFN-β was achieved 24-hours post 4-HT treatment, coinciding with the appearance of phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins. Additionally, HCV viral replication declined in time-dependent fashion. In previous studies, a novel IFN-mediated pathway regulating expression of 1-8U and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein M (hnRNP M) inhibited HCV internal ribosomal entry site (IRES)-dependent translation. When expression of ISGs such as 1-8U and hnRNP M were measured in 4-HT-treated Huh7.5-IRF3ER cells, both genes were positively regulated by activation of the IRF-3ER fusion protein. In conclusion, the anti-HCV effects of IRF-3ER homodimerization inhibited HCV RNA replication as well as HCV IRES-dependent translation in Huh7.5-IRF3ER cells. The results of this study indicate that IRF-3ER homodimerization is a key step to restore IFN expression in Huh7.5-IRF3ER cells and in achieving its anti-HCV effects

Identifying and analysing the factors influencing the livelihood strategy choices of rural households

Identifying the influence factors lie behind the livelihood choices of rural households are of crucial significance for improving the sustainable livelihoods of rural households in tourism regions. Five villages in Sa Pa District, Vietnam, were selected in this study, to conduct household surveys and interviews with 180 households. Based on this, a comprehensive approach, which includes multinomial/binary logistic regression, Ripley’s function, and geographical detector, is applied to understand the households’ capital endowment and factors lie behind their livelihood choices. Results show that for rural households, tourism livelihood yields the highest income, but the lack of diversity of livelihood activities may make tourism livelihood household more vulnerable to the external risk and shocks than balanced livelihood households. Different types of households are found to show clustering feature, with clustering degree ranking as: agricultural > balanced > tourism > labour. Households with more natural capital are less likely to choose livelihoods other than agriculture livelihood. And households with more financial capital are less likely to engage in agricultural livelihood. Both financial capital and social capital can facilitate engagement in balanced livelihood. And financial capital is key to tourism livelihood, and a barrier impeding agricultural households to participate in other livelihood activities

The Long Noncoding RNA 150Rik Promotes Mesangial Cell Proliferation via miR-451/IGF1R/p38 MAPK Signaling in Diabetic Nephropathy

Background/Aims: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) as the primary cause of end-stage kidney disease is a common complication of diabetes. However, the initiating molecular events triggering DN are unknown. Recently, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play important roles in DN. Methods: The expression level of lncRNA 1500026H17Rik (150Rik for short) was measured by qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time PCR). Cell proliferation ability was detected by 5-Ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine (EdU). The relationship between 150Rik and microRNA 451 (miR-451) was examined by luciferase assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. Finally, the effect of 150Rik on cell proliferation through the miR-451/insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R)/mitogen-activated protein kinases (p38MAPK) pathway was detected by EdU, flow cytometry analysis, western blot. Results: We found that 150Rik, an evolutionarily conserved lncRNA, was significantly upregulated in renal tissue of db/db DN mice and in mesangial cells (MCs) cultured under a high glucose condition. Further, overexpression or knockdown of 150Rik was found to regulate cell proliferation in MCs. Moreover, 150Rik was found to interact with miR-451 in both a direct and argonaute-2 (Ago2)-dependent manner. Results also revealed that overexpression of 150Rik inhibited cell proliferation through the miR-451/IGF1R/p38MAPK pathway in MCs under the high glucose condition, while knockdown of 150Rik increased cell proliferation via the miR-451/IGF1R/p38MAPK pathway. Conclusion: Taken together, these results provide new insight into the association between 150Rik and the miR-451/IGF1R/p38MAPK signaling pathway during DN progression

A comprehensive review of circRNA: from purification and identification to disease marker potential

Circular RNA (circRNA) is an endogenous noncoding RNA with a covalently closed cyclic structure. Based on their components, circRNAs are divided into exonic circRNAs, intronic circRNAs, and exon-intron circRNAs. CircRNAs have well-conserved sequences and often have high stability due to their resistance to exonucleases. Depending on their sequence, circRNAs are involved in different biological functions, including microRNA sponge activity, modulation of alternative splicing or transcription, interaction with RNA-binding proteins, and rolling translation, and are a derivative of pseudogenes. CircRNAs are involved in the development of a variety of pathological conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurological diseases, and cancer. Emerging evidence has shown that circRNAs are likely to be new potential clinical diagnostic markers or treatments for many diseases. Here we describe circRNA research methods and biological functions, and discuss the potential relationship between circRNAs and disease progression

Light-Reinforced Key Intermediate for Anticoking To Boost Highly Durable Methane Dry Reforming over Single Atom Ni Active Sites on CeO₂.

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) has been investigated for more than a century; the paramount stumbling block in its industrial application is the inevitable sintering of catalysts and excessive carbon emissions at high temperatures. However, the low-temperature DRM process still suffered from poor reactivity and severe catalyst deactivation from coking. Herein, we proposed a concept that highly durable DRM could be achieved at low temperatures via fabricating the active site integration with light irradiation. The active sites with Ni-O coordination (NiSA/CeO2) and Ni-Ni coordination (NiNP/CeO2) on CeO2, respectively, were successfully constructed to obtain two targeted reaction paths that produced the key intermediate (CH3O*) for anticoking during DRM. In particular, the operando diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy coupling with steady-state isotopic transient kinetic analysis (operando DRIFTS-SSITKA) was utilized and successfully tracked the anticoking paths during the DRM process. It was found that the path from CH3* to CH3O* over NiSA/CeO2 was the key path for anticoking. Furthermore, the targeted reaction path from CH3* to CH3O* was reinforced by light irradiation during the DRM process. Hence, the NiSA/CeO2 catalyst exhibits excellent stability with negligible carbon deposition for 230 h under thermo-photo catalytic DRM at a low temperature of 472 °C, while NiNP/CeO2 shows apparent coke deposition behavior after 0.5 h in solely thermal-driven DRM. The findings are vital as they provide critical insights into the simultaneous achievement of low-temperature and anticoking DRM process through distinguishing and directionally regulating the key intermediate species

Does real-time transit information reduce waiting time? An empirical analysis

A claimed benefit of real-time information (RTI) apps in public transit systems is the reduction of waiting time by allowing passengers to appropriately time their arrivals at transit stops. Although previous research investigated the overall impact of RTI on waiting time, few studies examine the mechanisms underlying these claims, and variations in its effectiveness over time and space. In this paper, we theorize and validate the sources of RTI-based users’ waiting time penalties: reclaimed delay (bus drivers compensating for being behind schedule) and discontinuity delay (an artifact of the update frequency of RTI). We compare two RTI-based strategies – the greedy strategy used by popular trip planning apps and a prudent strategy with an insurance buffer – with non-RTI benchmarks of arbitrary arrival and following the schedule. Using real-time bus location data from a medium-sized US city, we calculate the empirical waiting times and risk of missing a bus for each trip planning strategy. We find that the best RTI strategy, a prudent tactic with an optimized insurance time buffer, performs roughly the same as the simple, follow-the-schedule tactic that does not use RTI. However, relative performance varies over time and space. Moreover, the greedy tactic in common transit apps is the worst strategy, even worse than showing up at a bus stop arbitrarily. These results suggest limitations on claims that RTI reduces public transit waiting times