Intelligent agent simulator in massive crowd

Crowd simulations have many benefits over real-life research such as in computer games, architecture and entertainment. One of the key elements in this study is to include elements of decision-making into the crowd. The aim of this simulator is to simulate the features of an intelligent agent to escape from crowded environments especially in one-way corridor, two-way corridor and four-way intersection. The addition of the graphical user interface enables intuitive and fast handling in all settings and features of the Intelligent Agent Simulator and allows convenient research in the field of intelligent behaviour in massive crowd. This paper describes the development of a simulator by using the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL), starting from the production of training data, the simulation process, until the simulation results. The Social Force Model (SFM) is used to generate the motion of agents and the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to predict the next step for intelligent agent

Efficacy and safety of apremilast, an oral phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, in patients with moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis over 52 weeks: a phase III, randomized controlled trial (ESTEEM 2)

SummaryBackground Apremilast, an oral phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, regulates immune responses associated with psoriasis. Objectives ESTEEM 2 evaluated the efficacy and safety of apremilast 30 mg twice daily for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Methods This phase III, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomized adults to apremilast or placebo (2 : 1). At week 16, placebo patients switched to apremilast. At week 32, apremilast patients achieving ≥ 50% reduction in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 50) were rerandomized (1 : 1) to continue apremilast or receive placebo. Upon loss of 50% of PASI improvement obtained at week 32, patients rerandomized to placebo resumed apremilast. Results The modified intention-to-treat population (full analysis set) included 137 placebo and 274 apremilast patients. At week 16, significantly more apremilast patients achieved PASI 75 (28·8%), PASI 50 (55·5%) and static Physician's Global Assessment score of 0 or 1 (20·4%) vs. placebo (5·8%, 19·7%, 4·4%, respectively; P < 0·001). Most patients rerandomized to apremilast at week 32 had a PASI 50 response at week 52 (80%). Patients treated with apremilast showed significant improvements in quality of life (as assessed by the Dermatology Life Quality Index) and pruritus at week 16 compared with placebo (P < 0·001). The exposure-adjusted incidence of adverse events did not increase with continued apremilast treatment for up to 52 weeks. The most common adverse events were nausea, diarrhoea, nasopharyngitis and upper respiratory tract infection. Conclusions Apremilast was effective in the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis over 52 weeks

Reference Genome Assembly for Australian Ascochyta rabiei Isolate ArME14

Copyright © 2020 Mohd Shah et al. Ascochyta rabiei is the causal organism of ascochyta blight of chickpea and is present in chickpea crops worldwide. Here we report the release of a high-quality PacBio genome assembly for the Australian A. rabiei isolate ArME14. We compare the ArME14 genome assembly with an Illumina assembly for Indian A. rabiei isolate, ArD2. The ArME14 assembly has gapless sequences for nine chromosomes with telomere sequences at both ends and 13 large contig sequences that extend to one telomere. The total length of the ArME14 assembly was 40,927,385 bp, which was 6.26 Mb longer than the ArD2 assembly. Division of the genome by OcculterCut into GC-balanced and AT-dominant segments reveals 21% of the genome contains gene-sparse, AT-rich isochores. Transposable elements and repetitive DNA sequences in the ArME14 assembly made up 15% of the genome. A total of 11,257 protein-coding genes were predicted compared with 10,596 for ArD2. Many of the predicted genes missing from the ArD2 assembly were in genomic regions adjacent to AT-rich sequence. We compared the complement of predicted transcription factors and secreted proteins for the two A. rabiei genome assemblies and found that the isolates contain almost the same set of proteins. The small number of differences could represent real differences in the gene complement between isolates or possibly result from the different sequencing methods used. Prediction pipelines were applied for carbohydrate-active enzymes, secondary metabolite clusters and putative protein effectors. We predict that ArME14 contains between 450 and 650 CAZymes, 39 putative protein effectors and 26 secondary metabolite clusters

Reference genome assembly for Australian Ascochyta rabiei Isolate ArME14

Ascochyta rabiei is the causal organism of ascochyta blight of chickpea and is present in chickpea crops worldwide. Here we report the release of a high-quality PacBio genome assembly for the Australian A. rabiei isolate ArME14. We compare the ArME14 genome assembly with an Illumina assembly for Indian A. rabiei isolate, ArD2. The ArME14 assembly has gapless sequences for nine chromosomes with telomere sequences at both ends and 13 large contig sequences that extend to one telomere. The total length of the ArME14 assembly was 40,927,385 bp, which was 6.26 Mb longer than the ArD2 assembly. Division of the genome by OcculterCut into GC-balanced and AT-dominant segments reveals 21% of the genome contains gene-sparse, AT-rich isochores. Transposable elements and repetitive DNA sequences in the ArME14 assembly made up 15% of the genome. A total of 11,257 protein-coding genes were predicted compared with 10,596 for ArD2. Many of the predicted genes missing from the ArD2 assembly were in genomic regions adjacent to AT-rich sequence. We compared the complement of predicted transcription factors and secreted proteins for the two A. rabiei genome assemblies and found that the isolates contain almost the same set of proteins. The small number of differences could represent real differences in the gene complement between isolates or possibly result from the different sequencing methods used. Prediction pipelines were applied for carbohydrate-active enzymes, secondary metabolite clusters and putative protein effectors. We predict that ArME14 contains between 450 and 650 CAZymes, 39 putative protein effectors and 26 secondary metabolite clusters

Solar Energy Dependent Supercapacitor System with ANFIS Controller for Auxiliary Load of Electric Vehicles

Innovations are required for electric vehicles (EVs) to be lighter and more energy efficient due to the range anxiety issue. This article introduces an intelligent control of an organic structure solar supercapacitor (OSSC) for EVs to meet electrical load demands with solar renewable energy. A carbon fibreȬreinforced polymer, nano zinc oxide (ZnO), and copper oxide (CuO) fillers have been used in the development of OSSC prototypes. The organic solar cell, electrical circuits, converter, controller, circuit breaker switch, and batteries were all integrated for the modelling of OSSCs. A carbon fibre (CF)Ȭreinforced CuOȬdoped polymer was utilised to improve the concentration of elecȬ trons. The negative electrodes of the CF were strengthened with nano ZnO epoxy to increase the mobility of electrons as an nȬtype semiconductor (energy band gap 3.2–3.4 eV) and subsequently increased to 3.5 eV by adding 6%ȱΔȬcarbon. The electrodes of the CF were strengthened with epoxyȬ filled nanoȬCuO as a pȬtype semiconductor to facilitate bore/positive charging. They improve the conductivity of the OSSC. The OSSC power storage was controlled by an adaptive neuroȬfuzzy inȬ telligent system controller to meet the load demand of EVs and auxiliary battery charging. MoreoȬ ver, a fully charged OSSC (solar irradiance = 1000 W/m2) produced 561 Wȉh/m2 to meet the vehicle load demand with 45 A of auxiliary battery charging current. Therefore, the OSSC can save 15% in energy efficiency and contribute to emission control. The integration of an OSSC with an EV battery can minimise the weight and capacity of the battery by 7.5% and 10%, respectively

Mapping aerial metal deposition in metropolitan areas from tree bark : a case study in Sheffield, England

We investigated the use of metals accumulated on tree bark for mapping their deposition across metropolitan Sheffield by sampling 642 trees of three common species. Mean concentrations of metals were generally an order of magnitude greater than in samples from a remote uncontaminated site. We found trivially small differences among tree species with respect to metal concentrations on bark, and in subsequent statistical analyses did not discriminate between them. We mapped the concentrations of As, Cd and Ni by lognormal universal kriging using parameters estimated by residual maximum likelihood ({\sc reml}). The concentrations of Ni and Cd were greatest close to a large steel works, their probable source, and declined markedly within 500~metres of it and from there more gradually over several kilometres. Arsenic was much more evenly distributed, probably as a result of locally mined coal burned in domestic fires for many years. Tree bark seems to integrate airborne pollution over time, and our findings show that sampling and analysing it are cost-effective means of mapping and identifying sources

Curcumin Ingestion Inhibits Mastocytosis and Suppresses Intestinal Anaphylaxis in a Murine Model of Food Allergy

IgE antibodies and mast cells play critical roles in the establishment of allergic responses to food antigens. Curcumin, the active ingredient of the curry spice turmeric, has anti-inflammatory properties, and thus may have the capacity to regulate Th2 cells and mucosal mast cell function during allergic responses. We assessed whether curcumin ingestion during oral allergen exposure can modulate the development of food allergy using a murine model of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced intestinal anaphylaxis. Herein, we demonstrate that frequent ingestion of curcumin during oral OVA exposure inhibits the development of mastocytosis and intestinal anaphylaxis in OVA-challenged allergic mice. Intragastric (i.g.) exposure to OVA in sensitized BALB/c mice induced a robust IgE-mediated response accompanied by enhanced OVA-IgE levels, intestinal mastocytosis, elevated serum mMCP-1, and acute diarrhea. In contrast, mice exposed to oral curcumin throughout the experimental regimen appeared to be normal and did not exhibit intense allergic diarrhea or a significant enhancement of OVA-IgE and intestinal mast cell expansion and activation. Furthermore, allergic diarrhea, mast cell activation and expansion, and Th2 responses were also suppressed in mice exposed to curcumin during the OVA-challenge phase alone, despite the presence of elevated levels of OVA-IgE, suggesting that curcumin may have a direct suppressive effect on intestinal mast cell activation and reverse food allergy symptoms in allergen-sensitized individuals. This was confirmed by observations that curcumin attenuated the expansion of both adoptively transferred bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs), and inhibited their survival and activation during cell culture. Finally, the suppression of intestinal anaphylaxis by curcumin was directly linked with the inhibition of NF-kappaB activation in curcumin-treated allergic mice, and curcumin inhibited the phosphorylation of the p65 subunit of NF-kappaB in BMMCs. In summary, our data demonstrates a protective role for curcumin during allergic responses to food antigens, suggesting that frequent ingestion of this spice may modulate the outcome of disease in susceptible individuals

Influences of Draw Forming Process on the Crash Analysis of a Circular Cup

The change of a structural part that occurred after forming process can affect crash response. Current industrial practice only utilizes the geometry in crash analysis. This study investigates the effect of forming histories of a circular cup formed by draw forming process in the crash simulation. Crash analysis at an initial velocity of 50km/h was performed using the explicit finite element code Radioss. The Johnson-Cook constitutive material model was used to characterize the material properties of advanced high strength steel DP600. Crash simulations are conducted in two different cases using a geometrical cup model with case 1 no forming history and case 2 all forming histories obtained from forming process. Results from this study indicate that the mechanical response of steel DP600 in a crash differ by 80.7 % for contact force and 5.87% for energy absorption when forming effects were considered. The contact force tends to increase more with displacement in case 2 compared to case 1. The non-uniform thickness and work hardening from forming process do alter significantly the crashworthiness of a structural part in the subsequent crash event

Patient preferences for the design of a pharmacy-based colorectal cancer screening program

Purpose: To assess preferences for design of a pharmacy-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening program (PharmFIT™) among screening-eligible adults in the United States (US) and explore the impact of rurality on pharmacy use patterns (e.g., pharmacy type, prescription pick-up preference, service quality rating). Methods: We conducted a national online survey of non-institutionalized US adults through panels managed by Qualtrics, a survey research company. A total of 1,045 adults (response rate 62%) completed the survey between March and April 2021. Sampling quotas matched respondents to the 2010 US Census and oversampled rural residents. We assessed pharmacy use patterns by rurality and design preferences for learning about PharmFIT™; receiving a FIT kit from a pharmacy; and completing and returning the FIT kit. Results: Pharmacy use patterns varied, with some notable differences across rurality. Rural respondents used local, independently owned pharmacies more than non-rural respondents (20.4%, 6.3%, p < 0.001) and rated pharmacy service quality higher than non-rural respondents. Non-rural respondents preferred digital communication to learn about PharmFIT™ (36% vs 47%; p < 0.001) as well as digital FIT counseling (41% vs 49%; p = 0.02) more frequently than rural participants. Preferences for receiving and returning FITs were associated with pharmacy use patterns: respondents who pick up prescriptions in-person preferred to get their FIT (OR 7.7; 5.3–11.2) and return it in-person at the pharmacy (OR 1.7; 1.1–2.4). Conclusion: Pharmacies are highly accessible and could be useful for expanding access to CRC screening services. Local context and pharmacy use patterns should be considered in the design and implementation of PharmFIT™