Artificial Intelligence in Civil Engineering

Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science, involved in the research, design, and application of intelligent computer. Traditional methods for modeling and optimizing complex structure systems require huge amounts of computing resources, and artificial-intelligence-based solutions can often provide valuable alternatives for efficiently solving problems in the civil engineering. This paper summarizes recently developed methods and theories in the developing direction for applications of artificial intelligence in civil engineering, including evolutionary computation, neural networks, fuzzy systems, expert system, reasoning, classification, and learning, as well as others like chaos theory, cuckoo search, firefly algorithm, knowledge-based engineering, and simulated annealing. The main research trends are also pointed out in the end. The paper provides an overview of the advances of artificial intelligence applied in civil engineering

Emerging Roles of Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation in Cancer: From Protein Aggregation to Immune-Associated Signaling

Liquid–liquid Phase Separation (LLPS) of proteins and nucleic acids has emerged as a new paradigm in the study of cellular activities. It drives the formation of liquid-like condensates containing biomolecules in the absence of membrane structures in living cells. In addition, typical membrane-less condensates such as nuclear speckles, stress granules and cell signaling clusters play important roles in various cellular activities, including regulation of transcription, cellular stress response and signal transduction. Previous studies highlighted the biophysical and biochemical principles underlying the formation of these liquid condensates. The studies also showed how these principles determine the molecular properties, LLPS behavior, and composition of liquid condensates. While the basic rules driving LLPS are continuously being uncovered, their function in cellular activities is still unclear, especially within a pathological context. Therefore, the present review summarizes the recent progress made on the existing roles of LLPS in cancer, including cancer-related signaling pathways, transcription regulation and maintenance of genome stability. Additionally, the review briefly introduces the basic rules of LLPS, and cellular signaling that potentially plays a role in cancer, including pathways relevant to immune responses and autophagy

Undernutrition-induced substance metabolism and energy production disorders affected the structure and function of the pituitary gland in a pregnant sheep model

IntroductionUndernutrition spontaneously occurs in ewes during late gestation and the pituitary is an important hinge in the neurohumoral regulatory system. However, little is known about the effect of undernutrition on pituitary metabolism.MethodsHere, 10 multiparous ewes were restricted to a 30% feeding level during late gestation to establish an undernutrition model while another 10 ewes were fed normally as controls. All the ewes were sacrificed, and pituitary samples were collected to perform transcriptome, metabolome, and quantitative real-time PCR analysis and investigate the metabolic changes.ResultsPCA and PLS-DA of total genes showed that undernutrition changed the total transcriptome profile of the pituitary gland, and 581 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between the two groups. Clusters of orthologous groups for eukaryotic complete genomes demonstrated that substance transport and metabolism, including lipids, carbohydrates, and amino acids, energy production and conversion, ribosomal structure and biogenesis, and the cytoskeleton were enriched by DEGs. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway enrichment analysis displayed that the phagosome, intestinal immune network, and oxidative phosphorylation were enriched by DEGs. Further analysis found that undernutrition enhanced the lipid degradation and amino acid transport, repressing lipid synthesis and transport and amino acid degradation of the pituitary gland. Moreover, the general metabolic profiles and metabolic pathways were affected by undernutrition, repressing the 60S, 40S, 28S, and 39S subunits of the ribosomal structure for translation and myosin and actin synthesis for cytoskeleton. Undernutrition was found also to be implicated in the suppression of oxidative phosphorylation for energy production and conversion into a downregulation of genes related to T cell function and the immune response and an upregulation of genes involved in inflammatory reactions enriching phagosomes.DiscussionThis study comprehensively analyses the effect of undernutrition on the pituitary gland in a pregnant sheep model, which provides a foundation for further research into the mechanisms of undernutrition-caused hormone secretion and metabolic disorders

The Ninth Visual Object Tracking VOT2021 Challenge Results

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Studies of analyte ionization in a furnace atomization plasma excitation spectrometry source

Furnace Atomization Plasma Excitation Spectrometry (FAPES) is a relatively new atomic emission spectrochemical method which employs a conventional graphite furnace for analyte atomization and an atmospheric-pressure helium plasma sustained inside the furnace for analyte excitation. The generation of the plasma is achieved by applying radio frequency (rf) power to an electrode located inside, and coaxial with, the graphite furnace. The primary objective of this thesis was to characterize the fundamental properties of the plasma, study analyte excitation and ionization processes, and seek ways to improve analyte ionization efficiency. Background emission characteristics have been observed in a new FAPES source, and temporally resolved emission profiles of background species (He, N₂⁺, OH and CO⁺) have been measured. The ionization mechanisms of major background species are also discussed. Plasma temperatures have been measured in order to characterize the helium plasma. During an atomization cycle, rotational temperatures for N₂⁺ and OH at 40 W have been found to be 1300 K and 1400 K, respectively, and the excitation temperature for He at 40 W is about 3600 K. Plasma temperatures can be substantially affected by plasma operating conditions. Thus, the effects of conditions such as rf power, gas flow rate, atomization temperature and the dimensions of the center electrode on plasma temperatures and analyte ionization were studied. The temporal atomic and ionic emission behaviors of Cr, Mg, Cd, Fe and Zn have been measured, and analyte atomization mechanisms have been proposed based on the measurements. The effects of operating conditions on analyte ionization have been studied, and an appropriate atomization temperature was found for optimum analyte ionization. An optimum gas flow rate can also maximize analyte ionization. Compared with a "continuousflow" mode, a "stop-flow" mode can improve analytical sensitivity. Increasing rf power was found to be the best way to achieve a high degree of ionization. A variety of center electrodes with different physical dimensions were used to modify the FAPES source in an effort to improve the ionization capability. However, the larger electrode size acted to reduce the voltage drop across the plasma sheath compromising the analytical performance. The effects of varying the counter ion (MgCl₂, MgO, MgNO₃ and MgSO₄ ) on Mg atomization, excitation, and ionization were studied, and it was found that these compounds exhibit different atomization mechanisms. It was also observed that Mg ionization in the FAPES source could be improved by the addition of a minute amount of Pd modifier. Figures of merit for magnesium demonstrate improved analytical performance for this new FAPES source. An ionization temperature of about 7000 K at 80 W rf power level was measured. The calculation of electron number densities in the FAPES source shows that in addition to helium ionization, secondary electron emission and thermal or thermionic electron emission from the graphite walls and center electrode inside the source also contribute to the total electron number density.Science, Faculty ofChemistry, Department ofGraduat

A Facile Approach for Syntheses of Nearly Monodisperse Nanocrystals: Sol-Solvothermal Process

A novel facile approach, sol-solvothermal process, is reported here for syntheses of nearly monodisperse inorganic nanocrystals (NCs), such as elementary metals, simple metal oxides, composite oxides, and selenides by using inexpensive metal salts and environmental friendly solvents as reactants without a further size-selection treatment. The results revealed that mean diameter of the synthetic NCs measured by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) was consistent with the observed size by Field-emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images, demonstrating the agglomeration-free feature of the nanosized crystals. Moreover, the particle size and morphology of the synthetic NCs could be effectively controlled under various appropriate sets of experimental conditions

Investigation of Mechanochemically Treated Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Fly Ash as Replacement for Cement

Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash has been classified as hazardous waste in China because of the leachable toxic heavy metals and high concentrations of chlorides and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). Currently, the main treatment method is still landfilling after chemical treatment or cement solidification, and an effective approach to realize fly ash utilization is still lacking. In the present work, the fly ash was firstly water-washed to remove the soluble chlorine salts, which can improve the performance of the produced cement mortar in later work. Mechanochemical pre-treatment was adopted to destroy the PCDD/Fs and improve the heavy metals’ stabilization. The results show that 75% of PCDD/Fs can be degraded and that most of the heavy metals are stabilized. After the mechanochemical pre-treatment, the average particle size of the fly ash decreases to 2–5 μm, which is beneficial for promoting the activation energy and accelerating the hydration process in cement mortar production. The compressive and flexural strengths of the fly ash cement mortar improve to 6.2 MPa and 32.4 MPa, respectively, when 35% of the OPC is replaced by treated fly ash. The similarity in the 3-day and 28-day strength with or without the addition of the treated ash shows the light influence of the fly ash addition. Thus, the mechanochemical process can stabilize the heavy metals and activate the fly ash, allowing it to partly substitute ordinary Portland cement in building materials, such as cement raw materials and concrete

Gait, Stability and Movement of Snake-Like Robots

This paper provides theoretical analysis of some key features of snake-like robot locomotion. Inspired by the moving mechanism of animals, the snake robot built with simple modules is numerically controlled. A most common method for its locomotion is to apply a central pattern generator to efficiently generate the control signals of gait and movement. This paper analyses stability, crawling gait, moving velocity, climbing capability, the capability to cross ditches and avoid obstacles, etc. Mathematical models and simulations show the theoretical validity and robot capabilities