Association between Dietary Patterns and Precocious Puberty in Children: A Population-Based Study

Objective. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between dietary patterns and precocious puberty among Shanghai children. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among Shanghai children by multistage stratified cluster random sampling in June 2014. Diet was assessed using a simplified food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Height, weight, and Tanner stages of breast development, pubic hair growth, and testicular volume were carefully measured. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns, and logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between dietary patterns and precocious puberty. Results. Three distinct dietary patterns, “traditional diet,” “unhealthy diet,” and “protein diet,” were established. Neither the “traditional diet” pattern nor the “protein diet” pattern showed any association with precocious puberty, taking gender, BMI, and adjustment factors into consideration. The “unhealthy diet” pattern was significantly positively associated with precocious puberty in both boys (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.02–1.51) and girls (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.10–1.56). The relationship remained positive only for girls (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.04–1.49) after adjustment for age and BMI but statistically nonsignificant after further adjustment for socioeconomic factors in both boys and girls. Conclusions. Dietary patterns were found to be related to precocious puberty among Shanghai children

An improved LSSVM model for intelligent prediction of the daily water level

Daily water level forecasting is of significant importance for the comprehensive utilization of water resources. An improved least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) model was introduced by including an extra bias error control term in the objective function. The tuning parameters were determined by the cross-validation scheme. Both conventional and improved LSSVM models were applied in the short term forecasting of the water level in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, China. Evaluations were made with both models through metrics such as RMSE (Root Mean Squared Error), MAPE (Mean Absolute Percent Error) and index of agreement (d). More accurate forecasts were obtained although the improvement is regarded as moderate. Results indicate the capability and flexibility of LSSVM-type models in resolving time sequence problems. The improved LSSVM model is expected to provide useful water level information for the managements of hydroelectric resources in Rivers

Linear Complexity and Trace Representation of New Ding Generalized Cyclotomic Sequences with Period pq and Order Two

Linear complexity is an important property to measure the unpredictability of pseudo-random sequences. Trace representation is helpful for analyzing cryptography properties of pseudo-random sequences. In this paper, a class of new Ding generalized cyclotomic binary sequences of order two with period pq is constructed based on the new segmentation of Ding Helleseth generalized cyclotomy. Firstly, the linear complexity and minimal polynomial of the sequences are investigated. Then, their trace representation is given. It is proved that the sequences have larger linear complexity and can resist the attack of the Berlekamp–Massey algorithm. This paper also confirms that generalized cyclotomic sequences with good randomness may be obtained by modifying the characteristic set of generalized cyclotomy

Effect of Heat Treatment on Corrosion Behaviors of Mg-5Y-1.5Nd Alloys

Corrosion behavior of Mg-5Y-1.5Nd alloy was investigated after heat treatment. The microstructure and precipitation were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The weight loss rates of different samples were arranged as T6-24 h>T6-6 h>T6-14 h>as-cast>T4. The open circuit potential (OCP) showed that T4 sample had a more positive potential than that of other samples. The potentiodynamic polarization curves showed that the T6-24 h sample had the highest corrosion current density of 245.362 μA·cm−2, whereas the T4 sample had the lowest at 52.164 μA·cm−2. The EIS results confirmed that the heat treatment reduced the corrosion resistance for Mg-5Y-1.5Nd alloy, because the precipitations acted as the cathode of electrochemical reactions to accelerate the corrosion process. The corrosion rates of different samples were mainly determined by the amount and distribution of the precipitations. The precipitations played dual roles that depended on the amount and distribution. The presence of the phase in the alloys could deteriorate the corrosion performance as it could act as an effective galvanic cathode. Otherwise, a fine and homogeneous phase appeared to be a better anticorrosion barrier

Energy Fuels

In order to study the combustion of coal water slurry (CWS) in fluidized bed boilers, artificial CWS droplet spheres were used for simulation of the spheres formed from CWS droplets which fall from the furnace top to the bed. The artificial spheres were introduced to a bench-scale fluidized bed furnace. Quartz sand was used as the bed material. The influence of the operation conditions (e.g., bed temperature, superficial gas velocity, and bed height) on the combustion characteristics was investigated. The bed temperatures were varied at 650, 750, 850, and 950 degrees C. The gas velocities were in a range of fluidization numbers W (defined as U/U-mf) of 3, 3.5, 4, and 4.5. The bed heights were varied 30, 50, 70, and 90 mm. The CWS spheres were taken out at five residence times (15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 s). The mass ratio of the residue fixed carbon to parent fixed carbon was calculated for studying the influential factors. Under the reference conditions, it is shown that the burnout time is less than 150 s. The grey relational analysis was used to study the degree of relative importance of the influential factors. The results showed that the influence of the bed height is the least, the fluidization number has the greatest influence in the early and later stages, and the bed temperature contributes most in the intermediate stages.In order to study the combustion of coal water slurry (CWS) in fluidized bed boilers, artificial CWS droplet spheres were used for simulation of the spheres formed from CWS droplets which fall from the furnace top to the bed. The artificial spheres were introduced to a bench-scale fluidized bed furnace. Quartz sand was used as the bed material. The influence of the operation conditions (e.g., bed temperature, superficial gas velocity, and bed height) on the combustion characteristics was investigated. The bed temperatures were varied at 650, 750, 850, and 950 degrees C. The gas velocities were in a range of fluidization numbers W (defined as U/U-mf) of 3, 3.5, 4, and 4.5. The bed heights were varied 30, 50, 70, and 90 mm. The CWS spheres were taken out at five residence times (15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 s). The mass ratio of the residue fixed carbon to parent fixed carbon was calculated for studying the influential factors. Under the reference conditions, it is shown that the burnout time is less than 150 s. The grey relational analysis was used to study the degree of relative importance of the influential factors. The results showed that the influence of the bed height is the least, the fluidization number has the greatest influence in the early and later stages, and the bed temperature contributes most in the intermediate stages