Multi-Hazard Assessment of Seismic and Scour Effects on Rural Bridges with Unknown Foundations

This chapter proposes a probabilistic framework for assessing seismic and scour effects on existing river-crossing bridge structures. The emphasis is on bridge structures in rural areas, for which it has been recognized that a large number of rural bridges have unknown foundation types and further are subject to both flooding-induced scour and seismic damage. With a review of the US-based rural bridges, this chapter presents a probabilistic framework for bridge performance assessment. Using a representative rural bridge model, the fragility results for the bridge reveal that scour tends to be beneficial in reducing structural damage at slight to moderate seismic intensities and to be detrimental in increasing collapse potential at high-level intensities. The demand hazard curves further quantify probabilistically the occurrence of local damage and global collapse, and systematically reveal the complex effects of scour as a hydraulic hazard on bridge structures

Room Temperature Ferromagnetic and Optical Properties of Chrome Doped ZnS Nanorods Prepared by Hydrothermal Method

Cr doped Zn1-xCrxS nanorods with different concentration ratio (x=0, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05) were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The crystal microstructure, morphology, chemical composition, and optical and magnetic properties of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (XEDS), diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). All the samples synthesized by this method exhibited single-phase wurtzite structure with good crystallization as demonstrated by XRD studies, which indicated that all Cr ions successfully substituted for the lattice site of Zn2+ and generated single-phase Zn1-xCrxS. DRS revealed the band gap of doped Zn1-xCrxS underwent blue shift compared to that of the bulk ZnS. PL spectra showed obvious ultraviolet emission peak at 375 nm and two blue emissions appear about 500 and 580 nm. The blue emissions intensity of doped samples improved with the increase of Cr concentration, comparing to pure ZnS. Magnetic measurements indicated that the undoped and doped ZnS nanorods exhibited well-defined ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. The saturation magnetization weakened significantly with increasing Cr concentration comparing to pure ZnS and reached minimum for 3% Cr

Role of astrocytes in sleep deprivation: accomplices, resisters, or bystanders?

Sleep plays an essential role in all studied animals with a nervous system. However, sleep deprivation leads to various pathological changes and neurobehavioral problems. Astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the brain and are involved in various important functions, including neurotransmitter and ion homeostasis, synaptic and neuronal modulation, and blood–brain barrier maintenance; furthermore, they are associated with numerous neurodegenerative diseases, pain, and mood disorders. Moreover, astrocytes are increasingly being recognized as vital contributors to the regulation of sleep-wake cycles, both locally and in specific neural circuits. In this review, we begin by describing the role of astrocytes in regulating sleep and circadian rhythms, focusing on: (i) neuronal activity; (ii) metabolism; (iii) the glymphatic system; (iv) neuroinflammation; and (v) astrocyte–microglia cross-talk. Moreover, we review the role of astrocytes in sleep deprivation comorbidities and sleep deprivation-related brain disorders. Finally, we discuss potential interventions targeting astrocytes to prevent or treat sleep deprivation-related brain disorders. Pursuing these questions would pave the way for a deeper understanding of the cellular and neural mechanisms underlying sleep deprivation-comorbid brain disorders

Nondestructive detection of Pleurotus geesteranus strain degradation based on micro-hyperspectral imaging and machine learning

In the production of edible fungi, the use of degraded strains in cultivation incurs significant economic losses. Based on micro-hyperspectral imaging and machine learning, this study proposes an early, nondestructive method for detecting different degradation degrees of Pleurotus geesteranus strains. In this study, an undegraded strain and three different degradation-level strains were used. During the mycelium growth, 600 micro-hyperspectral images were obtained. Based on the average transmittance spectra of the region of interest (ROI) in the range of 400-1000 nm and images at feature bands, feature spectra and images were extracted using the successive projections algorithm (SPA) and the deep residual network (ResNet50), respectively. Different feature input combinations were utilized to establish support vector machine (SVM) classification models. Based on the results, the spectra-input-based model performed better than the image-input-based model, and feature extraction improved the classification results for both models. The feature-fusion-based SPA+ResNet50-SVM model was the best; the accuracy rate of the test set was up to 90.8%, which was better than the accuracy rates of SPA-SVM (83.3%) and ResNet50-SVM (80.8%). This study proposes a nondestructive method to detect the degradation of Pleurotus geesteranus strains, which could further inspire new methods for the phenotypic identification of edible fungi

Periodontal health: A national cross‐sectional study of knowledge, attitudes and practices for the public oral health strategy in China

Aim To assess the status of periodontal health knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) among Chinese adults. Materials and Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted in a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 50,991) aged 20 years or older from ten provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Percentages of Chinese adults with correct periodontal knowledge, positive periodontal attitudes, and practices were estimated. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to examine the related factors. Results Less than 20% of Chinese adults were knowledgeable about periodontal disease. Very few (2.6%) of Chinese adults use dental floss ≥once a day and undergo scaling ≥once a year and visit a dentist (6.4%) in the case of gingival bleeding. Periodontal health KAP was associated with gender, age, body mass index, marital status, place of residence, education level, income, smoking status, and history of periodontal disease. Conclusions Periodontal health KAP are generally poor among the Chinese adult population. Community‐based health strategies to improve periodontal health KAP need to be implemented. Increasing knowledge of periodontal disease, the cultivation of correct practices in response to gingival bleeding, and the development of good habits concerning the use of dental floss and regular scaling should be public oral health priorities

Livestock overgrazing disrupts the positive associations between soil biodiversity and nitrogen availability

8 páginas.- 4 figuras.- 1 tabla.- 64 referencias.- Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information sectionLivestock overgrazing influences both microbial communities and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the role of overgrazing in regulating the relationship between soil biodiversity and nitrogen availability remains largely unexplored.We performed long-term grazing exclusion experiments across eight sites along precipitation gradient covering three major types of grassland in northern China to compare the linkage between soil microbial diversity and N availability in overgrazed versus non-grazed conditions.We found a significantly positive association between fungal diversity and soil available N in non-grazed grasslands. However, the positive association was absent in overgrazed environments. Bacterial diversity is not related to soil available N in either non-grazed or overgrazed grasslands. Moreover, in bacterial community, we found a positive link between the relative abundance of Actinobacteria with soil available N in non-grazed, but not overgrazed, grasslands. Instead we found the links between relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria with soil available N in overgrazed grasslands, but not non-grazed, grasslands.Synthesis. Our work provides evidence that the relationships between microbial diversity and ecosystem functions are context-dependent, and so microbial community diversity is likely not the major driver of soil N mineralization in overgrazed grasslands. Our study suggests that high intensity anthropogenic activities in grasslands restrains the capacity of diverse soil microbial communities to sustain ecosystem function, and more broadly the capacity of entire ecosystems to maintain important ecosystem processes such as plant production. Our study also indicates that the fundamental microbial communities associated with N availability change with differing land management strategies (e.g. livestock grazing).National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 31772652, U1603235, 31660679 and 31770500; National Key Research and Development Program of China, Grant/Award Number: 2016YFC0500602; Program for Introducing Talents to Universities, Grant/Award Number: B16011; Ministry of Education Innovation Team Development Plan, Grant/Award Number: 2013-373; Innovative Team of Grassland Resources from the Ministry of Education of China, Grant/Award Number: IRT_17R59; Horizon 2020 Framework Program, Grant/Award Number: H2020-MSCA-IF-2016Peer reviewe