Generalising human heuristics in augmented evolutionary water distribution network design optimisation

This is the final versionThe use of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) for finding near optimal water distribution network (WDN) designs is well-established in the literature. Even though these methods have the ability to generate mathematically promising solutions based on defined objective function(s), the resulting solutions are not necessarily suitable for real-world application. This is because of the size, complex and non-linear nature of WDNs, which make it difficult to define important factors that a water engineer or an expert needs to consider during the design process in an objective function. Incorporating an expert in the optimization process has been used to deal with this problem and to guide an EA’s search toward obtaining more practical solutions. Accordingly, this study proposes a methodology for capturing and generalizing engineering expertise in optimizing small/medium WDNs through machine learning techniques, and integrating the resultant heuristic into an EA through its mutation operator to find the optimum design for larger WDNs. The combined interaction from different users on four small /medium benchmark WDNs from the literature were collected and used to train a decision tree model. Seven input features including current pipe diameter, velocity, upstream and downstream head deficient, pipe influence, flow and length are used to train the decision tree for predicting new diameter for a selected pipe. The resultant decision tree model is then applied to a larger network namely Modena to assess the ability of the HDH method. The results demonstrate better performance in comparison with a standard EA approach for finding minimum network cost

MEMS Accelerometers

Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices are widely used for inertia, pressure, and ultrasound sensing applications. Research on integrated MEMS technology has undergone extensive development driven by the requirements of a compact footprint, low cost, and increased functionality. Accelerometers are among the most widely used sensors implemented in MEMS technology. MEMS accelerometers are showing a growing presence in almost all industries ranging from automotive to medical. A traditional MEMS accelerometer employs a proof mass suspended to springs, which displaces in response to an external acceleration. A single proof mass can be used for one- or multi-axis sensing. A variety of transduction mechanisms have been used to detect the displacement. They include capacitive, piezoelectric, thermal, tunneling, and optical mechanisms. Capacitive accelerometers are widely used due to their DC measurement interface, thermal stability, reliability, and low cost. However, they are sensitive to electromagnetic field interferences and have poor performance for high-end applications (e.g., precise attitude control for the satellite). Over the past three decades, steady progress has been made in the area of optical accelerometers for high-performance and high-sensitivity applications but several challenges are still to be tackled by researchers and engineers to fully realize opto-mechanical accelerometers, such as chip-scale integration, scaling, low bandwidth, etc

Selection of an efficient in vitro micropropagation and regeneration system for potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivar Desirée

Sprouts of about 40 to 80 mm length were excised, surface sterilized with 70% CloroxR and cultured on solid full-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Shoot nodal segments (1.0 cm) from in vitro plantlets (2 to 4 weeks old) were multiplied through periodic subculturing on full-strength MS medium with 30 g/L sucrose, 100 ml/L myo-inositol and 0.5 ml/L silver thiosulfate. The shoots were rooted on the same medium. Microtubers were stimulated on MS medium supplemented with 80 g/L sucrose, 100 ml/L myo-inositol and 5 ml/L benzyl adenine. They generally originate on aerial etiolated shoots producing . 1.0 } 0.5 microtuber/explant with diameter approx. 3 to 10 mm. Shoot regeneration was performed from  tuber discs, internodes and leaf explants using 6 different media. Different regeneration capacities were  observed by the explants along 60 days. The average number of shoots was highest from tuber discs (6.2)  than from leaf explants (2.6) which exceeds about three times; no shoot from internode explants cultured on the various media. Regenerated plantlets produced from both tuber discs and leaf explants exhibited random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis using five selected primers to detect  somaclonal variation. All the morphological variants were excluded. One of the regenerated plantlet  derived from leaf-explants was true-to-type to the main in vitro plantlet, so it will be used as a source of explants for transformation experiments. The other regenerated plantlets derived from leaf explants and tuber discs show the presence and/or absence of polymorphic bands. Results also showed that  microtubers were initiated on the etiolated shoots of the regenerants at the first 10 days. The etiolated shoots induced about 2.6 } 0.6 and 2.2 } 0.5 microtuber/explants.Key words: Solanum tuberosum L., seed tuber, sprouting, micropropagation, microtubers, explants, regeneration, random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

TMEM161B modulates radial glial scaffolding in neocortical development.

TMEM161B encodes an evolutionarily conserved widely expressed novel 8-pass trans- membrane protein of unknown function in human. Here we identify TMEM161B homozygous hypomorphic missense variants in our recessive polymicrogyria (PMG) cohort. Patients carrying TMEM161B mutations exhibit striking neocortical PMG and intellectual disability. Tmem161b knockout mice fail to develop midline hem- ispheric cleavage, whereas knock-in of patient mutations and patient-derived brain organoids show defects in apical cell polarity and radial glial scaffolding. We found that TMEM161B modulates actin filopodia, functioning upstream of the Rho-GTPase CDC42. Our data link TMEM161B with human PMG, likely regulating radial glia apical polarity during neocortical development

A preliminary screening and characterization of suitable acids for sandstone matrix acidizing technique: a comprehensive review

Matrix acidizing is a broadly developed technique in sandstone stimulation to improve the permeability and porosity of a bottom-hole well. The most popular acid used is mud acid (HF–HCl). It is a mixture of hydrofluoric acid and hydrochloric acid. However, one of the conventional problems in sandstone acidizing is that mud acid faces significant issues at high temperature such as rapid rate of reaction, resulting in early acid consumption. This downside has given a negative impact to sandstone acidizing as it will result in not only permeability reduction, but can even extend to acid treatment failure. So, the aim of this study is to provide a preliminary screening and comparison of different acids based on the literature to optimize the acid selection, and targeting various temperatures of sandstone environment. This paper has comprehensively reviewed the experimental works using different acids to understand the chemical reactions and transport properties of acid in sandstone environment. The results obtained indicated that fluoroboric acid (HBF4) could be useful in enhancing the sandstone acidizing process, although more studies are still required to consolidate this conclusion. HBF4 is well known as a low damaging acid for sandstone acidizing due to its slow hydrolytic reaction to produce HF. This would allow deeper penetration of the acid into the sandstone formation at a slower rate, resulting in higher porosity and permeability enhancement. Nevertheless, little is known about the effective temperature working range for a successful treatment. Considering the pros and cons of different acids, particularly those which are associated with HF and HBF4, it is recommended to perform a comprehensive analysis to determine the optimum temperature range and effective working window for sandstone acidizing before treatment operation. Prior to sandstone acid stimulation, it is essential to predict the feasibility of acid selected by integrating the effects of temperature, acid concentration and injection rate. Therefore, this manuscript has thrown light into the research significance of further studies

Characteristics of mentally ill offenders from 100 psychiatric court reports

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is an increasing probability that the psychiatrist will, willingly or not, come into contact with mentally ill offenders in the course of their practice. There are increasing rates of violence, substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders that are of legal importance. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the rates of different mental disorders in 100 court reports and to investigate the characteristics of mentally ill offenders.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All cases referred from different departments of the legal system to the forensic committee for assessment of legal accountability over 13-months duration were included. A specially designed form was prepared for data collection. Cases were classified into five groups: murder, robbery, financial offences, violent and simple offences and a group for other offences. Data were subjected to statistical analysis and comparisons between different groups of subjects were performed by analysis of variance (ANOVA).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Men constituted 93% of cases. In all, 73% of offenders were younger than 40 years old. Schizophrenia cases made up 13% of the total, substance related cases constituted 56% and amphetamine cases alone made up 21%; 10% of cases were antisocial personality disorders, and 51% of cases were classified as having a low education level. Unemployment was found in 34% of cases. The final decision of the forensic committee was full responsibility in 46% of cases and partial responsibility in 11% of cases, with 33% considered non-responsible. A total of 58% of cases had had contact with psychiatric healthcare prior to the offence and in 9% of cases contact had been in the previous 12 weeks. A history of similar offences was found in 32% of cases. In all, 14% of the offences were murders, 8% were sexual crimes, and 31% were violent/simple crimes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The ability of the legal system to detect cases was good, while the ability of the healthcare system to predict crimes and offences was weak, as 58% of cases had had previous contact with the healthcare system previously. Substance abuse, especially amphetamine abuse, played an important role.</p