Application Of Data Mining For Reverse Osmosis Process In Seawater Desalination

Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane process has been considered a promising technology for water treatment and desalination. However, it is difficult to predict the performance of pilot- or full-scale RO systems because numerous factors are involved in RO performance, including variations in feed water (quantity, quality, temperature, etc), membrane fouling, and time-dependent changes (deteriorations). Accordingly, this study intended to develop a practical approach for the analysis of operation data in pilot-scale reverse osmosis (RO) processes. Novel techniques such as artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming (GP) technique were applied to correlate key operating parameters and RO permeability statistically. The ANN and GP models were trained using a set of experimental data from a RO pilot plant with a capacity of 1,000 m3/day and then used to predict its performance. The comparison of the ANN and GP model calculations with the experiment results revealed that the models were useful for analyzing and classifying the performance of pilot-scale RO systems. The models were also applied for an in-depth analysis of RO system performance under dynamic conditions

The translational network for metabolic disease – from protein interaction to disease co-occurrence

Background The recent advances in human disease network have provided insights into establishing the relationships between the genotypes and phenotypes of diseases. In spite of the great progress, it yet remains as only a map of topologies between diseases, but not being able to be a pragmatic diagnostic/prognostic tool in medicine. It can further evolve from a map to a translational tool if it equips with a function of scoring that measures the likelihoods of the association between diseases. Then, a physician, when practicing on a patient, can suggest several diseases that are highly likely to co-occur with a primary disease according to the scores. In this study, we propose a method of implementing n-of-1 utility (n potential diseases of one patient) to human disease network—the translational disease network. Results We first construct a disease network by introducing the notion of walk in graph theory to protein-protein interaction network, and then provide a scoring algorithm quantifying the likelihoods of disease co-occurrence given a primary disease. Metabolic diseases, that are highly prevalent but have found only a few associations in previous studies, are chosen as entries of the network. Conclusions The proposed method substantially increased connectivity between metabolic diseases and provided scores of co-occurring diseases. The increase in connectivity turned the disease network info-richer. The result lifted the AUC of random guessing up to 0.72 and appeared to be concordant with the existing literatures on disease comorbidity

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field

An inference method from multi-layered structure of biomedical data

Abstract Background Biological system is a multi-layered structure of omics with genome, epigenome, transcriptome, metabolome, proteome, etc., and can be further stretched to clinical/medical layers such as diseasome, drugs, and symptoms. One advantage of omics is that we can figure out an unknown component or its trait by inferring from known omics components. The component can be inferred by the ones in the same level of omics or the ones in different levels. Methods To implement the inference process, an algorithm that can be applied to the multi-layered complex system is required. In this study, we develop a semi-supervised learning algorithm that can be applied to the multi-layered complex system. In order to verify the validity of the inference, it was applied to the prediction problem of disease co-occurrence with a two-layered network composed of symptom-layer and disease-layer. Results The symptom-disease layered network obtained a fairly high value of AUC, 0.74, which is regarded as noticeable improvement when comparing 0.59 AUC of single-layered disease network. If further stretched to whole layered structure of omics, the proposed method is expected to produce more promising results. Conclusion This research has novelty in that it is a new integrative algorithm that incorporates the vertical structure of omics data, on contrary to other existing methods that integrate the data in parallel fashion. The results can provide enhanced guideline for disease co-occurrence prediction, thereby serve as a valuable tool for inference process of multi-layered biological system

Economic Evaluation of a Hybrid Desalination System Combining Forward and Reverse Osmosis

This study seeks to evaluate the performance and economic feasibility of the forward osmosis (FO)–reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid process; to propose a guideline by which this hybrid process might be more price-competitive in the field. A solution-diffusion model modified with film theory was applied to analyze the effects of concentration polarization, water, and salt transport coefficient on flux, recovery, seawater concentration, and treated wastewater of the FO process of an FO-RO hybrid system. A simple cost model was applied to analyze the effects of flux; recovery of the FO process; energy; and membrane cost on the FO-RO hybrid process. The simulation results showed that the water transport coefficient and internal concentration polarization resistance are very important factors that affect performance in the FO process; however; the effect of the salt transport coefficient does not seem to be large. It was also found that the flux and recovery of the FO process, the FO membrane, and the electricity cost are very important factors that influence the water cost of an FO-RO hybrid system. This hybrid system can be price-competitive with RO systems when its recovery rate is very high, the flux and the membrane cost of the FO are similar to those of the RO, and the electricity cost is expensive. The most important thing in commercializing the FO process is enhancing performance (e.g.; flux and the recovery of FO membranes)

Design and Implementation of Multi-Cyber Range for Cyber Training and Testing

It is essential to build a practical environment of the training/test site for cyber training and weapon system test evaluation. In a military environment, cyber training sites should be continuously developed according to the characteristics of the military. Weapons with cyber security capabilities should be deployed through cyber security certification. Recently, each military has been building its own cyber range that simulates its battlefield environment. However, since the actual battlefield is an integrated operation environment, the cyber range built does not reflect the integrated battlefield environment that is interconnected. This paper proposes a configuration plan and operation function to construct a multi-cyber range reflecting the characteristics of each military to overcome this situation. In order to test the multi-cyber range, which has scenario authoring and operation functions, and can faithfully reflect reality, the impact of DDoS attacks is tested. It is a key to real-world mission-based test evaluation to ensure interoperability between military systems. As a result of the experiment, it was concluded that if a DDoS attack occurs due to the infiltration of malicious code into the military network, it may have a serious impact on securing message interoperability between systems in the military network. Cyber range construction technology is being developed not only in the military, but also in school education and businesses. The proposed technology can also be applied to the construction of cyber ranges in industries where cyber-physical systems are emphasized. In addition, it is a field that is continuously developing with the development of technology, such as being applied as an experimental site for learning machine learning systems

Design and Implementation of Multi-Cyber Range for Cyber Training and Testing

It is essential to build a practical environment of the training/test site for cyber training and weapon system test evaluation. In a military environment, cyber training sites should be continuously developed according to the characteristics of the military. Weapons with cyber security capabilities should be deployed through cyber security certification. Recently, each military has been building its own cyber range that simulates its battlefield environment. However, since the actual battlefield is an integrated operation environment, the cyber range built does not reflect the integrated battlefield environment that is interconnected. This paper proposes a configuration plan and operation function to construct a multi-cyber range reflecting the characteristics of each military to overcome this situation. In order to test the multi-cyber range, which has scenario authoring and operation functions, and can faithfully reflect reality, the impact of DDoS attacks is tested. It is a key to real-world mission-based test evaluation to ensure interoperability between military systems. As a result of the experiment, it was concluded that if a DDoS attack occurs due to the infiltration of malicious code into the military network, it may have a serious impact on securing message interoperability between systems in the military network. Cyber range construction technology is being developed not only in the military, but also in school education and businesses. The proposed technology can also be applied to the construction of cyber ranges in industries where cyber-physical systems are emphasized. In addition, it is a field that is continuously developing with the development of technology, such as being applied as an experimental site for learning machine learning systems