Research on Beef Skeletal Maturity Determination Based on Shape Description and Neural Network

Physiological maturity is an important indicator for beef quality. In traditional method, the maturity grade is determined by subjectively evaluating the degree of cartilage ossification at the tips of the dorsal spine of the thoracic vertebrae. This paper uses the computer vision to replace the artificial method for extracting object (cartilage and bone) regions. Hu invariant moments of object region were calculated as the regional shape characteristic parameters. A trained Hopfield neural network model was used for recognizing cartilage and bone area in thoracic vertebrae image based on minimum Euclidean distance. The result showed that the accuracy of network recognition for cartilage and bone region was 92.75% and 87.68%, respectively. For automatically maturity prediction, the accuracy of prediction was 86%. Algorithm proposed in this paper proved the image description and neural network modeling was an effective method for extracting image feature regions

Conformal Three-Dimensional Interphase of Li Metal Anode Revealed by Low Dose Cryo-Electron Microscopy

Using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, we revealed three dimensional (3D) structural details of the electrochemically plated lithium (Li) flakes and their solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), including the composite SEI skin-layer and SEI fossil pieces buried inside the Li matrix. As the SEI skin-layer is largely comprised of nanocrystalline LiF and Li2O in amorphous polymeric matrix, when complete Li stripping occurs, the compromised SEI three-dimensional framework buckles, forming nanoscale bends and wrinkles. We showed that the flexibility and resilience of the SEI skin-layer plays a vital role in preserving an intact SEI 3D framework after Li stripping. The intact SEI network enables the nucleation and growth of the newly plated Li inside the previously formed SEI network in the subsequent cycles, preventing additional large amount of SEI formation between newly plated Li metal and the electrolyte. In addition, cells cycled under the accurately controlled uniaxial pressure can further enhance the repeated utilization of the SEI framework and improve the coulombic efficiency (CE) by up to 97%, demonstrating an effective strategy of reducing the formation of additional SEI and inactive dead Li. The identification of such flexible and porous 3D SEI framework clarifies the working mechanism of SEI in lithium metal anode for batteries. The insights provided in this work will inspire researchers to design more functional artificial 3D SEI on other metal anodes to improve rechargeable metal battery with long cycle life

Baicalin Normalizes Blood Glucose Level in Streptozotocin -induced Diabetic Rats

This study aimed to determine the effect of baicalin on insulin resistance, glucose absorption, and blood lipids in type 2 diabetic rat model. Diabetic rats were treated with baicalin (40, 80 mg/kg) for 40 days. The results showed that diabetic rats treated with baicalin resulted in a significant decrease in the concentration of plasma triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improved the body weight. Furthermore, baicalin markedly decreased blood glucose level in the diabetic rats. The levels of plasma insulin and resistin exhibited significantly lower in the diabetic rats treated with baicalin than those of the model group. These findings suggest that baicalin can improve adipose metabolic disturbance in the experimental type 2 diabetic rats, can effectively ameliorate insulin resistance and plasma glucose transport by decreasing the levels of plasma resistin.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Baicalin Normalizes Blood Glucose Level in Streptozotocin -induced Diabetic Rats

This study aimed to determine the effect of baicalin on insulin resistance, glucose absorption, and blood lipids in type 2 diabetic rat model. Diabetic rats were treated with baicalin (40, 80 mg/kg) for 40 days. The results showed that diabetic rats treated with baicalin resulted in a significant decrease in the concentration of plasma triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improved the body weight. Furthermore, baicalin markedly decreased blood glucose level in the diabetic rats. The levels of plasma insulin and resistin exhibited significantly lower in the diabetic rats treated with baicalin than those of the model group. These findings suggest that baicalin can improve adipose metabolic disturbance in the experimental type 2 diabetic rats, can effectively ameliorate insulin resistance and plasma glucose transport by decreasing the levels of plasma resistin.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Baicalin Normalizes Blood Glucose Level in Streptozotocin -induced Diabetic Rats

This study aimed to determine the effect of baicalin on insulin resistance, glucose absorption, and blood lipids in type 2 diabetic rat model. Diabetic rats were treated with baicalin (40, 80 mg/kg) for 40 days. The results showed that diabetic rats treated with baicalin resulted in a significant decrease in the concentration of plasma triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improved the body weight. Furthermore, baicalin markedly decreased blood glucose level in the diabetic rats. The levels of plasma insulin and resistin exhibited significantly lower in the diabetic rats treated with baicalin than those of the model group. These findings suggest that baicalin can improve adipose metabolic disturbance in the experimental type 2 diabetic rats, can effectively ameliorate insulin resistance and plasma glucose transport by decreasing the levels of plasma resistin.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

The optimal design and operation strategy of renewable energy-CCHP coupled system applied in five building objects

Abstract(#br)Combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) is an economic and eco-friendly technology to mitigate energy issues with remarkable energy efficiency improvement. This study formulates a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model for a combined CCHP system coupled with renewable energy, i.e. RCCHP system, which is applied in five different buildings to evaluate the economic and environmental performance under two optimization modes. Net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and dynamic payback period (DPP) are introduced as economic indexes, while CO 2 emission reduction rate (CER) is considered as the environmental indicator to determine the optimal combination, capacity, and operation strategies for energy technologies. Results indicate that a combination of electricity purchased at valley period during night with power generated by the combined heating and power (CHP) unit coupled with wind turbine in peak period during daytime is cost-optimal which also enables higher energy efficiency. Meanwhile, the feed-in tariff as well as the uncoordinated electrical and thermal loads both show a significant impact on real-time operation strategies. Compared with the reference separate production (SP) system, the combined system shows better performance when applied to shopping mall under both optimization modes, e.g., with NPV up to 67.65 and 46.61 million RMB, IRR up to 20.70% and 25.10%, and the minimum DPP is 5.49 and 4.82 years under NPV and IRR maximization, respectively

Eclipsing Binaries From the CSTAR Project at Dome A, Antarctica

The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) has observed an area around the Celestial South Pole at Dome A since 2008. About $20,000$ light curves in the i band were obtained lasting from March to July, 2008. The photometric precision achieves about 4 mmag at i = 7.5 and 20 mmag at i = 12 within a 30 s exposure time. These light curves are analyzed using Lomb--Scargle, Phase Dispersion Minimization, and Box Least Squares methods to search for periodic signals. False positives may appear as a variable signature caused by contaminating stars and the observation mode of CSTAR. Therefore the period and position of each variable candidate are checked to eliminate false positives. Eclipsing binaries are removed by visual inspection, frequency spectrum analysis and locally linear embedding technique. We identify 53 eclipsing binaries in the field of view of CSTAR, containing 24 detached binaries, 8 semi-detached binaries, 18 contact binaries, and 3 ellipsoidal variables. To derive the parameters of these binaries, we use the Eclipsing Binaries via Artificial Intelligence (EBAI) method. The primary and the secondary eclipse timing variations (ETVs) for semi-detached and contact systems are analyzed. Correlated primary and secondary ETVs confirmed by false alarm tests may indicate an unseen perturbing companion. Through ETV analysis, we identify two triple systems (CSTAR J084612.64-883342.9 and CSTAR J220502.55-895206.7). The orbital parameters of the third body in CSTAR J220502.55-895206.7 are derived using a simple dynamical model.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figures; published online in ApJ

The effects of ECMO on neurological function recovery of critical patients: A double-edged sword

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) played an important role in the treatment of patients with critical care such as cardiac arrest (CA) and acute respiratory distress syndrome. ECMO is gradually showing its advantages in terms of speed and effectiveness of circulatory support, as it provides adequate cerebral blood flow (CBF) to the patient and ensures the perfusion of organs. ECMO enhances patient survival and improves their neurological prognosis. However, ECMO-related brain complications are also important because of the high risk of death and the associated poor outcomes. We summarized the reported complications related to ECMO for patients with CA, such as north–south syndrome, hypoxic–ischemic brain injury, cerebral ischemia–reperfusion injury, impaired intracranial vascular autoregulation, embolic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and brain death. The exact mechanism of ECMO on the role of brain function is unclear. Here we review the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with ECMO in the protection of neurologic function in recent years, as well as the ECMO-related complications in brain and the means to improve it, to provide ideas for the treatment of brain function protection in CA patients

Planetary transit candidates in the CSTAR field: analysis of the 2008 data

The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) is a group of four identical, fully automated, static 14.5 cm telescopes. CSTAR is located at Dome A, Antarctica and covers 20 deg2 of sky around the South Celestial Pole. The installation is designed to provide high-cadence photometry for the purpose of monitoring the quality of the astronomical observing conditions at Dome A and detecting transiting exoplanets. CSTAR has been operational since 2008, and has taken a rich and high-precision photometric data set of 10,690 stars. In the first observing season, we obtained 291,911 qualified science frames with 20 s integrations in the i band. Photometric precision reaches 4 mmag at 20 s cadence at i = 7.5 and is 20 mmag at i = 12. Using robust detection methods, 10 promising exoplanet candidates were found. Four of these were found to be giants using spectroscopic follow-up. All of these transit candidates are presented here along with the discussion of their detailed properties as well as the follow-up observations