Complex wireless sensor network applications as those in Internet-of-Things or in-network processing are pushing the requirements for energy efficiency and data processing drastically. Energy-aware ...task allocation becomes crucial to efficiently distribute the tasks of the applications for the nodes to extend the network lifetime. In this paper, we propose a distributed optimal on-line task allocation algorithm, by considering the energy cost of communicating, computing, sensing, and sleeping activities, to optimally balance the workload distribution among the sensor nodes. Through an in-depth analysis, this paper proves that the optimal partition solution for each node consists of at most two partition cuts with the corresponding weights. This observation enables the proposed on-line algorithm to maximize the network lifetime with low execution complexity. The simulation results show that our proposed algorithm extends the network lifetime by 12.26 times compared with the strategy of no scheduling, which is 2.22 times more than previous off-line task allocation methods. Moreover, the energy spent on executing the on-line algorithm is so small that it can be neglected.
Lateral exhaust systems have commonly been applied to capture polluted buoyant jets in many industrial processes, such as casting and metallurgy. Compared with the normal conditions of design ...manuals, the capture efficiency of a lateral exhaust hood (LEH) is often weakened by two factors in actual processes: the unsteady buoyant jet released from the operating surface, and the plume formed above a high-temperature workpiece placed between the LEH and the operating surface. In this study, through experiments and numerical simulations, a pulsatile phenomenon was found in the velocity and concentration distribution of the unsteady buoyant jet. Results show that the contaminate escape ratio is pulsatile; it rises with the instantaneous increase in the buoyant jet velocity and gradually decreases to a constant value. This study not only reveals the air distribution of pulsating buoyant jet but also analyses the effect of the pulsating buoyant jet and high-temperature plume on lateral ventilation system capture efficiency and provides a possible guidance for future design of new building ventilation technologies.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this paper, we consider the large time behavior of solution for the chemotaxis-shallow water system in $\mathbb{R}^2$. The lower bound for time decay rates of the bacterial density and the ...chemoattractant concentration are proved by the method of energy estimates, which implies these two variables tend to zero at the $L^2$-rate $(1+t)^{-\frac{1}{2}}$. Furthermore, by the Fourier splitting method, we also show the first order spatial derivatives of the bacterial density tends to zero at the $L^2$-rate $(1+t)^{-1}$.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background: This study is designed to explore the correlation between multiple healthy lifestyles within the framework of “lifestyle medicine”, and the mortality risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver ...disease (NAFLD). Methods: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database was employed. The analysis consisted of 5542 participants with baseline NAFLD and 5542 matched non-NAFLD participants from the database. Lifestyle information, including five low risk factors advocated by lifestyle medicine (healthy diet, vigorous physical activity, healthy sleep duration, avoiding smoking, and maintaining a non-depressed psychological status), was collected through a baseline questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression models and Kaplan–Meier survival curve were used to evaluate risk of mortality. In addition, subgroups were analyzed according to gender, age, body mass index and waist circumference. Results: In total, 502 deaths (n = 181 deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD)) were recorded among NAFLD participants after the median follow up duration of 6.5 years. In the multivariate-adjusted model, compared to participants with an unfavorable lifestyle (scoring 0–1), NAFLD participants with a favorable lifestyle (scoring 4–5) experienced a 56% reduction in all-cause mortality and a 66% reduction in CVD mortality. Maintaining an undepressed psychological state and adhering to vigorous exercise significantly reduced CVD mortality risk in NAFLD participants (HR, 0.64 95% CI, 0.43–0.95; HR, 0.54 95% CI, 0.33–0.88) while maintaining healthy sleep reduced premature mortality due to CVD by 31%. Conclusions: Healthy lifestyle, characterized by maintaining an undepressed mental state and healthy sleep, significantly mitigates the risk of all-cause, CVD, and premature mortality risk among NAFLD patients, with a particularly pronounced effect observed in female and obese subpopulations.
In order to reduce the communication cost of wireless sensor nodes, many methods have been proposed to reduce the transmission rate and reconstruct the signal based on incomplete information. Among ...them, Kalman filter (KF)-based methods provide the optimal reconstruction for the monitoring of linear systems with Gaussian noise. They require sensor nodes to intermittently transmit either the raw data or the preprocessed data mainly depending on nodes' processing capabilities. However, it is unclear whether the improvement of the reconstruction quality after using local processing is significant enough to compensate the energy overhead. To solve this question, this work studies three KF-based reconstruction solutions under different transmission strategies, considering the measurement noise, the transmission rate reduction and the packet loss. The reconstruction quality of each method is formulated with the help of Markov chain and a set of algebraic Riccati equations (AREs); the corresponding energy cost of the sensor node is further measured by the physical implementation. The results indicate that the advantage of using local processing is very sensitive to some parameters, e.g., the packet size. In addition, the three KF-based methods are compared with compressive sensing. Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the KF-based approaches for the analyzed linear systems.
Introduction
Rabies is a serious public health problem worldwide for which an effective treatment method is lacking but can be prevented by vaccines. Current vaccines are produced in cell or egg ...cultures, which are both costly and time consuming.
Methods
Here, a non-replicating mRNA vaccine (RV021) encoding the rabies virus glycoprotein was developed
in vitro
, and its immunogenicity and protective efficacy against live virus was evaluated in mice.
Results
A two-dose vaccination with 1 μg of RV021 at 7-day intervals induced a protective level of neutralizing antibody that was maintained for at least 260 days. RV021 induced a robust cellular immune response that was significantly superior to that of an inactivated vaccine. Two doses of 1 μg RV021 provided full protection against challenge with CVS of 30~60-fold lethal dose, 50%. Vaccine potency testing (according to the National Institutes of Health)
in vivo
revealed that the potency of RV021 at 15 μg/dose was 7.5 IU/dose, which is substantially higher than the standard for lot release of rabies vaccines for current human use.
Conclusion
The mRNA vaccine RV021 induces a strong protective immune response in mice, providing a new and promising strategy for human rabies prevention and control.
•Low cost cordierite glass–ceramics were fabricated from potassium feldspar.•The glass–ceramics could be highly densified below 950°C.•The glass–ceramics exhibit extraordinary properties.•The ...glass–ceramics can be used as LTCC substrates.•The excess SiO2 improved the microstructure and properties of the glass–ceramics.
Cordierite glass–ceramics for low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates were fabricated successfully using potassium feldspar as the main raw material. The sintering and crystallization behaviors of the glass–ceramics were investigated by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The results indicated that the glass–ceramics could be highly densified at 850°C and the cordierite was the main crystalline phase precipitated from the glasses in the temperature range between 900 and 925°C. The study also evaluated the physical properties including dielectric properties, thermal expansion and flexural strength of the glass–ceramics. The glass–ceramics showed low dielectric constants in the range of 6–8 and low dielectric losses in the range of 0.0025–0.01. The coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) are between 4.32 and 5.48×10−6K−1 and flexural strength of the glass–ceramics are 90–130MPa. All of those qualify the glass–ceramics for further research to be used as potential LTCC substrates in the multilayer electronic substrate field. Additionally, the excess SiO2 acted as a great role in improving the sinterability of the glasses, and the microstructure and dielectric properties of the relevant glass–ceramics.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Mussels are major fouling organisms causing serious technical and economic problems. In this study, antifouling activity towards mussel was found in three compounds isolated from a marine bacterium ...associated with the sea anemone
sp. This bacterial strain, called PE2, was identified as
using morphology, biochemical tests, and phylogenetic analysis based on sequences of 16S rRNA and four housekeeping genes (
and
). Three small-molecule compounds (indole, 3-formylindole, and cyclo (Pro-Leu)) were purified from the ethyl acetate extract of
PE2 using column chromatography techniques. They all significantly inhibited byssal thread production of the green mussel
, with EC
values of 24.45 μg/ml for indole, 50.07 μg/ml for 3-formylindole, and 49.24 μg/ml for cyclo (Pro-Leu). Previous research on the antifouling activity of metabolites from marine bacteria towards mussels is scarce. Indole, 3-formylindole and cyclo (Pro-Leu) also exhibited antifouling activity against settlement of the barnacle
(EC
values of 8.84, 0.43, and 11.35 μg/ml, respectively) and the marine bacterium
sp. (EC
values of 42.68, 69.68, and 39.05 μg/ml, respectively). These results suggested that the three compounds are potentially useful for environmentally friendly mussel control and/or the development of new antifouling additives that are effective against several biofoulers.
The efficacy of many coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines has been shown to decrease to varying extents against new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants, which are ...responsible for the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Combining intramuscular and intranasal vaccination routes is a promising approach for achieving more potent immune responses. We evaluated the immunogenicity of prime-boost protocols with a chimpanzee adenovirus serotype 68 vector-based vaccine, ChAdTS-S, administered via both intranasal and intramuscular routes in BALB/c mice. Intramuscular priming followed by an intranasal booster elicited the highest levels of IgG, IgA, and pseudovirus neutralizing antibody titres among all the protocols tested at day 42 after prime immunization compared with the intranasal priming/intramuscular booster and prime-boost protocols using only one route. In addition, intramuscular priming followed by an intranasal booster induced high T-cell responses, measured using the IFN-γ ELISpot assay, that were similar to those observed upon intramuscular vaccination. All ChAdTS-S vaccination groups induced Th1-skewing of the T-cell response according to intracellular cytokine staining and Meso Scale Discovery cytokine profiling assays on day 56 after priming. This study provides reference data for assessing vaccination schemes of adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccines with high immune efficacy.
The ongoing evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) variants has been associated with the transmission and pathogenicity of COVID-19. Therefore, ...exploring the optimal immunisation strategy to improve the broad-spectrum cross-protection ability of COVID-19 vaccines is of great significance. Herein, we assessed different heterologous prime-boost strategies with chimpanzee adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccines plus Wuhan-Hu-1 (WH-1) strain (AdW) and Beta variant (AdB) and mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines plus WH-1 strain (ARW) and Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant (ARO) in 6-week-old female BALB/c mice. AdW and AdB were administered intramuscularly or intranasally, while ARW and ARO were administered intramuscularly. Intranasal or intramuscular vaccination with AdB followed by ARO booster exhibited the highest levels of cross-reactive IgG, pseudovirus-neutralising antibody (PNAb) responses, and angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2)-binding inhibition rates against different 2019-nCoV variants among all vaccination groups. Moreover, intranasal AdB vaccination followed by ARO induced higher levels of IgA and neutralising antibody responses against live 2019-nCoV than intramuscular AdB vaccination followed by ARO. A single dose of AdB administered intranasally or intramuscularly induced broader cross-NAb responses than AdW. Th1-biased cellular immune response was induced in all vaccination groups. Intramuscular vaccination-only groups exhibited higher levels of Th1 cytokines than intranasal vaccination-only and intranasal vaccination-containing groups. However, no obvious differences were found in the levels of Th2 cytokines between the control and all vaccination groups. Our findings provide a basis for exploring vaccination strategies against different 2019-nCoV variants to achieve high broad-spectrum immune efficacy.
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