ABSTRACTUnderstanding the spatio-temporal evolution of urban expansion is essential for urban planning and sustainable development. Recently, cellular automata (CA)-based models have emerged as ...highly effective and widely utilized approaches for simulating urban expansion. However, they suffered from complex structural information inherent in neighborhood effects, including spatio-temporal dimension disjunction and neighborhood sensitivity. To address these issues, herein, we propose a spatial hierarchical learning module based cellular automata model (SH-CA). Specifically, to tackle the spatio-temporal dimension disjunction, we take spatial dependence and historical expansion trends into consideration. We redefine the neighborhood structure and introduce lightweight convolutional neural networks to capture the complex spatio-temporal interaction in neighborhood effects. For the neighborhood sensitivity, we develop a gate filter to aggregate multiscale neighborhood effects for ensuring the synthesis of diverse neighborhood effects disparities. The proposed SH-CA model was implemented to simulate urban expansion in three distinct main urban areas of Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu in China during 2010–2015. The results showed that the proposed SH-CA greatly improves the figure of merit and simulates the most real land-use patterns compared with other four sophisticated CA models. Moreover, the hierarchical learning module effectively modeled spatio-temporal interaction in neighborhood effects, mitigated neighborhood sensitivity, and showed a strong scalability to existing popular CA-based models.
The perceived usefulness (PU) of a technology is critical for its final adoption; however, what makes an interactive whiteboard (IWB) perceived useful remains unclear. This study aims to investigate ...how pre-service teachers perceive the usefulness of Seewo interactive whiteboards for ESL (English-as-a-second-language) instruction. We recruited 80 pre-service ESL teachers, divided them into 16 groups, provided five weeks of training, and conducted focus group interviews to gather qualitative feedback. The data were analyzed using grounded theory techniques with the aid of the software Nvivo. Three research questions were addressed: how pre-service ESL teachers perceive the usefulness of Seewo IWB in terms of its functions that enhance the learning process (PU-process), how they perceive the usefulness of Seewo IWB in terms of its functions that improve learning outcomes (PU-outcome), and how they perceive the non-usefulness of Seewo IWB. The findings shed light on the determinants of the perceived usefulness (PU) concept, which is crucial for fostering a higher intention to accept technology.
In order to analyze the interfacial interaction mechanism between the types of mineral and asphalt at the molecular scale, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were conducted to study the interfacial ...behavior of three asphalt binders (AS-1, AS-2, AS-3) with five minerals (SiO2, CaO, MgO, Al2O3, Fe2O3). Thermodynamic properties of asphalt binder were used to evaluate the rationality of MD simulations, such as density, glass transition temperature, cohesive energy density and solubility parameter. The mean square displacement (MSD), diffusion coefficient and relative concentration distribution were employed to analyze the diffusion regularity of asphalt SARA (saturate, aromatic, resin and asphaltene) components on the mineral surface, and the bonding strength between asphalt and different minerals was evaluated by calculating the adhesion work. The simulation results show that Van der Waals energy and Coulomb electrostatic energy play critical role in the adhesion of asphalt-mineral. The diffusivity of asphalt on the surfaces of five minerals was ranked as CaO > MgO > Al2O3 > Fe2O3 > SiO2. It is enhanced with the increase of alkaline strength of minerals, and then the adhesion work of asphalt-mineral increases. The interfacial adhesion strength of the asphalt binders and minerals are directly related to the proportion of asphaltene and resin components, and the molecular mass of asphalt will affect asphalt-mineral adhesion strength, which can also be reflected by the relative concentration distribution of SARA components on mineral surface.
The inefficient use of urban resources and the imbalance of spatial structures make optimizing land use management a top priority in urban environmental management. Traditional land use ...classification systems that prioritize only natural features while disregarding human activity can result in redundancy and conflicts in urban planning. The Production–Living–Ecological Space (PLES) approach was developed as an integrated method for territorial spatial classification. However, most existing studies on PLES are conducted at provincial scales, largely overlooking fine-scale usage within cities. In addition, the existing concept of PLES has been vaguely defined, resulting in linear and simple identification methods that are not applicable to complex urban environments. To address these issues, this study proposes a method to identify urban PLES based on supervised classification using random forest models, which integrate empirical knowledge and multi-source heterogeneous information. The experiments conducted in Haikou reveal the regional aggregation of living and production spaces and the scarcity of ecological space in the city. Our study proposes a concrete concept of PLES and a method for identifying PLES that can be applied to multiple regions, providing an effective tool for the coordinated management of urban production, living, and ecological environments.
The aim of this study was to determine whether the addition of esketamine to morphine would improve postoperative analgesia after cesarean section.
Parturients who planned for a cesarean delivery ...using combined spinal-epidural anesthesia with a request for postoperative anesthesia were randomly divided into four groups (A, B, C, and D). When the surgery was completed, the parturients in groups A, B, C, and D were administered 2 mg morphine, 0.25 mg/kg of esketamine, 0.25 mg/kg of esketamine plus 2 mg morphine hydrochloride, and 0.25 mg/kg of esketamine plus 1 mg morphine through the epidural catheters, respectively. The postoperative pain at rest, pain with movement, the number of rescue analgesics, and adverse effects were evaluated for 48 h after cesarean delivery.
A total of 119 parturients were included in this study, including 30 cases in group A, 30 cases in group B, 30 cases in group C, and 29 cases in group D. All visual analog scale (VAS) scores at rest and with movement were much lower in group C as compared with those in group A and group B (
< 0.05). Moreover, VAS scores at rest were also lower in Group C than in group D for 24 h (
< 0.05). Corresponding to the low pain scores, parturients in group C also required less rescue analgesia as compared with the other three groups (
= 0.021 for C vs. A,
< 0.001 for C vs. B, and
< 0.001 for C vs. D). There were no statistically significant differences between the four study groups with regard to the incidence of adverse events (
> 0.05).
The addition of esketamine to morphine improved postoperative analgesia after cesarean section without increasing the incidence of adverse events.
Wetting is the process where asphalt infiltrates into the aggregate surface, which is important for the bonding between asphalt and aggregates. In this paper, the aggregate surface textures were ...simplified to V shape, and a wetting model was established to research the effects of initial temperature and cooling rate of asphalt and aggregate surface texture sizes on the wetting process. The results show that the asphalt infiltrates into the aggregate surface texture faster in the preliminary stage and slower in the later stage. Cooling rate and lower initial temperature of asphalt affect the surface tension and viscosity, resulting in a longer wetting process, but the effects of cooling rate could be ignored in actual practice. The relationship between the infiltration ending time and surface texture size was established, and it is found that the infiltration ending time is essentially proportional to the texture depth squared and inversely proportional to the texture width.
Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), a ligand of the Tie-2 receptor, plays an important role in maintaining endothelial cells and in destabilizing blood vessels. Collateral artery growth (arteriogenesis) is a key ...adaptive response to arterial occlusion. It is unknown whether the destabilization of blood vessels by Ang-2 can affect arteriogenesis and modulate mononuclear cell function. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Ang-2 on collateral artery growth.
Hindlimb ischaemia model was produced in C57BL/6 mice by femoral artery ligation. Blood flow perfusion was measured using a laser Doppler perfusion imager quantitative RT-PCR analysis was applied to identify the level of angiogenic factors.
After the induction of hindlimb ischaemia, blood flow recovery was impaired in mice treated with recombinant Ang-2 protein; this was accompanied by a reduction of peri-collateral macrophage infiltration. In addition, quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that Ang-2 treatment decreased monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) mRNA levels in ischaemic adductor muscles. Ang-2 can lead to macrophage M1/M2 polarization shift inhibition in the ischaemic muscles. Furthermore, Ang-2 reduced the in vitro inflammatory response in macrophages and vascular cells involved in arteriogenesis.
Our results demonstrate that Ang-2 is essential for efficient arteriogenesis, which controls macrophage infiltration.
Infrared spectrum of the B-type microcapsule. The material composition of the prepared microcapsules was analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), and the microcapsules were ...successfully prepared by analyzing the absorption characteristics in infrared radiation of different wavelengths. The a, b, and c represent the spectra of the core material, the wall material, and the microcapsules, respectively.
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•The microcapsules dispersed uniformly in the crack sealant.•Both microcapsules have the same probability of being destroyed.•The thermal stability of the microcapsules meets the construction requirements.•One hour of rest time is too short and curing takes longer.
In order to improve the repeated repair ability of asphalt-based crack sealants, two types of microcapsules were prepared and added into asphalt-based crack sealant. The epoxy resin and curing agent were microencapsulated by using interfacial polymerization method, and named as A-type and B-type microcapsules respectively. The effects of emulsifier content and core-wall ratio on the preparation of two types of microcapsules were analyzed, and SEM, FT-IR, TG-DSC, and FOM analyses were performed to study the microscopic features of microcapsules, including the particle size and size distribution, chemical components, morphological features, thermal stability as well as the dispersion of microcapsules in the sealant. Then, DSR tests were conducted with two-stage loading mode to evaluate the repeated repair ability of asphalt-based crack sealants with different dosages of microencapsulated epoxy resin and curing agent. The results show that the optimal emulsifier contents are 0.5% and 0.7% for the A-type and B-type microcapsules respectively, and the corresponding core-wall ratios are 1.3:1 and 1.1:1 respectively. The two types of microcapsules were successfully prepared with well-distributed particle sizes and sufficient thermal stability, which are be well dispersed in asphalt-based sealants. The repeated repair ability indexes were proposed based on DSR complex shear modulus and the corresponding loadings cycles. It is found that the repeated repair ability of composited sealants is obviously improved. The optimal dosage of two types of microcapsules are 3%, and a sufficient healing time is required for repairing crack due to the indispensable curing process of epoxy.
•Microcapsules containing sunflower oil are prepared successfully.•Microcapsules did not affect the traditional properties of bitumen-based sealant.•Microcapsules improve obviously low-temperature ...tensile property of bitumen-based sealant.•Microcapsules improve obviously self-healing property of bitumen-based sealant.
The bitumen-based sealants have been widely used to repair the pavement cracks, but the pavements always crack again at the healing patches due to the insufficient durability of sealants. In order to improve the technical properties and self-healing ability of bitumen-based sealants, the microcapsule technology was applied, and the sunflower-oil microcapsules were prepared by in-situ polymerization method. The sunflower-oil microcapsules were then added into the bitumen-based sealants, and the dispersion characteristic was observed by fluorescence microscopy, Then the cone penetration, softening point, resilience recovery, fluidity, tensile property sealants, self-healing ability as well as the two-stage loading dynamic shear rheological (DSR) tests were conducted to study conventional technical properties and the self-healing ability of bitumen-based sealants containing microcapsules with different contents. The results show that microcapsules could be well dispersed in the sealants state without agglomeration, and the conventional properties of bitumen-based sealants containing microcapsules meet the technical requirements, except for low-temperature tensile properties of the sealant with 4% microcapsules. The cone penetration and fluidity decrease with increasing microcapsule content, while the softening point and resilience recovery increase. Compared with the original sealants, the self-healing ability of the sealants with microcapsules was superiority obviously, and the optimum content of microcapsules was recommended as 2%, which was also suitable for the aged sealants. And the sunflower-oil microcapsules can improve the repeated self-healing ability and fatigue life of the sealants at the temperature as low as −20 °C.
Geospatial interpolation plays a pivotal role in spatial analysis because it provides high-quality data support for various spatiotemporal data mining (STDM) tasks. However, statistical methods, such ...as kriging, face challenges in dealing with complex geo-big data. Additionally, deep-learning-based methods, despite their exceptional performance, suffer from limitations, such as poor interpretability. To harness the complementary advantages of these statistical methods and deep learning approaches, this study proposes a novel geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) framework called deep kriging neural network (DKNN). The primary contribution lies in the development of an asymmetric encoder-decoder structure, which includes a deep-learning-based spatial encoder and a geostatistics-based kriging decoder. The spatial encoder consists of three specialized neural networks, whereas the kriging decoder relies on the proposed unified kriging system. During forward propagation, the kriging decoder leverage messages from the spatial encoder to generate interpolation weights for prediction. Conversely, during backward propagation, the kriging decoder guides the spatial encoder in learning interpretable knowledge. Experiments were conducted using both synthetic and practical datasets. The results demonstrate an average improvement of 20.18% in MAE, 25.04% in RMSE and 24.06% in MAPE when compared to the best-performing baseline method. Furthermore, these results confirm the superior interpretability of our DKNN framework.
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