ALBERT

Description: Conventionally, the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion is applied to train a deep belief network (DBN). We present a maximum entropy (ME) learning algorithm for DBNs, designed specifically to handle limited training data. Maximizing only the entropy of parameters in the DBN allows more effective generalization capability, less bias towards data distributions, and robustness to over-fitting compared to ML learning. Results of text classification and object recognition tasks demonstrate ME-trained DBN outperforms ML-trained DBN when training data is limited.

Description: Objective: To explore the effect of a school-family-individual (SFI) multi-level education intervention model on knowledge and attitudes about accidental injuries among school-aged children to improve injury prevention strategies and reduce the incidence of pediatric injuries. Methods: The random sample of rural school-aged children were recruited by using a multistage, stratified, cluster sampling method in Zunyi, Southwest China from 2012 to 2014, and 2342 children were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Then children answered a baseline survey to collect knowledge and attitude scores (KAS) of accidental injuries. In the intervention group, children, their parents/guardians and the school received a SFI multi-level education intervention, which included a children’s injury-prevention poster at schools, an open letter about security instruction for parents/guardians and multiple-media health education (Microsoft PowerPoint lectures, videos, handbooks, etc.) to children. Children in the control group were given only handbook education. After 16 months, children answered a follow-up survey to collect data on accidental injury types and accidental injury-related KAS for comparing the intervention and control groups and baseline and follow-up data. Results: The distribution of gender was not significantly different while age was different between the baseline and follow-up survey. At baseline, the mean KAS was lower for the intervention than control group (15.37 ± 3.40 and 18.35 ± 5.01; p 〈 0.001). At follow-up, the mean KAS was higher for the intervention than control group (21.16 ± 3.05 and 20.02 ± 3.40; p 〈 0.001). The increase in KAS in the intervention and control groups was significant (p 〈 0.001; KAS: 5.79 vs. 1.67) and suggested that children’s injury-related KAS improved in the intervention group. Moreover, the KAS between the groups differed for most subtypes of incidental injuries (based on International Classification of Diseases 10, ICD-10) (p 〈 0.05). Before intervention, 350 children had reported their accident injury episodes, while after intervention 237 children had reported their accidental injury episodes in the follow-up survey. Conclusions: SFI multi-level education intervention could significantly increase KAS for accidental injuries, which should improve children’s prevention-related knowledge and attitudes about such injuries. It should help children change their risk behaviors and reduce the incidence of accidental injuries. Our results highlight a new intervention model of injury prevention among school-aged children.

Description: An encryption scheme for colour images using a spatiotemporal chaotic system is proposed. Initially, we use the R, G and B components of a colour plain-image to form a matrix. Then the matrix is permutated by using zigzag path scrambling. The resultant matrix is then passed through a substitution process. Finally, the ciphered colour image is obtained from the confused matrix. Theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that the proposed scheme is both secure and practical, which make it suitable for encrypting colour images of any size.

Description: This study aimed to elucidate the associations of age, BMI, and years of menstruation with proximal femur strength in Chinese postmenopausal women, which may improve the prediction of hip fracture risk. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 1322 Chinese postmenopausal women recruited from communities. DXA images were used to generate bone mineral density (BMD) and geometric parameters, including cross-sectional area (CSA), outer diameter (OD), cortical thickness (CT), section modulus (SM), buckling ratio (BR) at the narrow neck (NN), intertrochanter (IT), and femoral shaft (FS). Relationships of age, BMI, and years of menstruation with bone phenotypes were analyzed with the adjustment of height, age at menarche, total daily physical activity, education, smoking status, calcium tablet intake, etc. Age was associated with lower BMD, CSA, CT, SM, and higher BR (p 〈 0.05), which indicated a weaker bone strength at the proximal femur. BMI and years of menstruation had the positive relationships with proximal femur strength (p 〈 0.05). Further analyses showed that the ranges of absolute value of change slope per year, per BMI or per year of menstruation were 0.14%–1.34%, 0.20%–2.70%, and 0.16%–0.98%, respectively. These results supported that bone strength deteriorated with aging and enhanced with higher BMI and longer time of years of menstruation in Chinese postmenopausal women.

Description: Symmetry, Vol. 10, Pages 319: CRCM: A New Combined Data Gathering and Energy Charging Model for WRSN Symmetry doi: 10.3390/sym10080319 Authors: Yuhou Wang Ying Dong Shiyuan Li Hao Wu Mengyao Cui With the development of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the problem about how to increase the lifecycle of the WSNs is always a hot discussion point, and some researchers have devoted to the ‘energy saving’ to decrease the energy consumption of the sensor nodes by different algorithms. However, the fundamental technique is ‘energy acquiring’ for the battery which can solve the limited capacity problem. In this paper, we study the data gathering and energy charging by a mobile charger (MC) at the same time that most energy consumption can be saved by short communication distance. We have named this as the recharging model-combined recharging and collecting data model on-demand (CRCM). Firstly, the hexagon-based (HB) algorithm is proposed to sort all sensor nodes in the region to make data collecting and energy charging work at the same time. Then we consider both residual energy and geographic position (REGP) of the sensor node to calculate the priority of each cluster. Thirdly, the dynamic mobile charger (DMC) algorithm is proposed to calculate the number of MCs to make sure no sensor node will die in each charging queue. Finally, the simulations show that our REGP algorithm is better than Earliest Deadline First (EDF) and Nearest-Job-Next with Preemption (NJNP), and the DMC plays well when the number of sensor nodes increase.

Description: Entropy, Vol. 20, Pages 689: Evaluation of Sustainability Information Disclosure Based on Entropy Entropy doi: 10.3390/e20090689 Authors: Ming Li Jialin Wang Ying Li Yingcheng Xu Disclosure of sustainability information is important for stockholders and governments. In order to evaluate the quality of sustainability information disclosure in heavily polluting industries, the quality of the disclosure is proposed to be evaluated from completeness, adequacy, relevance, reliability, normativeness and clarity aspects. The corresponding evaluation indicator system is constructed. Due to the ambiguity and complexity of the evaluation information, the intuitionistic fuzzy sets are applied to model the linguistic ratings. Entropy is used to derive the weight of experts, the object weight and the subject weight of the indicators. which are integrated when dealing with the evaluation information. The quality of sustainability information disclosure of seven representative companies in heavily polluting industries is evaluated. The importance of indicators and ranking of the companies are derived. Based on the evaluation results, the discussion and suggestions are also provided.

Description: IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 2024: Tuberculosis among Full-Time Teachers in Southeast China, 2005–2016 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph15092024 Authors: Hongdan Bao Kui Liu Zikang Wu Chengliang Chai Tieniu He Wei Wang Fei Wang Ying Peng Xiaomeng Wang Bin Chen Jianmin Jiang Objective: To explore the incidence rate and characteristics of tuberculosis (TB) among full-time teachers from 2005 to 2016 in southeast China and to provide a basis for TB prevention and control measures in schools. Methods: Information about full-time teachers with TB was obtained from the National Tuberculosis Information Management System (NTIMS). Population data were collected from the Zhejiang Statistical Yearbook and the Zhejiang Education Yearbook. The TB incidence rates and epidemiological characteristics of full-time teachers were analyzed and the Chi-square test was used to analyze influencing factors of epidemiological characteristics and clinical characteristics, case-finding delay, and treatment outcomes. Results: A total of 1795 teachers with TB were reported from 2005 to 2016, and the annual incidence rate was 28.87 per 100,000. The average annual PTB (pulmonary TB) incidence rate among full-time teachers was 25.43/100,000 from 2005 to 2016 and the average annual PTB incidence rate among students was 15.40/100,000 from 2005 to 2016. The highest average incidence rates were observed in the QZ (Quzhou) and HZ (Hangzhou) districts. The male-to-female ratio of the patients was 0.95:1. Approximately half of the patients were 15–40 years old. The mean case-finding interval was 45.3 days. Multivariable logistic regression analysis of TB case-finding delay among full-time teachers revealed that the older (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.18–1.76, p < 0.01), not local (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.20–2.73, p < 0.01), retreatment (OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.39–3.08, p < 0.01) and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.13–2.61, p = 0.01) cases were at high risk of case-finding delay. Compared to physical examination, patients detected by referrals and tracking (OR = 2.26, 95% CI = 1.16–4.38, p = 0.02) and patients who directly visited the designated TB hospital (OR = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.03–3.88, p = 0.04) were more prone to case-finding delay. The cure rate of full-time teachers with TB was 77.10%. The cure rates differed significantly between groups classified based on age, case-finding patterns, diagnostic results, treatment classifications, and strategies of patient management. Conclusion: The TB incidence rate among full-time teachers decreased from 2005 to 2016, but teachers suffered a higher risk of TB than students. Western Zhejiang was a hotspot for TB incidence among full-time teachers. Female teacher and young and middle-aged teacher cases account for the majority of the reported patients. There was a case-finding delay among full-time teachers with TB. We should conduct regular physical examinations and strengthen full-course supervision to reduce the risk of TB patients with case-finding delay and increase the TB cure rate.

Description: Variations in the Indian Monsoon (IM) and Westerlies (WS) significantly affect the climate on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and have widespread ecological and socioeconomic impacts on the whole of Asian society. So far, however, the rate and magnitude of changes in the IM have still remained unclear. Here we report for the first time that the IM rapidly shifted northward at the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA). We used sediment proxies for humidity and moisture sources from the Taro Co lake, which is located in the transition zone between the WS and IM. Our comprehensive survey of climate records for the TP and its peripheral mountain ranges revealed that the northern boundary of the IM (i.e., the southern boundary of the WS) lay along the southern slope of the Gandise Range (~29.5° N) in the late LIA. In contrast, it passed quickly over the Gandise Range by at least 1.5° in latitude at the end of the LIA. Our results suggest that this rapid climatic shift was potentially triggered by the counteracting effects of blocking by the TP and its marginal orography, which hindered the northward movement of the IM, and the pulling thermal gradient of the TP.

Description: Based on high-resolution numerical simulations, the effects of sea-breeze circulation (SBC) on associated convective initiation and propagation over Hainan Island are investigated. The results show that the blocking of synoptic wind on the windward side of the mountains inhibits the occurrence of windward-side valley breeze and sea breeze. In the context of low mountains, weak synoptic wind not only favors the combination of the SBC with the valley-breeze circulation on the leeward side of the mountains, but also makes the convergence zone between the synoptic wind and the leeward-side combined circulation stay near the tops of the mountains, leading to the accumulation of large quantities of water vapor taking place over the mountaintops. The combined effect of enhanced water vapor and high temperatures over the mountaintops can result in the generation of much larger convective available potential energy (CAPE) than the surrounding areas. The coupling of the large CAPE with the considerable converging ascending motion and abundant water vapor near the tops of the mountains promotes the occurrence of a strong convection band (CB) over the mountaintops. During the CB propagation under the steering of synoptic wind, the flow across the CB continuously and strongly opposes the SBC front and the fronts of the Kelvin–Helmholtz billows behind, resulting in successive and strong lifting motion as well as large quantities of water vapor and high CAPE near these fronts. These lead to an apparent downstream wave-like propagation of the CB.

Description: ABSTRACT We investigated the reversal effect of afatinib (AFT) on activity of adriamycin (ADR) in A549T cells and clarified the related molecular mechanisms. A549T cells overexpressing P-glycoprotein (P-gp) were resistant to anticancer drug ADR. AFT significantly increased the antitumor activity of ADR in A549T cells. AFT increased the intracellular concentration of ADR by inhibiting the function and expression of P-gp at mRNA and protein levels in A549T cells. Additionally, the reversal effect of AFT on P-gp mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) might be related to the inhibition of PI3K/Akt pathway. Cotreatment with AFT and ADR could enhance ADR-induced apoptosis and autophagy in A549T cells. Meanwhile, the cotreatment significantly induced cell apoptosis and autophagy accompanied by increased expression of cleaved caspase-3, PARP, LC3B-II and beclin 1. Apoptosis inhibitors had no significant effect on cell activity, while autophagy inhibitors decreased cell viability, suggesting that autophagy may be a self protective mechanism of cell survival in the absence of chemotherapy drugs. Interestingly, when combined with AFT and ADR, inhibition of apoptosis and/or autophagy could enhance cell viability. These results indicated that in addition to inhibit P-gp, ADR-induced apoptosis and autophagy promoted by AFT contributed to the antiproliferation effect of combined AFT and ADR on A549T cells. These findings provide evidence that AFT combined ADR may achieve a better therapeutic effect to lung cancer in clinic. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved