Average Segment Length Research Articles

Intramyocardial and intra-atrial courses in the right coronary artery: prevalence and characteristics.

We aimed to determine the prevalence and radiological characteristics of myocardial bridging (MB) and intra-atrial course anomaly (IARCA), which are rare course variations of the right coronary artery (RCA), in the adult patient population. Radiological images of cases over the age of 18 who underwent coronary CT angiography (CTA) examination in our clinic were scanned from the archives retrospectively, and cases with MB of the RCA and IARCA detection were included in the study. The number, age and gender distribution of the cases, whether there were any other accompanying vascular anomalies, whether there was atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries (calculation of Agatston total calcium score, calculation of atherosclerotic stenosis as a percentage, if any) were evaluated. The prevalence of MB in the RCA was 2.06%, and the prevalence of IARCA was 0.44%. In one case, both anomalies were detected together. The average MB segment length in RCA was 21.9mm, and the average IARCA segment length was 37.9mm. There was no atherosclerotic disease in the RCA segment where anomaly was detected. Recognition of rare course anomalies of RCA before treatment procedures such as ablation and surgery is important to prevent complications that may have potentially fatal consequences.

Lattice-Cluster-Theory-Informed Cross-Fractionation Chromatography Revealing Degree of Crystallinity of Single Macromolecular Species.

The relationship between macromolecular architecture and crystallization properties is a relevant research topic in polymer science and technology. The average degree of crystallinity of disperse polymers is a well-studied quantity and is accessible by various experimental methods. However, how the different macromolecular species contribute to the degree of crystallinity and, in particular, the relationship between a certain macromolecular architecture and the degree of crystallinity are not accessible today, neither experimentally nor theoretically. Therefore, in this work, a lattice cluster theory (LCT)-informed cross-fractionation chromatography (CFC) approach is developed to access the degree of crystallinity of single and nonlinear macromolecular species crystallizing from solution. The method entangles high-throughput experimental data from CFC with the LCT for semicrystalline polymers to predict the degree of crystallinity of polymer species with different molecular weights and branching. The approach is applied to a linear low-density polyethylene (ethylene/1-octene copolymer) and a high-density polyethylene, which have specific and different bivariate distributions. The degree of crystallinity of individual macromolecular species of these polymer samples is calculated, and the predicted average degree of crystallinity is compared with experimental measurements, thus successfully validating the approach. Furthermore, the average segment length between branches is introduced as a characteristic molecular feature of branched polyethylene, and its relationship with the degree of crystallinity of certain species is established.

A unified kinetic analysis for the hyperbranched polymerization with ABg type monomers

The unified analytical expressions of the size distribution function and the degree of branching for the hyperbranched polymerization with ABg type monomers are developed by kinetic theory of polymerization, based on the ABg + ABh + Bf model. The effect of the reactant parameters, the monomers branching degree g and h, the monomers feed ratio r, the functionality f and feed ratio α of the core molecule Bf, on the molecular parameters of the products formed was investigated. Compared with the general polycondensation of ABg monomer or copolycondensation of ABg and AB monomer without core molecule, the presence of multifunctional core molecules makes the polydispersity index of the products go down fast when the reaction approaches completion. At the end of the reaction, the polydispersity index increases with increasing g, and decreases with increasing α and f. For the ABg + AB + B3 polycondensation system, within the range of the feed ratio of ABg monomer less than 0.3, the average chain segment length significantly decreases with the increasing r, and then the change becomes moderate with its further increase. For g > 2, the average chain segment length shows a shallow minimum with increasing r. The degree of branching, fractions of terminal and branching units also show maximum value with the change of monomer feed ratio r. The information obtained in this work can help people understand the structure of ABg type hyperbranched polymers and carry out molecular design.

Before-school physical activity levels and sociodemographic correlates among Australian adolescents: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Understanding adolescents’ physical activity levels and underpinning contextual factors is crucial for health promotion. This cross-sectional study, using 24-hour time use diaries and sociodemographic variables from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, addressed gaps in understanding of physical activity in the before-school segment (the time between waking up and commencing classes). The study examined a) adolescents’ time spent in before-school physical activity, focusing on location and shared presence, and b) sociodemographic correlates of before-school physical activity. Completed diaries by 12–13 year-olds (n = 3,201) revealed that adolescents reported an average of 10.8 minutes of daily before-school physical activity (average segment length: 114 min), mostly classified as active transport (5.7 min). Most before-school physical activity occurred in a location other than home or school (6.1 min) and with peers (6.1 min). Notably, 51% of boys and 60% of girls did not report any before-school physical activity. Through two-part regression, we found that boys, adolescents from single-parent households, and those with longer before-school segments are more likely to report before-school physical activity compared to their counterparts. Before-school initiatives should promote active transport and diverse opportunities in other settings. Research into barriers and facilitators may inform more inclusive and effective promotion strategies, including school-based initiatives.

Biomimetic IGA neuron growth modeling with neurite morphometric features and CNN-based prediction

Neuron growth is a complex, multi-stage process that neurons undergo to develop sophisticated morphologies and interwoven neurite networks. Recent experimental research advances have enabled us to examine the effects of various neuron growth factors and seek potential causes for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A computational tool that studies the neuron growth process could shed crucial insights on the effects of various factors and potentially help find a cure for neurodegeneration. However, there is a lack of computational tools to accurately and realistically simulate the neuron growth process within reasonable time frames. Bio-phenomenon-based models ignore potential neuron growth factors and cannot generate realistic results, and bio-physics-based models require extensive, high-order governing equations that are computationally expensive. In this paper, we incorporate experimental neurite features into a phase field method-based neuron growth model using an isogeometric analysis collocation (IGA-C) approach. Based on a semi-automated quantitative analysis of neurite morphology, we obtain relative turning angle, average tortuosity, neurite endpoints, average segment length, and the total length of neurites. We use the total neurite length to determine the evolving days in vitro (DIV) and select corresponding neurite features to drive and constrain the neuron growth. This approach archives biomimetic neuron growth patterns with automatic growth stage transitions by incorporating corresponding DIV neurite morphometric data based on the total neurite length of the evolving neurite morphology. Furthermore, we built a convolutional neural network (CNN) to significantly reduce associated computational costs for predicting complex neurite growth patterns. Our CNN model adopts a customized convolutional autoencoder as the backbone that takes neuron growth simulation initializations and target iteration as the input and predicts the corresponding neurite patterns. This approach achieves high prediction accuracy (97.77%) while taking 7 orders of magnitude less computational times when compared with our IGA-C neuron growth solver.

Physico-mechanical characterisation of basecoats for tailored UV-cured multilayered wood coating systems

The durability and aesthetic properties of wood flooring arise from the properties of the coating applied on its surface. Due to their fast-curing speed, high crosslinking density and high durability, UV-curable coatings are often preferred for flat surfaces such as hardwood flooring, tabletops and doors. In the case of hardwood flooring, several types of deteriorations on the coating surface can shatter the perception of the whole product. In the present work, UV-curable formulations with various monomer-oligomer couples were prepared and used as a basecoat within a multilayered wood finishing system. While the topcoat is designed to endure most of the in-use loads, elastic and plastic stresses can reach deeper layers. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of basecoat composition and thickness on the mechanical behavior of a UVcurable multilayered wood finishing system. First, physical properties such as the average theoretical segment length, glass transition temperature and crosslinking density, of standalone films of the various monomer-oligomer couples were investigated. Then, indentation and scratch resistance tests were performed to understand the role of the basecoats in the overall mechanical response of the multilayered coatings. The thickness of the basecoat applied was found to have a great influence on the mechanical resistance of the finishing system. No direct correlation was established between the basecoat as standalone films and within the multilayered coatings, considering the complexity of such systems several behaviors were detected. A finishing system able to promote overall good scratch resistance and good indentation modulus was obtained for a formulation displaying an equilibrium between the network density and the elasticity.

An improved algorithm for detecting mesoscale ocean fronts from satellite observations: Detailed mapping of persistent fronts around the China Seas and their long-term trends

Mesoscale fronts are highly energetic ocean processes that dominate local biogeochemical processes and air-sea interactions and exert significant effects on ocean dynamics, ecology, and climate. An automatic front detection algorithm applied to satellite-based observations is a fundamental approach to acquiring frontal occurrence information. Histogram-based algorithms have been widely used in previous studies, and, despite being the most popular front detection algorithm, continuous improvements have been needed to address imperfect detection issues (undetected coastal fronts, discontinuities of fronts and repeated detection of fronts). In this study, a new algorithm is proposed to address the issues by coupling inverse distance weighting and mathematical morphology operators. Using 14,610 images acquired from 1982 to 2021, a series of comparisons between the new and existing algorithms have been implemented to validate the improvements. Statistical results suggest that the number of frontal pixels detected by our algorithm increased by 58.45% in the coastal domain when compared to previous methods. Statistical analysis also shows most of these increased fronts can be supported by a classic gradient-based method which is superior in detecting coastal fronts, which demonstrates the improvement of new algorithm in detecting coastal fronts. Furthermore, visual analyses suggest that our algorithm can better connect discontinuous fronts and reduce repeated detections, and statistical comparisons in the open seas present a 34.50% improvement in the average length of frontal segments. Moreover, based on an automated objective delineation method, an analysis of 40 years of seasonal frontal occurrences (as detected by our algorithm) produced a dataset that shows a detailed map of 59 persistent fronts around the China Seas. This map updates previously hand-delineated frontal positions and identifies some previously unreported persistent fronts. Further analyses show that the frontal occurrence or intensity of a majority of persistent fronts around the China Seas presents significant (P < 0.05) long-term variability over the last 40 years. The improved algorithm, together with its application in identifying persistent fronts around the China Seas, is expected to be extended to other waters to better investigate the response of marine ecosystems to front dynamics and predict the distribution of marine organisms within a changing climate.

Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome-wide heterozygosity.

It has been frequently suggested that overall genomic heterozygosity and, particularly, heterozygosity of loci on the so-called major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which is responsible for the recognition of foreign substances/ pathogens and the recognition of self and non-self, is associated with better health and better resistance to infections and parasites. It has further been speculated that such a potentially beneficial heterozygosity can be detected through body odor and facial attractiveness. On the basis of genome wide SNP data (713,014 SNPs) of participants from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we therefore investigated whether homozygosity either on the MHC (measured as inbreeding coefficient) or genome-wide (measured as runs of homozygosity and inbreeding coefficient) is associated with rated facial attractiveness. Although we found that the genome-wide average length of homozygous segments and the genome-wide inbreeding coefficient are significantly negatively associated with some measures of facial attractiveness, if corrected for multiple testing, any significant association was no longer formally significant after correction. In addition, the variance in facial attractiveness explained by the genome wide homozygosity is very low (<0.15%). We did not find any significant association between the inbreeding coefficient on the MHC and facial attractiveness. We only find a weak association of genome- wide heterozygosity and facial attractiveness.

Static Unified Inelastic Model: pre- and post-yield dislocation-mediated deformation

Modelling dislocation glide over the initial part of a stress–strain curve of metals received little attention up to now. However, dislocation glide is essential to ones understanding of the fundamental relationship between inelastic deformation and the evolution of the dislocation network structure. Therefore, we present a model of dislocation-driven deformation under static loading conditions.We reproduce repeated cyclic uniaxial tensile tests on Interstitial-Free and Low-Alloy steels. The elastic mechanical behaviour is described by isotropic linear elasticity, pre-yield anelastic mechanical behaviour by a dislocation bow-out model with dissipation, and the post-yield evolution of dislocation network structure by a statistical storage model. We hypothesise that when the local anelastic compliance is lower than the global plastic compliance, deformation is mechanically recoverable, and vice versa. This hypothesis is corroborated with the classical Taylor relation. We report the relation between stable and unstable dislocation glide using this prototypical modelling framework.We find four structural variables, that are based on dislocation physics, to describe the stress–strain curve: total dislocation density, average dislocation segment length, dislocation junction formation rate, and average dislocation junction length. Firstly, we quantify the dislocation network evolution during uniaxial monotonic loading, and verify work-hardening by dislocation junction formation and a Taylor-type equation for flow. Finally, we present a semi-empirical relation for the evolution of the dislocation network structure. Which allows us to: refine the physical interpretation of the Taylor relationship, and rationalise experimental observations on apparent modulus degradation by thermomechanical processing. Both these findings circumvent the limitations of current, physics-based hardening models.

Multivariate Regression of Road Segments’ Accident Data in Italian Rural Networks

Increasing traffic flows on road infrastructures and the associated comfort and safety problems have led to an increased risk of accidents for road users. To take the proper corrective actions, it is fundamental to analyze the accident phenomenon in all its aspects. The purpose of the current paper was the development of an accident prediction model for rural road segments of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (FVG) Region. The model predicts the accident frequency as a function of Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), segment length, and both geometrical and environmental features related to the targeted road segment. The procedure is based on the Empirical Bayes (EB) method. The statistical model used to express the road segments’ safety was the multivariate regression structure of the Safety Performance Functions. Results of a CURE plots analysis verified that the model is highly reliable in predicting the accident dataset for AADT up to 12500 vehicles per day.

Electric Grid Vulnerability Analysis to Identify Communities Prone to Wildfires

Natural hazards, like wildfires, present various challenges to the electric grid that can leave many communities without power. To identify vulnerabilities in the grid and the corresponding at-risk communities, this work considers the implementation of two topological assessment approaches, namely betweenness centrality and minimum cut, and combines the results from each with spatial fire probability data. The results from a betweenness centrality analysis identified at-risk communities whose critical lines, necessary for routing power to the community from the numerous generators, were found to be at-risk if they were located within high probability burn zones. Communities at-risk of separation from the grid with one cut (or electrical shorting) of a transmission line due it’s proximity to a high burn probability (BP) area were also identified using the minimum cut Graph Theory algorithm. When the methodologies were applied to a demonstration transmission grid, the results found that about about one third of the 585 substations had centrally located lines in high BP areas. About 46% of the substations require just one cut to be removed from the grid, and the average length of these one-cut segments were 37 km with the longest at 188 km.

Holography of geodesic flows, harmonizing metrics, and billiards' dynamics

For a traversing vector field $v$ on a compact $(n+1)$-manifold $X$ with boundary, we use closed $v$-invariant differential $n$-forms $\Theta$ to define measures $\mu_\Theta$ on the boundary $\partial X$, such that the $v$-flow generated causality map $C_v: \partial^+X(v) \to \partial^-X(v)$ preserves $\mu_\Theta$. In combination with a $\mu_\Theta$-preserving involution $\tau: \partial X \to \partial X$, which maps $\partial^-X(v)$ to $\partial^+X(v)$, the proto-billiard map $B_{v, \tau} := \tau \circ C_v$ is a measure-preserving transformation of $\partial^+X(v)$. We study the dynamical system $(\partial^+X(v), B_{v, \tau})$. Let $(M, g)$ be a Riemannian $n$-manifold with boundary, where $g$ is a non-trapping metric. Let $SM$ be the space of the spherical tangent to $M$ bundle, and $v^g$ the geodesic vector field on $SM$. We apply our treatment of $C_v$ and $(\partial^+X(v), B_{v, \tau})$ to the scattering maps $C_{v^g}$ and billiard maps $B_{v^g, \tau}$, where $\tau$ is generated by the reflection of unit tangent vectors with respect to $\partial M$. As a result, we getting a variety of holography theorems that tackle the inverse scattering problems for $C_{v^g}$ and theorems that describe the dynamics of $B_{v^g, \tau}$. Our main tool is the Lyapunov function $F: SM \to \mathbf R$ for $v^g$ and the metrics $g^\bullet$ on $SM$ that make $dF$ harmonic. For such metrics, we get isoperimetric inequalities $vol_{g^\bullet}(SM) \leq vol_{g^\bullet |}(\partial(SM))$. Assuming ergodicity of $B_{v^g, \tau}$ and non-trapping of $g$, we also get formulas for the average length of free geodesic segments in $M$.

Detecting and pyramiding target QTL for plant- and grain-related traits via chromosomal segment substitution line of rice.

Plant height and grain length are important agronomic traits in rice, exhibiting a strong effect on plant architecture and grain quality of rice varieties. Methods: A novel rice chromosomal segment substitution line (CSSL), i.e., CSSL-Z1357, with significantly increased plant height (PH) and grain length (GL) was identified from CSSLs constructed by using Nipponbare as a receptor and a restorer line Xihui 18 as a donor. Seven agronomic traits of PH, PL, GL, GW, GPP, SPP, and TGW were phenotyped, and REML implemented in HPMIXED of SAS were used to detect the QTL for these traits. Secondary CSSLs were screened out via marker-assisted selection (MAS) to estimate the additive and epistatic effects of detected QTLs, evaluating the potential utilization of pyramiding the target QTLs for yield and quality improvement of rice varieties. Results and Discussion: CSSL-Z1357 carried nine segments from Xihui 18 with an average segment length of 4.13 Mb. The results show that the long grain of CSSL-Z1357 was caused by the increased number of surface cells and the length of the inner glume. Thirteen quantitative trait loci were identified via the F2 population of Nipponbare/CSSL-Z1357, including three each for GL (qGL-3, qGL-6, and qGL-7) and PH (qPH-1, qPH-7, and qPH-12I), among which qGL-3 increased GL by 0.23 mm with synergistic allele from CSSL-Z1357. Additionally, three single (S1 to S3), two double (D1, D2), and one triple segment (T1) substitution lines were developed in F3 via MAS. Results show that pyramiding the segments from Chr.3 (qGL-3 and qPH-3), Chr.6 (qGL-6 and qPH-6), and Chr.7 (Null and qPH-7) tended to result in better phenotype of increased GL and PH and decreased grain width, providing a potential basis for enhancing grain yield and quality in rice breeding.

A mathematical model of wound healing in bovine corneal endothelium

We developed a mathematical model to describe healing processes in bovine corneal endothelial (BCE) cells in culture, triggered by mechanical wounds with parallel edges. Previous findings from our laboratory show that, in these cases, BCE monolayers exhibit an approximately constant healing velocity. Also, that caspase-dependent apoptosis occurs, with the fraction of apoptotic cells increasing with the distance traveled by the healing edge. In addition, in this study we report the novel findings that, for wound scratch assays performed preserving the basal extracellular matrix: i) the healing cells increase their en face surface area in a characteristic fashion, and ii) the average length of the segments of the cell columns actively participating in the healing process increases linearly with time. These latter observations preclude the utilization of standard traveling wave formalisms to model wound healing in BCE cells. Instead, we developed and studied a simple phenomenological model based on a plausible formula for the spreading dynamics of the individual healing cells, that incorporates original evidence about the process in BCE cells. The model can be simulated to: i) obtain an approximately constant healing velocity; ii) reproduce the profile of the healing cell areas, and iii) obtain approximately linear time dependences of the mean cell area and average length of the front active segments per column. In view of its accuracy to account for the experimental observations, the model can also be acceptably employed to quantify the appearance of apoptotic cells during BCE wound healing. The strategy utilized here could offer a novel formal framework to represent modifications undergone by some epithelial cell lines during wound healing.

Transferability of Safety Performance Functions: The Case of Urban Four-Lane Divided Roadways in Muscat

The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) initial version provides several safety performances functions (SPFs) that can be used to predict collisions on a roadway network. The calibration of the HSM SPFs for Fatal and Injury (FI), Property Damage Only (PDO), and Total crashes for Urban Four-lane Divided Roadway Segments (U4D) in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, and the development of new SPFs were investigated in this paper. The HSM SPFs were calibrated first with the HSM methodology, and then new forms of specific SPFs were evaluated for Muscat urban roads to determine the best model using the Poisson-Gamma regression technique. The results of this study show that the HSM calibrated SPFs provide the best fit of the data used in this study and would be the best SPFs for predicting collisions in the City of Muscat. The developed collision model describes the mean crash frequency as a function of the natural logarithm of the annual average daily traffic, segment length, and speed limit. Overall, this study provides an important foundation for the implementation of HSM methods in Muscat city, and it may aid in making SPFs established in more developed countries adaptable for use in less developed countries.

Multitension strings in high-resolution U(1)×U(1) simulations

Topological defects are a fossil relic of early Universe phase transitions, with cosmic strings being the best motivated example. While in most cases one studies Nambu-Goto or Abelian-Higgs strings, one also expects that cosmologically realistic strings should have additional degrees of freedom in their worldsheets, one specific example being superstrings from Type IIB superstring theory. Here we continue the scientific exploitation of our recently developed multi-GPU field theory cosmic strings code to study the evolution of U(1)$\times$U(1) multitension networks, which are a numerically convenient proxy: these contain two lowest-tension strings networks able to interact and form bound states, providing a convenient first approximation to the behaviour expected from cosmic superstrings. (...) We rely on the largest field theory simulations of this model so far, specifically $4096^3$, $\Delta x = 0.5$ boxes. We present robust evidence of scaling for the lightest strings, measured through a complete and self-consistent set of correlation length and velocity diagnostics. We also find a linearly growing average length of the bound state segments, consistent with a scaling behaviour. (In previously reported lower-resolution simulations, such behaviour had only been identified with carefully engineered initial conditions, rich in those segments.) Finally, while we see no evidence of a large population of bound states forming at early stages of the network evolution, we do present tentative evidence for an asymptotic constant value of the fraction of bound states, with this value being different in the radiation and the matter eras. Our work demonstrates that our GPU-accelerated field theory code can by successfully extended beyond the simple Abelian-Higgs approximation, and enables future detailed studies of realistic string networks and of their observational signatures.

Multimodal Structural Analysis of the Human Aorta: From Valve to Bifurcation

The aims of the present study were to assess the relative proportion of collagen and elastin in the arterial wall and to evaluate the collagen microstructure from the aortic root to the external iliac artery. Arterial wall tissue samples sampled during post-mortem examination from 16 sites in 14 individuals without aneurysm disease were fixed and stained for collagen and elastin. Stained sections were imaged and analysed to calculate collagen and elastin content as a percentage of overall tissue area. Scanning electron microscopy was used to quantify the collagen microstructure at six specific arterial regions. From the aortic root to the level of the suprarenal aorta, the percentages (area fractions) of collagen (ascending, descending, and suprarenal aorta respectively with 95% confidence interval [CI] 37.5%, 31.7 – 43.2; 38.9%, 33.1 – 44.7; 44.8%, 37.4 – 52.1) and elastin (43.0%, 37.3 – 48.8; 40.3%, 34.8 – 46.1; 32.4%, 25.2 – 39.6) in the aortic wall were similar. From the suprarenal aorta to the internal iliac arteries, the percentage of collagen increased (abdominal aorta, common and internal iliac arteries and external iliac artery respectively with 95% CI 50.6%, 42.7 – 58.7; 51.2%, 45.5 – 56.9; 49.2%, 42.0 – 56.4) reaching a double percentage for elastin (23.6%, 15.7 – 31.6; 20.8%, 15.1 – 26.5; 22.2%, 14.9 – 29.5). Mean collagen fibre diameter (MFD) and average segment length (ASL) were significantly larger in the external iliac artery (MFD 6.03, 95% CI 5.95 – 6.11; ASL 22.21, 95% CI 20.80 – 23.61) than in the ascending aorta (MFD 5.81, 5.72 – 5.89; ASL 19.47, 18.07 – 20.88) and the abdominal aorta (MFD 5.92, 5.84 – 6.00; ASL 21.10, 19.69 – 22.50). In subjects lacking aneurysmal disease, the aorta and iliac arteries are not structurally uniform along their length. There is an increase in collagen percentage and decrease in elastin percentage progressing distally along the aorta. Mean collagen fibre diameter and average segment length are larger in the external iliac artery, compared with the ascending and the abdominal aorta.

HomogWS-se: a century-long homogenized dataset of near-surface wind speed observations since 1925 rescued in Sweden

Abstract. Creating a century-long homogenized near-surface wind speed observation dataset is essential to improve our current knowledge about the uncertainty and causes of wind speed stilling and recovery. Here, we rescued paper-based records of wind speed measurements dating back to the 1920s at 13 stations in Sweden and established a four-step homogenization procedure to generate the first 10-member centennial homogenized wind speed dataset (HomogWS-se) for community use. Results show that about 38 % of the detected change points were confirmed by the known metadata events, and the average segment length split by the change points is ∼11.3 years. Compared with the raw wind speed series, the homogenized series is more continuous and lacks significant non-climatic jumps. The homogenized series presents an initial wind speed stilling and subsequent recovery until the 1990s, whereas the raw series fluctuates with no clear trend before the 1970s. The homogenized series shows a 25 % reduction in the wind speed stilling during 1990–2005 than the raw series, and this reduction is significant when considering the homogenization uncertainty. The homogenized wind speed series exhibits a significantly stronger correlation with the North Atlantic oscillation index than that of the raw series (0.54 vs. 0.29). These results highlight the importance of the century-long homogenized series in increasing our ability to detect and attribute multidecadal variability and changes in wind speed. The proposed homogenization procedure enables other countries or regions to rescue their early climate data and jointly build global long-term high-quality datasets. HomogWS-se is publicly available from the Zenodo repository at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5850264 (Zhou et al., 2022).

Influence of myocardial bridge on atherosclerotic plaque distribution and characteristics evaluated by near-infrared spectroscopy intravascular ultrasound

This study aims to clarify whether myocardial bridge (MB) could influence atherosclerotic plaque characteristics assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy-intravascular ultrasound (NIRS-IVUS) imaging. One hundred and sixteen patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using NIRS-IVUS imaging were included. MB was defined as an echo-lucent band surrounding left anterior descending artery (LAD). In MB patients, LAD was divided into three segments: proximal, MB, and distal segments. In non-MB patients, corresponding three segments were defined based on the average length of the above segments. Segmental maximum plaque burden and lipid content derived from NIRS-IVUS imaging in the section of maximum plaque burden were evaluated in each segment. Lipid content of atherosclerotic plaque was evaluated as lipid core burden index (LCBI) and maxLCBI4mm. LCBI is the fraction of pixels indicating lipid within a region multiplied by 1000, and the maximum LCBI in any 4-mm region was defined as maxLCBI4mm. MB was identified in 42 patients. MB was not associated with maximum plaque burden in proximal segment. LCBI and maxLCBI4mm were significantly lower in patients with MB than those without in proximal segment. Multivariable analysis demonstrated both MB and maximum plaque burden in proximal segment to be independent predictors of LCBI in proximal segment. Lipid content of atherosclerotic plaque assessed by NIRS-IVUS imaging was significantly smaller in patients with MB than those without. MB could be considered as a predictor of lipid content of atherosclerotic plaque when assessed by NIRS-IVUS imaging.

File Semantic Aware Primary Storage Deduplication System

The deployment of the primary storage deduplication system at the file level is a daunting challenge due to disk-bottleneck and data fragmentation problems. File semantics such as type and size can be used to reduce deduplication overhead. There is negligible data redundancy across different types of files compared to the same type of files. Hence, the application of the same deduplication method irrespective of file type causes wastage of computing resources. In this paper, the File Aware DeDuplicaton system is proposed. Files are partitioned based on the size as small and large files. Large files are categorized based on the data redundancy as high, low, and unpredictable file types. File type-specific deduplication approach is applied for each category of files. Separate index tables are maintained for each type and hash table for small files of all types. The FADD system is simulated in the Linux environment using two different types of FIU traces and some locally collected data sets. The effectiveness of FADD is compared with the full deduplication system and Hybrid Deduplication System based on the parameters – metadata access overhead, average segment length, and response time. The experimental results show that the system has performed consistently better for all input data sets.