Elevation Dimension Research Articles

Millimeter wave–3D massive MIMO: Deep prior‐aided graph neural network combining with hierarchical residual learning for beamspace channel estimation

SummaryMillimeter Wave (mmWave) communication has emerged as a transformative technology at the forefront of wireless communication. One of the key challenges in harnessing the potential of mmWave technology is overcoming the increased susceptibility to propagation losses and environmental obstacles. To address these challenges, Three‐Dimensional Massive Multiple‐Input Multiple‐Output (3D Massive MIMO) systems have gained traction. The 3D aspect extends this concept by considering the elevation dimension, allowing for enhanced spatial resolution and coverage. Accurate estimation of the channel in 3D Massive MIMO scenarios is particularly challenging because of the complex propagation characteristics of mmWave signals. This paper introduces an efficient‐Aided Graph Neural Network Combining with Hierarchical Residual Learning (DPrGNN‐HrResNetL), designed specifically for beamspace Channel Estimation (CE)in mmWave‐Massive MIMO environments. The proposed model leverages deep priors and GNN mechanisms to enhance the extraction of spatial features, while hierarchical residual connections facilitate effective information flow through the network. DPrGNN enables the model to capture and understand complex spatial relationships among different antenna elements. The incorporation of deep priors provides a mechanism for leveraging prior knowledge about channel characteristics. This enhances the efficiency of the learning process, allowing the model to learn and adapt more effectively. The integration of hierarchical residual connections facilitates effective information flow through the network. This is particularly important for modeling complex dependencies within the beamspace channel data, enhancing the learning capacity of the network. The performance of the DPrGNN‐HrResNetL model is evaluated across a range of Signal‐to‐Noise Ratios (SNRs), utilizing metrics such as Normalized Mean Squared Error (NMSE) to measure the accuracy of the estimation. The outcomes underscore the resilience and efficacy of the DPrGNN‐HrResNetL approach in achieving precise CE within demanding mmWave scenarios.

Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 trait correlates with self-reported acts of rape

BackgroundSexual aggression researchers have identified “dark triad” personality traits as potential etiologic contributors to rape perpe-tration. The Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) canvasses trait dimensions that underlie a proposed hybrid diag-nostic model for the personality disorders.Participants and procedureAssociations between PID-5 item/facet/domain scores and self-reported acts of rape were examined in a national survey of men (N = 517) administered on a crowdsourcing platform.ResultsPervasive associations were found between various PID-5 risk indicators and acts of oral, anal, or vaginal physical contact with nonconsenting partner(s). While dimensional correlation coefficients were modest in size, odds ratios for elevated PID-5 facet dimensions were substantial. The odds of self-reported rape increased with the trait elevation count in a graded fash-ion. Selected PID-5 subscale dimensions (callousness, irresponsibility, grandiosity, intimacy avoidance, distractibility, and attention seeking) were significant correlates of self-reported rape. A subset of PID-5 items accounted for unshared variance in the criterion measures. Scores from the PID-5 appeared to provide useful risk indicators of sexual aggressiveness.ConclusionsScores from the PID-5 appeared to provide useful risk indicators of sexual aggressiveness. Men with personality disorder trait elevations appear far more likely to acknowledge past behavior that constitutes sexual assault. These interpretations were limited by the cross-sectional, retrospective, and self-report nature of these data.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Assisted Target Three-Dimensional Localization with 2-D Radar

Battlefield surveillance radar is usually 2-D radar, which cannot realize target three-dimensional localization, leading to poor resolution for the air target in the elevation dimension. Previous researchers have used the Traditional Height Finder Radar (HFR) or multiple 2-D radar networking to estimate the target three-dimensional location. However, all of them face the problems of high cost, poor real-time performance and high requirement of space–time registration. In this paper, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) with low cost are introduced into the 2-D radar to realize the target three-dimensional localization. Taking advantage of the wide beam of 2-D radar in the elevation dimension, several Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) carrying RISs are set in the receiving beam to form multiple auxiliary measurement channels. In addition, the traditional 2-D radar measurements combined with the auxiliary channel measurements are used to realize the target three-dimensional localization by solving a nonlinear least square problem with a convex optimization method. For the proposed RIS-assisted target three-dimensional localization problem, the Cramer–Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) is derived to measure the target localization accuracy. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed 3-D localization method, and the influences of the number, the positions and the site errors of the RISs on the localization accuracy are covered.

Sucrose-associated SnRK1a1-mediated phosphorylation of Opaque2 modulates endosperm filling in maize

During maize endosperm filling, sucrose not only serves as a source of carbon skeletons for storage-reserve synthesis but also acts as a stimulus to promote this process. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying sucrose and endosperm filling are poorly understood. In this study, we found that sucrose promotes the expression of endosperm-filling hub gene Opaque2 (O2), coordinating with storage-reserve accumulation. We showed that the protein kinase SnRK1a1 can attenuate O2-mediated transactivation, but sucrose can release this suppression. Biochemical assays revealed that SnRK1a1 phosphorylates O2 at serine 41 (S41), negatively affecting its protein stability and transactivation ability. We observed that mutation of SnRK1a1 results in larger seeds with increased kernel weight and storage reserves, while overexpression of SnRK1a1 causes the opposite effect. Overexpression of the native O2 (O2-OE), phospho-dead (O2-SA), and phospho-mimetic (O2-SD) variants all increased 100-kernel weight. Although O2-SA seeds exhibit smaller kernel size, they have higher accumulation of starch and proteins, resulting in larger vitreous endosperm and increased test weight. O2-SD seeds display larger kernel size but unchanged levels of storage reserves and test weight. O2-OE seeds show elevated kernel dimensions and nutrient storage, like a mixture of O2-SA and O2-SD seeds. Collectively, our study discovers a novel regulatory mechanism of maize endosperm filling. Identification of S41 as a SnRK1-mediated phosphorylation site in O2 offers a potential engineering target for enhancing storage-reserve accumulation and yield in maize.

Clinical and Operative Risk Factors Associated With Prolonged Length of Stay After Endoscopic Pituitary Adenoma Resection.

Pituitary adenomas (PAs) are the most common intrasellar tumor. Clinically relevant adenomas have a prevalence of 1 per 1000 in the general population. Transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) is the most common surgical treatment and is the first-line management for most PAs. Most patients fare well postoperatively, but a subset of patients experience a prolonged length of stay (PLOS). In this article, we aim to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with PLOS after TSS for PA. Patients with sellar pathologies surgically treated at a single tertiary center from March 1, 2009, to May 31, 2020, were retrospectively reviewed. All patients older than 18 years receiving nonemergent endoscopic TSS for pituitary adenoma were included. Clinical and demographic characteristics were analyzed using χ 2 -tests and student t -tests. For those factors with a P -value less than .01, multivariate logistic regression and negative binomial regression models were constructed to estimate the adjusted odds of PLOS across predictive factors. A total of 301 patients were included in the study. This cohort had an average age of 54.65 ± 15.06 years and an average body mass index of 29.47 ± 6.69. The median length of stay was 54.9 hours [25th-75th percentiles: 43.5-72.9]. Postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leak ( P < .01), postoperative diabetes insipidus (DI) ( P < .01), increased surgery duration ( P = .01), and elevated maximal tumor dimension ( P = .01) were predictive of PLOS in logistic regression. Increased surgery duration, previous pituitary radiation, intraoperative complications, and postoperative DI (all P < .01) were associated with increased rate of PLOS in negative binomial regression. Patients undergoing endoscopic TSS for PA resection demonstrate prolonged lengths of stay if they have higher tumor burden, have lengthier surgeries with intraoperative complications, or develop postoperative complications such as cerebrospinal fluid leak or DI. Careful monitoring of these factors will allow for better resource optimization, reducing costs to both the hospital and the patient.

Efficient 2D DOA Estimation via Decoupled Projected Atomic Norm Minimization

This paper presents an efficient two-dimensional (2D) direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method, termed as decoupled projected atomic norm minimization (D-PANM), to solve the angle-ambiguity problem. It first introduces a novel atomic metric via projecting the original atom set onto a smoothing space, based on which we formulate an equivalent semi-definite programming (SDP) problem. Then, two relatively low-complexity decoupled Toeplitz matrices can be obtained to estimate the DOAs. We further exploit the structural information hidden in the newly constructed data to avoid pair matching for the azimuth and elevation angles when the number of sensors is odd, and then propose a fast and feasible decoupled alternating projections (D-AP) algorithm, reducing computational complexity to a great extent. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is no longer restricted by angle ambiguity scenarios, but instead provides a more stable estimation performance, even when multiple signals share the same angles in both azimuth and elevation dimensions. Additionally, it greatly improves the resolution, with control of the computation load compared with the existing atomic norm minimization (ANM) algorithm.

A Novel two-dimensional DOA Estimation Algorithm for Low Elevation Targets

This paper proposes a fast Two-Dimensional DOA Estimation algorithm for low-elevation targets of Very High Frequency (VHF) Array Radar using an estimation method based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). The method firstly utilizes the uncoupling characteristics of azimuth and pitch angle under a uniform planar array, to convert the two-dimensional angle estimation problem into two one-dimensional DOA estimation problems. The target information is extracted by digital beamforming in the azimuth and elevation dimensions. Finally, the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers is used for estimation of the azimuth and pitch angle. This method avoids the two-dimensional joint estimation, which is complex in the calculation, the complexity is greatly reduced, and the operation process does not require Eigenvalue decomposition, further improving the operation efficiency.

Restoring the imaging quality of circular transducer array-based PACT using synthetic aperture focusing technique integrated with 2nd-derivative-based back projection scheme

Circular-array-based photoacoustic computed tomography (CA-PACT) is a promising imaging tool owing to its broad acoustic detection coverage and fidelity. However, CA-PACT suffers from poor image quality outside the focal zone along both elevational and lateral dimensions. To address this challenge, we proposed a novel reconstruction strategy by integrating the synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) with the 2nd derivative-based back projection (2nd D-BP) algorithm to restore the image quality outside the focal zone along both the elevational and lateral axes. The proposed solution is a two-phase reconstruction scheme. In the first phase, with the assistance of an acoustic lens, we designed a circular array-based SAFT algorithm to restore the resolution and SNR along the elevational axis. The acoustic lens pushes the boundary of the upper limit of the SAFT scheme to achieve enhanced elevational resolution. In the second phase, we proposed a 2nd D-BP scheme to improve the lateral resolution and suppress noises in 3D imaging results. The 2nd D-BP strategy enhances the image quality along the lateral dimension by up-converting the high spatial frequencies of the object’s absorption pattern. We validated the effectiveness of the proposed strategy using both phantoms and in vivo human experiments. The experimental results demonstrated superior image quality (7-fold enhancement in elevational resolution, 3-fold enhancement in lateral resolution, and an 11-dB increase in SNR). This strategy provides a new paradigm in the PACT system as it significantly enhances the spatial resolution and imaging contrast in both the elevational and lateral dimensions while maintaining a large focal zone.

Sound localization acuity of the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a small arboreal New World primate which has emerged as a promising model in auditory neuroscience. One potentially useful application of this model system is in the study of the neural mechanism underlying spatial hearing in primate species, as the marmosets need to localize sounds to orient their head to events of interest and identify their vocalizing conspecifics that are not visible. However, interpretation of neurophysiological data on sound localization requires an understanding of perceptual abilities, and the sound localization behavior of marmosets has not been well studied. The present experiment measured sound localization acuity using an operant conditioning procedure in which marmosets were trained to discriminate changes in sound location in the horizontal (azimuth) or vertical (elevation) dimension. Our results showed that the minimum audible angle (MAA) for horizontal and vertical discrimination was 13.17° and 12.53°, respectively, for 2 to 32 kHz Gaussian noise. Removing the monaural spectral cues tended to increase the horizontal localization acuity (11.31°). Marmosets have larger horizontal MAA (15.54°) in the rear than the front. Removing the high-frequency (> 26 kHz) region of the head-related transfer function (HRTF) affected vertical acuity mildly (15.76°), but removing the first notch (12–26 kHz) region of HRTF substantially reduced the vertical acuity (89.01°). In summary, our findings indicate that marmosets’ spatial acuity is on par with other species of similar head size and field of best vision, and they do not appear to use monaural spectral cues for horizontal discrimination but rely heavily on first notch region of HRTF for vertical discrimination.

Rural Landscape Change: The Driving Forces of Land Use Transformation from 1980 to 2020 in Southern Henan, China

Rapid urbanization has had an important impact on the pattern and function of rural land use. To better understand the key drivers of the landscape pattern evolution in southern Henan in China from 1980 to 2020, we used techniques of GIS(Geographic Information System) technology and the geodetector model in the research area of landscape pattern evolution characteristics. The research results show that the land use transformation in the rural areas of southern Henan has been characterized by the conversion of production land to living land and ecological land, with the highest conversion rate and continuous growth of construction land, a decreasing trend of cropland, and continuous and stable growth of land for forest and water body in the past 40 years. Land use conversion in the rural areas of southern Henan is mainly concentrated in the northern, central, and southern areas, and the spatial conversion has shifted from mountainous areas to the plains. The center of gravity of forest, cropland, and water body has most obviously shifted, and human interference and ecological environment destruction are the main influencing factors. The overall landscape pattern in the rural areas of southern Henan has increased in fragmentation and landscape heterogeneity, evenness has decreased, irregular patches have increased, and landscape connectivity has decreased. The combined effect of the six dimensions of elevation, slope, night lighting, average annual precipitation, average annual temperature, and population density in the rural areas of southern Henan has led to the transformation of land use and changes in landscape pattern. Physical geographic factors are the main drivers of rural landscape pattern changes in southern Henan, while population density changes and urbanization are secondary drivers. The results of the study have important guiding significance for the further optimization of rural landscape patterns and the sustainable development of rural areas.

P280 Quality of life in military patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract Background Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), represented by Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), are chronic conditions that can impair quality of life (HRQOL). Active military personnel are particularly at risk, given the strain of their work and military missions. The aim of our study was to evaluate the HRQOL of active military patients with IBD and to search for factors related to its alteration. Methods This was a prospective cross-sectional study, over a period of 5 months [February 2022 - June 2022], including male military patients that were still serving. The HRQOL of these patients was assessed by the IBD-Disk, which is a visual scale that consists of 10 items (Abdominal pain, diarrhea, social behavior, education and work, sleep, energy, emotions, body image, sexual activity, joint pain). It is validated for the assessment of HRQOL in IBD patients. Each dimension is scored from 0 to 10, with a total score of 0 to 100. The higher the score, the more impaired the HRQOL. The overall IBD-Disk score was considered impaired if it was higher than 40. Results We included 30 patients. The most represented age range was from 31 to 40 years. Ten patients were smokers. Twenty-four patients had CD and 6 had UC. The majority of CD was isolated ileal (n=16) with an upper gastrointestinal tract involvement in one patient and anoperineal manifestations in 5 patients. UC was distal in 3 patients and extensive in the other 3. Nine patients had extra-intestinal involvement, principally rheumatological (n=8). The mean overall IBD-Disk score was 21.6 [6 - 66]. We noted that CD was associated with the alteration of the dimensions related to urgent stools (p=0.001), social life (0.002) and sleep (p=0.004). The presence of anoperineal lesions during CD was associated with impairment of the social (p=0.002) and energy (p=0.006) dimensions. The presence of extra-intestinal manifestations was associated with elevated social dimension score (p=0.002). Azathioprine treatment was associated with impaired sleep dimension (p=0.048). Patients with a disease that had been evolving for more than 5 years had an alteration in the dimension related to urgent stools (diarrhea) (p=0.036), energy (p=0.048) as well as the dimension of sexual life (p=0.042). History of hospitalization for IBD was associated with impaired body image (p=0.030). History of surgical resection was associated with impaired energy (p=0.029), sexuality (p=0.015) and overall quality of life (p=0.02). Conclusion In our active military patients, HRQOL was not impaired overall, but several factors, related to severe forms, were associated with lower HRQOL.

A Study Coastal Protection Using Stones Crushed and Tetrapod (Case study at Ujong Blang Beach)

Ujong Blang Beach and Jagu Beach are in Lhokseumawe City. The purpose of this study was to plan a breakwater along the coast of Ujong Blang as an alternative for coastal protection. This includes specifying the details of the breakwater layers and calculating the dimensions of the breakwater. Applying the Hudson method to obtain the diameter and weight of stones grains. The protective layer material uses crushed stones and tetrapods. The results of the analysis obtained breakwater dimensions obtained based on a slope of 1: 2. The results of the analysis that have been obtained are made in the drawing 2D as a result of designing rock mounds with a slope of 1: 2. Breakwaters are planned in a position to protect the coast from waves. The planned breakwater height is 6.32 meters so it has the same elevation and crest dimensions, but the material volume will change less due to the lower contour differences in the sea.This type of breakwater is suitable for Ujong Blang beach, because it will have a good effect on the tourism business. The number of protected layer grains on a slope of 1:2 has a material use of 0.23 tons of tetrapods and a peak width of 3.5 meters.

A High-Performance 3-D Imaging Technique Using Simultaneous Azimuth and Elevation Compounding.

A new technique for 3-D imaging with a row-column array (RCA) configuration has been developed. The technique requires an electrostrictive piezoelectric for the active substrate. While the top set of electrodes is connected to RF transmit and receive channels for conventional diverging wave imaging (DWI), the orthogonal bottom set of electrodes is connected to independently controlled variable dc bias channels. By implementing modulated bias patterns compounded across multiple pulses, fine delay control across the bottom elements can be achieved simultaneously with imaging with the top set of electrodes. This resulted in a high-quality two-way focus in both azimuth and elevation. A 20-MHz electrostrictive composite substrate was fabricated, and 64 top ×64 bottom electrodes were patterned and connected to custom beamforming and biasing electronics. The point spread functions were generated in all dimensions, and the -6 dB resolution was measured to be 93 [Formula: see text] axially, [Formula: see text] in the azimuth, and 328 [Formula: see text] in the elevation dimension. This was in good agreement with the simulated resolutions of 80, 273, and 280 [Formula: see text], respectively.

Improved Dimension-Reduced Structures of 3D-STAP on Nonstationary Clutter Suppression for Space-Based Early Warning Radar

By introducing degrees of freedom (DOFs) in elevation, the elevation-azimuth-Doppler three-dimensional space–time adaptive processing (3D-STAP) methods have better performance when suppressing the nonstationary clutter caused by the Earth’s rotation in space-based early warning radar (SBEWR). However, the 3D-STAP methods use much more auxiliary beams, leading to greater demands on the training samples and heavier computational burdens than the conventional STAP methods. To solve this problem, the ideas of sum–difference beams, generalized multiple beams and Doppler-domain localization are applied here, and three improved dimension-reduced structures of 3D-STAP are proposed in this article. After analyzing the characteristics and distribution of nonstationary clutter for SBEWR, we find that the demands for auxiliary beams are different in elevation, azimuth and Doppler dimension. In addition, the suggestion to choose the number of auxiliary beams in each dimension is given. Simulation experiments are conducted to verify the analysis and evaluate the performance of the proposed methods. The simulation results show that the proposed 3D-STAP methods have better performance and lower computational burdens than typical 3D-STAP methods.

Polarization-space joint mainlobe jamming countermeasure technique based on divided dimensions

In order to solve the problem that the traditional space jamming countermeasure cannot deal with the mainlobe self-protecting jammings, a polarization-space joint mainlobe jamming countermeasure technique based on divided dimensions is proposed. Specifically, the digital beam of each row and column is firstly formed by using dual polarization digital receiving in multi-channel. Then, the polarization-space joint cancellation in both azimuth and elevation dimensions is carried out based on the polarization-space joint difference between the target echo and the jamming, as well as the divided dimension feature of the row and column beams. Finally, the sum and difference beams of the full array in the elevation or azimuth dimension are formed by the beams after jamming cancelling, and the monopulse angle measurement is further employed to obtain target angles. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is verified by simulations, indicating that the self-protecting jamming and multiple mainlobe following jammings can be both cancelled simultaneously with the angle measurement unchanged.

Range-Ambiguous Clutter Suppression via FDA MIMO Planar Array Radar with Compressed Sensing

Range-ambiguous clutter is an inevitable issue for airborne forward-looking array radars, especially with the high pulse repetition frequency (PRF). In this paper, a method to suppress the range-ambiguous clutter is proposed in an FDA-MIMO radar with a forward-looking planar array. Compressed sensing FDA technology is used to suppress the range-ambiguous clutter and the forward-looking non-uniformity short-range clutter of radar. Specifically, first, the range ambiguous clutter in different regions is separated by the characteristics of the planar array radar elevation dimension and FDA radar range coupling. Meanwhile, regarding the issue of the FDA radar main lobe moving between coherent pulses, a main lobe correction (MLC) algorithm proposes a solution for the issue, where the FDA radar cannot coherently accumulate signals in the case of non-full angle illumination. Finally, compressed sensing technology and elevation dimension filtering are utilized to suppress the range ambiguous clutter at the receiver, with the approach alleviating the range dependence of clutter in the observation region. A small number of clutter snapshots can obtain an approximately ideal clutter covariance matrix through compressed sensing sparse recovery. The method not only reduces the number of training samples, but also overcomes the problem of clutter non-uniformity in the forward-looking array. Therefore, the clutter suppression problems faced by the high repetition frequency airborne radar forward-looking array structure are solved. At the analysis stage, a comparison among the conventional MIMO and FDA methods is carried on by analyzing the improvement factor (IF) curves. Numerical results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in range-ambiguous clutter suppression.

Assessing Storm Response of Multiple Intertidal Bars Using an Open-Source Automatic Processing Toolbox

Intertidal bars are common features of sandy beaches in meso- and macro-tidal environments, yet their behaviour under storm impact and subsequent recovery remain poorly documented. Intensive surveys provide valuable information; however, it takes time to process the vast amount of data. This study presents the morphological response of a multibarred macro-tidal beach along the Belgian coast after a severe storm that happened on 8–12 February 2020, and to develop and apply an oPen-source Raster prOcessing Toolbox for invEstigation Coast intertidal bar displacemenT (PROTECT) in Python for automated bar extraction. This toolbox was applied to the digital surface models of pre- and post-storm airborne LiDAR surveys of a multibarred intertidal beach. The PROTECT toolbox is capable of detecting the position and elevation of intertidal bars accurately. The uncertainty in the elevation characteristics of the bars induces an error in the elevation dimension of 0.10 m. Using the toolbox, the results showed that the intertidal bars changed in term of variations in bar number, dimensions and shape across the storm event. Overall, the storm significantly eroded the dune and the upper-beach zone with a sand loss equivalent elevation decrease of −0.14 m. This was followed by a continuous and full recovery after 9 months under fair weather conditions. In contrast, the sand budget in the intertidal zone did not change over the entire monitoring period although the bars showed significant morphological change. Applying the PROTECT toolbox on high-resolution 3D topographic datasets allows to increase the temporal mapping resolution of intertidal bars from long-term (years) to short (storm events) time scales. Similar assessments at locations worldwide would allow the improvement of our knowledge on the morphodynamical role of multibarred beaches and to forecast their evolution, thus contributing to manage future storm response and the progressively accelerating sea level rise.

Altered cardiolipin metabolism is associated with cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction in pulmonary vascular remodeled perinatal rat pups.

Pulmonary vascular remodeling (PVR) in utero results in the development of heart failure. The alterations that occur in cardiac lipid and mitochondrial bioenergetics during the development of in utero PVR was unknown. In this study, PVR was induced in pups in utero by exposure of pregnant dams to indomethacin and hypoxia and cardiac lipids, echocardiographic function and cardiomyocyte mitochondrial function were subsequently examined. Perinatal rat pups with PVR exhibited elevated left and right cardiac ventricular internal dimensions and reduced ejection fraction and fractional shortening compared to controls. Cardiac myocytes from these pups exhibited increased glycolytic capacity and glycolytic reserve compared to controls. However, respiration with glucose as substrate was unaltered. Fatty acid oxidation and ATP-insensitive respiration were increased in isolated cardiac myocytes from these pups compared to controls indicating a mitochondrial dysfunction. Although abundance of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes was unaltered, increased trilinoleoyl-lysocardiolipin levels in these pups was observed. A compensatory increase in both cardiolipin and phosphatidylethanolamine content were observed due to increased synthesis of these phospholipids. These data indicate that alterations in cardiac cardiolipin and phospholipid metabolism in PVR rat pups is associated with the mitochondrial bioenergetic and cardiac functional defects observed in their hearts.

PD-ResNet for Classification of Parkinson's Disease From Gait.

Objective: To develop an objective and efficient method to automatically identify Parkinson’s disease (PD) and healthy control (HC). Methods: We design a novel model based on residual network (ResNet) architecture, named PD-ResNet, to learn the gait differences between PD and HC and between PD with different severity levels. Specifically, a polynomial elevated dimensions technique is applied to increase the dimensions of the input gait features; then, the processed data is transformed into a 3-dimensional picture as the input of PD-ResNet. The synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE), data augmentation, and early stopping technologies are adopted to improve the generalization ability. To further enhance the classification performance, a new loss function, named improved focal loss function, is developed to focus on the train of PD-ResNet on the hard samples and to discard the abnormal samples. Results: The experiments on the clinical gait dataset show that our proposed model achieves excellent performance with an accuracy of 95.51%, a precision of 94.44%, a recall of 96.59%, a specificity of 94.44%, and an F1-score of 95.50%. Moreover, the accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and F1-score for the classification of early PD and HC are 92.03%, 94.20%, 90.28%, 93.94%, and 92.20%, respectively. Furthermore, the accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and F1-score for the classification of PD with different severity levels are 92.03%, 94.29%, 90.41%, 93.85%, and 92.31%, respectively. Conclusion: Our proposed method shows better performance than the traditional machine learning and deep learning methods. Clinical impact: The experimental results show that the proposed method is clinically meaningful for the objective assessment of gait motor impairment for PD patients.

Effect of elevated temperature on dynamic flexural-tensile failure of geometrical-similar concrete beam: A meso-scale study

The investigations on the influence of geometric dimension on concrete failure at normal temperature have made a fruitful progress, while the investigations on the size effect of concrete at elevated temperature approach blank. For investigating the influence of elevated temperature and dimension on static and dynamic failures of concrete, a 3D thermo-mechanical coupling method considering the meso-structural characteristics of concrete and the strain rate effect of material was established. Flexural-tensile failure analyses of concrete beams with different geometric dimensions were conducted after heat conduction analysis. The results reveal that the speed of the heat transfer is relatively fast in small-sized concrete and the heat conduction behavior quickly approaches an equilibrium state. There is a significant degradation behavior on dynamic flexural-tensile strength for concrete exposed to fire. The elevated temperature can weaken the strain rate hardening-effect of concrete. At normal temperature, the influence of geometric dimension on dynamic flexural-tensile strength can be weakened at low strain rates while there is a reverse size effect at high strain rates. At elevated temperature, with the increasing geometric dimension, the flexural-tensile strength first decreases and then increases at low strain rates while the strength increases steadily as subjected to high strain rates.