Macro Pattern Research Articles

Effects of <i>Eimeria stiedae</i> parasitism in the liver of rabbits on blood parameters and histoarchitecture of organs

The purpose of the research is to evaluate the parasitism effects on clinical parameters of laboratory animals.Materials and methods. The venous blood of 20 rabbits aged 1 year was taken to perform biochemical and general blood tests, for which purpose hematological analyzers were used. The animals were dissected using the Shor’s method. The topography of the organ complex was evaluated, and pathological material was collected and placed to 10% buffered formalin. For pathomorphological examination, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney samples were taken. To determine the histological pattern, paraffin-embedded samples on Thermo Scientific semi-automatic equipment were used. Histologic specimens were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The histoarchitecture of the specimens was evaluated using an Axio A1.0 microscope, and photography was conducted with the AxioVision software.Results and discussion. The article presents the data of the general and biochemical blood tests of the blood from the rabbits intended to be used in the experiment. Further, the pathoanatomical picture of the liver was shown in animals infected with Eimeria spp., and the histological pattern was presented for parenchymal organs. We found that the main biochemical values that exceeded reference values were liver values, namely, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase. We also observed an increase in monocytes and granulocytes in the blood. Pathological and anatomical changes were only expressed in the liver, while no changes in the macro pattern were observed in other organs. Histological examination of parenchymal organs showed a significant pathology in the liver due to endogenous stages of oocysts occurred in its structure. Additionally, we observed a strong eosinophil response in the spleen and a high content of eosinophils in the pulmonary veins.

Spatiotemporal attention mechanism-based multistep traffic volume prediction model for highway toll stations

As the fundamental part of other Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications, short-term traffic volume prediction plays an important role in various intelligent transportation tasks, such as traffic management, traffic signal control and route planning. Although Neural-network-based traffic prediction methods can produce good results, most of the models can’t be explained in an intuitive way. In this paper, we not only proposed a model that increase the short-term prediction accuracy of the traffic volume, but also improved the interpretability of the model by analyzing the internal attention score learnt by the model. we propose a spatiotemporal attention mechanism-based multistep traffic volume prediction model (SAMM). Inside the model, an LSTM-based Encoder-Decoder network with a hybrid attention mechanism is introduced, which consists of spatial attention and temporal attention. In the first level, the local and global spatial attention mechanisms considering the micro traffic evolution and macro pattern similarity, respectively, are applied to capture and amplify the features from the highly correlated entrance stations. In the second level, a temporal attention mechanism is employed to amplify the features from the time steps captured as contributing more to the future exit volume. Considering the time-dependent characteristics and the continuity of the recent evolutionary traffic volume trend, the timestamp features and historical exit volume series of target stations are included as the external inputs. An experiment is conducted using data from the highway toll collection system of Guangdong Province, China. By extracting and analyzing the weights of the spatial and temporal attention layers, the contributions of the intermediate parameters are revealed and explained with knowledge acquired by historical statistics. The results show that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art model by 29.51% in terms of MSE, 13.93% in terms of MAE, and 5.69% in terms of MAPE. The effectiveness of the Encoder-Decoder framework and the attention mechanism are also verified.

Tree trunk texture classification using multi-scale statistical macro binary patterns and CNN

Automated plant classification using tree trunk has attracted increasing interest in the computer vision community as a contributed solution for the management of biodiversity. It is based on the description of the texture information of the bark surface. The multi-scale variants of the local binary patterns have achieved prominent performance in bark texture description. However, these approaches encode the scale levels of the macrostructure separately from each other. In this paper, a novel handcrafted texture descriptor termed multi-scale Statistical Macro Binary Patterns (ms-SMBP) is proposed to encode the characterizing macro pattern of different bark species. The proposed approach consists of defining a sampling scheme at high scale levels and summarizing the intensity distribution using statistical measures. The characterizing macro pattern is encoded by an in-depth gradient that describes the relationship between the scale levels and their adaptive statistical prototype. Besides this handcrafted feature descriptor, a learning-based description is performed with the ResNet34 model for bark classification. Extensive and comprehensive experiments on challenging and large-scale bark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of ms-SMBP to identify bark species and outperforming different multi-scale LBP approaches. The tree trunk classification with ResNet34 shows interesting results on a very large-scale dataset.

СЕМАНТИЧНАТА ДЕРИВАЦИЯ КАТО ЕДИН ОТ НАЙ-ВАЖНИТЕ ВИДОВЕ ЕЗИКОВИ ИНОВАЦИИ (ВЪРХУ МАТЕРИАЛ ОТ СЪВРЕМЕННИ МЕДИЙНИ ТЕКСТОВЕ) / SEMANTIC DERIVATION AS A MAJOR TYPE OF LANGUAGE INNOVATION (BASED ON CONTEMPORARY MEDIA TEXTS)

The study focuses on the most productive patterns of semantic derivation, namely metaphorical and metonymic transfer, exemplified by contemporary Russian media texts. The metaphorical and metonymic patterns outlined in the study are based on the principle of anthropocentrism, which is realized in two interrelated directions highlighting the cognitive nature of semantic relations: 1) person → surrounding world (external personalization); 2) surrounding world → person (description in view of the extralinguistic reality). Specific micro patterns are based on the concrete → abstract macro pattern. It can be argued that semantic derivation functions as a means of linguistic ex-pression of ideas about intangible entities, thus creating the respective images in the mind of the addressee. The results of the study are of relevance to lexical semantics, cognitive linguistics, media linguistics, etc. Keywords: semantic derivation, metaphor, metonymy, Russian, media texts, anthropocentrism

Spatial-temporal pattern and formation mechanism of county urbanization on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Urbanization is a comprehensive and complex socioeconomic phenomenon that plays an influential role in promoting global socioeconomic development. The Loess Plateau region is an important part of the China’s ecological security pattern, and occupies an important position in the implementation of China’s new-type urbanization strategy and the realization of the urban dream. The characteristics of the staged changes and regional differentiation of urbanization in the area from 1990 to 2018 were studied with focus on regions and subregions by selecting 341 county-level administrative units on the Chinese Loess Plateau as the research area, and employing partition analysis and geographic detector methods. This revealed the formation mechanism of the spatial differentiation pattern of urbanization on the Loess Plateau. We found that the urbanization of the Loess Plateau, previously in a slow growth phase, entered the accelerated development phase, presenting a macro pattern of high rates of urbanization in central and eastern areas and low rates in western areas. The formation of the regional differentiation patterns of urbanization on the Loess Plateau were the combined results of natural geographical and socioeconomic factors. Among these factors, the interaction of any two factors had a stronger impact on regional urbanization patterns than a single factor, which was specifically manifested as nonlinear or bi-factor enhancement effects. The findings of this paper may provide a theoretical reference and scientific basis for the scientific promotion of healthy urbanization on the Chinese Loess Plateau and the ecologically fragile areas of developing countries around the world.

Analyzing the impact of changing landscape pattern and dynamics on land surface temperature in Lucknow city, India

The increasing urbanization has hampered the overall livelihood of urban dwellers. Urban heat island (UHI) is a significant consequence of urbanization on the earth's environment. Its geographical pattern, impact, and mitigation strategies remain poorly understood over large areas. The study aims at determining and analyzing how changing landscape patterns (at macro-level) and dynamics (at micro-level) affect the land surface temperature (LST). The macro pattern analysis is performed by examining the spatial variation of LST with the distribution of green space (GS) and impervious surface (IS). Whereas, micro dynamics analysis is carried out by critical examination of the city's environmental health condition. To this end, an environmental health index (EHI) is derived based on the relation of land surface temperature variation index (LSTVI) with (i) UHI intensity, (ii) green space density (GSD), and (iii) impervious surface density (ISD). Moreover, we determined the impact of various types of sprawl expansion and drivers in developing UHI phenomenon in Lucknow city, India, from 2005–2016. The results show an increased impervious density and decreased greenness density over the study years. The mean LST of IS is found to be 4 °C higher than that of GS in 2005, which further increased to 6 °C in the year 2016. The results from macro pattern analysis depict a significantly strong correlation between mean LST, ISD (positive) and GSD (negative) along the rural-urban gradients. The results from the micro dynamics analysis are interpreted as an EHI rating for specific zones going through the UHI phenomenon. Overall the study reveals an adverse effect of decreasing greenness density and advocates the vital role of GS in mitigating UHI effects. Our study also highlights UHI spatial pattern and its driving factors, suggesting various effective mitigation strategies for suppressing the UHI effect and providing a scientific basis for sustainable development.

A set of statistical radial binary patterns for tree species identification based on bark images

This paper deals with bark texture representation at high scale-space levels for tree species identification. The proposed approach, named, a set of statistical radial binary patterns (sSRBP), is based on the combination of a novel scale-space sampling and an LBP-like radial encoding in the distribution level. This method aims at capturing and encoding large bark structure information. The multi-scale neighborhood is formed by a set of concentric ring-shaped scale levels, in each of which the intensity distribution is represented by statistical features that provide a compact and information-preserving representation of the neighborhood. Then, the gradual distribution variation over scale levels is encoded by a macro pattern code. For each bark sample, five statistical descriptors are obtained and contribute to enhancing the texture representativeness and discriminative power. We evaluated the performances of the proposed approach on four different bark datasets and found that the novel scale-space sampling significantly improves the bark structure representation leading to enhanced performances and outperforming competitive state-of-the-art LBP-like methods. Furthermore, experiments on the color representation of bark samples improve the performances on challenging bark datasets. Moreover, comparative study between the handcrafted sSRBP texture descriptor and convolutional neural network features shows interesting generalization results on the very large BarkNet dataset.

Condition-Based Dynamic Supportability Mechanism for the Performance Quality of Large-Scale Electromechanical Systems

Scientific and effective supportability mechanisms have a profound impact on large-scale electromechanical systems and improve their performance quality, while decreasing costs. However, the contradiction between the static supportability strategy and time-varying performance quality conditions remains not sufficiently resolved. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a performance quality condition-based dynamic supportability mechanism. First, model-driven risk identification and control chart-based pattern recognition were used to trigger the dynamic allocation of the limit supportability resource. Second, the performance quality mode and effect analysis and the multiagent collaborative chain were defined to identify the resource lists of maintenance activities. Third, a general control framework was constructed to evaluate the compliance and applicability of maintenance activities. This study formulated a dynamic supportability mechanism for performance quality with a closed loop of activity triggering, resource guarantee, and maintenance effectiveness evaluation. As an expansion and improvement of condition-based maintenance, the dynamic supportability mechanism overcomes the several drawbacks of the existing supportability mechanisms of large-scale electromechanical systems. The proposed mechanism also advances the integration of management and technology in comprehensive supportability. Therefore, the proposed mechanism and methods can be flexibly and efficiently used for the dynamic supportability of electromechanical systems. Moreover, this study provides insights into risk identification, macro pattern recognition and process control and can be used for other engineering applications.

Bio-active concrete tile

The aim of this work is to design and fabricate bio-active concrete tiles which encourage rapid plant coverage of building walls and urban spaces with vegetation. A design comprises two different types of tile, which one of them intends to be used as a planter for a variety of climbing vegetation. Through the process of designing and manufacturing suitable mould for tiles, a complex macro pattern was developed to ensure water retention on the structural surface. The results of this work provide an alternative solution to the existing green wall systems by implementation of a bioreceptive cementitious material.

Understanding urban expansion combining macro patterns and micro dynamics in three Southeast Asian megacities

Rapid urbanization accelerates urban expansion, especially in populous areas, such as Southeast Asia. The urban forms and changes at the macro level and the dynamics at the patch level are interrelated. Considering its spatiotemporal interdependences and global-local interactions, we propose a framework to quantify urban expansion by combining macro patterns and micro dynamics. Taking three Southeast Asian megacities, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), and Manila, as examples, we calculate the urban land densities in concentric rings (macro pattern) and the proximity expansion index (PEI) of new urban patches (micro dynamic) to compare the urban form changes and expansion patterns based on Landsat imagery in 1990, 2000, and 2014. The results show that the urban form changes have close relationships with the local urban patch dynamics. The macro- and micro-level results in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City are interrelated and consistent and the explainable inconsistent results in Manila further reveal the necessity of combination of two scopes. The three megacities developed in different manners, thereby resulting in diverse urban forms and changes. Other methods and technologies combining macro and micro perspectives are encouraged to better understand urban expansion.

Six macro symptoms needed in TCM macro pattern identification

The concept of holism is highlighted in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Macro pattern identification is used in TCM disease diagnosis based on holism concept. Macro symptoms are utilized in macro pattern identification. Six kinds of macro symptoms were summarized into 6 categories as solidified signs, chronic symptoms, suffering symptoms, changed symptoms of physiology, exclusive symptoms and changed symptoms after treatment. The comprehensiveness, objectivity and correctness of macro pattern identification are relied on those macro symptoms. Key words: Diagnosis(TCM); Concept of holism; Syndrome differentiation treatment; Syndrome differ macroscopic; Syndrome differentiation, microscopic

Water and gas distribution and its controlling factors of large scale tight sand gas fields: A case study of western Sulige gas field, Ordos Basin, NW China

Abstract The chemical characteristics and occurrence state of formation water in western Sulige gas field were analyzed based on geological features of reservoirs, the gas and water distribution regularity and the main controlling factors were determined. Aquifer zones are widely distributed in the whole Western Sulige gas field, gas zones developed poorly and distributed limitedly. Vertically, gas and water zones are of poor continuity and distributed in an isolated and staggered pattern. Inside the gas reservoir, there is not a uniform gas and water interface because of the hard differentiation between gas and water. On the whole, the lower segment of H8 Member in Shihezi Formation and S1 Member in Shanxi Formation are both better than the upper segment of H8 Member. Gas and water distribution of Western Sulige gas field is mainly controlled by gas-generating intensity, the distances between reservoirs and hydrocarbon source rocks, configuration relationship of sand shale and physical property differences inside sand body complex. Among them, gas-generating intensity mainly controls the macro pattern of gas and water distribution, with the decrease of gas-generating intensity, good gas accumulation gradually changes to be water associated gas reservoir. The closer the distance between reservoirs and hydrocarbon source rocks, the more developed the gas zones, on the contrary, the gas-bearing water zone and coexisting gas and water zone are more developed. Sand shale configuration relationship and physical property differences inside sand body complex mainly control the local gas filling and accumulation. Five types of gas and water distribution patterns are summarized: pure gas, thick reservoir with mixed gas and water, water above the gas, gas above the water, and gas sandwiched between water.

THE PATTERN MAKING OF MEGA-SLUMS ON SEMANTICS IN SLUM URBAN CULTURES

Mega-slums are dynamic laboratories for urban pattern making. Instead of surveying about stable urban symbols represented by formal orders and regular geometries, this study explores the semantic meaning of informal urbanism associated with chaos or randomness and often ignored by critique and conventions. Slums are forms of ‘instant urbanity’ that underscore alternative ways of self-organisation, which include bottom-up strategies, autonomous urban dynamics and spatial activation by remaking. Are slum patterns representing a lack of symbolism or, on contrary, rich, complex, and fluid urban idioms? Urban informality without planning offers immense opportunities to investigate resilient urban forms and languages as complex systems throughout self-ruled structures. Slums are not only the result of urban economic asymmetries and social marginalisation but the elementary construction of survival urbanism, a randomised, agile and transformative pattern system. Slum making is a form of subsistence urbanity that constructs transitory, elusive or spontaneous geometries. They differ in sizes, magnitudes and geometries regarding cultural, climatic and topographic conditions. Slums are unstable systems in continuous transformation. This essay questions the stigmatisation of informalised urban patterns as ‘other’ unclassified codes by analysing a selection of twenty mega-slums in the Americas, Africa and Asia regarding semantics, urban and geometrical meanings. Their urban tissues contain various symbols that activate the every-day production of spaces. They can be visible or invisible; passive or active; and formal or informal. A taxonomic tree of slums was developed to compare and map slum regions to describe similarities and differences among the selected case studies. From this analysis, a profound discourse appeared between informal settlements: tissue-patterns at macro level and cell-patterns in micro urbanisation. Does the macro pattern inform the micro, or vice versa?

Learning to listen: Effects of using conversational transcripts to help medical students improve their use of open questions in soliciting patient problems

ObjectiveThis study reports effects of a ‘bottom-up’ pedagogy using doctor–patient conversation transcripts to improve medical students’ use of open questions in soliciting patient problems. MethodsWe implemented an innovative approach involving students reviewing transcripts of medical interviews, skills practice using role-play and standardized patients (SPs), and reflection on these practices. We analyzed three open question categories (general, biomedical, and psychosocial) used by 27 Taiwanese medical students from two SP interviews, conducted before and after training. ResultsAcross the full encounter, use of general and psychosocial open questions increased significantly after training (from 27 to 92 general questions and 15 to 33 psychosocial questions). The high rates of narrowly focused opening questions (52% of initial position questions, 74% of second position questions, and 85% of third position questions) prior to training were reduced to 11%, 15%, and 15% respectively after training. Students also shifted from a micro (narrow) to a macro (broad) pattern of questioning. ConclusionThe ‘bottom-up’ approach facilitated by using conversation transcripts is effective in improving communication skills. Practice implicationsBy carefully reviewing transcripts of their own performance as part of an overall communication training package, beginning medical students can become more patient-centered in soliciting patient problems.

Micro and macro pattern analyses of fMRI data support both early and late interaction of numerical and spatial information

Numbers and space are two semantic primitives that interact with each other. Both recruit brain regions along the dorsal pathway, notably parietal cortex. This makes parietal cortex a candidate for the origin of numerical–spatial interaction. The underlying cognitive architecture of the interaction is still under scrutiny. Two classes of explanations can be distinguished. The early interaction approach assumes that numerical and spatial information are integrated into a single representation at a semantic level. A second approach postulates independent semantic representations. Only at the stage of response selection and preparation these two streams interact. In this study we used a numerical landmark task to identify the locus of the interaction between numbers and space. While lying in an MR scanner participants decided on the smaller of two numerical intervals in a visually presented number triplet. The spatial position of the middle number was varied; hence spatial intervals were congruent or incongruent with the numerical intervals. Responses in incongruent trials were slower and less accurate than in congruent trials. By combining across-vertex correlations (micro pattern) with a cluster analysis (macro pattern) we identified large-scale networks that were devoted to number processing, eye movements, and sensory–motor functions. Using support vector classification in different regions of interest along the intraparietal sulcus, the frontal eye fields, and supplementary motor area we were able to distinguish between congruent and incongruent trials in each of the networks. We suggest that the identified networks participate in the integration of numerical and spatial information and that the exclusive assumption of either an early or a late interaction between numerical and spatial information does not do justice to the complex interaction between both dimensions.

Node selection for the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme in South Africa

Various programmes and strategies in South Africa aim to reduce poverty. The Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP) is a sustained campaign against rural poverty and underdevelopment, implemented in 13 nodes selected on account of their poverty, lack of infrastructure and capacity, and provincial representivity. Using a hierarchy of development regions, data from the 2001 Census and a core-periphery model, this paper evaluates the location of the 13 nodes to determine whether the municipalities in these nodes have high levels of poverty and are in need of development. The findings are that although most of these municipalities have high poverty levels, the nodes also include municipalities with relatively high levels of development. There are also 17 municipalities in South Africa with very low levels of development that are not included as nodes in the ISRDP. Policy-makers need to take cognisance of the macro pattern of spatial economic development.

Towards a comprehensive framework for modeling urban spatial dynamics

The increasing availability of spatial micro data offers new potential for understanding the micro foundations of urban spatial dynamics. However, because urban systems are complex, induction alone is insufficient. Nonlinearities and path dependence imply that qualitatively new dynamics can emerge due to stochastic shocks or threshold effects. Given the policy needs for managing urban growth and decline and the growing desire for sustainable urban forms, models must be able not only to explain empirical regularities, but also characterize system-level dynamics and assess the plausible range of outcomes under alternative scenarios. Towards this end, we discuss a comprehensive modeling approach that is comprised of bottom-up and top-down models in which both inductive and deductive approaches are used to describe and explain urban spatial dynamics. We propose that this comprehensive modeling approach consists of three iterative tasks: (1) identify empirical regularities in the spatial pattern dynamics of key meso and macro variables; (2) explain these regularities with process-based micro models that link individual behavior to the emergence of meso and macro dynamics; and (3) determine the systems dynamical equations that characterize the relationships between micro processes and meso and macro pattern dynamics. Along the way, we also clarify types of complexity (input and output) and discuss dimensions of complexity (spatial, temporal, and behavioral). While no one to date has achieved this kind of comprehensive modeling, meaningful progress has been made in characterizing and explaining urban spatial dynamics. We highlight examples of this work from the recent literature and conclude with a discussion of key challenges.

Intergenerational transmission of sex-specific differential treatments: The allocation of education resources among siblings

Using a unique data set of 3-generation education information, in this article we extend the analysis of Greenhalgh [Greenhalgh, Susan, 1985. Sexual Stratification: The other side of ‘growth with equity’ in East Asia. Population and Development Review 11, 265–314] and study the question of intergenerational transmission of sex-specific differential treatments. The rich data are obtained from Taiwan’s Panel Study of Family Dynamics project. As far as the macro pattern is concerned, we found that although there is a clear tendency of differential treatment against females in the old generation, this tendency is significantly weakened and nearly vanishes in the young generation. Furthermore, the supporting effect of senior siblings in the old generation becomes a crowding (resource-dilution) effect in the young generation. However, within each micro lineage, there is a mild “habitus” effect in the sense that parents who experienced gender-specific differential treatment tend to treat their children in a similar fashion. We find that parents’ education contributes to the elimination of sex-based differential treatment, consistent with the finding in Thronton et al. [Thornton, Arland, Alwin, Duane F. and Camburn, Donald, 1983. Causes and consequences of sex-role attitudes and attitude change. American Sociological Review 48, 211–227].

Macro pattern of fatigue-broken surface of inclined surface cracks under biaxial loading: Zeng, Z.J. and Dai, S.-H. Int. J. Pressure Vessels and Piping (1992) 52, (2), 201–215

Macro pattern of fatigue-broken surface of inclined surface cracks under biaxial loading: Zeng, Z.J. and Dai, S.-H. Int. J. Pressure Vessels and Piping (1992) 52, (2), 201–215

Macro pattern of fatigue-broken surface of inclined surface cracks under biaxial loading

The fatigue test scheme and some results for 16MnR steel under the conditions that the biaxial loading ratio is equal to 0, 0·5 and 1, and the angle of crack inclination is equal to 0, 30, and 45°, respectively, are reported, with emphasis on the variations in the macro patterns of fatigue-broken surfaces of the surface cracks. This macro pattern may be classified into two categories: in the first category the fatigue-broken surface is smooth and flat, and in the second category it is discontinuous and curved. The present research work suggests that the discontinuity of the fatigue-broken surface of the surface crack is mainly caused by the mutual action by mode I and mode III crack driving forces. The variation rule for the mode I and mode III normalized stress intensity factors (SIFs) with the angle of crack inclination and with the biaxial loading ratio is presented. Based on the variation rule of the mode I and mode III normalized SIFs, the variation features of the macro patterns of the fatigue-broken surfaces of inclined surface cracks with the biaxial loading ratio and with the angle of crack inclination can be explained and predicted.