Sum Of Rates Research Articles

Influence of multiple predators decreases body condition and fecundity of European hares.

We assessed the hypothesized negative correlation between the influence of multiple predators and body condition and fecundity of the European hare, from 13 areas in the Netherlands.Year‐round abundance of predators was estimated by hunters. We quantified predator influence as the sum of their field metabolic rates, as this sum reflects the daily food requirements of multiple individuals. We determined the ratio between body mass and hindfoot length of hares as an index of body condition and the weight of their adrenal gland as a measure of chronic exposure to stress, and we counted the number of placental scars to estimate fecundity of hares.As hypothesized, we found that the sum of field metabolic rate of predators was negatively correlated with body condition and the number of placental scars, whereas it was positively related to the weight of the adrenal glands. In contrast to the sum of the field metabolic rate, the total number of predators did not or weakly affect the investigated risk responses.The sum of the field metabolic rate can be a useful proxy for the influence of multiple predators and takes into account predator abundance, type, body weight, and food requirements of multiple predators.With our findings, our paper contributes to a better understanding of the risk effects of multiple predators on prey fitness. Additionally, we identify a potential contributor to the decline of European hare populations.

Falling use of cash and population age structure

We compare three ways to measure the use of cash in a country and argue that one way is perhaps more appropriate than the other two. As shown in three graphs covering 25 countries, using our preferred measure the share of cash fell between 2012 and 2019; this fall was gradual in most countries. Existing payment diary studies indicate that younger adults marginally favor cash substitutes (mainly cards) over cash compared with older adults. This difference in the revealed preference for cash across countries is related to our measure of cash use in a fixed-effects model over the period 2012–19. A negative and significant relationship is found and thus appears to be an important influence on the demand for cash. The decline in the share of cash use across countries is slow since the change in the age structure of populations in these countries is also slow and approximated by the sum of birth rates (new younger adults entering the adult population) and death rates (older adults leaving the population).

Managing Stochastic Bucket Brigades on Discrete Work Stations

Bucket brigades are notably used to coordinate workers in production systems. We study a J‐station, I‐worker bucket brigade system. The time duration for each worker to serve a job at a station is exponentially distributed with a rate that depends on the station's expected work content and the worker's work speed. Our goal is to maximize the system's productivity or to minimize its inter‐completion time variability. We analytically derive the throughput and the coefficient of variation (CV) of the inter‐completion time. We study the system under two cases. (i) If the work speeds depend only on the workers, the throughput gap between the stochastic and the deterministic systems can be up to [Formula: see text] when the number of stations is small. Either maximizing the throughput or minimizing the CV of the inter‐completion time, the slowest‐to‐fastest worker sequence always outperforms the reverse sequence for the stochastic bucket brigade. To maximize the throughput, more work content should be assigned to the stations near the faster workers. In contrast, to minimize the CV of the inter‐completion time, more work content should be allocated to the stations near the slower workers. (ii) If the work speeds depend on the workers and the stations such that the workers may not dominate each other at every station, the asymptotic throughput can be expressed as a function of the average work speeds and the asymptotic expected blocked times of the workers, and can be interpreted as the sum of the effective production rates of all the workers.

Preliminary Study on Influence of Outdoor Trees on Natural Ventilation of Teaching Buildings

The emphasis of this study lied in the impact of tree planting spacing around the teaching building on the indoor wind environment. CFD simulations of the indoor wind environment of teaching building affected by trees were performed utilizing the ANSYS Fluent software using the standard k-ε model with additional source terms. Deciduous broad-leaved trees and coniferous trees were selected as representative tree species for comparison. Five different tree planting spacings were arranged outside the teaching building, and the indoor airflow velocity distribution and pressure distribution were simulated. Then the effects of these different tree layout forms on the indoor ventilation efficiency of the building were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the sum of the total ventilation flow rate in the classrooms rose with the increase of the spacing between trees. However, due to the different location relationship between the tree canopy and the classrooms, the ventilation efficiency of each classroom showed differences. As for tree species, the blocking effect of tall deciduous broad-leaved trees on indoor ventilation was more obvious than that of coniferous trees. This study will have guiding significance for the layout design of vegetation around the building and creating a good indoor ventilation environment.

First-line everolimus and cisplatin in patients with advanced extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma: a nationwide phase 2 single-arm clinical trial.

Background:Extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma (EP-NEC) are an aggressive subgroup of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NEN). Advanced EP-NEC is generally treated with platinum-based cytotoxic regimens, but progressive disease occurs rapidly, resulting in a poor prognosis. Genetic alterations in the mammalian target for rapamycin (mTOR) pathway have been identified in NEN, providing a rationale for treatment with the mTOR-inhibitor everolimus.Methods:A prospective phase 2 single-arm study included patients with advanced EP-NEC from three Dutch NEN expertise centres between March 2016 and January 2020. Treatment consisted of cisplatin 75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks in combination with daily everolimus 7.5 mg for a maximum of six cycles, followed by maintenance everolimus until disease progression. Primary endpoint was disease control rate (DCR), defined as the sum of overall response rate (ORR) plus the rate of stable disease according to RECIST 1.1, assessed at 9-week intervals. Toxicity was evaluated according to CTCAE version 5.0.Results:Thirty-nine patients, with a median age of 64 years (range: 28–74), of whom 20 (51%) were male, were enrolled. DCR was 82.1% (95% confidence interval (CI): 66.4–92.4), with an ORR of 58.9% (CI: 42.1–74.4). Median duration of response was 6.4 (CI: 5.8–7.0) months and median progression-free survival was 6.0 (CI: 4.3–7.8) months. Three patients (8%) had durable responses lasting > 12 months. Median overall survival was 8.7 (CI: 7.8–9.6) months. Most common grade 3/4 toxicities were haematological (36%) and renal (21%).Conclusion:Everolimus in combination with cisplatin is an effective first-line treatment option for advanced EP-NEC, especially in highly selected patients.Trial registration:Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02695459, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02695459.

A reliable islanding identification mechanism for DC microgrid using PCC transient signal

Abstract The islanding detection is a major problem for both AC and DC Microgrids. Failure to do so may result in problems such as system instability, increased non-detection zone, out-of-phase reclosing, personnel safety, and power quality deterioration. To address this issue, this paper presents a reliable island identification method for DC Microgrids that employs a Cumulative Sum of Rate of change of Voltage (CSROCOV) to reduce the non-recognition region. The proposed islanding protection scheme employs point of common coupling (PCC) transient signal to detect islands events. The voltage, power, and current sampling are accumulated from the PCC of the distributed generation terminals. The proposed scheme detects islanding in three test cases with varying power mismatching conditions, while non-islanding events are classified as capacitor switching and faults. The system is modelled and simulated in the MATLAB/Simulink environment, then islanding conditions are applied by turning off the main circuit breaker. Simulation results are presented to verify the methodology under different test cases. The robustness of the proposed scheme is also validated against measurement noise.

The Listsize Capacity of the Gaussian Channel with Decoder Assistance.

The listsize capacity is computed for the Gaussian channel with a helper that—cognizant of the channel-noise sequence but not of the transmitted message—provides the decoder with a rate-limited description of said sequence. This capacity is shown to equal the sum of the cutoff rate of the Gaussian channel without help and the rate of help. In particular, zero-rate help raises the listsize capacity from zero to the cutoff rate. This is achieved by having the helper provide the decoder with a sufficiently fine quantization of the normalized squared Euclidean norm of the noise sequence.

Age of Information of Parallel Server Systems with Energy Harvesting.

Motivated by current communication networks in which users can choose different transmission channels to operate and also by the recent growth of renewable energy sources, we study the average Age of Information of a status update system that is formed by two parallel homogeneous servers and such that there is an energy source that feeds the system following a random process. An update, after getting service, is delivered to the monitor if there is energy in a battery. However, if the battery is empty, the status update is lost. We allow preemption of updates in service and we assume Poisson generation times of status updates and exponential service times. We show that the average Age of Information can be characterized by solving a system with eight linear equations. Then, we show that, when the arrival rate to both servers is large, the average Age of Information is one divided by the sum of the service rates of the servers. We also perform a numerical analysis to compare the performance of our model with that of a single server with energy harvesting and to study in detail the aforementioned convergence result.

A novel Sm doped Cr2O3 sesquioxide-decorated MWCNTs heterostructured Fenton-like with sonophotocatalytic activities under visible light irradiation

Novel Sm doped Cr2O3 decorated MWCNTs nanocomposite photocatalyst was successfully prepared by a facile hydrothermal method for metoprolol (MET) degradation. A heterogeneous photo -Fenton like system was formed with the addition of H2O2 for ultrasonic irradiation (US), visible light irradiation (Vis) and dual irradiation (US/Vis) systems. The intrinsic characteristics of Sm doped Cr2O3 decorated MWCNTs nanocomposite was comprehensively performed using state-of-art characterization tools. Optical studies confirmed that Sm doping shifted the absorbance of Cr2O3 towards the visible-light region, further enhanced by MWCNTs incorporation. In this study, degradation of metoprolol (MET) was investigated in the presence of Cr2O3 nanoparticles, Sm doped Cr2O3 and Sm doped Cr2O3 decorated MWCNTs nanocomposites using sonocatalysis and photocatalysis and simultaneously. Several different experimental parameters, including irradiation time, H2O2 concentration, catalyst amount, initial concentration, and pH value, were optimized. The remarkably enhanced sonophotocatalytic activity of Sm doped Cr2O3 decorated MWCNTs could be attributed to the more formation of reactive radicals and the excellent electronical property of Sm doping and MWCNTs. The rate constant of degradation using sonophotocatalytic system was even higher than the sum of rates of individual systems due to its synergistic performance based on the kinetic data. A plausible mechanism for the degradation of MET over Sm-Cr2O3/MWCNTs is also demonstrated by using active species scavenger studies and EPR spectroscopy. Our findings imply that (•OH), (h+) and (•O2−) were the reactive species responsible for the degradation of MET based on the special three-way Fenton-like mechanism and the dissociation of H2O2. The durability and stability of the nanocomposite were also performed, and the obtained results revealed that the catalysts can endure the harsh sonophotocatalytic conditions even after fifth cycles. Mineralization experiments using the optimized parameters were evaluated as well. The kinetics and the reaction mechanism with the possible reasons for the synergistic effect were presented. Identification of degraded intermediates also investigated.

Theoretical, Numerical, and Experimental Study on the Identification of Subway Tunnel Structural Damage Based on the Moving Train Dynamic Response.

As an important part of urban rail transit, subway tunnels play an important role in alleviating traffic pressure in mega-cities. Identifying and locating damage to the tunnel structure as early as possible has important practical significance for maintaining the long-term safe operation of subway tunnels. Summarizing the current status and shortcomings of the structural health monitoring of subway tunnels, a very economical and effective monitoring program is proposed, which is to use the train vibration response to identify and locate the damage of the tunnel structure. Firstly, the control equation of vehicle–tunnel coupling vibration is established and its analytical solution is given as the theoretical basis of this paper. Then, a damage index based on the cumulative sum of wavelet packet energy change rate (TDISC) is proposed, and its process algorithm is given. Through the joint simulation of VI-Rail and ANSYS, a refined 3D train-tunnel coupled vibration model is established. In this model, different combined conditions of single damage and double damage verify the validity of the damage index. The effectiveness of this damage index was further verified through model tests, and the influence of vehicle speed and load on the algorithm was discussed. Numerical simulation and experimental results show that the TDISC can effectively locate the damage of the tunnel structure and has good robustness.

Ischemic signs on the post-resuscitation ECG in absence of STEMI is associated with lower survival. A COACT trial's sub-study

Abstract Background The recently published Coronary Angiography after Cardiac arrest (COACT) trial found that urgent coronary angiography did not improve 90-day survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients without STEMI. The prognostic value of signs of ischemia on the ECG in absence of STEMI, is yet to be determined. Purpose To assess whether ischemic ECG patterns such as ST-depression and T-wave inversion are predictors for survival after OHCA in patients without STEMI. Methods In the COACT trial, patients with return of spontaneous circulation after OHCA with initial shockable rhythm and absence of ST-segment elevation were included. In this sub-study, the first post-resuscitation ECG recorded at the hospital was analysed for signs of ischemia. Ischemia was defined as ST-depression or T-wave inversion >1mm in ≥2 contiguous leads, or both. Primary endpoint was 90-day survival. Secondary endpoints included angiographic outcomes and left ventricular function assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging or echocardiography. Results In total, 552 patients were included in the COACT trial. For this sub-study, 510 OHCA-patients had an ECG available for assessment of whom 340 patients (66.7%) had signs of ischemia on the ECG and 170 patients (33.3%) were without signs of ischemia. Patients with signs of ischemia were significantly older (p=0.003) and more frequently had a history of CAD (p=0.009). Left ventricular ejection fraction was lower in those with signs of ischemia (p=0.007). The number of acute thrombotic occlusions did not differ between groups (p=0.34). Patients with signs of ischemia had a significantly worse 90-day survival compared to patients that showed no signs of ischemia (HR 1.51 (95% CI 1.08–2.12); log-rank p=0.02). Furthermore, larger ST-depression was found to be associated with worse survival (log-rank p=0.01). Neurologic injury was the most common cause of death and its incidence did not differ between the groups (p=0.77). Conclusion Signs of ischemia in absence of STEMI on the post-resuscitation ECG is a predictor for worse survival. Furthermore, a correlation was found between the sum of ST-depression and lower survival rate. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): Research grants of Netherlands Heart institue, Biotronic, AstraZeneca Survival plot signs of ischemia on ECGSurvival plot sum of ST-depression

Measuring the Burden of Disease in Korea, 2008-2018.

The study aims to examine the current status and differences in the burden of disease in Korea during 2008-2018. We calculated the burden of disease for Koreans from 2008 to 2018 using an incidence-based approach. Disability adjusted life years (DALYs) were expressed in units per 100 000 population by adding years of life lost (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs). DALY calculation results were presented by gender, age group, disease, region, and income level. To explore differences in DALYs by region and income level, we used administrative district and insurance premium information from the National Health Insurance Service claims data. The burden of disease among Koreans showed an increasing trend from 2008 to 2018. By 2017, the burden of disease among men was higher than that among women. Diabetes mellitus, low back pain, and chronic lower respiratory disease were ranked high in the burden of disease; the sum of DALY rates for these diseases accounted for 18.4% of the total burden of disease among Koreans in 2018. The top leading causes associated with a high burden of disease differed slightly according to gender, age group, and income level. In this study, we measured the health status of Koreans and differences in the population health level according to gender, age group, region, and income level. This data can be used as an indicator of health equity, and the results derived from this study can be used to guide community-centered (or customized) health promotion policies and projects, and for setting national health policy goals.

Mathematical model of cholera spread based on SIR: Optimal control

The bacterium Vibrio cholerae is the cause of cholera. Cholera is spread through the feces of an infected individual in a population. From a mathematical point of view, this problem can be brought into a mathematical model in the form of Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR), which considers the birth rate. Because outbreaks that occur easily spread if not treated immediately, it is necessary to control the susceptible individual population by vaccination. The vaccine used is Oral Vibrio cholera. For this reason, the purposes of this study were to establish a model for the spread of cholera without vaccination, analyze the stability of the model around the equili­brium point, form a model for the spread of cholera with vaccination control, and describe the simulation results of numerical model completion. Based on the analysis of the stability of the equilibrium point of the model, it indicates that if the contact rate is smaller than the sum of the birth rate and the recovery rate, cholera will disappear over time. If the contact rate is grea­ter than the sum of the birth rate and the recovery rate, then cholera is still present, or in other words, the disease can still spread. Because the spread is endemic, optimal control of the popu­lation of susceptible individuals is needed, in this case, control by vaccination, so that the popu­lation of susceptible individuals becomes minimum and the population of recovered indivi­duals increases.

DMN Activity Pattern Under General Anesthesia Induced by Isoflurane is Dose-Dependent in Rats Brain

For the rational design of antibody, it is important to clarify the characteristics of the interaction between antigen and antibody. In this study, we evaluated a contribution of the respective complementarity determining region (CDR) loops on the antibody recognition of antigen by performing molecular dynamics simulations for 20 kinds of antigen-antibody complexes. Ser and Tyr showed high appearance rates at CDR loops and the sum of averaged appearance rates of Ser and Tyr was about 20⿿30% at all the loops. For example, Ser and Tyr occupied 23.9% at the light chain first loop (L1) and 23.6% at the heavy chain third loop (H3). The direct hydrogen bonds between antigen and antibody were not equally distributed over heavy and light chains. That is, about 70% of the hydrogen bonds were observed at CDRs of the heavy chain and also the direct hydrogen bond with the shortest distance mainly existed at the loops of the heavy chain for all the complexes. It was revealed from the comparison in contribution to the binding free energy among CDR loops that the heavy chain (especially at H2 and H3) had significant influence on the binding between antigen and antibody because three CDR loops of the heavy chain showed the lowest binding free energy (οGbind) in 19 complexes out of 20. Tyr in heavy chain (especially in H2 and H3) largely contributed to οGbind whereas Ser hardly contributed to οGbind even if the number of the direct hydrogen bond with Ser was the fourth largest and also the appearance rate at CDR was the highest among 20 kinds of amino acid residues. The contributions ofTrp and Phe, which bear aromatic ring in the side chain, were often observed in the heavy chain although the energetic contribution of these residues was not so high as Tyr. The present computational analysis suggests that Tyr plays an outstanding role for the antigen-antibody interaction and the CDR loops of the heavy chain is critically important for antibody recognition of antigen.

Joint optimization of BS-VS association and power control in secure HSR communication systems

In this paper, the secure transmission for high-speed railway (HSR) communication system is studied. The considered HSR wireless communication system consists of a macro base station, B roadside base stations, and K vehicle stations (VSs) on the top of the train, and the eavesdropping user is a mobile unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). We consider maximizing the sum of the minimum security rate of each time slot as the objective function, and the constraint conditions contain the quality of service (QoS), switch requirements and the total power constraint. The original optimization problem is mixed-integer and non-convex, it is intractable to solve directly. The block coordinate descent (BCD) method is applied, and the original problem can be decoupled into two sub-problems. The one is the joint BS-VS association problem, and the other is the power control problem. The first sub-problem of optimizing BS-VS association can be solved by the successive convex approximation (SCA) algorithm, and the second one of optimizing transmit power can be solved by the lagrangian dual method. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms have good convergence.

A novel two-step approach for optimal groundwater remediation by coupling extreme learning machine with evolutionary hunting strategy based metaheuristics

We propose a simulation-optimization (SO) model based on a novel two-step strategy for the optimal design of groundwater remediation systems. The SO models are developed by coupling simulation models directly or through the extreme learning machine (ELM) with evolutionary hunting strategy based metaheuristics (EHSMs). In the first step, EHSMs with a combinatorial optimization technique are used to obtain optimal pumping locations by minimizing the percentage of contaminant mass that remained in the aquifer while keeping the pumping strategy as constant. In the second step, the optimal pumping locations are directly used as input, and a composite function is employed to minimize the sum of the water extraction rates and the percentage of extracted contaminant mass by constraining hydraulic heads and contaminant concentrations. The performance of the two-step strategy is found to be slightly better and computationally more efficient than the alternate approach. Moreover, various statistical measures suggest the superiority of EHSMs over other metaheuristics for groundwater remediation.

Formation of NO2− and NO3− in the sonolysis of water: Temperature- and pressure-dependent reactions in collapsing air bubbles

The formation of NO2− and NO3− in the sonolysis of water under air was investigated to evaluate the chemical properties of collapsing air bubbles that reached high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. The sum of initial rates of NO2− and NO3− formation and the ratio of these rates showed different dependences on ultrasonic power. By analyzing the adiabatic compression equations, it was confirmed that the increment ratio of the bubble pressure was much larger than that of the bubble temperature, suggesting that the bubble pressure affects the chemical reactions occurring in a bubble. Therefore, we analyzed the effect of temperature and pressure on the formation of NO2 and NO, the main precursors of NO3− and NO2−, respectively, using chemical equilibrium calculations to interpret the difference in power dependence. The results suggest that NO2− was formed more easily at higher temperatures, while NO3− formed more easily at higher pressures. We propose that NO2− and NO3− can be used as probes for temperature- and pressure-dependent reactions to improve the understanding of the physicochemical properties of collapsing air bubbles.

Constructal optimization for a marine boiler based on entransy theory

<p indent="0mm">Based on entransy theory and constructal theory, performance optimization of a marine boiler is conducted by taking the outer diameters of the third convection evaporation tube, superheater tube, and economizer tube as the design variables with the total heat transfer area constraint of three main heat exchange components (evaporator, superheater, and economizer). The optimal construct and performance of the whole boiler are obtained. First, the optimization is performed by taking a complex function comprising the linear weighted sum of entransy dissipation rate and power consumption rate as the optimization objective. The influences of initial design parameters, such as heat preservation coefficient, weighting coefficient for the composite function, and heat transfer rate, on the constructal optimization results of the whole boiler, are analyzed. Results show that the optimal dimensionless tube outer diameters of the evaporator, superheater, and economizer are 1.2, 1.3, and 1.1, respectively, which make the composite function obtain the cubic minimum value of 0.737. Compared with the initial design point, the composite function of the overall boiler is reduced by 26.3%, and the comprehensive performance of the boiler is significantly improved. Second, the bi-objective optimization of the overall boiler based on the composite function is conducted based on the NSGA-II algorithm, and the corresponding Pareto frontier and optimal construct of the boiler are obtained, which can provide a wider selection space for the performance optimization and parameter design of the overall boiler. The results of this paper can provide a certain degree of theoretical guidelines for the overall performance optimization design of marine boilers.

Proactive spectrum monitoring with spectrum monitoring data transmission in dynamic spectrum sharing network: Joint design of precoding and antenna selection

A proactive spectrum monitoring and spectrum monitoring data (SMD) transmission coexistence system is investigated in dynamic spectrum sharing network, where a spectrum monitor (SM) aims to monitor the spectrum information from the electromagnetic signal sent by the suspicious transmitter to the suspicious destination by using a portion of its antennas and transmit its SMD to the spectrum data fusion center by using the rest antennas. The SMD transmission of the SM can also be employed to jam the suspicious destination to realise the effective proactive spectrum monitoring. Thus, the precoding and antenna selection scheme are jointly designed at the SM to maximise the sum of the achievable spectrum monitoring rate and the SMD transmission rate. The scenario that the SM can assess the statistical channel state information of the suspicious links based on the spectrum information obtained from the spectrum database as the spectrum management node is then considered. The spectrum monitoring/SMD transmission success probability is also derived, and a trade-off between them is further revealed. Simulation results show that the proposed schemes can obtain higher sum rate of the spectrum monitoring and the SMD transmission, which also verifies its effectiveness and above “security-reliability” trade-off.

Nucleon decay in the deuteron

We calculate the lifetime of the deuteron from dimension-six quark operators that violate baryon number by one unit. We construct an effective field theory (EFT) for |ΔB|=1 interactions that give rise to nucleon and ΔB=1 deuteron decay in a systematic expansion. Nucleon decay introduces imaginary parts in the low-energy constants of the ΔB=0 nuclear interactions in Chiral EFT. We show that up to and including next-to-leading order the deuteron decay rate is given by the sum of the decay rates of the free proton and neutron. The first nuclear correction is expected to contribute at the few-percent level and comes with an undetermined low-energy constant. We discuss its relation to earlier potential-model calculations.