Forecasting seasonal variations in electricity consumption and electricity usage efficiency of industrial sectors using a grey modeling approach.

The aim of this research is to forecast seasonal fluctuations in electricity consumption, and electricity usage efficiency of industrial sectors and identify the impacts of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For this purpose, a new seasonal grey prediction model (AWBO-DGGM(1,1)) is proposed: it combines buffer operators and the DGGM(1,1) model. Based on the quarterly data of the industrial enterprises in Zhejiang Province of China from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2020, the GM(1,1), DGGM(1,1), SVM, and AWBO-DGGM(1,1) models are employed, respectively, to simulate and forecast seasonal variations in electricity consumption, the added value, and electricity usage efficiency. The results indicate that the AWBO-DGGM(1,1) models can identify seasonal fluctuations and variations in time series data, and predict the impact of COVID-19 on industrial systems. The minimum mean absolute percentage errors (MAPEs) of the electricity consumption, added value, and electricity usage efficiency of industrial enterprises separately are 0.12%, 0.10%, and 3.01% in the training stage, while those in the test stage are 6.79%, 4.09%, and 2.25%, respectively. The electricity consumption, added value, and electricity usage efficiency of industrial enterprises in Zhejiang Province will still present a tendency to grow with seasonal fluctuations from 2020 to 2022. Of them, the added value is predicted to increase the fastest, followed by electricity consumption.

Effect of Alleviating Fibrosis with EGCG-Modified Bone Graft in Murine Model Depended on Less Accumulation of Inflammatory Macrophage.

In response to current trends in the modification of guided bone regeneration (GBR) materials, we aimed to build upon our previous studies on epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) by immersing a commonly used bone graft primarily composed of hydroxyapatite (HA) in EGCG solution, expecting to obtain superior bone material integration after implantation. Bone grafts are commonly used for bone repair, in which the bone extracellular matrix is stimulated to promote osteogenesis. However, due to its profibrosis effect, this osteoconductive material commonly exhibits implant failure. In addition to providing a basic release profile of EGCG-modified bone graft (E-HA) to clarify the relationship between this material and the environment, we have examined the integration effect via subcutaneous implantation experiments. In this manner, we have assessed the aggregation of proinflammatory macrophages, the formation of fibrous capsules, and an enhanced cell viability observed in cultured RAW 264.7 cells. Among these results, we focus on proinflammatory macrophages due to their close relationship with fibrosis, which is the most important process in the immune response. Immunofluorescent staining results showed that E-HA substantially compromised the formation of fibrous capsules in hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections, which exhibited less proinflammatory macrophage recruitment; meanwhile, the cell viability was improved. This work lays the foundation for future studies on GBR.

Meta-Analysis of Pulse Transition Features in Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Estimation Systems: Bridging Physiology and Engineering Perspectives.

The pulse transition features (PTFs), including pulse arrival time (PAT) and pulse transition time (PTT), hold significant importance in estimating non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP). However, the literature showcases considerable variations in terms of PTFs' correlation with blood pressure (BP), accuracy in NIBP estimation, and the comprehension of the relationship between PTFs and BP. This inconsistency is exemplified by the wide-ranging correlations reported across studies investigating the same feature. Furthermore, investigations comparing PAT and PTT have yielded conflicting outcomes. Additionally, PTFs have been derived from various bio-signals, capturing distinct characteristic points like the pulse's foot and peak. To address these inconsistencies, this study meticulously reviews a selection of such research endeavors while aligning them with the biological intricacies of blood pressure and the human cardiovascular system (CVS). Each study underwent evaluation, considering the specific signal acquisition locale and the corresponding recording procedure. Moreover, a comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted, yielding multiple conclusions that could significantly enhance the design and accuracy of NIBP systems. Grounded in these dual aspects, the study systematically examines PTFs in correlation with the specific study conditions and the underlying factors influencing the CVS. This approach serves as a valuable resource for researchers aiming to optimize the design of BP recording experiments, bio-signal acquisition systems, and the fine-tuning of feature engineering methodologies, ultimately advancing PTF-based NIBP estimation.

Polymeric Surfactant (PIBSA-X) Facilitates the Formation of a Water-in-Oil Emulsion Reactor for the Preparation of Ultrasmall Nanosilica.

Despite the widespread application of ultrasmall nanosilica, solving its aggregation problem during the preparation process remains a challenge. In this paper, ultrasmall nanosilica with a controllable size and aggregates were prepared through the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion method by using polyisobutylene succinic anhydride-type polymeric surfactants (PIBSA-X) as an isolating agent. PIBSA-X polymeric surfactants with different hydrophilic groups were prepared using industrial-grade PIBSA, which can form stable W/O-type emulsions well. Subsequently, the W/O-type emulsion droplets were used as reactors and tetraethyl orthosilicate was hydrolyzed under ammonia alkaline conditions to synthesize ultrasmall nanosilica (10 nm). Furthermore, the morphological evolution of nanosilica aggregates can be tuned by varying the oil/water ratio, which controls the emulsion droplets. A possible mechanism is proposed to explain why the emulsion method approach affords nanosilica aggregates with various morphologies and pellet size in water-in-oil (W/O-type) emulsion droplets. This study provides a precise and simple synthetic method for the development of ultrasmall nanosilica, which has good potential to be industrialized.

A Hierarchical Ensemble Deep Learning Activity Recognition Approach with Wearable Sensors Based on Focal Loss.

Abnormal activity in daily life is a relatively common symptom of chronic diseases, such as dementia. There will probably be a variety of repetitive activities in dementia patients' daily life, such as repeated handling of objects and repeated packing of clothes. It is particularly important to recognize the daily activities of the elderly, which can be further used to predict and monitor chronic diseases. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical ensemble deep learning activity recognition approach with wearable sensors based on focal loss. Seven basic everyday life activities including cooking, keyboarding, reading, brushing teeth, washing one's face, washing dishes and writing are considered in order to show its performance. Based on hold-out cross-validation results on a dataset collected from elderly volunteers, the average accuracy, precision, recall and F1-score of our approach are 98.69%, 98.05%, 98.01% and 97.99%, respectively, in identifying the activities of daily life for the elderly.

BIA: Behavior Identification Algorithm Using Unsupervised Learning Based on Sensor Data for Home Elderly.

Behavior identification plays an important role in supporting homecare for the elderly living alone. In literature, plenty of algorithms have been designed to identify behaviors of the elderly by learning features or extracting patterns from sensor data. However, most of them adopted probabilistic models or supervised learning to identify behaviors based on labeled sensor data. This paper proposes a behavior identification algorithm (BIA) using unsupervised learning based on unlabeled sensor data for the elderly living alone in smart home. This paper presents the observation of elder behaviors with three features: Event Order, Time Length Similarity and Time Interval Similarity features. Based on these features of behavior observations, two properties of behaviors, including the Event Shift and Histogram Shape Similarity properties, are presented. According to these properties, the proposed BIA is developed. Finally, performance results show that the proposed BIA outperforms the existing unsupervised machine learning mechanisms in terms of the behavior identification precision and recall.

Simultaneous identification of multiple receptors of natural product using an optimized cDNA phage display cloning.

Simultaneously isolating more than one receptor of natural product remains a challenge to chemical genetics. Using cyclosporine A as an affinity probe and an optimized phage display cloning procedure, not only cyclophilin A, but also cyclophilin B was isolated as the full-length gene clone from a human brain cDNA library. This optimized protocol can be used to select protein targets of chemicals dependent on the binding affinity rather than on the relative abundance in cells.

Cloning and High Expression in E.coli of a Chimeric Gene Coding for Rice Fructose-l,6-bisphosphate Aldolase.

A chimeric gene (l 104 bp) coding for rice fructose-l,6-bisphosphate aldolase has been constructed by DNA recombination of a synthetic 5'- fragment (-24 to 272) and an RT-PCR amplified product at restriction site S fu I. The synthetic fragment was assembled from six oligonucleotides by T4 DNA ligase reaction according to a single-stranded DNA method (Chen H-B et al, Nucleic Acids Res 1990, 18, 871-878), the PCR amplified fragment (217 - 1 080) was obtained by carrying out a PCR in the presence of rice cDNA as the template and both the 5'- and the 3'- primers. The whole gene was successively cloned into plasmids pWR13 and pPLc2833, and highly expressed in E. coli to produce the expected product. After purification through stepwise precipitation and cation-exchange column chromatography, the recombinant aldolase showed an enzyme activity as high as (1l.0 +/- 0.3) units/mg with the turnover number = 27s(-1) and K(m) (FBP)=4.2 &mgr;M by two different methods.

Co-expression of Triosephosphate Isomerase, Fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate Aldolase and Fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase in E.coli.

To establish a way to control or to decrease the daily increasing concentration of atmospheric CO(2), metabolically engineering Cyanobacteria was taken for the improvement of its efficiency of photosynthetic CO(2) fixation. As a preliminary stage of this study, three genes coding for three important Calvin cycle enzymes, i.e. triosephosphate isomerase (TPI), fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate aldolase(FBP aldolase),and fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase(FBPase), respectively, have been cloned into one plasmid, pTrcFAT, which is controlled by promoter trc. Successful co-transcriptional expression of these three genes resulted inhigh yields of these enzymes under the induction of 0.25 mmol/L IPTG. Bioassay showed that the expressed enzymes from one liter of culture could directly catalyze DHAP conversion into 700 &mgr;mol of fructose-6-phosphate (F-6-P) per one minute. Furthermore, in order to introduce the three genes co-expression system into Cyanobacteria, a shuttle plasmid between E.coli and Cyanobacteria was constructed using plasmid pTrcFAT and a shuttle vector pDC-8, forming ashuttle plasmid pDCFAT-2 containing a dimer of the three genes co-expression operator. Successful co-expression in E.coli of pDCFAT-2 with higher full activity has been obtained. This shuttle was used to transform of Cyanobacteria Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942, and a few positive colonies were obtained.

Over-expression and purification of isotopically labeled recombinant ligand-binding domain of orphan nuclear receptor human B1-binding factor/human liver receptor homologue 1 for NMR studies.

The human hepatitis B virus enhancer II B1 binding factor (hB1F), which regulates the expression of hepatitis B virus genes, is identified as a nuclear receptor. It regulates several liver-specific genes and plays an important role in the bile acid biosynthesis pathway. A significantly optimized protocol has been worked out to prepare 15N and/or 13C-labeled hB1F ligand-binding domain in minimal medium with high yields for NMR studies. Under the various conditions optimized for the purification of His6-hB1F ligand-binding domain, the yield of the purified protein is estimated to be 25-30 mg from 0.5 L of M9 minimal media. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry data confirm the correctness of the primary sequence. Dynamic light scattering experiment proves that the protein exists as a monomeric form. In addition, the circular dichroism results show that the protein has a well-regulated secondary structure and a high alpha-helical content in ammonium bicarbonate buffer at 20 degrees C and pH 7.4. Finally, uniformly 15N-labeled protein is characterized by a TROSY-HSQC spectrum, and the dispersion of 15N-1H cross-peaks in the spectrum indicates the presence of well-ordered and properly folded protein as a monomer.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic study of rBmKalphaIT1, a recombinant alpha-insect toxin from the scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch.

Alpha-insect scorpion toxins are a distinct group of scorpion neurotoxins for which no crystal structures are yet available. A novel alpha-insect toxin named BmKalphaIT1 from the scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch (BmK) has been expressed as an inclusion body in Escherichia coli and purified by chromatography after renaturation. Recombinant BmKalphaIT1 (rBmKaIT1) was crystallized using the vapour-diffusion technique in hanging drops at 296 K. The crystals, which were grown in sodium phosphate, belonged to the orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 30.24 (1), b = 36.51 (3), c = 57.08 (2) A. Diffraction data were collected to 2.1 A resolution using synchrotron radiation. There appears to be one rBmKalphaIT1 molecule in the asymmetric unit.