Author：Bu, F;Du, RX;Li, Y;Quinn, JP;Wang, MY

Abstract:Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a transient propagating excitation of synaptic activity followed by depression, which is implicated in migraine. Increasing evidence points to an essential role of NR2A-containing NMDA receptors in CSD propagation in vitro; however, whether these receptors mediate CSD genesis in vivo requires clarification and the role of NR2A on CSD propagation is still under debate. Using in vivo CSD in rats with electrophysiology and in vitro CSD in chick retina with intrinsic optical imaging, we addressed the role of NR2A in CSD. We demonstrated that NVP-AAM077, a potent antagonist for NR2A-containing receptors, perfused through microdialysis probes, markedly reduced cortex susceptibility to CSD, but also reduced magnitude of CSD genesis in rats. Additionally, NVP-AAM077 at 0.3 nmol perfused into the contralateral ventricle, considerably suppressed the magnitude of CSD propagation wave and propagation rate in rats. This reduction in CSD propagation was also observed with TCN-201, a negative allosteric modulator selective for NR2A, at 3 mu M, in the chick retina. Our data provides strong evidence that NR2A subunit contributes to CSD genesis and propagation, suggesting drugs selectively antagonizing NR2A-containing receptors might constitute a highly specific strategy treating CSD associated migraine with a likely better safety profile.

Author：Tabbara, H;Gu, S;McCartney, DG

Abstract:A warm spray system has been computationally investigated by introducing a centrally located mixing chamber into a HVOF thermal spray gun. The effects of injecting a cooling gas on the gas and particle dynamics are examined. The gas phase model incorporates liquid fuel droplets which heat, evaporate and then exothermically combust with oxygen within the combustion chamber producing a realistic compressible, supersonic and turbulent jet. The titanium powder is tracked using the Lagrangian approach including particle heating, melting and solidification. The results present an insight into the complex interrelations between the gas and particle phases, and highlight the advantage of warm spray, especially for the deposition of oxygen sensitive materials such as titanium. This work also demonstrates the effectiveness of a computational approach in aiding the development of thermal spray devices. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Author：Chen, ZT;Cheung, M

Abstract:This article examines the multimodalities of banner ads in pervasive marketing and advertising. Departing from the "Double 11 shopping carnival" spectacle on Tmall, this paper conducts a social semiotic and multimodal analysis of banner ads in the Chinese context. As the investigation of the discursive construction process shows, banner ads on Tmall take advantage of human interactivity, intentionality, persuasion and value creation to increase online sales as part of a gamification process while such modalities enhance consumers' shopping experience and sociality. This article provides a synthesis of social semiotics, multimodal analysis and interactivity to guide our analysis of advertising in e-commerce. We argue that apart from traditional marketing strategies, Tmall has extended and obscured the rebellious notion of carnival and used it as a corporation-led strategy to create new cultural forms that encourage spending. This is in line with the rising consumerism in the Chinese society. Our findings will be useful for researchers conducting interdisciplinary studies of multimodal analysis and social semiotics, media and communications as well as advertising and marketing, with a focus on an increasingly globalised China.

Author：Xia, YZ;Feng, J;Zhang, BL

Abstract:Vehicle Logo Recognition(VLR) has been an important study field in intelligent Transportation system (ITS). This paper proposes to recognize vehicle logo and predict logo attributes by combining Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with Multi-Task Learning(MTL). In order to accelerate convergence of multi-task model, an adaptive weight training strategy is employed. To verify the algorithm, the Xiamen University Vehicle logo recognition dataset is extended into a larger vehicle logo dataset including 15 brands, 6 visual attributes and 3 no-visual attributes. The experiment results indicate that the proposed multi-task CNN model perform well for both of logo classification and attribution prediction with overall accuracy 98.14 %%.

Author：Wang, X. ; Yuan, F. ; Chen, M. ; He, J. ; Wang, P. ; Yu, Y. ; Li, J.

Abstract:Compared with traditional structures, lattice components produced by additive manufacturing have an outstanding mechanical performance with ultra-low density per unit. This lattice structure consisting of periodic unit cells can carry loads in tension or compression. In this study, the numerical simulation is used to explore the effect of the metal coating on the lattice units, and the experiment has been conducted to validate the mechanical properties of metal-coated lattice structure. The results of the simulation indicate that the coating technology can enhance the relative stiffness to density for lattice structures. Nevertheless, the experimental results exhibit the controversial conclusion, which was possibly caused by plating technologies for lattice with thin rods. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, London.

Author：Wang, PW;Zong, L

Abstract:This paper aims to investigate the crisis linkage and transmission channels within the housing, stock, interest rate and the currency markets in the U.S. and China in the past decade since the 2008 Subprime Mortgage Crisis. Two hybrid models, namely the SWARCH-EVT-Copula and the Bivariate SWARCH-EVT models, are proposed and applied in order to take into account (A) the high/low volatility regimes, (B) the interdependence structure inherited from the joint tail behaviours, as well as, (C) the risk spillover dynamics among financial sectors during market turmoils. We empirically show that the housing and stock markets share the strongest linkage and play central roles in the spreading of shocks. With a highly integrated system, the American financial sectors are under greater exposure to risk contagion and systemic risk during crises than the Chinese markets. Nevertheless, the exchange rate risk of Renminbi remains at an intensive level since its "crawl-like arrangement" and leads to increasing co-movements in the stock and interest rate markets since 2014.

Author：Yang, G;Xiao, M;Alam, M;Huang, YM

Abstract:The heterogeneous network (HetNet) is a key enabler to largely boost network coverage and capacity in the forthcoming 5G and beyond. To support the explosively growing mobile data volumes, wireless communications with millimeter-wave (mmWave) radios have attracted massive attention, and is widely considered as a promising candidate in 5G HetNets. In this article, we give an overview on the end-to-end latency of HetNets with mmWave communications. In general, it is rather challenging to formulate and optimize the delay problem with buffers in mmWave communications, since conventional graph-based network optimization techniques are not applicable when queues are considered. Toward this end, we develop an adaptive low-latency strategy, which uses cooperative networking to reduce the end-to-end latency. Then we evaluate the performance of the introduced strategy. Results reveal the importance of proper cooperative networking in reducing the end-to-end latency. In addition, we have identified several challenges in future research for low-latency mmWave HetNets.

Author：Yuan, TM;Vadde, KK;Tonkin, JD;Wang, JJ;Lu, J;Zhang, ZM;Zhang, YX;McCarthy, AJ;Sekar, R

Abstract:Urbanization is increasing worldwide and is happening at a rapid rate in China in line with economic development. Urbanization can lead to major changes in freshwater environments through multiple chemical and microbial contaminants. We assessed the impact of urbanization on physicochemical characteristics and microbial loading in canals in Suzhou, a city that has experienced rapid urbanization in recent decades. Nine sampling locations covering three urban intensity classes (high, medium and low) in Suzhou were selected for field studies and three locations in Huangshan (natural reserve) were included as pristine control locations. Water samples were collected for physicochemical, microbiological and molecular analyses. Compared to medium and low urbanization sites, there were statistically significant higher levels of nutrients and total and thermotolerant coliforms (or fecal coliforms) in highly urbanized locations. The effect of urbanization was also apparent in the abundances of human-associated fecal markers and bacterial pathogens in water samples from highly urbanized locations. These results correlated well with land use types and anthropogenic activities at the sampling sites. The overall results indicate that urbanization negatively impacts water quality, providing high levels of nutrients and a microbial load that includes fecal markers and pathogens.

Author：Liu, TQ;Lawluvy, Y;Shi, Y;Ighalo, JO;He, YD;Zhang, YJ;Yap, PS

Abstract:Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) contaminations are disturbing environmental issues, which cause serious harm to aqueous systems and human health. Therefore, removing them from aqueous solution is essential to prevent their damage to the environment. Environmental adsorption research as one solution is promising and has been getting a lot of attention in the recent years. Using modified biochar has proved to be more suitable for the adsorption of cadmium and lead. In this review, the sources of cadmium and lead in the environment and their hazards have been elucidated. In addition, the preparation methods of modified biochar to remove Cd and Pb have been discussed. This review also presents the adsorption kinetics and isotherms results for the adsorption of Cd and Pb from aqueous solution using modified biochar. The effect of experimental parameters and adsorption mechanisms are also discussed in order to understand the adsorption performances of modified biochar in great detail. The adsorption mechanisms were surface precipitation, surface complexation, ion exchange, chelation, electrostatic attraction, inner sphere complexation, redox and physical adsorption. The adsorption was mainly endothermic and spontaneous. Additionally, the results on the regeneration of modified biochar are presented to provide a direction for sustainable improvement. Finally, this review article also provides the challenges, prospects and future perspectives of adsorption of cadmium and lead from aqueous solutions using the modified biochar.

Author：Yang, J;Jia, LM;Fu, YX;Lu, SF

Abstract:Based on the characteristics of freight train control, which are nonlinear, time-delay, with multi-constraint and multiobjective, this paper focuses on speed tracking problem. Firstly, in a gradual process, a multi-modal fuzzy PID (MM-FPID) control algorithm is presented on the basis of a brief analysis of PI and PID control, which is generally used to train control in active services. Secondly, in order to deal with the time-delay problem of freight train, the paper adopts an approach of traction force feed-forward, which greatly improves the dynamic performance of the controller. Thirdly, for the overspeed brake problem caused by speed overshoot, the strategy of adaptive traction force limitation is adopted, and we get satisfactory results without increasing the safety speed margin. Fourthly, inspired by the selflearning characteristic of neural networks (NNs), an integrated controller of MM-FPID and NNs is proposed. Finally, with the help of a computer simulation platform, the paper puts forward a set of simulations, comparing the MM-FPID and the integrated control method with classical PID and fuzzy control. The results show that both MM-FPID and the integrated controller has satisfactory control effect, and their multi-modal structure makes it easy to fit different applications well, while the integrated controller has more potential in self-learning.

Author：Wu, CL;Chung, H;Liu, ZY;Kim, I

Abstract:In recent years, many cities around the world have implemented bike-sharing programs. A number of studies on the relationship between the built environment and bike usage have provided important insights into understanding bike-sharing systems. However, the effects of the built environment on the structural properties of bike-sharing networks are seldom discussed in the literature. This research proposes a novel and interdisciplinary framework to explore how built environment factors affect the topological properties of bike-sharing networks. Firstly, this research applies a complex network approach to quantify the importance of bike stations in the network. Then, multisource data are utilized to identify comprehensive built environment attributes. Finally, spatial regression models are used to reveal the relationship between the importance of bike stations and built environment. In this study, the bike-sharing system in Suzhou, China, is taken as a case study. The empirical result shows that the importance of bike stations displays strong spatial dependence. Also, built environment attributes such as resident population, accessibility to subway stations, the capacity of bike stations, and the total length of main roads within a catchment area have different effects on the importance of bike stations. It should be noted that the floating population and the number of bus stops surrounding bike stations do not have strong correlations with the importance of bike stations. The findings of this study can guide urban planners and operators to improve the service quality and resilience of bike-sharing systems.

Author：Pan, BY;Zhang, Q;Zhou, H;Ma, ZF

Abstract:The presence of autoimmune thyroid condition could lead to thyroid dysfunction in adults. In addition, thyroid antibody positivity has been suggested to be associated with hyperuricemia, diabetes and obesity in individuals with thyroid autoimmune diseases. Currently, there are limited studies that assessed the relationship of thyroid antibody with the components of metabolic syndrome in adults, especially from iodine-sufficient regions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of components of metabolic syndrome in Chinese adults with autoimmune thyroid condition. Medical records of adult inpatients in the Suzhou Ninth People's Hospital, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, from January 2016 to September 2019 were reviewed and included after screening for eligibility. A total of 1105 participants were included in our final analysis, and of these, 77.5%% (n= 856) were females. There was a higher prevalence of thyroid antibodies in females than males (30.6%% vs. 23.7%%) (p= 0.034). Although there were significant differences in mean TSH, FT3 and FT4 values between participants positive and negative for thyroid antibodies, these values were still within the normal reference range. No differences in the mean BMI, prevalence of diabetes, hyperuricemia, hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia between participants positive and negative for thyroid antibodies were reported (p> 0.05). In conclusion, our study reported that participants positive for thyroid antibodies did not appear to be accompanied by abnormal thyroid function, lipid profile, uric acid and glucose concentrations.

Author：Zhang, DQ;Li, MJ;Ji, X;Wu, J;Dong, YL

Abstract:Purpose The purpose of this paper is to generate quantitative managerial insights for the improvement of the energy-saving potential and the coordinated development between economic growth and environmental protection. Design/methodology/approach A novel data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, based on the classical DEA theory, is developed from the perspective of emission reduction. Findings The empirical results indicate that China's overall environmental efficiency is low and that there is huge improvement space for energy saving. Under the concerns of emission reduction, the energy-saving potential of the central region exceeds that of both the eastern and western regions. With regard to water, electricity and gas consumption, the electricity-saving potential exceeds the potential for both water saving and gas saving. Originality/value Previous studies rarely focused on the energy-saving potential, while considering environmental pollution. This paper applies a novel DEA method to evaluate the energy-saving potential of 30 Chinese provinces for 2015 with a focus on emission reduction concerns. Furthermore, both regional differences and energy type differences of the saving potential were analyzed.

Author：Shi, HC;Wen, HQ;Chen, J;Hu, YH;Jiang, L;Chen, GP;Ma, JM

Abstract:As key component for the flexible dc distributed power system, the dual active bridge (DAB)-converter-based solid-state transformer (SST) with high efficiency for a wide operating range is essential. However, with the traditional phase-shift control, high backflow power and current stress will significantly affect the conversion efficiency. In this paper, the backflow power characteristics in both sides of DAB-based SST converters are comprehensively analyzed. On this basis, complete transmission power, backflow power, and peak current mathematical models are established. Then, a minimum-backflow-power-based extended-phase-shift control strategy is proposed with the determination of optimal phase-shift pairs by using the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker function for various scenarios. The backflow power and current stress curves with different algorithms are compared. It shows the proposed control can improve the output power regulation flexibility, minimize the backflow power, and improve the efficiency in wide operating range. Finally, a DAB-based SST prototype was developed and the experimental results verified the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Author：Abid, F;Li, C;Alam, M

Abstract:Subjectivity detection in the text is essential for sentiment analysis, which requires many techniques to perceive unanticipated means of communication. Few accomplishments adapted to capture the syntactic, semantic, and contextual sentimental information via distributed word representations (DWRs)(1). This paper, concatenating the DWRs through a weighted mechanism on Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) variants joint with Convolutional Neural network (CNN) distinctively involving weighted attentive pooling (WAP)(2). Whereas, CNNs with traditional pooling operations comprise many layers merely able to capture enough features. Our considerations empower the sentiment analysis over DWRs contains Word2vec, FastText, and GloVe to produce dense efficient concatenated representation (DECR)(3) to hold long term dependencies on a single RNN layer acquired by Parts of Speech Tagging (POS) explicitly with verbs, adverbs, and noun only. Then use these representations gained in a way, inputted to CNN contain single convolution layer engaging WAP on multi-source social media data to handle the issues of syntactic and semantic regularities as well as out of vocabulary (OOV) words. Experimentations demonstrate that DWRs together with proposed concatenation qualified in resolving the mentioned issues by moderate hyper-parameter configurations. Our architecture devoid of stacking multiple layers achieved modest accuracy of 89.67%% by DECR-Bi-GRU-CNN (WAP) on IMDB as compared to random initialization 81.11%% on SST.

Author：Su, M;Si, YF;Zhou, ZL;Shen, C;Dong, WY;Fan, XJ;Wang, X;Wei, XL

Abstract:Background: Hypertension has become a global health challenge given its high prevalence and but low awareness and detection. Whether the actual prevalence of hypertension has been estimated is important, especially for the poor. This study aimed to measure tested prevalence and self-reported prevalence of hypertension and compare the inequity between them in China. Methods: Data were derived from China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) conducted in 2011. By using the multistage, stratified, random sampling method, 12,168 respondents aged 18 or older were identified for analysis. Both tested prevalence (systolic blood pressure >= 140 mmHg or/and diastolic blood pressure >= 90 mmHg or /and current use any of antihypertensive medication) and self-reported prevalence (ever diagnosed with hypertension by a doctor) were used to measure the prevalence of hypertension. The concentration index was employed to measure the extent of inequality in tested prevalence and self-reported prevalence. A decomposition method, based on a Probit model, was used to analyze income-related horizontal inequity of tested prevalence and self-reported prevalence. Results: The tested prevalence and self-reported prevalence of total respondents were 28.8%% [95%% CI (28.0%%, 29.6%%)] and 15.7%% [95%% CI (15.0%%, 16.3%%)], and 26.4%% [95%% CI (25.1%%, 27.6%%)] and 19.0%% [95%% CI (17.9%%, 20.1%%)] in urban areas, and 30.3%% [95%% CI (29.3%%, 31.4%%)] and 13.5%% [95%% CI (12.7%%, 14.3%%)] in rural areas. The horizontal inequity indexes of mean tested prevalence and self-reported prevalence were - 0.0494 and 0.1203 of total respondents, - 0.0736 and 0. 0748 in urban area, and - 0.0177 and 0.0466 in rural area respectively, indicating pro-poor inequity in tested prevalence and pro-rich inequity in self-reported prevalence of hypertension. Economic status, education attainment and age were key factors of the pro-poor inequity in tested prevalence. Economic status, area and age were key factors to explain the poor-rich inequity in self-reported prevalence. Conclusions: This study revealed self-reported prevalence of hypertension was much lower than tested prevalence in China, while a larger gap between self-reported and tested prevalence was found in rural areas. Our study suggested social strategies aiming at narrowing economic gap and regional disparities, reducing educational inequity, and facilitating health conditions of the elderly should be implemented. Finally, awareness raising campaigns to test hypertension in rural area need be strengthened by health education programs and improving the access to public health service, especially for those who do not engage with regular health checkups.

Author：Carciofo, R;Yang, JY;Song, N;Du, F;Zhang, K

Abstract:The 44-item and 10-item Big Five Inventory (BFI) personality scales are widely used, but there is a lack of psychometric data for Chinese versions. Eight surveys (total N = 2,496, aged 18-82), assessed a Chinese-language BFI-44 and/or an independently translated Chinese-language BFI-10. Most BFI-44 items loaded strongly or predominantly on the expected dimension, and values of Cronbach's alpha ranged .698-. 807. Test-retest coefficients ranged .694-.770 (BFI-44), and .515-.873 (BFI-10). The BFI-44 and BFI-10 showed good convergent and discriminant correlations, and expected associations with gender (females higher for agreeableness and neuroticism), and age (older age associated with more conscientiousness and agreeableness, and also less neuroticism and openness). Additionally, predicted correlations were found with chronotype (morningness positive with conscientiousness), mindfulness (negative with neuroticism, positive with conscientiousness), and mind wandering/daydreaming frequency (negative with conscientiousness, positive with neuroticism). Exploratory analysis found that the Self-discipline facet of conscientiousness positively correlated with morningness and mindfulness, and negatively correlated with mind wandering/daydreaming frequency. Furthermore, Self-discipline was found to be a mediator in the relationships between chronotype and mindfulness, and chronotype and mind wandering/daydreaming frequency. Overall, the results support the utility of the BFI-44 and BFI-10 for Chinese-language big five personality research.

Author：Dong, WY;Gao, JM;Zhou, ZL;Bai, RH;Wu, Y;Su, M;Shen, C;Lan, X;Wang, X

Abstract:Background Lifestyle choices are important determinants of individual health. Few studies have investigated changes in health behaviors and preventive activities brought about by the 2007 implementation of Urban Resident Basic Health Insurance (URBMI) in China. This study, therefore, aimed to explore whether URBMI has reduced individuals' incentives to adopt healthy behaviors and utilize preventive care services. Methods Data were drawn from two waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Respondents were categorized according to their insurance situation before and after the URBMI reform in 2006 and 2011. Propensity score matching and difference-in-differences methods were used to measure levels of preventive care and behavior changes over time. Estimations were also made based on gender, self-reported health, and income. Results We found that URBMI implementation did not change residents' utilization of preventive care services or their smoking habits, drinking habits, or other risky behaviors overall. However, the likelihood of sedentariness did increase by five percentage points. Females tended to be more sedentary while males were less likely to drink soft drinks. Residents with poor self-reported health exercised less while those who reported good health were more likely to be sedentary. Low-and middle-income residents were likely to be sedentary while middle-income people tended to smoke after becoming insured. Conclusion Since URBMI implementation, some unhealthy behaviors like sedentariness have increased among those who were newly insured, and different subgroups have reacted differently. This suggests that the insurance design needs to be optimized and effective measures need to be adopted to help improve people's lifestyle choices.

Author：Carciofo, R

Abstract:Morningness (a preference for earlier rise and bed times) is associated with well-being, better sleep quality, and positive affect, while eveningness is associated with poor sleep quality, negative mood, maladaptive behaviours, and psychological disorder. The current study investigated: (1) whether eveningness is associated with more maladaptive metacognitive beliefs; (2) whether maladaptive metacognitive beliefs and sleep quality are related to associations between morningness-eveningness and affect. An online survey with questionnaire measures of morningness-eveningness, affect, sleep quality, and metacognitive beliefs was completed by 591 undergraduate students. More morningness correlated with more positive affect, while more eveningness correlated with more negative affect and poor sleep quality. Eveningness also showed small correlations with having less cognitive confidence and with metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollable thoughts. Mediation analysis showed that cognitive confidence and beliefs about uncontrollable thoughts, together with poor sleep quality (especially subjective sleep quality and daytime dysfunction), were mediators in the relationships between morningness-eveningness and both negative affect and positive affect. These findings suggest that metacognitive beliefs may be an important consideration in understanding the associations between morningness-eveningness and well-being.

Author：Pang, XY;Li, YQ;Yu, ZQ;Tang, SY;Dinnbier, F;Kroupa, P;Pasquato, M;Kouwenhoven, MBN

Abstract:We analyze the 3D morphology and kinematics of 13 open clusters (OCs) located within 500 pc of the Sun, using Gaia EDR 3 and kinematic data from the literature. Members of OCs are identified using the unsupervised machine-learning method STARGO, using five parameters (X, Y, Z, mu(alpha) cos delta, mu(delta)). The OC sample covers an age range of 25 Myr to 2.65 Gyr. We correct the asymmetric distance distribution that is due to parallax error using Bayesian inversion. The uncertainty in the corrected distance for a cluster at 500 pc is 3.0-6.3 pc, depending on the intrinsic spatial distribution of its members. We determine the 3D morphology of the OCs in our sample and fit the spatial distribution of stars within the tidal radius in each cluster with an ellipsoid model. The shapes of the OCs are well described with oblate spheroids (NGC 2547, NGC 2516, NGC 2451A, NGC 2451B, and NGC 2232), prolate spheroids (IC 2602, IC 4665, NGC 2422, Blanco 1, and Coma Berenices), or triaxial ellipsoids (IC 2391, NGC 6633, and NGC 6774). The semimajor axis of the fitted ellipsoid is parallel to the Galactic plane for most clusters. Elongated filament-like substructures are detected in three young clusters (NGC 2232, NGC 2547, and NGC 2451B), while tidal-tail-like substructures (tidal tails) are found in older clusters (NGC 2516, NGC 6633, NGC 6774, Blanco 1, and Coma Berenices). Most clusters may be supervirial and expanding. N-body models of rapid gas expulsion with a star formation efficiency of approximate to 1/3 are consistent with clusters more massive than 250M(circle dot), while clusters less massive than 250M(circle dot) tend to agree with adiabatic gas expulsion models. Only five OCs (NGC 2422, NGC 6633, NGC 6774, Blanco 1, and Coma Berenices) show clear signs of mass segregation.