Cerebral microbleeds and cognitive decline in a hemodialysis patient: Case report and review of literature

Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are small hemosiderin deposits indicative of prior cerebral microscopic hemorrhage and previously thought to be clinically silent. Recent population‐based cross‐sectional studies and prospective longitudinal cohort studies have revealed association between CMB and cognitive dysfunction. In the general population, CMBs are associated with age, hypertension, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. In the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population, diminished estimated glomerular filtration rate has been found to be an independent risk factor for CMB, raising the possibility that a uremic milieu may predispose to microbleeds. In the end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) population on hemodialysis, the incidence of microbleeds is significantly higher compared with a control group without history of CKD or stroke. We present an ESRD patient on chronic hemodialysis with a history of gradual cognitive decline and progressive CMBs. Through this case and literature review, we illustrate the need to develop detection and prediction models to treat this frequent development in ESRD patients.     

Effect of coupling agent content on properties of composites made from polylactic acid and chrysanthemum waste

Chrysanthemum flower is among one of the highly sought after and widely planted flower crops, in particular for cultural and religious ceremonies. However, the chrysanthemum stem and stalk have little value and usually discard as by‐product waste from floristry. The objective of this research is to investigate the potential value of utilizing chrysanthemum stem and stalk as reinforcing fillers for thermoplastic composites. In this study, 2‐mm thick composite sheet containing predefined formulations of polylactic acid (PLA), chrysanthemum waste filler (CWF) ranging from 15 to 60 phr, and maleated polyethylene (MAPE) coupling agent up to 5 phr were prepared with the aid of Haake internal mixer and compression molding. The effect of MAPE loading on tensile, thermal, and morphological properties of PLA/CWF composites was investigated. The findings revealed that PLA/CWF composite attained improved tensile modulus compared to the neat PLA, and the tensile modulus increases with higher concentration of CWF. However, both tensile strength and elongation at break reduces with increase loading of CWF. Overall, PLA/CWF composites with MAPE shows better performance compared to those without MAPE, where an optimum strength of 21.8 MPa can be achieved with 60 phr CW and 3 phr MAPE. The measured tensile strength is comparable to alternatives natural fiber thermoplastic composites demonstrating its potential to be used in non‐structurally demanding application. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 26:10–16, 2020. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Integrated Personal Mobility Architecture: A Complete Personal Mobility Solution

The high expectations and demand for users to access the Internet from anywhere at anytime has made user mobility an important part of the design and development of the next generation mobile communications and computing. Traditionally user mobility has been divided into two areas: Terminal Mobility and Personal Mobility. In recent years terminal mobility has focused on the movement of the terminal and developed extensions to IP protocols such as Mobile IP. In contrast, personal mobility has only received limited attention, and is somewhat lagging behind. This research has either focussed on personal mobility in communications or personalisation of operating environments. As a result, to date no framework for providing true personal mobility has emerged. In this paper, we introduce a new personal mobility framework called IPMoA (Integrated Personal Mobility Architecture), which integrates both aspects of personal mobility to provide a complete personal mobility solution, and illustrate the viability of this approach through a proof-of-concept implementation.     

Picture-Neutrosophic Trusted Safe Semi-Supervised Fuzzy Clustering for Noisy Data

Clustering is a crucial method for deciphering data structure and producing new information. Due to its significance in revealing fundamental connections between the human brain and events, it is essential to utilize clustering for cognitive research. Dealing with noisy data caused by inaccurate synthesis from several sources or misleading data production processes is one of the most intriguing clustering difficulties. Noisy data can lead to incorrect object recognition and inference. This research aims to innovate a novel clustering approach, named Picture-Neutrosophic Trusted Safe Semi-Supervised Fuzzy Clustering (PNTS3FCM), to solve the clustering problem with noisy data using neutral and refusal degrees in the definition of Picture Fuzzy Set (PFS) and Neutrosophic Set (NS). Our contribution is to propose a new optimization model with four essential components: clustering, outlier removal, safe semi-supervised fuzzy clustering and partitioning with labeled and unlabeled data. The effectiveness and flexibility of the proposed technique are estimated and compared with the state-of-art methods, standard Picture fuzzy clustering (FC-PFS) and Confidence-weighted safe semi-supervised clustering (CS3FCM) on benchmark UCI datasets. The experimental results show that our method is better at least 10/15 datasets than the compared methods in terms of clustering quality and computational time.     

Optimization of sodium sulfide treatment of rice straw to increase the enzymatic hydrolysis in bioethanol production

The efficiency of sodium sulfide-assisted alkaline pulping for cellulose preparation from Oryza sativa L. rice straw in Vietnam for enzymatic saccharification was investigated. The response surface methodology was used for the determination of optimal technological parameters of alkaline pulping such as active alkali dosage, temperature and time. The optimal technological parameters were established to be active alkali dosage of 7%, treatment temperature of 100 °C and treatment time of 120 min. At these regimes, a maximal sugar yield of 51.8% (over dry rice straw) was obtained. It meant that the saccharification efficiency up to 97.1% could be achieved by using sodium sulfide-assisted alkaline pretreatment method. Addition of sodium sulfide into alkaline pretreatment resulted in higher sugar yield, higher level of depolymerization of lignin and less loss of cellulose. Moreover, liquid hydrolyzate after enzymatic hydrolysis was analyzed by HPLC to determine the compositions of sugar mixture. The fiber morphology in pretreated biomass solid was also revealed by SEM.     

A generalized layerwise higher-order shear deformation theory for laminated composite and sandwich plates based on isogeometric analysis

This paper presents a generalized layerwise higher-order shear deformation theory for laminated composite and sandwich plates. We exploit a higher-order shear deformation theory in each layer such that the continuity of the displacement and transverse shear stresses at the layer interfaces is ensured. Thanks for enforcing the continuity of the displacement and transverse shear stresses at an inner-laminar layer, the minimum number of variables is retained from the present theory in comparison with other layerwise theories. The method requires only five variables, the same as what obtained from the first- and higher-order shear deformation theories. In comparison with the shear deformation theories based on the equivalent single layer, the present theory is capable of producing a higher accuracy for inner-laminar layer shear stresses. The free boundary conditions of transverse shear stresses at the top and bottom surfaces of the plate are fulfilled without any shear correction factors. The discrete system equations are derived from the Galerkin weak form, and the solution is obtained by isogeometric analysis (IGA). The discrete form requires the C¹ continuity of the transverse displacement, and hence NURBS basis functions in IGA naturally ensure this condition. The laminated composite and sandwich plates with various geometries, aspect ratios, stiffness ratios and boundary conditions are studied. The obtained results are compared with the 3D elasticity solution, the analytical as well as numerical solutions based on various plate theories.     

Practical advanced analysis software for nonlinear inelastic analysis of space steel structures

This paper presents a practical advanced analysis software which can be used for nonlinear inelastic analysis of space steel structures. The software employs the stability functions and the refined plastic hinge model to minimize modeling and computational time. The generalized displacement control method is adopted to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations. This algorithm can accurately trace the equilibrium path of the nonlinear problem with multiple limit points and snap-back points. A user-friendly graphic interface of the software is developed to facilitate the modeling process and result interpretation of the problem. Several numerical examples are presented to verify the accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed software by comparing the results predicted by the present software with those given by the ABAQUS and other available results.     

Mechanical properties of continuous bamboo fiber-reinforced biobased polyamide 11 composites

This study is devoted to the analysis of the properties of continuous bamboo fiber (BF)-reinforced polyamide 11 (PA 11) composites. The SEM observations highlighted continuity between BFs and the polymeric matrix showing a high density of hydrogen bonds. The comparative calorimetric study of the matrix and its composites showed that the crystallinity of PA 11 was not modified by the presence of bamboo fibers. The physical aging observed in PA 11 is no more observed in composites due to physical interactions between PA 11 and BFs. The mechanical properties were investigated by tensile strength and dynamic mechanical analysis. The introduction of BFs enhanced Young's modulus of the matrix by a factor of 10. The presence of BFs also improved the storage shear modulus G′ over the whole temperature range. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47623.