Priority-MECE: A Mobile Edge Cloud Ecosystem Based on Priority Tasks Offloading

Mobile Networks and Applications - With the rapid development of Internet of things, the traditional city model is no longer applicable. Therefore, the emerging concept of smart city meets the...     

下扬子地区下志留统风暴沉积特征及风暴作用对泥页岩品质的影响

近年来在下扬子地区页岩气地质调查井所获取的地层岩心资料，揭示该地区下志留统风暴沉积较为发育。基于精细的岩心观察描述，详细分析了下扬子地区下志留统高家边组下段中上部风暴沉积的特征，并阐明了风暴作用对泥页岩的影响。研究表明：研究区风暴岩岩性偏细，以粉砂岩为主，石英含量较高，结构成熟度较低，具2种不同的粒度概率曲线；主要发育底部冲刷面、块状层理、平行层理、丘状交错层理、波纹交错层理、准同生变形构造等沉积构造；垂向上主要识别出4种风暴沉积序列，均具有从底到顶粒度变细的沉积特征，不同的沉积序列与风暴流能量的强弱有关。下扬子地区早志留世频繁的风暴活动与研究区的古地理背景和古气候条件具有内在联系。特大型风暴对浅海陆棚深水区的细粒泥质沉积物特征产生重要影响，包括降低有机质含量、减少单层厚度、破坏垂向连续性、改变原始沉积构造和侧向稳定性等，总体上降低了泥页岩的品质。因此，研究认为在页岩气的勘探和评价过程中应重视风暴因素对陆棚深水区原始泥质沉积物的影响。     

Cornus officinalis vinegar reduces body weight and attenuates hepatic steatosis in mouse model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

This study aimed to determine the main bioactive components of Cornus officinalis vinegar (COV) and assess the effects of COV on the body weight (BW) and hepatic steatosis in a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) mouse model. Seven-week-old KM female mice were divided into five treatment groups: (1) Normal control (NC) group, (2) high fat diet (HFD) group, (3) low concentration treatment group (3.5% COV), (4) medium concentration treatment group (5.0% COV), and (5) high concentration treatment group (6.5% COV). Mice in the NC group were fed with a normal chow diet, and those in the other four groups were fed with a HFD known for causing obesity for 10 weeks. Then, mice in the three COV treatment groups were orally administered with COV once a day for 6 weeks. Results showed that the contents of loganin and morroniside in COV reached 16.82 and 51.17 µg/ml, respectively, and COV also contained multiple organic acids. COV significantly reduced BW, abdominal fat weight, liver weight, and the levels of glucose, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of serum and increased the levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol of serum (p < 0.05). COV also improved the liver function and anti-oxidant activity of liver (p < 0.05). COV treatments increased the interleukin-10 expression and reduced the tumor necrosis factor-α expression in the liver tissue of NAFLD mice (p < 0.05). Histopathological observation revealed that COV suppressed hepatic lipid accumulation and steatosis. The results suggest that COV may contribute to the alleviation of NAFLD and obesity.     

A comprehensive review of image analysis methods for microorganism counting: from classical image processing to deep learning approaches

Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi play essential roles in many application fields, like biotechnique, medical technique and industrial domain. Microorganism counting techniques are crucial in microorganism analysis, helping biologists and related researchers quantitatively analyze the microorganisms and calculate their characteristics, such as biomass concentration and biological activity. However, traditional microorganism manual counting methods, such as plate counting method, hemocytometry and turbidimetry, are time-consuming, subjective and need complex operations, which are difficult to be applied in large-scale applications. In order to improve this situation, image analysis is applied for microorganism counting since the 1980s, which consists of digital image processing, image segmentation, image classification and suchlike. Image analysis-based microorganism counting methods are efficient comparing with traditional plate counting methods. In this article, we have studied the development of microorganism counting methods using digital image analysis. Firstly, the microorganisms are grouped as bacteria and other microorganisms. Then, the related articles are summarized based on image segmentation methods. Each part of the article is reviewed by methodologies. Moreover, commonly used image processing methods for microorganism counting are summarized and analyzed to find common technological points. More than 144 papers are outlined in this article. In conclusion, this paper provides new ideas for the future development trend of microorganism counting, and provides systematic suggestions for implementing integrated microorganism counting systems in the future. Researchers in other fields can refer to the techniques analyzed in this paper.

     

Diffusion and perfusion MRI parameters in the evaluation of placenta accreta spectrum disorders in patients with placenta previa

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - To evaluate the placental function by monoexponential, biexponential, and diffusion kurtosis MR imaging (MRI) in patients with...     

How scientific research incorporates policy: an examination using the case of China’s science and technology evaluation system

Scientometrics - Governments typically formulate sets of policies to guide the direction of scientific research. And the possible effects of these policies on scientific research have been...