Reference values of gait parameters in healthy Chinese university students: A cross-sectional observational study

BACKGROUND Gait is influenced by race,age,and diseases type.Reference values for gait are closely related to numerous health outcomes.To gain a comprehensive understanding of gait patterns,particularly in relation to race-related pathologies and disorders,it is crucial to establish reference values for gait in daily life considering sex and age.Therefore,our objective was to present sex and age-based reference values for gait in daily life,providing a valuable foundation for further research and clinical applications.AIM To establish reference values for lower extremity joint kinematics and kinetics during gait in asymptomatic adult women and men.METHODS Spatiotemporal,kinematics and kinetics parameters were measured in 171 healthy adults(70 males and 101 females)using the computer-aided soft tissue foot model.Full curve statistical parametric mapping was performed using independent and paired-samples t-tests.RESULTS Compared with females,males required more time(cycle time,double-limb support time,stance time,swing time,and stride time),and the differences were statistically significant.In addition,the step and stride lengths of males were longer.Compared to males,female cadence was faster,and statures-per-second and stride-per-minute were higher.There were no statistical differences in speed and stride width between the two groups.After adjusting for height,it was observed that women walked significantly faster than men,and they also had a higher cadence.However,in terms of step length,stride length,and stride width,both genders exhibited similarities.CONCLUSION We established reference values for gait speed and spatiotemporal gait parameters in Chinese university students.This contributes to a valuable database for gait assessment and evaluation of preventive or rehabilitative programs.

Effect of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) on Growth, Mineral Composition, and Nutritional Value of Wheat & Lentil Sprouts

Sprouts are ready-to-eat and are recognized worldwide as functional components of the human diet.Recent advances in innovative agricultural techniques could enable an increase in the production of healthy food.The use of light-emitting diode(LED)in indoor agricultural production could alter the biological feedback loop,increasing the functional benefits of plant foods such as wheat and lentil sprouts and promoting the bioavailability of nutrients.The effects of white(W),red(R),and blue(B)light were investigated on the growth parameters and nutritional value of wheat and lentil sprouts.In the laboratory,seeds were sown under three different LED treat-ments:white,red,and blue light,while normal incandescent light served as a control.Percentage seed germina-tion improved by 18.34%and 12.67%for wheat and 18.34%and 12.67%for lentil sprouts under LED treatments R and B,respectively.An increase in total soluble protein and sugar by 33.4%and 9.23%in wheat and by 31.5%and 5.87%in lentils was observed under the R LED treatment.Vitamin C concentrations in wheat and lentils were significantly increased by R LED compared to all other treatments.Other parameters,including potassium and sodium concentrations,were significantly increased under red and blue light compared to the control;white light,on the other hand,significantly decreased all these parameters.According to the experimental data,red and blue LED light could be beneficial in the production of functional wheat and lentil sprouts with high nutrient concentrations.

Quantitative parameters in novel spectral computed tomography:Assessment of Ki-67 expression in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND The level of Ki-67 expression has served as a prognostic factor in gastric cancer.The quantitative parameters based on the novel dual-layer spectral detector computed tomography(DLSDCT)in discriminating the Ki-67 expression status are unclear.AIM To investigate the diagnostic ability of DLSDCT-derived parameters for Ki-67 expression status in gastric carcinoma(GC).METHODS Dual-phase enhanced abdominal DLSDCT was performed preoperatively in 108 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma.Primary tumor monoenergetic CT attenuation value at 40-100 kilo electron volt(kev),the slope of the spectral curve(λ_(HU)),iodine concentration(IC),normalized IC(nIC),effective atomic number(Z^(eff))and normalized Z^(eff)(nZ^(eff))in the arterial phase(AP)and venous phase(VP)were retrospectively compared between patients with low and high Ki-67 expression in gastric adenocarcinoma.Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze the association between the above parameters and Ki-67 expression status.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis was performed to compare the diagnostic efficacy of the statistically significant parameters between two groups.RESULTS Thirty-seven and 71 patients were classified as having low and high Ki-67 expression,respectively.CT_(40 kev-VP),CT_(70 kev-VP),CT_(100 kev-VP),and Z^(eff)-related parameters were significantly higher,but IC-related parameters were lower in the group with low Ki-67 expression status than the group with high Ki-67 expression status,and other analyzed parameters showed no statistical difference between the two groups.Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that CT_(40 kev-VP),CT_(70 kev-VP),CT_(100 kev-VP),Z^(eff),and n Z^(eff) exhibited a negative correlation with Ki-67 status,whereas IC and nIC had positive correlation with Ki-67 status.The ROC analysis demonstrated that the multi-variable model of spectral parameters performed well in identifying the Ki-67 status[area under the curve(AUC)=0.967;sensitivity 95.77%;specificity 91.89%)].Nevertheless,the differentiating capabilities of singlevariable model were moderate(AUC value 0.630-0.835).In addition,the nZ_(VP)^(eff) and nIC_(VP)(AUC 0.835 and 0.805)showed better performance than CT_(40 kev-VP),CT_(70 kev-VP) and CT_(100 kev-VP)(AUC 0.630,0.631 and 0.662)in discriminating the Ki-67 status.CONCLUSION Quantitative spectral parameters are feasible to distinguish low and high Ki-67 expression in gastric adenocarcinoma.Z^(eff) and IC may be useful parameters for evaluating the Ki-67 expression.

Interpretable machine learning optimization(InterOpt)for operational parameters:A case study of highly-efficient shale gas development

An algorithm named InterOpt for optimizing operational parameters is proposed based on interpretable machine learning,and is demonstrated via optimization of shale gas development.InterOpt consists of three parts:a neural network is used to construct an emulator of the actual drilling and hydraulic fracturing process in the vector space(i.e.,virtual environment);:the Sharpley value method in inter-pretable machine learning is applied to analyzing the impact of geological and operational parameters in each well(i.e.,single well feature impact analysis):and ensemble randomized maximum likelihood(EnRML)is conducted to optimize the operational parameters to comprehensively improve the efficiency of shale gas development and reduce the average cost.In the experiment,InterOpt provides different drilling and fracturing plans for each well according to its specific geological conditions,and finally achieves an average cost reduction of 9.7%for a case study with 104 wells.

Assessment on Evaluating Parameters of Rice Core Collections Constructed by Genotypic Values and Molecular Marker Information

Eleven evaluating parameters for rice core collection were assessed based on genotypic values and molecular marke＇ information. Monte Carlo simulation combined with mixed linear model was used to eliminate the interference from environment in order to draw more reliable results. The coincidence rate of range （CR） was the optimal parameter. Mean Simpson index （MD）, mean Shannon-Weaver index of genetic diversity （M1） and mean polymorphism information content （MPIC） were important evaluating parameters. The variable rate of coefficient of variation （VR） could act as an important reference parameter for evaluating the variation degree of core collection. Percentage of polymorphic loci （p） could be used as a determination parameter for the size of core collection. Mean difference percentage （MD） was a determination parameter for the reliability judgment of core collection. The effective evaluating parameters for core collection selected in the research could be used as criteria for sampling percentage in different plant germplasm populations.

Determination of indices and critical values of gas parameters of the first gas outburst in a coal seam of the Xieqiao Mine

Based on the important role in mine safety played by parameters of the first gas outburst, we propose a method of combining historic data, theoretical analysis and experimental research for the purpose of crit- ical values of gas parameters of the first gas outburst in a coal seam of the Xieqiao Mine. According to a characteristic analysis and a summary of the rules of coal and gas outbursts in the No.8 coal seam of a Hua- inan mine, we have investigated their effect on coal and gas outbursts in terms such as ground stress, gas, and coal structure. We have selected gas parameters and determined the critical values of each of the fol- lowing indices： gas content as 7.7 m^3/t, tectonic coal as 0.8 m thick, the absolute gas emission as 2 m3/min, the rate of change as 0.7 m3/min, the gas desorption index of a drilling chip KI as 0.26 mL/（g min^1/2） and the values of desorption indexes Ah2 as 200 Pa. From a verification of the production, the results indicate that application of each index and their critical values significantly improve the level of safety in the pro- duction process, relieve the burden upon the mine, save much labor and bring clear economic benefits.

The Akp-Btk value method and the resultsfor the retrieval of the parameters of the Earth's free core nutation

The rotation of the Earth's liquid core creates the Nearly Diurnal Free Wobble (NDFW). It is one of the problems of researching the Earth's liquid core for us to retrieve the parameters of the Earth's Free Core Nutation (FCN),from the Earth's liquid core resonance of gravity tide waves on the diurnal frequency band. Since 1987, some scientists in many different countries have come to calculate the parameters of FCN by using the observational data of gravity tide waves on the diumal frequency band. They basically followed the Stacking method, which needed five diurnal waves for the resolution. In this paper, authors introduced the Aky-Btk value method with clearly geometrical meaning as a new method, which only requires three very high signal-noise-ratio waves o1, K1 and P1 for the resolution. Authors chose the observational data of the three superconducting gravimeter stations respectively located in Cantley of Canada, Wuhan of China and Brussels of Belgium, to compute the parameters of FCN. It was the first time that the observational results of the parameters of FCN obtained from gravitational tide were in accord with the parameters of FCN gained from VLBI since 1987.

SINGULAR PERTURBATION OF BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEM FOR QUASILINEAR THIRD-ORDER ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS INVOLVING TWO SMALL PARAMETERS

The singularly perturbed boundary value problem for quasilinear third-order ordinary differential equation involving two small parameters has been considered. For the three cases epsilon/mu (2) --> 0(mu --> 0), mu (2)/epsilon --> 0(epsilon --> 0) and epsilon = mu (2), the formal asymptotic solutions are constructed by the method of two steps expansions and the existences of solution are proved by using the differential inequality method. In addition, the uniformly valid estimations of the remainder term are given as well.

A METHOD OF ESTIMATING THE INFLUENCE OF EXPERIMENTAL ERRORS ON THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF MATERIAL PARAMETERS AND THE CRITERIA TO VALUE THIS INFLUENCE

In this paper the main sources causing the scatter of the experimental results of the material parameters are discussed. They can be divided into two parts: one is the experimental errors which are introduced because of the inaccuracy of experimental equipment, the experimental techniques, etc., and the form of the scatter caused by this source is called external distribution. The other is due to the irregularity and inhomogeneity of the material structure and the randomness of deformation process. The scatter caused by this source is inherent and then this form of the scatter is called internal distribution. Obviously the experimental distribution of material parameters combines these two distributions in some way; therefore, it is a sum distribution of the external distribution and the internal distribution. In view of this , a general method used to analyse the influence of the experimental errors on the experimental results is presented, and three criteria used to value this influence are defined. An example in which the fracture toughness KIC is analysed shows that this method is reasonable, convenient and effective.

Estimation of Higher Heating Value for MSW Using DSVM and BSOA

In recent decades,the generation of Municipal Solid Waste(MSW)is steadily increasing due to urbanization and technological advancement.The col-lection and disposal of municipal solid waste cause considerable environmental degradation,making MSW management a global priority.Waste-to-energy(WTE)using thermochemical process has been identified as the key solution in this area.After evaluating many automated Higher Heating Value(HHV)predic-tion approaches,an Optimal Deep Learning-based HHV Prediction(ODL-HHVP)model for MSW management has been developed.The objective of the ODL-HHVP model is to forecast the HHV of municipal solid waste,based on its oxy-gen,water,hydrogen,carbon,nitrogen,sulphur and ash constituents.In addition,the ODL-HHVP model contains a Deep Support Vector Machine(DSVM)regres-sion component that can accurately predict the HHV.In addition,the Beetle Swarm Optimization(BSO)method is utilised as a hyperparameter optimizer in conjunction with the DSVM model,resulting in the highest HHV prediction accu-racy.A comprehensive simulation study is conducted to validate the performance of the ODL-HHVP method.The Multiple Linear Regression(MLR),Genetic Pro-gramming(GP),Resilient backpropagation(RP),Levenberg Marquardt(LM)and DSVM approaches have attained an ineffective result with RMSEs of 4.360,2.870,3.590,3.100 and 3.050,respectively.The experimentalfindings demon-strate that the ODL-HHVP technique outperforms existing state-of-art technolo-gies in a variety of respects.

Dependence of sea surface drag coefficient on wind-wave parameters

The relationships between sea surface roughness z 0 and wind-wave parameters are analyzed,and spurious self-correlations are found in all of the parameterization schemes.Sea surface drag coefficient C D is fitted by four wind-wave parameters that are wave age,wave steepness,windsea Reynolds number R B and R H ,and the analyzed data are divided into laboratory,field and combined data sets respectively.Comparison and analysis of dependence of C D on wind-wave parameters show that R B can fit the C D most appropriately.Wave age and wave steepness are not suitable to fit C D with a narrow range data set.When the value of wave age has a board range,R H is not suitable to fit C D either.Three relationships between C D and R B are integrated into the bulk algorithm COARE to calculate the observational friction velocity,and the results show that the relationship between C D and R B which is fitted with field data set can describe the momentum transfer in the open ocean,under low-moderate wind speed condition,most appropriately.

Estimation of forest parameters based on TM imagery and statistical analysis

One of the primary forestry research interests lies in estimating forest stand parameters by applying empirical or semi-empirical model to establish the relationship between the forest stand parameters and remote sensing data. Using remote sensing image and the inventory data from 2 compartments in northeast Florida, U.S.A., this paper explored the correlation between forest stand parameters and Landsat TM spectral digital number （DN） value. Results showed that less than 50% of the total variance could be explained by linear regression models with only either a single band or such vegetation indices as vegetation index （VI） or normalized difference vegetation index （NDVI） as predicators. In consequence, multi-linear regression models which synthesized more predicators were introduced to estimate forest parameters. Regression results were tested in terms of the other group of data, and verification showed a better capability of explaining over 75% variance except for forest density. The weakness and further improvement of prediction models were also discussed in the article. This paper is expected to provide a better understanding of the relationship between TM spectral and forest characteristics

Properties and appropriate conditions of stress reduction factor and thermal shock resistance parameters for ceramics

Through introducing the analytical problem of the plate with convection into the solution of the transient heat conduction thermal stress field model of the elastic plate, the stress reduction factor is presented explicitly in its dimensionless form. A new stress reduction factor is introduced for the purpose of comparison. The proper- ties and appropriate conditions of the stress reduction factor, the first and second ther- mal shock resistance （TSR） parameters for the high and low Biot numbers, respectively, and the approximation formulas for the intermediate Blot number-interval are discussed. To investigate the TSR of ceramics more accurately, it is recommended to combine the heat transfer theory with the theory of thermoelasticity or fracture mechanics or use a numerical method. The critical rupture temperature difference and the critical rup- ture dimensionless time can be used to characterize the TSR of ceramics intuitively and legibly.

Variations in oxygen and some related pollution parameters in some streams in ITU Area of Nigeria

The analyses of water from four tributaries of Ikpa River: Afaha Nsai Stream (ANS), Ikot Ekpuk Stream (IES), Afaha Itam Stream(AIS) and Nduetong Stream (NDS) in International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Local Government Area of Akawa Ibom State in Nigeria were carried out using standard analytical procedures. The parameters investigated were temperature(Temp.), hydrogen ion concentration(pH), total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Correlation analysis carried out between pairs of variables showed that only the correlation coefficients between TDS and DO in ANS( p <0.05); Temp. and TDS in IES ( p <0.05) and between Temp. and TDS in AIS ( p <0.01) were significant. None of the pairs of the variables in NDS showed any significant correlation. The coefficients of variation for the parameters were also computed and used in determining their stability in the water. The possible effects of these variables on each other and on the aquatic ecosystem were discussed.

Inversion of source parameters for moderate and small earthquakes in Beijing region

According to the geological structural features, Beijing and the adjacent areas can be divided into two regions of plain in the east and mountain in the west. Among the stations covered by the telemetered digital seismic station network of Earthquake Administration of Beijing Municipality, the stations in the plain area are all borehole ones and the stations in the western mountainous region are all located on the surface bedrock. In the paper, 511 wave- form data recorded by the network from Oct. 2001 to Oct. 2004 are used in the researches for the entire Beijing region, the western mountainous region and the eastern plain area, respectively. The Q values are calculated for each area by Atkinson′s method and compared with the existed data. The reliability of the Q values and the reasons for the difference in the Q values are also discussed. Then, the source parameters and site response are inverted by the Moya′s method, in which two models are used. The first model uses the Q values, earthquakes and stations in the sub-areas and the second model uses the Q values, earthquakes and stations in the entire Beijing region. The results indicate that the source parameters and site responses obtained by two models are basically consistent with each other. It also indicates that the source parameters obtained by these methods are not affected by the size of station network.

RELATIONSHIP OF TARGET RECOGNITION PERFORMANCE AND RADAR WAVEFORM PARAMETERS

Target recognition performance can be affected by radar waveform parameters.In this paper,we established rigorous relationship between target recognition efficiency and the parameters of a repeatedly transmitted waveform.It is based on Kullback-Leibler Information Number of single observation(KLINs),which measures the dissimilarity between targets depicted by a range-velocity double spread density function in frequency domain.We considered two signal models which are different in the coherence of the observations.The method we proposed takes advantage of the methodology of sequential hypothesis test,and then the recognition performance in terms of correct classification rate is expressed by Receiver Operating Characteristic(ROC).Simulation results about the parameters of LFM signal show the validity of the method.

Quantifying the Influence of Road Geometric Parameters on Road Safety (Case Study: Hawassa-Shashemene-Bulbula Rural Two-Lane Highway, Ethiopia)

Road safety depends on humans, vehicles, and highway conditions. These factors influence road safety separately or in combination. Despite these facts, the police report indicated that only a single cause of accident has been reported for a given accident in Ethiopia and the number of accidents that had been caused by road defect accounted around 1% of total accidents per year, which underestimates its contribution to road accidents. Beside these facts, only a few studies were carried out in Ethiopia on this issue. Even though dangerous road segments were identified and ranked along the same study area of this paper in our previous publication, Hawassa-Shashemene-Bulbula two-lane rural highway, the influences of road geometric parameters on road safety were not correlated along this study area. Therefore, it is imperative to clarify the relationship between the expected number of traffic accidents and the geometric conditions of the road under study to reduce accidents and provide safe driving environment. The main objective of this study was to quantify the influence of road geometric parameters on road safety. Using historical accident data, traffic data, and road data, the expected numbers of accidents were estimated by using the empirical Bayes (EB) method. Then, the expected numbers of accidents have been correlated with one or more road geometric parameters at a time. Accordingly, the identified dangerous road segments in the previous publication (DOI: 10.4236/jtts.2018.83009) were further analyzed to estimate the influence of road geometric parameters on road safety based on expected accident frequency. The result of the analysis shows that the radius of horizontal curve, superelevation, transition curve length, lane and shoulder widths were negatively correlated with the expected frequencies of accidents. Whereas the numbers of horizontal and vertical curves per segment, grade of the road, the occurrence of left turn horizontal curves with down grade and right turn horizontal curves with upgrade were positively correlated with the expected number of accidents. Therefore, it has been concluded that the influence of road geometry has significant effect on the occurrence of accidents along this study area.

Estimation of Open Channel Flow Parameters by Using Genetic Algorithm

The present study involves estimation of open channel flow parameters having different bed materials invoking data of Gradual Varied Flow (GVF). Use of GVF data facilitates estimation of flow parameters. The necessary data base was generated by conducting laboratory. In the present study, the efficacy of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization technique is assessed in estimation of open channel flow parameters from the collected experimental data. Computer codes are developed to obtain optimal flow parameters Optimization Technique. Applicability, adequacy and robustness of the developed code are tested using sets of theoretical data generated by experimental work. A simulation model was developed to compute GVF depths at preselected discrete sections for given downstream head and discharge rate. This model is linked to an optimizer to estimate optimal value of decision variables. The proposed model is employed to a set of laboratory data for three bed materials. Application of proposed model reveals that optimal value of fitting parameter ranges from 1.42 to 1.48 as the material gets finer and optimal decision variable ranges from 0.015 to 0.024. The optimal estimates of Manning’s n of three different bed conditions of experimental channel appear to be higher than the corresponding reported/Strickler’s estimates.

A new approach for separating mixed model parameters:application to simultaneous inversion of earthquake source parameters

A method for simultaneous determination of mixed model parameters,which have different physical dimensions or different responses to data,is presented.Mixed parameter estimation from observed data within a single model space shows instabilities and trade-offs of the solutions. We separate the model space into N-subspaces based on their physical properties or computational convenience and solve the N-subspaces systems by damped least-squares and singular-value decomposition. Since the condition number of each subsystem is smaller than that of the single global system,the approach can greatly increase the stability of the inversion. We also introduce different damping factors into the subsystems to reduce the tradeoffs between the different parameters. The damping factors depend on the conditioning of the subsystems and may be adequately chosen in a range from 0.1 % to 10 % of the largest singular value. We illustrate the method with an example of simultaneous determination of source history,source geometry,and hypocentral location from regional seismograms,although it is applicable to any geophysical inversion.

Study on Uncertainties of Seismicity Parameters b and ν_4 in Seismic Statistical Zones

For several seismic statistical zones in North China, the key factors causing uncertainties in the important seismicity parameters b and v4 and the features of their uncertainties are discussed in this paper. The magnitude of uncertainty is also analyzed. It can be seen that the key influencing factors are statistical period, methods of processing statistical samples, lower limit magnitude and the annual average occurrence ratio of large earthquakes. The variation ranges of b and v4 in the Tancheng-Lujiang zone are as high as 0.2 and 1. 4 respectively, which are similar to those in the Fenwei zone. They are much smaller however in the Hebei zone because of its sufficient statistical samples.