Board-invited review: Sensitivity and responses of functional groups to feed processing methods on a molecular basis

In complex feed structures, there exist main chemical functional groups which are associated with nutrient utilization and availability and functionality. Each functional group has unique molecular structure therefore produce unique molecular vibration spectral profile. Feed processing has been used to improve nutrient utilization for many years. However, to date, there was little study on processing-induced changes of feed intrinsic structure and functional groups on a molecular basis within intact tissue. This is because limited research technique is available to study inherent structure on a molecular basis. Recently bioanalytical techniques： such as Synchrotron Infrared Microspectroscopy as well as Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform molecular spectroscopy have been developed. These techniques enable to detect molecular structure change within intact tissues. These techniques can prevent destruction or alteration of the intrinsic protein structures during processing for analysis. However, these techniques have not been used in animal feed and nutrition research. The objective of this review was show that with the advanced technique, sensitivity and responses of functional groups to feed processing on a molecular basis could be detected in my research team. These functional groups are highly associated with nutrient utilization in animals.

Infinity Norm Measurement of Sensitivity for Closed-Loop Systems Using Chirp as Excitation

A simple identification method based on a closed-loop experiment is proposed to measure the infinity norm of sensitivity function.A chirp signal,modified to have desired band-limited characteristic and finite duration,is used as the excitation in the experiment,and the sensitivity function is calculated using Fourier transform of input and error signals before the infinity norm is evaluated through maximization of the magnitude of sensitivity function.With an additional feature of providing values of gain margin and phase margin at a little extra effort,this method can be used in the identification step of a controller auto-tuning procedure,as having been supported by simulation results showing its capability of providing fast and accurate estimates for a large variety of processes.

A Security Sensitive Function Mining Approach Based on Precondition Pattern Analysis

Security-sensitive functions are the basis for building a taint-style vulnerability model.Current approaches for extracting security-sensitive functions either don’t analyze data flow accurately,or not conducting pattern analyzing of conditions,resulting in higher false positive rate or false negative rate,which increased manual confirmation workload.In this paper,we propose a security sensitive function mining approach based on preconditon pattern analyzing.Firstly,we propose an enhanced system dependency graph analysis algorithm for precisely extracting the conditional statements which check the function parameters and conducting statistical analysis of the conditional statements for selecting candidate security sensitive functions of the target program.Then we adopt a precondition pattern mining method based on conditional statements nomalizing and clustering.Functions with fixed precondition patterns are regarded as security-sensitive functions.The experimental results on four popular open source codebases of different scales show that the approach proposed is effective in reducing the false positive rate and false negative rate for detecting security sensitive functions.

Visual perception alterations in COVID-19:a preliminary study

AIM:To compare the visual perception(color and chromatic-achromatic contrast vision)of a small cohort of COVID-19 patients at the time of infection and after 6mo with that of a healthy population matched for sex and age.METHODS:A total of 25 patients(9 females,16 males,mean age:54±10y)with COVID-19 hospitalized in the COVID-19 Unit of the University Clinical Hospital of Valladolid were recruited for this preliminary study.Visual perception,as determined by monocular measurement of contrast sensitivity function(CSF)and color vision was assessed in each patient using the Optopad test.The results obtained were then compared with those of a sample of 16 age-and sex-matched healthy controls(5 females,11 males,mean age:50±6y)in which the same measurement procedure was repeated.Statistically significant differences between groups were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test.Measurements were repeated after a minimum follow-up period of 6mo and statistically significant differences between the two time points in each group were assessed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.RESULTS:Discrimination thresholds(color and chromatic-achromatic contrast vision)and their corresponding sensitivity,calculated as the inverse of the discrimination threshold,were evaluated.Analysis of the data revealed higher contrast threshold results(i.e.,worse contrast sensitivity)in the COVID-19 group than in the control group for all spatial frequencies studied in the Optopad-CSF achromatic test and most of the spatial frequencies studied in the Optopad-CSF chromatic test for the red-green and blue-yellow mechanisms.In addition,color threshold results in the COVID-19 group were also significantly higher(i.e.,worse color sensitivity)for almost all color mechanisms studied in the Optopad-Color test.At 6mo,most of the differences found between the groups were maintained despite COVID-19 recovery.CONCLUSION:The present results provide preliminary evidence that visual perception may be impaired in COVID-19,even when the infection has passed.Although further research is needed to determine the precise causes of this finding,analysis of CSF and color vision could provide valuable information on the visual impact of COVID-19.

NEW VISUAL PERCEPTUAL POOLING STRATEGY FOR IMAGE QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Most of Image Quality Assessment (IQA) metrics consist of two processes. In the first process, quality map of image is measured locally. In the second process, the last quality score is converted from the quality map by using the pooling strategy. The first process had been made effective and significant progresses, while the second process was always done in simple ways. In the second process of the pooling strategy, the optimal perceptual pooling weights should be determined and computed according to Human Visual System (HVS). Thus, a reliable spatial pooling mathematical model based on HVS is an important issue worthy of study. In this paper, a new Visual Perceptual Pooling Strategy (VPPS) for IQA is presented based on contrast sensitivity and luminance sensitivity of HVS. Experimental results with the LIVE database show that the visual perceptual weights, obtained by the proposed pooling strategy, can effectively and significantly improve the performances of the IQA metrics with Mean Structural SIMilarity (MSSIM) or Phase Quantization Code (PQC). It is confirmed that the proposed VPPS demonstrates promising results for improving the performances of existing IQA metrics.

Numerical and physical simulations of array laterolog in deviated anisotropic formation

Due to the tremendous amount of high-resolution measurement information,array laterolog is widely used in evaluations of deviated anisotropic reservoirs.However,the precision of a complementary numerical simulation should be improved as high as the core of fine-scale reservoir evaluation.Therefore,the 3D finite element method(3D-FEM)is presented to simulate the array laterolog responses.Notably,a downscaled physical simulation system is introduced to validate and calibrate the precision of the 3D-FEM.First,the size of the downscaled system is determined by COMSOL.Then,the surrounding and investigated beds are represented by a sodium chloride solution and planks soaked in solution,respectively.Finally,a half-space measurement scheme is presented to improve the experimental efficiency.Moreover,the corresponding sensitivity function and separation factor are established to analyze the effects of the formation anisotro py and dipping angle on the array laterolog responses.The numerical and experimental results indicate that the half-space method is practical,and the mean relative error between the numerical and experimental results is less than 5%,which indicates that the numerical simulation is accurate.With the proposed approach,the reversal angle of array laterolog response curves in anisotropic formations can be observed,and this range is determined to be 50°-62°.

A NEW QUANTITATIVE WAY FOR DETERMINING LEAF AREA INDEXAND NET PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY IN REGIONAL SCALE

An inversion of bidirectional reflection distribution fiJnedon (BRDF) wastested using NK Model and NOAA AVHRR datu. The test involVed sensitiveanalysis, optimum inversion selecting, ground simulated expenment, calibrahngmeasuremed with satellite and computer image processmg. Results of comparisonwith NDVI indicatal that inversion of BRDF will have brigh developing prospect inthe next decade.

Theoretical Calculation about the High Energy Density Molecules of Nitrate Ester Substitution Derivatives of Prismane

The nitrate ester substitution derivatives of prismane were studied at the B3LYP/6-311G＊＊ level. The sublimation enthalpies and heats of formation in gas phase and solid state were calculated. The detonation performances were also predicted by using the famous Kamlet-Jacbos equation. Our calculated results show that introducing nitrate ester group into prismane is helpful to enhance its detonation properties. Stabilities were evaluated through the bond dissociation energies, bond order, characteristic heights（H50） and band gap calculations. The trigger bonds in the pyrolysis process of prismane derivatives were confirmed as O–ON2 bond. The BDEs of all compounds were large, so these prismane derivatives have excellent stability consistent with the results of H50 and band gap.

Comparison of ocular modulation transfer function determined by a ray-tracing aberrometer and a double-pass system in early cataract patients

Background The evaluation of retinal image quality in cataract eyes has gained importance and the clinical modulation transfer functions （MTF） can obtained by aberrometer and double pass （DP） system. This study aimed to compare MTF derived from a ray tracing aberrometer and a DP system in early cataractous and normal eyes. Methods There were 128 subjects with 61 control eyes and 67 eyes with early cataract defined according to the Lens Opacities Classification System II1. A laser ray-tracing wavefront aberrometer （iTrace） and a double pass （DP） system （OQAS） assessed ocular MTF for 6.0 mm pupil diameters following dilation. Areas under the MTF （AUMTF） and their correlations were analyzed. Stepwise multiple regression analysis assessed factors affecting the differences between iTrace- and OQAS-derived AUMTF for the early cataract group. Results For both early cataract and control groups, iTrace-derived MTFs were higher than OQAS-derived MTFs across a range of spatial frequencies （P 〈0.01）. No significant difference between the two groups occurred for iTrace-derived AUMTF, but the early cataract group had significantly smaller OQAS-derived AUMTF than did the control group （P 〈0.01）. AUMTF determined from both the techniques demonstrated significant correlations with nuclear opacities, higher-order aberrations （HOAs）, visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity functions, while the OQAS-derived AUMTF also demonstrated significant correlations with age and cortical opacity grade. The factors significantly affecting the difference between iTrace and OQAS AUMTF were root-mean-squared HOAs （standardized beta coefficient=-0.63, P 〈0.01） and age （standardized beta coefficient=0.26, P 〈0.01）. Conclusions MTFs determined from a iTrace and a DP system （OQAS） differ significantly in early cataractous and normal subjects. Correlations with visual performance were higher for the DP system. OQAS-derived MTF may be useful as an indicator of visual performance in early cataract eyes.

Avian contrast sensitivity inspired contour detector for unmanned aerial vehicle landing

Runway detection is a demanding task for autonomous landing of unmanned aerial vehicles. Inspired by the attenuation effect and surround suppression mechanism, a novel biologically computational method based on the avian contrast sensitivity is proposed for runway contour detection. For the noisy stimuli, deniosed responses of the biologically inspired Gabor energy operator are generalized followed by the denoising layer and the multiresolution fusion layer. Moreover, two factors such as contour effect and texture suppression are considered in the contrast sensitivity based surround inhibition. Different from traditional detectors, which do not distinguish between contours and texture edges, the proposed method can respond strongly to contours and suppress the texture information. Applying the contrast sensitivity inspired detector to noisy runway scenes yields effective contours, while the non-meaningful texture elements are removed dramatically at the same time. Besides the superior performance over traditional detectors, the proposed method is capable to provide insight into the attenuation effect of the avian contrast sensitivity function and has potential applications in computer vision and pattern recognition.

Regional moment-independent sensitivity analysis with its applications in engineering

Traditional Global Sensitivity Analysis（GSA） focuses on ranking inputs according to their contributions to the output uncertainty.However,information about how the specific regions inside an input affect the output is beyond the traditional GSA techniques.To fully address this issue,in this work,two regional moment-independent importance measures,Regional Importance Measure based on Probability Density Function（RIMPDF） and Regional Importance Measure based on Cumulative Distribution Function（RIMCDF）,are introduced to find out the contributions of specific regions of an input to the whole output distribution.The two regional importance measures prove to be reasonable supplements of the traditional GSA techniques.The ideas of RIMPDF and RIMCDF are applied in two engineering examples to demonstrate that the regional moment-independent importance analysis can add more information concerning the contributions of model inputs.

Highly sensitive hybrid nanofiber-based room-temperature CO sensors： Experiments and density functional theory simulations

Chemical sensors （CSs） are an emerging area in nanoscience research, which focuses on the highly sensitive detection of toxic and hazardous gases and disease- related volatile organics. While the field has advanced rapidly in recent years, it lacks the theoretical support required for the rational design of innovative materials with tunable measurement responses. Herein, we present a one-dimensional （1D） hybrid nanofiber decorated with ultrafine NiO nanoparticles （NiO NPs） as an efficient active component for CSs. Highly dispersed （110）-facet NiO NPs with a high percentage of Ni2~ active sites with unsaturated coordination were confined in a TiO2 nanofiber （TiO2 NF） matrix that is favorable for surface catalytic reactions. The CSs constructed using the 1D heterostructure NiO/TiO2 nanofibers （NiOdrio2 HNFs） exhibited a highly selective response to trace CO gas molecules （1 ppm） with high sensitivity （AR/Ro = 1.02）, ultrafast response/ recovery time （T 〈 20 s）, and remarkable reproducibility at room tem- perature. The density functional theory （DFT） simulations and experimental results confirmed that the selective response could be attributed to the high molecular adsorption energy of the NiO nanoparticles with （110） facets and abundant interfaces, which act synergistically to promote CO adsorption and facilitate charge transfer.