Objective: To study the correlation of carotid plaque vulnerability with lipid metabolism, inflammatory response and protease activity in patients with coronary artery disease. Methods: Patients who were diagnosed wit...Objective: To study the correlation of carotid plaque vulnerability with lipid metabolism, inflammatory response and protease activity in patients with coronary artery disease. Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with coronary heart disease combined with carotid atherosclerosis in People's Hospital of Dongxihu District Wuhan City between April 2015 and October 2017 were selected and divided into vulnerable group and stable group according to ultrasonic judgment of carotid plaque vulnerability;the healthy volunteers who underwent physical examination during the same period were selected as the control group. The serum was collected to determine the contents of lipid metabolism, inflammatory response and protease activity indexes, and the peripheral blood was collected to determine the expression of inflammatory response indexes. Results: LDL-C, Lp(a), CXCL5, E-selectin, CatK and Meprin- levels in serum as well as ERK1/2, NF-κB and TNF-α expression in peripheral blood of stable group and vulnerable group were significantly higher than those of control group whereas ATGL, Omentin-1, Vaspin, PAI-1, TIMP1 and TIMP2 levels were significantly lower than those of control group;LDL-C, Lp(a), CXCL5, E-selectin, CatK and Meprin-levels in serum as well as ERK1/2, NF-κB and TNF-α expression in peripheral blood of vulnerable group were significantly higher than those of stable group whereas ATGL, Omentin-1, Vaspin, PAI-1, TIMP1 and TIMP2 levels were significantly lower than those of stable group. Conclusion: The changes of carotid plaque vulnerability in patients with coronary artery disease are closely related to the changes in lipid metabolism, inflammatory response and protease activity in the course of disease.展开更多
Background and purpose Atherosclerosis is a very complex process influenced by various systemic and local factors.Therefore,in patients with bilateral carotid plaques(BCPs),there may be differences in carotid plaque v...Background and purpose Atherosclerosis is a very complex process influenced by various systemic and local factors.Therefore,in patients with bilateral carotid plaques(BCPs),there may be differences in carotid plaque vulnerability between the sides.We aimed to investigate the differences in BCP characteristics in patients with BCPs using magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging(MR-VWI).Methods Participants with BCPs were selected for subanalysis from a multicentre study of Chinese Atherosclerosis Risk Evaluation II.We measured carotid plaque burden,identified each plaque component and measured their volume or area bilaterally on MR-VWI.Paired comparisons of the burden and components of BCPs were performed.Results In all,540 patients with BCPs were eligible for analysis.Compared with the right carotid artery(CA),larger mean lumen area(p<0.001),larger mean wall area(p=0.025),larger mean total vessel area(p<0.001)and smaller normalised wall index(p=0.006)were found in the left CA.Regarding plaque components,only the prevalence of lipid-rich necrotic core(LRNC)in the left CA was higher(p=0.026).For patients with a vulnerable plaque component coexisting on both sides,only the intraplaque haemorrhage(IPH)volume(p=0.011)was significantly greater in the left CA than in the right CA.Conclusions There were asymmetries in plaque growth and evolution between BCPs.The left carotid plaques were more likely to have larger plaque burden,higher prevalence of LRNC and greater IPH volume,which may contribute to the lateralisation of ischaemic stroke in the cerebral hemispheres.展开更多
Jeneberang watershed is vital,particularly for people living in Gowa Regency(South Sulawesi Province,Indonesia),who benefit from its many advantages.Landslides and floods occur every year in the Jeneberang watershed,s...Jeneberang watershed is vital,particularly for people living in Gowa Regency(South Sulawesi Province,Indonesia),who benefit from its many advantages.Landslides and floods occur every year in the Jeneberang watershed,so it is imperative to understand the socio-economic vulnerability of this region.This research aims to identify the vulnerability level of the Jeneberang watershed so that the government can prioritize areas with high vulnerability level and formulate effective strategies to reduce these the vulnerability.Specifically,this study was conducted in 12 districts located in the Jeneberang watershed.The primary data were collected from questionnaires completed by community members,community leaders,and various stakeholders,and the secondary data were from the Landsat satellite imagery in 2020,the Badan Push Statistic of Gowa Regency,and some governmental agencies.The socio-economic vulnerability variables were determined using the Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis(MCDA)method,and each variable was weighted and analyzed using the Geographical Information System(GIS).The study reveals that the levels of socio-economic vulnerability are affected by variables such as population density,vulnerable groups(disabled people,elderly people,and young people),road network and settlement,percentage of poor people,and productive land area in the Jeneberang watershed.Moreover,all of the 12 districts in the Jeneberang watershed are included in the medium vulnerability level,with the mean percentage of socio-economic vulnerability around 50.92%.The socio-economic vulnerability of Bajeng,Pallangga,and Somba Opu districts is categorized at high level,the socio-economic vulnerability of Bungaya,Parangloe,and Tombolo Pao districts is classified as medium level,and the remaining 6 districts(Barombong,Bontolempangan,Bontomarannu,Manuju,Parigi,and Tinggimoncong)are ranked as low socio-economic vulnerability.This study can help policy-makers to formulate strategy that contributes to the protection of biodiversity and sustainable development of the Jeneberang watershed,while improving disaster resilience and preparedness of the watershed.展开更多
This research aims to propose a practical framework designed for the automatic analysis of a product’s comprehensive functionality and security vulnerabilities,generating applicable guidelines based on real-world sof...This research aims to propose a practical framework designed for the automatic analysis of a product’s comprehensive functionality and security vulnerabilities,generating applicable guidelines based on real-world software.The existing analysis of software security vulnerabilities often focuses on specific features or modules.This partial and arbitrary analysis of the security vulnerabilities makes it challenging to comprehend the overall security vulnerabilities of the software.The key novelty lies in overcoming the constraints of partial approaches.The proposed framework utilizes data from various sources to create a comprehensive functionality profile,facilitating the derivation of real-world security guidelines.Security guidelines are dynamically generated by associating functional security vulnerabilities with the latest Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure(CVE)and Common Vulnerability Scoring System(CVSS)scores,resulting in automated guidelines tailored to each product.These guidelines are not only practical but also applicable in real-world software,allowing for prioritized security responses.The proposed framework is applied to virtual private network(VPN)software,wherein a validated Level 2 data flow diagram is generated using the Spoofing,Tampering,Repudiation,Information Disclosure,Denial of Service,and Elevation of privilege(STRIDE)technique with references to various papers and examples from related software.The analysis resulted in the identification of a total of 121 vulnerabilities.The successful implementation and validation demonstrate the framework’s efficacy in generating customized guidelines for entire systems,subsystems,and selected modules.展开更多
To explore the livelihood status and key influencing factors of rural households in the minority areas,we collected flat data from 284 rural households in 32 villages across 12 counties of Western Sichuan from 2021 to...To explore the livelihood status and key influencing factors of rural households in the minority areas,we collected flat data from 284 rural households in 32 villages across 12 counties of Western Sichuan from 2021 to 2022.We conducted participatory household survey on the livelihood status of the rural households and try to identify the key factors to influence their livelihood vulnerability using multiple linear regression.The results showed that:the livelihood situation of the rural households is relatively vulnerable.The vulnerability varies significantly with the income levels,education levels,and income sources.The vulnerability of farm households,categorized from low to high livelihood types,follows the sequence:non-agricultural dominant households,non-agricultural households,agricultural dominant households,and pure agricultural households.The degree of damage to the natural environment,education costs,loan opportunities,the proportion of agricultural income to annual household income,and the presence of sick people in the household have significant positive effects on the livelihood vulnerability index(LVI)of rural households;while help from relatives and friends,net income per capita,household size,household education,agricultural land area,participation in industrial organizations,number of livestock,purchase of commercial houses,drinking water source,and self-supply of food have significant negative effects.Based on the findings,we believe that local rural households operate in a complex livelihood system and recommend continuous interventions targeting key influences to provide empirical research support for areas facing similar situations.展开更多
Laser anti-drone technology is entering the sequence of actual combat,and it is necessary to consider the vulnerability of typical functional parts of UAVs.Since the concept of"vulnerability"was proposed,a v...Laser anti-drone technology is entering the sequence of actual combat,and it is necessary to consider the vulnerability of typical functional parts of UAVs.Since the concept of"vulnerability"was proposed,a variety of analysis programs for battlefield targets to traditional weapons have been developed,but a comprehensive assessment methodology for targets'vulnerability to laser is still missing.Based on the shotline method,this paper proposes a method that equates laser beam to shotline array,an efficient vulnerability analysis program of target to laser is established by this method,and the program includes the circuit board and the wire into the vulnerability analysis category,which improves the precision of the vulnerability analysis.Taking the UAV engine part as the target of vulnerability analysis,combine with the"life-death unit method"to calculate the laser penetration rate of various materials of the UAV,and the influence of laser weapon system parameters and striking orientation on the killing probability is quantified after introducing the penetration rate into the vulnerability analysis program.The quantitative analysis method proposed in this paper has certain general expansibility,which can provide a fresh idea for the vulnerability analysis of other targets to laser.展开更多
In recent years,the number of smart contracts deployed on blockchain has exploded.However,the issue of vulnerability has caused incalculable losses.Due to the irreversible and immutability of smart contracts,vulnerabi...In recent years,the number of smart contracts deployed on blockchain has exploded.However,the issue of vulnerability has caused incalculable losses.Due to the irreversible and immutability of smart contracts,vulnerability detection has become particularly important.With the popular use of neural network model,there has been a growing utilization of deep learning-based methods and tools for the identification of vulnerabilities within smart contracts.This paper commences by providing a succinct overview of prevalent categories of vulnerabilities found in smart contracts.Subsequently,it categorizes and presents an overview of contemporary deep learning-based tools developed for smart contract detection.These tools are categorized based on their open-source status,the data format and the type of feature extraction they employ.Then we conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis of these tools,selecting representative tools for experimental validation and comparing them with traditional tools in terms of detection coverage and accuracy.Finally,Based on the insights gained from the experimental results and the current state of research in the field of smart contract vulnerability detection tools,we suppose to provide a reference standard for developers of contract vulnerability detection tools.Meanwhile,forward-looking research directions are also proposed for deep learning-based smart contract vulnerability detection.展开更多
Software security analysts typically only have access to the executable program and cannot directly access the source code of the program.This poses significant challenges to security analysis.While it is crucial to i...Software security analysts typically only have access to the executable program and cannot directly access the source code of the program.This poses significant challenges to security analysis.While it is crucial to identify vulnerabilities in such non-source code programs,there exists a limited set of generalized tools due to the low versatility of current vulnerability mining methods.However,these tools suffer from some shortcomings.In terms of targeted fuzzing,the path searching for target points is not streamlined enough,and the completely random testing leads to an excessively large search space.Additionally,when it comes to code similarity analysis,there are issues with incomplete code feature extraction,which may result in information loss.In this paper,we propose a cross-platform and cross-architecture approach to exploit vulnerabilities using neural network obfuscation techniques.By leveraging the Angr framework,a deobfuscation technique is introduced,along with the adoption of a VEX-IR-based intermediate language conversion method.This combination allows for the unified handling of binary programs across various architectures,compilers,and compilation options.Subsequently,binary programs are processed to extract multi-level spatial features using a combination of a skip-gram model with self-attention mechanism and a bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory(LSTM)network.Finally,the graph embedding network is utilized to evaluate the similarity of program functionalities.Based on these similarity scores,a target function is determined,and symbolic execution is applied to solve the target function.The solved content serves as the initial seed for targeted fuzzing.The binary program is processed by using the de-obfuscation technique and intermediate language transformation method,and then the similarity of program functions is evaluated by using a graph embedding network,and symbolic execution is performed based on these similarity scores.This approach facilitates cross-architecture analysis of executable programs without their source codes and concurrently reduces the risk of symbolic execution path explosion.展开更多
Background/Aims: Determining the levels of oral health and the quality of dental care are fundamental to building concepts of oral health. This study aims to assess toothbrushing techniques using a technical and physi...Background/Aims: Determining the levels of oral health and the quality of dental care are fundamental to building concepts of oral health. This study aims to assess toothbrushing techniques using a technical and physical model, clarifying how children and pre-adults learn to brush their teeth. Materials and Methods: Data were recorded from 23 participants, both male and female of various ages, using a proposed electronic toothbrush equipped with X-Y-Z axes pathways. The data, collected before and after training experiments, were processed with MATLAB to generate plots for the three axes. Results: The study revealed that most parameter values, such as Mean Difference Between Amplitudes (MAV, 6.00), Wilson Amplitude (WAMP, 179.419), and Average Amplitude Coupling (AAC, 1.270), decreased from before to after the experiments. Furthermore, the average overall epoch lengths (AVG) showed a 75% reduction in movement amplitude between the two experiments. Conclusion: Dentist observations indicated which brushing methods were acceptable or not. Analytical values suggest that individuals learn the toothbrushing technique effectively, and medical observations clearly demonstrate the success of the proposed method.展开更多
Groundwater vulnerability assessment is a crucial step in the efficient management of groundwater resources,especially in areas with intensive anthropogenic activities and groundwater pollution.In the present study,th...Groundwater vulnerability assessment is a crucial step in the efficient management of groundwater resources,especially in areas with intensive anthropogenic activities and groundwater pollution.In the present study,the DRASTIC method was applied using Geographic Information System(GIS)to delineate groundwater vulnerability zones in the Erbil Dumpsite area,Central Erbil Basin,North Iraq.Results showed that the area was classified into four vulnerability classes:Very low(16.97%),low(27.67%),moderate(36.55%)and high(18.81%).The southern,south-eastern and northern parts of the study area exhibited the highest vulnerability potential,while the central-northern,northern and north-western regions displayed the lowest vulnerability potential.Moreover,results of the single-parameter sensitivity analysis indicated that amongst the seven DRASTIC parameters,the unsaturated zone and the aquifer media were the most influencing parameters.In conclustion,the correlation of 25 nitrate concentration values with the final vulnerability map,assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient,yielded a satisfactory result of R=0.72.展开更多
Objective:To analyze the existing risks in breast milk management at the neonatal department and provide corresponding countermeasures.Methods:22 risk events were identified in 7 risk links in the process of bottle-fe...Objective:To analyze the existing risks in breast milk management at the neonatal department and provide corresponding countermeasures.Methods:22 risk events were identified in 7 risk links in the process of bottle-feeding of breast milk.Hazard Vulnerability Analysis based on the Kaiser model was applied to investigate and evaluate the risk events.Results:High-risk events include breast milk quality inspection,hand hygiene during collection,disinfection of collectors,cold chain management,hand hygiene during the reception,breast milk closed-loop management,and post-collection disposal.Root cause analysis of high-risk events was conducted and breast milk management strategies outside the hospital and within the neonatal department were proposed.Conclusion:Hazard Vulnerability Analysis based on the Kaiser model can identify and assess neonatal breast milk management risks effectively,which helps improve the management of neonatal breast milk.It is conducive to the safe development and promotion of bottle feeding of breast milk for neonates,ensuring the quality of medical services and the safety of children.展开更多
China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2017(Summary)pointed out that at present,cardiovascular diseases(CVD)account for the highest number of deaths among urban and rural residents.In the middle or later stages of athero...China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2017(Summary)pointed out that at present,cardiovascular diseases(CVD)account for the highest number of deaths among urban and rural residents.In the middle or later stages of atherosclerosis,the plaques become increasingly unstable with high chance to rupture,which may lead acute death from coronary heart diseases.Medical imaging and image-based computational modeling have been used in recent years to quantify ather-osclerotic plaque morphological and biomechanical characteristics and predict the coronary plaque growth and rupture processes.Analyzing the vulnerability of plaques effectively could lead to better patient screening strategies and enable physicians to adopt timely and necessary intervention or conservative treatment.Earlier investigations of vulnerable plaques were mostly based on histopathological data.With the accumulation of experience in pathology and the gradual enrichment of autopsy materials,the criteria for the diagnosis of vulnerable plaques appeared in 2001,mainly manifested as the necrotic lipid nuclei,fibrous caps that are infiltrated by a large number of macrophages,and fibrous cap thickness less than 65μm.Because of the obvious importance of the thin fibrous cap in the study of plaque vulnerability,it has been a focus of attention by many investigations.Watson,M.G.et al.are concerned about the formation of early fibrous caps in recent years.The presentation of local maximum stress on plaque further confirmed the importance of thin fibrous cap.The development of medical images has greatly promoted the study of coronary atherosclerosis.Compared with autopsy ex vivo,medical image could provide plaque data under in vivo conditions and greatly promote the study of coronary atherosclerosis.Huang XY et al.used ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)to study the relationship between plaque wall stress(PWS)and death caused by coronary artery disease.Due to technical limitations and the accessibility of the coronary artery in the body,MRI is not widely used for in vivo coronary studies.Interventional intravascular ultrasound(IVUS),with an image resolution of 150-200μm,has been used in research and clinical practice to identify plaques,quantify plaque morphology,and characterize plaque components.More recently,optical coherence tomography(OCT),with its resolution of 5-10μm,has emerged as an imaging modality which can be used to detect thin fibrous caps and improve diagnostic accuracy.It is commonly believed that mechanical forces play an important role in plaque progression and rupture.Image-based biomechanical plaque models have been developed and used to quantify plaque mechanical conditions and seek their linkage to plaque progression and vulnerability development activities.Based on recent advances in imaging and modeling,this paper attempts to provide a brief review on plaque research,including histological classification,image preparation,biomechanical modeling and analysis methods including medical imaging techniques represented by intravascular ultrasound(IVUS)and optical coherence tomography(OCT),computational modeling and their applications in plaque progression and vulnerability analyses and predictions.The clinical application and future development direction are also briefly described.We focus more on human coronary plaque modeling and mainly included results from our group for illustration purpose.We apologize in advance for our limitations.展开更多
Objective:To explore the molecular mechanisms of isoliquiritigenin in stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques by activating PPAR-γsignal pathway to regulate ox-LDL metabolism.Methods:The ApoE-/-mice AS carotid plaque mod...Objective:To explore the molecular mechanisms of isoliquiritigenin in stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques by activating PPAR-γsignal pathway to regulate ox-LDL metabolism.Methods:The ApoE-/-mice AS carotid plaque model was prepared by using high fat diet and right perivascular carotid collar placement(PCCP).ApoE-/-mice were randomly divided into the model group and the isoliquiritigenin group after PCCP.C57BL/6J mice were used for the control group.High fat diet continued feeding for 8 weeks after PCCP to establish the AS model.Automatic biochemical analyzer was used to test levels of total cholesterol(TC),triacylglyceride(TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C).ELISA was used to measure oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL)in serum.Hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining was used to observe the pathological pattern of the carotid artery,and then calculated the carotid parameters.Oil red O staining was used for lipid determination,Masson staining was used to determine collagen content,MOMA-2 andα-SMA immunohistochemical staining were used to determine macrophages and smooth muscle cells,and to calculate the vulnerability index.Western blot was used to detected the expression of PPAR-γ,LXR-α,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 in mice arteries.Results:Compared with the normal group,TC、TG、LDL-C、HDL-C and ox-LDL were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,TC、TG、LDL-C and ox-LDL were reduced,and there was no significant change in HDL-C of the isoliquiritigenin group.Compared with the normal group,intima thickness(IT),intima/media thickness(IT/MT),plaque area(PA),and plaque area/lumen area(PA/LA)of carotid arteries were increased,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was increased,collagen andα-SMA content decreased,and the vulnerability index was higher in the model group.The expression of PPAR-γand LXR-αwere reduced and the expression of FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,carotid IT,IT/MT,PA,and PA/LA were reduced,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was decreased,collagen andα-SMA content were increased,and the vulnerability index was decreased in the isoliquiritigenin group.PPAR-γand LXR-αexpression were increased,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression were decreased significantly in the isoliquiritigenin group.Conclusion:Isoliquiritigenin can exert anti-AS effects by activating PPAR-γ,up-regulating LXR-α,reducing FABP-4 expression,reducing ox-LDL,reducing the protein expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9,decreasing plaque vulnerability index,and increasing plaque stability.展开更多
The Commemorative Plaque Industry thrives at the hands of the local craftsmen in Ghana. Techniques, methods, tools, and materials used as handed to them by their previous masters have remained the same over the years....The Commemorative Plaque Industry thrives at the hands of the local craftsmen in Ghana. Techniques, methods, tools, and materials used as handed to them by their previous masters have remained the same over the years. As a result, plaques produced had peculiar problems such as text fading, degrading the actual effect of the plaques. Additionally, metals once widely used for making plaques devoid of text fading in the industry seem to have lost their relevance due to metal plaque theft, rust on metal plaques, and the continuous rise in metal prices. This research uses descriptive, experimental, and case studies of the qualitative research method to examine the problems associated with locally produced commemorative plaques. A total of hundred (100) artisans, including metal scrap dealers, and plaque buyers, were selected for the study. Direct observation and face-to-face interviews were conducted with the local craftsmen, art lecturers and students, scrap dealers, and plaque buyers who were purposively sampled for the study. The study revealed that existing materials like ceramic and aluminium could be integrated innovatively to produce commemorative plaques devoid of text fading;a corrosion-resistant text could be made using anodized or coated metals used in smaller quantities to reduce costs while also making them unattractive for theft and lastly, silicone sealant was found to be a viable option for permanently inscribing text on porcelain bases. The results clarify and underline the necessity to grow the local plaque industry in terms of plaque production as another essential basis to assure high-quality plaques with no text fading that will survive for generations to serve their intended purpose.展开更多
The change of coastal wetland vulnerability affects the ecological environment and the economic development of the estuary area.In the past,most of the assessment studies on the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems sta...The change of coastal wetland vulnerability affects the ecological environment and the economic development of the estuary area.In the past,most of the assessment studies on the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems stayed in static qualitative research,lacking predictability,and the qualitative and quantitative relationship was not objective enough.In this study,the“Source-Pathway-Receptor-Consequence”model and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vulnerability definition were used to analyze the main impact of sea level rise caused by climate change on coastal wetland ecosystem in Minjiang River Estuary.The results show that:(1)With the increase of time and carbon emission,the area of high vulnerability and the higher vulnerability increased continuously,and the area of low vulnerability and the lower vulnerability decreased.(2)The eastern and northeastern part of the Culu Island in the Minjiang River Estuary of Fujian Province and the eastern coastal wetland of Meihua Town in Changle District are areas with high vulnerability risk.The area of high vulnerability area of coastal wetland under high emission scenario is wider than that under low emission scenario.(3)Under different sea level rise scenarios,elevation has the greatest impact on the vulnerability of coastal wetlands,and slope has less impact.The impact of sea level rise caused by climate change on the coastal wetland ecosystem in the Minjiang River Estuary is mainly manifested in the sea level rise,which changes the habitat elevation and daily flooding time of coastal wetlands,and then affects the survival and distribution of coastal wetland ecosystems.展开更多
Climate change impact and risks on agricultural livelihood affect women and men disproportionately and often to the disadvantage of women and girls. Consequently, this study assessed gender perspectives of vulnerabili...Climate change impact and risks on agricultural livelihood affect women and men disproportionately and often to the disadvantage of women and girls. Consequently, this study assessed gender perspectives of vulnerability to climate change of farming households at Ikpayongo community in Gwer local government area, Benue State, Nigeria using descriptive approach. The study identified a total of 120 male-headed and female-headed farming households across four neighbourhoods and administered structured questionnaire on them using simple random sampling method, while data analysis was done using descriptive statistics. The results indicate lower education and income status among female-headed households, though male-headed households have high household size. Both sexes have relatively equal access to land for farming, however men have large farm size compared to women. The major crops cultivated by men were rice and yam, while women cultivated largely groundnut and cassava. Women are more exposed and sensitive to climate-related hazards such as floods and heat stress due to the location of their farms. The result further shows that males possess better adaptive capacity given their higher incomes, social networks and more access to training/capacity building programmes and credit facilities. The study concludes that female-headed farming households are more vulnerable to climate change and variability than male-headed farming households due to higher exposure and a lower adaptive capacity. Programme and policies to improve women access to credit facilities and relevant training to boost their adaptive capacity and build resilience are highly recommended. This would also limit exposure with attendant reduction in vulnerability.展开更多
Agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China is the prominent area for agricultural production,but it is also the most typical ecological fragile area with frequent drought disasters.Taking Yulin City at Shaanxi Province i...Agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China is the prominent area for agricultural production,but it is also the most typical ecological fragile area with frequent drought disasters.Taking Yulin City at Shaanxi Province in China as the case area,the paper aims to investigate the spatio-temporal changes of agricultural vulnerability to drought in China’s agro-pastoral ecotone in the period 2000 to2020.The results show that:1)the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City has shifted from high vulnerability in the period2000–2010 to low vulnerability in the period 2011–2020.2)There exist obvious spatio-temporal differences of the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City during the research period.3)Four sensitive events and 14 resilient events were identified in the research and the crops of Yulin had become more resilient to drought.Finally,the paper put forward with policy implications to make adaptive strategies of agriculture to climate change in China’s agro-pastoral ecotone in the future,e.g.,carrying out agricultural zoning based on agricultural production conditions,intensifying the construction of disaster prevention and relief system,and integrating with modern agricultural technology to develop new type agriculture.展开更多
Coastal vulnerability assessment using the Integrated Sensitivity, Exposure, and Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (ICSEA-C-Change) tool provides a deeper understanding of the potential impa...Coastal vulnerability assessment using the Integrated Sensitivity, Exposure, and Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (ICSEA-C-Change) tool provides a deeper understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on coastal zones. Vulnerability ratings were obtained using rubrics that were presented to the stakeholders during focused group discussions. Derived scores were then averaged and consolidated to come up with the overall vulnerability rating. These ratings were based on the resource and status of coastal habitats’ reliance on near-shore fishing and other quality measures like fisheries ecosystem dependency, population, and water quality of the coastal habitats in the barangays. Ratings resulted in identifying 12 barangays out of 23 that are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as waves, storm surges, sea level rise, increase in surface temperature, and extreme rainfall. These are Buenavista and Basicao (Pioduran), Catburawan (Ligao), Tapel, Nagas and Maramba (Oas), Talin-Talin, Pantao, Macabugos, and Tambo (Libon) and Buhatan and Villa Hermosa (Rapu-Rapu). Assessment results were highly influenced by the absence of three major marine habitats, i.e., coral reefs, seagrass/seaweeds, and mangroves in the coastal areas. Likewise, 11 barangays out of 23, which were Marigondon and Malidong (Pioduran), Maonon and Cabarian (Ligao), Badian and Cagmanaba (Oas), Apud and Rawis (Libon), and Galicia, Hamorawon, and Poblacion (Rapu-Rapu) obtained moderate vulnerability scores. This was attributed to the presence of marine habitats that although in poor state, may serve their ecological functioning when properly protected. Highly vulnerable barangays must be prioritized in coastal rehabilitation and disaster risk reduction management planning. Parameters encompassing the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of each barangay must be taken into consideration to reduce potential impacts brought by factors attributed to climate change. Vital information from the assessment will serve as basis for developing strategic plans for improving the climate change adaptation strategies of the local government units.展开更多
Smart contracts have led to more efficient development in finance and healthcare,but vulnerabilities in contracts pose high risks to their future applications.The current vulnerability detection methods for contracts ...Smart contracts have led to more efficient development in finance and healthcare,but vulnerabilities in contracts pose high risks to their future applications.The current vulnerability detection methods for contracts are either based on fixed expert rules,which are inefficient,or rely on simplistic deep learning techniques that do not fully leverage contract semantic information.Therefore,there is ample room for improvement in terms of detection precision.To solve these problems,this paper proposes a vulnerability detector based on deep learning techniques,graph representation,and Transformer,called GRATDet.The method first performs swapping,insertion,and symbolization operations for contract functions,increasing the amount of small sample data.Each line of code is then treated as a basic semantic element,and information such as control and data relationships is extracted to construct a new representation in the form of a Line Graph(LG),which shows more structural features that differ from the serialized presentation of the contract.Finally,the node information and edge information of the graph are jointly learned using an improved Transformer-GP model to extract information globally and locally,and the fused features are used for vulnerability detection.The effectiveness of the method in reentrancy vulnerability detection is verified in experiments,where the F1 score reaches 95.16%,exceeding stateof-the-art methods.展开更多
With the overwhelming number of older reinforced concrete buildings that need to be assessed for seismic vulnerability in a city,local governments face the question of how to assess their building inventory.By leverag...With the overwhelming number of older reinforced concrete buildings that need to be assessed for seismic vulnerability in a city,local governments face the question of how to assess their building inventory.By leveraging engineering drawings that are stored in a digital format,a well-established method for classification reinforced concrete buildings with respect to seismic vulnerability,and machine learning techniques,we have developed a technique to automatically extract quantitative information from the drawings to classify vulnerability.Using this technique,stakeholders will be able to rapidly classify buildings according to their seismic vulnerability and have access to information they need to prioritize a large building inventory.The approach has the potential to have significant impact on our ability to rapidly make decisions related to retrofit and improvements in our communities.In the Los Angeles County alone it is estimated that several thousand buildings of this type exist.The Hassan index is adopted here as the method for automation due to its simple application during the classification of the vulnerable reinforced concrete buildings.This paper will present the technique used for automating information extraction to compute the Hassan index for a large building inventory.展开更多
文摘Objective: To study the correlation of carotid plaque vulnerability with lipid metabolism, inflammatory response and protease activity in patients with coronary artery disease. Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with coronary heart disease combined with carotid atherosclerosis in People's Hospital of Dongxihu District Wuhan City between April 2015 and October 2017 were selected and divided into vulnerable group and stable group according to ultrasonic judgment of carotid plaque vulnerability;the healthy volunteers who underwent physical examination during the same period were selected as the control group. The serum was collected to determine the contents of lipid metabolism, inflammatory response and protease activity indexes, and the peripheral blood was collected to determine the expression of inflammatory response indexes. Results: LDL-C, Lp(a), CXCL5, E-selectin, CatK and Meprin- levels in serum as well as ERK1/2, NF-κB and TNF-α expression in peripheral blood of stable group and vulnerable group were significantly higher than those of control group whereas ATGL, Omentin-1, Vaspin, PAI-1, TIMP1 and TIMP2 levels were significantly lower than those of control group;LDL-C, Lp(a), CXCL5, E-selectin, CatK and Meprin-levels in serum as well as ERK1/2, NF-κB and TNF-α expression in peripheral blood of vulnerable group were significantly higher than those of stable group whereas ATGL, Omentin-1, Vaspin, PAI-1, TIMP1 and TIMP2 levels were significantly lower than those of stable group. Conclusion: The changes of carotid plaque vulnerability in patients with coronary artery disease are closely related to the changes in lipid metabolism, inflammatory response and protease activity in the course of disease.
基金funding through grant from the Ministry of Health Commission of Shandong Province(202009010617).
文摘Background and purpose Atherosclerosis is a very complex process influenced by various systemic and local factors.Therefore,in patients with bilateral carotid plaques(BCPs),there may be differences in carotid plaque vulnerability between the sides.We aimed to investigate the differences in BCP characteristics in patients with BCPs using magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging(MR-VWI).Methods Participants with BCPs were selected for subanalysis from a multicentre study of Chinese Atherosclerosis Risk Evaluation II.We measured carotid plaque burden,identified each plaque component and measured their volume or area bilaterally on MR-VWI.Paired comparisons of the burden and components of BCPs were performed.Results In all,540 patients with BCPs were eligible for analysis.Compared with the right carotid artery(CA),larger mean lumen area(p<0.001),larger mean wall area(p=0.025),larger mean total vessel area(p<0.001)and smaller normalised wall index(p=0.006)were found in the left CA.Regarding plaque components,only the prevalence of lipid-rich necrotic core(LRNC)in the left CA was higher(p=0.026).For patients with a vulnerable plaque component coexisting on both sides,only the intraplaque haemorrhage(IPH)volume(p=0.011)was significantly greater in the left CA than in the right CA.Conclusions There were asymmetries in plaque growth and evolution between BCPs.The left carotid plaques were more likely to have larger plaque burden,higher prevalence of LRNC and greater IPH volume,which may contribute to the lateralisation of ischaemic stroke in the cerebral hemispheres.
文摘Jeneberang watershed is vital,particularly for people living in Gowa Regency(South Sulawesi Province,Indonesia),who benefit from its many advantages.Landslides and floods occur every year in the Jeneberang watershed,so it is imperative to understand the socio-economic vulnerability of this region.This research aims to identify the vulnerability level of the Jeneberang watershed so that the government can prioritize areas with high vulnerability level and formulate effective strategies to reduce these the vulnerability.Specifically,this study was conducted in 12 districts located in the Jeneberang watershed.The primary data were collected from questionnaires completed by community members,community leaders,and various stakeholders,and the secondary data were from the Landsat satellite imagery in 2020,the Badan Push Statistic of Gowa Regency,and some governmental agencies.The socio-economic vulnerability variables were determined using the Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis(MCDA)method,and each variable was weighted and analyzed using the Geographical Information System(GIS).The study reveals that the levels of socio-economic vulnerability are affected by variables such as population density,vulnerable groups(disabled people,elderly people,and young people),road network and settlement,percentage of poor people,and productive land area in the Jeneberang watershed.Moreover,all of the 12 districts in the Jeneberang watershed are included in the medium vulnerability level,with the mean percentage of socio-economic vulnerability around 50.92%.The socio-economic vulnerability of Bajeng,Pallangga,and Somba Opu districts is categorized at high level,the socio-economic vulnerability of Bungaya,Parangloe,and Tombolo Pao districts is classified as medium level,and the remaining 6 districts(Barombong,Bontolempangan,Bontomarannu,Manuju,Parigi,and Tinggimoncong)are ranked as low socio-economic vulnerability.This study can help policy-makers to formulate strategy that contributes to the protection of biodiversity and sustainable development of the Jeneberang watershed,while improving disaster resilience and preparedness of the watershed.
基金This work is the result of commissioned research project supported by the Affiliated Institute of ETRI(2022-086)received by Junho AhnThis research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF)Basic Science Research Program funded by the Ministry of Education(No.2020R1A6A1A03040583)this work was supported by Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology(KIAT)Grant funded by the Korea government(MOTIE)(P0008691,HRD Program for Industrial Innovation).
文摘This research aims to propose a practical framework designed for the automatic analysis of a product’s comprehensive functionality and security vulnerabilities,generating applicable guidelines based on real-world software.The existing analysis of software security vulnerabilities often focuses on specific features or modules.This partial and arbitrary analysis of the security vulnerabilities makes it challenging to comprehend the overall security vulnerabilities of the software.The key novelty lies in overcoming the constraints of partial approaches.The proposed framework utilizes data from various sources to create a comprehensive functionality profile,facilitating the derivation of real-world security guidelines.Security guidelines are dynamically generated by associating functional security vulnerabilities with the latest Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure(CVE)and Common Vulnerability Scoring System(CVSS)scores,resulting in automated guidelines tailored to each product.These guidelines are not only practical but also applicable in real-world software,allowing for prioritized security responses.The proposed framework is applied to virtual private network(VPN)software,wherein a validated Level 2 data flow diagram is generated using the Spoofing,Tampering,Repudiation,Information Disclosure,Denial of Service,and Elevation of privilege(STRIDE)technique with references to various papers and examples from related software.The analysis resulted in the identification of a total of 121 vulnerabilities.The successful implementation and validation demonstrate the framework’s efficacy in generating customized guidelines for entire systems,subsystems,and selected modules.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grants No.41901209,42001173,and 41661144038).
文摘To explore the livelihood status and key influencing factors of rural households in the minority areas,we collected flat data from 284 rural households in 32 villages across 12 counties of Western Sichuan from 2021 to 2022.We conducted participatory household survey on the livelihood status of the rural households and try to identify the key factors to influence their livelihood vulnerability using multiple linear regression.The results showed that:the livelihood situation of the rural households is relatively vulnerable.The vulnerability varies significantly with the income levels,education levels,and income sources.The vulnerability of farm households,categorized from low to high livelihood types,follows the sequence:non-agricultural dominant households,non-agricultural households,agricultural dominant households,and pure agricultural households.The degree of damage to the natural environment,education costs,loan opportunities,the proportion of agricultural income to annual household income,and the presence of sick people in the household have significant positive effects on the livelihood vulnerability index(LVI)of rural households;while help from relatives and friends,net income per capita,household size,household education,agricultural land area,participation in industrial organizations,number of livestock,purchase of commercial houses,drinking water source,and self-supply of food have significant negative effects.Based on the findings,we believe that local rural households operate in a complex livelihood system and recommend continuous interventions targeting key influences to provide empirical research support for areas facing similar situations.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.62005276,62175234)the Scientific and Technological Development Program of Jilin,China(Grant No.20230508111RC)to provide fund for this research。
文摘Laser anti-drone technology is entering the sequence of actual combat,and it is necessary to consider the vulnerability of typical functional parts of UAVs.Since the concept of"vulnerability"was proposed,a variety of analysis programs for battlefield targets to traditional weapons have been developed,but a comprehensive assessment methodology for targets'vulnerability to laser is still missing.Based on the shotline method,this paper proposes a method that equates laser beam to shotline array,an efficient vulnerability analysis program of target to laser is established by this method,and the program includes the circuit board and the wire into the vulnerability analysis category,which improves the precision of the vulnerability analysis.Taking the UAV engine part as the target of vulnerability analysis,combine with the"life-death unit method"to calculate the laser penetration rate of various materials of the UAV,and the influence of laser weapon system parameters and striking orientation on the killing probability is quantified after introducing the penetration rate into the vulnerability analysis program.The quantitative analysis method proposed in this paper has certain general expansibility,which can provide a fresh idea for the vulnerability analysis of other targets to laser.
基金funded by the Major PublicWelfare Special Fund of Henan Province(No.201300210200)the Major Science and Technology Research Special Fund of Henan Province(No.221100210400).
文摘In recent years,the number of smart contracts deployed on blockchain has exploded.However,the issue of vulnerability has caused incalculable losses.Due to the irreversible and immutability of smart contracts,vulnerability detection has become particularly important.With the popular use of neural network model,there has been a growing utilization of deep learning-based methods and tools for the identification of vulnerabilities within smart contracts.This paper commences by providing a succinct overview of prevalent categories of vulnerabilities found in smart contracts.Subsequently,it categorizes and presents an overview of contemporary deep learning-based tools developed for smart contract detection.These tools are categorized based on their open-source status,the data format and the type of feature extraction they employ.Then we conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis of these tools,selecting representative tools for experimental validation and comparing them with traditional tools in terms of detection coverage and accuracy.Finally,Based on the insights gained from the experimental results and the current state of research in the field of smart contract vulnerability detection tools,we suppose to provide a reference standard for developers of contract vulnerability detection tools.Meanwhile,forward-looking research directions are also proposed for deep learning-based smart contract vulnerability detection.
文摘Software security analysts typically only have access to the executable program and cannot directly access the source code of the program.This poses significant challenges to security analysis.While it is crucial to identify vulnerabilities in such non-source code programs,there exists a limited set of generalized tools due to the low versatility of current vulnerability mining methods.However,these tools suffer from some shortcomings.In terms of targeted fuzzing,the path searching for target points is not streamlined enough,and the completely random testing leads to an excessively large search space.Additionally,when it comes to code similarity analysis,there are issues with incomplete code feature extraction,which may result in information loss.In this paper,we propose a cross-platform and cross-architecture approach to exploit vulnerabilities using neural network obfuscation techniques.By leveraging the Angr framework,a deobfuscation technique is introduced,along with the adoption of a VEX-IR-based intermediate language conversion method.This combination allows for the unified handling of binary programs across various architectures,compilers,and compilation options.Subsequently,binary programs are processed to extract multi-level spatial features using a combination of a skip-gram model with self-attention mechanism and a bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory(LSTM)network.Finally,the graph embedding network is utilized to evaluate the similarity of program functionalities.Based on these similarity scores,a target function is determined,and symbolic execution is applied to solve the target function.The solved content serves as the initial seed for targeted fuzzing.The binary program is processed by using the de-obfuscation technique and intermediate language transformation method,and then the similarity of program functions is evaluated by using a graph embedding network,and symbolic execution is performed based on these similarity scores.This approach facilitates cross-architecture analysis of executable programs without their source codes and concurrently reduces the risk of symbolic execution path explosion.
文摘Background/Aims: Determining the levels of oral health and the quality of dental care are fundamental to building concepts of oral health. This study aims to assess toothbrushing techniques using a technical and physical model, clarifying how children and pre-adults learn to brush their teeth. Materials and Methods: Data were recorded from 23 participants, both male and female of various ages, using a proposed electronic toothbrush equipped with X-Y-Z axes pathways. The data, collected before and after training experiments, were processed with MATLAB to generate plots for the three axes. Results: The study revealed that most parameter values, such as Mean Difference Between Amplitudes (MAV, 6.00), Wilson Amplitude (WAMP, 179.419), and Average Amplitude Coupling (AAC, 1.270), decreased from before to after the experiments. Furthermore, the average overall epoch lengths (AVG) showed a 75% reduction in movement amplitude between the two experiments. Conclusion: Dentist observations indicated which brushing methods were acceptable or not. Analytical values suggest that individuals learn the toothbrushing technique effectively, and medical observations clearly demonstrate the success of the proposed method.
文摘Groundwater vulnerability assessment is a crucial step in the efficient management of groundwater resources,especially in areas with intensive anthropogenic activities and groundwater pollution.In the present study,the DRASTIC method was applied using Geographic Information System(GIS)to delineate groundwater vulnerability zones in the Erbil Dumpsite area,Central Erbil Basin,North Iraq.Results showed that the area was classified into four vulnerability classes:Very low(16.97%),low(27.67%),moderate(36.55%)and high(18.81%).The southern,south-eastern and northern parts of the study area exhibited the highest vulnerability potential,while the central-northern,northern and north-western regions displayed the lowest vulnerability potential.Moreover,results of the single-parameter sensitivity analysis indicated that amongst the seven DRASTIC parameters,the unsaturated zone and the aquifer media were the most influencing parameters.In conclustion,the correlation of 25 nitrate concentration values with the final vulnerability map,assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient,yielded a satisfactory result of R=0.72.
文摘Objective:To analyze the existing risks in breast milk management at the neonatal department and provide corresponding countermeasures.Methods:22 risk events were identified in 7 risk links in the process of bottle-feeding of breast milk.Hazard Vulnerability Analysis based on the Kaiser model was applied to investigate and evaluate the risk events.Results:High-risk events include breast milk quality inspection,hand hygiene during collection,disinfection of collectors,cold chain management,hand hygiene during the reception,breast milk closed-loop management,and post-collection disposal.Root cause analysis of high-risk events was conducted and breast milk management strategies outside the hospital and within the neonatal department were proposed.Conclusion:Hazard Vulnerability Analysis based on the Kaiser model can identify and assess neonatal breast milk management risks effectively,which helps improve the management of neonatal breast milk.It is conducive to the safe development and promotion of bottle feeding of breast milk for neonates,ensuring the quality of medical services and the safety of children.
基金supported in part by NIH grant ( R01 EB004759)Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Agency grant ( BE2016785)
文摘China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2017(Summary)pointed out that at present,cardiovascular diseases(CVD)account for the highest number of deaths among urban and rural residents.In the middle or later stages of atherosclerosis,the plaques become increasingly unstable with high chance to rupture,which may lead acute death from coronary heart diseases.Medical imaging and image-based computational modeling have been used in recent years to quantify ather-osclerotic plaque morphological and biomechanical characteristics and predict the coronary plaque growth and rupture processes.Analyzing the vulnerability of plaques effectively could lead to better patient screening strategies and enable physicians to adopt timely and necessary intervention or conservative treatment.Earlier investigations of vulnerable plaques were mostly based on histopathological data.With the accumulation of experience in pathology and the gradual enrichment of autopsy materials,the criteria for the diagnosis of vulnerable plaques appeared in 2001,mainly manifested as the necrotic lipid nuclei,fibrous caps that are infiltrated by a large number of macrophages,and fibrous cap thickness less than 65μm.Because of the obvious importance of the thin fibrous cap in the study of plaque vulnerability,it has been a focus of attention by many investigations.Watson,M.G.et al.are concerned about the formation of early fibrous caps in recent years.The presentation of local maximum stress on plaque further confirmed the importance of thin fibrous cap.The development of medical images has greatly promoted the study of coronary atherosclerosis.Compared with autopsy ex vivo,medical image could provide plaque data under in vivo conditions and greatly promote the study of coronary atherosclerosis.Huang XY et al.used ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)to study the relationship between plaque wall stress(PWS)and death caused by coronary artery disease.Due to technical limitations and the accessibility of the coronary artery in the body,MRI is not widely used for in vivo coronary studies.Interventional intravascular ultrasound(IVUS),with an image resolution of 150-200μm,has been used in research and clinical practice to identify plaques,quantify plaque morphology,and characterize plaque components.More recently,optical coherence tomography(OCT),with its resolution of 5-10μm,has emerged as an imaging modality which can be used to detect thin fibrous caps and improve diagnostic accuracy.It is commonly believed that mechanical forces play an important role in plaque progression and rupture.Image-based biomechanical plaque models have been developed and used to quantify plaque mechanical conditions and seek their linkage to plaque progression and vulnerability development activities.Based on recent advances in imaging and modeling,this paper attempts to provide a brief review on plaque research,including histological classification,image preparation,biomechanical modeling and analysis methods including medical imaging techniques represented by intravascular ultrasound(IVUS)and optical coherence tomography(OCT),computational modeling and their applications in plaque progression and vulnerability analyses and predictions.The clinical application and future development direction are also briefly described.We focus more on human coronary plaque modeling and mainly included results from our group for illustration purpose.We apologize in advance for our limitations.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.82274488,81874446)。
文摘Objective:To explore the molecular mechanisms of isoliquiritigenin in stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques by activating PPAR-γsignal pathway to regulate ox-LDL metabolism.Methods:The ApoE-/-mice AS carotid plaque model was prepared by using high fat diet and right perivascular carotid collar placement(PCCP).ApoE-/-mice were randomly divided into the model group and the isoliquiritigenin group after PCCP.C57BL/6J mice were used for the control group.High fat diet continued feeding for 8 weeks after PCCP to establish the AS model.Automatic biochemical analyzer was used to test levels of total cholesterol(TC),triacylglyceride(TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C).ELISA was used to measure oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL)in serum.Hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining was used to observe the pathological pattern of the carotid artery,and then calculated the carotid parameters.Oil red O staining was used for lipid determination,Masson staining was used to determine collagen content,MOMA-2 andα-SMA immunohistochemical staining were used to determine macrophages and smooth muscle cells,and to calculate the vulnerability index.Western blot was used to detected the expression of PPAR-γ,LXR-α,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 in mice arteries.Results:Compared with the normal group,TC、TG、LDL-C、HDL-C and ox-LDL were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,TC、TG、LDL-C and ox-LDL were reduced,and there was no significant change in HDL-C of the isoliquiritigenin group.Compared with the normal group,intima thickness(IT),intima/media thickness(IT/MT),plaque area(PA),and plaque area/lumen area(PA/LA)of carotid arteries were increased,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was increased,collagen andα-SMA content decreased,and the vulnerability index was higher in the model group.The expression of PPAR-γand LXR-αwere reduced and the expression of FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,carotid IT,IT/MT,PA,and PA/LA were reduced,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was decreased,collagen andα-SMA content were increased,and the vulnerability index was decreased in the isoliquiritigenin group.PPAR-γand LXR-αexpression were increased,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression were decreased significantly in the isoliquiritigenin group.Conclusion:Isoliquiritigenin can exert anti-AS effects by activating PPAR-γ,up-regulating LXR-α,reducing FABP-4 expression,reducing ox-LDL,reducing the protein expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9,decreasing plaque vulnerability index,and increasing plaque stability.
文摘The Commemorative Plaque Industry thrives at the hands of the local craftsmen in Ghana. Techniques, methods, tools, and materials used as handed to them by their previous masters have remained the same over the years. As a result, plaques produced had peculiar problems such as text fading, degrading the actual effect of the plaques. Additionally, metals once widely used for making plaques devoid of text fading in the industry seem to have lost their relevance due to metal plaque theft, rust on metal plaques, and the continuous rise in metal prices. This research uses descriptive, experimental, and case studies of the qualitative research method to examine the problems associated with locally produced commemorative plaques. A total of hundred (100) artisans, including metal scrap dealers, and plaque buyers, were selected for the study. Direct observation and face-to-face interviews were conducted with the local craftsmen, art lecturers and students, scrap dealers, and plaque buyers who were purposively sampled for the study. The study revealed that existing materials like ceramic and aluminium could be integrated innovatively to produce commemorative plaques devoid of text fading;a corrosion-resistant text could be made using anodized or coated metals used in smaller quantities to reduce costs while also making them unattractive for theft and lastly, silicone sealant was found to be a viable option for permanently inscribing text on porcelain bases. The results clarify and underline the necessity to grow the local plaque industry in terms of plaque production as another essential basis to assure high-quality plaques with no text fading that will survive for generations to serve their intended purpose.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No.U22A20585the Education Research Project of Fujian Education Department under contract No.JAT200019.
文摘The change of coastal wetland vulnerability affects the ecological environment and the economic development of the estuary area.In the past,most of the assessment studies on the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems stayed in static qualitative research,lacking predictability,and the qualitative and quantitative relationship was not objective enough.In this study,the“Source-Pathway-Receptor-Consequence”model and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vulnerability definition were used to analyze the main impact of sea level rise caused by climate change on coastal wetland ecosystem in Minjiang River Estuary.The results show that:(1)With the increase of time and carbon emission,the area of high vulnerability and the higher vulnerability increased continuously,and the area of low vulnerability and the lower vulnerability decreased.(2)The eastern and northeastern part of the Culu Island in the Minjiang River Estuary of Fujian Province and the eastern coastal wetland of Meihua Town in Changle District are areas with high vulnerability risk.The area of high vulnerability area of coastal wetland under high emission scenario is wider than that under low emission scenario.(3)Under different sea level rise scenarios,elevation has the greatest impact on the vulnerability of coastal wetlands,and slope has less impact.The impact of sea level rise caused by climate change on the coastal wetland ecosystem in the Minjiang River Estuary is mainly manifested in the sea level rise,which changes the habitat elevation and daily flooding time of coastal wetlands,and then affects the survival and distribution of coastal wetland ecosystems.
文摘Climate change impact and risks on agricultural livelihood affect women and men disproportionately and often to the disadvantage of women and girls. Consequently, this study assessed gender perspectives of vulnerability to climate change of farming households at Ikpayongo community in Gwer local government area, Benue State, Nigeria using descriptive approach. The study identified a total of 120 male-headed and female-headed farming households across four neighbourhoods and administered structured questionnaire on them using simple random sampling method, while data analysis was done using descriptive statistics. The results indicate lower education and income status among female-headed households, though male-headed households have high household size. Both sexes have relatively equal access to land for farming, however men have large farm size compared to women. The major crops cultivated by men were rice and yam, while women cultivated largely groundnut and cassava. Women are more exposed and sensitive to climate-related hazards such as floods and heat stress due to the location of their farms. The result further shows that males possess better adaptive capacity given their higher incomes, social networks and more access to training/capacity building programmes and credit facilities. The study concludes that female-headed farming households are more vulnerable to climate change and variability than male-headed farming households due to higher exposure and a lower adaptive capacity. Programme and policies to improve women access to credit facilities and relevant training to boost their adaptive capacity and build resilience are highly recommended. This would also limit exposure with attendant reduction in vulnerability.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.42171208)。
文摘Agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China is the prominent area for agricultural production,but it is also the most typical ecological fragile area with frequent drought disasters.Taking Yulin City at Shaanxi Province in China as the case area,the paper aims to investigate the spatio-temporal changes of agricultural vulnerability to drought in China’s agro-pastoral ecotone in the period 2000 to2020.The results show that:1)the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City has shifted from high vulnerability in the period2000–2010 to low vulnerability in the period 2011–2020.2)There exist obvious spatio-temporal differences of the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City during the research period.3)Four sensitive events and 14 resilient events were identified in the research and the crops of Yulin had become more resilient to drought.Finally,the paper put forward with policy implications to make adaptive strategies of agriculture to climate change in China’s agro-pastoral ecotone in the future,e.g.,carrying out agricultural zoning based on agricultural production conditions,intensifying the construction of disaster prevention and relief system,and integrating with modern agricultural technology to develop new type agriculture.
文摘Coastal vulnerability assessment using the Integrated Sensitivity, Exposure, and Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (ICSEA-C-Change) tool provides a deeper understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on coastal zones. Vulnerability ratings were obtained using rubrics that were presented to the stakeholders during focused group discussions. Derived scores were then averaged and consolidated to come up with the overall vulnerability rating. These ratings were based on the resource and status of coastal habitats’ reliance on near-shore fishing and other quality measures like fisheries ecosystem dependency, population, and water quality of the coastal habitats in the barangays. Ratings resulted in identifying 12 barangays out of 23 that are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as waves, storm surges, sea level rise, increase in surface temperature, and extreme rainfall. These are Buenavista and Basicao (Pioduran), Catburawan (Ligao), Tapel, Nagas and Maramba (Oas), Talin-Talin, Pantao, Macabugos, and Tambo (Libon) and Buhatan and Villa Hermosa (Rapu-Rapu). Assessment results were highly influenced by the absence of three major marine habitats, i.e., coral reefs, seagrass/seaweeds, and mangroves in the coastal areas. Likewise, 11 barangays out of 23, which were Marigondon and Malidong (Pioduran), Maonon and Cabarian (Ligao), Badian and Cagmanaba (Oas), Apud and Rawis (Libon), and Galicia, Hamorawon, and Poblacion (Rapu-Rapu) obtained moderate vulnerability scores. This was attributed to the presence of marine habitats that although in poor state, may serve their ecological functioning when properly protected. Highly vulnerable barangays must be prioritized in coastal rehabilitation and disaster risk reduction management planning. Parameters encompassing the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of each barangay must be taken into consideration to reduce potential impacts brought by factors attributed to climate change. Vital information from the assessment will serve as basis for developing strategic plans for improving the climate change adaptation strategies of the local government units.
基金supported by the Science and Technology Program Project(No.2020A02001-1)of Xinjiang Autonomous Region,China.
文摘Smart contracts have led to more efficient development in finance and healthcare,but vulnerabilities in contracts pose high risks to their future applications.The current vulnerability detection methods for contracts are either based on fixed expert rules,which are inefficient,or rely on simplistic deep learning techniques that do not fully leverage contract semantic information.Therefore,there is ample room for improvement in terms of detection precision.To solve these problems,this paper proposes a vulnerability detector based on deep learning techniques,graph representation,and Transformer,called GRATDet.The method first performs swapping,insertion,and symbolization operations for contract functions,increasing the amount of small sample data.Each line of code is then treated as a basic semantic element,and information such as control and data relationships is extracted to construct a new representation in the form of a Line Graph(LG),which shows more structural features that differ from the serialized presentation of the contract.Finally,the node information and edge information of the graph are jointly learned using an improved Transformer-GP model to extract information globally and locally,and the fused features are used for vulnerability detection.The effectiveness of the method in reentrancy vulnerability detection is verified in experiments,where the F1 score reaches 95.16%,exceeding stateof-the-art methods.
基金US National Science Foundation under Grant No.NSF-OAC-1835473。
文摘With the overwhelming number of older reinforced concrete buildings that need to be assessed for seismic vulnerability in a city,local governments face the question of how to assess their building inventory.By leveraging engineering drawings that are stored in a digital format,a well-established method for classification reinforced concrete buildings with respect to seismic vulnerability,and machine learning techniques,we have developed a technique to automatically extract quantitative information from the drawings to classify vulnerability.Using this technique,stakeholders will be able to rapidly classify buildings according to their seismic vulnerability and have access to information they need to prioritize a large building inventory.The approach has the potential to have significant impact on our ability to rapidly make decisions related to retrofit and improvements in our communities.In the Los Angeles County alone it is estimated that several thousand buildings of this type exist.The Hassan index is adopted here as the method for automation due to its simple application during the classification of the vulnerable reinforced concrete buildings.This paper will present the technique used for automating information extraction to compute the Hassan index for a large building inventory.
