Evaluation of Economic Security of Water Resources and Analysis of Influencing Factors

To effectively evaluate the level of economic security of water resources (WES) in China and analyze its influencing factors, a comprehensive evaluation model of WES and a regression analysis model of influencing factors are established based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2017. It is found that, first, WES in China presents a fluctuating upward trend. Second, different regions have different economic security levels for their water resources in China, among which WES in the central region is the highest. Third, there is a U-shaped correlation between economic development and WES, and the population, pollution control level, technological innovation have negative impacts on WES. Moreover, this study also finds that with upgrades to the industrial structure and level of human capital, there will be improvements to WES. However, the external coefficient and the investment scale of fixed assets have a negative impact on the economic security of water resources. This is helpful to utilize the water resources, and improve the water resources safety management.

Genotoxic and cytotoxic evaluation of venlafaxine in an acute and a subchronic assay in mouse

The present research was made to determine the micronuclei and cytotoxic capacity of the antidepressant venlafaxine in an in vivo acute and subchronic assays in mouse. In the first study, we administered once 5, 50, and 250 mg/kg of the drug, and included a negative and a daunorubicin treated group. Observations were daily made during four days. The subchronic assay lasted 5 weeks with daily administration of venlafaxine (1, 5, and 10 mg/kg) plus a negative and an imipramine administered groups. Observations were made each week. In the first assay results showed no micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPE) increase, except with the high dose at 72 h. The strongest cytotoxic effect was found with 250 mg/kg at 72 h (a 51% cytotoxic effect in comparison with the mean control level). In the subchronic assay no MNPE increase was found; however, with the highest dose a significant increase of micronucleated normochromatic erythrocytes was observed in the last three weeks (a mean of 51% respect to the mean control value). A cytotoxic effect with the two high doses in the last two weeks was observed (a polychromatic erythrocyte mean decrease of 52% respect to the mean control value). Results suggest caution with venlafaxine.

Azoximer bromide-modulated immune response in aerobic vaginitis

Aim: to evaluate the efficacy of azoximer bromide along with a combined antimicrobial drug in treatment of patients with aerobic vaginitis (AV).Materials and Methods. There was conducted a prospective, randomized, parallel group study with enrolled 60 patients diagnosed with AV and 10 apparently healthy women (control group III). Group I (n = 30) received azoximer bromide (10 vaginal insertion according to the scheme, course of 10 days) and a combined antimicrobial drug, while Group II (n = 30) received only antimicrobial drug (course of 10 days). Microscopy of vaginal discharge smears, polymerase chain reaction method was used, detection of cytokines – interleukins (IL) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in vaginal washings was performed by ELISA. The study of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) was performed by ELISA, and DNA-containing strands ejected by neutrophils were determined by fluorescence method.Results. Recovery from disease was found in 100 % (30/30) and 86.7 % (26/30) in group I and group II, respectively. After treatment, serum level of IL-8 was revealed to decline in group I from 35.2 to 5.5 pg/ml (p = 0.05), in group II – from 33.4 to 5.3 pg/ml (p = 0.04), also not differ (p > 0.05) from the control values (5.2 pg/ml). The level of IL-1β also decreased after treatment in group I from 51.5 to 15.1 pg/ml (p = 0.002), in group II – from 57.9 to 20.1 pg/ml (p = 0.03), which also did not differ (p > 0.05) from the control values (16.7 pg/ml). The IL-10 level in both main groups decreased slightly (from 0.26 and 0.24 to 0.16 pg/ml in both groups), which was higher by 1.8-fold than in the control group (0.09 pg/ml; p < 0.001). The number of ejected NETs in both main groups decreased significantly after treatment, reaching control level. No side effects were observed, compliance and acceptability were 100 % in both groups. The frequency of AV relapses within 3 months was observed in 3.3 % (1/30) and 14.3 % (4/28) patients, after 6 months – in 14.3 % (4/28) and in 20.0 % (5/25) patients in groups I and II, respectively. Using the logit regression model, demonstrated that AV relapse might occur with a 50 %-probability at TNF-α level < 0.1 pg/ml after treatment (sensitivity – 67 %, specificity – 79 %). The risk of relapses in group I, in contrast to group II, showed a downward trend.Conclusions. The use of azoximer bromide and a combined broad-spectrum antimicrobial drug is effective in AV treatment, exerts a modulating effect on immune response parameters contributes to lowering relapse rate.

An Explainable Intelligent Framework for Anomaly Mitigation in Cyber-Physical Inverter-based Systems

An explainable intelligent framework for cyber anomaly mitigation of cyber-physical inverter-based systems is presented.<div><br></div><div>Smart inverter-based microgrids essentially constitute an extensive communication layer that makes them vulnerable to cyber anomalies. The distributed cooperative controllers implemented at the secondary control level of such systems exchange information among physical nodes using the cyber layer to meet the control objectives. The cyber anomalies targeting the communication network may distort the normal operation therefore, an effective cyber anomaly mitigation technique using an artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed in this paper. The intelligent anomaly mitigation control is modeled using adynamic recurrent neural network that employs a nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs. The effects of false data injection to the distributed cooperative controller at the secondary control level are considered. The training data for designing the neural network are generated by multiple simulations of the designed microgrid under various operating conditions using MATLAB/Simulink. The neural network is trained offline and tested online in the simulated microgrid. The proposed technique is applied as secondary voltage and frequency control of distributed cooperative control-based microgrid to regulate the voltage under various operating conditions. The performance of the proposed control technique is verified by injecting various types of false data injection-based cyber anomalies. The proposed ANN-based secondary controller maintained the normal operation of microgrid in the presence of cyber anomalies as demonstrated by real-time simulations on a real-time digital simulator OPAL-RT.<br></div>

An Explainable Intelligent Framework for Anomaly Mitigation in Cyber-Physical Inverter-based Systems

An explainable intelligent framework for cyber anomaly mitigation of cyber-physical inverter-based systems is presented.<div><br></div><div>Smart inverter-based microgrids essentially constitute an extensive communication layer that makes them vulnerable to cyber anomalies. The distributed cooperative controllers implemented at the secondary control level of such systems exchange information among physical nodes using the cyber layer to meet the control objectives. The cyber anomalies targeting the communication network may distort the normal operation therefore, an effective cyber anomaly mitigation technique using an artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed in this paper. The intelligent anomaly mitigation control is modeled using adynamic recurrent neural network that employs a nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs. The effects of false data injection to the distributed cooperative controller at the secondary control level are considered. The training data for designing the neural network are generated by multiple simulations of the designed microgrid under various operating conditions using MATLAB/Simulink. The neural network is trained offline and tested online in the simulated microgrid. The proposed technique is applied as secondary voltage and frequency control of distributed cooperative control-based microgrid to regulate the voltage under various operating conditions. The performance of the proposed control technique is verified by injecting various types of false data injection-based cyber anomalies. The proposed ANN-based secondary controller maintained the normal operation of microgrid in the presence of cyber anomalies as demonstrated by real-time simulations on a real-time digital simulator OPAL-RT.<br></div>

An Explainable Intelligent Framework for Anomaly Mitigation in Cyber-Physical Inverter-based Systems

An explainable intelligent framework for cyber anomaly mitigation of cyber-physical inverter-based systems is presented.<div><br></div><div>Smart inverter-based microgrids essentially constitute an extensive communication layer that makes them vulnerable to cyber anomalies. The distributed cooperative controllers implemented at the secondary control level of such systems exchange information among physical nodes using the cyber layer to meet the control objectives. The cyber anomalies targeting the communication network may distort the normal operation therefore, an effective cyber anomaly mitigation technique using an artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed in this paper. The intelligent anomaly mitigation control is modeled using adynamic recurrent neural network that employs a nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs. The effects of false data injection to the distributed cooperative controller at the secondary control level are considered. The training data for designing the neural network are generated by multiple simulations of the designed microgrid under various operating conditions using MATLAB/Simulink. The neural network is trained offline and tested online in the simulated microgrid. The proposed technique is applied as secondary voltage and frequency control of distributed cooperative control-based microgrid to regulate the voltage under various operating conditions. The performance of the proposed control technique is verified by injecting various types of false data injection-based cyber anomalies. The proposed ANN-based secondary controller maintained the normal operation of microgrid in the presence of cyber anomalies as demonstrated by real-time simulations on a real-time digital simulator OPAL-RT.<br></div>

Civilian-Military Collaboration before and during COVID-19 Pandemic—A Systematic Review and a Pilot Survey among Practitioners

Due to the similarity in skills and assets, Civilian-Military collaboration has emerged as one of the most reliable partnerships during the disaster and public health emergency management to address all necessary elements of surge capacity, i.e., staff, stuff, structure (space), and systems. This study aimed to evaluate this collaboration before and during the coronavirus 2019 pandemic. The outcomes of the systematic review revealed several published reports on successful civilian-military collaboration and proposed a need for further improvement. One hundred sixty-six individuals from 19 countries responded to nine questions, included in an online survey with the possibility to leave comments if necessary. The questionnaire referred to elements such as command and control, safety, communication, assessment, triage, treatment, and transport, as the crucial components of emergency management. The comprehensive examination of the survey results together with registered comments revealed a possible improvement in collaboration particularly on the strategic levels, i.e., meetings at the command-and-control level, safety, communication, and networking issues. While logistic collaboration seemed to be unchanged, the practical parts of the collaboration, i.e., clinical and non-clinical operational partnership (Triage and Treatment), mutual education, training, and operational understanding of each organization remained unchanged. In conclusion, although the current pandemic may have facilitated a more intense collaboration between civilian and military healthcare organizations, it lacks practical partnership and operative engagement, representing two crucial elements necessary for harmony and compatibility of both systems. Such collaboration may require a political will and perhaps a mutual civilian-military authority.

Biochemical changes in Conocarpus species under saline soils of Lal Suhanra National Park, Bahawalpur

In Pakistan, arid and semi-arid areas are more prone to limited rainfall, extensive evapo-transpiration and higher temperatures. For better understandings of current situation, a field experiment was carried out to study the morphological characteristics, biochemical responses and ionic composition of Conocarpus species (Conocarpus erectus and Conocarpus lancifolius) under saline soil conditions in Lal Suhanra National Park, Bahawalpur during 2019-21. Three sites one at normal soil (S.I) and two at different salinity levels (Medium and High Salinity) were observed in order to assess their effect on plant growth and other parameters. The data regarding physiological and biochemical parameters were recorded. Conocarpus lancifolius and Conocarpus erectus has maximum (233) mmol m-2sec-1 and (162) mmol m-2sec-1 stomatal conductance respectively. Maximum transpiration rate (4.57 MMOL M-2S-1) was observed at site-I in case of C. lancifolius, while maximum transpiration rate in case of C. erectus was (2.94 MMOL M-2S-1) at site-I. At control level, maximum photosynthetic rate was measured as (8.76 µmol m-2sec-1) in C. lancifolius and (5.59 µmol m-2sec-1) in case of C. erectus. Conocarpus species; Conocarpus lancifolius and Conocarpus erectus has maximum SOD (13.29 and 19.62) and CAT (16.48 and 42.05), and POD (14.81 and 8.81 U/mg protein) respectively. Maximum values of Na+K+ ratio in leaves (3.08), shoots (5.98) and roots (9.84) were detected at site-I in C. lancifolius. Based on statistically analyzed data, it is revealed that Conocarpus lancifolius can tolerate better salt stress as compared to Conocarpus erectus. Both species of Conocarpus can tolerate salinity up to 40 dSm-1 but growth of Conocarpus erectus is affected more as compared to Conocarpus lancifolius.

Information on Covid-19 and Effortful Control Level: Increasing or Decreasing Anxiety?

Anxiety has increased with more information about the COVID-19 outbreak. The COVID-19 information can make people more aware and care about this pandemic. However, it also can make people feel panic and anxious. Emotional induction in the information is referring to how the emotion carried by the information can affect early adult’s anxiety, but the differences in effortful control level that each person has also define the level of anxiety someone experiences. The anxiety level related to effortful control is one dimension of temperament. This study is conducted in concern of the effect of emotional induction in COVID-19 information towards anxiety in high and low effortful control groups. This study used a quantitative method with quasi-experimental research. This study involves 218 early adults in an age range of 20-40 years old. This study used pictures from content information about COVID-19, Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Effortful Control Questionnaire (ECQ) as the measuring tools. The results of the significance test show p <0.005. This means that there is an effect of emotional induction on anxiety at both high and low effortful control levels. This study shows that emotional induction in the form of COVID-19 information reduces anxiety in the respondent group with a high level of effortful control, but increases anxiety in the respondent group with a low level of effortful control. The effect of COVID-19 information on anxiety based on effortful control in the late adult (over 65 years old) group, in this study cannot be explained.