Integration of System Biology Tools to Investigate Huperzine A as an Anti-Alzheimer Agent

Aim: The present study aimed to investigate huperzine A as an anti-Alzheimer agent based on the principle that a single compound can regulate multiple proteins and associated pathways, using system biology tools.Methodology: The simplified molecular-input line-entry system of huperzine A was retrieved from the PubChem database, and its targets were predicted using SwissTargetPrediction. These targets were matched with the proteins deposited in DisGeNET for Alzheimer disease and enriched in STRING to identify the probably regulated pathways, cellular components, biological processes, and molecular function. Furthermore, huperzine A was docked against acetylcholinesterase using AutoDock Vina, and simulations were performed with the Gromacs package to take into account the dynamics of the system and its effect on the stability and function of the ligands.Results: A total of 100 targets were predicted to be targeted by huperzine A, of which 42 were regulated at a minimum probability of 0.05. Similarly, 101 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways were triggered, in which neuroactive ligand–receptor interactions scored the least false discovery rate. Also, huperzine A was predicted to modulate 54 cellular components, 120 molecular functions, and 873 biological processes. Furthermore, huperzine A possessed a binding affinity of −8.7 kcal/mol with AChE and interacted within the active site of AChE via H-bonds and hydrophobic interactions.

Predicting the Collisions of Heavy Vehicle Drivers in Iran by Investigating the Effective Human Factors

Traffic collisions are one of the most important challenges threatening the general health of the world. Iran’s crash statistics demonstrate that approximately 16,500 people lose their lives every year due to road collisions. According to the traffic police of Iran, heavy vehicles (including trailers, trucks, and panel trucks) contributed to 20.5% of the fatal road traffic collisions in the year 2013. This highlights the need for devoting special attention to heavy vehicle drivers to further explore their driving characteristics. In this research, the effect of heavy vehicle drivers’ behavior on at-fault collisions over three years has been investigated with an innovative approach of structural equation modeling (SEM) and Bayesian Network (BN). The database utilized in this research was collected using a questionnaire. For this purpose, 474 heavy vehicle drivers have been questioned in the Parviz Khan Border Market, located on the border of Iran and Iraq. The response rate of the survey was 80%. The participants answered the questions on Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) and a sleep assessing questionnaire named Global Dissatisfaction with Sleep (GSD). In this research, human factors affecting at-fault collisions of heavy vehicles were identified and their relationships with other variables were determined using the SEM approach. Then the descriptive model constructed by the SEM method was used as the basis of the BN, and the conditional probabilities of each node in the BN were calculated by the database collected by the field survey. SEM indicates that other attributes including GSD, mobile usage, daily fatigue, exposure, and education level have an indirect relation with heavy vehicle drivers’ at-fault collisions. According to the BN, if there is no information about the characteristics of a heavy vehicle driver, the driver will likely have at least one collision during the next three years with the probability of 0.17. Also, it was indicated that the minimum probability of the at-fault collision occurrence for a heavy vehicle is 0.08.

Study and Analysis of Multiconnectivity for Ultrareliable and Low-Latency Features in Networks and V2X Communications

Ultrareliable and low-latency connection (URLLC) is one of the novel features in 5G networks and subsequent generations, in which it targets to fulfill stringent requirements on data rates, reliability, and availability. Moreover, the multiconnectivity concept is introduced to meet these requirements, where multiple different technologies are connected simultaneously, and the data packet is duplicated and transmitted from multiple transmitters. To this end, in this paper, we present an analysis, model, and method to ensure the reliability of data delivery when organizing URLLC in 5G networks. In addition, a new approach based on the organization of multiple connections (multiconnectivity) and duplication of transmitted data is considered. Further, an analytical model is presented for assessing the probability of failure, taking into account the traffic intensity, the probability of failure of elements, and the number of used connections. Moreover, an efficient method is proposed for increasing the reliability of data delivery by optimizing the number of connections. Further, a multiconnectivity-based URLLC model has been built for evaluating the proposed method and verifies that the optimal number of routes for data delivery between the user and the point of service can be obtained, where the probability of losses and equipment reliability are jointly considered. Finally, detailed analysis of results shown that with “equal” routes in terms of load (with an equally probable traffic distribution) and the probability of equipment failure, the optimal number of routes can be found, at which the minimum probability of losses is achieved.

Measurement of the Probability of a Binary Symbol «0» Erasing in a Single-Photon Asynchronous Communication Channel with a Receiver Based on a Photon Counter

Receiving modules of single-photon communication channels should provide the least loss of transmitted information when measuring low-power optical signals. In this regard, it is advisable to use photon counters. They are highly sensitive, but are characterized by data logging errors. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of the intensity of the recorded optical radiation during the transmission of binary symbols «0» on the probability of erasing these symbols in a single-photon communication channel containing a photon counter based on an avalanche photodetector as a receiving module with a passive avalanche suppression scheme.The lower and upper threshold levels of pulses recorded at the output of the photon counter, as well as the statistical distributions of the mixture of the number of dark and signal pulses at the output of the photon counter when registering binary symbols «0» Pst0( N ) and «1» Pst1( N ) were determined. For this, a technique was used to reduce information loss. As a result, the minimum probability of erasing binary symbols «0» P(–/0) was achieved.The performed experimental results showed that to achieve the minimum probability of erasing binary symbols «0» P(–/0) = 0,11·10−2, it is important to select not only the intensity of the used optical radiation J , but also the supply voltage of the avalanche photodetector U, at which the dead time of the photon counter is −2 minimal, and its quantum detection efficiency is maximum: J0 ≥ 98,94·10−2 rel. units and U = 52,54 V.

Probabilistic Timed Automata with Clock-Dependent Probabilities

Probabilistic timed automata are classical timed automata extended with discrete probability distributions over edges. We introduce clock-dependent probabilistic timed automata, a variant of probabilistic timed automata in which transition probabilities can depend linearly on clock values. Clock-dependent probabilistic timed automata allow the modelling of a continuous relationship between time passage and the likelihood of system events. We show that the problem of deciding whether the maximum probability of reaching a certain location is above a threshold is undecidable for clock-dependent probabilistic timed automata. On the positive side, we show that the maximum and minimum probability of reaching a certain location in clock-dependent probabilistic timed automata can be approximated using a region-graph-based approach.

Расчет общей предельной прочности корпуса газовоза

На примере газовоза с ледовым классом Arc-7 проводится сравнение метода расчета предельной прочности отношения моментов и метода малоцикловой усталости. Делаются выводы о преимуществах и недостатках каждого метода. Работа сопровождается подробными расчетами предельной прочности по методу отношения моментов и малоцикловой усталости с числовыми значениями. Данное исследование может быть интересно специалистам, работающим в области расчетов прочности. Ключевые слова: предельная прочность, волновой момент, накопление повреждений, малоцикловая усталость This work covers the comparison of two methods of calculating the ultimate strength: one using the ratio of moments, and the other one using the low-cycle fatigue of a maximum stress range and minimum probability of exceedance – with the example of gas carriers operating in Arctic navigation areas. Detailed conclusions on the advantages the advantages and disadvantages of each method are made. The work is accompanied by detailed calculations and numerical values; may be of interest to specialists working in the strength calculations field. Keywords: ultimate strength, hull bending moment, fatigue damge, low-cycle fatigue Contribution of the authors: the authors contributed equally to this article. The authors declare no conflicts of interest

Modeling of population dynamics of the protected lichen Lobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm. in the Caucasus

Reduction of biological diversity of lichens, reduction of the distribution of rare species and their disappearance due to habitat disturbance are significant problems in the Caucasus. The aim was to study the main patterns of distribution of the rare lichen species Lobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm. and included identification the main abiotic factors affecting the distribution of the species in region. We modeled the current habitats of Lobaria pulmonaria in the Caucasus by using the Maxent method (Maximum entropy modelling). The most suitable for distribution of the lichen were the wettest areas of the southern macroslope of the Greater Caucasus. The center of the predicted range of L. pulmonaria was currently located on the Black Sea coast, in the mid-mountain areas of Krasnodar region, Georgia and Abkhazia. The minimum probability of finding the species predicted in relatively arid areas with a more continental climate in the Central and, especially, Eastern Caucasus. Temperature and orographic (Topographical Ruggedness Index, topographical humidity Index) factors are also important in the distribution of the studied species.

Government Supervision Mode Selection in the Promotion Period of Prefabricated Construction Using Evolutionary Game

Aiming at the speculative behavior of some developers who seek private interests in the promotion period of prefabricated construction, this research combines the actual situation, objectively and reasonably determines the parameters in the model, and builds an evolutionary game model to study the choice of government supervision mode in different situations, from the perspective of government supervision. The results showed that the choice of government supervision mode has great connection with the probability of identifying developers’ speculative behavior when the government adopts node supervision. When the probability is greater than the developers’ speculative value, the government will choose node supervision, while the developers will not adopt speculative behavior. Conversely, there will be a periodic behavior pattern in the evolutionary system, and the choice of government supervision mode is related to the value of each parameter. At the same time, the minimum probability of identifying speculative behavior that keeps the optimal situation stable is obtained. On this basis, the paper takes a practical case to discuss the influence of different parameter variations on the choice of government supervision mode and makes numerical simulations; then it puts forward some specific suggestions for government to restrain the speculative behavior of developer.