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  • MDPI AG  (26)
  • 2015-2019  (26)
  • 1
    In: Polymers, MDPI AG, Vol. 11, No. 12 ( 2019-11-24), p. 1933-
    Abstract: Since it was first discovered, thousands of years ago, silkworm silk has been known to be an abundant biopolymer with a vast range of attractive properties. The utilization of silk fibroin (SF), the main protein of silkworm silk, has not been limited to the textile industry but has been further extended to various high-tech application areas, including biomaterials for drug delivery systems and tissue engineering. The outstanding mechanical properties of SF, including its facile processability, superior biocompatibility, controllable biodegradation, and versatile functionalization have allowed its use for innovative applications. In this review, we describe the structure, composition, general properties, and structure-properties relationship of SF. In addition, the methods used for the fabrication and modification of various materials are briefly addressed. Lastly, recent applications of SF-based materials for small molecule drug delivery, biological drug delivery, gene therapy, wound healing, and bone regeneration are reviewed and our perspectives on future development of these favorable materials are also shared.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2073-4360
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2527146-5
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  • 2
    In: Processes, MDPI AG, Vol. 7, No. 11 ( 2019-11-04), p. 805-
    Abstract: As a promising candidate for expanding the capacity of drug loading in silica nanoplatforms, hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) are gaining increasing attention. In this study, porous nanosilica (PNS) and HMSNs were prepared by the sol-gel method and template assisted method, then further used for Rhodamine (RhB) loading. To characterize the as-synthesized nanocarriers, a number of techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen absorption-desorption isotherms, dynamic light scattering (DLS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were employed. The size of HMSN nanoparticles in aqueous solution averaged 134.0 ± 0.3 nm, which could be adjusted by minor changes during synthesis, whereas that of PNS nanoparticles was 63.4 ± 0.6 nm. In addition, the encapsulation of RhB into HMSN nanoparticles to form RhB-loaded nanocarriers (RhB/HMSN) was successful, achieving high loading efficiency (51.67% ± 0.11%). This was significantly higher than that of RhB-loaded PNS (RhB/PNS) (12.24% ± 0.24%). Similarly, RhB/HMSN also possessed a higher RhB loading content (10.44% ± 0.02%) compared to RhB/PNS (2.90% ± 0.05%). From those results, it is suggested that prepared HMSN nanocarriers may act as high-capacity carriers in drug delivery applications.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2227-9717
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2720994-5
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  • 3
    In: Applied Sciences, MDPI AG, Vol. 9, No. 24 ( 2019-12-12), p. 5458-
    Abstract: The principal purpose of this work is to develop three hybrid machine learning (ML) algorithms, namely ANFIS-RCSA, ANFIS-CA, and ANFIS-SFLA which are a combination of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) with metaheuristic optimization techniques such as real-coded simulated annealing (RCSA), cultural algorithm (CA) and shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA), respectively, to predict the critical buckling load of I-shaped cellular steel beams with circular openings. For this purpose, the existing database of buckling tests on I-shaped steel beams were extracted from the available literature and used to generate the datasets for modeling. Eight inputs, considered as independent variables, including the beam length, beam end-opening distance, opening diameter, inter-opening distance, section height, web thickness, flange width, and flange thickness, as well as one output of the critical buckling load of cellular steel beams considered as a dependent variable, were used in the datasets. Three quality assessment criteria, namely correlation coefficient (R), root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) were employed for assessment of three developed hybrid ML models. The obtained results indicate that all three hybrid ML models have a strong ability to predict the buckling load of steel beams with circular openings, but ANFIS-SFLA (R = 0.960, RMSE = 0.040 and MAE = 0.017) exhibits the best effectiveness as compared with other hybrid models. In addition, sensitivity analysis was investigated and compared with linear statistical correlation between inputs and output to validate the importance of input variables in the models. The sensitivity results show that the most influenced variable affecting beam buckling capacity is the beam length, following by the flange width, the flange thickness, and the web thickness, respectively. This study shows that the hybrid ML techniques could help in establishing a robust numerical tool for beam buckling analysis. The proposed methodology is also promising to predict other types of failure, as well as other types of perforated beams.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2076-3417
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2704225-X
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  • 4
    In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, MDPI AG, Vol. 16, No. 10 ( 2019-05-16), p. 1741-
    Abstract: Despite the availability of effective and safe rubella vaccines for women of childbearing age, prevention and control of congenital rubella syndrome in children remains challenging in Vietnam. In order to examine this issue, we conducted a cross-sectional study, examining the current coverage of rubella vaccination before pregnancy among 807 pregnant women and women with children under 12 months of age in urban and rural districts, Dong Da and Ba Vi, in Hanoi, Vietnam. In this population, we observed an alarming non-compliance rate with rubella vaccination before pregnancy in both localities. Among the 82.0% of participants who remained unvaccinated against this contagious viral infection, 95.8% of them were in Ba Vi district, compared to 68.0% in Dong Da district (p 〈 0.001). Besides the differences in age, number of children, education levels, primary occupations and monthly incomes among the participants between the two districts, other reasons for noncompliance with rubella vaccination includeddisinterest in rubella vaccination, the high cost and long distance to vaccination sites as well as unawareness of vaccination locations. In addition to addressing the unique socio-economicchallenges behind one’s accessibility to vaccination services in urban and rural areas, our study supports a continued effort in ensuring proper access to and education about pre-pregnancy vaccines and vaccination among women of childbearing age in order to achieve and sustain sufficient immunization coverage of rubella and other vaccine-preventable diseases in both settings.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 1660-4601
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2175195-X
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  • 5
    In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, MDPI AG, Vol. 16, No. 18 ( 2019-09-04), p. 3240-
    Abstract: Although HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) testing for all women has been promoted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health since 2000, test acceptance rates in this country were reported to be less than 30% in the community. This country has been facing the barriers to approach the national services towards transmission prevention from mother to child including HIV testing during antenatal care (ANC) towards mothers. Here, we aim to assess the socioeconomic inequalities in HIV testing during ANC among Vietnamese women. This study used available data from the Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014. Overall, the prevalence of HIV testing during antenatal care was 30% and the concentrate index (CCI) was 0.1926. There was significant inequality between women classified as poor and rich, and when stratified by social characteristics, inequality was found in women aged 15–49 years (CCI: 0.4), living in rural areas (CCI: 0.3), belonging to ethnic minorities (CCI: 0.5) and having primary or less education (CCI: 0.4). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, ethnicity and socioeconomic status were significant factors associated with HIV testing during ANC. We found the prevalence of HIV testing during ANC was low, and its inequalities were associated with age, living area, ethnicity, education, and economic status.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 1660-4601
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2175195-X
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  • 6
    In: Water, MDPI AG, Vol. 11, No. 4 ( 2019-04-24), p. 853-
    Abstract: The primary goal of this study is to investigate the classification capability of several artificial intelligence techniques, including the decision tree (DT), multilayer perceptron (MLP) network, Naïve Bayes, radial basis function (RBF) network, and support vector machine (SVM) for evaluating spatial and temporal variations in water quality. The application case is the Song Quao-Ca Giang (SQ-CG) water system, a main domestic water supply source of the city of Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan province, Vietnam. To evaluate the water quality condition of the source, the government agency has initiated an extensive sampling project, collecting samples from 43 locations covering the SQ reservoir, the main canals, and the surrounding areas during 2015–2016. Different classifying models based on artificial intelligence techniques were developed to analyze the sampling data after the performances of the models were evaluated and compared using the confusion matrix, accuracy rate, and several error indexes. The results show that machine-learning techniques can be used to explicitly evaluate spatial and temporal variations in water quality.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2073-4441
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2521238-2
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  • 7
    In: Polymers, MDPI AG, Vol. 11, No. 6 ( 2019-06-01), p. 955-
    Abstract: Water-soluble and low molecular weight (Mw) β-glucans were successfully prepared by γ-irradiation of water-insoluble yeast β-glucans. The radiation dose used for the degradation of yeast β-glucan was remarkably reduced by increasing the pH of the sample or combining with hydrogen peroxide treatment. Radiation-degraded β-glucans with molecular weights in the range of 11−48 kDa reduced the total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and glucose levels in the blood of administered mice. The decreasing levels of both lipid and glucose indexes in the blood of tested mice strongly depended on the molecular weight of the β-glucan, and the radiation-degraded β-glucan with a molecular weight of about 25 kDa was found to be the most effective for the reduction of blood lipid and glucose levels. Particularly, the oral administration of 25 kDa β-glucan, with a daily dose of about 2 mg per head, reduced the total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol, and glucose levels in the blood of tested mice to about 47.4%, 48.5%, 45.7%, and 47.2%, respectively. The effects on the reduction of blood lipid and glucose levels were also found to be stable after 20 days of stopping administration. These results indicate that the degraded β-glucan with a molecular weight of about 25 kDa prepared by γ-ray irradiation is a very promising ingredient that can be used in nutraceutical food for therapeutics of diabetic and dyslipidemia.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2073-4360
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2527146-5
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  • 8
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    MDPI AG ; 2019
    In:  Applied Sciences Vol. 9, No. 5 ( 2019-02-27), p. 856-
    In: Applied Sciences, MDPI AG, Vol. 9, No. 5 ( 2019-02-27), p. 856-
    Abstract: The increase in recent power failures, with negative impacts on humans and the economy, has been largely attributed to environmental effects and the aging of the power network. These have been accelerated in the last years due to two main factors: an increased load on the power network and material degradation owing to the presence of environmental pollutants. These factors together with specific weather conditions create the incipient conditions for power network degradation. In this paper, a review of the influence of environmental factors on high-voltage (HV) materials and components is provided. Sensing and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies developed to prevent the failure of the material structure and HV components are also reported.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2076-3417
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2704225-X
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  • 9
    In: Symmetry, MDPI AG, Vol. 11, No. 2 ( 2019-02-23), p. 290-
    Abstract: In this paper, we propose a controller for a bicycle using the DDPG (Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient) algorithm, which is a state-of-the-art deep reinforcement learning algorithm. We use a reward function and a deep neural network to build the controller. By using the proposed controller, a bicycle can not only be stably balanced but also travel to any specified location. We confirm that the controller with DDPG shows better performance than the other baselines such as Normalized Advantage Function (NAF) and Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO). For the performance evaluation, we implemented the proposed algorithm in various settings such as fixed and random speed, start location, and destination location.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2073-8994
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2019
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2518382-5
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  • 10
    In: Nutrients, MDPI AG, Vol. 9, No. 8 ( 2017-08-17), p. 893-
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2072-6643
    Language: English
    Publisher: MDPI AG
    Publication Date: 2017
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2518386-2
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