Threat assessment of aerial targets based on improved GRA-TOPSIS method and three-way decisions.

Target threat assessment is a critical aspect of information warfare and can offer valuable auxiliary support to combat command decision-making. Aiming to address the shortcomings of three decision-making methods in air combat target assessment, such as the inability to effectively handle uncertain situation information and quantitatively rank the decision-making targets according to their importance, a dynamic intuitionistic fuzzy decision model based on the improved GRA-TOPSIS method and three-way decisions is proposed. First, the target attribute weight is obtained by cosine intuitionistic fuzzy entropy algorithm; then, a novel intuitionistic fuzzy distance measure is introduced, and grey incidence analysis and TOPSIS are used to build the conditional probability for three-way decisions that fully utilize the existing information and reflect the consistency of dynamic change trend; finally, the comprehensive loss function matrix is constructed and the threat classification results are obtained using the decision rules. The example analysis shows that the proposed method can not only effectively handle complex battlefield situations and dynamic uncertain information, but it can also classify targets, improving the effectiveness and rationality of decision-making and providing a reference basis for scientific command decision-making.

AF-SSD: An Accurate and Fast Single Shot Detector for High Spatial Remote Sensing Imagery.

There are a large number of studies on geospatial object detection. However, many existing methods only focus on either accuracy or speed. Methods with both fast speed and high accuracy are of great importance in some scenes, like search and rescue, and military information acquisition. In remote sensing images, there are some targets that are small and have few textures and low contrast compared with the background, which impose challenges on object detection. In this paper, we propose an accurate and fast single shot detector (AF-SSD) for high spatial remote sensing imagery to solve these problems. Firstly, we design a lightweight backbone to reduce the number of trainable parameters of the network. In this lightweight backbone, we also use some wide and deep convolutional blocks to extract more semantic information and keep the high detection precision. Secondly, a novel encoding-decoding module is employed to detect small targets accurately. With up-sampling and summation operations, the encoding-decoding module can add strong high-level semantic information to low-level features. Thirdly, we design a cascade structure with spatial and channel attention modules for targets with low contrast (named low-contrast targets) and few textures (named few-texture targets). The spatial attention module can extract long-range features for few-texture targets. By weighting each channel of a feature map, the channel attention module can guide the network to concentrate on easily identifiable features for low-contrast and few-texture targets. The experimental results on the NWPU VHR-10 dataset show that our proposed AF-SSD achieves superior detection performance: parameters 5.7 M, mAP 88.7%, and 0.035 s per image on average on an NVIDIA GTX-1080Ti GPU.

Outcome of multimodal MRI-guided intravenous thrombolysis in patients with stroke with unknown time of onset.

OBJECTIVE: Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the standard therapy for patients with acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) within 4.5 hours of onset. Recent trials have expanded the endovascular treatment window to 24 hours. We investigated the efficacy and safety of using multimodal MRI to guide intravenous tPA treatment for patients with AIS of unknown time of onset (UTO). METHODS: Data on patients with AIS with UTO and within 4.5 hours of onset were reviewed. Data elements collected and analysed included: demographics, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score at baseline and 2 hours, 24 hours, 7 days after thrombolysis and before discharge, the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 3 months after discharge, imaging findings and any adverse event. RESULTS: Forty-two patients with UTO and 62 in control group treated within 4.5 hours of onset were treated with intravenous tPA. The NIHSS scores after thrombolysis and/or before discharge in UTO group were significantly improved compared with the baseline (p<0.05). Between the two groups, no significant differences in NIHSS score were observed (p>0.05). Utilising the non-inferiority test, to compare mRS scores (0-2) at 3 months between the two groups, the difference was 5.2% (92% CI, OR 0.196). Patients in the UTO group had mRS scores of 0-2, which were non-inferior to the control group. Their incidence of adverse events was similar. CONCLUSIONS: Utilising multimodal MRI to guide intravenous only thrombolysis for patients with AIS with UTO was safe and effective. In those patients with AIS between 6 and 24 hours of time of onset but without large arterial occlusion, intravenous thrombolysis could be considered an option.

Optimization of robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design.

Controllability of complex networks has been a hot topic in recent years. Real networks regarded as interdependent networks are always coupled together by multiple networks. The cascading process of interdependent networks including interdependent failure and overload failure will destroy the robustness of controllability for the whole network. Therefore, the optimization of the robustness of interdependent network controllability is of great importance in the research area of complex networks. In this paper, based on the model of interdependent networks constructed first, we determine the cascading process under different proportions of node attacks. Then, the structural controllability of interdependent networks is measured by the minimum driver nodes. Furthermore, we propose a parameter which can be obtained by the structure and minimum driver set of interdependent networks under different proportions of node attacks and analyze the robustness for interdependent network controllability. Finally, we optimize the robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design including node backup and redundancy edge backup and improve the redundant design by proposing different strategies according to their cost. Comparative strategies of redundant design are conducted to find the best strategy. Results shows that node backup and redundancy edge backup can indeed decrease those nodes suffering from failure and improve the robustness of controllability. Considering the cost of redundant design, we should choose BBS (betweenness-based strategy) or DBS (degree based strategy) for node backup and HDF(high degree first) for redundancy edge backup. Above all, our proposed strategies are feasible and effective at improving the robustness of interdependent network controllability.

Redundant Design in Interdependent Networks.

Modern infrastructure networks are often coupled together and thus could be modeled as interdependent networks. Overload and interdependent effect make interdependent networks more fragile when suffering from attacks. Existing research has primarily concentrated on the cascading failure process of interdependent networks without load, or the robustness of isolated network with load. Only limited research has been done on the cascading failure process caused by overload in interdependent networks. Redundant design is a primary approach to enhance the reliability and robustness of the system. In this paper, we propose two redundant methods, node back-up and dependency redundancy, and the experiment results indicate that two measures are effective and costless. Two detailed models about redundant design are introduced based on the non-linear load-capacity model. Based on the attributes and historical failure distribution of nodes, we introduce three static selecting strategies-Random-based, Degree-based, Initial load-based and a dynamic strategy-HFD (historical failure distribution) to identify which nodes could have a back-up with priority. In addition, we consider the cost and efficiency of different redundant proportions to determine the best proportion with maximal enhancement and minimal cost. Experiments on interdependent networks demonstrate that the combination of HFD and dependency redundancy is an effective and preferred measure to implement redundant design on interdependent networks. The results suggest that the redundant design proposed in this paper can permit construction of highly robust interactive networked systems.

Effect Comparison of Both Iron Chelators on Outcomes, Iron Deposit, and Iron Transporters After Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Rats.

Iron overload plays a key role in brain injury after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We explored the roles of ferric iron chelator-deferiprone (DFP)-and ferrous iron chelator-clioquinol (CQ)-in ICH rats through the outcomes, iron deposits, reactive oxygen species (ROS), brain water content, and related iron transporters. One hundred eight Sprague-Dawley rats received intra-striatal infusions of 0.5 U of type IV collagenase to establish ICH models. The rats were randomly assigned to the sham, vehicle, DFP, and CQ groups. We evaluated the outcomes, iron levels, brain water content, and ROS; meanwhile, immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) were utilized to determine ferritin, transferrin, transferrin receptor, divalent metal transport 1 (DMT1), and ferroportin at 48 and 72 h, 7 and 14 days after surgery. Our results showed ICH induced iron overload, brain edema, ROS formation, and neurological deficits. Both iron chelators decreased iron levels; CQ improved the neurological outcome, attenuated brain edema, and ROS production. DFP reduced iron contents but not brain water content and ROS generation. DFP failed to improve the outcome. ICH initiated endogenous iron chelators and transporters, both exogenous iron chelators enhanced expression of transferrin and transferrin receptor. CQ enhanced expression of ferroportin but not DMT1, while DFP enhanced expression of DMT1 but not ferroportin. Ferrous iron contributed to brain injury, and binding ferrous iron can modestly improve outcome after ICH in rats. The exogenous ferrous iron chelator possibly functioned via endogenous ferrous iron transporters on ICH. Therefore, ferrous iron may be a promising target for ICH in future.