ObjectiveSeveral epidemiological studies have been performed to evaluate the association of fruit and vegetable consumption with risk of the metabolic syndrome (MetS), but the results remain controversial. Thus, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis to assess the associations of fruit or/and vegetable consumption with risk of MetS, separately.DesignWe searched PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases up to July 2017 for relevant available articles. Pooled OR with 95 % CI were calculated with the fixed- or random-effects model.ResultsA total of nine studies for fruit consumption, nine studies for vegetable consumption and seven studies for fruit and vegetable consumption were identified as eligible for the present meta-analysis. The pooled OR (95 % CI) of MetS for the highest v. lowest category were 0·87 (0·82, 0·92; I2=46·7 %) for fruit consumption, 0·85 (0·80, 0·91; I2=0·0 %) for vegetable consumption and 0·76 (0·62, 0·93; I2=83·5 %) for fruit and vegetable consumption. In subgroup analyses stratified by continent where the study was conducted, the inverse association of fruit consumption (0·86 (0·77, 0·96)) and vegetable consumption (0·86 (0·80, 0·92)) with risk of MetS remained significant in Asia. There was no evidence of small-study effect.ConclusionsOur meta-analysis indicates that fruit or/and vegetable consumption may be inversely associated with risk of MetS. It suggests that people should consume more fruits and vegetables to decrease the risk of MetS.

The ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been widely used in many applications. However, the processing and interpretation of the acquired signals remain challenging tasks since an experienced user is required to manage the entire operation. In this paper, we present an automatic classification system to assess railway-ballast conditions. It is based on the extraction of magnitude spectra at salient frequencies and their classification using support vector machines. The system is evaluated on real-world railway GPR data. The experimental results show that the proposed method efficiently represents the GPR signal using a small number of coefficients and achieves a high classification rate when distinguishing GPR signals reflected by ballasts of different conditions. KeywordsGround-penetrating radar (GPR) processing, railway-ballast assessment, support vector machine (SVM) Abstract-Ground penetrating radar has been widely used in many applications. However, the processing and interpretation of the acquired signals remain challenging tasks since an experienced user is required to manage the entire operation. In this paper, we present an automatic classification system to assess railway ballast conditions. It is based on the extraction of magnitude spectra at salient frequencies and their classification using support vector machines. The system is evaluated on real-world railway GPR data. The experimental results show that the proposed method efficiently represents the GPR signal using a small number of coefficients, and achieves a high classification rate when distinguishing ground penetrating radar signals reflected by ballast of different conditions. Index Terms-Railway ballast assessment, ground penetrating radar processing, support vector machine. Disciplines Physical Sciences and Mathematics

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The physical condition of railway ballast should be regularly inspected and accordingly, ballast cleaning should be carried out to maintain the safe operation of a track. This paper reviews current methods commonly used for evaluating the degree of ballast fouling, and due to their limitations, a new parameter -''relative ballast fouling ratio''-is proposed. Categories of fouling based on the proposed method are derived from the particle gradation curves taken from past literature. Comparisons between these methods demonstrate that the newly proposed relative ballast fouling ratio would best represent the influence of the type and gradation of fouling material.Résumé : La condition physique des ballasts devrait être inspectée régulièrement, et lorsque requis, le nettoyage des ballasts devrait être effectué afin de maintenir une opération sécuritaire du chemin de fer. Cet article est une revue des métho-des couramment appliquées pour l'évaluation du degré de colmatage du ballast, et en raison de leurs limitations, un nouveau paramètre nommé « ratio de colmatage du ballast relatif » est proposé. Les catégories de colmatage basées sur la méthode proposée proviennent des courbes de gradation des particules extraites de la littérature antérieure. Des comparaisons entre ces méthodes démontrent que le nouveau ratio de colmatage du ballast relatif représenterait le mieux l'influence du type et de la gradation du matériau colmatant.Mots-clés : ballast, indice de colmatage, pourcentage de contamination des vides, densité relative, ratio de colmatage du ballast relatif.[Traduit par la Rédaction]

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