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To evaluate the relationships among clones and open pollinated families from the same plus trees and to select elite breeding materials, growth, and wood characteristics of 33-year-old Pinus koraiensis clones and families were measured and analyzed. The results show that growth and wood characters varied significantly. The variation due to clonal effects was higher than that of family effects. The ratio of genetic to phenotypic coefficient of variation of clones in growth and wood traits was above 90%, and the repeatability of these characteristics was more than 0.8, whereas the ratio of genetic to phenotypic coefficient of variation of families was above 90%. The broad-sense heritability of all characteristics exceeded 0.4, and the narrow-sense family heritability of growth traits was less than 0.3. Growth characteristics were positively correlated with each other, but most wood properties were weakly correlated in both clones and families. Fiber length and width were positively correlated between clones and families. Using the membership function method, eleven clones and four families were selected as superior material for improved diameter growth and wood production, and two families from clonal and open-pollinated trees showed consistently better performance. Generally, selection of the best clones is an effective alternative to deployment of families as the repeatability estimates from clonal trees were higher than narrow-sense heritability estimates from open pollinated families. The results provide valuable insight for improving P. koraiensis breeding programs and subsequent genetic improvement.

Semantic communication is a novel communication paradigm that focuses on recognizing and delivering the desired meaning of messages to the destination users. Most existing works in this area focus on delivering explicit semantics, labels or signal features that can be directly identified from the source signals. In this paper, we consider the implicit semantic communication problem in which hidden relations and closely related semantic terms that cannot be recognized from the source signals need to also be delivered to the destination user. We develop a novel adversarial learning-based implicit semantic-aware communication (iSAC) architecture in which the source user, instead of maximizing the total amount of information transmitted to the channel, aims to help the recipient learn an inference rule that can automatically generate implicit semantics based on limited clue information. We prove that by applying iSAC, the destination user can always learn an inference rule that matches the true inference rule of the source messages. Experimental results show that the proposed iSAC can offer up to a 19.69 dB improvement over existing non-inferential communication solutions, in terms of symbol error rate at the destination user.

Additional file 1. Supplementary figures.

Cold stress is a major abiotic factor that affects plant growth and geographical distribution. Pinus sibirica is extremely frigostable tree species. To understand the molecular mechanisms of cold tolerance by P. sibirica, physiological responses were analyzed and transcriptome profiling was conducted to the plants treated by cold stress. The physiological data showed that membrane permeability relative conductivity (REC), reactive oxygen species (ROS), malonaldehyde (MDA) content, peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activity, soluble sugar, soluble protein and proline contents were increased significantly (p < 0.05) in response to cold stress. Transcriptome analysis identified a total of 871, 1397 and 872 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) after cold treatment for 6 h, 24 h and 48 h at –20°C, respectively. The signaling pathway mediated by Ca2+ as a signaling molecule and abscisic acid pathways were the main cold signal transduction pathways in P. sibirica. The APETALA2/Ethylene-Responsive Factor (AP2/ERF) and MYB transcription factor families also play an important role in the transcriptional regulation of P. sibirica. In addition, many genes related to photosynthesis were differentially expressed under cold stress. We also validated the reliability of transcriptome data with quantitative real-time PCR. This study lays the foundation for understanding the molecular mechanisms related to cold responses in P. sibirica.

Background: Mitochondria are at the heart of a number of metabolic pathways providing enormous energy for normal cell growth and regulating tumor cell growth as well as survival. Mitochondrial topoisomerase I (TOP1MT) is a type IB topoisomerase found in the mitochondria of vertebrates. However, no pan-cancer analysis of TOP1MT has been reported. This study aims to explore TOP1MT expression in pan-cancer tissues and identify whether it can be a target for mitochondrial anticancer therapy.Methods and results: The original TOP1MT expression data in 33 different types of cancer patients were downloaded from the TCGA and GTEx databases. TOP1MT was highly expressed in cancer tissues, including BLCA, BRCA, CHOL, COAD, DLBC, ESCA, GBM, HNSC, KIRC, KIRP, LGG, LIHC, LUAD, LUSC, PAAD, PCPG, PRAD, READ, SKCM, STAD, THYM, UCEC, and UCS. According to Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis, high TOP1MT expression in BLCA, HNSC, KIRP, PAAD, UCEC, and LIHC cancer tissues was linked to poor prognosis of cancer patients, i.e., poor OS, disease-specific survival, and PFI. Linkedomics analysis identified a positive correlation of TOP1MT expression with CNA, but a negative correlation with methylation. TOP1MT expression significantly correlated with immune cells and immune checkpoints in the TIMER database. Functional analysis showed a close relationship between TOP1MT expression and ribosomes.Conclusion: In summary, TOP1MT is a potential biomarker for mitochondrial anticancer therapy and cancer immunotherapy.

Supplemental Material for Exploiting Data Uncertainty for Improving the Performance of a Quantitative Analysis Model for Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy by Huaiqing Qin, Ziyu Yu, Zhimin Lu, Zhuliang Yu, and Shunchun Yao in Applied Spectroscopy

Additional file 1: Supplementary Table 1. Antibody list. Supplementary Table 2. Baseline characteristics of patients and healthy controls in this study. Supplementary Table 3. Hallmark gene sets((Lupus vs Control)*. Supplementary Table 4. Hallmark gene sets((CD57+ vs CD57-)*. Supplementary Figure 1. The NK cell subset gating strategies. Supplementary Figure 2. Supplementary analysis of clinical data and peripheral NK count in SLE and RA patients. Supplementary Figure 3. The correlation of CD56dimCD57+ NK cell percentage with SLEDAI (n=37). Supplementary Figure 4. Apoptosis and ROS levels of sorted NK cells upon exposure to H2O2. Supplementary Figure 5. Cytokine expression of CD56dimCD57+ NK cells in SLE patients and HCs. Supplementary Figure 6. No cytotoxicity of resting CD4+ T cells by NK cells(n=3). Supplementary Figure 7. PD-1 expression of NK cell subsets in SLE patients (n=8) and HCs (n=8).

Nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) are a key factor in the physiological regulation of plants and can reflect buffering capacity of plants under diverse environmental conditions. The effects of diverse environmental conditions on plant NSCs and tissue or organ scales have been thoroughly studied, but their effects on fine root (root diameter &lt, 2 mm) NSC concentrations are still not completely understood. Our aims were to explore the synergistic fluctuations in root traits and NSC concentrations under diverse environmental conditions. This study was conducted on two-year-old temperate seedling tree species (Juglans mandshurica Maxim., Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr., and Phellodendron amurense Rupr.) with different drought intensities and soil substrates. The specific root length (SRL) and specific root surface area (SRA) were significantly affected by drought intensities and soil substrates, while the root tissue density (RTD) and average diameter (AD) were not significantly affected by water intensities and soil substrates in all three species. The root C, N, and P concentration did not change according to drought stress but were significantly affected by the soil substrates in all three species. Similarly, the soluble sugar (SS) and starch (ST) concentrations were significantly affected by both the drought stress and the soil substrates in all three species. The AD explained 6.8% of the total variations in soluble sugar, while the SRL explains 32.1% of the total variation in starch. The root tip C, N, and P concentrations were not significantly correlated with NSCs under different treatments. The total variations in root tip morphology, chemistry, and NSC concentrations are greater among species than compared to different drought intensities and soil substrates. However, the root NSC concentrations were closely related to root morphological traits (SRL and AD) rather than chemical traits. On the basis of different soil resources, the species with thinner diameters have higher SS concentrations, while those of a thicker diameter have higher ST concentrations.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disorder, and its pathogenesis in males and in cases without accompanying lupus nephritis (LN-) is not fully understood. In this study, we identified 90 (82 up- and 8 downregulated) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) common to female LN-, female LN+ and male LN+ using the GSE65391 and GSE49454 gene expression datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO). The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of 70 DEGs was constructed using STRING and cytoscape, and the Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis showed that the PPI network was significantly enriched in defense response to virus, cytosol, protein binding and measles. Sixteen hubgenes were identified from this PPI network, and Literature Mining Gene Networks molecular of GenCLiP 2.0 showed strong interaction between STAT1, DDX58 and IFIT1. Enrichment analysis of hubgenes in published literature showed the involvement of immune response and interferon-related genes in the pathogenesis of SLE. In addition, the transcription factors STAT1 & 2 and IRF6 & 9 had high Normalized Enrichment Score (NES). The 70 DEGs with PPI network and 16 hubgenes are potential biomarkers of SLE, and can help improve diagnosis and develop individualized therapies.

This paper proposes a three-dimensional vapor chamber (3D VC) to solve heat dissipation of LED (light-emitting diode) automotive headlamps, which can be installed in a very limited setup space and a high heating load. The proposed 3D VC can be regarded as a combination of a flattened heat pipe and a circular vapor chamber. A test system was implemented to study the effects of different heating modes on thermal performance, power distribution characteristics, the temperature distribution and thermal resistance of the 3D VC. The experimental results show that the thermal performance of the 3D VC by both-sides heating is better than that of the one-side heating under the same total heating load. The 3D VC exhibits a favorable temperature uniformity, and the minimum thermal resistance of the 3D VC is 0.125 °C/W at a 50 W heating load.

It is unclear how the Warburg effect that exemplifies enhanced glycolysis in the cytosol is coordinated with suppressed mitochondrial pyruvate metabolism. We demonstrate here that hypoxia, EGFR activation, and expression of K-Ras G12V and B-Raf V600E induce mitochondrial translocation of phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1); this is mediated by ERK-dependent PGK1 S203 phosphorylation and subsequent PIN1-mediated cis-trans isomerization. Mitochondrial PGK1 acts as a protein kinase to phosphorylate pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDHK1) at T338, which activates PDHK1 to phosphorylate and inhibit the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex. This reduces mitochondrial pyruvate utilization, suppresses reactive oxygen species production, increases lactate production, and promotes brain tumorigenesis. Furthermore, PGK1 S203 and PDHK1 T338 phosphorylation levels correlate with PDH S293 inactivating phosphorylation levels and poor prognosis in glioblastoma patients. This work highlights that PGK1 acts as a protein kinase in coordinating glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, which is instrumental in cancer metabolism and tumorigenesis.

According to the statistics, 39.65 billion tons of coal has been consumed up from China in 2015. Obviously, CO2 emission from power generation and thermal supply industry segment contributes a large part to global warming. Therefore, it is of great importance for online monitoring of CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants. The CO2 concentration was measured by tunable semiconductor laser absorption spectrum(TDLAS), which had the benefits of high accuracy, rapid response, non-contact, etc. In order to prevent interference from absorption of other gases, a distributed feedback laser with a center wavelength of 1 580 nm was chosen as the light source. Simulated flue gas was made referring to the concentration of CO2 in the flue gas of the power plant. The direct absorption(DA) and wavelength modulation(WM) methods were used to measure the CO2 concentration. The results show that the relative standard deviation(RSD) for DA and WM are 0.94% and 0.22%, while the maximum relative errors and detection limits for DA and WM are 2.64% and 1.65%, 0.013 6% and 0.001 4%. It is found that WM is better than DA in measurement qualities. But the WM method is influenced by the calibration method in field application and the line width is interfered by the fluctuations of the parameters such as pressure and temperature, resulting in reduced long-term stability. In the case of the DA method, the concentration can be calculated directly by measuring the absorbance, line strength and pressure without calibration. It has a high signal-to-noise ratio for the measurement of gas with high concentration. Meanwhile, the measurement accuracy is high enough to meet the requirement for CO2 online measurement in power plants. Therefore, the DA method is a better choice for the CO2 measurement in the flue gas of power plant boiler.

By the method of field test, from the heating power, abandoned water, temperature of circulating water, flow of spray water altogether four aspects, to study the causes of scaling in cooling tower, and through the way of crosscheck in water quality analysis and scaling test, to find out the trend and degree of the influence of fouling rate, and through the analysis of the results, the rationalization proposal is put forward. KEYWORD: physical chemistry; valve cooling system; scale; contrastive analysise

Through the site investigation, design a set of test apparatus used to study the cooling tower scale problem in HVDC valve cooling system, integrating the scale of more mature process on this device, through on-site validation test method to inspect the scale inhibition effect on the cooling tower in HVDC valve cooling system. Results show that the selected membrane desalination technology has great technical advantages. KEYWORD: Anti-scaling technology; HVDC convertor valve; water cooling system; scale International Conference on Industrial Technology and Management Science (ITMS 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 1149 Fig. 4 Chuxiong station Fig. 5 Zhaoqing station Fig. 6 Suidong station Fig. 7 Anshun station From the spectrum diagram ,we can see that in the dirt of the various stations, C、O、Ca element content are in the majority, the main component of the dirt in is CaCO3, some stations have Mg and Si, meaning that the dirt contains Mg (OH) 2 and SiO2. In zhaoqing station the dirt contains a certain amount of Fe, which is caused by coil corrosion, and oxidizing bactericide will bound to result in a Fe(OH) 3 large deposits, and bactericide effect will be greatly reduced. In conclusion: By investigation we believe that to find out the method of solving problem of fouling, it is necessary to do field test.

A computer model has been developed to simulate water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and fish growth in a stratified fishpond using stochastic weather variables as input. The model consists of generated weather variables and calculated water quality and fish growth rate. The weather variables are generated using Monte Carlo methods, and include solar radiation, air temperature, and wind speed and direction. The water quality parameters are state variables that include water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), phytoplankton (in terms of chlorophyll a, Chla), and total ammonia nitrogen (TAN). Water temperature and DO are predicted at three depths in the water column and the other state variables are assumed to be uniformly distributed. Fish growth rates are predicted under the effects of weather variables and water quality for various pond fertilization treatments. The model has been calibrated and validated using data from the Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture Collaborative Research Program (PD/A CRSP) database. To evaluate the model's performance for different pond management strategies and different locations, model simulations were compared to data collected from 36 fishponds with 11 fertilization treatments in Thailand, Rwanda, and Honduras sites. The comparisons of simulations and observed data indicate that the model is capable of predicting water temperature and DO stratification and fish growth for simulations up to six months long. The simulated results indicate that water temperature and DO are affected by weather variables, especially solar radiation. Changes in Chla and DO are affected by environmental conditions and fish grazing. The stochastically generated weather variables have little influence on fish growth. Fish growth rate is affected by changes in Chla and fertilization rate because the model assumes that phytoplankton is the preferred food for tilapia. The current model is limited by the uncertainty of available weather data and the corresponding limitations in the weather models. The model did not capture the Chla dynamics for some ponds for the Thailand site. These ponds also had a high variability in observed Chla for pond replicates, highlighting the complexity of the pond ecosystem. The fish growth simulations represent the effects of weather variables, DO and TAN concentrations.

Font storage requirement is a crucial problem in developing Chinese typesetting system. A unique data compression technique is adopted in the system. The representation of regular strokes and irregular strokes of Chinese characters and the method for transforming the compressed representation into dot matrix are described in the paper. The result is satisfactory, and the cost performance ratio of the typesetting system is significantly improved by the technique.