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In the paper, we propose a novel approach for solving Bayesian inverse problems with physics-informed invertible neural networks (PI-INN). The architecture of PI-INN consists of two sub-networks: an invertible neural network (INN) and a neural basis network (NB-Net). The invertible map between the parametric input and the INN output with the aid of NB-Net is constructed to provide a tractable estimation of the posterior distribution, which enables efficient sampling and accurate density evaluation. Furthermore, the loss function of PI-INN includes two components: a residual-based physics-informed loss term and a new independence loss term. The presented independence loss term can Gaussianize the random latent variables and ensure statistical independence between two parts of INN output by effectively utilizing the estimated density function. Several numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed PI-INN, including inverse kinematics, inverse problems of the 1-d and 2-d diffusion equations, and seismic traveltime tomography.

Modeling and control of the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) system remain a challenging problem, which involves the coupling between fluid dynamics and electromagnetism with the nonlinear, multiscale spatiotemporal features. To address these issues, we develop the MHDnet as a physics-informed learning approach to MHD problems with the multi-modes multiscale feature embedding into multiscale neural network architecture, which can accelerate the convergence of the neural networks (NN) by alleviating the interaction of magnetic fluid coupling across different frequency modes. Three different mathematical formulations are considered and named the original formulation ($B$), magnetic vector potential formulation ($A_1$), and divergence-free both magnetic induction and velocity formulation ($A_2$). The residual of them, together with the initial and boundary conditions, are emerged into the loss function of MHDnet. Moreover, the pressure fields of three formulations, as the hidden state, can be obtained without extra data and computational cost. Several numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed MHDnet compared with different NN architectures and numerical formulations, and the pressure fields can also be given by MHDnet with $A_1$ and $A_2$ formulations with high accuracy.

Additional file 1: Supplemental Figure 1. The gut microbiota mediated the neuroprotective effect of melatonin in neuronal apoptosis induced by sleep deprivation. (A-D) Relative protein levels of Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 in the hippocampus (n = 6). CON-FMT: receiving control microbiota FMT mice, SD-FMT: receiving sleep deprivation microbiota FMT mice, SD+Mel-FMT: receiving SD+Mel (20 mg/kg) microbiota FMT mice. The data represent the mean ± SEM, p < 0.05 was set as the threshold for significance by one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc comparisons using Tukey’s test for multiple groups’ comparisons, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Supplemental Figure 2. Composition of the colonic microbiota in FMT-treated mice. (A) OTU number, (B) Simpson index, (C) Shannon index. CON-FMT: receiving control microbiota FMT mice, SD-FMT: receiving sleep deprivation microbiota FMT mice, SD+Mel-FMT: receiving SD+Mel (20 mg/kg) microbiota FMT mice. The data represent the mean ± SEM, p < 0.05 was set as the threshold for significance by one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc comparisons using Tukey’s test for multiple groups’ comparisons, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Supplemental Figure 3. The levels of LPS in the hippocampus (n = 7). CON: control group, SD: sleep deprivation group, SD + Mel: SD + melatonin (20 mg/kg) supplement group. The data represent the mean ± SEM, p < 0.05 was set as the threshold for significance by one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc comparisons using Tukey’s test for multiple groups’ comparisons, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Corrosion fatigue is a major threat to the integrity of marine structures. However, the combined damaging effect of corrosion and fatigue is not well understood due to the uncertainties associated with the stochastic nature of pitting corrosion. A pitting corrosion defect could have a quite complex morphology that varies randomly from one case to another. Nevertheless, in numerical corrosion fatigue studies, the complex pit morphology is often idealized using an overly simplified geometry with a smooth surface because of the diffi-culties involved in modelling defects with the irregular and random shapes of pitting corrosion. The present study investigates the influence of such geometrical simplifications on the results of numerical corrosion fatigue analyses. For this purpose, an isolated complex-shaped pit, generated using a hierarchical stochastic algorithm scripted in Python and linked with Abaqus/CAE, is developed in a Q235 steel dog-bone specimen. The numer-ical results obtained from this model are compared with those from another model containing an idealized counterpart of the irregular pit. A discussion on the effect of pit morphology on the stress/strain history and distribution and fatigue crack initiation is presented.

In the 1980s, Chinese village poetry reached the peak of its development. In the process of formation, she went through stages of prosperity, stagnation and rebirth. The proof was the shifting of the authors' attention from the traditional display of reality to a realistic depiction of the fate of peasants; transformation of separate scattered images into complex and typical ones, permeated with local flavor; the departure of political factors to the background, giving way to the beauty of the poetic word; the use of various expressive means of the language, etc.

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) provide a means for users to trade pairs of assets on-chain without the need for a trusted third party to effectuate a trade. Amongst these, constant function market maker DEXs such as Uniswap handle the most volume of trades between ERC-20 tokens. With the introduction of Uniswap v3, liquidity providers can differentially allocate liquidity to trades that occur within specific price intervals. In this paper, we formalize the profit and loss that liquidity providers can earn when providing specific liquidity allocations to a v3 contract. We give a convex stochastic optimization problem for computing optimal liquidity allocation for a liquidity provider who holds a belief on how prices will evolve over time and use this to study the design question regarding how v3 contracts should partition the price space for permissible liquidity allocations. Our results show that making a greater diversity of price-space partitions available to a contract designer can simultaneously benefit both liquidity providers and traders., 44 pages, 15 figures

In the calibration process of the positioner, in order to obtain the accurate angular position information of each axis of the turntable, it is necessary to test the rotation accuracy of the turntable higher than the accuracy of the target gyroscope, in order to achieve the test and calibration of the positioner. Therefore, this paper uses the non-magnetic technology to carry out research on the pointing accuracy and motion control of the turntable. At the same time, the influence of grating installation error on precision detection is analysed. The influence of steady-state error of turntable on the motion accuracy of turntable is analysed. Finally, the influence of servo control parameters on the dynamic performance of turntable and the influence on steady-state error are analysed. The test of the corner positioning accuracy of the turntable is carried out. The positioning accuracy and motion control parameters of the two-axis precision non-magnetic turntable are obtained, and the PID adjustment is introduced to make the accuracy index of the non-magnetic turntable meet the requirements. The turntable can realize a non-magnetic working environment and can achieve the high precision required by the index under the driving of the ultrasonic motor.

Leakage of lining structure is one of the main geological disasters of the tunnel, which brings heavy economic losses and casualties. Aiming at the problem of lining leakage of the Kaiyuan Tunnel in Jinan, this research has carried out a geological survey, conducted statistics, and classification of the leakage situation of the Kaiyuan Tunnel. The causes and main control factors of various types of seepage are analyzed. To locate the leakage accurately, electrical resistivity tomography, transient electromagnetic method, and ground penetrating radar are used to carry out comprehensive geophysical exploration. Two catchment zones and fractured zones are determined based on the existing geological topographic maps, geological profile maps, and geological analysis results. Transient electromagnetic detection results coincide with the known fractured zones, which confirms the existence of fractured zones and defines the scope of fractured zones. Moreover, the detection results based on ground penetrating radar show that the main adverse geological conditions inlining and surrounding rock are water diversion area, hidden water diversion area and surrounding rock fragmentation area. Subsequently, three kinds of grouting material, ultra-fine cement, ordinary Portland cement, and polymer cement, were selected for seepage control of the 800–900 m and 1310–1330 m test sections for plugging treatment. The grouting effect was analyzed and evaluated based on ground penetrating radar detection and field working conditions. Especially, the grouting radar detection shows that the grouting effect of polymer cement slurry is ideal, the grout in the water conduction area is basically filled, and the lining cracking and damage have been significantly repaired and improved. This paper verifies the accuracy and good feasibility of the interpretation criteria of comprehensive geophysical detection for typical lining defects, which can be popularized and applied in relevant tunnels and underground projects.

Tunnels in the operation period are faced with different types of diseases, such as lining fracture, lining containing voids and lining leakage. In this paper, the common tunnel lining diseases are classified and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is adopted to detect the tunnel lining diseases rapidly and nondestructively. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is used to carry out numerical experiments on GPR detection forward modelling and backward projection imaging. An interpretation criterion of GPR detection was established on typical lining diseases. Based on the dielectric differences between before and after grouting of tunnel lining, GPR is introduced into the evaluation of grouting on leakage in tunnel lining, and the numerical simulation of grouting effect is carried out. It can be concluded that GPR imaging can well-identify the dielectric changes before and after grouting and evaluate the grouting reinforcement effect more intuitively. Finally, this method was applied to a practical case in Kaiyuan tunnel, China. This paper provides an alternative way to detect tunnel lining leakage in operation period and a reference for the evaluation of structural defects reinforcement in underground engineering.

The characteristics, heterogeneous distribution and origins of carbonate cements within beach-bar sandstones in the Boxing Sag and implications on the mass transfer from mudstone to sandstone during diagenetic process was investigated systematically by an integrated analysis invoking petrography, carbon and oxygen stable isotopes and porosity-permeability, with specific references to the contrasts among the sharp (S)-change lithology (S-mudstone-S-sandstone interbeds), the gradual (G) -change lithology (G-mudstone-G-sandstone interbeds) and the center of sandstones. There are distinct differences in the occurrence, content, distribution, carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions and precipitation temperatures of the carbonate cements among the S-sandstone, G-sandstone and center of sandstone. Material sources of carbonate cements in the S-sandstones are mainly derived from the diagenetic alterations of the nearby S-mudstones through mass transfer with the participation of organic CO2, while in the G-sandstones, the material sources are mainly internal and originated from the calcareous matrix. Dissolution of feldspars and conversion of clay minerals provided the main materials for the precipitation of carbonate cements in the center of sandstones. Mass transfer of carbonate cements mainly occurred between the S-mudstones and the S-sandstones with limited transmission distance, which controlled the distribution of carbonate cements in the S-mudstones. There was almost no mass transfer between the G-mudstones and G-sandstones because of the small concentration gradient, instead, the depositional components and recrystallization controlled the carbonate distribution of the G-sandstones.

Rock burst is a dynamic process involving the sudden release of elastic energy accumulated in overstressed rocks and coal masses during underground excavations, capable of causing a great number of fatalities, failure of supporting structures, and damage to equipment. To minimize the risk, a fuzzy comprehensive assessment model was established to predict and evaluate rock burst in underground caverns, and some indices were selected and analyzed. The result vectors and weight vectors were expressed by interval numbers and the membership degrees were determined by a sigmoid membership function. In addition, synthetic weight was obtained by combining subjective weight with objective weight, and final vectors were categorized into different levels through possibility ranking analysis. Finally, the proposed method was applied to a practical case, the Jiangbian hydropower station in China, for further verification. Considering that some indices were conceptually dependent on one another, the multicollinearity of these indices was evaluated according to results based on different indicator systems. The evaluation results showed a high consistency with the actual situation. Moreover, the indicator system, which made full use of the obtained data, had more reliable results than other indicator systems. The proposed fuzzy comprehensive assessment method provides valuable guidance for rock burst assessment.

A nonlinear fuzzy interval method for risk assessment of floor water inrush in coal mines was established, consisting of a multi-index evaluation system and a computational model. The multi-index evaluation system is formed by the destination, criteria, and indicator layers and the risk levels of floor water inrush were divided into five grades. Geological structure, hydrologic condition, the state of the floor aquifuge, and the mining condition were analyzed. Thirteen factors were considered as assessment indices. A computational model is proposed based on nonlinear fuzzy mathematics and the analytic hierarchical process (AHP). Considering the uncertainty of evaluation indices obtained from field exploration, the interval number was adopted to represent variables. Gaussian membership function was used to determine the membership function and membership degree, and the 1–9 AHP scales method was used to calculate the interval number judgment matrixes. The final evaluation levels were obtained by the relative superiority analysis method. The proposed method was successfully applied to the 13301 working face of the Wanglou mine and four additional coal mines in China. The results were highly consistent for these practical situations, which verify the reliability of this study.

We analyze the short- and long-term effects of the U.S. Vietnam-era military service on veterans' health outcomes using a restricted version of the National Health Interview Survey 1974-2013 and employing the draft lotteries as an instrumental variable (IV). We start by assessing whether the draft lotteries, which have been used as an IV in prior literature, satisfy the exclusion restriction by placing bounds on its net or direct effect on the health outcomes of individuals who are non-veterans regardless of their draft eligibility (the "never takers"). Since we do not find evidence against the validity of the IV, we assume its validity in conducting inference on the health effects of military service for individuals who comply with the draft-lotteries assignment (the "compliers"), as well as for those who volunteer for enlistment (the "always takers"). The causal analysis for volunteers, who represent over 75% of veterans, is novel in this literature that typically focuses on the compliers. Since the effect for volunteers is not point-identified, we employ bounds that rely on a mild mean weak monotonicity assumption. We examine a large array of health outcomes and behaviors, including mortality, up to 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War. We do not find consistent evidence of detrimental health effects on compliers, in line with prior literature. For volunteers, however, we document that their estimated bounds show statistically significant detrimental health effects that appear 20 years after the end of the conflict. As a group, veterans experience similar statistically significant detrimental health effects from military service. These findings have implications for policies regarding compensation and health care of veterans after service.

Many existing federated learning (FL) algorithms are designed for supervised learning tasks, assuming that the local data owned by the clients are well labeled. However, in many practical situations, it could be difficult and expensive to acquire complete data labels. Federated semi-supervised learning (Fed-SSL) is an attractive solution for fully utilizing both labeled and unlabeled data. Similar to that encountered in federated supervised learning, class distribution of labeled/unlabeled data could be non-i.i.d. among clients. Besides, in each client, the class distribution of labeled data may be distinct from that of unlabeled data. Unfortunately, both can severely jeopardize the FL performance. To address such challenging issues, we introduce two proper regularization terms that can effectively alleviate the class distribution mismatch problem in Fed-SSL. In addition, to overcome the non-i.i.d. data, we leverage the variance reduction and normalized averaging techniques to develop a novel Fed-SSL algorithm. Theoretically, we prove that the proposed method has a convergence rate of $\mathcal{O}(1/\sqrt{T})$, where $T$ is the number of communication rounds, even when the data distribution are non-i.i.d. among clients. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first formal convergence result for Fed-SSL problems. Numerical experiments based on MNIST data and CIFAR-10 data show that the proposed method can greatly improve the classification accuracy compared to baselines.

Additional file 5: Figure S2. The overview of identifying OS-related factors in 36 RMM patients. RMM patients were analyzed through the TSO500 pipeline and 388 mutations were identified. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis were performed to identify prognostic factors.

Employing nonparametric bounds, we examine the effect of military service on incarceration outcomes using the Vietnam draft lotteries as a possibly invalid instrumental variable for military service. The draft is allowed to have a direct effect on the outcomes independently of military service, disposing of the exclusion restriction. We find: (i) suggestive but not strong statistical evidence that the direct effect of the draft increases the incarceration rate for violent offenses for a particular cohort of draft avoiders, and (ii) military service increases the incarceration rate for violent and nonviolent crimes of white volunteers and veterans in certain birth cohorts.

We design a prediction market to recover a complete and fully general probability distribution over a random variable. Traders buy and sell interval securities that pay \$1 if the outcome falls into an interval and \$0 otherwise. Our market takes the form of a central automated market maker and allows traders to express interval endpoints of arbitrary precision. We present two designs in both of which market operations take time logarithmic in the number of intervals (that traders distinguish), providing the first computationally efficient market for a continuous variable. Our first design replicates the popular logarithmic market scoring rule (LMSR), but operates exponentially faster than a standard LMSR by exploiting its modularity properties to construct a balanced binary tree and decompose computations along the tree nodes. The second design consists of two or more parallel LMSR market makers that mediate submarkets of increasingly fine-grained outcome partitions. This design remains computationally efficient for all operations, including arbitrage removal across submarkets. It adds two additional benefits for the market designer: (1) the ability to express utility for information at various resolutions by assigning different liquidity values, and (2) the ability to guarantee a true constant bounded loss by appropriately decreasing the liquidity in each submarket., Comment: To appear in AAMAS 2021

Advances in medical and communication technologies have empowered the development of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). WBANs interconnect with miniature sensors placed on the human body to enable medical monitoring of patient health. However, the limited battery capacity, delay, and reliability of data transmission have brought challenges to the wider application of WBAN. Minimum consumption of energy and maximum satisfaction with the QoS requirements are essential design aims of the WBAN schemes. Therefore, a fuzzy control-based energy-aware routing protocol (EARP) is proposed in this paper, the proposed protocol establishes a fuzzy control model composed of remaining node energy and link quality, and the best forwarder node is determined by the processes of fuzzification, fuzzy inference, and defuzzification. The simulation results showed that compared with the performance of the existing EERDT and M-TSIMPLE protocols, the proposed EARP has better performance, including extending network lifetime and improving the reliability of data transmission.

Additional file 4: Figure S1. Distribution of RMM somatic mutations in the protein. Somatic mutation sites identified in our study were shown in functional domains, the amino acid length of Lollipop graph with indicates the number of mutations.

An overlying sand layer combined with a concrete arch operates as a buffering structure for dealing with rockfall disasters in tunnel construction, especially through karst and weak strata...

Wang X, An D, Wang X, Liu X, Li B. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:1119– 1128. The Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. We were notified of potential image duplication in thepublished article. The issues relate to images shown inFigure 2 and Figure 3:● Figure 2A ECA109 Panel rHsp90α 0 μg/ml appearsto have been duplicated with Figure 2A ECA9706Panel rHsp90α 0 μg/ml, Figure 2C ECA109 PanelrHsp90α 10 μg/ml and Figure 3C ECA109 PanelHsp90α Ab 5 μg/ml.● Figure 2A ECA9706 Panel rHsp90α 10 μg/ml appearsto have been duplicated with Figure 3A ECA109 PanelHsp90α Ab IgG. The authors responded promptly to our queries but were unableto provide the required raw data for this study. The editordetermined that the findings of the study were no longersupported and requested for the article to be retracted. Theauthors agreed with this decision and wish to apologise for thiserror. Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishingethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines onretraction. The retracted article will remain online to maintain thescholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked oneach page as “Retracted”.This retraction relates to this paper

This music score was submitted for the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library.

With the increase of the maritime production and transportation in the arctic area, more offshore structures and ships are designed and built for operation in the ice infested water. The potential impact with the ice features is focused to maintain the structural integrity for design purpose. In this thesis, the interaction between the iceberg and the structure during the impact are analyzed to increase the understanding of the ice load on the structure and the response. The thesis mainly includes the literature review of related topics, the analysis of the design ice load in the rules, the modification of a numerical ice material model and the simulation of the slide impact between the iceberg and ship structure. Through the review of the existed ice class rules and ice mechanics theories, the knowledge of the design ice load determination and ice material properties during the impact is developed to generate theoretical basis for analysis and discussion. A new design ice load model is derived based on the first principles of the ice mechanic. With the same impact scenario and the hull geometry, the new design ice load from the ice mechanics model is lower than the rules. Form the point view of the ice, such large loads on the structure as the rules suggest are too conservative, especially for the high polar classes such PC1 and PC2. The ship speed is considered continuously through the strain rate effect in the new model, while a discrete consideration of polar class dependent speed is taken in the rules due to lack of operating experience. The increasing trend of the design ice load with the ship displacement in the rules is not obvious in the ice mechanics model, which is believed also out of conservative consideration. Some topics are summarized into a prepared paper. To apply the integrated analysis with both explicitly modelled objects, a consistent constitutive material model for the iceberg ice is modified based on a developed model. A damage stage is introduced to improve the erosion procedure of failing elements. The stress degradation is implemented by damage variables, a damage evolution law and a final failure criterion, which are developed based on the continuum material mechanics. With the damage stage, more plastic deformation is allowed before erosion for the ice material, so the non-contact space between the iceberg and the structure is eliminated. The oscillation of the force during the application of the original material model can be reduced effectively. The improper behavior of the original model during the unloading is improved by adjusting Bulk Viscosity in the ABAQUS. The uniaxial loading, uniaxial loading-unloading and rigid wall crushing simulations are applied to verify the behavior of the modified material model. Acceptable results are generated and mesh-insensitivity is proved in the verification simulations. Through the calibration, the parameters in the material model are adjusted to generate the same crushing force curve as the PC1 in the rules. With the modified material model, the nonlinear simulations of the impact between the iceberg and a ship side structure are applied in the ABAQUS. Both the predefined path impact and the more realistic impact with the rigid body motion are simulated. Critical impact cases are applied in the simulations, resulting in substantial energy dissipation. The influence to the interaction process from the impact parameters are obvious and revealed simply through the parametric study. Based on an analytical impact model, the equivalent friction factor could be used to estimate the the tangential contact force from the normal contact force during the slide impact. From the simulation results, a value between 0.5 to 1 is suggested for the slide impact between the iceberg and stiffened panel used in the marine structure widely. The factor is found rather sensitive to the material properties, involved hydro-forces and impact parameters. For simplicity, it could be determined based on the lateral penetration because the factor partly depends on the deformation and damage. The more deformation or damage is generated in the structure and the iceberg, the larger is the equivalent friction factor. Thus, the influence of the other conditions could be reflected by a larger or smaller penetration distance in general. Due to the time and personal capacity limit, there are still defects in the thesis. It is found that the derived new design ice load model is sensitive to the impact geometry, which is not discussed in detail. Several theoretical assumptions are made in the development of the damage stage for the ice material model, which will be improved if an analytical material model for the damage ice could be referred. Thus, the recommendations for the further work are addressed.

This music score was submitted for the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library.

Purpose Because of the properties of loess, the occurrence of collapse following deformation of a large settlement is a common problem during the excavation of tunnels on loess ground. Hence, risk management for safer loess tunnel construction is of great significance. The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of factors on collapse risk of loess tunnels and establish a risk assessment model using rough set theory and extension theory. Design/methodology/approach The surrounding rock level, groundwater conditions, burial depth, excavation method and support close time were selected as the factors and settlement deformation was the verification index for risk assessment. First, using rough set theory, the influence of risk factors on the collapse risk of loess tunnels was calculated by researching engineering data of excavated sections. Then, a collapse risk assessment model was developed based on extension theory. As the final step, the model was applied to practical engineering in the Loess Plateau of China. Findings The weights of surrounding rock level, groundwater conditions, burial depth, excavation method and support close time obtained using rough set theory were respectively 10.811 per cent, 18.919 per cent, 24.324 per cent, 40.541 per cent and 5.406 per cent. The assessment results obtained using the model were in good agreement with field observations. Originality/value This study highlights key points in collapse risk management of loess tunnels, which could be very useful for future construction methods. The model, using easily obtained parameters, helps in predicting the collapse risk level of loess tunnels excavated under different geological conditions and by different construction organizations and provides a reference for future studies.

Water inrush in karst tunnels is a dynamic process in which internal and external factors are involved. The evaluation of this process is fuzzy, complex, and uncertain. In the current research, few articles give full consideration to the fuzziness and randomness of the water inrush evaluation with useful dynamic feedback. A new assessment method has been proposed for the water inrush evaluation based on a combination of the weighting method and normal cloud model. Specifically, an evaluation index system is forged and each index is quantitatively classified into four grades. A synthetic weighted algorithm combining the analytic hierarchy process, entropy method, and statistical methods is proposed to assign the index weight rationally. Based on the cloud generator algorithm, three numerical characteristics are calculated and a sufficient number of cloud droplets are generated. The membership degree of each index belonging to each grade is constructed and the integrated certain grades are determined. In this paper, the multi-factor normal cloud assessment method is applied to the risk assessment of the Qiyueshan tunnel. The assessment result of the risk grade is accurate, that is, the water inrush risk of different samples at the same risk grade can be reflected in figures. The results not only show high consistency with other assessment methods but are also in good agreement with the excavation results. The proposed cloud model method demonstrates good practical reference for risk assessment of tunnel construction in karst areas and can be applied to tunneling, mining, and other engineering practices in the future.

Xintong Wang,1,2Dianzheng An,1 Xiaomeng Liu,3 Xinlei Wang,4 Baosheng Li11Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 3University of Jinan, School of Medicine and Life Sciences, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Gastroenterology, Qingdao Hiser Medical Center, Qingdao, Shandong, People’s Republic of ChinaPurpose: Accumulating evidence suggests that microRNAs (miRNAs) possess diverse cellular regulatory roles in radiation responses. In this study, we aimed to identify the role of miR-27a in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) radiosensitivity by exploring the relationship between miR-27a and heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90).Materials and methods: We performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to detect miR-27a expression in the plasma of ESCC patients and healthy volunteers. The expression of Hsp90 and its key client proteins associated with radioresistance were analyzed by Western blotting. Then, the effects of miR-27a on proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle and radiosensitivity in ESCC cell lines were determined by CCK-8, flow cytometry, and clonogenic survival assay. We also generated subcutaneous tumors to explore whether miR-27a enhanced radiosensitivity in vivo.Results: In our current study, we found that miR-27a expression was downregulated in the plasma of ESCC patients compared with that of healthy volunteers. Overexpression of miR-27a in ESCC cell lines caused a reduction of Hsp90 mRNA and protein. We also demonstrated that upregulation of miR-27a induced degradation of Hsp90 key client proteins associated with radioresistance. In related functional experiments, miR-27a significantly inhibited growth, increased radiation-induced apoptosis, induced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and enhanced ESCC radiosensitivity both in vitro and in vivo.Conclusion: From these findings, we concluded that miR-27a may contribute to radiosensitivity by modulating Hsp90 expression. Moreover, miR-27a-based therapy utilized to target Hsp90 could be contemplated as a compelling alternative for sensitize ESCC to radiotherapy with fewer side effects.Keywords: miR-27a, Hsp90, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, radiosensitivity

Springs are a source of drinking water and a famous tourist attraction in Jinan, China. In this paper, a multi-index evaluation method was proposed based on a normal cloud model. This model is new graphic model, which could synthetically picture the randomness and fuzziness of concepts. Ten parameters were selected, and water quality was classified into five levels. Three numerical characteristics were calculated, and the weights were assigned by an integrated weighting algorithm. The uncertainty of each spring was calculated by a cloud generator and the integrated certainty grades of water quality were determined. To ensure the accuracy of the normal cloud model, the proposed method was used to assess the water quality of springs in Jinan, China. The results obtained by the proposed method were compared with that of the other four methods. The results obtained by different methods are highly consistent. The proposed cloud model-based method can reflect the water quality level and provides a practical guide for water quality evaluation, as demonstrated in Jinan springs.

The emergence of wireless body area network (WBAN) technology has brought hope and dawn to solve the problems of population aging, various chronic diseases, and medical facility shortage. The increasing demand for real-time applications in such networks, stimulates many research activities. Designing such a scheme of critical events while preserving the energy efficiency is a challenging task, due to the dynamic of the network topology, severe constraints on the power supply, and the limited computation power. The design of routing protocols becomes an essential part of WBANs and plays an important role in the communication stacks and has a significant impact on the network performance. In this paper, we briefly introduce WBAN and focus on the analysis of the routing protocol, classify, and compare the advantages and disadvantages of various routing protocols. Lastly, we put forward some problems and suggestions, which provides ideas for the follow-up routing design.

We report high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study of nano-sized Pb islands grown on SrTiO3, where three distinct types of gaps with different energy scales are revealed. At low temperature, an enlarged superconducting gap ({\Delta}s) emerges while there is no enhancement in superconducting transition temperature (Tc), giving rise to a larger BCS ratio 2{\Delta}s/kBTc ~ 6.22. The strong coupling here may originate from the electron-phonon coupling on the metal-oxide interface. As the superconducting gap is suppressed under applied magnetic field or at elevated temperature, Coulomb gap and pseudogap appear, respectively. The Coulomb gap is sensitive to the lateral size of Pb islands, indicating that quantum size effect is able to influence electronic correlation, which is usually ignored in low-dimensional superconductivity. Our experimental results shall shed important light on the interplay between quantum size effect and correlations in nano-sized superconductors.

Drones are showing potential for many applications in which the interaction with humans are needed. In this paper, we demonstrate how affective computing can be applied to achieve a more natural Human-Drone Interaction. We proposed a learning approach for automatic and context-dependant coupling of emotion recognition and expression in a human-drone interaction. The drone performs facial emotion estimation to autonomously produce emotional expression through minimalistic animated eyes, using small displays. Additional testing is needed to further refine the interactions and establish how emotional interactions evolve in longer term interactions.

Hydraulic tomography (HT) is a well-established approach to successfully describe subsurface hydraulic heterogeneity. This work explored the potential of HT and the simultaneous successive linear estimator algorithm to map the distribution and connectivity of karst conduits and their hydraulic parameters at the engineering scale. Three generalized synthetic karst conduit models, auxiliary conduit, cave and waterfall, were established. A series of pumping tests were conducted at different locations as forward simulations to collect hydraulic head responses. These responses were then used for the HT inversion analysis to estimate hydraulic parameter fields of karst aquifers under steady-state and transient conditions. Our results show that high-density observation wells substantially assist with interpreting the reliable spatial distribution of hydraulic parameters. With the increase in the number of pumping wells in the HT inversion, the estimates of hydraulic conductivity and specific storage became more accurate for the auxiliary conduit model, but for the cave and waterfall models, there was no significant improvement. The hydraulic conductivity (K) tomograms from transient hydraulic tomography (THT) better indicated the heterogeneity of the three karst models than those from steady-state hydraulic tomography (SSHT) because a large number of hydraulic head records were introduced into the THT inversion process. Moreover, when reliable geological data are available, the accuracy of the estimated hydraulic parameter maps can be greatly improved even if only infrequent hydraulic head measurements can be obtained, implying that a priori geological information may be extremely valuable in mapping karst conduit heterogeneity. Finally, the robustness of HT in mapping karst conduits is verified through the simulation of independent cross-hole pumping tests. This study proved that hydraulic tomography utilizing groundwater responses from a series of cross-hole pumping tests is an efficient and cost-effective way and provided a feasible method for accurate identification of hydraulic heterogeneity of karst aquifers.

The Late Paleozoic is considered to be an important stage in the evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The Bogda Mountains, a northeastern branch of the Tianshan Mountains, record the complete Paleozoic history of the Tianshan orogenic belt. The tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the west Bogda area and the timing of initial uplift of the West Bogda Mountains were investigated based on detailed sedimentological study of outcrops, including lithology, sedimentary structures, rock and isotopic compositions and paleocurrent directions. At the end of the Early Permian, the West Bogda Trough was closed and an island arc was formed. The sedimentary and subsidence center of the Middle Permian inherited that of the Early Permian. The west Bogda area became an inherited catchment area, and developed a widespread shallow, deep and then shallow lacustrine succession during the Mid-Permian. At the end of the Mid-Permian, strong intracontinental collision caused the initial uplift of the West Bogda Mountains. Sedimentological evidence further confirmed that the West Bogda Mountains was a rift basin in the Carboniferous-Early Permian, and subsequently entered the Late Paleozoic large-scale intracontinental orogeny in the region.

Scientific site selection can significantly reduce construction risk and cost during construction of underground petroleum storage. Based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) theory and ideal point theory, a new site selection model for large underground petroleum storage is established in this paper. Nine indicators are selected as evaluation indices, including joint development, natural water-sealed condition, rock mass strength, in situ stress, environmental ecological vulnerability, regional stability, technical and economic conditions, topography, and meteorological conditions. Based on AHP theory, the weight of each evaluation index is determined. Secondly, the positive and negative ideal solutions of these evaluation indices are determined using ideal point theory. The ideal point evaluation function of each evaluation index is built to calculate the degree of closeness for the evaluation samples. Finally, the accuracy of the model is verified by using the model to evaluate the first underground petroleum storage project in China. The results show that the first six indicators are main controlling factors, and the sum of their weight is 88.3%. The result of the evaluation site level is good (II), which is suitable for construction. Moreover, the feasibility and accuracy of the evaluation criteria, and evaluation method is verified after cooperation with the power coefficient method and expert evaluation method. The research results can provide some references to the site selection of similar key projects.

Isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle in cellular metabolism. Growing evidence indicates that IDH2 plays a crucial role in the development of cancer. We aimed to investigate the expression level of IDH2 and its prognostic value in esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC). We evaluate the IDH2 expression and prognostic value in ESCC by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting. The cell counting kit-8 (CCK8), clonogenic and invasion assays were performed to verify the IDH2 function in vitro. The protein expression level of IDH2 was significantly upregulated in ESCC tissues (IHC, Western blotting, all P0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that IDH2 overexpression in ESCC patients was significantly related to worse overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), P = 0.003 and 0.002, respectively. The univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that IDH2 overexpression served as an independent prognostic factor for OS and PFS (all P

An interval risk assessment method of water inflow and inrush in karst tunnel is proposed. Based on the method, both a conceptual and a computational form of the risk assessment model is introduced, and risk surroundings, construction factors and feedback information are analyzed. The conceptual model consists of three hierarchies and three stages. Thirteen factors were chosen as assessment indices and can be grouped into three categories: karst hydrogeological conditions and geological engineering conditions, construction factors and feedback information for management. An analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy mathematical theory were used to develop a computational model based on the interval number. The interval membership function and the weight of each factor were quantified and a relative superiority analysis of the interval matrix was performed. Moreover, a construction permission mechanism of water inflow and inrush in karst tunnels was established. In the present study, the three-stage risk assessment model and construction permission mechanism were successfully applied to the Qiyueshan tunnel. Thus, the interval risk assessment method may provide a practical reference for the risk assessment and management of karst tunnel construction and is worth exploring to control risk in other engineering construction projects.

Many studies have focused on the tectonic evolution and sedimentary processes of the Beisantai Uplift, NW China during the late Permian. However, the sedimentary characteristics of the area are still not well documented due to a complex tectonic evolution of the uplift and the limited distribution of core data. To understand the sedimentary evolution of this study area, a “source-to-sink” system research is adopted. First, the research redefines the sequence stratigraphic framework of the late Permian, which corresponds to a complete third-order sequence that can be further divided into a transgressive system tract (TST) and a regressive system tract (RST). Then, the integration of three-dimensional (3D) seismic reflection data, well logs, mud logs and core data provides new insights into the transportation and sedimentary processes within the “source-to-sink” system. The different characteristics of the source area, transfer system and sedimentary paleogeomorphology between the TST stage and RST stage ultimately led to significantly different sedimentary characteristics in the two stages. In the TST stage, the “source-to-sink” system exhibited a continued transgressive depositional characteristic that matched the sediment discharge evolution. The steeper sedimentary paleogeomorphology enabled the development of large-scale fan deltas with few beach bars. During the RST stage, the “source-to-sink” system had low sediment discharge and a smooth sedimentary paleogeomorphology. The “source-to-sink” system was predominantly characterized by small-scale beach bars with few fan deltas. With the decreasing level of sediment discharge and continued smoothing of the sedimentary paleogeomorphology, the beach bars expanded.

Precise destination prediction of taxi trajectories can benefit many intelligent location based services such as accurate ad for passengers. Traditional prediction approaches, which treat trajectories as one-dimensional sequences and process them in single scale, fail to capture the diverse two-dimensional patterns of trajectories in different spatial scales. In this paper, we propose T-CONV which models trajectories as two-dimensional images, and adopts multi-layer convolutional neural networks to combine multi-scale trajectory patterns to achieve precise prediction. Furthermore, we conduct gradient analysis to visualize the multi-scale spatial patterns captured by T-CONV and extract the areas with distinct influence on the ultimate prediction. Finally, we integrate multiple local enhancement convolutional fields to explore these important areas deeply for better prediction. Comprehensive experiments based on real trajectory data show that T-CONV can achieve higher accuracy than the state-of-the-art methods.

In order to assess the risk of network accurately, the relevance of network vulnerabilities cannot be ignored. A vulnerability correlation graph model is proposed, in which an input data set is defined and a construction algorithm is proposed. On the base of the model an assessment method is discussed, and the validity of the method is proved by an experimental case.