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Surgical robot simulation platform plays a crucial role in enhancing training efficiency and advancing research on robot learning. Much effort have been made by scholars on developing open-sourced surgical robot simulators to facilitate research. We also developed SurRoL formerly, an open-source, da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) compatible and interactive embodied environment for robot learning. Despite its advancements, the simulation of soft bodies still remained a major challenge within the open-source platforms available for surgical robotics. To this end, we develop an interactive physically based soft body simulation framework and integrate it to SurRoL. Specifically, we utilized a high-performance adaptation of the Material Point Method (MPM) along with the Neo-Hookean model to represent the deformable tissue. Lagrangian particles are used to track the motion and deformation of the soft body throughout the simulation and Eulerian grids are leveraged to discretize space and facilitate the calculation of forces, velocities, and other physical quantities. We also employed an efficient collision detection and handling strategy to simulate the interaction between soft body and rigid tool of the surgical robot. By employing the Taichi programming language, our implementation harnesses parallel computing to boost simulation speed. Experimental results show that our platform is able to simulate soft bodies efficiently with strong physical interpretability and plausible visual effects. These new features in SurRoL enable the efficient simulation of surgical tasks involving soft tissue manipulation and pave the path for further investigation of surgical robot learning. The code will be released in a new branch of SurRoL github repo., Comment: 8 pages

Surgical robot task automation has been a promising research topic for improving surgical efficiency and quality. Learning-based methods have been recognized as an interesting paradigm and been increasingly investigated. However, existing approaches encounter difficulties in long-horizon goal-conditioned tasks due to the intricate compositional structure, which requires decision-making for a sequence of sub-steps and understanding of inherent dynamics of goal-reaching tasks. In this paper, we propose a new learning-based framework by leveraging the strong reasoning capability of the GPT-based architecture to automate surgical robotic tasks. The key to our approach is developing a goal-conditioned decision transformer to achieve sequential representations with goal-aware future indicators in order to enhance temporal reasoning. Moreover, considering to exploit a general understanding of dynamics inherent in manipulations, thus making the model's reasoning ability to be task-agnostic, we also design a cross-task pretraining paradigm that uses multiple training objectives associated with data from diverse tasks. We have conducted extensive experiments on 10 tasks using the surgical robot learning simulator SurRoL~\cite{long2023human}. The results show that our new approach achieves promising performance and task versatility compared to existing methods. The learned trajectories can be deployed on the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) for validating its practicality in real surgical robot settings. Our project website is at: https://med-air.github.io/SurRoL.

The AC-coupled Strip LGAD (Strip AC-LGAD) is a novel LGAD design that diminishes the density of readout electronics through the use of strip electrodes, enabling the simultaneous measurement of time and spatial information. The Institute of High Energy Physics has designed a long Strip AC-LGAD prototype with a strip electrode length of 5.7 mm and pitches of 150 $\mu m$, 200 $\mu m$, and 250 $\mu m$. Spatial and timing resolutions of the long Strip AC-LGAD are studied by pico-second laser test and beta source tests. The laser test demonstrates that spatial resolution improves as the pitch size decreases, with an optimal resolution achieved at 8.3 $\mu$m. Furthermore, the Beta source test yields a timing resolution of 37.6 ps.

Surgical robot automation has attracted increasing research interest over the past decade, expecting its potential to benefit surgeons, nurses and patients. Recently, the learning paradigm of embodied intelligence has demonstrated promising ability to learn good control policies for various complex tasks, where embodied AI simulators play an essential role to facilitate relevant research. However, existing open-sourced simulators for surgical robot are still not sufficiently supporting human interactions through physical input devices, which further limits effective investigations on how the human demonstrations would affect policy learning. In this work, we study human-in-the-loop embodied intelligence with a new interactive simulation platform for surgical robot learning. Specifically, we establish our platform based on our previously released SurRoL simulator with several new features co-developed to allow high-quality human interaction via an input device. We showcase the improvement of our simulation environment with the designed new features, and validate effectiveness of incorporating human factors in embodied intelligence through the use of human demonstrations and reinforcement learning as a representative example. Promising results are obtained in terms of learning efficiency. Lastly, five new surgical robot training tasks are developed and released, with which we hope to pave the way for future research on surgical embodied intelligence. Our learning platform is publicly released and will be continuously updated in the website: https://med-air.github.io/SurRoL.

Reinforcement learning is still struggling with solving long-horizon surgical robot tasks which involve multiple steps over an extended duration of time due to the policy exploration challenge. Recent methods try to tackle this problem by skill chaining, in which the long-horizon task is decomposed into multiple subtasks for easing the exploration burden and subtask policies are temporally connected to complete the whole long-horizon task. However, smoothly connecting all subtask policies is difficult for surgical robot scenarios. Not all states are equally suitable for connecting two adjacent subtasks. An undesired terminate state of the previous subtask would make the current subtask policy unstable and result in a failed execution. In this work, we introduce value-informed skill chaining (ViSkill), a novel reinforcement learning framework for long-horizon surgical robot tasks. The core idea is to distinguish which terminal state is suitable for starting all the following subtask policies. To achieve this target, we introduce a state value function that estimates the expected success probability of the entire task given a state. Based on this value function, a chaining policy is learned to instruct subtask policies to terminate at the state with the highest value so that all subsequent policies are more likely to be connected for accomplishing the task. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on three complex surgical robot tasks from SurRoL, a comprehensive surgical simulation platform, achieving high task success rates and execution efficiency. Code is available at $\href{https://github.com/med-air/ViSkill}{\text{https://github.com/med-air/ViSkill}}$., Comment: Accepted to IROS 2023

In the manuscript, we discuss properties of the SDSS J1042-0018 which is a broad line AGN but mis-classified as a HII galaxy in the BPT diagram (SDSS J1042-0018 called as a mis-classified broad line AGN). The emission lines around H$\alpha$ and around H$\beta$ are well described by different model functions, considering broad Balmer lines to be described by Gaussian or Lorentz functions. Different model functions lead to different determined narrow emission line fluxes, but the different narrow emission line flux ratios lead the SDSS J1042-0018 as a HII galaxy in the BPT diagram. In order to explain the unique properties of the mis-classified broad line AGN SDSS J1042-0018, two methods are proposed, the starforming contributions and the compressed NLRs with high electron densities near to critical densities of forbidden emission lines. Fortunately, the strong starforming contributions can be preferred in the SDSS J1042-0018. The mis-classified broad line AGN SDSS J1042-0018, well explained by starforming contributions, could provide further clues on the applications of BPT diagrams to the normal broad line AGN., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, To be published in RAA. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2111.07688

Cardiac Output (CO) is a key hemodynamic variable that can be estimated in a minimally invasive way via using Arterial Pressure Waveform Analysis (APWA). Many models use circulation mechanics to build the relationship between arterial pressure and CO. In this study, we attempt to apply machine learning and feature engineering to analyze the Arterial Pressure Waveform (APW) and create regression models to predict the CO. We utilize the traditional APWA model knowledge and the time-domain, frequency-domain, and other characteristics of time series data for feature engineering. We present the benchmarking results for several machine learning models using the MIMICII waveform database. We compare the predicted CO values from our proposed models with the “gold standard” TCO (CO measured by intermittent pulmonary artery thermodilution). Our results show that the Random forest model has the most accurate agreement (MSE: 1.421 L/min, bias: -0.01 L/min, 95% limits of agreement: -2.35 L/min to +2.32 L/min, percentage error: 39.44%). Notably, the XGBoost model demonstrates good tracking ability with TCO (radius bias: 11.79°, 95% radius limits of agreement: ± 28.89°), achieving the clinically acceptable level., Date of Conference: 06-08 December 2022, identifier:https://dspace.jaist.ac.jp/dspace/handle/10119/18162

Purpose: To investigate the value of anteroposterior-to-transverse ratio (ATR) and the effect on features of nodules in ultrasound (US) diagnosis of thyroid nodules in different locations. Methods: The nodules were divided into three groups according to the different nodule location: isthmus group; upper and lower poles of bilobed thyroid group; and the middle of the bilobed thyroid group. The diameters of the nodules were recorded, and ATR of the nodule was calculated on the transverse and longitudinal sections. The transverse and the longitudinal sections of ATR of thyroid nodules in different groups were compared. Result: The transverse section of ATR was significantly different among the three groups (p = 0.001). In addition, there are significant differences in many US features among three groups, including nodule composition, thyroid parenchyma, morphology, echogenicity, shape, calcifications, vascularity, nodule ACR TI-RADS and histopathologic (all p < 0.05). In the group of upper and lower poles of bilobed thyroid, significant difference was found between the transverse and the longitudinal section of ATR (p = 0.019). The cut-off values of transverse section and longitudinal section of ATR were 0.967 and 0.750, respectively. Conclusion: The transverse section of ATR at different location of thyroid may be a predictor for malignancy with clinical diagnostic significance.

Cardiac Output (CO) is a key hemodynamic variable that can be estimated in a minimally invasive way via using Arterial Pressure Waveform Analysis (APWA). Many models use circulation mechanics to build the relationship between arterial pressure and CO. In this study, we attempt to apply machine learning and feature engineering to analyze the Arterial Pressure Waveform (APW) and create regression models to predict the CO. We utilize the traditional APWA model knowledge and the time-domain, frequency-domain, and other characteristics of time series data for feature engineering. We present the benchmarking results for several machine learning models using the MIMICII waveform database. We compare the predicted CO values from our proposed models with the “gold standard” TCO (CO measured by intermittent pulmonary artery thermodilution). Our results show that the Random forest model has the most accurate agreement (MSE: 1.421 L/min, bias: -0.01 L/min, 95% limits of agreement: -2.35 L/min to +2.32 L/min, percentage error: 39.44%). Notably, the XGBoost model demonstrates good tracking ability with TCO (radius bias: 11.79°, 95% radius limits of agreement: ± 28.89°), achieving the clinically acceptable level., Date of Conference: 06-08 December 2022, identifier:https://dspace.jaist.ac.jp/dspace/handle/10119/18162

Cardiac Output (CO) is a key hemodynamic variable that can be estimated in a minimally invasive way via using Arterial Pressure Waveform Analysis (APWA). Many models use circulation mechanics to build the relationship between arterial pressure and CO. In this study, we attempt to apply machine learning and feature engineering to analyze the Arterial Pressure Waveform (APW) and create regression models to predict the CO. We utilize the traditional APWA model knowledge and the time-domain, frequency-domain, and other characteristics of time series data for feature engineering. We present the benchmarking results for several machine learning models using the MIMICII waveform database. We compare the predicted CO values from our proposed models with the “gold standard” TCO (CO measured by intermittent pulmonary artery thermodilution). Our results show that the Random forest model has the most accurate agreement (MSE: 1.421 L/min, bias: -0.01 L/min, 95% limits of agreement: -2.35 L/min to +2.32 L/min, percentage error: 39.44%). Notably, the XGBoost model demonstrates good tracking ability with TCO (radius bias: 11.79°, 95% radius limits of agreement: ± 28.89°), achieving the clinically acceptable level., Date of Conference: 06-08 December 2022

Monocular 3D vehicle localization is an important task in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and Cooperative Vehicle Infrastructure System (CVIS), which is usually achieved by monocular 3D vehicle detection. However, depth information cannot be obtained directly by monocular cameras due to the inherent imaging mechanism, resulting in more challenging monocular 3D tasks. Most of the current monocular 3D vehicle detection methods leverage 2D detectors and additional geometric modules, which reduces the efficiency. In this paper, we propose a 3D vehicle localization network CenterLoc3D for roadside monocular cameras, which directly predicts centroid and eight vertexes in image space, and the dimension of 3D bounding boxes without 2D detectors. To improve the precision of 3D vehicle localization, we propose a weighted-fusion module and a loss with spatial constraints embedded in CenterLoc3D. Firstly, the transformation matrix between 2D image space and 3D world space is solved by camera calibration. Secondly, vehicle type, centroid, eight vertexes, and the dimension of 3D vehicle bounding boxes are obtained by CenterLoc3D. Finally, centroid in 3D world space can be obtained by camera calibration and CenterLoc3D for 3D vehicle localization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of 3D vehicle localization for roadside monocular cameras. Hence, we also propose a benchmark for this application including a dataset (SVLD-3D), an annotation tool (LabelImg-3D), and evaluation metrics. Through experimental validation, the proposed method achieves high accuracy and real-time performance. (limited words, please see the article for more details), Comment: 33 pages, 15 figures. v3. This work has been published on Complex & Intelligent Systems, link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40747-022-00962-9

In the manuscript, we discuss properties of the SDSS J1042-0018 which is a broad line AGN but mis-classified as a HII galaxy in the BPT diagram (SDSS J1042-0018 called as a mis-classified broad line AGN). The emission lines around H$\alpha$ and around H$\beta$ are well described by different model functions, considering broad Balmer lines to be described by Gaussian or Lorentz functions. Different model functions lead to different determined narrow emission line fluxes, but the different narrow emission line flux ratios lead the SDSS J1042-0018 as a HII galaxy in the BPT diagram. In order to explain the unique properties of the mis-classified broad line AGN SDSS J1042-0018, two methods are proposed, the starforming contributions and the compressed NLRs with high electron densities near to critical densities of forbidden emission lines. Fortunately, the strong starforming contributions can be preferred in the SDSS J1042-0018. The mis-classified broad line AGN SDSS J1042-0018, well explained by starforming contributions, could provide further clues on the applications of BPT diagrams to the normal broad line AGN., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, To be published in RAA. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2111.07688

Doctors conventionally analyzed echocardiographic images for diagnosing congenital heart diseases (CHDs). However, this process is laborious and depends on the experience of the doctors. This study investigated the use of deep learning algorithms for the image detection of the ventricular septal defect (VSD), the most common type. Color Doppler echocardiographic images containing three types of VSDs were tested with color doppler ultrasound medical images. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first one to solve this object detection problem by using a modified YOLOv4–DenseNet framework. Because some techniques of YOLOv4 are not suitable for echocardiographic object detection, we revised the algorithm for this problem. The results revealed that the YOLOv4–DenseNet outperformed YOLOv4, YOLOv3, YOLOv3–SPP, and YOLOv3–DenseNet in terms of metric mAP-50. The F1-score of YOLOv4-DenseNet and YOLOv3-DenseNet were better than those of others. Hence, the contribution of this study establishes the feasibility of using deep learning for echocardiographic image detection of VSD investigation and a better YOLOv4-DenseNet framework could be employed for the VSD detection.

A transparent "mixed" 7 at.% Er:(Lu,Sc)(2)O-3 sesquioxide ceramic was fabricated by hot isostatic pressing of commercial sesquioxide powders at 1750 degrees C/200 MPa in argon atmosphere. It exhibited a cubic bixbyite-type structure (a = 10.198 angstrom), a mean grain size of 5.7 um and high low-signal transmission of 79.1 % in the near- IR. The spectroscopic properties of Er3+ ions were studied. For the I-4(11/2) -> I-4(13/2) transition, the stimulated-emission cross-section sigma(SE) is 1.30 x 10(-20) cm(2) at 2719 nm, the corresponding luminescence branching ratio B (JJ') is 19.9 % and the radiative lifetime of the I-4(11/2) state is 4.80 ms, as determined using a Judd-Ofelt theory accounting for intermediate configuration interaction. The crystal-field splitting of Er3+ multiplets was studied at 12 K. The ceramic exhibits a significant inhomogeneous broadening of spectral bands. An Er:(Lu,Sc)(2)O-3 ceramic laser generated 342 mW at 2.71 and 2.85 mu m with a high slope efficiency of 41.7 % (exceeding the Stokes limit) and a laser threshold of 125 mW.

This paper demonstrates the modelling and simulation comparison of the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple type aerostatic thrust bearings on the basis of load-carrying capacity(LCC) and stiffness. The equations Navier-Stokes (N-S) are used to solve the internal distribution of pressure in computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation environment. An axisymmetric model, which minimizes the computational time and increases efficiency, is used to evaluate the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple restrictors of aerostatic bearings. Our numerical analysis and empirical results show the agreement with the significant effect of material and geometrical parameters on the LCC and stiffness. The thickness of the air film is less than 10\mu \text{m} , the multiple orifice restrictors have more LCC than porous and orifice restrictor. The porous restrictor's stiffness is larger than orifice and multiple restrictors. The LCC of porous and orifice is notably smaller than multiple orifice restrictors. Additionally, it is analyzed that LCC of porous, orifice, and multiple orifice restrictors can be improved with an increase in the supply of air pressure.

This paper demonstrates the modelling and simulation comparison of the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple type aerostatic thrust bearings on the basis of load-carrying capacity(LCC) and stiffness. The equations Navier-Stokes (N-S) are used to solve the internal distribution of pressure in computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation environment. An axisymmetric model, which minimizes the computational time and increases efficiency, is used to evaluate the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple restrictors of aerostatic bearings. Our numerical analysis and empirical results show the agreement with the significant effect of material and geometrical parameters on the LCC and stiffness. The thickness of the air film is less than 10\mu \text{m} , the multiple orifice restrictors have more LCC than porous and orifice restrictor. The porous restrictor's stiffness is larger than orifice and multiple restrictors. The LCC of porous and orifice is notably smaller than multiple orifice restrictors. Additionally, it is analyzed that LCC of porous, orifice, and multiple orifice restrictors can be improved with an increase in the supply of air pressure.

A study of 104 patients with a transient ischemic attacks (TIA) in the form of visual disorders was conducted to assess the factors that affect the development and probable localization of TIA. Neurological and ophthalmological status, structural characteristics of the brain and major arteries of the head (MAH) with the use of magnetic resonance therapy (MRT) and ultrasonic dopplerography were assessed. The age of patients ranged from 33 to 79 years (65.4 years in average). The control group consisted of 46 patients with an average age of 67.8 years without cerebral ischemic events and visual disorders. During the MRI, the presence of microstructural pathology of the brain was assessed; “leukoaraiosis” was considered; foci up to 2-3 mm that are vascular by genesis. Significant differences in the frequency of TIA occurrence in terms of gender were not detected in all age subgroups. In young patients with TIA, arterial hypertension was associated with signs of microstructural pathology (MSP) of the brain in 85.58% cases. TIA localization did not correlate with the grade of structural disorders of the MAH and the nature of retinopathy in all age groups. Frequency of TIA tended to increase (in the a. ophthalmica pool) with an increase in the grade of stenosis of the MAH and retinopathy. The control group had retinopathy of the 1st stage in 12 or 26.09%, showing a qualitative difference with the group of study. The study did not reveal any differences in the frequency of TIA (according to presentations to a medical institution) in patients of different age groups, which indicates the influence of others factors that are not related to aging, such as TIA factors. The state of the MAH and microcirculation of vessels are their markers and probable causative factors. Determination of markers for the prognosis of the deve­lopment of cortical TIA or TIA in a. ophthalmica pools are still an open issue, as well as the chances of the TIA development in other areas of cerebral blo

This study aims to elucidate the influence of supplementation with different doses of Vitamin C (VC) and Vitamin E (VE) on Prothrombin Time (PT) in mice; forty eight mice are randomly divided into six treatment groups, which are fed different dose VC and VE except for control Check (CK) for eight weeks. Blood samples are obtained from the mouse canthus to measure PT and platelet parameters. Administration of different doses of VC and VE to mice cause coagulation function damage.

This paper demonstrates the modelling and simulation comparison of the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple type aerostatic thrust bearings on the basis of load-carrying capacity(LCC) and stiffness. The equations Navier-Stokes (N-S) are used to solve the internal distribution of pressure in computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation environment. An axisymmetric model, which minimizes the computational time and increases efficiency, is used to evaluate the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple restrictors of aerostatic bearings. Our numerical analysis and empirical results show the agreement with the significant effect of material and geometrical parameters on the LCC and stiffness. The thickness of the air film is less than 10\mu \text{m} , the multiple orifice restrictors have more LCC than porous and orifice restrictor. The porous restrictor's stiffness is larger than orifice and multiple restrictors. The LCC of porous and orifice is notably smaller than multiple orifice restrictors. Additionally, it is analyzed that LCC of porous, orifice, and multiple orifice restrictors can be improved with an increase in the supply of air pressure.

This paper demonstrates the modelling and simulation comparison of the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple type aerostatic thrust bearings on the basis of load-carrying capacity(LCC) and stiffness. The equations Navier-Stokes (N-S) are used to solve the internal distribution of pressure in computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation environment. An axisymmetric model, which minimizes the computational time and increases efficiency, is used to evaluate the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple restrictors of aerostatic bearings. Our numerical analysis and empirical results show the agreement with the significant effect of material and geometrical parameters on the LCC and stiffness. The thickness of the air film is less than 10\mu \text{m} , the multiple orifice restrictors have more LCC than porous and orifice restrictor. The porous restrictor's stiffness is larger than orifice and multiple restrictors. The LCC of porous and orifice is notably smaller than multiple orifice restrictors. Additionally, it is analyzed that LCC of porous, orifice, and multiple orifice restrictors can be improved with an increase in the supply of air pressure.

Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 is a promising photovoltaic material containing low-cost, earth-abundant, and stable semiconductor elements. However, the highest power conversion efficiency of thin-film solar cells based on Cu2ZnSnS4 is only about 11% due to low open-circuit voltage and fill factor mainly caused by antisite defects and unfavorable heterojunction interface. In this work, a postannealing procedure is proposed to complete a Cd-alloyed Cu2ZnSnS4 device. The postannealing to complete the device significantly enhances the performance of the indium tin oxide and promotes the moderate interdiffusion of elements between the layers in the device. As a result of the diffusion of Cu, Zn, In, and Sn, the interfacial electron and hole densities are improved, leading to the achievement of a suitable band alignment for carrier transport. The post annealing also reduces the interface traps and deep-level defects, contributing to decreased nonradiative recombination. Therefore, the open-circuit voltage and fill factor are both improved, and an efficiency over 12% for pure sulfide-based kesterite thin-film solar cells is obtained.

Benping Zhang,1,* Chen Dong,2,* Shengzhong Li,3 Xiaoqing Song,1 Wang Wei,4 Li Liu1 1Department of Endocrinology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pediatrics, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Surgery, Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei 430023, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Li LiuDepartment of Endocrinology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-027-83663470Fax +86-027-83662883Email liliu@tjh.tjmu.edu.cnBackground: Acute myocardial injury and heart failure characterized by elevated cardiac troponin and decreased heart pump function are significant clinical features and prognostic factors of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio is an indicator of insulin resistance. This study aimed to explore the association of the TG/HDL-C ratio with cardiovascular risk and prognosis in COVID-19.Methods: Ninety-eight laboratory-confirmed patients with COVID-19 admitted in a tertiary teaching hospital in Wuhan, China, were enrolled in this retrospective study. Regression models were used to investigate the association between TG/HDL-C ratio with myocardial injury, heart failure, severity, and mortality in COVID-19.Results: Among the 98 patients, the mean age was 63.9± 1.4 years, and male sex (58, 59%) was predominant. Forty-six patients (47%) were admitted to the intensive c

The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a “real-time” experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new long-term tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website (http://votchallenge.net)., Funding agencies: Slovenian research agencySlovenian Research Agency - Slovenia [P2-0214, P2-0094, J2-8175]; Czech Science FoundationGrant Agency of the Czech Republic [GACR P103/12/G084]; WASP; VR (EMC2); SSF (SymbiCloud); SNIC; AIT Strategic Research Programme 2017 Visua

Due to the severe environment pollution and critical energy issues around the world, fossil fuel is being replaced by new energy sources, e.g. solar power, wind power, etc. To enhance the efficiency of those new energies, electrochemical energy systems (EESs), including lithium-ion battery (LIB), supercapacitor (SC) and lithium-ion capacitor (LIC) are widely used in our daily life. Combining the advantages of LIB and SC, LIC seems to be the most competitive candidate for the next generation EESs. The similarities and differences between three of them are discussed in chapter 1. Also, evaluation methods, device design principles, together with configurations are summarized. By reviewing the development status of LIC, it’s worth to pointing out that pre-lithiation step is necessary in almost all the device design. Moreover, to further enhance the energy density of the device, there is also the call for new cathode material with wide operational voltage and large capacity. Lastly, symmetric LIC design is not popular because the lack of suitable active materials. Aiming to build up a high performance symmetric LIC, 2-dimensional tungstate acid-link polyaniline (TALP), which has a wide working potential range from 0.01V to 4.5V versus Li/ Li+, is used as active material in this thesis. Solvent exchange effect in TALP is observed and confirmed. Water, NMP and electrolyte could diffuse in the interlayer to form the nanoconfined fluid and replace the former existed solution. Plus, as spotted by XPS, not just Li+, but also PF6- is able to intercalate/ de-intercalate into/ from TALP interlayer, thanks to the large interlayer spacing, resulting in a high areal capacity of 39 mAh cm-3 under a large current of 2000 mA g-1. As anode, getting use of the solvent exchange effect and layered structure, interlayer SEI is formed for pre-lithiaiton. The modified sample (5FEC-SEI-TALP) exhibits 4 times higher initial columbic efficiency than the fresh sample. Later, symmetric LIC is prod

The increasing demand for energy and limited availability of fossil fuels trigger the development of renewable resources. However, large scale-up application of renewable energy is inhibited by the inability of storage. High efficient electrical energy storage (EES) becomes one of the tools for utilizing electricity produced from intermittent renewable sources. Despite Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) being the most mature technology in current portable devices, metal-sulfur batteries (MSB) show great promise as the future energy storage device due to the low cost ($0.065/kg) and high theoretical capacity (1675 mAh/g) of sulphur.This thesis starts with the well-renowned Li-S batteries by exploring safer Li metal replacement. Pairing Al-Li alloy with S is of great promise to suppressing the dendrite growth and enhancing ambient stability, thus achieving high-energy rechargeable batteries with improved safety. A parallel interface engineering (PIE) strategy is proposed in the full cell design, and the improvement is attributable to the more efficient and uniform lithium sulphides deposition on the chemically uniform surfaces of the carbon cathode, as well as the suppressed growth of dendritic species on the Li-Al alloy anode with an implantable solid-electrolyte interphase.The second stage of the research focuses on the studies of Na-S batteries. A unique intertwined sponge is also prepared to facilitate ion diffusion/mass transfer of Na-S batteries, and to provide reservoir to adsorb polysulfides.The last section presents Mg-S batteries with a dual-doped (Co and N) Lychee-like sulfur host (Co@NC) to effectively mitigate magnesium polysulfides shuttling. The mesopores of Co@NC precursor can physically confine the sulfur species, while Co and N elements doping play significant role in strongly binding polysulfides. This strategy provides a promising example for the development of novel post Li-ion batteries in terms of the rational design of carbon materials.

[ES] El desarrollo de este proyecto se realiza en colaboración con la empresa CIDAN Machinery Sweden AB y se centra en la máquina Forma Z, una máquina semiautomática capaz de doblar placas de metal en múltiples formas. El objetivo de este proyecto es analizar el funcionamiento de esta máquina y diseñar un sistema para ayudar al operario a posicionar las herramientas usadas por la máquina, ya que el operario deberá colocarlas previamente de forma específica en función de la forma en la que se realizará el doblado de la placa de metal. Actualmente se consume mucho tiempo en esta tarea porque es muy tediosa, ya que se realiza a vista del operario. Con este sistema se pretende optimizar esta tarea para que le resulte al operario mucho más fácil y automático de llevar a cabo., [EN] The development of this project is carried out in collaboration with the company CIDAN Machinery Sweden AB and it is focused on the machine Forma Z, a semi-automatic machine capable of folding metal sheets in multiple ways. The goal of this project is to analyze the operations of this machine and design a system to aid the operator int the tool arrangement of the machine since the operator must place them previously in specific locations according to the way in which the metal piece will be folded. Currently, it is a time consuming task because it is very tedious since it is performed at the operator's view. This system is intended to optimize this task to make it easier and more automatic for the operator.

The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a “real-time” experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new long-term tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website (http://votchallenge.net).

[ES] El desarrollo de este proyecto se realiza en colaboración con la empresa CIDAN Machinery Sweden AB y se centra en la máquina Forma Z, una máquina semiautomática capaz de doblar placas de metal en múltiples formas. El objetivo de este proyecto es analizar el funcionamiento de esta máquina y diseñar un sistema para ayudar al operario a posicionar las herramientas usadas por la máquina, ya que el operario deberá colocarlas previamente de forma específica en función de la forma en la que se realizará el doblado de la placa de metal. Actualmente se consume mucho tiempo en esta tarea porque es muy tediosa, ya que se realiza a vista del operario. Con este sistema se pretende optimizar esta tarea para que le resulte al operario mucho más fácil y automático de llevar a cabo., [EN] The development of this project is carried out in collaboration with the company CIDAN Machinery Sweden AB and it is focused on the machine Forma Z, a semi-automatic machine capable of folding metal sheets in multiple ways. The goal of this project is to analyze the operations of this machine and design a system to aid the operator int the tool arrangement of the machine since the operator must place them previously in specific locations according to the way in which the metal piece will be folded. Currently, it is a time consuming task because it is very tedious since it is performed at the operator's view. This system is intended to optimize this task to make it easier and more automatic for the operator.

[ES] El desarrollo de este proyecto se realiza en colaboración con la empresa CIDAN Machinery Sweden AB y se centra en la máquina Forma Z, una máquina semiautomática capaz de doblar placas de metal en múltiples formas. El objetivo de este proyecto es analizar el funcionamiento de esta máquina y diseñar un sistema para ayudar al operario a posicionar las herramientas usadas por la máquina, ya que el operario deberá colocarlas previamente de forma específica en función de la forma en la que se realizará el doblado de la placa de metal. Actualmente se consume mucho tiempo en esta tarea porque es muy tediosa, ya que se realiza a vista del operario. Con este sistema se pretende optimizar esta tarea para que le resulte al operario mucho más fácil y automático de llevar a cabo., [EN] The development of this project is carried out in collaboration with the company CIDAN Machinery Sweden AB and it is focused on the machine Forma Z, a semi-automatic machine capable of folding metal sheets in multiple ways. The goal of this project is to analyze the operations of this machine and design a system to aid the operator int the tool arrangement of the machine since the operator must place them previously in specific locations according to the way in which the metal piece will be folded. Currently, it is a time consuming task because it is very tedious since it is performed at the operator's view. This system is intended to optimize this task to make it easier and more automatic for the operator.

The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a “real-time” experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new long-term tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website (http://votchallenge.net)., Funding agencies: Slovenian research agencySlovenian Research Agency - Slovenia [P2-0214, P2-0094, J2-8175]; Czech Science FoundationGrant Agency of the Czech Republic [GACR P103/12/G084]; WASP; VR (EMC2); SSF (SymbiCloud); SNIC; AIT Strategic Research Programme 2017 Visua

The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a “real-time” experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new long-term tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website (http://votchallenge.net)., Funding agencies: Slovenian research agencySlovenian Research Agency - Slovenia [P2-0214, P2-0094, J2-8175]; Czech Science FoundationGrant Agency of the Czech Republic [GACR P103/12/G084]; WASP; VR (EMC2); SSF (SymbiCloud); SNIC; AIT Strategic Research Programme 2017 Visua

The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a “real-time” experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new long-term tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website (http://votchallenge.net)., Funding agencies: Slovenian research agencySlovenian Research Agency - Slovenia [P2-0214, P2-0094, J2-8175]; Czech Science FoundationGrant Agency of the Czech Republic [GACR P103/12/G084]; WASP; VR (EMC2); SSF (SymbiCloud); SNIC; AIT Strategic Research Programme 2017 Visua

The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a “real-time” experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new long-term tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website (http://votchallenge.net)., Funding agencies: Slovenian research agencySlovenian Research Agency - Slovenia [P2-0214, P2-0094, J2-8175]; Czech Science FoundationGrant Agency of the Czech Republic [GACR P103/12/G084]; WASP; VR (EMC2); SSF (SymbiCloud); SNIC; AIT Strategic Research Programme 2017 Visua

The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2018 is the sixth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of over eighty trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in the recent years. The evaluation included the standard VOT and other popular methodologies for short-term tracking analysis and a “real-time” experiment simulating a situation where a tracker processes images as if provided by a continuously running sensor. A long-term tracking subchallenge has been introduced to the set of standard VOT sub-challenges. The new subchallenge focuses on long-term tracking properties, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance. A new dataset has been compiled and a performance evaluation methodology that focuses on long-term tracking capabilities has been adopted. The VOT toolkit has been updated to support both standard short-term and the new long-term tracking subchallenges. Performance of the tested trackers typically by far exceeds standard baselines. The source code for most of the trackers is publicly available from the VOT page. The dataset, the evaluation kit and the results are publicly available at the challenge website (http://votchallenge.net)., Funding agencies: Slovenian research agencySlovenian Research Agency - Slovenia [P2-0214, P2-0094, J2-8175]; Czech Science FoundationGrant Agency of the Czech Republic [GACR P103/12/G084]; WASP; VR (EMC2); SSF (SymbiCloud); SNIC; AIT Strategic Research Programme 2017 Visua

Background: Body image concerns are associated with the poor prognosis of bipolar disorder, but it is unknown whether bipolar I (BD I) and II (BD II) types differ in these concerns and their associations with personality styles or affective states. Subjects and methods: We therefore invited 89 BD I, 91 BD II patients, and 159 healthy volunteers to undergo the tests of the Body Image Concern Scale (BICS), the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, the Hypomania Checklist - 32, the Plutchik - van Praag Depression Inventory, and the Parker Personality Measure. Results: Both BD I and BD II displayed higher scores of ongoing affective states and of personality disorder functioning styles than healthy controls did. BD II scored higher on all six BICS scales than controls did, and higher on five than BD I did. The depressive measure predicted four, and Dependent style predicted three BICS scales in BD I; and the depressive measure predicted all six BICS scales, hypomanic measure predicted one, and Avoidant style predicted one in BD II. Conclusions: Body image concerns and their associations with the affective states and personality styles were different in BD I and BD II, suggesting different pathological mechanisms, clinical symptom severities and managements for the two types of bipolar disorder.

An embedding is a function that maps entities from one algebraic structure into another while preserving certain characteristics. Embeddings are being used successfully for mapping relational data or text into vector spaces where they can be used for machine learning, similarity search, or similar tasks. We address the problem of finding vector space embeddings for theories in the Description Logic $\mathcal{EL}^{++}$ that are also models of the TBox. To find such embeddings, we define an optimization problem that characterizes the model-theoretic semantics of the operators in $\mathcal{EL}^{++}$ within $\Re^n$, thereby solving the problem of finding an interpretation function for an $\mathcal{EL}^{++}$ theory given a particular domain $\Delta$. Our approach is mainly relevant to large $\mathcal{EL}^{++}$ theories and knowledge bases such as the ontologies and knowledge graphs used in the life sciences. We demonstrate that our method can be used for improved prediction of protein--protein interactions when compared to semantic similarity measures or knowledge graph embedding

This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling of organoaluminum reagents with organohalides. One of the most powerful tools for the construction of C-C bonds is cross-coupling. But, this reaction is predominantly catalyzed by Pd, a rare and expensive transition metal, which inevitably makes the process unsustainable in the long-term. Furthermore, Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling also shows low tolerance for alkyl and heteroaryl substrates because of β-hydride elimination and catalyst deactivation, respectively. Although these issues remain largely solved by using sterically hindered and electron-rich ligands, however making these types of ligands is synthetically challenging and often involves multi-step processes. As such, the use of these ligands in large scale productions is also cost-prohibitive. In order to alleviate these problems, we have developed the cross-coupling reaction with Cu, an earth-abundant and inexpensive transition metal. Regarding this, we have been able to discover the Cu-catalyzed coupling of alkyl-, aryl- and alkynylaluminum reagents with organohalides. This Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling does not suffer from β-hydride elimination and no rearrangement is seen when secondary alkylaluminum reagents are used. It also shows tolerance with heteroaromatic substrates. Unexpectedly, no ligand is needed when heteroaryl halides are used for cross-coupling. We have also conducted mechanistic studies through radical clock experiments, competition experiments and kinetic studies, and proposed a catalytic cycle for the Cu-catalyzed coupling of organoaluminum reagents with aryl halides. These mechanistic studies designate that the reaction proceeds through an oxidative addition-reductive elimination pathway. The second part of this thesis is about the development of Ni-catalyzed regioselective dicarbofunctionalization of olefins in styrene derivatives by intercepting Heck C(sp3)-NiX intermediates with ar

Introduction: Specimen adequacy is a crucial preanalytical factor affecting accuracy and usefulness of test result. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and reasons for rejected haematology specimens, preanalytical variables which may affect specimen quality, and consequences of rejection, and provide suggestions on monitoring quality indicators as to obtain a quality improvement. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted and a questionnaire was sent to 1586 laboratories. Participants were asked to provide general information about institution and practices on specimen management and record rejections and reasons for rejection from 1st to 31st July. Results: A total survey response rate was 56% (890/1586). Of 10,181,036 tubes received during the data collection period, 11,447 (0.11%) were rejected, and the sigma (σ) was 4.6. The main reason for unacceptable specimens was clotted specimen (57%). Rejected specimens were related to source department, container type, container material type, transportation method and phlebotomy personnel. The recollection of 84% of the rejected specimens was required. The median specimen processing delay in inpatient, outpatient and emergency department were 81.0 minutes, 57.0 minutes and 43.3 minutes, respectively. Conclusions: Overall, rejection rate was a slightly lower than previously published data. In order to achieve a better quality in the preanalytical phase, haematology laboratories in China should pay more attention on training for phlebotomy and sample transportation, identify main reasons for clotted specimen and take effective measures. The platform in the study will be helpful for long-term monitoring, but simplification and modification should be introduced in the following investigation.

We study a simplified Ericksen-Leslie system with the inertial term for the nematic liquid crystal flow, which can be also viewed as a system coupling Navier-Stokes equations and wave map equations. We prove the global existence of classical solution with initial data near equilibrium.

We study a simplified Ericksen-Leslie system with the inertial term for the nematic liquid crystal flow, which can be also viewed as a system coupling Navier-Stokes equations and wave map equations. We prove the global existence of classical solution with initial data near equilibrium.

Development of sustainable synthetic technologies for molecular construction is an important but formidably challenging task in modern organic synthesis. Aldehyde synthesis represents a long-standing interest in synthesis because of the synthetic utility. Classic methods for aldehyde synthesis have the drawbacks of the use of harsh reaction conditions, poor atom-economy and multi-step operation, and production of stoichiometric amount of chemical wastes. The state-of-the-art strategies employ transition metal complexes as catalysts to promote formylation reactions. The concerns of catalyst cost, operation complexity and poor functional group tolerance demands more efficient synthetic technologies. My Ph.D. study focuses on design of conceptually novel catalytic systems, invention of reagents and exploration of new reactivities to create unprecedented processes the synthesis of fundamentally important class of chemicals - aldehydes with the emphasis on sustainability, selectivity, practicality and utility.

Small molecule probes are useful tools for the study of biology. In particular, the dye derived fluorescence probes enable to spatiotemporally monitor the events of analytes of interest. The noninvasive feature is particularly attractive for the biological studies in live cells. The challenge is to develop chemical probes capable of detection of the analyte of interest with high specificity. Toward this end, my Ph. D. study centers on the development of novel chemical probes for the study and understanding of the alternation of important cellar contents and substances and their functions and relationship between normal and disease states. In the first effort, new far-red organelle-targeting probes have been developed. They display excellent selectivity and sensitivity in response to viscosity change in cell imaging studies. The probes are further applied for the investigation of the correlation of the elevated level of mitochondrial viscosity with mitochondrial damage in cellular and animal models. In the second effort, to investigate the relationship between Fe(II) and mitochondrial damage in ischemic stroke, a new mitochondrial targeting Fe(II) probe is designed, synthesized and evaluated by using a Fe(II) induced cleavage of N-O bond chemistry. The relationship between the elevated level of Fe(II) and ROS tied with the ischemia is uncovered by the probe using cellular and animal models. In the third study, based on the unique N-O bond chemistry, a novel photo-triggered ketone prodrug release system is designed and studied. The strategy can be used as a general approach to spatiotemporally deliver drugs. Lastly, the role of iron (Fe(II) and Fe(III)) in the ferroptosis process is elucidated. The studies reveal that that labile Fe(III) is the real ferroptosis inducer instead of labile Fe(II) for the first time. Furthermore, hydroxylamines as new ferroptosis inhibitors through the reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II) are developed inspired by Fe(II) redu

MiRNAs are key cellular regulators and their dysregulation is associated with many human diseases. The development of miRNA inhibitors has significant implications for the therapy of diseases associated with aberrant miRNA expression. It also provides chemical tools for studying miRNA function. This dissertation focuses on the development of small-molecule based miRNA inhibitors targeting miRNA biogenesis. The dissertation consists of four chapters. In Chapter 1, the biogenesis of miRNA was first introduced, followed by the explanation of miRNA function in health and disease. Then the approaches used for regulating miRNA were reviewed. Finally, the difficulties with miRNA regulation were summarized. One of the key reactions in miRNA biogenesis is the processing of pre-miRNA by Dicer enzyme. In Chapter 2, we developed a general strategy for inhibiting miRNA biogenesis with bifunctional small molecules. By linking a pre-miRNA binder and a weak Dicer inhibiting unit, we obtained bifunctional conjugates that are able to block the Dicer processing of pre-miRNA and inhibit miRNA production. This approach is expected to be applicable in generating more inhibitors for other miRNAs. MiRNAs are usually produced locally in a spatiotemporally controlled manner to regulate gene expression. Thus, developing chemical tools for manipulating miRNA with spatiotemporal preciseness is critical for studying miRNA. In Chapter 3, we expanded the application of the strategy described in Chapter 2 in generating light controllable miRNA inhibitors. By conjugating the two functional units with a photocleavable linker, we made a new bifunctional miRNA inhibitor. Taking advantage of the photocleavage property of the linker, the bifunctional inhibitor can be fragmented into separate non-inhibiting units and therefore be deactivated by light. We expect that this strategy could be applied to generate chemical biological tools that allow light-mediated spatiotemporal control

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short (~ 22 nucleotides long) noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. They control the expression of various genes that are crucial for cellular function, development and human diseases. Tools to regulate the level and function of miRNAs facilitate the studies of their functions and have therapeutic applications. In my thesis, I developed a newly customizable miRNA biogenesis inhibitor to regulate miRNAs. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have been used to regulate miRNA through controlling their production or function. Although commonly used due to the fact that they are easy to design, several limitations exist for ASOs including serious off-target effects, low cellular permeability and poor pharmacokinetics and distribution. To address these limitations, we proposed a new class of ASO based bi-functional molecules using short ASOs as the pre-miRNA recognition unit linked to an RNase III inhibitor as a Dicer inhibitor to block miRNA maturation. We showed the feasibility of the bi-functional strategy and optimized the bi-functional molecules by enhancing each functional unit as compounds 12, 22 and 25. Additionally, we identified cell penetrating peptide (CPP) that facilitate the delivery of bi-functional molecules to address the cell permeability issue. We also explored the feasibility of using cyclic peptidomimetics as an alternative class of molecule to target RNAs, which can be used as our pre-miRNA recognition unit in the bi-functional regulator. We identified a new pre-miR-155 binder (compound 27) that inhibits miR-155 biogenesis. Applying RNAseq and bioinformatics analysis, we investigated its targeting selectivity and downstream effects.

Introduction: This survey was initiated to obtain knowledge on the current situation of internal quality control (IQC) practice for tumour markers (TMs) in China. Additionally, we tried to acquire the most appropriate quality specifications. Materials and methods: This survey was a current status survey. The IQC information had been collected via online questionnaires. All of 1821 clinical laboratories which participated in the 2016 TMs external quality assessment (EQA) programme had been enrolled. The imprecision evaluation criteria were the minimal, desirable, and optimal allowable imprecisions based on biological variations, and 1/3 total allowable error (TEa) and 1/4 TEa. Results: A total of 1628 laboratories answered the questionnaires (89%). The coefficients of variation (CVs) of the IQC of participant laboratories varied greatly from 1% (5th percentile) to 13% (95th percentile). More than 82% (82 - 91%) of participant laboratories two types of CVs met 1/3 TEa except for CA 19-9. The percentiles of current CVs were smaller than cumulative CVs. A number of 1240 laboratories (76%) reported their principles and systems used. The electrochemiluminescence was the most used principle (45%) and had the smallest CVs. Conclusions: The performance of laboratories for TMs IQC has yet to be improved. On the basis of the obtained results, 1/3 TEa would be realistic and attainable quality specification for TMs IQC for clinical laboratories in China.

The probability of informed trading (PIN) is used widely as a measure of information asymmetry. Relatively little work has appeared on how well PIN models fit empirical trade data. We reveal structural limitations in PIN models by examining their marginal distributions and dependence structures represented by copulas. We develop a distribution-free test of the goodness-of-fit of PIN models. Our results indicate that estimated PIN models have generally poor fit to actual trade data. These results suggest that researchers should be cautious when PIN estimates are plugged into empirical models as explanatory variables.

The probability of informed trading (PIN) is used widely as a measure of information asymmetry. Relatively little work has appeared on how well PIN models fit empirical trade data. We reveal structural limitations in PIN models by examining their marginal distributions and dependence structures represented by copulas. We develop a distribution-free test of the goodness-of-fit of PIN models. Our results indicate that estimated PIN models have generally poor fit to actual trade data. These results suggest that researchers should be cautious when PIN estimates are plugged into empirical models as explanatory variables.