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Tomato gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea is one of the most destructive airborne diseases in tomatoes. In this study, the bacterial strain JY1-5 was isolated from the rhizosphere of turnip and displayed strong antagonistic activity against B. cinerea. This isolate was identified as Paenibacillus polymyxa via analyses of its physiological and biochemical features and partial 16S rRNA sequences. The biological control activity of P. polymyxa JY1-5 against B. cinerea was determined in vitro and in vivo. Both the living cells of JY1-5 and its antifungal compounds strongly reduced the incidence and severity of gray mold disease in tomatoes. Strain JY1-5 grew rapidly in Nutrient broth (NB). Higher amounts of antifungal substances were observed when strain JY1-5 was cultured in Katznelson and Lochhead and potato dextrose broth than in NB or other media tested in this study. The antifungal extracts (FUSE) were determined by MALDI-TOF MS to contain members of the fusaricidin (883, 897, 901, 915, 947, 965, and 979 Da) or LI-F antibiotic (929 Da) family. The antifungal activity of the FUSE was stable in a pH range of 5–7 and at 100 °C for 20 min. Our results showed that the fusaricidin extracts damaged the plasma membrane of B. cinerea, leading to cell leakage and the release of intracellular constituents. Overall, our study suggests that P. polymyxa JY1-5 can potentially be used as a biocontrol agent to manage tomato gray mold disease caused by B. cinerea.

Rice sheath blight, which is caused by Rhizoctonia solani, is a devastating disease in many areas of the world where rice is cultivated. The role of polygalacturonase (PG) in the infection process of R. solani was investigated in the present study by cloning and investigating the function of a new PG-encoding gene, which was designated RsPG2. Bioinformatics showed that RsPG2 consisted of a 1,633 bp open reading frame (ORF) with six introns; the deduced protein contained 436 amino acids with a predicted mass of 45.88 kDa after cleavage of the predicted 17-amino acid signal sequence. Culture supernatants obtained from Pichia pastoris producing recombinant RsPG2 degraded polygalacturonic acid in vitro, thus confirming that RsPG2 encodes a PG gene. Purified recombinant RsPG2 also degraded rice tissue and elicited obvious necrotic symptoms 48 h after inoculation. Real-time qRT-PCR indicated that the expression of RsPG2 was strongly induced during the infection of rice by R. solani. These data unequivocally demonstrate that RsPG2 plays an important role in R. solani infection and provide further insights for elucidating the function of pg genes in the virulence of R. solani.

The prognostic value of the genotype of the PRSS1 gene in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between the PRSS1 genotype and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with PDAC, as well as to explore the prognostic significance of the PRSS1 genotype in patients with PDAC. A total of 124 patients with PDAC patients were included in the current study and the PRSS1 genotype of the enrolled patients was determined by the polymerase chain reaction. Associations between the PRSS1 genotype and clinicopathological characteristics were subsequently analyzed using the Chi-square test. The impact of the PRSS1 genotype on patient prognosis was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and predictive factors of overall survival (OS) time were analyzed by Cox regression. A total of 56 patients with PDAC (45.16%) had the T/C PRSS1 genotype, which was associated with large tumor sizes (P=0.027) and higher tumor node metastasis (TNM) stages (P=0.041). Following a median follow-up of 19 months, the T/C genotype of PRSS1 genotype was associated with a shorter OS time (P=0.037) compared with the C/C or T/T PRSS1 genotypes. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that PRSS1 genotype was identified to be an independent prognostic factor for the OS time of patients with PDAC. The results obtained in the current study suggested that the PRSS1 genotype, as well as factors such as the serum level of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 and the TNM stage, may act as independent prognostic factors for the OS time of patients with PDAC.

Sodium stannate (Na2SnO3) has been successfully prepared by a novel process of roasting cassiterite concentrates and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) under CO&ndash, CO2 atmosphere, namely soda roasting-leaching process. However, more than 22 wt. % tin of the cassiterite was not converted into Na2SnO3 and entered the leach residues. Quartz (SiO2) is the predominant gangue in the cassiterite, and phase evolution of SnO2&ndash, SiO2&ndash, Na2CO3 system roasted under CO&ndash, CO2 atmosphere was still uncertain. In this study, the effect of SiO2 in cassiterite concentrates on preparation of Na2SnO3 was clarified. The results indicated that Na8SnSi6O18 was inevitably formed when cassiterite and Na2CO3 were roasted above 775 &deg, C under CO&ndash, CO2 atmosphere via the reaction of SnO2 + 6SiO2 + 4Na2CO3 = Na8SnSi6O18 + 4CO2, and formation of Na8SnSi6O18 would be increased with increasing roasting temperature and Si/Sn mole fraction. In addition, it was found that Na8SnSi6O18 was insoluble in the leachate at pH value range of 1&ndash, 14, which, therefore, was enriched in the leach residues. The silicon content of the cassiterite concentrates should be controlled as lower as possible to obtain a higher conversion ratio of Na2SnO3.

Tin-, iron-bearing tailing is a typically hazardous solid waste in China, which contains plenty of valuable tin, iron elements and is not utilized effectively. In this study, a multistage utilization process was put forward to get the utmost out of the valuable elements (tin and iron) from the tailings, and a gradient-recovery method with three procedures was demonstrated: (1) An activated roasting followed by magnetic separation process was conducted under CO-CO2 atmosphere, tin and iron were efficiently separated during magnetic separation process, and 90.8 wt% iron was enriched in magnetic materials while tin entered into non-magnetic materials; (2) The tin-enriched non-magnetic materials were briquetted with CaCl2 and anthracite and roasted, then tin-rich dusts were collected during the chloridizing roasting process; (3) The roasted briquettes were infiltrated in melting NaNO3 to prepare NaNO3/C-PCMs by a infiltration method. Three kinds of products were obtained from the tailings by the novel process: magnetic concentrates containing 64.53 wt.% TFe, tin-rich dusts containg 52.4 wt.% TSn and NaNO3/C-PCMs for high temperature heat storage. Such a comprehensive and clean utilization method for tin-, iron-bearing tailings produced no secondary hazardous solid wastes, and had great potential for practical application.

N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) is an abundant nucleotide modification in mRNA, known to regulate mRNA stability, splicing, and translation, but it is unclear whether it is also has a physiological role in the intratumoral microenvironment and cancer drug resistance. Here, we find that METTL3, a primary m6A methyltransferase, is significantly down‐regulated in human sorafenib‐resistant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Depletion of METTL3 under hypoxia promotes sorafenib resistance and expression of angiogenesis genes in cultured HCC cells and activates autophagy‐associated pathways. Mechanistically, we have identified FOXO3 as a key downstream target of METTL3, with m6A modification of the FOXO3 mRNA 3′‐untranslated region increasing its stability through a YTHDF1‐dependent mechanism. Analysis of clinical samples furthermore showed that METTL3 and FOXO3 levels are tightly correlated in HCC patients. In mouse xenograft models, METTL3 depletion significantly enhances sorafenib resistance of HCC by abolishing the identified METTL3‐mediated FOXO3 mRNA stabilization, and overexpression of FOXO3 restores m6A‐dependent sorafenib sensitivity. Collectively, our work reveals a critical function for METTL3‐mediated m6A modification in the hypoxic tumor microenvironment and identifies FOXO3 as an important target of m6A modification in the resistance of HCC to sorafenib therapy., Stabilization of FOXO3 mRNA by YTHDF1 is impaired in hypoxic sorafenib‐resistant hepatocellular carcinoma due to downregulation of the RNA methyltransferase METLL3.

This paper presents a detailed study of turn-on uniformity under electrostatic discharge events in single-finger and multi-finger traditional DDSCR devices. Since the structure of the multi-finger DDSCR device is not completely symmetrical, the electric field strength of each finger breakdown junction is different, resulting in different impact ionization rates. Therefore, each finger of device cannot be turned on at the same time, and the turned-on finger enters the snap back region and pull down the voltage of the device. If the ESD failure voltage Vt2 of the multi-finger device is less than the trigger voltage Vt1, then other fingers will not turn on until the device fails, and the ESD current can be only discharged through the partial area. The transmission line pulse (TLP) test results show that the failure currents It2 of the single-finger, 2-finger and 4-finger DDSCR devices are 6.22A, 11.83A and 13.33A, respectively, and the 4-finger device cannot be uniformly turned on.

Background An economic strategy to control plant disease is to improve plant defense to pathogens by deploying resistance genes. Plant polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) have a vital role in plant defense against phytopathogenic fungi by inhibiting fungal polygalacturonase (PG) activity. We previously reported that rice PGIP1 (OsPGIP1) inhibits PG activity in Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of rice sheath blight (SB), and is involved in regulating resistance to SB. Result Here, we report that OsPGIP2, the protein ortholog of OsPGIP1, does not possess PGIP activity; however, a few amino acid substitutions in a derivative of OsPGIP2, of which we provide support for L233F being the causative mutation, appear to impart OsPGIP2 with PG inhibition capability. Furthermore, the overexpression of mutated OsPGIP2L233F in rice significantly increased the resistance of transgenic lines and decreased SB disease rating scores. OsPGIP2L233F transgenic lines displayed an increased ability to reduce the tissue degradation caused by R. solani PGs as compared to control plants. Rice plants overexpressing OsPGIP2L233F showed no difference in agronomic traits and grain yield as compared to controls, thus demonstrating its potential use in rice breeding programs. Conclusions In summary, our results provide a new target gene for breeding SB resistance through genome-editing or natural allele mining. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12284-019-0318-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, threatens rice production in most of the rice-growing areas in China, especially in regions that have grown Oryza sativa subsp. japonica in recent years. The use of resistance genes is the most effective and economical approach for blast control. In our study, a set of six near-isogenic lines (NIL) were developed by introgression of six resistance alleles of the Piz locus (Pi2, Pigm, Pi40, Pi9, Piz, and Pizt) into a blast-susceptible, high-yielding, high-quality japonica ‘07GY31’ via marker-assisted backcross breeding. Artificial inoculation using 144 M. oryzae isolates collected from the lower region of the Yangtze River, China, revealed that most of the NIL, including NIL-Pi2, NIL-Pigm, NIL-Pi40, NIL-Pi9, and NIL-Pizt, exhibited broad-spectrum resistance against rice blast at the seedling stage, with resistance frequencies (RF) of 93.06 to 98.61%. NIL-Piz was an exception, with an RF of 21.53%, which was slightly higher than the recurrent parent 07GY31. NIL-Pi40 and NIL-Pigm had broad-spectrum resistance (RF of 93.33 and 71.67%, respectively) at the heading stage following inoculation of 60 isolates of M. oryzae. Field trials with artificial inoculation at the seedling and heading stage showed that NIL-Pigm and NIL-Pi40 were highly resistant in four locations under high disease pressure. NIL-Pizt showed effective resistance in three locations from Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces. This study shows that O. sativa subsp. japonica alleles of the Piz locus confer resistance to M. oryzae, and provides an effective method to enhance seedling and panicle blast resistance in rice plants in the lower region of the Yangtze River, China.

Figure S1. Comparing of resistant spectrum between PPLs and NILs. A Seedling blast stage; B Panicle blast stage. The number in this picture is total amount of blast isolate resistant to PPLs or NILs. (PDF 70 kb)

Table S3. Detail information of molecular markers tightly linked to different resistant genes. (DOCX 16 kb)

Figure S1. Screening of 30 putative transgenic rice lines transformed with pCAMBIA 1301-OsPGIP2L233F. Lines were screened by PCR for the presence of the HPT gene encoding hygromycin resistance. Abbreviations: M, molecular marker; P, positive control, pCAMBIA 1301; N, negative control, ddH2O; Tr01-Tr30, different transgenic lines. (PDF 195 kb)

Thin-walled cold-formed steel (TWCFS) structures have a great application prospect and are widely adopted in low-rise residential constructions due to great mechanical and economical properties. Since TWCFS member has low flexural rigidity and is hard to weld, it is rarely used in bridge engineering. In Poyang Lake Wetland of Jiangxi Province, China, a TWCFS footbridge was built. In this paper, Serial tests including static loading test, natural frequency test and pedestrian comfort test were conducted. At the same time, finite element analysis (FEA) models were built with Midas/Civil software. The data shows that although natural frequency is far greater than the range of pedestrian walking frequency and will not lead to the resonance of bridge, the peak acceleration under crowd load reflects poor pedestrian comfort. The structure was modified for improving pedestrian comfort and the results after modification verify that the comfort can be ensured.

Propofol is one of the most extensively used intravenous anaesthetic agents, which has been found to improve the surgical intervention outcome of several types of cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Additionally, in vitro and in vivo experiments have also indicated that propofol affects the biological behaviour of HCC. However, the underlying mechanisms of the surgical resection of HCC with propofol have not been fully understood. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of propofol inhibition of the growth and invasion of HCC cells. Our results showed that treatment with propofol suppressed the proliferation, invasion and migration of HCC in vitro. The subcutaneous xenograft tumour and orthotopic xenograft tumour experiments in nude mice showed that propofol significantly decreased tumour volumes, growth rates and the liver orthotopic xenograft tumour in vivo. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism investigations of the suppressive effects of propofol on HCC cells revealed that propofol treatment upregulated the expression levels of the candidate tumour suppressor miR-219-5p. Silencing of propofol-induced miR-219-5p using anti-miR-219-5p abrogated the inhibitory effects on the proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells exerted by propofol treatment. Additionally, we demonstrated that propofol reversed the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of Huh7 and SMMC7721 cells via miR-219-5p induction. The molecular mechanism behind these findings is that propofol-induced miR-219-5p inhibits HCC cell progression by targeting glypican-3 and subsequently results in the inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signalling. Taken together, our study provides new insights into the advantages of the surgical intervention of HCC with propofol anaesthetization.

DDSCR devices with finger-type, snake-type and track-type layout are studied and fabricated in $0.5\mu \mathrm{m}$ 18V CMOS process. The finger-type DDSCR achieves the highest failure current about 13.06A, which is also the device that occupies the smallest chip area in three layout styles. In view of the efficient discharge capability (It/area), the finger-type structure provides more than 50% and 66% current handling capability per area higher than the snake-type and track-type, respectively. Due to its better area efficiency, the finger-type structure should be a promising layout of the DDSCR in the input and output ports ESD protection applications.

The objective of this study was to investigate the neuroprotective and antioxidant effects of ginsenoside compound K (CK) in a model of scopolamine hydrobromide-induced, memory-impaired mice. The role of CK in the regulation of amyloid β (Aβ) and its capacity to activate the Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway were also studied due to their translational relevance to Alzheimer's disease. The Morris water maze was used to assess spatial memory functions. Levels of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and malondialdehyde in brain tissues were tested. Cell morphology was detected by hematoxylin and eosin staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling assay. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were used to determine expression levels of Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway-related factors and Aβ. Ginsenoside CK was found to enhance memory function, normalize neuronal morphology, decrease neuronal apoptosis, increase superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase levels, reduce malondialdehyde levels, inhibit Aβ expression, and activate the Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway in scopolamine-exposed animals. Based on these results, we conclude that CK may improve memory function in scopolamine-injured mice by regulating Aβ aggregation and promoting the transduction of the Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway, thereby reducing oxidative damage to neurons and inhibiting neuronal apoptosis. This study suggests that CK may serve as a future preventative agent or treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

For a running freely land-vehicle strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS), the problems of self-calibration and attitude alignment need to be solved simultaneously. This paper proposes a complete alignment algorithm for the land vehicle navigation using Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and an odometer. A self-calibration algorithm is proposed based on the global observability analysis to calibrate the odometer scale factor and IMU misalignment angle, and the initial alignment and calibration method based on optimal algorithm is established to estimate the attitude and other system parameters. This new algorithm has the capability of self-initialization and calibration without any prior attitude and sensor noise information. Computer simulation results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is superior to the extended Kalman filter (EKF) method during the oscillating attitude motions, and the vehicle test validates its advantages.

A hybrid sensor kinase termed RetS (regulator of exopolysaccharide and Type III secretion) controls expression of numerous genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. To investigate the function of RetS in P. fluorescens FD6, the retS gene was disrupted. Genetic inactivation of retS resulted in enhanced production of 2, 4-diacetylphloroglucinol, pyrrolnitrin, and pyoluteorin. The retS mutant also exhibited significant increase in phlA-lacZ, prnA-lacZ, and pltA-lacZ transcription levels, influencing expression levels of the small regulatory RNAs RsmX and RsmZ. In the gacSretS double mutant, all the phenotypic changes caused by the retS deletion were reversed to the level of gacS single mutant. Furthermore, the retS mutation drastically elevated biofilm formation and improved the colonization ability of strain FD6 on wheat rhizospheres. Based on these results, we proposed that RetS negatively controlled the production of antibiotics through the Gac/Rsm pathway in P. fluorescens FD6.

The odometer measurement model is introduced in this paper and a measurement model considering the lever arm error is established. The influence of the misalignment angle and the lever arm effect on the navigation accuracy in SINS/OD (Strapdown Inertial Navigation System/Odometer) integrated navigation is analyzed, and a high precision dead reckoning algorithm considering lever arm effect is proposed. Finally, the correctness and validity of the algorithm is verified by computer simulation.

Spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) plays a critical role in immune cell signaling pathways and has been reported as a biomarker for human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We sought to investigate the mechanism by which SYK promotes liver fibrosis and to evaluate SYK as a therapeutic target for liver fibrosis. We evaluated the cellular localization of SYK and the association between SYK expression and liver fibrogenesis in normal, hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected, hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) liver tissue (n=36, 127, 22 and 30, respectively). A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array was used to detect the changes in transcription factor (TF) expression in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) with SYK knockdown. The effects of SYK antagonism on liver fibrogenesis were studied in LX-2 cells, TWNT-4 cells, primary human HSCs, and three progressive fibrosis/cirrhosis animal models, including a CCL4 mouse model, and diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and bile duct ligation (BDL) rat models. We found that SYK protein in HSCs and hepatocytes correlated positively with liver fibrosis stage in human liver tissue. HBV or HCV infection significantly increased SYK and cytokine expression in hepatocytes. Increasing cytokine production further induced SYK expression and fibrosis-related gene transcription in HSCs. Up-regulated SYK in HSCs promoted HSC activation by increasing the expression of specific TFs related to activation of HSCs. SYK antagonism effectively suppressed liver fibrosis via inhibition of HSC activation, and decreased obstructive jaundice and reduced HCC development in animal models. Conclusion: SYK promotes liver fibrosis via activation of HSCs and is an attractive potential therapeutic target for liver fibrosis and prevention of HCC development. (Hepatology 2018).

In this study, a comparative study of adsorption characteristics of humic acid (HA) onto Ca-montmorillonite and Na-montmorillonite were carried out to guide the preparation of a novel composite binder for iron ore pellets, namely humic acid modified bentonite (HAMB). Using Ca-montmorillonite (Ca Mt) as a representative, the adsorption mechanisms of HA onto montmorillonite were studied by XRD, zeta potential, FTIR and XPS analyses. The results indicated that HA was adsorbed onto Ca Mt mainly via complexation and H-bonds. The DFT calculation and molecular dynamics simulation were also carried out to further determine the adsorption mechanisms of HA onto Ca Mt. Molecular dynamics simulation analyses showed that the complexation reaction between carboxyl, hydroxyl groups of HA and Ca ions in Ca Mt is dominant in HA adsorption. And the pelletizing experiments indicated that the HAMB binder prepared at a pH value of 7 had excellent application effect in iron ore pelletization.

The dual directional silicon-controlled rectifier (DDSCR) device is widely used in on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection owing to its bi-directional ESD protection and strong current-tolerating capability per area. In this paper, an asymmetrical dual directional ESD protection device for automotive application was developed in a 0.18-µm Bipolar CMOS DMOS (BCD) technology. In order to verify and predict the proposed ESD protection device’s characteristics, a transmission line pulse (TLP) testing system and a 2-dimension device simulation platform have been used in this work. According to the measurement results, the asymmetrical dual directional silicon-controlled rectifier with a floating P+ region (ADDSCR_FP+) increases the forward holding voltage (Vh) from 3.89 V to 19.7 V and increases the reverse holding voltage from 3.62 V to 19.5 V which only slightly decrease the failure current compared with the traditional asymmetrical dual directional silicon-controlled rectifier (ADDSCR). The ADDSCR_FP+ has the features of symmetrical forward and reverse I-V curves, high holding voltage and high failure current.

Pseudomonas fluorescens FD6 has been shown to possess many beneficial traits involved in the biocontrol of fungal plant pathogens, such as Botrytis cinerea and Monilinia fructicola. Vfr (virulence factor regulator) a highly conserved global regulator of gram-negative bacteria, such as the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is required for the expression of many important virulence traits. The role of Vfr in the regulation of biocontrol traits, such as the production of antibiotics to control fungal pathogens by antagonistic bacteria, has not been elucidated. This study investigated the effect of a vfr mutant derived from P. fluorescens FD6 to better understand the regulation of some important biocontrol traits associated with the bacterium. Biochemical studies indicated that the production of the antibiotics 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol, pyrrolnitrin and pyoluteorin, was markedly enhanced in the vfr mutant. The vfr mutation also increased biofilm production, swimming motility and the expression of exopolysaccharide-associated gene (pelA, pslA and pslB) transcripts, but reduced protease production. Wheat rhizosphere and root tip colonization by the vfr mutant was higher than that by the wild type at 7 and 21days after inoculation. These findings demonstrate that Vfr modulates the expression of several key traits and the production of important antibiotics involved in the biocontrol potential of P. fluorescens FD6.

Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) calibration accuracy is easily affected by turntable errors, so the primary aim of this study is to reduce the dependence on the turntable&rsquo, s precision during the calibration process. Firstly, the indicated-output of the IMU considering turntable errors is constructed and with the introduction of turntable errors, the functional relationship between turntable errors and the indicated-output was derived. Then, based on a D-suboptimal design, a calibration method for simultaneously identifying the IMU error model parameters and the turntable errors was proposed. Simulation results showed that some turntable errors could thus be effectively calibrated and automatically compensated. Finally, the theoretical validity was verified through experiments. Compared with the traditional method, the method proposed in this paper can significantly reduce the influence of the turntable errors on the IMU calibration accuracy.

The novel rice (Oryza sativa L.) line YSBR1 is an intersubspecies hybrid with high level of partial resistance to sheath blight (SB). For the purpose of assessing the resistant level of YSBR1 using multiple approaches, the disease score of YSBR1 was investigated after artificial inoculation in the field and greenhouse in 2006 and 2007. The inhibition rate SB-toxin to the embryo root was also used as a criterion of SB resistance. Compared with other rice genotypes, YSBR1 had significantly higher resistance to SB and the resistance was stable and reliable. The average SB disease score of YSBR1 was 2.39±0.23 and felt in “resistant” grade in the “0–9” rating system when the susceptible control Lemont showed a mean disease score of 7.55±0.26. Correlation analysis showed that the SB-toxin inhibition rate was significantly correlated with disease score from the field test. The SB-toxin inhibition rate of YSBR1 was 57.55%, which was similar to that of Jasmine 85 but significantly lower than that of other tested varieties and Lemont (97.39%). In addition to the high resistance to SB, YSBR1 is also in good performance of plant type and height, growth duration, and grain yield, indicating its prosperous application in variety improvement of SB resistance in rice breeding programs.

We propose a novel tracking algorithm by minimizing the sum-of-squared differences (SSD) between the normalized image gradients of the template image and the input image from the test image sequence. The proposed tracking algorithm is efficient to implement since it is based on the framework of the inverse compositional algorithm, a computationally efficient tracking technique. The experiments show that the proposed tracking algorithm is superior to the intensity-based inverse compositional algorithm in tracking objects under varying illumination conditions.

Objectives This study compared splenectomy, partial splenic embolization, and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy, which represent the traditional, mature, and newest methods for improving thrombocytopenia in hypersplenism, respectively. Methods A total of 69 patients with hypersplenism were treated with surgical splenectomy (n = 31), HIFU (n = 26), or partial splenic embolization (n = 12). They were followed closely for at least 6 months, and the effectiveness of the treatments was compared. Results Among the 3 groups, splenectomy was the most effective treatment for increasing peripheral blood cells. Embolization reduced the operating time and hospital stay, but HIFU was relatively safer and less invasive than the other treatments. Conclusions High-intensity focused ultrasound has wide clinical indications for hypersplenism and may be safer than other treatment methods. Therefore, it is a good alternative procedure for patients with a high surgical risk.

The aging population is placing increasing pressure on healthcare services around the world. Telemedicine, which provides medical information or healthcare services at a distance using telecommunication technologies, is of growing interest to governments and healthcare providers. Existing telemedicine systems are primarily for medical information sharing and consultation with no teleoperation capabilities for activity monitoring. Moreover, the equipment of most systems available to support older patients to stay in their living environment must be tied to a fixed location, which severely limits their feasibility and applicability. In this paper, a new telemedicine structure is introduced for regular and ad hoc health monitoring services. In particular, it aims at scenarios where frequent interactive contacts between patients and professionals are required. This system incorporates several different networking technologies that work harmoniously to facilitate data communication, which potentially have a profound impact on the method of delivering medical service remotely. Another unique characteristic of the developed system is its capabilities of adaptation to network conditions, such as network congestion and availability of bandwidth. The concept of the proposed structure is validated using a laboratory-based test platform with some pilot experiments. Preliminary results demonstrate its feasibility for remote health monitoring services of the elderly. The potential benefits of the system are also presented.

The study was aimed at understanding the roles of polygalacturonases in the pathogenicity and the interaction between Rhizoctonia solani and rice.According to the sequences of Rspg1 of R. solani deposited in GenBank, a pair of specific primers was designed. The gene Rspg1 was cloned and expressed using prokaryotic expression tool to elucidate its biological characteristics. The structures of the protein RsPG1 were predicted using bioinformatics tools.A 1395-bp fragment including an open reading frame (OFR) of Rspg1 was amplified from the genomic DNA of the pathogen. Compared with RT-PCR results, it was found that this sequence fragment contains five introns (positions 278-334, 545-601, 657-715, 1090-1155 and 1244-1304) and one 1095 bp ORF. The ORF was predicted to encode 364 amino acids. Bioinformatics analysis showed that RsPG1 contains an 18-amino acid signal peptide and 4 conserved sequence segments (180NTD, 202DD, 223GHG and 255RIK) characteristic of all the polygalacturonases. The main structural elements of the secondary structure are alpha-helix, beta-sheet and random coil. Six cysteines form three disulfide bonds (Cys24-Cys40, Cys204-Cys220 and Cys329-Cys333). Transmembrane prediction analysis suggested that RsPG1 could be secreted outside the cell. Tertiary structure is a right-handed helix which consisted of ten repeated beta-sheet, forming an opening activity cleft.RsPG1 is tentatively a 40 kDa protein with polygalacturonase enzyme activity at 277.78 U/mg. It is probably a secreted protein and has characteristics of all the polygalacturonases. The results can help to further understand the roles that R. solani polygalacturonases play during the pathogenicity and how the pathogen interacts with the host.

As a significant step in artificial intelligence, robot aided object segmentation has drawn increasing attention in past decades. In this paper, a new object segmentation method is proposed based on 3-D information and robot manipulation. We use the Kinect to get the depth information of the object directly as well as the detected contours of it, with which both the primary object segmentation and the 3-D localization of the object can be formed. The usage of Kinect will not only simplify the segmentation process but also improve the performance. Next, the robot arm WAM (Whole Arm Manipulator) with a larger payload is chosen as the manipulator to make further judgment, making it possible to deal with a heavier object. After the manipulation, object segmentation can be accomplished according to the different occasions. Experiments are conducted to prove the effectiveness of this approach.

In robot perception system, distinguishing objects from complex environment is a difficult problem if without prior information. In this article, we study three cases that a robot may encounter in real-world application, no movable object, one object, or multiple objects, and then provide an object segmentation strategy through manipulation for each condition. The result shows that this method can provide sufficient prior information for accurate objects segmentation from robot's observation. Through this unsupervised algorithm, a robot can learn objects around reliably.

In order to obtain the antagonistic protein of Bacillus subtilis G87 and definitude its characterization.Methods of ammonium sulfate precipitating and column chromatography analyzing were used to isolate and purify the protein.A purified protein (peak 6-2-1) was obtained which molecular weight was 50.8 kD by SDS-PAGE and isoelectric point was 5.90 by IEF-PAGE. The antifungal protein contained 0.62% saccharide and some proline or hydroxyproline, but no lipid and aromatic amino acid. The inhibitory activity of the antifungal protein would decreased distinctly at the higher temperature (or = 60 degrees C) and in the condition of alkalinity (pH8), but tolerant to ultraviolet radiation, chloroform, trypsin, proteinase K and pepsin.Antifungal protein of Bacillus subtilis G87 was a kind of glycoprotein without aromatic hydrocarbon. It was sensitive to higher temperature and tight alkalinity but not to proteinase analog and ultraviolet radiation et al.

In order to reduce the hybrid decision system, a reduction algorithm is proposed based on the neighborhood rough set model and niche clone selection algorithm. In the model the indiscernibility relation is measured by neighborhood relation, and the universe spaces is approximated by neighborhood information granules, so the numerical attributes can be treated directly. The fitness function is designed, and the reduction algorithm is presented as well. The introduction of niche technology can avoid the early convergence of the antibody, and can avoid the sensitization and the local astringency of the parameter to the specific optimal objects. The validity and feasibility of the algorithm are demonstrated by the results of experiments on a classical data set and four UCI machine learning databases.

There are two semantic explanations including the lost and the unrelated for the missing values. To deal with the hybrid information systems which including the numerical attributes and the missing value attributes, a generalized incomplete rough set model is proposed based on neighborhood relations. The model approximates an arbitrary subset in the universe with neighborhood granules, and the generalized neighborhood relations are the generalization of the asymmetry similarity relations and the tolerance relations. It overcomes the shortcoming that the classical rough set can not deal with numerical attributes directly and can deal with the generalized incomplete system which has the missing values both include the lost and the unrelated. The discrimination methods of the missing value and a hybrid reduction algorithm are proposed also. The discrimination methods of the lost or the unrelated conditions are proposed based on the assumption of the consistency classification, and the influence of the noise samples and the neighborhood values to the classification accuracy is presented as well. The validity and feasibility of the reduction algorithm are demonstrated by the results of experiments on five UCI machine learning databases.

the memory management of the embedded operating system has its unique traits. And so SOS operating system should have its own suitable methods for the memory management because of its small memory and resource constraint. This paper analyses the memory management of SOS operating system, and proposes a new data structure with the combination of memory management methods about μ C / OSII, then deeply probes into the memory allocation and recovery mechanisms, which provides an effective solution for memory management of SOS operating system.

Firstly, the paper introduces the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) simply. It analyses the influence of lunar surface environment on the nodes of WSN and gives corresponding solutions. According to the characteristics of WSN and design requirements of the sensor node, we design a kind of sensor nodes which based on CC2431. Then the processor module, wireless communications module, location engine, power management module and temperature control module are described in detail. Finally, we conduct the localization experiment of blind nodes and robot navigation experiment.

GPS (Global Positioning System) have high position and velocity precision, star sensor is a high accuracy attitude measurement system, SINS (Strapdown Inertial Navigation System) can get all navigation information precisely at short period. In order to realize high-precision navigation, according to analyze the error model of above systems, both of the state equations and measurement equations were studied. Decentralized fusion method was used in navigation information processing in which Kalman Filter was used as Local-Estimator, and a new kind of Federated Filter based on partial information fusion was proposed. One of the filter configuration was been selected in the integrated navigation system. The results of the simulation validate that the navigation accuracy can be improved to a higher level in this method.

This paper presents an inductosyn angle measurement system based on AD2S80 resolver-to-digital converter. The reason why the reference signal is not orthogonal with the excitation signal is analyzed, and a mathematical model is established for the error. The correctness of the error model is proved by measuring data. The error that the reference signal not be orthogonal with the stimulating magnetism signal causes the quadratic sine harmonic error which has a significant effect on the precision of the angle measurement system.

Wireless sensor network(WSN) is a new method of information acquisition and processing, and has great influence on more and more areas.Firstly, this paper presents a test-bed for WSN node and its appropriate characteristics for WSN node. And then, it specifies the analysis of the necessity of porting software to the exiting hardware platform and solutions to many problems during porting process.Finally, the experimental result is described in details, which well proves the feasibility of porting SOS to the chip CC2431.

An assistant robot with standing-up devices(ARSD) was developed according to the demands of paraplegic patients and elderly people. The robot can assist disabled persons during the sit-to-stand transfer and can also carrying them to move. In order to make the design and development of the robot more efficient and reliable, virtual prototype technology was employed. The model of the robot is built by Solid Works and is imported to ADAMS through Para Solid pipe. An algorithm based on neural network speed control was presented to implement path following for the robot. Furthermore, a co-simulation was performed using ADAMS and MATLAB to validate the control strategy.

Networking various tiny biosensors via wireless communication will help improve the performance of medical care system. One of the key components of the biosensor networks is communication platform. This paper investigates the radio characteristics of a body sensor platform named Medi for the wearable body sensor networks. The radiofrequency signal efficiency of proposed Medi platform is evaluated through experiments. In order to investigate possible adverse health effects of wireless radiation on the human body, we further look into the electric field distribution of Medi sensor node.

In this paper, a wireless sensor network based assistive system (WASN) is developed to help the deaf or the hearing-impaired people, particularly, help them to be aware of their environments. A brief review on the current assistive devices is also addressed first. The system architecture, components and specifications are presented for two typical application scenarios: smart home and smart school playground. A node platform is developed to implement the system. Finally, the system performance is evaluated by simulations, followed by the analysis of the feasibility and availability.

More and more wireless mobile sensor networks are employed by robotics to perform harsh tasks such as disaster rescue, emission sources localization or hazardous contaminants localization. There are a lot of network optimization problems to be solved in the protocol design of wireless mobile sensor networks (WMSN), such as rate control, flow control, congestion control, medium access control, queue management, power control and topology control etc. These issues involve several layers of the network protocol stack so that it's quite difficult to consider every single optimization problem of them in a holistic view. The majority of contemporary research works mainly deal with one or some of them in terms of certain applications or objectives. However, most of the proposed protocols are based on simulations or experiments which lack of sufficient mathematical or theoretical analysis to fully understand the convergence or stability. In order to study the theoretical basis of network algorithms, this paper briefly outlines the current methodologies exploited to design and optimize the performance of sensor networks. In addition, the paper investigates the theoretical aspects to make sense of the network optimization algorithms and give a survey mainly in terms of convex optimization, game theory and artificial intelligence.

The monitoring and acquisition of patients' physiological information are quite crucial for the further treatment. Wireless network of biomedical sensors shows great potential to significantly enhance the biometrics performance. Meanwhile, it poses prominent characteristics and challenges to medicos and engineers for its particular medical application compare to other application of wireless sensor networks (WSN). This paper first investigates the exciting conceivable application of WSN in medical area. Then the unique challenges and requirements are analyzed in detail. Along with the further study of the logical architecture and network protocols, preliminary solutions are proposed for the WBSN in a hospital environment.

Method of identifying the dynamic model of accelerometer on precision centrifuge is studied in this paper. Through the method of improved Levy's identification, using only the accelerometer magnitude frequency response data, the accelerometer's dynamic mathematical model can be identified expressed in transfer function. The practicability and effectiveness of the method is illustrated by means of experiment.