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The opening of segment joints is vital to structural stability and leakage prevention for the underwater shield tunnels and it is governed by many environmental variables, e.g., water pressure, earth pressure, and temperature. Identifying the key variables and selecting a reliable predictive model for the joint opening are challenging but important tasks but they are usually done according to subjective judgments. To develop a reliable predictive model, the Nanjing Yangtze River tunnel was introduced as a case study for field monitoring and theoretical analysis. First, the structural health monitoring system in this shield tunnel was used to construct a database of measurements including joint opening, water pressure, earth pressure, and temperatures in the escape layer and inside the segment. Then, Bayesian model class selection was conducted for the variable selection and model construction. Consequently, the water pressure and temperature inside the segment were identified as the input variables for joint opening evaluation. This two-parameter model was validated by using the measurement data. It is useful for the evaluation of similar projects in tunneling engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overexpression of p68 has been reported in various types of cancer. However, little study has been conducted on the expression and role of p68 in cervical cancer. Therefore, the present study focuses on the role of p68 in cervical cancer cells, which may elucidate its potential mechanism of cervical cancer progression and shed light on the precision medical treatment of cervical cancer. Firstly, the expression of p68 was analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. The changes to cell morphology were observed using an inverted microscope (XDS-500D; Shanghai Caikon Optical Instrument Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China). Cell migration was determined using an in vitro scratch assay. The present study demonstrated that the mRNA and protein levels of p68 were significantly enhanced in cervical cancer CaSki, HeLa [human papillomavirus (HPV)-18-positive], SiHa (HPV-16-positive) and C-33A (HPV-negative) cell lines compared with the human keratinocyte HaCaT cell line. Overexpression of p68 induced an elongated and spindle-shaped morphology in CaSki cells. Upregulation of p68 increased the expression of α-smooth muscle actin, vimentin and fibronectin however, epithelial marker E-cadherin was significantly decreased. Furthermore, the in vitro scratch assay demonstrated that overexpression of p68 markedly enhanced CaSki cell migration capacity at 24 and 48 h. Knockdown of p68 partially reversed transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced changes in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and cell morphological changes. In summary, the present study demonstrated that p68 transcriptionally activated the expression of TGF-β1, thereby prompting EMT in cervical cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces stochastic volatility and jump factors into the short-rate models, and uses a method combining sequential parameter updating and particle filter to implement the estimation of both states and parameters. Then, we use this extended models to analyze the Chinese inter-bank short-term interest rate. The empirical results show that the short-rate has obvious features of stochastic volatility and jump, and the CIR-SV-J model is the best one for describing the short-rate dynamics. If any factor of stochastic volatility or jump is ignored, the model-fitting performance would be worse, and the mean-reversion feature could not be accurately identified. Finally, our results indicate that the stochastic volatility factor is relatively more important in modeling short-rate dynamics than the jump factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a decrease of volatility in China's business cycles, stability in price is increased. This indicates a trade -- off and influence relationship between output and inflation in both the levels and the volatilities. In this paper, we are using the Vector Error Correct Model with Markov Regime Switching to test the equilibrium relationships in the long run and the short fluctuation patterns in the short run in the real output and inflation. Our aims are to test the relationships between growth and inflation in different regimes. We also want to test whether the relationship depends on the stages of business cycle. We find the following empirical evidences and economic policy implications: Firstly, by measuring and testing the regimes of growth, we find the evidence of the existence of boundary of growth. The growth process can be divided into two regimes titled by "suitable growth" and " fast growth" with the mean growth of 9.71% and 17.77% respectively. China's growth is frequently approaching the regime of "suitable growth". At the same time, the regime of "suitable growth" has both a stronger stability and a longer duration. This is the result of growth approaching natural rate. Secondly, by estimating the transition probabilities and the durations of regimes, we find the evidence supporting the existence of business cycle asymmetry in China's business cycles. In the point of duration, "suitable growth" is two times as long as the duration of "fast growth". In the point of transition possibility, the probability transited from "suitable growth" to "fast growth" is 7. 86%, and the inversed transition probability is 17.04%. This means that the economic growth is more likely to go slowly than fast. In the point of volatility, the standard deviations of "suitable growth" and "fast growth" are 1.95% and 3.67%. This means that the regime of "suitable growth" is a stable state compared with the regime of "fast growth". Thirdly, by measuring and testing the relationship between growth and inflation both in level and volatility, we find the evidences which show the threshold effect and spillover effect from inflation to growth. If inflation exceeds 10% , it will hurt the growth. If the inflation uncertainty is enlarged, output volatility will be increased in the following periods. As the Phillips Curve depends on the regimes of business cycles, we should choose the monetary target and tools according to the stages of growth. China's growth is at the regime of "suitable growth". In macroeconomic control, we should take a healty monetary policy to prevent the appearance of higher inflation and to avoid the return of deflation at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an in-plane sandwich nano-g microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer. The proof-mass fabrication is based on silicon etching through technology using inductive coupled plasma (ICP) etching. The capacitive detection system, which employs the area-changing sensing method, combines elementary capacitive pickup electrodes with periodic-sensing-array transducers. In order to achieve a large dynamic range with an ultrahigh resolution, the capacitive detection system employs two periodic-sensing-array transducers. Each of them can provide numbers for the signal period in the entire operating range. The suspended proof-mass is encapsulated between two glass caps, which results in a three dimensional structure. The measured resonant frequency and quality factor ( Q ) are 13.2 Hz and 47, respectively. The calibration response of a ±0.7 g input acceleration is presented, and the accelerometer system presents a sensitivity of 122 V/g and a noise floor of 30 ng/√Hz (at 1 Hz, and 1 atm). The bias stability for a period of 10 h is 30 μg. The device has endured a shock up to ±2.6 g, and the full scale output appears to be approximately ±1.4 g presently. This work presents a new opportunity for highly sensitive MEMS fabrication to enable future high-precision measurement applications, such as for gravity measurements.