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Abstract During coal mining operations, the coal will be deformed and damaged due to multiple mining disturbances (MMD), often resulting in disasters, like rock burst. To understand the evolution rules of coal deformation under MMD and its final fracture characteristics after impact dynamic load loading, reduce the adverse effects of mining disturbances, and improve disaster prevention and control capabilities, quasi-static uniaxial cyclic loading-unloading (L-U) and dynamic axial compression tests were conducted on large-sized coal-like samples. During the tests, three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning and acoustic emission (AE) monitoring technology were utilized to accurately capture the full-field deformation and AE response data, facilitating a systematic analysis of deformation and fracture characteristics. The results show that: (1) Under the cyclic L-U effect induced by MMD, each loading cycle causes compression deformation with partial recovery during unloading, presenting an overall “wavy” variation trend. (2) The maximum load is the most critical factor affecting the damaged coal deformation, with smaller load resulting in less overall sample deformation. (3) After the impact dynamic loading, the damaged samples suffered large-scale impact splitting failure, with the compressive-shear layer failure mainly occurred inside the holes. (4) Lower loading during cyclic L-U process correlate with reduced damage degree, and smaller debris particles with a higher fractal dimension when impact failure occurs, indicating a more severe impact failure. (5) With multiple cycles of L-U, the cracks inside the sample gradually extend and expand from around the hole to the outside. The greater the load and the number of cycles, the more serious the crack damage will be. (6) In the practical mining process, it is crucial to reinforce roadway interiors while minimizing low-loading cyclic disturbances induced by MMD. The study has obtained the deformation evolution rules and failure characteristics of coal under MMD, providing a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of corresponding engineering disasters.

In view of the current situation that mine impact risk evaluation mainly focuses on the design stage or prior to the implementation of anti-impact measures, and lacks the safety evaluation of mining face after the implementation of anti-impact measures, the types of rock burst are divided into five types: coal type, coal pillar type, roof type, fault type and comprehensive type, taking into account the occurrence location, failure form, load type and focal location; based on the idea of classification prevention and control, a classification weighted evaluation method is proposed, considering the impact of impact risk, roadway surrounding rock, monitoring and early warning system, anti-impact support system, anti-impact rock pressure prevention measures and anti-impact management ability on anti-impact safety; the calculation formula of safety factor of anti-impact is given. The safety level of anti-impact is divided into three levels: safety, basic safety and unsafe. Taking the 31119 working face of a mine as an example, the complete process and result of anti-impact safety evaluation are given. The safety evaluation of some typical mining face with impact risk is carried out by using the classification weighting evaluation method, and the reliability of the evaluation results is verified by combining with the actual impact occurrence.

Abstract To address the technical limitations of automatic coal and gangue detection technology in fully mechanized top coal caving mining operations, the low radiation level radioactivity measurement method is utilized to assess the degree of coal-gangue mixture in top coal caving process. This approach is based on the distinguishing radiation characteristics of natural γ-rays between coal and gangue. This study analyzed the distribution characteristics of natural γ-rays in coal and rock layers of thick coal seams and the applicability of this method, introduced the basic principle of coal-gangue detection technology based on natural γ-ray, developed the test system about automatic coal-gangue detection, studied the radiation characteristics of coal and gangue, proposed determination model of the coal-gangue mixed degree, combined with the time sequence characteristics of the top coal’s releasing flow and the energy spectrum characteristics of different layers of rock, realized the precise coal-gangue detection technology in complex structure thick coal seam with multiple gangue. Field tests were conducted in Lilou, Xiaoyu and Tashan Coal Mine. The test results were well corroborated with the research results and achieved the expected results, which laid the foundation for the field application of intelligent coal mining.

Cry2Ab is a significant alternative Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein utilized for managing insect resistance to Cry1 toxins and broadening the insecticidal spectrum of crops containing two or more Bt genes. Unfortunately, the identified receptors fail to fully elucidate the mechanism of action underlying Cry2Ab. Previous studies have demonstrated the involvement of vacuolar H+-ATPase subunits A, B, and E (V-ATPase A, B, and E) in Bt insecticidal activities. The present study aims to investigate the contribution of V-ATPase C to the toxicities of Cry2Ab against Helicoverpa armigera. The feeding of Cry2Ab in H. armigera larvae resulted in a significant decrease in the expression of V-ATPase C. Further investigations confirmed the interaction between V-ATPase C and activated Cry2Ab protein according to Ligand blot and homologous and heterologous competition assays. Expressing endogenous HaV-ATPase C in Sf9 cells resulted in an increase in Cry2Ab cytotoxicity, while the knockdown of V-ATPase C by double-stranded RNAs (dsRNA) in midgut cells decreased Cry2Ab cytotoxicity. Importantly, a higher toxicity of the mixture containing Cry2Ab and V-ATPase C against insects was also observed. These findings demonstrate that V-ATPase C acts as a binding receptor for Cry2Ab and is involved in its toxicity to H. armigera. Furthermore, the synergy between V-ATPase C protein and Cry2Ab protoxins provides a potential strategy for enhancing Cry2Ab toxicity or managing insect resistance.

Abstract Background GATA transcription factors are type IV zinc-finger proteins that play key roles in plant growth and responses to environmental stimuli. Although these proteins have been studied in model plants, the related studies of GATA gene family under abiotic stresses are rarely reported in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.). Results In the current study, a total of 23 VviGATA genes were identified in grapevine and classified into four groups (I, II, III, and IV), based on phylogenetic analysis. The proteins in the same group exhibited similar exon–intron structures and conserved motifs and were found to be unevenly distributed among the thirteen grapevine chromosomes. Accordingly, it is likely that segmental and tandem duplication events contributed to the expansion of the VviGATA gene family. Analysis of cis-acting regulatory elements in their promoters suggested that VviGATA genes respond to light and are influenced by multiple hormones and stresses. Organ/tissue expression profiles showed tissue specificity for most of the VviGATA genes, and five were preferentially upregulated in different fruit developmental stages, while others were strongly induced by drought, salt and cold stress treatments. Heterologously expressed VamGATA5a, VamGATA8b, VamGATA24a, VamGATA24c and VamGATA24d from cold-resistant V. amurensis ‘Shuangyou’ showed nuclear localization and transcriptional activity was shown for VamGATA5a, VamGATA8b and VamGATA24d. Conclusions The results of this study provide useful information for GATA gene function analysis and aid in the understanding of stress responses in grapevine for future molecular breeding initiatives.

Although the safety in the production of the mines in China has improved, coal bursts pose a serious threat to coal mines, especially deep mining. There have been eight coal bursts accidents with forty-eight deaths in the past five years. These accidents stem from the stopgap measures in terms of prevention and control and the unawareness of the occurrence mechanism of coal bursts. Furthermore, the sufficiently-mined mines in the east of China, such as the Juye and Yanzhou coal mines in Shandong province, are characterized by deep mining and strong disturbance. Whereas the insufficiently-mined mines in the west, such as the Ordos coal mine in Inner Mongolia province and Binchang coal mine in Shaanxi province, are characterized by high-intensity mining and hard rock strata. These complex mining environments create new challenges for preventing and controlling coal bursts. Therefore, the mechanism, prevention, and control of coal bursts have become a major engineering and scientific problem to be addressed urgently. The source-preventing method is the key issue in handling it. This paper reviewed the documents regarding the basic theory and numerical technology of coal bursts, monitoring and identification technology of dangerous zones, regional and local prevention and control technology, and equipment. Then, a new perspective of source prevention and control was proposed. Given this perspective, two scientific questions were detailed, including the source properties and prevention and control principles of coal burst during the process. Furthermore, four technical questions were also discussed, containing the fine simulation technology for the whole process of coal burst, the monitoring technology of coal rock stress and full-scale overburden structure in the entire life cycle of the mine, the accurate and intelligent identification technology of the danger zone with the proneness of coal burst, the collaborative prevention, and control technology of coal burst in the coal mine. Finally, the corresponding prevention and control methods and technical frameworks were formulated according to the characteristics of production and new mines. The findings will create a new way to prevent and control coal bursts. It also provides theoretical bases and technical support for the “zero bursts” goal for coal mines.

As a significant source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the municipal solid waste sector’s greenhouse gas emission mode remains unknown, hampering effective decision-making on possible greenhouse gas emission reductions. Rapid urbanization and economic growth have resulted in massive volumes of municipal solid trash. As a result, identifying emission reduction routes for municipal solid waste treatment is critical. In this research, we investigate the potential of municipal solid waste treatment methods in lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Shenzhen, a typical Chinese major city. The results showed that the combined treatment of 58% incineration, 2% landfill, and 40% anaerobic digestion (AD) had the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of about 5.91 million tons under all scenarios. The implementation of waste sorting and anaerobic digestion treatment of organic municipal solid waste after separate collection can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by simply increasing the incineration ratio.

Camellia oleifera oil (CO oil) extracted from C. oleifera seeds has a 2300-year consumption history in China. However, there is relatively little research regarding its non-edible uses. This study determined the physicochemical properties of CO oil extracted via direct pressing, identified its main components using GC-MS, and evaluated its antioxidant, moisturizing, and anti-inflammatory activities. The results revealed that CO oil’s acid, peroxide, iodine, and saponification values were 1.06 ± 0.031 mg/g, 0.24 ± 0.01 g/100 g, 65.14 ± 8.22 g/100 g, and 180.41 ± 5.60 mg/g, respectively. CO oil’s tocopherol, polyphenol, and squalene contents were 82.21 ± 9.07 mg/kg, 181.37 ± 3.76 mg/kg, and 53.39 ± 6.58 mg/kg, respectively; its unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) content was 87.44%, and its saturated fatty acid (SFA) content was 12.56%. CO oil also demonstrated excellent moisture retention properties, anti-inflammatory effects, and certain free radical scavenging. A highly stable CO oil emulsion with competent microbiological detection was developed using formulation optimization. Using CO oil in the emulsion significantly improved the formulation’s antioxidant and moisturizing properties compared with those of the emulsion formulation that did not include CO oil. The prepared emulsion was not cytotoxic to cells and could reduce cells’ NO content; therefore, it may have potential nutritional value in medicine and cosmetics.

Abstract Using image recognition technology to realize coal gangue recognition is one of the development directions of intelligent fully mechanized caving mining. Aiming at the problem of low accuracy of coal gangue recognition in fully mechanized caving mining, the extraction method of Coal and gangue images features is proposed, and the corresponding coal gangue recognition model is constructed. The illuminance value is an important factor affecting the imaging quality. Therefore, a multi-light source image acquisition system is designed, and the optimal illuminance value suitable for coal and gangue images acquisition is determined to be 17,130 Lux. There is a large amount of image noise in the gray-sc5ale image, so Gaussian filtering is used to eliminate the noise in the gray-scale image of coal and gangue. Then, six gray-scale features and four texture features are extracted from 900 coal and gangue images respectively. It is concluded that the three kinds of features of gray skewness, gray variance and texture contrast have the highest discrimination on coal and gangue images. Least squares vector machine has a strong ability to classify, so the use of least squares vector machine to achieve coal gangue identification, and build coal gangue identification model. The results show that the recognition accuracy of the model for coal gangue images is 92.2% and 91.5%, respectively, with gray skewness and texture contrast as indicators. This study provides a reliable theoretical support for solving the problem of low recognition rate of coal gangue in fully mechanized caving mining.

ObjectiveThe ice resistance of an ice breaker on the Yellow River is predicted in the context of ice disasters caused by the freezing of the river in winter. MethodsFirst, a ship-ice-water coupled numerical model is introduced on the basis of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method (SPH), which includes the numerical process of the constitutive equation, yield criterion and coupling model of ice. The prediction results for the ice resistance of the icebreaker under different conditions are then given. ResultsThe results show that the prediction error of ice resistance in level ice cases is less than 17.6% compared with empirical formulas; the ice resistance of the ice breaker increases with the increase in bending strength and ice thickness, and the thickness of the ice layer is the most important factor for the ice load.ConclusionThe ship-ice-water coupled SPH method proposed in this paper can predict the ice resistance of an ice breaker in the Yellow River channel, providing references for the actual operation of ice breakers on the Yellow River.

Abstract Background The characterization of colonization and dynamic changes related to gut microorganisms might be vital, as it presents an opportunity to quantify the co-variation between stocking densities and gut microbiome of dynamic distribution. The objective of this study was to determine the stocking density on physiological performance and dynamic distribution of gut microbiome (including bacterial and fungal communities) of Langya laying hens in the two development stages. Methods A randomized design with 2 × 3 factorial controls consisting of two development stages (24, 43 weeks-old) with three different stocking densities was performed. Three different stocking densities were allocated to a total of 300 11-week-old Langya laying hens (450 cm2/bird, 675 cm2/bird, 900 cm2/bird). Three housing densities were accomplished by raising different chickens per cage with the same floor size. The dependent variables of stocking densities at each sampling point were; growth performance, organs index, egg quality and the changes of dynamic gut bacterial and fungal communities in the cecum. Results Results showed that the stocking density didn’t affect liver index, eggshell thickness, breaking shell strength and egg shape index. Hens from the highest stocking density had the lowest body weight, fallopian tube index, egg weight and yolk colour score. Except for the yolk colour score, the measurement changes caused by age followed the opposite pattern as stocking density. We observed a substantial rise in taxa linked with health threats when stocking density was increased, including Talaromyces, Oscillospiraceae_UCG-002, Oscillospira, and Dielma. The opposite was observed with Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Lachnoclostridium, Eisenbergiella, and Kurtzmaniella. Also, most taxa were linked to polymicrobial infection in clinical cases, especially species whose percentage declined as the hens aged, such as Terrisporobacter, Faecalicoccus, Dialister, Cylindrocarpon etc. Whereas Sellimonas, Mitsuokella, Eurotium, Wardomyces and Cephalotheca had the opposite trend. Conclusion We speculated that excessive high density drove the abundance of bacteria and fungi connected with health problems. Where the gut microecology gradually reach a mature and balance status with age. Overall, this study demonstrates gut microbiome ecological processes in Langya layers at various stocking densities and finds possible connections between stocking density, microbiome and production performance. Our study will contribute to new insights associating suitable density patterns and production performance in laying hens by harnessing such a relative microbiome.

In this study, we aimed to investigate the influence of maternal folate deficiency on the production performance and serum parameters of broiler offspring. The 120 healthy female broilers (30-week-old) were randomly allotted into two groups. The groups were either fed a basal diet supplemented with 2.0 mg/kg folate (NF) or basal diet (FD). The experiment lasted 12 weeks, and 120 fertilized eggs were collected from each group for hatching. In total, 80 chicks were selected from each group and fed under the same conditions. No significant difference was observed in the average daily feed intake, average daily gain, and feed to gain ratio of 21- and 42-day-old broilers between NF and FD groups (P>0.05). Moreover, slaughter performance of 21- and 42-day-old broiler offspring were not affected by the maternal FD. The subcutaneous fat thickness at the age of 21 days increased significantly by maternal FD (P0.05). Similarly, no significant differences were detected in the intermuscular fat width, lipid percentage in the liver, breast muscle, and thigh muscle between the NF and FD groups at 21- and 42-days of age (P>0.05). Serum concentrations of MTHFR, DHFR, LEP, IGF2, LPL and HCY in the 21-day-old broilers were not affected by maternal FD (P>0.05), but those of HSL at 21 days of age was enhanced by maternal FD (P

In order to address the signalling overhead and resource allocation problems of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), we propose a hybrid non-orthogonal random access and data transmission (NORA-DT) scheme. A novel design of NORA-DT protocol for M2M communications in cellular networks is firstly proposed. A power back-off scheme is introduced to adjust machine-type communications device (MTCD)'s target arrived power, and a closed-form analytic formula for the relation of MTCD's transmission power is derived. Based on the transmission power relation, the devices are clustered into a set of NOMA clusters. In the hybrid NORA-DT protocol, the cluster center MTCD transmits a extended preamble on behalf of the MTCDs in the same NOMA cluster on the physical random access channel (PRACH) for connection request. Base station (BS) can perfectly detect the preamble collisions in advance and schedules physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) only to the NOMA clusters without collision. Then the MTCDs in the same NOMA clusters transmit data packets right after preamble transmission on the PUSCH to reduce the signalling overhead. By finding the optimal power allocation, we propose a low-complexity energy efficiency maximization problem for NORA-DT scheme. Due to the relation of MTCD's transmission power, we transform the problem into the function of cluster center MTCD's transmission power and solve it by difference of convex (DC) programming under the maximum transmission power constraints and minimum rate requirements at the MTCDs. A computationally efficient adaptive resource allocation scheme is finally proposed to improve the system throughput and resource usage. The optimal resource allocation between PRACH and PUSCH for any number of MTCDs can be learned by BS in advance, which avoids frequent computation. The analytic model is validated by simulation results. We demonstrate that the proposed NORA-DT scheme can significantly improve the system throughput, resource efficiency and energy efficiency performance.

Air leakage from surface mining-induced fissures can easily cause spontaneous combustion of residual coal in the goaf, which threatens the safe production of the underground working face. In order to study the air leakage law of the goaf under the surface air leakage and the prevention and control technology of spontaneous combustion of residual coal. Based on engineering data from the 6104 working face of the Chuancao Gedan coal mine, this study uses a combination of theoretical analyses, numerical simulations, and field observations to study the dynamic distribution characteristics of the air leakage velocity of surface mining-induced fissures in shallow coal seams, the distribution characteristics of relative pressure, the air leakage velocity, the air leakage flow field, the distribution ranges for the "three zones" of spontaneous combustion in the goaf, and a reasonable range for the pressurized ventilation of the working face. The results show that there is a quadratic relationship between the air leakage speed from the surface mining-induced fissures in shallow coal seams and the distance from the working face. The air leakage speed decreases as the distance from the working face increases, and the air leakage speed in the middle of the working face is slower than the air leakage on either side of the goaf. The pressure difference between the goaf and the surface mining-induced fissures is the root cause of air leakage into the goaf, and a change in the pressure difference has a significant impact on the air leakage flow field and the distributions of the "three zones" of spontaneous combustion in the goaf. When the pressure difference between the ground surface and the working face is maintained within the range of 200~-200 Pa, air leakage is effectively reduced, and the spontaneous combustion of residual coal is inhibited. The research results reveal the air leakage mechanism in the goaf of shallow coal seams and provide a reference for the prevention and control of spontaneous combustion of residual coal in the goaf.

The problems of water scarcity and ecological fragility are common in the loess gully area. To research the distribution and evolution of the overburden fissures and quantitatively analyze them have certain theoretical and engineering significance for realizing the evaluation of overburden damage degree and safe and green mining. This paper takes the 6102 working face of Chuancao Gedan Coal Mine as the engineering background. The development law and distribution characteristics of overburden fissures caused by the mining of shallow coal seams in the loess gully area were studied by the combination of physical similarity simulation, numerical similarity simulation and fractal theory. The results show that the fractal dimension change of the overburden fissures caused by the shallow mining of coal seam groups in the loess gully area can be divided into three stages during the mining process of the working face. Repeated mining causes the activation and development of overburden fissures, the fractal dimension increases significantly, and the regularity of changes weakens. The magnitude of the stress near the working face and the fluctuation times of the stress in the goaf have an influence on the change of the fractal dimension of the overburden fissures. According to the development angle and the fractal dimension of the overburden fissures, the overburden rock above the goaf is divided into the collapse fissure area, the compaction fissure area, and the vertical fissure area. Overburden fissures develop violently in the vertical fissure area, the overburden fissures in the compaction fissure area are mostly transverse fissures, and the overburden fissures in the caving fissure area are irregular.

Folic acid is a water-soluble B vitamin, and plays an important role in regulating gene expression and methylation. The liver is the major site of lipid biosynthesis in the chicken. Nevertheless, how gene expression and regulatory networks are affected by folic acid in liver of broilers are poorly understood. This paper conducted the RNA-seq technology on the liver of broilers under folic acid challenge investigation. First, 405 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 157 significantly upregulated and 248 downregulated, were detected between the control group (C) and the 5 mg folic acid group (M). Second, 68 upregulated DEGs and 142 downregulated DEGs were determined between C group and 10 mg folic acid group (H). Third, there were 165 upregulated genes and 179 downregulated genes between M and H groups. Of these DEGs, 903 DEGs were successfully annotated in the public databases. The functional classification based on GO and KEEGG showed that “general function prediction only” represented the largest functional classes, “cell cycle” (C vs. M; M vs. H), and “neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction” (C vs. H) were the highest unique sequences among three groups. SNP analysis indicated that numbers of C, M and H groups were 145,450, 146,131, and 123,004, respectively. Total new predicted alternative splicing events in C, M, and H groups were 9,521, 9,328, and 8,929, respectively. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed, and the top 10 hub genes were evaluated among three groups. The results of real time PCR indicated that mRNA abundance of PPARγ and FAS in abdominal fat of M and H groups were reduced compared with the C group (P < 0.05). Ultramicroscopy results showed that folic acid could reduce lipid droplets in livers from chickens. Finally, contents of LPL, PPARγ, and FAS in abdominal fat were decreased with the folic acid supplmented diets (P < 0.01). These findings reveal the effects of folic acid supplemention on gene expression in liver of broilers, which can provide information for understanding the molecular mechanisms of folic acid regulating liver lipid metabolism.

In this paper, a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method is extended to simulate the ice failure process and ice-ship interactions. The softening elastoplastic model integrating Drucker-Prager yield criterion is embedded into the SPH method to simulate the failure progress of ice. To verify the accuracy of the proposed SPH method, two benchmarks are presented, which include the elastic vibration of a cantilever beam and three-point bending failure of the ice beam. The good agreement between the obtained numerical results and experimental data indicates that the presented SPH method can give the reliable and accurate results for simulating the ice failure progress. On this basis, the extended SPH method is employed to simulate level ice interacting with sloping structure and three-dimensional ice-ship interaction in level ice, and the numerical data is validated through comparing with experimental results of a 1:20 scaled Araon icebreaker model. It is shown the proposed SPH model can satisfactorily predict the ice breaking process and ice breaking resistance on ships in ice-ship interaction. Keywords: SPH, Ice failure, Ice-ship interaction, Ice breaking resistance, Level ice

Abstract Background In mammals, fine-tuned regulation of gene expression leads to transcription initiation from diverse transcription start sites (TSSs) and multiple core promoters. Although polysome association is a critical step in translation, whether polysome selectively uses TSSs and core promoters and how this could impact translation remains elusive. Results In this study, we used CAGE followed by deep sequencing to globally profile the transcript 5′ isoforms in the translatome and transcriptome of human HEK293 cells at single-nucleotide resolution. By comparing the two profiles, we identified the 5′ isoforms preferentially used in translatome and revealed a widespread selective usage of TSSs (32.0%) and core promoters (48.7%) by polysome. We discovered the transcription initiation patterns and the sequence characteristics that were highly correlated with polysome selection. We further identified 5804 genes significantly enriched or depleted in translatome and showed that polysome selection was an important contributing factor to the abundance of related gene products. Moreover, after comparison with public transcriptome CAGE data from 180 human tissues and primary cells, we raised a question on whether it is a widely adopted mechanism to regulate translation efficiency by changing the transcription initiation sites on the transcription level in cells of different conditions. Conclusions Using HEK293 cells as a model, we delineated an indirect selection toward TSSs and core promoters by the translation machinery. Our findings lend additional evidence for a much closer coordination between transcription and translation, warranting future translatome studies in more cell types and conditions to develop a more intricate regulatory model for gene expression.

A coal mine in Datong is an integrated mine. At present, there is goaf in the upper and lower part of the mining coal seam. There is a lot of ponding in the goaf, which has great potential safety hazards for production. In order to find out the scope and location of ponding in goaf, the comprehensive geophysical exploration method combining transient electromagnetic method and high-density resistivity method is used to carry out the research. Firstly, the time-base, turn-off time, receiving delay, current, superposition times, and other parameters of the instrument are tested on the surface of known goaf to obtain the best instrument parameters, and the parameters are used to verify the feasibility of the research scheme; then, the transient electromagnetic method is used for large-area exploration on the surface of the mine, the suspected goaf ponding area is found through comprehensive analysis, and the high-density resistivity exploration is arranged in the suspected goaf ponding area. According to the obtained results, the scope and location of the goaf ponding area are accurately located through comprehensive analysis. The results show that there are two goaf ponding areas in the exploration area, which are located above the 8# coal seam currently mined; the range and location of goaf ponding area can be accurately obtained by using the comprehensive geophysical method of high-density electrical method and transient electromagnetic method. This method can provide reference for mine water prevention and control in Datong area and has great practical significance to ensure coal mine safety production.

Coal bump often occurs in coal mining among many working faces in mine group under the control of large geological bodies. In order to study the coal bump mechanism between adjacent working faces under the conditions of large fault and huge thick overburden conglomerate, this paper regards Yima mining area as a practical engineering background and theoretically analyzes the mechanical behavior of overlying rock in the spatial structure. Then, the deep-ground and whole-space measurement is carried out in the 13230 working face of Gengcun mine and 21121 working face of Qianqiu mine. The results show that the basic structural unit in Yima mining area is composed of two goafs, middle coal pillar, and overlying conglomerate. Under the condition of nonsynchronous mining in adjacent working faces, there is a comovement effect similar to lever’s “prying” phenomenon in thick conglomerate beam—the conglomerate strata above larger goaf side induce an overall uplift movement of the corresponding strata above smaller goaf side, and uplift length of the conglomerate strata is related to the mining length, coal pillar width, caving angle, and coal-conglomerate distance. The results of surface subsidence, microseism, and stress in the two working faces verify the conglomerate’s phenomenon of comovement effect and disturbance range and further explain the role of active movement of F16 fault and overall causes of huge thick conglomerate on the coal bump. The vertical stress of the 13230 face is relatively low at the beginning, and high horizontal stress by fault activation causes typical bump accident with the horizontal sliding of coal body. With the increasing development of 13230 face, the intensity and frequency of coal bump in horizontal direction decrease obviously, but with high proportion in vertical direction. The results provide a theoretical basis for the study on the mechanism of coal bump between two adjacent working faces under the conditions of huge thick conglomerate and large thrust fault.

Both Wisconsin diagnostic breast cancer (WDBC) database and the Wisconsin breast cancer database (WBCD) are structured datasets described by cytological features. In this paper, we were seeking to identify ways improve the classification performance for each of the datasets based on convolutional neural networks (CNN). However, CNN is designed for unstructured data, especially for image data, which has been proven to be successful in the field of image recognition. A typical CNN may not keep its performance for structured data. In order to take advantage of CNN to improve the classification performance for structured data, we proposed fully-connected layer first CNN (FCLF-CNN), in which the fully-connected layers are embedded before the first convolutional layer. We used the fully-connected layer as an encoder or an approximator to transfer raw samples into representations with more locality. In order to get a better performance, we trained four kinds of FCLF-CNNs and made an ensemble FCLF-CNN by integrating them. We then applied it to the WDBC and WBCD datasets and obtained the results by a fivefold cross validation. The results showed that the FCLF-CNN can achieve a better classification performance than pure multi-layer perceptrons and pure CNN for both datasets. The ensemble FCLF-CNN can achieve an accuracy of 99.28%, a sensitivity of 98.65%, and a specificity of 99.57% for WDBC, and an accuracy of 98.71%, a sensitivity of 97.60%, and a specificity of 99.43% for WBCD. The results for both datasets are competitive compared to the results of other research.

For downlink multiple-input multiple-output-sparse code multiple access (MIMO-SCMA) system, the convergence reliability of the detected codeword in each decision process is unsatisfactory at the message passing algorithm receiver. To address this problem, a downlink MIMO-mixed sparse code multiple access (MIMO-MSCMA) system is proposed in this paper. For each user of the downlink MIMO-MSCMA, the transmitted codewords at different antennas come from different codebooks of MSCMA, respectively. On the other side, a novel basic complex multi-dimension constellation design is proposed in the MSCMA codebook design. Simulation results show that the bit error rate performance of the downlink MIMO-MSCMA outperforms than that of downlink MIMO-SCMA.

The morphology, symmetry, and volume of brain tissue are good indicators for measuring the central nervous system disease progression. The objective of this paper is to segment cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), gray matter (GM), and white matter (WM) automatically with multi-modality magnetic resonance scans. A novel coarse-to-fine method is proposed to segment CSF, GM, and WM using two cascade 3D convolutional neural networks. The first densely connected fully convolutional network (DC-FCN) is designed with feature reuse, which can take full advantage of the spatial information and alleviate computer memory limitation. The second 6-CNN is designed to correct boundary voxel, which can further reduce computational cost while improving the segmentation accuracy. As of today, our method ranks the 3rd on the MRBrainS13 challenge, outperforming most of the participant methods when using available input modalities (T1, T1-IR, and T2-FLAIR). In addition, we also verify the proposed framework on the IBSR dataset, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the boundary correction strategy. Through accurate segmentation of brain tissue, neuroimaging physicians can be assisted in assessing disease progression and even localizing lesions.

For sparse code multiple access (SCMA) with traditional codebooks, the initial information of message passing algorithm (MPA) receiver is easily susceptible to noise and multipath fading, and the convergence reliability of the first detected user in each decision process is unsatisfactory. Driven by these problems, an optimized codebook design for SCMA is presented in this paper. In the proposed SCMA codebook design, we first use turbo trellis coded modulation technology to design a basic complex multi-dimension constellation, which can increase the minimum Euclidean distance. Then, phase rotation and coordinate interleaving are added on the constellation to increase diversity and coordinate product distance between any constellation points. Based on these, we propose a novel criterion to select the most appropriate permutation set, which can capture as large as the sum of distance between dimensions of interfering codewords multiplexed on each resource node and maximize the diversity over the set of the sums of distance between dimensions of interfering codewords multiplexed on all resource nodes. Benefiting from the proposed codebook design, the quality of initial information of MPA receiver on each resource node and the convergence reliability of the first detected user in each decision process will be improved. Simulation results show that the bit error rate performance of SCMA with the proposed codebooks outperforms SCMA with traditional codebooks, low-density signature, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access under the same load.

In this paper, we minimize the transmit power for multiple-input single-output and nonorthogonal multiple access systems. In our analysis, a large number of users are partitioned into multiple user clusters/pairs with small size and uniform power allocation across the clusters and each cluster is associated with a beamforming vector. The considered optimization problem involves how to optimize beamforming vectors, power allocation, and user clustering. Considering the high computational complexity in solving the whole problem, we decompose the problem into two parts, and design a joint algorithm to iteratively optimize them. First, given a user partition, we formulate the beamforming and power allocation problem under a set of practical constraints. The problem is nonconvex. To tackle it, we reformulate, transform, and approximate the nonconvex problem to a quadratically constrained optimization problem, and develop ajoint beamforming and power allocation algorithm based on semidefinite relaxation to solve it. Second, to address the issue of high complexity in obtaining the optimal clusters, we propose a low-complexity algorithm to efficiently identify a set of promising clusters, forming as a candidate user partition. Based on these two algorithms, we design an algorithmic framework to iteratively perform them and to improve performance. By the algorithm design, the produced user partition can be further improved in later iterations, in order to further reduce power consumption. Numerical results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed solution with iterative updates for user clustering, and joint beamforming and power allocation optimization outperforms that of previous schemes.

Aimed at determining the appropriate caving–mining ratio for fully mechanized mining of 20 m thick coal seam, this research investigated the effects of caving–mining ratio on the flow fields of coal and waste rocks, amount of cyclically caved coal and top coal loss by means of numerical modeling. The research was based on the geological conditions of panel 8102 in Tashan coal mine. The results indicated the loose coal and waste rocks formed an elliptical zone around the drawpoint. The ellipse enlarged with decreasing caving–mining ratio. And its long axis inclined to the gob gradually became vertical and facilitating the caving and recovery of top coal. The top coal loss showed a cyclical variation; and the loss cycle was shortened with the decreasing in caving–mining ratio. Moreover, the mean squared error (MSE) of the amount of cyclically caved coal went up with increasing caving–mining ratio, indicating a growing imbalance of amount of cyclically caved coal, which could impede the coordinated mining and caving operations. Finally it was found that a caving–mining ratio of 1:2.51 should be reasonable for the conditions. Keywords: Caving–mining ratio, Coal and waste rocks flows, Amount of cyclically caved coal, Zone of loose coal and waste rocks

The 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) is able to make full use of the spatial 3D context information of lung nodules, and the multi-view strategy has been shown to be useful for improving the performance of 2D CNN in classifying lung nodules. In this paper, we explore the classification of lung nodules using the 3D multi-view convolutional neural networks (MV-CNN) with both chain architecture and directed acyclic graph architecture, including 3D Inception and 3D Inception-ResNet. All networks employ the multi-view-one-network strategy. We conduct a binary classification (benign and malignant) and a ternary classification (benign, primary malignant and metastatic malignant) on Computed Tomography (CT) images from Lung Image Database Consortium and Image Database Resource Initiative database (LIDC-IDRI). All results are obtained via 10-fold cross validation. As regards the MV-CNN with chain architecture, results show that the performance of 3D MV-CNN surpasses that of 2D MV-CNN by a significant margin. Finally, a 3D Inception network achieved an error rate of 4.59% for the binary classification and 7.70% for the ternary classification, both of which represent superior results for the corresponding task. We compare the multi-view-one-network strategy with the one-view-one-network strategy. The results reveal that the multi-view-one-network strategy can achieve a lower error rate than the one-view-one-network strategy.

Vitis davidii Foёx is an important wild grape species with extremely high diseases resistance, health promoting properties, and utilization value. Here, the whole-genome high-throughput sequencing data was mined to determine the entire chloroplast genome of this Vitis species. This circular DNA is 161,065 bp in size, counting a pair of inverted repeats (24,802 bp each). The chloroplast genome consists of 125 genes, including 86 protein-coding genes, 31 transfer RNAs, and 8 ribosomal RNAs. A phylogenetic analysis based on the complete chloroplast genome sequences in plants showed that V. davidii formed a different clade from other four congeneric species of the family Vitaceae. This complete chloroplast genome will provide valuable information for future evaluation, conservation, and utilization of V. davidii.

Cooperative routing is one of the most widely used technologies for improving the energy efficiency and energy balance of wireless multi-hop networks. However, the end-to-end energy cost and network lifetime are greatly restricted if the cooperative transmission model is not designed properly. The main aim of this paper is to explore a two-stage cooperative routing scheme to further improve the energy efficiency and prolong the network lifetime. A two-stage cooperative (TSC) transmission model is firstly designed in which the core helper is introduced to determine the helper set for cooperation. Then, the two-stage link cost is formulated where x, the weight of residual energy, is introduced to be adjusted for different design goals. By selecting the optimal helper set, the two-stage link cost of each link can be optimized. Finally, based on the designed TSC transmission model and the optimized two-stage link cost, a distributed two-stage cooperative routing (TSCR) scheme is further proposed to minimize the end-to-end cooperative routing cost. Simulation results evaluate the effect of x on the different performance metrics. When x equals 0, TSCR can achieve the shortest end-to-end transmission delay and highest energy efficiency, while a larger x can achieve a longer network lifetime. Furthermore, simulation results also show that the proposed TSCR scheme can effectively improve both the energy efficiency and network lifetime compared with the existing schemes.

The large mining height fully mechanized top-coal caving mining technique has developed rapidly and become the most extensively used mining method for ultra-thick coal seams. The arching of coal/gangue and the drawing out of gangue are peculiar phenomena in the process of fully mechanized top-coal caving mining, which not only affects the recovery of top-coal, but also affects the quality of the coal. This paper studies the arching phenomenon in top-coal caving mining process of ultra-thick coal seam. A series of laboratory granular material simulation experiments were performing and a top-coal arching model in the framework of mechanics was established to explore the formation characteristic of arches and their effects to top-coal loss. Then the countermeasures against the arches and technology path of intelligent mining based on improving top-coal recovery were put forward and performed in practice. The results show that the recovery ratio of top-coal has increased nearly 6%, and increased the production efficiency at the same time. The research on arching mechanism and removing strategies of dynamic random arches effectively improves the efficiency of fully mechanized top-coal caving mining in ultra-thick coal seams, and provides the foundation for the realization of intelligent top-coal caving mining technology.

Due to the existence of a hard and massive roof (HMR), severe ground pressure behaviors have been observed at the working face, resulting in safety issues and the degradation of production effectiveness. Based on the HMR conditions of the Datong Mining Area, the fracture-related instability of the HMR and its effects on the support selection were investigated by analyzing the interaction between support and overlying strata. Advancefixed-distance presplitting blasting (AFPB) technology was proposed to control the caving interval of HMR, and the influence of the controlled interval on the working load of supports was also analyzed. The working load of the support and the caving interval of the HMR were determined based on the controlled HMR fracture technology, and these were verified by field application tests. The working resistance of the support and the step distance were determined based on controlled roof fracture and were verified by on-site application experiments. The results revealed that cracks emerged after the presplitting blasting, resulting in significantly reduced strata behaviors. Furthermore, the support exhibited good adaptability.

In laying hens, dietary betaine supplementation is reported to reduce abdominal fat, however, the mechanism of which remains largely unknown. The present study investigated the effect of dietary betaine supplementation on mRNA expression and the promoter CpG dinucleotide methylation profiles of chicken lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene. The experiments were carried out with 120 laying hens which were randomly allocated to four diets supplemented with 0, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08% betaine. The mRNA levels of LPL gene was investigated by using real-time RT-PCR. The CpG methylation profiles at LPL promoter region were analyzed by using bisulfite sequencing method. The results indicated that betaine supplementation at levels of 0.06 and 0.08% tend to decrease LPL mRNA expression in both 165-day-old and 180-day-old hens. In 180-day-old hens, two distinct CpG methylation profiles at the promoter region of chicken LPL gene were revealed: in control and 0.04% betaine groups, in which LPL mRNA expressions in abdominal adipose tissue were higher, CpG methylation occurs mainly at 1st to 8th sites, the remaining sites were less methylated; whereas in 0.06 and 0.08% betaine groups, in which LPL mRNA expressions in abdominal adipose tissue were lower, methylation levels of 1st-8th CpG sites were decreased, while those of the remaining sites increased.

To derive the critical density for exposure-path prevention in three-dimensional wireless sensor networks (3D WSNs), a bond-percolation-based scheme is proposed, which can generate the tighter lower and upper bounds of critical density. Firstly, the exposure-path prevention problem and system models based on Gaussian distribution are introduced in this paper. Then, according to percolation theory, we present a bond-percolation model to put this problem into a 3D uniform lattice. With this model, the lower and upper bounds of critical density for 3D WSNs are derived in the light of our scheme. Extensive simulations and contrast experiments also validate our developed models and evaluate the performance of the proposed schemes. Therefore, our scheme can be applied to determine a practically reliable density and detect intruders in sensor networks.

The mechanism of preventing rockburst through deep-hole precracking blasting was studied based on experimental test, numerical simulation, and field testing. The study results indicate that the deep-hole precracking could change the bursting proneness and stress state of coal-rock mass, thereby preventing the occurrence of rockburst. The bursting proneness of the whole composite structure could be weakened by the deep-hole precracking blasting. The change of stress state in the process of precracking blasting is achieved in two ways: (1) artificially break the roof apart, thus weakening the continuity of the roof strata, effectively inducing the roof caving while reducing its impact strength; and (2) the dynamic shattering and air pressure generated by the blasting can structurally change the properties of the coal-rock mass by mitigating the high stress generation and high elastic energy accumulation, thus breaking the conditions of energy transfer and rock burst occurrence.

Winter hardiness is an important trait for grapevine breeders and producers, so identification of the regulatory mechanisms involved in cold acclimation is of great potential value. The work presented here involves the identification of two grapevine ICE gene homologs, VaICE1 and VaICE2, from an extremely cold-tolerant accession of Chinese wild-growing Vitis amurnensis, which are phylogenetically related to other plant ICE1 genes. These two structurally different ICE proteins contain previously reported ICE-specific amino acid motifs, the bHLH-ZIP domain and the S-rich motif. Expression analysis revealed that VaICE1 is constitutively expressed but affected by cold stress, unlike VaICE2 that shows not such changed expression as a consequence of cold treatment. Both genes serve as transcription factors, potentiating the transactivation activities in yeasts and the corresponding proteins localized to the nucleus following transient expression in onion epidermal cells. Overexpression of either VaICE1 or VaICE2 in Arabidopsis increase freezing tolerance in nonacclimated plants. Moreover, we show that they result in multiple biochemical changes that were associated with cold acclimation: VaICE1/2-overexpressing plants had evaluated levels of proline, reduced contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreased levels of electrolyte leakage. The expression of downstream cold responsive genes of CBF1, COR15A, and COR47 were significantly induced in Arabidopsis transgenically overexpressing VaICE1 or VaICE2 upon cold stress. VaICE2, but not VaICE1 overexpression induced KIN1 expression under cold-acclimation conditions. Our results suggest that VaICE1 and VaICE2 act as key regulators at an early step in the transcriptional cascade controlling freezing tolerance, and modulate the expression levels of various low-temperature associated genes involved in the C-repeat binding factor (CBF) pathway.

There are conflicting reports on the link between the micronutrient selenium and the prevalence of diabetes. To investigate the possibility that selenium acts as a "double-edged sword" in diabetes, cDNA microarray profiling and two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry were used to determine changes in mRNA and protein expression in pancreatic and liver tissues of diabetic db/db mice in response to dietary selenate supplementation. Fasting blood glucose levels increased continuously in db/db mice administered placebo (DMCtrl), but decreased gradually in selenate-supplemented db/db mice (DMSe) and approached normal levels after termination of the experiment. Pancreatic islet size was increased in DMSe mice compared with DMCtrl mice, resulting in a clear increase in insulin production and a doubling of plasma insulin concentration. Genes that encode proteins involved in key pancreatic β-cell functions, including regulation of β-cell proliferation and differentiation and insulin synthesis, were found to be specifically upregulated in DMSe mice. In contrast, apoptosis-associated genes were downregulated, indicating that islet function was protected by selenate treatment. Conversely, liver fat accumulation increased in DMSe mice together with significant upregulation of lipogenic and inflammatory genes. Genes related to detoxification were downregulated and antioxidant enzymatic activity was reduced, indicating an unexpected reduction in antioxidant defense capacity and exacerbation of fatty liver degeneration. Moreover, proteomic analysis of the liver showed differential expression of proteins involved in glucolipid metabolism and the endoplasmic reticulum assembly pathway. Taken together, these results suggest that dietary selenate supplementation in db/db mice decreased hyperglycemia by increasing insulin production and secretion; however, long-term hyperinsulinemia eventually led to reduced antioxidant defense capacity, which exacerbated fatty liver degeneration.