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Palmprint contains rich unique features such as lines and textures for reliable personal authentication. There have been a number of methods proposed for palmprint recognition in recent years. However, most existing palmprint feature descriptors only extract single-type features, which usually can not completely represent the multiple information of a palmprint. In this paper, we propose a novel joint multiple-type features encoding method, which jointly extracts and encodes the important direction and texture features for palmprint recognition. Specifically, we first extract both the dominant direction and the gradient change data to respectively describe the direction and texture features of a palmprint. Unlike the existing methods that directly extract features from single pixel, we extract both the direction and texture features among the local patch by using a majority voting scheme so that the extracted multiple-type features are more accurate and reliable. Finally, we jointly encode the multiple-type features into decimal feature code, and pool them into block-wise histogram feature descriptor for palmprint representation and recognition. Extensive experimental results on the baseline palmprint databases, including the CASIA, IITD and TJU databases, demonstrate the competitive effectiveness of the proposed method.

Inflammatory bowel disease, a gut disease that is prevalent worldwide, is characterized by chronic intestinal inflammation, such as colitis, and disorder of the gut microbiome. Glycine (Gly) is the simplest amino acid and functions as an anti-inflammatory immune-nutrient and intestinal microbiota regulator. This study aimed at investigating the effect of Gly on colitis induced in mice by intrarectal administration of 5% acetic acid (AA). Bodyweight and survival rates were monitored, and colonic length and weight, serum amino acid concentrations, intestinal inflammation-related gene expression, and colonic microbiota abundances were analyzed. The results showed that Gly dietary supplementation had no effect on the survival rate or the ratio of colonic length to weight. However, Gly supplementation reversed the AA-induced increase in serum concentrations of amino acids such as glutamate, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Furthermore, Gly inhibited colonic gene expression of interleukin- (IL-) 1β and promoted IL-10 expression in colitis mice. Gly supplementation also reversed the AA-induced reduction in the abundance of bacteria such as Clostridia, Ruminococcaceae, and Clostridiales. This change in the intestinal microbiota was possibly attributable to the changes in colonic IL-10 expression and serum concentrations of valine and leucine. In sum, Gly supplementation regulated the serum concentrations of amino acids, the levels of colonic immune-associated gene expression, and the intestinal microbiota in a mouse model of colitis. These findings enhance our understanding of the role of Gly in regulating metabolism, intestinal immunity, and the gut microbiota in animals afflicted with colitis.

In the Foshan Shunde District, for the bearing stratum of the prestressed concrete tube-pile in strong weathering granite gneiss and strong weathering silty mudstone, it is common for abnormal setting of static load test and ultra pile driving in re-pressed process. There is no unified explanation and exact conclusion on whether this problem is caused by softening of pile-end soils. In order to solve this problem, experiments for piles with different pile tip were conducted for evaluate the changing of strength, horizontal stress and bearing capacity of pile-end soils, using various situ techniques such as static cone penetration test, pressure meter test, high strain testing and static load test combined with laboratory test results. It implies that strong weathering granite gneiss and silty mudstone in Shunde area has softening potential, however, the softening of pile-end soils may not occur immediately after piling. In addition, the effect of type of pile tip on the bearing capacity of the bearing stratum was not obvious. According to this study, it was suggested that engineering investigation should be given attention to. This study will have important implications for determining the bearing capacity of pile and guaranteeing the project quality.

Recently, hohlraum experiments were performed at the Shenguang-II (SG-II) laser facility [Lin et al., Chin. J. Lasers B10, Suppl. IV6 (2001)]. The measured maximum radiation temperature was 170 eV for the standard hohlraum and 150 eV for a 1.5-scaled one. This paper discusses the radiation temperature and laser hohlraum coupling efficiency in terms of a theoretical model [Phys. Plasmas 8, 1659 (2001)] and numerical simulation. A 2D laser–hohlraum coupling code, LARED-H [Chin. J. Comput. Phys. 19, 57 (2002)], gives a satisfactory coincidence with the measured time-resolved radiation temperature. Upon fitting the time-resolved curve, the theoretical model obtains the hohlraum coupling efficiency and, furthermore, the parameter n+s for the hohlraum wall material (Au) can be determined simultaneously, where n, s are the power exponents of temperature for the radiation Rosseland mean-free path and specific internal energy, respectively.