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This study presents a novel risk-assessment methodology for deep foundation pit projects in karst regions, aimed at enhancing project safety and decision-making processes. This approach amalgamates fuzzy dynamic Bayesian networks with a refined Dempster–Shafer (DS) evidence theory to tackle the intricate uncertainties present in such contexts. A comprehensive risk index system, derived from historical accident cases, relevant standards, and the literature, encompasses environmental, design, construction, and management factors. Initial probabilities for each risk factor are determined through the integration of expert knowledge and fuzzy theory. The enhanced Dempster–Shafer theory is utilized to fuse diverse information sources, culminating in a robust and dynamic risk evaluation model. This model leverages real-time monitoring data to dynamically assess and adjust risk levels throughout the construction process. The validation of the proposed method is demonstrated through a detailed case study of the Guangzhou Tangxi Section 1 deep foundation pit project, which effectively identified critical risk factors and facilitated proactive construction strategy adjustments. To further evaluate the reliability of the methodology, comparisons were made with three alternative methods, and applications were conducted on three additional deep foundation pit projects. These comparative analyses confirm the superior reliability and applicability of the proposed methodology across varied scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the naturalness and rhythmicity of generated audio in end-to-end speech synthesis is crucial. The current state-of-the-art (SOTA) model, VITS, utilizes a conditional variational autoencoder architecture. However, it faces challenges, such as limited robustness, due to training solely on text and spectrum data from the training set. Particularly, the posterior encoder struggles with mid- and high-frequency feature extraction, impacting waveform reconstruction. Existing efforts mainly focus on prior encoder enhancements or alignment algorithms, neglecting improvements to spectrum feature extraction. In response, we propose BERTIVITS, a novel model integrating BERT into VITS. Our model features a redesigned posterior encoder with residual connections and utilizes pre-trained models to enhance spectrum feature extraction. Compared to VITS, BERTIVITS shows significant subjective MOS score improvements (0.16 in English, 0.36 in Chinese) and objective Mel-Cepstral coefficient reductions (0.52 in English, 0.49 in Chinese). BERTIVITS is tailored for single-speaker scenarios, improving speech synthesis technology for applications like post-class tutoring or telephone customer service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the potential association between dietary live microbes and the prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data of 9791 participants aged 20 years or older in this study were collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2013 and 2018. Participants in this study were classified into three groups according to the Sanders' dietary live microbe classification system: low, medium, and high dietary live microbe groups. COPD was defined by a combination of self-reported physician diagnoses and standardized medical status questionnaires. Logistic regression and subgroup analysis were used to assess whether dietary live microbes were associated with the risk of COPD. Results: Through full adjustment for confounders, participants in the high dietary live microbe group had a low prevalence of COPD in contrast to those in low dietary live microbe group (OR: 0.614, 95% CI: 0.474–0.795, and p < 0.001), but no significant association with COPD was detected in the medium and the low dietary live microbe groups. This inverse relationship between dietary live microbe intake and COPD prevalence was more inclined to occur in smokers, females, participants aged from 40 to 59 years old and non-obese participants. Conclusion: A high dietary live microbe intake was associated with a low prevalence of COPD, and this negative correlation was detected especially in smokers, females, participants aged from 40 to 59 years old and non-obese participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-grained 3D shape retrieval supports finding a specific 3D model to serve VR/AR applications. Sketches can convey concepts that are difficult to describe in words, albeit highly concise and abstract, making it suitable for retrieving 3D shapes. Compared to sketch-based 3D shape retrieval, fine-grained sketch-based 3D shape retrieval is still a relatively under-studied problem. Previous work on FG-SBSR has mainly focused on view alignment of sketches and 3D shape projections during retrieval. However, spatial alignment across modalities is neglected, which is helpful for extracting fine-grained features. To address the spatial alignment problem, we propose an end-to-end multi-regional spatial alignment network (MRSAN) that learns spatially aligned multi-regional discriminative feature representations of sketches and projections from 3D shape. Meanwhile, for cross-domain variance, we design identity consistency loss and regional similarity loss from three aspects: identity, feature distance, and feature distribution. Instead of fusing multi-view features before ranking, a ranking method based on multi-view similarity aggregation is proposed, which utilizes multi-view information related to the query view and makes it unnecessary to recompute feature representations of 3D shapes for each query. Systematic comparative evaluations performed on Chair and Lamp datasets showed that our approach robustly achieved state-of-the-art performances. For instance, on the Chair dataset, we achieve (82.59 + 0.49)% Top-1 accuracy and (94.20 + 2.81)% Top-5 accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most haptic devices generate haptic sensation using mechanical actuators. However, the workload and limited workspace handicap the operator from operating freely. Electrical stimulation is an alternative approach to generate haptic sensations without using mechanical actuators. The light weight of the electrodes adhering to the body brings no limitations to free motion. Because a real haptic sensation consists of feelings from several areas, mounting the electrodes to several different body areas can make the sensations more realistic. However, simultaneously stimulating multiple electrodes may result in "noise" sensations. Moreover, the operators may feel tingling because of unstable stimulus signals when using the dry electrodes to help develop an easily mounted haptic device using electrical stimulation. In this study, we first determine the appropriate stimulation areas and stimulus signals to generate a real touch sensation on the forearm. Then, we propose a circuit design guideline for generating stable electrical stimulus signals using a voltage divider resistor. Finally, based on the aforementioned results, we develop a wearable haptic glove prototype. This haptic glove allows the user to experience the haptic sensations of touching objects with five different degrees of stiffness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intraoperative tool change is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task for robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. Serial multi-DOF manipulators are potential devices for realizing automatic intraoperative tool changes because of the layout flexibility and motion range, and multi-DOF makes it feasible for the manipulator to access and fetch the surgical tools by itself. However, the direction of the trocar may change because of the soft abdomen, and the lack of a fixed RCM makes it difficult for manipulators to reinsert a new surgical tool through the trocar. This study proposes a system prototype using a 7-DOF manipulator to automatically conduct the intraoperative tool-changing task. The newly designed surgical tool docking station facilitates surgical tool coupling/decoupling by rotating the manipulator's end effector once. The proposed trocar recognition method with position error compensation is reliable for aligning a new surgical tool to the trocar port, even when the direction of the trocar is changed. The experimental results confirms that the manipulator can accomplish an intraoperative tool changing task without additional assistance or correction from the human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When large-diameter slurry shields are tunneling in a composite stratum with a high clay content, the cutter head may form a mud cake. After the mud cake is formed, it will cover the cutter and reduce the opening rate of the cutter head, thus reducing the penetration of the cutter and the driving speed. Based on a road upgrading project, this paper studies the prevention and treatment of a mud cake and forms a set of comprehensive treatment methods. For a large mud cake, through theoretical analysis, two calculation methods of the cutter head sealing coefficient are obtained, and the cutter head sealing coefficient relationship model is established. Comparing the calculated cutter head's actual opening coefficient with the required cutter head opening coefficient can provide a judgment basis for the time of manual warehousing. For medium and small mud cakes, the numerical simulation is carried out based on the cutter head and the scouring system, the distribution characteristics of the flow field near the cutter head are analyzed, and the angle of the central scouring hole is optimized. For a small mud cake, hydrogen peroxide is selected as an additive through microscopic mechanism analysis. The effect of the hydrogen peroxide solution concentration on dissolving a mud cake is obtained through laboratory tests, and its effectiveness is verified through field tests. The research results can provide a reference for the mud cake prevention of slurry shields in similar strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing scene classification aims to automatically assign proper labels to remote sensing images. Most of the existing deep learning based methods usually consider the interclass and intraclass relationships of the image content for classification. However, these methods rarely consider the hierarchical information of scene labels, as a scene label may belong to hierarchically multi-grained levels. For example, multi-grained level labels may indicate that a remote sensing scene image may belong to the coarse-grained label "transportation land" while also belonging to the fine-grained label "airport". In this paper, to exploit hierarchical label information, we propose an attention-embedding multi-task multi-grained network (AEMMN) for remote sensing scene classification. In the proposed AEMMN, we add a coarse-grained classifier as the first level and a fine-grained classifier as the second level to perform multi-task learning tasks. Additionally, a gradient control module is utilized to control the gradient propagation of two classifiers to suppress the negative transfer caused by the irrelevant features between tasks. In the feature extraction portion, the model uses an ECA module embedding Resnet50 to extract effective features with cross-channel interaction information. Furthermore, an external attention module is exploited to improve the discrimination of fine-grained and coarse-grained features. Experiments were conducted on the NWPU-RESISC45 and the Aerial Image Data Set (AID), and the overall accuracy of the proposed AEMMN is 92.07% on the NWPU-RESISC45 dataset and reached 94.96% on the AID. The results indicate that hierarchical label information can effectively improve the performance of scene classification tasks when categorizing remote sensing imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the large cross-section design of large-diameter shield tunnels, most of the rocks and soils it crosses are composite strata with upper soft and lower hard. In order to reduce the construction cost of shield working shafts, large-diameter shield launching is usually buried at a shallow depth. Based on the typical large-diameter slurry shield tunnel, the following research results were obtained according to field monitoring and PLAXIS 3D finite element simulation. (1) The electronic level is used to monitor the surface settlement, and the field monitoring data were obtained; the surface settlement duration curve at the axis of the shield tunnel during the construction period can be divided into four stages: pre-deformation, shield passing, shield tail exit and shield moving away, of which the surface settlement accounts for the largest proportion during the shield passing. (2) In order to ensure the accuracy of the numerical simulation results, the linear shrinkage of the shield needs to be considered in the modeling. (3) The maximum surface settlement value at the center of the tunnel increases with the increase of the support pressure; when the support pressure exceeds 300 kPa, the surface uplift and the settlement caused by the formation loss will offset, and the surface settlement will decrease instead. The maximum surface settlement value is inversely proportional to the grouting pressure, but with the increase of the grouting pressure, the maximum uplift of the surface continues to increase. (4) With the numerical simulation of excavation step construction, the surface uplift increases with the increase of grouting pressure and shield radius, and decreases with the increase of shield buried depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is a biomarker for assessing the immune microenvironment, prognosis, and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in the clinical treatment of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), but it does not work for all patients. This study aims to discover alternative biomarkers. Methods: Public data were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and gene ontology (GO) were used to determine the gene modules relevant to tumor immunity. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and GO semantic similarity analyses were applied to identify the module hub genes with functional similarities to PD-L1, and we assessed their correlations with immune infiltration, patient prognosis, and immunotherapy response. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining were used to validate the outcome at the protein level. Results: We identified an immune response–related module, and two hub genes (PSTPIP1 and PILRA) were selected as potential biomarkers with functional similarities to PD-L1. High expression levels of PSTPIP1 and PILRA were associated with longer overall survival and rich immune infiltration in LUAD patients, and both were significantly high in patients who responded to anti–PD-L1 treatment. Compared to PD-L1–negative LUAD tissues, the protein levels of PSTPIP1 and PILRA were relatively increased in the PD-L1–positive tissues, and the expression of PSTPIP1 and PILRA positively correlated with the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Conclusion: We identified PSTPIP1 and PILRA as prognostic biomarkers relevant to immune infiltration in LUAD, and both are associated with the response to anti–PD-L1 treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering that it is difficult for traditional materials to simultaneously meet the requirements for filling grouting of water-filled karst caves and subsequent shield tunneling, an environmentally friendly and controllable new underwater cementitious filling material (NUC-FM) is developed, with abandoned shield mud as the basic raw material. Through laboratory tests, the mechanical property parameters of NUC-FM are tested, and its micromechanism is analyzed. The research results show that there is excellent synergistic interactions among shield mud, cement, flocculant, fly ash and other raw materials. The NUC-FM grouting filling material with superior performance can be prepared when the water binder ratio is between 0.45 and 0.6 and the water consumption is between 270 and 310 kg/m3. It has the characteristics of non-dispersion underwater and moderate consolidated body strength. The compressive strength of the NUC-FM consolidated body samples under each mix proportion is much higher than 0.5 MPa, which meets the technical strength requirements of a construction site, and the microstructure shows that there is an obvious dense and stable block structure inside. The cost of the NUC-FM prepared with an optimized mix proportion is only 34.57 dollars/m3, which is far lower than the market purchase price of concrete and cement mortar. It can be predicted that the NUC-FM is an ideal filling grouting material for water-filled karst caves in shield tunnels in water-rich karst areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavations in a soft soil area are usually associated with substantial difficulties. Taking a special-shaped deep foundation pit in Hangzhou soft clay as the research object, the excavation performances, including groundwater level height, axial force, lateral wall, and soil deflection, and ground surface settlement were monitored and summarized based on the data published in the literature on similar excavations in Hangzhou, P. R. China. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) The axial forces of the struts dynamically change during the excavation and construction or removal of adjacent braces. (2) The ratio between the measured maximum wall deflection and excavation depth δ h − max / H e is 0.14–0.17%, larger than those in Shanghai. (3) The surface settlement behind the wall has an obvious primary influence zone and secondary influence zone, characterized by a "groove shape" and "triangle shape," respectively. The maximum ground surface settlement δ v − max ranges from 0.29% to 0.5% of the excavation depth. (4) The distribution of the ground settlement was analyzed. The relationship between the maximum settlements δ v − max is between 1.28 δ h − max and 3.72 δ h − max . Moreover, ABAQUS software with Mohr–Coulomb soil models was used for model analysis of the construction process. The research results have important significance for the effective prevention of foundation pit accidents and the optimal design of deep foundation pit projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of tests and studies were carried out on the parameters and effects of dynamic compaction (DC) for the deep and thick collapsible loess foundation under superhigh fill in the Lishi area, Shanxi Province, China. The test results indicate that a deep collapsible loess foundation can be effectively improved utilizing DC; moreover, loess collapse is significantly eliminated within the improvement range, and the effective improvement depth can be well estimated exploiting the modified Menard formula. Additionally, after the energy level of DC exceeds 2000 kN ∙ m, the characteristic value of bearing capacity of collapsible loess foundations can surpass 300 kPa, and the deformation modulus is beyond 25 MPa. The numerical model established by ABAQUS is reliable and can provide some guidance on the design and construction of similar engineering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crosstalk between cancer cells and macrophages plays a crucial role in the development of cancer. In this study, our data showed that M1 macrophages attenuate, while M2 macrophages and tumor-associated macrophages enhance the EGFR-TKIs resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line H1975. Next, long non-coding RNA SOX2 overlapping transcript (SOX2-OT) is highly expressed in NSCLC cells-derived exosomes. NSCLC cells-derived exosomes promote macrophages M2 polarization and inhibit M1 polarization through transferring SOX2-OT to macrophages. Subsequently, our results indicated that NSCLC cells-induced M2-polarized macrophages enhance the EGFR-TKIs resistance in H1975 cells. Furthermore, our data revealed that NSCLC cells-derived exosomes inhibit the expression of miR-627-3p, while promote Smads expression in THP-1 cells. SOX2-OT acts as miR-627-3p sponge to facilitate Smad2, Smad3 and Smad4 expression. Finally, our results indicated that NSCLC cells promote macrophages M2 polarization and suppress M1 polarization through targeting miR-627-3p/Smads signaling pathway by transferring exosomes to THP-1 cells. In conclusion, our data revealed that NSCLC cells promote macrophages M2 polarization through transferring exosomal SOX2-OT, thus to enhance its own EGFR-TKIs resistance. Mechanismly, NSCLC cells-derived exosomal SOX2-OT promotes macrophages M2 polarization via promoting Smads by sponging miR-627-3p. Our data provide a novel therapeutic target for EGFR-TKIs resistance in NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far, there have been a large number of diaphragm walls in the Yangtze River Delta as engineering examples of deep foundation pit maintenance structures in subway stations, but there is a lack of systematic research and summary on the deformation characteristics of ground connecting walls. This study aimed to clarify the deformation law of the diaphragm wall during the excavation of a deep foundation pit in a soft soil region. Based on the monitoring data of the diaphragm wall of the deep foundation pit of the Hangzhou metro station, the monitoring data of the deep foundation pits of 15 subway stations in Shanghai and Ningbo cities around Hangzhou were considered. Grouping and classification methods were used to analyze the similarities and differences in the deformation characteristics of the diaphragm wall in the three regions. The results indicate the following: the maximum lateral deformation of the diaphragm wall in Hangzhou increases linearly with the relative depth of the maximum lateral deformation. The maximum lateral deformation of the foundation pit in Hangzhou is 0.072% H∼0.459% H, with a mean of 0.173% H. The wall deformation in Hangzhou varies significantly with the depth of the foundation pit, but the influence of the depth of the foundation pit on the wall deformation is considerably less than that in Shanghai and Ningbo. The corresponding position of the maximum lateral deformation in the excavation depth increases linearly with the excavation depth of the foundation pit, and the corresponding position of the lateral deformation of the diaphragm wall in Shanghai is more affected by the excavation depth of the foundation pit. The lateral deformation of the diaphragm wall increases rapidly in the range of 0 H–0.5 H, and the maximum lateral deformation occurs at 0.5 H–1.1 H. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saturated sandy stratum often makes tunnel excavation exceedingly difficult owing to its high water content. The artificial ground-freezing (AGF) method is an effective way to reduce the construction risks in such stratum; however, the AGF mechanism in the saturated sandy stratum of a collapsible loess area still lacks sufficient research. Based on field tests and numerical simulations, this study investigates the regularity of the temperature development, frost heave, and thaw subsidence distribution during the cross passage construction of a saturated sandy stratum in a collapsible loess area, using the AGF method. The results showed that the inward development rate of the frozen soil wall in the saturated sandy stratum was faster than its outward development rate. The gradient of the soil cooling curve was positively related to the longitudinal depth of the cross passage. The thickness of the frozen soil wall calculated by the slowest development rate of the frozen soil was conservative. The application of the pressure relief hole was beneficial to the release of the frost-heaving force and the control of the frost-heaving displacement. The pressure gauge pressure increase could be used as an identifier for the closure of a frozen soil wall. After excavation, the inner wall of the cross passage moved toward the inner space of the passage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: The system can be used as an end effector for a robotic-assisted surgery, which is able to provide information of interaction force with the working environment. Robotic forceps with a rigid-link joint mechanism is orthodox for current robotic-assisted surgery systems. However, external force estimation without force sensors during operations is difficult for such electrically driven forceps. This work introduces a pneumatically driven multi-DOF (DOF: degree of freedom) forceps using a rigid-link mechanism with less interference of the wire drive between joints and realizes external force estimation by utilizing high back-drivability of pneumatic cylinders. We developed a position controller with dynamic compensation of the mechanical friction, in which the rotational angles of the three movable joints of the forceps are independently controlled. Moreover, we designed an external force observer in the position controller by applying the disturbance observer scheme. The results of the performance evaluation experiments are as follows. First, in the joint position control experiments, smooth and stable controllability is confirmed for sinusoidal reference inputs with the mean absolute errors of less than 2°. The resolution of the joint position control is approximately 1° for the response of step increasing reference inputs, which is acceptable for laparoscopic surgery. Second, the external force observer can correctly estimate the translational and the grasping forces with less than 20% errors of the maximum output forces. The practical sensitivities of the external force estimation are better than 0.5 N for translational forces and 0.2 N for grasping forces. The achieved performance of the developed forceps can be applicable for interactive force control in some particular surgical tasks such as suturing, ligation, organ traction and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When adjusting the parameters of a bilateral controlled master–slave system according to the task requirements, the operator's haptic sensation requirements for the contact between the slave device and the environment should also be considered. However, a quantitative relationship between the parameters and the haptic sensation has not been clarified. First, this paper introduces an index quantifying the operator's haptic sensation by its value. Second, for the simple and complex position-force bilateral control models, the relationships between the haptic sensation index and the parameters are derived and expressed as functions calculating the index value directly from the parameter values. Third, the experimental results reveal that the parameter design according to the derived function is valid. The results of this study are expected to be useful as a guideline for adjusting the parameters of a bilateral controlled master–slave system with consideration to the haptic sensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes an index to estimate the operator's haptic sensation of the contact between the slave device and the environment in operating master–slave systems with force feedback function. The index value is derived from the velocity information of the master device before and after contact, which is hypothesized to represent the intensity of haptic sensation stimuli presented to the operator. Two characteristics of this index are discussed by means of psychophysics experiment, which are the statistical characteristics of the index value for different operators, and how the change in the operator's haptic sensation is reflected on the index value. The index is validated by another psychophysics experiment. The experimental results show that the performance of operator's haptic sensation can be predicted correctly based on the proposed index value. This index is expected to be applied in the parameter design of bilateral-control systems with force feedback function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)‐induced apoptosis of airway epithelial cells plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, autophagy is closely related to ERS under apoptosis. Here, this study aimed to investigate the role of the reciprocal interaction between autophagy and ERS in the cigarette smoke extract (CSE)‐induced apoptosis of human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells. Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry analysis. Protein expression was examined by Western blot. The mRNA expression was detected using real‐time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT‐PCR). The results showed that CSE treatment induced apoptosis, autophagy, and expression of ERS‐related proteins in HBE cells. Furthermore, autophagy inhibition by 3‐MA significantly decreased protein expression of GRP78, p‐PERK, and p‐eIF2α and increased CHOP, ATF4, and caspase‐4, whereas ERS inhibition by 4‐PBA led to autophagy suppression. Moreover, the CSE‐induced autophagy was diminished by knockdown of GRP78, PERK, or eIF2α but enhanced by knockdown of ATF4 or CHOP; however, the CSE‐induced HBE apoptosis was enhanced by knockdown of GRP78, PERK, or eIF2α but was attenuated by knockdown of ATF4 or CHOP. Additionally, both sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) and melatonin attenuated the CSE‐induced apoptosis, enhanced the CSE‐induced autophagy, increased GRP78, p‐PERK, and p‐eIF2α, and decreased CHOP, ATF4, and caspase‐4, via SIRT1/ORP150 pathway. Collectively, this study provided evidence about the role of the reciprocal interaction between autophagy and ERS in CSE‐induced apoptosis of HBE cells. © 2018 IUBMB Life, 71(1):66–80, 2019 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: T790M mutation is well known as the most common mechanism for resistance to the first- and second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for EGFR mutation in non-small-cell lung cancer. Several third-generation EGFR TKIs, such as osimertinib, have been explored and approved for conquering this resistance; however, acquired resistance to osimertinib is evident and the resistance mechanisms remain complex and incompletely explored. Case presentation: A non-smoking 58-year-old female patient was initially diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma harboring EGFR exon 19 deletion and clinically responded to initial gefitinib treatment. The patient progressed on gefitinib after >1 year and a T790M mutation was detected in tissue biopsy by next-generation sequencing (NGS). Osimertinib treatment was administrated for several months and an acquired rare EGFR G724S mutation was detected via NGS blood sample after osimertinib resistance. Conclusion: The specific mechanisms of acquiring drug resistance for EGFR-TKIs have not been fully explored. EGFR G724S mutation might be associated with osimertinib resistance but more studies about the mechanism should be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the core steps in point cloud data processing, the registration result has great influences on the subsequent data operations. Traditional precise registration methods mainly depend on artificial targets and feature points. These methods are limited by the external environment, initial conditions, feature points are not easy to find and so on. To overcome the limitation, this paper proposes an improved Particle Swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Using the sum of normal vectors' cross products to define the fitness function, the current algorithm applies an efficient "Universal Search" and implements scattered cloud data registration based on the best registration points. By the experiment with the cloud data received by a multi-station scanning of a high steep slope rock and comparing the result with the classical algorithms such as ICP, the improved PSO algorithm is proved to be feasible, efficient and stable. It can effectively solve the problem of the targets or the feature points are not easy to find in registration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The normalized difference water indices (NDWIs) were successfully used in map land surface water mapping (LSWM) from Landsat series multispectral images. This paper evaluates the potential of the recent Landsat satellite (Landsat-8) Operational Land Imager (OLI) multispectral images for LSWM using three NDWI models. We tested the accuracy and robustness of the three OLI NDWI models in the Yangtze River Basin and the Huaihe River Basin in China. The results demonstrate that the three OLI NDWI models achieve an overall accuracy of more than 95%, a kappa coefficient of 0.89 and a producer’s accuracy of 95% for LSWM. The results also demonstrate that the NDWI model using the green band (Band 3) and the SWIR1 band (Band 6) (referred to as NDWIO6,3) of the OLI sensor has a higher LSWM accuracy than the other two NDWI models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classification of urban land-use information has become the underlying database for a variety of applications including urban planning and administration. The lack of datasets and changeable semantics of land-use make deep learning methods suffer from low precision, which prevent improvements in the effectiveness of using AI methods for applications. In this paper, we first used GIS data to produce a well-tagged and high-resolution urban land-use image dataset. Then, we proposed a combined convolutional neural network named DUA-Net for complex and diverse urban land-use classification. The DUA-Net combined U-Net and Densely connected Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (DenseASPP) to extract Remote Sensing Imagers (RSIs) features in parallel. Then, channel attention was used to efficiently fuse the multi-source semantic information from the output of the double-layer network to learn the association between different land-use types. Finally, land-use classification of high-resolution urban RSIs was achieved. Experiments were performed on the dataset of this paper, the publicly available Vaihingen dataset and Potsdam dataset with overall accuracy levels reaching 75.90%, 89.71% and 89.91%, respectively. The results indicated that the complex land-use types with heterogeneous features were more difficult to extract than the single-feature land-cover types. The proposed DUA-Net method proved suitable for high-precision urban land-use classification, which will be of great value for urban planning and national land resource surveying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing remote sensing image datasets target the identification of objects, features, or man-made targets but lack the ability to provide the date and spatial information for the same feature in the time-series images. The spatial and temporal information is important for machine learning methods so that networks can be trained to support precision classification, particularly for agricultural applications of specific crops with distinct phenological growth stages. In this paper, we built a high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) image dataset for middle-season rice. We scheduled the UAV data acquisition in five villages of Hubei Province for three years, including 11 or 13 growing stages in each year that were accompanied by the annual agricultural surveying business. We investigated the accuracy of the vector maps for each field block and the precise information regarding the crops in the field by surveying each village and periodically arranging the UAV flight tasks on a weekly basis during the phenological stages. Subsequently, we developed a method to generate the samples automatically. Finally, we built a high-resolution UAV image dataset, including over 500,000 samples with the location and phenological growth stage information, and employed the imagery dataset in several machine learning algorithms for classification. We performed two exams to test our dataset. First, we used four classical deep learning networks for the fine classification of spatial and temporal information. Second, we used typical models to test the land cover on our dataset and compared this with the UCMerced Land Use Dataset and RSSCN7 Dataset. The results showed that the proposed image dataset supported typical deep learning networks in the classification task to identify the location and time of middle-season rice and achieved high accuracy with the public image dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online learning and teaching have become the primary forms of education during the global pandemic, and online learning systems, which can provide fair educational opportunities for everyone, are increasingly important for sustainability in education. The amount of time a student spends on online learning systems affects the fairness and persistence of sustainability in education. To support personalized learning opportunities, interactive learning, and easy-to-access resources, we propose a map organization and visualization method called MapOnLearn for online learning systems. First, we converted tree-like hierarchical course units (HCUs) and knowledge points (KPs) into a fundamental two-dimensional (2D) map of hierarchically divided polygons and used the map to form containers to manage all learning resources. Then, we used the zoom feature of the map to express the hierarchical structures of knowledge and formulated corresponding rules for displaying information at different levels. Path analysis was applied to express the learning process, and topological processing was adapted to represent the relationships among HCUs and KPs. We developed maps for a high-level math course, a course on data structures, and an English course at a university in China and investigated 264 students and 27 teachers for a semester by using the technology acceptance model (TAM). We found that the map visualization and organization method had a positive impact on the way teachers and students use online learning systems and improved the online learning experience. To attract more students to spend more time on online learning, we hope our method can promote the sustainable development of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]