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Booming fish farming results in relative shortage of fish oil (FO), making it urgent to explore alternative lipid sources. This study comprehensively investigated the efficacy of FO replacement with poultry oil (PO) in diets of tiger puffer (average initial body weight, 12.28 g). An 8-week feeding trial was conducted with experimental diets, in which graded levels (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%, named FO-C, 25PO, 50PO, 75PO, and 100PO, respectively) of FO were replaced with PO. The feeding trial was conducted in a flow-through seawater system. Each diet was fed to triplicate tanks. The results showed that FO replacement with PO did not significantly affect the growth performance of tiger puffer. FO replacement with PO at 50-100% even slightly increased the growth. PO feeding also had marginal effects on fish body composition, except that it increased the liver moisture content. Dietary PO tended to decrease the serum cholesterol and malondialdehyde content but increase the bile acid content. Increasing levels of dietary PO linearly upregulated the hepatic mRNA expression of the cholesterol biosynthesis enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, whereas high levels of dietary PO significantly upregulated the expression of the critical regulatory enzyme of bile acid biosynthesis, cholesterol 7-alpha-hydroxylase. In conclusion, poultry oil is a good substitution for fish oil in the diets of tiger puffer. Poultry oil could replace 100% added fish oil in the diet of tiger puffer, without adverse effects on growth and body composition.

In view of the traditional maintainability allocation method for a certain shooter seat for maintainability allocation did not consider the lifecycle expense problem, the improved NSGA-II algorithm (iNSGA-II, for short) is adopted to establish a multiobjective comprehensive trade-off model for a certain shooter seat product lifecycle maintenance-related expenses and mean time to repair (MTTR, for short) and construct multiobjective optimization problem. The experimental results show that the Pareto optimal solution effectively solves the limitation of the traditional maintainability allocation method and then provides a basis for a certain shooter seat to obtain a reasonable maintainability allocation scheme. The superiority of the iNSGA-II algorithm to optimize the maintainability allocation of a certain shooter seat was verified by comparing it with the traditional maintainability allocation method.

Objective. To analyze the levels of amyloid β-protein and P181 in peripheral blood of patients with Alzheimer’s disease combined with Helicobacter pylori infection and their clinical significance. Method. From January 2019 to June 2020, 59 patients were enrolled in this experiment including the AD group with 27 patients and the normal control group with 32 patients. The patients were divided into two groups: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) group ( n = 27 ) and control group ( n = 32 ), collecting the general data of patients, analyzing the diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of serum p-tau181 and Aβ42 and their influence on prognosis, and comparing the serum Aβ42 and p-tau181 concentrations for different HP infection degrees. Result. Single diagnostic sensitivity of Aβ42, p-tau181, and Aβ42 combined p-tau181 was 0.863, 0.854, and 0.972, respectively, and their specificity was 0.048, 0.206, and 0.305, respectively. Compared with the single diagnosis of serum Aβ42 and p-tau181, the combined diagnosis has higher sensitivity and specificity ( P < 0.05 ); age, years of education, serum Aβ42, and p-tau181 are factors affecting the prognosis of patients with Alzheimer’s disease combined with Helicobacter pylori infection; the concentration of Aβ42 in the control group was higher than that in the AD group, there was a statistical difference in the Aβ42 concentration between the two groups ( P < 0.05 ), and there was no statistical difference in the concentration of p-tau181 between the two groups ( P > 0.05 ); the HP positive infection rate of the AD group and the control group was 63.0% and 35.7%, respectively. The HP negative infection rate of the AD group and the control group was 37.0% and 64.3%, respectively. Compared with the control group, the positive rate of HP in the AD group was higher, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05 ); compared with HP-negative patients, HP-positive patients had a higher Aβ42 concentration, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05 ). The concentration of p-tau181 in the two groups was not statistically significant ( P > 0.05 ); Aβ42 gradually increases with increasing HP infection degree, and there are significant differences in serum Aβ42 levels between different degrees of infection. However, the level of serum p-tau181 does not change significantly with the increase of infection. Conclusion. There are significant alterations in the expression levels of Aβ42 and p-tau181 in peripheral blood of AD patients, and the levels of Aβ42 are related to HP infection; Aβ42 and p-tau181 are potential biomarkers for AD diagnosis and treatment.

The welding deformation and cracking of hydraulic support have always been an important issue that impacts product quality and performance in the industry. In order to quantify the deformation of the welding seam of the reverse four-bar linkage hydraulic support under loading conditions, a real-time weld monitoring system based on sensitive fiber Bragg grating sensors is designed. The strength test and the cycle life test of the top coal caving reverse four-link support with four typical eccentric loads were conducted, respectively. The strength test results prove that the fiber Bragg grating sensor is accurate enough to measure welding deformation of hydraulic support; the measurement resolution reaches 0.1 μm. The eccentric load experiment produces the reverse four-bar torsion, especially when the top beam is at a low position; the maximum deformation of the weld is 100 μm. In the cycle test, a phenomenon has been captured, i.e., the welds present a baseline shift along with the cyclic load and even jump. It indicates that the hydraulic support changes from one stable state to another stable state. This work not only provides a feasible solution for welding deformation monitoring but also provides a possibility for the whole life cycle monitoring of hydraulic supports.

In the present study, we aimed to investigate immune-related signatures and immune infiltration in melanoma. The transcriptome profiling and clinical data of melanoma were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and their matched normal samples were obtained from the Genotype-Tissue Expression database. After merging the genome expression data using Perl, the limma package was used for data normalization. We screened the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and obtained immune signatures associated with melanoma by an immune-related signature list from the InnateDB database. Univariate Cox regression analysis was used to identify potential prognostic immune genes, and LASSO analysis was used to identify the hub genes. Next, based on the results of multivariate Cox regression analysis, we constructed a risk model for melanoma. We investigated the correlation between risk score and clinical characteristics and overall survival (OS) of patients. Based on the TIMER database, the association between selected immune signatures and immune cell distribution was evaluated. Next, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was performed using CIBERSORT, which confirmed the differential distribution of immune-infiltrating cells between different risk groups. We obtained a list of 91 differentially expressed immune-related signatures. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these immune-related DEGs participated in several areas of immune-related crosstalk, including cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, JAK–STAT signaling pathway, chemokine signaling pathway, and Th17 cell differentiation pathway. A risk model was established based on multivariate Cox analysis results, and Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed. The Kruskal-Wallis test suggested that a high risk score indicated a poorer OS and correlated with higher American Joint Committee on Cancer-TNM (AJCC-TNM) stages and advanced pathological stages (P<0.01). Furthermore, the association between hub immune signatures and immune cell distribution was evaluated in specific tumor samples. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to estimate immune infiltration density in the two groups, and results showed that the high-risk group exhibited a lower infiltration density, and the dominant immune cells included M0 macrophages (P=0.023) and activated mast cells (P=0.005).

Outside the house, images taken using a phone in foggy weather are not suitable for automation due to low contrast. Usually, it is revised in the dark channel prior (DCP) method (K. He et al. 2009), but the non-sky bright area exists due to mistakes in the removal. In this paper, we propose an algorithm, defog-based generative adversarial network (DbGAN). We use generative adversarial network (GAN) for training and embed target map (TM) in the anti-network generator, only the part of bright area layer of image, in local attention model image training and testing in deep learning, and the effective processing of the wrong removal part is achieved, thus better restoring the defog image. Then, the DCP method obtains a good defog visual effect, and the evaluation index peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is used to make a judgment; the simulation result is consistent with the visual effect. We proved the DbGAN is a practical import of target map in the GAN. The algorithm is used defogging in the highlighted area is well realized, which makes up for the shortcomings of the DCP algorithm.

A combined bamboo strips and flax fiber reinforcement method to reinforce clay is proposed in this paper, and in order to study the mechanical properties of bamboo strips and flax fiber-reinforced clay (BFRC), a series of tensile tests were carried out to obtain the relationship between the average tensile force and deformation of flax fiber and bamboo strip; after that, triaxial shear tests were carried out under the conditions of different confining pressures. In addition, the reinforcement mechanism of the bamboo strips and flax fiber-reinforced clay (BFRC) is analyzed. The test results show that the cohesion and internal friction angle of the bamboo strips and flax fiber-reinforced clay (BFRC) are improved compared with the pure clay. In the case of flax fiber-reinforced clay, the cohesion of reinforced clay is increased by 18.34% and the friction angle is only increased by 0.39%. In the case of bamboo strips and flax fiber-reinforced clay, the cohesion of reinforced clay is increased by 26.36% and the friction angle is only increased by 10.24%. The addition of bamboo strips improves the shear strength of the reinforced clay and effectively improves the deformation resistance of the flax fiber-reinforced clay (FRC). And it increases the internal friction angle and cohesion of the clay, although the increase in the strength is mainly reflected in the influence on the cohesion.

To explore a new method of in vitro culture and purification of rat corpus cavernosum endothelial cells (CCECs). Male Sprague-Dawley rats' penile tissue were digested with elastase or collagenase combined with mechanical extrusion to isolate and culture the CCECs. The fixed-point digestion method was used to purify the primary cells. High-purity CCECs were successfully isolated. Following the digestion of the primary CCECs by elastase or collagenase coupled with mechanical extrusion, the cells were paving stone- and cobblestone-shaped over 10 days. The cell purity yielded in the second generation (P2) CCECs after using the fixed-point digestion method was significantly high. Compared with primary CCECs extracted by elastase digestion combined with the mechanical extrusion method, CCECs cultured by collagenase digestion yielded higher purity and a more stable morphology after fixed-point digestion and purification. Immunofluorescence staining of the third generation CCECs and the expression results of endothelial cell-associated marker antibodies CD31 and VWF were positive, and flow cytometry showed the purity of CCECs was 96.9%. Enzymatic digestion combined with mechanical extrusion and fixed-point digestion is a simple, economical method for in vitro culture and purification of CCECs, which is conducive to studying the pathophysiological mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction and erectile dysfunction.

In order to realize the resource utilization of fly ash, a kind of ecological slope protection substrate was prepared by mixing fly ash produced by MSW incineration into slope protection soil. Through the direct shear test and a leaching experiment on ion pollutants, the influence that shear strength of the substrate changed with root content, ash content, and moisture content and the ecological effects of leach liquor were investigated. The results showed the following: (1) When the optimum moisture content is about 24.9%, the shear strength of the substrate is the maximum. (2) Fly ash can improve the shear strength of the soil, which can reach 1.67 times as much as that of plain soil, and the optimum content of fly ash is 5%–6.7%. (3) The root system can increase the cohesion and internal friction angle of the substrate soil but mainly increases the cohesion of the substrate soil. (4) Plants grow taller in ash-mixed soil than in plain soil. (5) When the fly ash content is 20%, the ion concentrations of Cl, Cu, and Zn are the highest: 220.7, 0.153, and 1.526 mg/L, respectively. All of them are lower than the standard limit of class V water and gradually decrease with time. Therefore, the leaching liquid will not cause environmental pollution and meet the ecological requirements.

Compacted soil is widely used in road and railway subgrade, while alternation of seasons can cause fluctuations in moisture content of soil (i.e., wetting-drying cycles) and influence the performance of soil. In order to research the effect of wetting-drying cycles on mechanical behaviour and electrical resistivity of compacted unsaturated subgrade soil, wetting-drying tests considering different number and cyclic amplitude were conducted on compacted unsaturated clay specimens, and the electrical resistivity and unconfined compressive strength of soil were measured in this study. The AC (alternative current) two-electrode method was applied in the resistivity measurement. The experimental results show that increasing number and cyclic amplitude of wetting-drying cycles can both reduce the strength and electrical resistivity of the compacted unsaturated specimens. After 3-4 wetting-drying cycles, the strength and electrical resistivity tend to be constant value. The change of pore structure can be the key factor leading to the reduction of electrical resistivity of soil subjected to wetting-drying cycles and consequently causing the decrease of soil strength in the present study. Thus, the electrical resistivity can be adopted to indirectly assess the mechanical behaviour of unsaturated compacted soil after wetting-drying cycles.

We recently showed that both nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) and its surface plasminogen- (Plg-) binding proteins interact with lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) in a lysine-dependent manner. Because Lp(a) can be taken up by macrophages, we postulated that it serves as an opsonin to enhance phagocytosis of NTHi by macrophages. Based on colony-forming unit (CFU) counts, Lp(a) was found to increase U937 macrophage-mediated phagocytosis of NTHi49247 and NTHi49766 by 34% and 43%, respectively, after 120 min. In contrast, Lp(a) did not enhance phagocytosis of Escherichia coli BL21 or E. coli JM109, which were unable to bind to Lp(a). As with U937 macrophages, Lp(a) was capable of increasing phagocytosis of NTHi49247 by peripheral blood mononuclear cell-derived macrophages. Opsonic phagocytosis by Lp(a) was inhibited by the addition of recombinant kringle IV type 10 (rKIV10), a lysine-binding competitor; moreover, Lp(a) did not increase phagocytosis of NTHi by U937 macrophages that were pretreated with a monoclonal antibody against the scavenger receptor CD36. Taken together, our observation suggests that Lp(a) might serve as a lysine-binding opsonin to assist macrophages in rapid recognition and phagocytosis of NTHi.

High-temperature exposure is detrimental to women’s reproductive health; however, the impact caused by long-term high temperature is not comprehensive, and a stable model of estrous cycle disorder induced by a high temperature is yet lacking. Herein, we aimed to establish a stable and effective model of estrous cycle disorder in female rats induced by long-term heat stress to study its physiological and pathological characteristics and explore the underlying mechanism. In the present study, female Sprague-Dawley rats with normal estrous cycles were exposed to the temperature of 38±0.5°C, relative humidity (RH) of 55±5% (2 h/d, 1 time/d) hot cabin at more than 90 days. Consequently, after long-term heat stress, no difference was detected in body weight and rectal temperature, but the estrus cycle was prolonged, the uterine organ index was increased, pathological changes occurred, the increase latitude of stress hormones heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and corticosterone (CORT) decreased, estradiol (E2) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels decreased, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and prolactin (Prl) levels increased, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and thyroid hormone (T4) showed no difference, and insulin (INS) decreased significantly. Moreover, the mRNA expression of the sex hormone receptor in the uterus and ovary was altered. Therefore, the estrous cycle disorder in female rats can be induced by regular heat stress for 90 days, which can be considered the pioneer method. Subsequently, prominent physiological and pathological characteristics and disruption in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis were noted.

This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with liver transplantation (LT) through meta-analysis. Relevant articles were sought in PubMed, Embase, and Wangfang databases up to July 2015. A total of 1687 patients from 10 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Meta-analysis results showed that elevated NLR was significantly associated with poorer overall survival (OS) (HR = 2.71, 95% CI: 1.91–3.83) and poorer disease-free survival (DFS) (HR = 3.61, 95% CI: 2.23–5.84) in HCC patients treated with LT. Moreover, subgroup analysis showed the significant association between elevated preoperative NLR and poor prognosis was not altered by cutoff values of NLR or types of LT. Therefore, elevated preoperative NLR is associated with poor prognosis in HCC patients treated with LT. Preoperative NLR should be used to predict the prognosis of HCC after LT in our clinical work.

A culvert with prefabricated and assembled structural components is introduced to speed up the progress of highway construction in China. In order to clear the behavior of the prefabricated and assembled slab culvert, the center line section and the shoulder section of the embankment are selected for field tests. In the tests, the distribution and the growth of the earth pressures on the top slab and the lateral walls and the displacements and the deformations of the top slab and lateral walls are investigated, thereafter, the tested earth pressures are linearly fitted, and the formulas of fitting lines are obtained. The results show that the deflections of the lateral walls and of the cover slab are very small, and the variation of distribution and growth of the earth pressures presents significantly nonlinear characters, which is totally different from the linear earth pressure theory proposed by the current Chinese code. The vertical pressure is much smaller in the middle part of the top slab than that on both ends, and it is much larger than the linear theory results. The distribution curve of the lateral earth pressures on the lateral walls is approximately “3” in shape, and the maximum earth pressure locates at the junction of the cap and the lateral wall. The formula of the fitted line obtained from the primary stage pressure can be employed to estimate the earth pressure of embankment completion. The results of the field tests can provide references for the calculations of the components and the strength in the junctions of the assembled culverts.

To detect seismic damage of moment resisting frame (MRF) structures, a data-driven method using the fractal dimension (FD) of time-frequency feature (TFF) of structural seismic dynamic responses at measured stories is extended and refined. The TFF is defined as the real part of Gabor wavelet transform of translational interstory displacement, and FD is used to give a quantitative value to describe the calculated TFF. Static condensation method is first used to reduce the degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) of MRF and to express the rotational displacements using translational displacements. For linear MRF, the FDs of TFFs at all stories are the same using the definition of TFF and modal superposition principle. For damaged MRF with plastic hinges at the ends of beams and columns, the force analogy method is implemented to establish transformation matrix from plastic hinge rotations to translational interstory inelastic displacements. Due to the sparseness of the transformation matrix, plastic hinges only generate interstory inelastic displacements, which are low-frequency contents, in the vicinity of plastic hinges. Correspondingly, the FDs of TFFs of interstory displacements with inelastic component are different from the FDs of TFFs of the interstory displacements that do not contain inelastic component. A numerical simulation on a 16-story MRF was conducted. The simulation included 10 cases such as no damage or linear structure, plastic hinges in single-story beams, plastic hinges in single-story columns, plastic hinges in single-story beams and columns, and plastic hinges in multiple story beams and columns. The robustness to measurement noise was also investigated. The seismic damage detection results demonstrated that the proposed method was capable of locating the stories where the plastic hinges occurred.

Data assimilation is an efficient technique in the estimation of ocean state, by introducing the benefit of in situ measurements. Considering the insufficiency of the observations, the performance of assimilation with few temperature and salinity (T-S) profiles is not satisfied. To modify the situation, an extending algorithm based on the Argo temperature profile is developed and applied to present more reconstructed information. Meanwhile, when the reconstructed information is assimilated into the ocean model, the accuracy of the outcomes would obtain a notable enhancement. To validate it, an experiment including four cases is conducted based on Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and 4-dimensional variational method (4DVAR). The comparison with the EN4 dataset shows that the cases assimilated the Argo and the reconstructed temperature profiles are both promoted; the addition of reconstructed temperature profiles does enhance the accuracy; the impact of SST introduced in the extending algorithm process is negligible; the net enhancement of reconstructed temperature profiles is comparable with Argo T-S observations. Finally, the positive impact of the developed algorithm on data assimilation is validated.

A quartic B-spline method is proposed for solving the linear sixth order boundary value problems. The method converts the boundary problem to solve a system of linear equations and obtains coefficients of the corresponding B-spline functions. The method has the convergence of two order. It develops not only the quartic spline approximate solution but also the higher order approximate derivatives. Two numerical examples are presented to verify the theoretical analysis and show the validity and applicability of the method. Compared with other existing recent methods, the quartic B-spline method is a more efficient and effective tool.

Autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects boys more than girls, is often associated with altered levels of monoamines (serotonin and catecholamines), especially elevated serotonin levels. The monoamines act as both neurotransmitters and signaling molecules in the gastrointestinal and immune systems. The evidence related to monoamine metabolism may be summarized as follows: (i) monoamine neurotransmitters are enzymatically degraded/inactivated by three mechanisms: oxidative deamination, methylation, and sulfation. The latter two are limited by the supply of methyl groups and sulfate, respectively. (ii) A decrease in methylation- and sulfation-mediated monoamine inactivation can be compensated by an increase in the oxidative deamination catalyzed by monoamine oxidase, an X-linked enzyme exhibiting higher activity in females than in males. (iii) Vitamins can, on one hand, facilitate the synthesis of monoamine neurotransmitters and, on the other hand, inhibit their inactivation by competing for methylation and sulfation. Therefore, we postulate that excess multivitamin feeding in early infancy, which has become very popular over the past few decades, may be a potential risk factor for disturbed monoamine metabolism. In this paper, we will focus on the relationship between excess multivitamin exposure and the inactivation/degradation of monoamine neurotransmitters and its possible role in the development of autism.

We consider the expected residual minimization method for a class of stochastic quasivariational inequality problems (SQVIP). The regularized gap function for quasivariational inequality problem (QVIP) is in general not differentiable. We first show that the regularized gap function is differentiable and convex for a class of QVIPs under some suitable conditions. Then, we reformulate SQVIP as a deterministic minimization problem that minimizes the expected residual of the regularized gap function and solve it by sample average approximation (SAA) method. Finally, we investigate the limiting behavior of the optimal solutions and stationary points.

One-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials with novel photoelectric, magnetic, mechanical, and electronic transport properties have long been the research focus throughout the world. Herein, the recent achievements in preparation of 1D boron nitride nanomaterials, including nanotubes, nanowires, nanoribbons, nanorods, and nanofibres are reviewed. As the most intriguing and researched polymorph, boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are introduced thoroughly involving their functionalization and doping. The electronics and engineering applications of 1D boron nitride nanomaterials are illustrated in nanoscale devices, hydrogen storage, polymer composites, and newly developed biomedical fields in detail.

We consider a continuous-time mean-variance asset-liability management problem in a market with random market parameters; that is, interest rate, appreciation rates, and volatility rates are considered to be stochastic processes. By using the theories of stochastic linear-quadratic (LQ) optimal control and backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs), we tackle this problem and derive optimal investment strategies as well as the mean-variance efficient frontier analytically in terms of the solution of BSDEs. We find that the efficient frontier is still a parabola in a market with random parameters. Comparing with the existing results, we also find that the liability does not affect the feasibility of the mean-variance portfolio selection problem. However, in an incomplete market with random parameters, the liability can not be fully hedged.

The main aim of this work is to consider a meshfree algorithm for solving Burgers’ equation with the quartic B-spline quasi-interpolation. Quasi-interpolation is very useful in the study of approximation theory and its applications, since it can yield solutions directly without the need to solve any linear system of equations and overcome the ill-conditioning problem resulting from using the B-spline as a global interpolant. The numerical scheme is presented, by using the derivative of the quasi-interpolation to approximate the spatial derivative of the dependent variable and a low order forward difference to approximate the time derivative of the dependent variable. Compared to other numerical methods, the main advantages of our scheme are higher accuracy and lower computational complexity. Meanwhile, the algorithm is very simple and easy to implement and the numerical experiments show that it is feasible and valid.

We consider a continuous-time mean-variance portfolio selection model when stock price follows the constant elasticity of variance (CEV) process. The aim of this paper is to derive an optimal portfolio strategy and the efficient frontier. The mean-variance portfolio selection problem is formulated as a linearly constrained convex program problem. By employing the Lagrange multiplier method and stochastic optimal control theory, we obtain the optimal portfolio strategy and mean-variance efficient frontier analytically. The results show that the mean-variance efficient frontier is still a parabola in the mean-variance plane, and the optimal strategies depend not only on the total wealth but also on the stock price. Moreover, some numerical examples are given to analyze the sensitivity of the efficient frontier with respect to the elasticity parameter and to illustrate the results presented in this paper. The numerical results show that the price of risk decreases as the elasticity coefficient increases.

We compare the Lorentz violation terms of the pure photon sector between two field theory models, namely the minimal standard model extension (SME) and the standard model supplement (SMS). From the requirement of the identity of the intersection for the two models, we find that the free photon sector of the SMS can be a subset of the photon sector of the minimal SME. We not only obtain some relations between the SME parameters, but also get some constraints on the SMS parameters from the SME parameters. The CPT-odd coefficients $(k_{AF})^{\alpha}$ of the SME are predicted to be zero. There are 15 degrees of freedom in the Lorentz violation matrix $\Delta^{\alpha\beta}$ of free photons of the SMS related with the same number of degrees of freedom in the tensor coefficients $(k_F)^{\alpha\beta\mu\nu}$, which are independent from each other in the minimal SME, but are inter-related in the intersection of the SMS and the minimal SME. With the related degrees of freedom, we obtain the conservative constraints ($2\sigma$) on the elements of the photon Lorentz violation matrix. The detailed structure of the photon Lorentz violation matrix suggests some applications to the Lorentz violation experiments for photons., Comment: 9 pages, no figure, three tables. Final version for journal publication

Both Pax1 and Pax9 belong to the important paired box gene family (PAX), which mainly participates in animal development and sclerotome differentiation. To date, the precise molecular mechanism and related signaling pathway of Pax1 remain unclear. In our study, microinjection of morpholino- (MO-) modified antisense oligonucleotides againstpax1binduced pectoral fin bud defects. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the phenotypes caused by the knockdown of Pax1b in zebrafish could not be phenocopied bypax9MO and could not be rescued by either Pax1a or Pax9 overexpression. We further find that Pax1b affects the expression ofcol2a1, Uncx4.1, Noggin3, andaggrecan, confirming the role of Pax1b in chondrocyte differentiation and bone maturation. Moreover, we identify an interaction between PAX1 and FOXO1 and find that the interaction was enhanced under hypoxia stress. Together, this evidence for cell death caused bypax1bknockdown provides new insight into the role of the Pax protein family in cell fate determination and tissue specification.

We consider a vector variational inequality in a finite-dimensional space. A new gap function is proposed, and an equivalent optimization problem for the vector variational inequality is also provided. Under some suitable conditions, we prove that the gap function is directionally differentiable and that any point satisfying the first-order necessary optimality condition for the equivalent optimization problem solves the vector variational inequality. As an application, we use the new gap function to reformulate a stochastic vector variational inequality as a deterministic optimization problem. We solve this optimization problem by employing the sample average approximation method. The convergence of optimal solutions of the approximation problems is also investigated.