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Deep learning models have been widely used in data-driven bridge structural damage diagnosis methods in recent years. However, these methods require training and test datasets to satisfy the same distribution, which is difficult to satisfy in practice. Domain adaptation transfer learning is an efficient method to solve this problem. Most of the current domain adaptation methods focus on close-set scenarios with the same classes in the source and target domains. However, in practical applications, new damage caused by long-term degradation often makes the target and source domains dissimilar in the class space. For such challenging open-set scenarios, existing domain adaptation methods will be powerless. To effectively solve the above problems, an adversarial auxiliary weighted subdomain adaptation algorithm is proposed for open-set scenarios. Adversarial learning is introduced to proposed an adversarial auxiliary weighting scheme to reflect the similarity of target samples with source classes. It effectively distinguishes unknown damage from known states. This paper further proposes a multi-channel multi-kernel weighted local maximum mean discrepancy metric (MCMK-WLMMD) to capture the fine-grained transferable information for conditional distribution alignment (sub-domain alignment). Extensive experiments on transfer tasks between three bridges verify the effectiveness of the algorithm in open-set scenarios.

Cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) accumulates high concentration of silicon (Si), which is required for its high and sustainable production. High Si accumulation in cultivated rice is achieved by a high expression of both influx (Lsi1) and efflux (Lsi2) Si transporters in roots. Herein, we physiologically investigated Si uptake, isolated and functionally characterized Si transporters in six wild rice species with different genome types. Si uptake by the roots was lower in Oryza rufipogon, Oryza barthii (AA genome), Oryza australiensis (EE genome) and Oryza punctata (BB genome), but similar in Oryza glumaepatula and Oryza meridionalis (AA genome) compared with the cultivated rice (cv. Nipponbare). However, all wild rice species and the cultivated rice showed similar concentration of Si in the shoots when grown in a field. All species with AA genome showed the same amino acid sequence of both Lsi1 and Lsi2 as O. sativa, whereas species with EE and BB genome showed several nucleotide differences in both Lsi1 and Lsi2. However, proteins encoded by these genes also showed transport activity for Si in Xenopus oocyte. The mRNA expression of Lsi1 in all wild rice species was lower than that in the cultivated rice, whereas the expression of Lsi2 was lower in O. rufipogon and O. barthii but similar in other species. Similar cellular localization of Lsi1 and Lsi2 was observed in all wild rice as the cultivated rice. These results indicate that superior Si uptake, the important trait for rice growth, is basically conserved in wild and cultivated rice species., (© 2013 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.)

With the recent, rapid developments of computers, adaptation between the human being and computer is being improved. On the other hand, mental fatigue is increased by continuous, long-time use. The problem of mental fatigue is now a new focus of research. This study proposes a method of evaluating mental fatigue. In this study, we used a method to extract signals related to fatigue using Independent Component Analysis (ICA). The subjects were 10 male students. After assuming a workload of simulated visual display terminal (VDT) operation for 30 min, the subjects sat in a relaxed position for 30 min. In this process, we measured work performance, subjective symptoms of feelings of fatigue and physiological measures. As a result, there was a high value of the correlation coefficient between these signals and the subjective symptoms of feeling of fatigue. We suggest that by using ICA we can determine the relationship between Independent Components and subjective feelings of fatigue for those under work stress, work strain and in a state of fatigue and stress. However, further experiments are needed to obtain conclusive findings of our research.

The methods for assessing VDT workload based on individual capabilities are necessary to evaluate general fatigue by VDT work. We have developed a new computer program for assessing data entry performance of each individual. Four healthy male volunteers conducted a data entry task at their own pace using this program under a controlled environment. They performed the task for 30 minutes twice with 10 minutes rest between them. As a result, the average number of inputs was 133.2 characters/min in the first task and 129.1 characters/min after taking the rest. The error rate was 8.6% and 10.6% in each task. This program was useful to evaluate their data entry performance. We also reported our concern with a drop in nasal skin temperature that was observed during these VDT tasks.

The current study was designed to investigate the immune status in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients with persistently normal alanine transferase activity (ALT) (patients with normal alanine transferase). For this purpose, serum levels and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IFN-gamma, IL12 p70, IL12 p40 and IL-10 as well as NK cell activity were assayed in six patients with normal ALT, 22 HCV-infected individuals with chronic hepatitis (CH), 13 cases of liver cirrhosis (LC) and 26 age-matched controls. Cytokine production was assayed with the whole blood induction method. IFN-gamma levels were significantly lower in patients with HCV-infected chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis than in controls ( [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] pg/ml, respectively, [Formula: see text] ). However, IFN-gamma production in those individuals with normal ALT was not reduced ( [Formula: see text] pg/ml). Although variation was observed, four of the six patients showed moderate to strong IFN-gamma production. No intergroup differences were observed for IL12 p70, IL12 p40 and IL-10 production and NK cell activity. Our results suggest that preserved IFN-gamma production in patients with normal ALT, in contrast to the reduction in chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis, may be related to a slow rate of disease progression.