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Scutellaria wuana, a new species discovered from a xeric valley in Muli County of Sichuan Province in southwest China, is described and illustrated. Morphologically, the new species shares similarities with S. mairei, but can be readily distinguished by a suite of morphological characters including a white-pubescent erect stem, conspicuous leaf petioles, and a yellow corolla with a trapeziform lower-middle lip lobe. The habitat and distribution of S. wuana are also distinctive. The position of the new species within Scutellaria is examined in a phylogenetic context using the nuclear ribosomal internal and external transcribed spacers. Additionally, we examine leaf epidermal and pollen grain micromorphology of the new species and putative relatives.

An online neutrosophic similarity-based objectness tracking with a weighted multiple instance learning algorithm (NeutWMIL) is proposed. Each training sample is extracted surrounding the object location, and the distribution of these samples is symmetric. To provide a more robust weight for each sample in the positive bag, the asymmetry of the importance of the samples is considered. The neutrosophic similarity-based objectness estimation with object properties (super straddling) is applied. The neutrosophic theory is a new branch of philosophy for dealing with incomplete, indeterminate, and inconsistent information. By considering the surrounding information of the object, a single valued neutrosophic set (SVNS)-based segmentation parameter selection method is proposed, to produce a well-built set of superpixels which can better explain the object area at each frame. Then, the intersection and shape-distance criteria are proposed for weighting each superpixel in the SVNS domain, mainly via three membership functions, T (truth), I (indeterminacy), and F (falsity), for each criterion. After filtering out the superpixels with low response, the newly defined neutrosophic weights are utilized for weighting each sample. Furthermore, the objectness estimation information is also applied for estimating and alleviating the problem of tracking drift. Experimental results on challenging benchmark video sequences reveal the superior performance of our algorithm when confronting appearance changes and background clutters.

Given the important roles of miRNAs in post-transcriptional gene regulation, identification of differentially expressed miRNAs will facilitate the elucidation of molecular mechanisms underlying kernel development. In this study, we constructed a small RNA library to comprehensively represent the full complement of individual small RNAs and to characterize miRNA expression profiles in pooled ears of maize (Zea mays L.) at 10, 15, 20, 22, 25 and 30 days after pollination (DAP). At least 21 miRNAs were differentially expressed. The differential expression of three of these miRNAs, i.e., miR528a, miR167a and miR160b, at each stage was verified by qRT-PCR. The results indicated that these miRNAs might be involved in kernel development. In addition, the predicted functions of target genes indicated that most of the target genes are involved in signal transduction and cell communication pathways, particularly the auxin signaling pathway. The expression of candidate germination-associated miRNAs was analyzed by hybridization to a maize genome microarray, and revealed differential expression of genes involved in plant hormone signaling pathways. This finding suggests that phytohormones play a critical role in the development of maize kernels. We found that in combination with other miRNAs, miR528a regulated a putative laccase, a Ring-H2 zinc finger protein and a MADS box-like protein, whereas miR167a and miR160b regulated multiple target genes, including ARF (auxin response factor), a member of the B3 transcription factor family. All three miRNAs are important for ear germination, development and physiology. The small RNA transcriptomes and mRNA obtained in this study will help us gain a better understanding of the expression and function of small RNAs in the development of maize kernel.

How to determine subsystem’s reliability and evaluate the whole machine’s reliability of the CNC (computer numerical control) grinding machine tool is important for reliability design and promotion. Each subsystem was modeled by a different distribution based on collected data and the models were optimized by the modified gray correlation degree, which was called the similar slope and close median gray correlation method. Methods of generating random data were proposed for different models. The reliability evaluation algorithm based on Monte Carlo simulation was studied and the whole machine’s reliability of the CNC grinder was evaluated by the algorithm. The evaluation result by the Monte Carlo algorithm was compared using the observed value and the evaluation value by the whole fitting method. The results show that the point estimation value evaluated by the algorithm based on Monte Carlo has high accuracy. The interval estimation by the Monte Carlo method was 20.2% and 38.1% by the observed value and the whole fitting value, respectively, which has more practical engineering significance. The reliability evaluation method can be used to assess the whole CNC grinding machine’s reliability in reliability design, and is also one reference for reliability evaluation of other electromechanical equipment.

Ozonation at a high O3 dosage can achieve high efficiencies in removing flotation reagents but it has a low ozone-utilization rate. The ozonation of potentially toxic thiol collectors (potassium ethyl xanthate (EX), sodium diethyl dithiocarbamate (SN-9), O-isopropyl-N-ethyl thionocarbamate (Z-200) and dianilino dithiophoshoric acid (DDA)) was investigated in an ozone-bubbled reactor at a low O3 dosage of 1.125 mg/(min·L). The degradation kinetics, mineralization, ozone utilization, changes of biodegradability, and water quality parameters were studied, and the degradation behaviors of four collectors were compared. Thiol collectors could be effectively degraded with a removal ratio of >90% and a mineralization ratio of 10‒27%, at a low O3 dosage. The ozonation of thiol collectors followed the pseudo first-order kinetics, and rate constants had the order of kSN-9 > kEX > kZ-200 > kDDA. The Z-200 and DDA were the refractory flotation reagents treated in the ozonation process. After ozonation, the biodegradability of EX, SN-9, and DDA solutions was remarkably raised, but the biodegradability of Z-200 only increased from 0.088 to 0.15, indicating that the Z-200 and its intermediates were biologically persistent organics. After ozonation, the solution pH decreased from 10.0 to 8.0‒9.0, and both the conductivity and oxidation-reduction potential increased. The ozone utilization ratio in decomposing thiol collectors was above 98.41%, revealing almost complete usage of input O3. The results revealed that thiol collectors could be effectively degraded by O3, even at a low dosage, but their degradation behaviors were quite different, due to intrinsic molecular properties.

In general, human dance is created by the imagination and innovativeness of human dancers, which in turn provides an inspiration for robotic choreography generation. This paper proposes a novel mechanism for a humanoid robot to create good choreography autonomously with the imagination of human dance. Such a mechanism combines innovativeness with the characteristic preservation of human dance, and enables a humanoid robot to present the characteristics of “imitation, memory, imagination, process and combination”. The proposed mechanism has been implemented on a real humanoid robot, NAO, to verify its feasibility and performance. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate good performance of the proposed mechanism.

Objective Patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) usually complain of daytime hypersomnia and decrease in cognitive function, which affects the quality of their work and life. The reason why the cognitive function of OSAS patients decreased remains controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impairment and the main influencing factors of cognitive function in OSAS. Methods There were totally 50 OSAS patients (OSAS group) and 25 volunteers (control group) included in our study. All of them were monitored by polysomnography (PSG) and tested by Continuous Performance Test (CPT), n-back test and Stroop Color-Word Test (CWT) to evaluate their sleep condition and cognitive function. Results No significant difference was found between the two groups in total sleep time and sleep efficiency (P > 0.05, for all). Compared with control group, OSAS group had significant increased time of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stage Ⅰ and stage Ⅱ, significant decreased time of stage Ⅲ (P < 0.05, for all), while no significant difference in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The arousal index (AI) of the OSAS group was significantly higher than control group (P < 0.05). Patients in OSAS group had significantly lower scores in the cognitive function tests (P < 0.01), which showed the ability of attention, response, memory, discernibility and performance were injured. The damage had no significant connection with the severity of the apnea hyponea index (AHI) and hypoxia (P > 0.05, for all), while had significant connection with AI and NREM Ⅲ (P < 0.05, for all). The rate of OSAS patients who underwent nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) treatment was very low, only 8% (4/50). Conclusion The abnormality of OSAS patients' sleep structure is characterized with sleep fragmentation and decrease of NREM Ⅲ, which may be the main factors of cognitive impairment. Exploration of treatment methods targeted on regulating the effected hormones and receptors is meaningful.

The perennial evergreen herb, Chimaphila japonica is found exclusively in East Asian temperate coniferous or sometimes in deciduous forests. By using the Fast Isolation by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) of Sequences Containing repeats (FIASCO) protocol, 20 microsatellite primer sets were identified in two wild populations. Of these primers, 16 displayed polymorphisms and 4 were monomorphic. The number of alleles per locus ranged from one to six among populations, values for expected and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.000 to 0.848 and from 0.000 to 1.000, respectively. The new SSR markers will be useful in obtaining estimates of population-level genetic diversity and in phylogeographic studies of C. japonica.

As an important part of the electric locomotive in railway transportation, the sensing and inspection of the pantograph has a significant effect on the safe operation of the train. In general, the pantograph carbon slip detection items include slide wear detection, slip strip crack detection, carbon slip fall-block detection and slip strip wear detection. The emergence and development of structured light measurement technology with 3D sensors provide new technical means for the acquisition of spatial 3D information. The three-dimensional data can not only obtain more information but also reduce the data deviation, thereby improving the measurement accuracy and work efficiency. At present, few studies have been conducted on the slide block and partial wear of the carbon slide. Therefore, this paper studies the detection of the pantograph slide block based on 3D sensor measurement technology. The experimental results indicate that it is feasible to adopt 3D measurement technology to detect the fall-block of the pantograph slide. In addition, a sound detection effect can also be obtained.

Eco-friendly pervious concretes containing fly ash (FA) and blast furnace slag (BFS) were prepared in this study. The compressive strength and hydraulic behaviors were investigated to explore the effect of replacement content of FA and BFS. Rheological tests of cementitious pastes were first conducted and the results showed that FA could increase the apparent viscosity and BFS did not change the rheology performance. Compared to traditional concretes, FA and BFS both decreased the compressive strength of pervious concrete at 28 d, while pervious concrete incorporated with FA and/or BFS presented comparable strength at 60 d. Compared to the control concrete mix, at the same replacement rate, FA changed the compressive strength more obviously than BFS. FA and BFS both decreased the effective porosity and permeability coefficient of pervious concrete. However, when the replacement rate (30%) was the same, concretes with ternary blends presented obviously larger porosity than binary blends. The relationships between porosity and permeability, and strength were also established.

For paired carrier multiple access (PCMA) signals, a new single-channel blind separation on neural network was proposed. Firstly, the sample waveforms (three symbols) which contains different bit information are constructed, secondly, the time-frequency spectrum of each sample under the different influences of the trailing symbols is Intercepted, finally, the characteristic data of the spectrum as the input data, and the two-bit sequence in each sample as the output data to be trained, network trains these data repeatedly to complete the construction of separation model. The receiver carries on window truncation to the time-frequency spectrum of PCMA signal, neural network recognize the characteristic data of these spectrums to realizes the separation of bit sequences. Experimental results show that this algorithm has lower complexity than PSP algorithm, and the accuracy of it is close to PSP algorithm (L=5).

To overcome the performance degradation of conventional Chirp parameters estimation methods in underwater acoustic multipath channels, a novel parameters estimation method based on Fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) and Fourier transform (FFT) was proposed. Firstly, the Chirp rate was estimated by searching for the best degree of Chirp after Fractional Fourier transform. Secondly, the Chirp signal turned into a single-frequency signal by means of Chirp rate equalization. Finally, FFT was applied to estimate the initial frequency. The simulation experiment show that the proposed algorithm enhanced about 1dB RMSE performance on Chirp initial frequency compared with FRFT while the computational complexity is similar to FRFT.

Porokeratosis (PK) is a heterogeneous group of keratinization disorders. No causal genes except MVK have been identified, even though the disease was linked to several genomic loci. Here, we performed massively parallel sequencing and exonic CNV screening of 12 isoprenoid genes in 134 index PK patients (61 familial and 73 sporadic) and identified causal mutations in three novel genes (PMVK, MVD, and FDPS) in addition to MVK in the mevalonate pathway. Allelic expression imbalance (AEI) assays were performed in 13 lesional tissues. At least one mutation in one of the four genes in the mevalonate pathway was found in 60 (98%) familial and 53 (73%) sporadic patients, which suggests that isoprenoid biosynthesis via the mevalonate pathway may play a role in the pathogenesis of PK. Significantly reduced expression of the wild allele was common in lesional tissues due to gene conversion or some other unknown mechanism. A G-to-A RNA editing was observed in one lesional tissue without AEI. In addition, we observed correlations between the mutations in the four mevalonate pathway genes and clinical manifestations in the PK patients, which might support a new and simplified classification of PK under the guidance of genetic testing.

The effect of suction cycles and suction gradients on a hard clay is investigated. The cylindrical samples of the hard clay are prepared to carry out the hydration and dehydration tests with different suction gradient and suction cycles. The results show that the suction gradient has little effect on the suction-water content relation, while the suction cycle has great effect on it, particularly the first cycle of hydration and dehydration. The apparent moisture diffusion coefficient of the hard clay has been identified by the use of a two-dimensional diffusion model. The moisture diffusion coefficient varies between 4.10−11 m2/s and 2.10−10 m2/s and it decreases during dehydration while the relative humidity is less than 85%. The results also show that the suction cycles play little effect on the moisture diffusion coefficient.

The prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) in China has increased with an apparent geographic variation. The current study aims to investigate the AR prevalence/classification, diagnosis/treatment conditions, trigger factors, and risk factors in the general population of Guangzhou, the third biggest city in China. A cross-sectional survey was performed in the citizens in Guangzhou from December 2009 to March 2010 by using a stratified multistage cluster sampling method. All subjects were asked to complete a comprehensive questionnaire via a face to face interview. A total of 9,899 questionnaires were valid. The prevalence rate of AR in the general population of Guangzhou was 6.24%, with a significant higher prevalence in urban area (8.32%) versus rural area (3.43%). Among the AR subjects, most (87%) were diagnosed with intermittent AR and 87% suffered from moderate-severe symptoms. High percentages of the AR patients did not have previously physician-based diagnosis (34%) or specific medical treatment (55%). Morning time, winter season, and cold air were the most common trigger factors of AR. Family history of AR, current living place, living place during babyhood, smoking, home renovation, and pet ownership were the significant risk factors associated with AR prevalence in the population. The study demonstrated comprehensive epidemiological and clinical information about the AR in Guangzhou population. Change of living environment and lifestyles had strong impacts on the prevalence of AR. Public health policies should help the patients benefit from a proper diagnosis/treatment and specifically target the local risk factors, in order to control the AR incidence.

Prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is generally poor because of the lack of simple, convenient, and noninvasive tools for CRC detection at the early stage. The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) and their different expression profiles among different kinds of diseases has opened a new avenue for tumor diagnosis. We built a serum microRNA expression profile signature and tested its specificity and sensitivity as a biomarker in the diagnosis of CRC. We also studied its possible role in monitoring the progression of CRC. We conducted a two phase case-control test to identify serum miRNAs as biomarkers for CRC diagnosis. Using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions, we tested ten candidate miRNAs in a training set (30 CRCs vs 30 controls). Risk score analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of the serum miRNA profiling system. Other independent samples, including 83 CRCs and 59 controls, were used to validate the diagnostic model. In the training set, six serum miRNAs (miR-21, let-7g, miR-31, miR-92a, miR-181b, and miR-203) had significantly different expression levels between the CRCs and healthy controls. Risk score analysis demonstrated that the six-miRNA-based biomarker signature had high sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing the CRC samples from cancer-free controls. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the six-miRNA signature profiles were 0.900 and 0.923 for the two sets of serum samples, respectively. However, for the same serum samples, the areas under the ROC curve used by the tumor markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) were only 0.649 and 0.598, respectively. The expression levels of the six serum miRNAs were also correlated with CRC progression. Thus, the identified six-miRNA signature can be used as a noninvasive biomarker for the diagnosis of CRC, with relatively high sensitivity and specificity.

In order to improve the recognition accuracy and efficiency of power quality disturbances (PQD) in microgrids, a novel PQD feature selection and recognition method based on optimal multi-resolution fast S-transform (OMFST) and classification and regression tree (CART) algorithm is proposed. Firstly, OMFST is carried out according to the frequency domain characteristic of disturbance signal, and 67 features are extracted by time-frequency analysis to construct the original feature set. Subsequently, the optimal feature subset is determined by Gini importance and sorted according to an embedded feature selection method based on the Gini index. Finally, one standard error rule subtree evaluation methods were applied for cost complexity pruning. After pruning, the optimal decision tree (ODT) is obtained for PQD classification. The experiments show that the new method can effectively improve the classification efficiency and accuracy with feature selection step. Simultaneously, the ODT can be constructed automatically according to the ability of feature classification. In different noise environments, the classification accuracy of the new method is higher than the method based on probabilistic neural network, extreme learning machine, and support vector machine.

Intronic microRNAs (in-miRNAs) as a class of miRNA family that regulates gene expression are still poorly understood in plants. In this study, we systematically identified rice in-miRNAs by re-mining eight published small RNA-sequencing datasets of rice. Furthermore, based on the collected expression, annotation, and putative target data, we investigated the structures, potential functions, and expression features of these in-miRNAs and the expression patterns of their host genes. A total of 153 in-miRNAs, which account for over 1/4 of the total rice miRNAs, were identified. In silico expression analysis showed that most of them (∼63%) are tissue or stage-specific. However, a majority of their host genes, especially those containing clustered in-miRNAs, exhibit stable high-level expressions among 513 microarray datasets. Although in-miRNAs show diversity in function and mechanism, the DNA methylation directed by 24 nt in-miRNAs may be the main pathway that controls the expressions of target genes, host genes, and even themselves. These findings may enhance our understanding on special functions of in-miRNAs, especially in mediating DNA methylation that was concluded to affect the stability of expression and structure of host and target genes.

The first comprehensive molecular phylogenetic reconstruction of the Cichorieae subtribe Lactucinae is provided. Sequences for two datasets, one of the nuclear rDNA ITS region, the other of five concatenated non-coding chloroplast DNA markers including the petD region and the psbA-trnH, 5'trnL((UAA))-trnF, rpl32-trnL((UAG)) and trnQ((UUG))-5'rps16 spacers, were, with few exceptions, newly generated for 130 samples of 78 species. The sampling spans the entire subtribe Lactucinae while focusing on its Chinese centre of diversity; more than 3/4 of the Chinese Lactucinae species are represented. The nuclear and plastid phylogenies inferred from the two independent datasets show various hard topological incongruences. They concern the internal topology of major lineages, in one case the placement of taxa in major lineages, the relationships between major lineages and even the circumscription of the subtribe, indicating potential events of ancient as well as of more recent reticulation and chloroplast capture in the evolution of the subtribe. The core of the subtribe is clearly monophyletic, consisting of the six lineages, Cicerbita, Cicerbita II, Lactuca, Melanoseris, Notoseris and Paraprenanthes. The Faberia lineage and the monospecific Prenanthes purpurea lineage are part of a monophyletic subtribe Lactucinae only in the nuclear or plastid phylogeny, respectively. Morphological and karyological support for their placement is considered. In the light of the molecular phylogenetic reconstruction and of additional morphological data, the conflicting taxonomies of the Chinese Lactuca alliance are discussed and it is concluded that the major lineages revealed are best treated at generic rank. An improved species level taxonomy of the Chinese Lactucinae is outlined; new synonymies and some new combinations are provided.

The binding of renin or prorenin to the (pro)renin receptor (PRR) promotes angiotensin (Ang) II formation and mediates Ang II-independent signaling pathways. In the central nervous system (CNS), Ang II regulates blood pressure via inducing oxidative stress; however, the role of PRR-mediated Ang II-independent signaling pathways in oxidative stress in the CNS remains undefined. To address this question, Neuro-2A cells were infected with control virus or an adeno-associated virus encoding the human PRR. Human PRR over-expression alone increased ROS levels, NADPH oxidase activity, as well as NADPH oxidase (NOX) isoforms 2 and 4 mRNA expression levels and these effects were not blocked by losartan. Moreover, the increase in NOX 2 and NOX 4 mRNA levels, NADPH oxidase activity, and ROS levels induced by PRR over-expression was prevented by mitogen activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (MAPK/ERK1/2) inhibition, and phosphoinositide 3 kinase/Akt (IP3/Akt) inhibition, indicating that PRR regulates NOX activity and ROS formation in neuro-2A cells through Ang II-independent ERK1/2 and IP3/Akt activation. Interestingly, at a concentration of 2 nM or higher, prorenin promoted Ang II formation, and thus further increased the ROS levels in cultured Neuro-2A cells via PRR. In conclusion, human PRR over-expression induced ROS production through both angiotensin II-dependent and -independent mechanisms. We showed that PRR-mediated angiotensin II-independent ROS formation is associated with activation of the MAPK/ERK1/2 and PI3/Akt signaling pathways and up-regulation of mRNA level of NOX 2 and NOX4 isoforms in neuronal cells.

It is well known that the brain renin-angiotensin (RAS) system plays an essential role in the development of hypertension, mainly through the modulation of autonomic activities and vasopressin release. However, how the brain synthesizes angiotensin (Ang) II has been a debate for decades, largely due to the low renin activity. This paper first describes the expression of the vasoconstrictive arm of RAS components in the brain as well as their physiological and pathophysiological significance. It then focus on the (pro)renin receptor (PRR), a newly discovered component of the RAS which has a high level in the brain. We review the role of prorenin and PRR in peripheral organs and emphasize the involvement of brain PRR in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Some future perspectives in PRR research are heighted with respect to novel therapeutic target for the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.

Reducing harm associated with selling and purchasing sex is an important public health priority in China, yet there are few examples of sustainable, successful programs to promote sexual health among female sex workers. The limited civil society and scope of nongovernmental organizations circumscribe the local capacity of female sex workers to collectively organize, advocate for their rights, and implement STI/HIV prevention programs. The purpose of this study was to examine social networks among low-income female sex workers in South China to determine their potential for sexual health promotion.Semi-structured interviews with 34 low-income female sex workers and 28 health outreach members were used to examine how social relationships affected condom use and negotiation, STI/HIV testing and health-seeking behaviors, and dealing with violent clients. These data suggested that sex worker's laoxiang (hometown social connections) were more powerful than relationships between women selling sex at the same venue in establishing the terms and risk of commercial sex. Female sex workers from the same hometown often migrated to the city with their laoxiang and these social connections fulfilled many of the functions of nongovernmental organizations, including collective mobilization, condom promotion, violence mitigation, and promotion of health-seeking behaviors. Outreach members observed that sex workers accompanied by their laoxiang were often more willing to accept STI/HIV testing and trust local sexual health services.Organizing STI/HIV prevention services around an explicitly defined laoxiang social network may provide a strong foundation for sex worker health programs. Further research on dyadic interpersonal relationships between female sex workers, group dynamics and norm establishment, and the social network characteristics are needed.