Search

In recent years, the intrinsic relationship between music and motions have been widely studied. However,very few efforts have been made to develop music-driven conducting motion generation models, which takes music as input signal to generate conducting motion in harmony with music rhythm and semantics. In this paper, a music-driven conducting motion generation approach based on dynamic frequency-domain motion decomposition (DFMD) was proposed. Specifically, a filter is first constructed using the beat information to decompose the command action into high and low frequency components. Then, a deep convolutional neural network dynamically learns these components,and it synthesizes the final command action. Experimental results on the large-scale ConductorMotion100 dataset show that the standard deviation of the generated low-frequency and high-frequency motion components is 4.4579 and 9.6466,which are very close to the real motions. The proposed method breaks through the limitations of coherence and coordination in time-domain or spatial-domain motion decomposition, and effectively avoids the influence of large-value low-frequency motion on small-value high-frequency motion. The visualized results show that the generated movements are natural, beautiful, diverse, and closely synchronized with the music signal. It provides a new understanding of the connection between music and movement, and brings innovative application prospects to the field of musical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conduct a line-by-line differential analysis of a sample of 125 co-moving pairs of stars (dwarfs and subgiants near solar metallicity). We obtain high-precision stellar parameters with average uncertainties in effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity of 16.5 K, 0.033 and 0.014 dex, respectively. We classify the co-moving pairs of stars into two groups, chemically homogeneous (conatal; |Δ[Fe/H]| ≤ 0.04 dex) and inhomogeneous (non-conatal), and examine the fraction of chemically homogeneous pairs as a function of separation and effective temperature. The four main conclusions from this study are (1) A spatial separation of Δ s  = 106 au is an approximate boundary between homogeneous and inhomogeneous pairs of stars, and we restrict our conclusions to only consider the 91 pairs with Δ s  ≤ 106 au; (2) There is no trend between velocity separation and the fraction of chemically homogeneous pairs in the range Δ v  ≤ 4 km s−1; (3) We confirm that the fraction of chemically inhomogeneous pairs increases with increasing T eff and the trend matches a toy model of that expected from planet ingestion; (4) Atomic diffusion is not the main cause of the chemical inhomogeneity. A major outcome from this study is a sample of 56 bright co-moving pairs of stars with chemical abundance differences ≤ 0.02 dex (5 per cent) which is a level of chemical homogeneity comparable to that of the Hyades open cluster. These important objects can be used, in conjunction with star clusters and the Gaia 'benchmark' stars, to calibrate stellar abundances from large-scale spectroscopic surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the problem of difficulty in distinguishing subtle differences between images in single-modal fine-grained classification methods, this paper introduced a multimodal fusion approach into the task of fine-grained classification. By fully utilizing the correlations and complementarity of multimodal data, this paper proposed a modality correlation learning-based fine-grained classification method. The method consisted of two stages. Firstly, considering the correspondence between image and text data, it used their matching degree as a constraint for model pretraining. Subsequently, with the loaded network parameters from the previous step, it firstly extracted multimodal features, and followed by utilizing text features to guide the generation of image features. Finally, it performed fine-grained classification based on the fused features. The method was trained and tested on the UPMC-Food101, MEP-3M-MEATS, and MEP-3M-OUTDOORS datasets, achieving accuracies of 91. 13%,82.39%, and 93. 17%, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that this method outperforms traditional multimodal fusion methods, making it an effective fine-grained classification approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic responses of bridges with uncertain parameters under moving loads were analyzed, and a polynomial dimensional decomposition method for the analysis of structural responses induced by moving loads was proposed for the first time. The uncertain parameters were regarded as independent random variables, and the random response function about these uncertain parameters was constructed. The dimensional decomposition of the function was further performed with a group of component functions with a gradually increasing number of variables, and the approximate expressions of the component functions were derived through the Fourier polynomial expansion. Then, the expansion coefficients were efficiently calculated through the introduction of the dimension-reduction integration method. The numerical examples give response estimation of bridges with uncertain parameters under moving loads, which in comparison with those from the Monte-Carlo simulation, verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of solar twins have key impacts on the astronomical community, but only ∼100–200 nearby solar twins (<1 kpc) have been reliably identified over the last few decades. The aim of our survey (SDST) is to identify ∼150–200 distant solar twins and analogues (up to ≲4 kpc) closer to the Galactic Centre. We took advantage of the precise Gaia and Skymapper surveys to select Sun-like candidates in a 2-deg field, which were observed with the HERMES spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. We successfully built up the required signal-to-noise ratio (25-per-pixel in the HERMES red band) for most targets as faint as Gaia G of 17.4 mag. The stellar photometric/astrometric parameters (e.g. T eff, log  g , mass) of our candidates are derived in this paper, while the spectroscopic parameters will be presented in the third paper in this SDST series. The selection success rate – the fraction of targets which belong to solar twins or analogues – was estimated from simulated survey data and the Besançon stellar population model, and compared with the actual success rate of the survey. We find that expected and actual success rates agree well, indicating that the numbers of solar twins and analogues we discover in SDST are consistent with expectations, affirming the survey approach. These distant solar analogues are prime targets for testing for any variation in the strength of electromagnetism in regions of higher dark matter density, and can make additional contributions to our understanding of, e.g. Galactic chemical evolution in the inner Milky Way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the issue of multiple closed circuits arising from applying the traditional Hungarian algorithm to the travelling salesman problem (TSP), a breaking mechanism was proposed, leading to the development of the Break-Cycle Hungarian Algorithm. By adopting the description method of the assignment problem for modeling the TSP and establishing the conversion relationship between them, it is demonstrated that a sufficient and necessary condition for a feasible solution to the TSP is that the feasible solution of the corresponding assignment problem, combined with auxiliary edges, contains only one cycle. The effectiveness of the algorithm was verified through testing and comparative analysis on six standard travelling salesmen, showing that the improved Hungarian algorithm can effectively solve the TSP across various datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: In order to resolve the issues of large size gap, serious occlusion and overlapping images in the objection detection research of bus passenger flow, an improved object detection model YOLOv5s_P is proposed. Methods: The PANet structure in YOLOv5 model is replaced with the BiFPN structure to strengthen features information of different scales maps in order to extract complex target features. At the same time, Mixup data augmentation method is used to increase the training samples of occlusion and overlapping images to improve model generalization capabilities and to reduce the detection errors caused by the fragmentation of passenger flow images. In order to verify the performance of the YOLOv5s_P model, it is compared with four other models: Faster R-CNN, SSD300, RetinaNet and YOLOv5s to detect bus passenger flow in real bus scenario, in which the image sets are labeled to detect the upper body of the human instead of the head. Results: Experimental results show that the average accuracy of YOLOv5s_P model reached 96.9% without affecting the detection speed, and the average missed detection rate was reduced by 3.43% compared with YOLOv5s model, which improved the detection accuracy of bus passenger flow. Conclusions: In the future, research will be integrated with the attention mechanism to further improve the detection accuracy, and combined with the tracking algorithm to solve the problem of the bus passengers number fluctuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the correlation between lung function and blood gas indexes in patients with secondary pulmonary tuberculosis with respiratory failure. Methods: From March 2018 to January 2020, 122 patients with secondary pulmonary tuberculosis were selected for diagnosis and treatment in this hospital. All patients were tested for pulmonary function and blood gas indicators, and the correlation was analyzed. Results: 122 patients were divided into respiratory failure group (n=48) and non-respiratory failure group (n=74) according to their combined respiratory failure. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1), FEV 1 /FVC, MMEF, MEF50, MEF25 values of the respiratory failure group were significantly lower than those of the non-respiratory failure group (P<0.05); The PaO 2 and Hb values of the respiratory failure group were significantly lower than those of the non-respiratory failure group (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in PaCO 2 and pH between the two groups (P>0.05); the respiratory failure group The incidence of hypoxemia and hyperhemoglobinemia was significantly higher than that of the non-respiratory failure group (P<0.05), and there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of hypercapnia between the two groups (P>0.05). In the respiratory failure group, Spearman correlation test analysis showed that FVC, FEV 1, FEV 1 /FVC, MMEF, MEF50, MEF25 were correlated with PaO 2 and Hb (P<0.05). Conclusion: Patients with secondary pulmonary tuberculosis with respiratory failure are more common clinically, usually accompanied by decreased lung function and abnormal blood gas indexes. There is a correlation between lung function and blood gas indexes in patients with respiratory failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the application of 6-minute walk test (6MWT) in evaluation of elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, and to analyze the correlation of 6MWT with blood gas indexes of pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Methods: A total of 200 elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, who were treated in Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University from January 2019 to December 2019, were chosen as experimental group, and 50 healthy individuals, who received physical examination in the hospital at the same time, as the control group. The 6MWT experiment was carried out on two groups of patients. The walking distance and SpO2 before and after experiment of two groups of individuals were measured and calculated. The lung function experiment was carried out on the patients of experimental group; the correlation of 6MWT with lung function-related indicators of pulmonary tuberculosis patients was evaluated. Results: (1) 6MWT, SpO2 and PaO2 in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group, and PaCO2 was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). (2) The SpO2 and PaO2 of the experimental group after experiment were lower than those before experiment, and the PaCO2 was higher than that before experiment (P<0.05). (3) The 6MWT of the experimental group was positively correlated with FEV1, FEV1/FVC (P<0.05). (4) The correlation analysis showed that the 6MWT of the experimental group was positively correlated with SpO2 and PaO2, but negatively correlated with PaCO2 (P<0.05). Conclusions: 6MWT is obviously correlated with pulmonary function and blood gas related indexes in elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. 6MWT can be used as one of the indicators to evaluate the condition of elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposed the mathematical model which based on the open location routing problem with fuzzy demands considering with the sum of location cost,routing cost,lost opportunity and additional distances.For solving the mathematical model,this paper proposed a new swarm intelligence algorithm named hybrid discrete mushroom algorithm.The algorithm used partly mapping crossover and path relinking algorithm to replaced artificial wind of original mushroom reproduction algorithm(MRA),and used the method of selecting different neighborhoods with a certain probability in the local search.It used stochastic simulation program to simulate the designed routes to compute additional distances and lost opportunity resulting from serving failure.The algorithm was successfully applied to the combinatorial optimization problems.Finally,this paper verifies the validity of the model and the performance of hybrid discrete mushroom reproduction algorithm through a series of tested instances and comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the expression of microRNA-138 (miR-138) and forkhead box protein D1 (FOXD1) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissues and its relationship with pathological parameters and prognosis. Methods Eighty cases of OSCC tissues and corresponding paracancerous tissues from OSCC patients that underwent surgical resection were collected as study subjects, and miR-138 and FOXD1 mRNA expression levels were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We analyzed the relationships between miR-138 and FOXD1 mRNA expression in OSCC tissues and clinicopathological features. OSCC tissues were divided into the high and low expression groups according to the mean values of miR-138 and FOXD1 mRNA expression. The binding sites between miR- 138 and FOXD1 were predicted by TargetScan. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between miR-138 and FOXD1 mRNA expression in OSCC tissues, Kaplan-Meier method was used to plot the survival curves of OSCC patients with different miR-138 and FOXD1 mRNA expression, and multifactorial Cox regression was used to analyze the influencing factors for the prognosis of OSCC patients. Results Compared with the paracancerous tissues, miR-138 expression decreased and FOXD1 mRNA expression increased in OSCC tissues (both P<0. 05) . MiR-138 had a binding site at the 3' untranslated end of FOXD1 at 2942-2948. Pearson correlation analysis showed that miR-138 was negatively correlated with FOXD1 mRNA expression in OSCC tissues (r = -0. 621, P<0. 001) . Significant differences were found in the miR-138 and FOXD1 mRNA expression levels among OSCC tissues with different degrees of differentiation, TNM stage, depth of infiltration, and lymph node metastasis (all P<0. 05) . The 5-year overall survival rate of 80 patients with OSCC was 55. 00% (44/80) . Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the overall survival rate was higher in the miR- 138 high-expression group than in the low-expression group, and the overall survival rate was lower in the FOXD1 mRNA high-expression group than in the low-expression group (both P<0. 05) . Multifactorial Cox regression analysis showed that poor differentiation, TNM stage III, infiltration depth ≥5 cm, lymph node metastasis, and FOXD1 mRNA ≥2. 18 were independent risk factors for death in patients with OSCC, and miR-138 ≥0. 78 was an independent protective factor (all P< 0. 05) . Conclusion MiR-138 is low expressed and FOXD1 mRNA is highly expressed in OSCC tissues, which are associated with the degree of differentiation, TNM stage, depth of infiltration, lymph node metastasis, and prognosis, and may be markers for diagnosis and prognosis of OSCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the present most of the color image digital watermarking techniques used binary or gray images as the watermarks and these techniques were non-blind extraction .this paper proposed a blind digital watermarking algorithm to embed a color watermark image into a color host image. The algorithm analyzed essential features of Schur decomposition, by modifying the largest eigenvalue element on the diagonal of the upper triangular matrix to embed the watermark. The watermark might be extracted from watermarked image without original host image and the original watermark image to achieve the goal of blind extraction. The experimental results show that the watermarking scheme has fast speed in embedding and extraction. In addition, the value of peak signal-to-noise ratio more than 40 dB embodies the good invisibility. The solution also has a good robustness in terms of resistance of common image attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brassica juncea var. tumida (tumorous stem mustard, TSM) is one of the most important vegetable crops of the Brassica genus of the Cruciferae family. However, the low level of mechanized harvesting cannot fully meet the large-scale production in the TSM industry. There is a high demand to shorten the stem cutting for the better integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy in the process of mechanized harvesting of TSM. In this study, a sliding-cut TSM harvester was proposed to optimize the operating parameters of its sliding cutter. Firstly, the structure and working principle were elaborated for the TSM harvester and root-cutting device, according to the agronomic requirements of the TSM harvesting. The sliding cutting was analyzed to compare the current shortened stem reciprocating and rotary cutting of TSM. The shape and structural parameters were determined to ensure the working strength of the sliding cutter. The installation of the sliding cutter was clarified, according to the force analysis. The contact parameters were calibrated between purple soil and slide cutter in the southwestern region. A soil-sliding cutter interaction model was established using EDEM software. A simulation was then implemented to analyze the impact of different operating speeds and cutter angles on the working resistance of the sliding cutter. The results showed that the angle between the sliding cutter and the working resistance was negatively correlated at the same speed, whereas, the working resistance of the sliding cutter was positively correlated with the working speed at the same sliding cutter angle. The soil tank test was conducted to verify the reliability of the parameter setting in the discrete element model, indicating the better performance of the sliding cutter. The cutting test was also carried out to optimize the test parameters, with the cutting resistance as the evaluation index, and with the operating speed, the angle of the cutter, as well as the cutting distance as the influencing factors. The results showed that the operating speed of the sliding cutter was positively correlated with the cutting resistance, whereas, the cutting distance was negatively correlated with the cutting resistance. The cutting resistance first decreased and then increased, when the tool angle was from 60° to 120°. The influencing factor of cutting resistance was ranked in the order of importance: operating speed, tool angle, and cutting distance. Furthermore, the operating speed of the sliding cutter was 0.1 m/s, the included angle of the cutter was 65°, and the cutting distance was 20 mm after optimized rounding. The values of cutting force in three repeated tests were 141.24, 156.32 and 150.65 N, respectively, where the errors were 9.8%, 21.53%, and 17.12%, respectively, compared with the theoretical of 128.63 N. Those values were 44.30%, 38.35% and 40.59% lower than the average cutting force in the Box-Behnken test. The optimal parameters of sliding knife operation were also verified. The findings can provide a strong reference for the mechanized harvesting of TSM, indicating the important engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we determined the parameters of wheat required in discrete element method (DEM) simulation by the response surface method. The repose angle is a macroscopic parameter, which is used to describe the friction and flow properties of particle material and widely applied in DEM parameter calibration for it can be measured easily. In this research, the heap of wheat was formed through the bottomless cylinder method and the repose angle was measured using a computer graphic technology. The calibration tests were conducted in laboratory and by simulation using EDEM 2.7.0 software. According to previous research, an acrylic cylinder with an inner diameter of 39 mm and a height of 120 mm was used. The wheat particles were filled into the cylinder using the "rainy method" through a square-opening sieve with 12 mm aperture and lifted with a speed of 0.05 m/s. For DEM simulation, different parameter combination tests were designed. Specifically, the Plackett-Burman test was performed to screen the significant parameters from the 8 selected parameters. It was found that the static friction for wheat-wheat and wheat-acrylic contact and the rolling friction for wheat-wheat contact had a significant effect on the repose angle, while the other 5 parameters’ influence was negligible. Then the steepest ascent test was used to determine the optimal value range of the significant parameters. In the steepest ascent test, the 5 non-significant parameters were the mid-value of the corresponding initial region, while the 3 significant parameters increased progressively until the relative errors between the simulated and the test value reached the minimum. Based on the result of the Box-Behnken test, a quadratic polynomial model for the repose angle and the 3 significant parameters was created. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the quadratic polynomial model showed that the model was significant and the lack-of-fit was non-significant. This means the model can be used to determine the best parameter combination. However, some terms in the quadratic polynomial model were non-significant. So, a modified regression model was established by deleting these non-significant terms. The ANOVA of the modified model showed all of the terms were desirable, and the first-order term of the 3 significant parameters, the interactive term of the wheat-wheat static friction coefficient and wheat-acrylic static friction coefficient, and the quadratic term of wheat-acrylic static friction coefficient had a significant effect on the repose angle. The interaction of the static friction coefficient for the wheat-wheat and wheat-acrylic contact was also analyzed, and it was found that the repose angle increased with the increase of the 2 parameters. However, when one of the 2 parameters (the static friction coefficients for the wheat-wheat A and wheat-acrylic B contact) was low, the growth rate of repose angle with the other parameter was larger than that when one of the 2 parameters was high. This showed that the interaction between the parameters of A and B was more significant when they were low. By solving the modified regression equation, the best combination of the parameters was obtained: wheat-wheat static friction coefficient of 0.58, wheat-acrylic static friction coefficient of 0.61 and wheat-wheat rolling friction of 0.08. The best parameter combination was validated through comparing the DEM simulation results with the test values, and it was found that there was no significant difference between them. The research shows that the parameter calibration method based on the response surface method is feasible. Meanwhile, the best parameter combination can be used as reference values when choosing the simulation parameters of wheat required in DEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Survey for Distant Solar Twins aims to find stars very similar to the Sun at distances of 1– |$4\, {\rm kpc}$|⁠ , several times more distant than any currently known solar twins and analogues. The goal is to identify the best stars with which to test whether the fine-structure constant, α, varies with dark matter density in our Galaxy. Here, we use epic , our line-by-line differential technique, to measure the stellar parameters – effective temperature T eff, surface gravity log  g , and metallicity [Fe/H] – from moderate-resolution (R ≲ 32 000) spectra of 877 solar twin and analogue candidates (547 at 1– |$4\, {\rm kpc}$|⁠) observed with the High Efficiency and Resolution Multi-Element Spectrograph (HERMES) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. These are consistent with expectations for T eff and log  g from photometry, and for [Fe/H] from the Besançon stellar population model. epic provides small enough uncertainties (⁠|$\sim 90\, {\rm K}$|⁠ , |$0.08\, {\rm dex}$|⁠ , and |$0.05\, {\rm dex}$|⁠ , respectively), even at the low signal-to-noise ratios available (⁠|${\rm S/N}\gtrsim$| 25 per pixel), to identify 299 new solar analogues (⁠|$\ge 90~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| confidence) and 20 solar twins (≥50 per cent confidence), 206 and 12 of which are at 1– |$4\, {\rm kpc}$|⁠. By extending epic to measure line broadening and lithium abundance from HERMES spectra, and with ages derived from isochrone fitting with our stellar parameters, we identify 174 solar analogues at 1– |$4\, {\rm kpc}$| that are relatively inactive, slowly rotating, and with no evidence of spectroscopic binarity. These are the preferred targets for follow-up spectroscopy to measure α. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem that the installation phase angle of the direct drive scroll and the fixed scroll could not get adjusted, a method of adjusting the phase angle of direct drive scroll based on swing angle motor was studied. Firstly, the architecture of direct drive scroll based on swing angle motor was proposed, the characteristics of the movable scroll profile and the mechanism of phase angle adjustment were analyzed. Then, the method of adjusting the phase angle of the orbiting scroll was proposed, that was, the radius of the orbiting scroll’s translational trajectory circle was calculated through any three non-coincident points on the orbiting scroll’s running trajectory, and the phase angle adjustment was optimized after confirming the direction of the adjusting phase angle of the orbiting scroll. Finally, an experimental platform for phase angle adjustment of direct-drive scroll compressors was built to verify the feasibility of the above methods. The experimental results show that, when the adjusted phase angle of the orbiting scroll is-4 °, the calculated translational trajectory circle radius reaches the maximum R= 4.686 mm, and the theoretical translational trajectory circle radius r = 4.721 mm. The relative error between the two is 0.73%.The research results show that this method can effectively adjust the phase angle of the orbiting scroll compressor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar twins are stars of key importance to the field of astronomy and offer a multitude of science applications. Only a small number (≲200) of solar twins are known today, all of which are relatively close to our Sun (⁠|${\lesssim}{800}\, {\rm pc}$|⁠). The goal of our Survey for Distant Solar Twins (SDST) is to identify many more solar twin and solar analogue stars out to much larger distances (⁠|${\sim}{4}\, {\rm kpc}$|⁠). In this paper, we present a new method to identify solar twins using relatively low S/N, medium resolving power (⁠|$R\sim 28\, 000$|⁠) spectra that will be typical of such distant targets observed with HERMES on the |${3.9}\, {\rm m}$| Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). We developed a novel approach, namely epic , to measure stellar parameters (SPs) which we use to identify stars similar to our Sun. epic determines the stellar atmospheric parameters (effective temperature T eff, surface gravity log  g , and metallicity [Fe/H]) using differential equivalent width (EW) measurements of selected spectroscopic absorption features and a simple model, trained on previously analysed spectra, that connects these EWs to the SPs. The reference for the EW measurements is a high S/N solar spectrum which is used to minimize several systematic effects. epic is fast, optimized for Sun-like stars and yields SP measurements with small enough uncertainties to enable spectroscopic identification of solar twin and analogue stars up to |${\sim}{4}\, {\rm kpc}$| away using AAT/HERMES, i.e. |$\sigma \left(T_{\mathrm{eff}}, \log g, \textrm {[Fe/H]}\right) = \left({50}\, {\rm K}, {0.08}\, {\rm dex}, {0.03}\, {\rm dex}\right)$| on average at S/N = 25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, hydrogen bonding between cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and starch, and self-assembly of CNC and chitosan were used to prepare wrinkled biomass microspheres by spray drying and to explore their application in supercapacitors. The results show that when the mass concentration ratios of CNC and Starch and Chitosan are 107 and 5: 5, forming hollow hemispherical wrinkled particles and regular spherical wrinkled particles, respectively. The particle diameters are about 5 µm and 3.5 µm, respectively. After carbonization at 800 °C for 2 h, the original morphology and structure could still be maintained, and no structural collapse and ring break occurred. EDS analysis showed that CNC-Starch contained only C and O elements after carbonization, while CNC-Chitosan contained C, N, O elements. CNC-Starch and CNC-Chitosan have specific capacitors of 89 F/g and 126 F/g respectively at a current density of 0.5 A/g. Thanks to the regular spherical folding structure of CNC-Chitosan and its own self-doping N element, CNC-Chitosan has better electrochemical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effects of cryoablation(CBA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFCA) on the psychological state, platelet function and prognosis of patients with atrial fibrillation. Methods: 192 patients with atrial fibrillation who were hospitalized in our hospital from January 2018 to October 2019 were selected. They were randomly divided into group A(n=96, RFCA treatment) and group B(n=96, CBA treatment). The perioperative indexes, psychological state, platelet function and prognosis of the two groups were compared. Results: 3 months after operation, the scores of self rating anxiety scale (SAS), self rating depression scale (SDS)of the two groups were lower than those before operation, and the scores of group B were lower than those of group A (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the PVI success rate between the two groups (P>0.05). The lowest freezing temperature of group B was lower than that of group A, the operation time and ablation time were shorter than those of group A (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in platelet aggregation rate, platelet α granule membrane protein (GMP-140), platelet membrane CD63 and CD62 P of group B before and 1 d after operation (P>0.05). 1 d after operation, platelet aggregation rate, GMP-140, CD63 and CD62 P of group A were higher than those before operation and group B (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the total incidence of complications between the two groups (P>0.05). The disease progression free survival rate of group B was 75.00% (72/96), which was higher than 30.21%(29/96) of group A (P<0.05). Conclusion: Compared with RFCA, CBA in the treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation, not only achieved considerable therapeutic effect, but also had better psychological state improvement and better prognosis, and had a slight impact on platelet function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effects of different ablation methods on coagulation parameters, myocardial injury and quality of life in patients with atrial fibrillation. Methods: The clinical data of 200 patients with atrial fibrillation who were hospitalized in Second Department of Internal Medicine-Cardiovascular of our hospital from January 2018 to July 2019 were analyzed retrospectively.According to the ablation methods, they were divided into radiofrequency ablation（RFCA） group（n=99） and cryoablation（CBA） group（n=101). The perioperative indexes, coagulation parameters, myocardial injury and quality of life of the two groups were compared. The postoperative complications of the two groups were recorded. Results: The operation time and ablation time of CBA group were shorter than those of RFCA group, and the lowest freezing temperature was lower than that of RFCA group（P<0.05). The activated partial thromboplastin time（APTT） decreased at 24 hours after operation in both groups, but CBA group was higher than RFCA group（P<0.05). The von Willebrand factor（v WF), D-Dimer（D-D） increased at 24 hours after operation in both groups, but CBA group was lower than RFCA group（P<0.05). The creatine kinase（CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme（CK-MB), troponin I（TNI） at 24 hours after operation in both groups were higher than those before operation, and CBA group was higher than RFCA group（P<0.05). The scores of emotional function,physical pain, physiological enginery, mental health, vitality, physiological function, health status and social function in both groups were higher than those before operation, and CBA group was higher than RFCA group（P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the two groups（P>0.05). Conclusion: Compared with RFCA, CBA is used to treat atrial fibrillation,can shorten the operation time and ablation time, reduce the influence on coagulation parameters, improve the quality of life of patients,and do not increase the incidence of complications, but CBA has a greater impact on the body myocardial injury, so we should choose the appropriate operation method according to the specific situation of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese goldthread (Coptis chinensis) is one of the most important herbal medicines in eastern Asia. However, the manual harvesting cannot fully meet the large-scale production in recent years. Taking the Coptis chinensis at harvest period as the research object, this study aims to explore the mechanical properties of root-soil composites using image reconstruction. The incremental structure from motion (ISFM) was used to feature match the unordered images of Coptis chinensis roots, and then the geometric correction and triangulation were performed to restore the sparse point cloud structure. The relative pose was re-estimated using existing point clouds after local and global optimization. All camera poses and sparse 3D point clouds were output for the latter use. Then, the multi-view stereo (MVS) was used to estimate the depth map. Dense reconstruction of point clouds and dense 3D point clouds were obtained to contain the information, such as image color texture and a strong sense of reality. And then the images were converted into the polygonal data for optimization processing. A high-fidelity root morphology model was established using multi-view image reconstruction. The approach was applied into the mechanical research of root-soil composites under different conditions. The ring knife sampling was conducted on the rootless soil and in situ root-soil composites at different depths through field stratified sampling. The root profile was dug to measure the distribution range of the root system. It was found that the root system of Coptis chinensis was distributed mainly in the soil layer with a depth of 0-90 mm. The root quality first increased and then decreased, as the depth increased. The average shear modulus and Poisson's ratio of rhizomes were 4.08 MPa and 0.45, respectively, after tensile and shear mechanical testing. Direct shear tests were conducted on the soil and root-soil composites at depths of 0-30, >30-60, and >60-90 mm under loads of 50, 100, 150, and 200 kPa, respectively. The physical and mechanical parameters were obtained for the soil and root-soil composites at different depths, such as the average shear strength. The design expert software was used for the experimental design. Significant parameters with a high impact rate were identified through Plackett-Burman experiments among numerous contact parameters. The steepest climbing test was conducted to narrow the parameter range. Then, the response value was taken as the average shear strength of soil and root-soil composites with a depth of 0-30 mm from direct shear tests. The Central Composite test was conducted to calibrate the optimal combination of simulation parameter. After that, numerical simulations of direct shear tests were conducted on soil and root-soil composites in EDEM software. The results showed that the average errors of the cohesion and internal friction angle of the discrete element model of the Coptis chinensis root-soil composites during the harvest period were 3.48% and 5.21%, respectively, with the standard deviations of 3.44% and 1.63%, under the average percentage changed in the vertical mass distribution of the root system at different depths, when the soil moisture content was between 49.58% and 62.96%, and the root moisture content was within the range of 80% to 230%. The discrete element model of soil and root-soil composites was verified to reconstruct the root system model using images data and simulation. The mechanical behavior of root-soil composites was validated for the subsequent research on root soil interaction and separation mechanisms under different conditions. The finding can provide the theoretical design basis for the key working components and the optimal working parameters during mechanized harvesting of Coptis chinensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To explore the effects of C-reactive protein(CRP) on myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in rat cardiomyocytes and its mechanisms. Methods We simulated ischemia reperfusion using oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation(OGD/R) in neonatal Sprague-Dawley rat cardiomyocytes. Cardiomyocytes were treated with CRP, Cyclosporine A(CsA), diazoxide(DZ) and divided into the control group, OGD/R group, CRP + OGD/R group, CRP + CsA +OGD/R group and CRP + DZ + OGD/R group. The myocardial cell viability,Lactic acid dehydrogenase(LDH) level in cell culture medium, mitochondrial membrane permeability transition pore(mPTP) opening level and mitochondrial membrane potential level were measured respectively. Cell viability was calculated as the percentage of the control group. Results Compared with the simple OGD/R group, the cell viability and mitochondrial membrane potential level decreased markedly, and the LDH leakage and mPTP opening level increased significantly in CRP + OGD/R group. All the differences were statistically significant(P < 0. 05). Compared with CRP + OGD/R group, in CRP + CsA + OGD/R group and CRP + DZ + OGD/R group, both cell viability and mitochondrial membrane potential level increased observably, and both LDH leakage and mPTP opening level reduced markedly. Conclusion Our results suggested that CRP directly aggravates myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in myocardial cells and that this effect is primarily mediated by inhibiting mito KATP channels and promoting mPTP opening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rich absorption spectra of Sun-like stars are enticing probes for variations in the fine-structure constant, α, which gauges the strength of electromagnetism. While individual line wavelengths are sensitive to α, they are also sensitive to physical processes in the stellar atmospheres, which has precluded their use so far. Here we demonstrate a new differential approach using solar twins: velocity separations between close pairs of transitions are compared across stars with very similar physical properties, strongly suppressing astrophysical and instrumental systematic errors. We utilize 423 archival exposures of 18 solar twins from the High-Accuracy Radial velocity Planetary Searcher (HARPS), in which calibration errors can be reduced to ≲3 m s−1. For stars with ≈10 high-signal-to-noise ratio spectra (≥200 per pixel), velocity separations between pairs are measured with ≈10 m s−1 statistical precision. A companion paper assesses a range of systematic error sources using 130 stars, with a greater range of stellar parameters, providing accurate corrections for astrophysical effects and a residual, intrinsic star-to-star scatter of 0–13 m s−1. Within these uncertainties, we find no evidence for velocity separation differences in 17 transition pairs between solar twins. In a second companion paper, this is found to limit local (≲50 pc) variations in α to ≈50 parts per billion, ∼2 orders of magnitude less than other Galactic constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective is to acquire non-transgenic Brassica campestris mutants via CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system，for achieving the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in B. campestris in planta transformation method and providing reference for application of marker-free gene editing technique. Using‘49 Caixin’as plant material and dehydrogenase gene（PDS）as target gene，total of 25 plants were transformed by in planta transformation via vacuum-infiltration method. The results showed that 3 of the 2 032 transformed seedlings were identified to have PDS gene editing，one of which was detected to have exogenous vector insertion and heterozygous editing of PDS gene，and the phenotype was consistent with that of the wild type. The other two seedlings had a dwarf，albino phenotype，and there was no insertion of foreign vector in their genomes. Different types of targeted mutagenesis of PDS gene were detected in these two seedlings compared with the wild type. In conclusion， gene editing can be achieved in B. campestris by CRISPR/Cas9 through in planta tissue culture-independent transformation，and particularly non-transgenic editing mutants without exogenous insertion can be obtained directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the application and advantages of Vibrant technology on bilateral breast dynamic contrast-enhanced magenetic resonance imaging. Methods: Applying retrospective analysis method, 70 cases of patients with breast disease by surgery or biopsy proven were women, divided into group A and group B according to the scanning time of dynamic enhancement( all n=35). All the cases were examined by 1.5T MR. The dynamic contrast-enhanced scanning time of group A was 9minutes and 24 seconds, and the dynamic contrast-enhanced scanning time of group B was 7 minutes and 42 seconds. Results: The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of group A diagnosed were 94.74%, 85% and 89.74% respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of group B diagnosed were 91.3%, 89.47% and 90.48% respectively. There was no significant difference between group A and group B on sensitivity, specificity and accuracy(P>0.05). Conclusions: Vibrant breast dynamic contrast-enhanced scanning technology,with higher sensitivity, specificity and accuracy plays an important role in the diagnosis of breast disease. Additionally, this technique did not reduce diagnostic efficacy under shorter scanning time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of ambroxol injection in the treatment of COPD combined with PTB and its impact on the serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels. Methods: 181 cases of patients with COPD and PTB treated in the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University were selected from January 2015 to January 2018 and divided into the control group and the observation group according to the order of admission. In the control group, 90 cases were treated with conventional symptomatic drugs. In the observation group,91 cases were treated with ambroxol injection on the basis of symptomatic treatment. Both groups were treated for 8 weeks. The clinical efficacy, nidus absorption status, void closure status, symptom scores, lung function and changes of serum IL-6, TNF-α levels before and after treatment were compared between two groups. Results: After treatment, the total effective rate of observation group and control group were 95.60% and 74.44% respectively, which was significantly higher in the observation group than that of the control group(P<0.05); the nidus absorption status and symptomatic score of observation group were better than those of the control group(P<0.05), there was no significant difference in the void closure status between two groups(P>0.05). The values of FVC, FVC and FEV1/FVC of observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P<0.05), the serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P<0.05). Conclusions: Ambroxol injection can significantly improve the clinical symptoms, nidus absorption status, void closure status and lung function in the treatment of COPD combined with PTB, it may be related to the effective reduction of serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the effects of cold stress on the sympathetic nerve activity and Stim1 expression of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Methods Ten male SHR and 10 normal male rats were selected. The normal male rats were randomly divided into the normal control group and cold stress group, and SHR were randomly divided into the SHR model group and SHR cold stress group, with 5 in each. Rats in the normal control group and SHR model group were placed into metabolic cages at room temperature for 6 h, and the rats in the cold stress group and SHR cold stress group were placed into metabolic cages at 4 °C for 6 h. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure was monitored during room temperature and cold stress by tail-cuff method. Urine norepinephrine excretion was detected by HPLC. The mRNA and protein expression of Stiml in brainstem were detected by quantitative real-time PGR and Western blotting, respectively. Results The SBP, DBP and urinary NE excretion were significantly higher in the cold stress group than in the normal control group; the SBP, DBP, and urinary NE excretion were significantly higher in the SHR cold stress group than in the SHR model group and cold stress group. The Stiml mRNA and protein expression levels in brainstem were significantly lower in the SHR cold stress group than in the SHR model group and cold stress group (all P <0. 01 ). Conclusion In response to cold stress, Stiml may be the key gene to modulate the sympathetic nerve activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]