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Although several flow routing (FR) algorithms are developed for hydrological modeling, it is still uncertain how the selection of algorithms may affect model results. This study aims to explore the similarity and dissimilarity in model results among different FR algorithms characterized by single flow direction (SD) and multiple flow direction (MD). The Coupled Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (CHESS) was incorporated with six different FR algorithms (D8, D∞, MD∞, MD8, MFD-md, and RMD∞) and then applied for modeling ecohydrological processes for a semiarid mountainous watershed in the western United States during 1991–2012. Comparisons were made between the model results at the catchment and the grid scale. After slightly adjusting one of the most sensitive soil parameters, all algorithms behave similarly in simulating stream hydrographs. When averaged for the watershed, the modeled ecohydrological variables mostly do not differ significantly (5%) cell-level differences in modeled soil moisture among different FR algorithms, with propagated influences on the simulated evapotranspiration and vegetation growth variables. In hillslopes, the cell-level differences in model results tend to increase significantly as the flows move to the streams. Overall, this study proves that the watershed-level differences in model results among FR algorithms are low after model calibration, while significant differences still occur at the cell level. Thus, observational data are essential for testing which routing algorithm captures better the reality of local ecohydrological processes. Significance Statement The consideration of flow routing is essential for accurately simulating land surface ecohydrological processes. However, less is known about how the selection of flow routing algorithms may affect the model results. Based on model experiments, we found that the model results under different algorithms do not significantly differ from each other when averaged for the watershed. However, significant differences in model results exist at the individual cell level. These findings are useful for guiding future modeling-related research and also suggest the importance of field studies for testing which routing algorithm can better represent local ecohydrological processes.

Data for the manuscript titled "Aggravated floods after mega forest fires".

Data for JHM manuscript (Do model results vary under different routing algorithms based on a distributed ecohydrological model?)

Cloud storage technology has attracted a considerable number of users owing to its exponential growth. Storing data in the cloud can save the resources of local storage configuration and reduce the cost of local hardware investment. However, the data stored in the cloud is out of the physical control (out of control) of the user. Based on the service characteristics of the cloud environment and the security requirements of user privacy data in the cloud environment, this paper proposes an improved identity proxy re-encryption algorithm based on the advanced encryption standard algorithm. The performance of the algorithm is optimized by reducing the number of bilinear mapping operations, whose calculation takes the longest time in the proxy re-encryption scheme. Only two bilinear mapping operations are required in this scheme. In addition, the encrypted data are tested to different degrees. The experimental results show that this scheme satisfies encryption and decryption performance requirements of the user.

Qian Xu,1 Zhenwu Xu2 1Department of Oncology Medicine, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, 350001, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Thoracic Medical Oncology, Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350014, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zhenwu XuDepartment of Thoracic Medical Oncology, Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, No. 420 Fuma Road, Fuzhou 350014, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-13906931946Email xuzhenwu32540@163.comObjective: To explore the biological role of miR-196b-5p/RSPO2 in the occurrence and development of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and to provide a basis for finding new therapeutic targets for LUAD.Methods: Differentially expressed genes were analyzed based on LUAD microarray, and the target gene of the target miRNA was predicted. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression levels of miR-196b-5p and RSPO2 mRNA in normal human bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B and LUAD cell lines A549, NCI-H1792 and NCI-H226. Western blot was used to evaluate protein expression. Cell proliferative, migratory and invasive abilities were detected by CCK-8 and transwell assays. Dual-luciferase assay was conducted to verify the targeting relationship between miR-196b-5p and RSPO2.Results: The results of qRT-PCR showed that miR-196b-5p was significantly highly expressed in LUAD cells, and the expression level of its downstream target gene RSPO2 was significantly decreased. The results of CCK-8 and transwell assays exhibited that miR-196b-5p promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of LUAD cells, while RSPO2 inhibited the malignant progression of LUAD cells. Dual-luciferase assay confirmed the targeted binding relationship between miR-196b-5p and RSPO2. Overexpression of RSPO2 partially reversed the promotion of miR-196b-5p on proliferation, migration and invasion of LUAD cells.Conclusion: miR-196b-5p promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of LUAD cells by targeting and down-regulating RSPO2, which provided ideas for searching new targets for the diagnosis and treatment of LUAD.Keywords: RSPO2, miR-196b-5p, lung adenocarcinoma, proliferation, invasion

Multi-core techniques have been widely used in various hardware platforms, promoting development of concurrent programs. Unfortunately, concurrent programs are prone to concurrency errors. At present, it is still an open issue to provide high coverage detection of concurrency errors. In this paper, we present an enhanced dynamic concurrency error detection technique, called PVcon, which can detect more concurrency errors than existing techniques. PVcon first finds suspicious locations of concurrency errors by applying a novel relation, elastic-causalities (EC), and then strictly verifies each suspicious concurrency errors with a lightweight intentional scheduling technique. We have implemented PVcon in C/C++ and evaluated it by localizing concurrency errors from real-world programs. The experimental results show that PVcon can efficiently detect twice more concurrency errors than other techniques.

BackgroundLINC00346 has recently been reported to regulate the development of several cancer types, but its biological functions and underlying mechanisms in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) have not been elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of LINC00346 in the progression of LUAD.MethodsBioinformatics was performed to find the target lncRNA, miRNA and mRNA, and the binding relationship between the target genes was verified by dual luciferase reporter gene and RIP assays. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to detect the location of LINC00346 in LUAD tissues. The expressions of LINC00346, miR-30c-2-3p and MYBL2 in each group were detected by qRT-PCR, and western blot was performed to detect expressions of MYBL2 and CELL CYCLE related proteins. Proliferation, metastasis, apoptosis and cell cycle of LUAD cells were detected by CCK-8, colony formation, Transwell and flow cytometry assays, respectively. Mouse xenograft models were established to further determine the effects of LINC00346 on LUAD tumor growth in vivo.ResultsLINC00346 was upregulated in LUAD tissues and cells and was mainly localized in the cytoplasm. Knockdown of LINC00346 inhibited tumor growth in vivo, proliferation, metastasis and cell cycle progression, while induced apoptosis. LINC00346 sponged miR-30c-2-3 by targeting MYBL2 and regulating CELL CYCLE signaling pathway. Inhibiting miR-30c-2-3p or overexpressing MYBL2 could reverse the inhibitory effect of LINC00346 knockdown on LUAD process.ConclusionsLINC00346 as a ceRNA played a carcinogenic role in the development of LUAD via miR-30c-2-3p/MYBL2 axis regulating the CELL CYCLE signaling pathway. The study generally elucidated the mechanism by which LINC00346 regulated the development of LUAD, providing new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of LUAD guided by lncRNA.

Mountain watersheds serve as important water sources for socioeconomic activities in semiarid and arid regions. This study examined the streamflow response to snow regime shifts associated with climate variability in the US Great Basin. To this end, the coupled hydro-ecological simulation system (CHESS), a process-based and distributed model, was applied to four mountain watersheds in the US Great Basin. Historical weather records for the period of 1961–1990 were used to spin-up model simulations so that the soil water and vegetation reached the equilibrium state under long-term climate conditions; the period of 1991–2015 was selected as the study period. The model evaluation suggested that CHESS was able to simulate major hydrological processes in the four mountain watersheds. In addition, it was found that annual streamflow was more strongly correlated with snowfall than with rainfall during 1991–2015 and increased by 0.62–0.76 mm as snowfall increased by 1 mm in the study regions. Recent regional warming advanced the timing of the peak flow and shifts in the snow regime also affected the intra-annual pattern of the soil moisture content. Seasonally, spring rainfall and snowmelt were dominant factors in generating spring streamflow and summer baseflow. The mechanisms for flow generation were more complex and more variable in the four watersheds in autumn and winter than in spring and summer. On an annual basis, shifts in snowmelt resulting from climate variability accounted for more than 60% of the variability in the annual streamflow, surpassing the contribution of rainfall in the four watersheds. Overall, our results suggest that shifts in the snow regime due to climate variability have important implications for the intra-annual distribution and availability of water resources in semiarid and arid regions of the US Great Basin.

Background: High tumor mutation burden (TMB) is an emerging selection biomarker for immune checkpoint blockade in tumors such as melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. TMB is typically calculated from whole genome sequencing or whole exome sequencing (WES) data. Recently, clinical trials showed that TMB can also be estimated from targeted sequencing of a panel of only a few hundred genes of interest, which can be performed at a high depth for clinical applications. Materials and methods: In this study, we systematically investigated the distribution of TMB and preferences at the gene and mutation level, as well as the correlation between TMB calculated by WES and panel sequencing data using somatic mutation data from 15 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Results: We proposed a pan-cancer TMB panel and demonstrated that it had a higher correlation with WES than other panels. Our panel could serve as a reference data-set for TMB-oriented panel design to identify patients for immunotherapy.

Based on the characteristics and data security requirements of the cloud environment, we present a scheme for a multi-security-level cloud storage system that is combined with AES symmetric encryption and an improved identity-based proxy re-encryption (PRE) algorithm. Our optimization includes support for fine-grained control and performance optimization. Through a combination of attribute-based encryption methods, we add a fine-grained control factor to our algorithm in which each authorization operation is only valid for a single factor. By reducing the number of bilinear mappings, which are the most time-consuming processes, we achieve our aim of optimizing performance. Last but not least, we implement secure data sharing among heterogeneous cloud systems. As shown in experiment, our proposed multi-security-level cloud storage system implements services such as the direct storage of data, transparent AES encryption, PRE protection that supports fine-grained and ciphertext heterogeneous transformation, and other functions such as authentication and data management. In terms of performance, we achieve time-cost reductions of 29.8% for the entire process, 48.3% for delegation and 47.2% for decryption.

Taking the air conditioner cluster as the object, under the condition of individual perception and controllable state of the air conditioner, the cluster state is given a considerable and controllable function. In the analysis of the load model of a single air conditioner, considering the comfort of indoor temperature, the characteristics of on and off are given, that is, the cycle of on time and off time; on this basis, the air conditioning clusters are divided according to the same or similar switching cycles, thereby forming a switching strategy of series and parallel groups to achieve load balance. In the on state, if the adjustment of the power of the air conditioner itself is not considered, a simple aggregation control method is given. The analysis of numerical examples shows that this method is simple and reliable.

Parallel computing is a primary way to increase computing efficiency of grid-based distributed hydrological models. This study proposed an automatic partition-based parallel algorithm (APPA) to approach the theoretical maximum speedup ratio (TMSR). Through a combination of flexible partition for the domain decomposition and the load balance of parallel simulation, APPA optimizes the parallelization of hillslope and channel flow routing processes at sub-basin and channel unit level, respectively. To illustrate APPA's performance, we embedded it in a distributed ecohydrological model, and then applied the updated model to three watersheds at different spatial scales. The results indicate that APPA effectively promoted parallel performance. The estimated speedup ratio approached 93–97% of the TMSR for simulating hillslope processes and 91–98% of the TMSR for simulating channel processes using 26-threads in all three watersheds. These improvements justify that APPA is effective in accelerating model simulation and thus benefits future model-based research.

Climate change (CC) and human activities (HA) have severely influenced grassland productivity in Central Asia since the 1980s. However, the relative impacts of CC and HA on grassland productivity are not adequately documented, especially over the past three decades. In this study, we adapted the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) to reveal potential timescales at which grassland productivity varied in Central Asia and to investigate the spatiotemporal variations of grassland productivity during 1982–2015. We developed a quantitative method that incorporated the EEMD, along with six scenarios, to disentangle the effects of CC and HA on grassland productivity in Central Asia. Results showed that grassland productivity in Central Asia trended upward significantly at a rate of 0.66 gC m−2 yr−1 and was dominated by a 3-year time scale oscillation. The impacts of CC and HA on grassland productivity varied significantly over space and time. CC mainly facilitated grassland productivity restoration, whereas HA decreased grassland productivity in Central Asia. Besides, varied HA in six regions of Central Asia were due to different policy implementations across these regions. In particular, HA in Xinjiang significantly promoted grassland restoration, accounting for 22.5% of the total human-affected area, mostly because of the implementation of the Grazing Withdrawal Program (GWP), while HA significantly accelerated grassland productivity degradation in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan over last three decades. Additionally, HA promoted the restoration of grassland productivity in Kazakhstan in a short period due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, but degraded it at long-term scale. Further, precipitation was found to be the main climatic factor while grazing be the main human factor for controlling grassland productivity variations in Central Asia, respectively. Overall, our study provides not only a novel way of quantifying the impacts of CC and HA on vegetation variations but also new insights into mechanisms mediating grassland productivity in Central Asia.

Background: High tumor mutation burden (TMB) is an emerging selection biomarker for immune checkpoint blockade in tumors such as melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. TMB is typically calculated from whole genome sequencing or whole exome sequencing (WES) data. Recently, clinical trials showed that TMB can also be estimated from targeted sequencing of a panel of only a few hundred genes of interest, which can be performed at a high depth for clinical applications. Materials and methods: In this study, we systematically investigated the distribution of TMB and preferences at the gene and mutation level, as well as the correlation between TMB calculated by WES and panel sequencing data using somatic mutation data from 15 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Results: We proposed a pan-cancer TMB panel and demonstrated that it had a higher correlation with WES than other panels. Our panel could serve as a reference data-set for TMB-oriented panel design to identify patients for immunotherapy.

Distributed hydrological and ecosystem models route surface and subsurface flow in general two ways: single and multiple flow direction (SFD vs. MFD). However, few study has examined how model results differ between SFD and MFD simulation. The objective of this study is to explore the similarity and dissimilarity of model results between the two simulations. To achieve this objective, we compared model results based on a distributed ecohydrological model that was ran respectively under four different routing algorithms. Our results indicate that SFD and MFD algorithms behave in the same way in simulating stream hydrograph. When averaged for the watershed, the values of modeled ecohydrological variables do not differ significantly between SFD and MFD simulations. Nevertheless, due to differences between SFD and MFD algorithms, the modeled values of variables are spatially more autocorrelated under MFD algorithms than under SFD algorithms. In addition, there are significant differences in the modeled values of variables at individual cell level. For hydrological variables, differences are most significant in areas near channels and tend to decrease significantly as distances-from-channel increases. For ecological variables, differences are minimal in areas near channels and tend to increase significantly as distance-from- channel increases. The similarity and dissimilarity between SFD and MFD simulations are not subject to dry or wet year. Overall, we found there are no differences in model results between SFD and MFD algorithms when model results are averaged for a study area but there are significant differences in model results when individual cells are compared.