Biochemical prevention and treatment of viral infections – A new paradigm in medicine for infectious diseases

For two centuries, vaccination has been the dominating approach to develop prophylaxis against viral infections through immunological prevention. However, vaccines are not always possible to make, are ineffective for many viral infections, and also carry certain risk for a small, yet significant portion of the population. In the recent years, FDA's approval and subsequent market acceptance of Synagis, a monoclonal antibody indicated for prevention and treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has heralded a new era for viral infection prevention and treatment. This emerging paradigm, herein designated "Biochemical Prevention and Treatment", currently involves two aspects: (1) preventing viral entry via passive transfer of specific protein-based anti-viral molecules or host cell receptor blockers; (2) inhibiting viral amplification by targeting the viral mRNA with anti-sense DNA, ribozyme, or RNA interference (RNAi). This article summarizes the current status of this field

Sketch-based 3D Shape Retrieval using Convolutional Neural Networks

Retrieving 3D models from 2D human sketches has received considerable attention in the areas of graphics, image retrieval, and computer vision. Almost always in state of the art approaches a large amount of "best views" are computed for 3D models, with the hope that the query sketch matches one of these 2D projections of 3D models using predefined features. We argue that this two stage approach (view selection -- matching) is pragmatic but also problematic because the "best views" are subjective and ambiguous, which makes the matching inputs obscure. This imprecise nature of matching further makes it challenging to choose features manually. Instead of relying on the elusive concept of "best views" and the hand-crafted features, we propose to define our views using a minimalism approach and learn features for both sketches and views. Specifically, we drastically reduce the number of views to only two predefined directions for the whole dataset. Then, we learn two Siamese Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), one for the views and one for the sketches. The loss function is defined on the within-domain as well as the cross-domain similarities. Our experiments on three benchmark datasets demonstrate that our method is significantly better than state of the art approaches, and outperforms them in all conventional metrics.Comment: CVPR 201

Correlation between large- and small-scale velocity components under Fourier filters

AbstractBy introducing the Fourier filters, we analyse the correlation between large- and small-scale velocity components in homogeneous isotropic turbulence theoretically. We show that different Fourier filters act similarly on this multi-scale correlation with a “natural” mechanism of removing the physical correlations between large- and small-scale velocity components. This conclusion calls for the further investigation on the Hilbert—Huang decomposition to investigate the mechanism of Marusic et al (2008)

Stochastic differential equations with coefficients in Sobolev spaces

We consider It\^o SDE \d X_t=\sum_{j=1}^m A_j(X_t) \d w_t^j + A_0(X_t) \d t on $\R^d$. The diffusion coefficients $A_1,..., A_m$ are supposed to be in the Sobolev space $W_\text{loc}^{1,p} (\R^d)$ with $p>d$, and to have linear growth; for the drift coefficient $A_0$, we consider two cases: (i) $A_0$ is continuous whose distributional divergence $\delta(A_0)$ w.r.t. the Gaussian measure $\gamma_d$ exists, (ii) $A_0$ has the Sobolev regularity $W_\text{loc}^{1,p'}$ for some $p'>1$. Assume \int_{\R^d} \exp\big[\lambda_0\bigl(|\delta(A_0)| + \sum_{j=1}^m (|\delta(A_j)|^2 +|\nabla A_j|^2)\bigr)\big] \d\gamma_d0, in the case (i), if the pathwise uniqueness of solutions holds, then the push-forward (X_t)_# \gamma_d admits a density with respect to $\gamma_d$. In particular, if the coefficients are bounded Lipschitz continuous, then $X_t$ leaves the Lebesgue measure \Leb_d quasi-invariant. In the case (ii), we develop a method used by G. Crippa and C. De Lellis for ODE and implemented by X. Zhang for SDE, to establish the existence and uniqueness of stochastic flow of maps.Comment: 31 page

Robustness of s-wave Pairing in Electron-Overdoped A1−yFe2−xSe2\text{A}_{1-y}\text{Fe}_{2-x}\text{Se}_2

Using self consistent mean field and functional renormalization group approaches we show that s-wave pairing symmetry is robust in the heavily electron-doped iron chalcogenides $(\text{K, Cs}) \text{Fe}_{2-x}\text{Se}_2$. This is because in these materials the leading antiferromagnetic (AFM) exchange coupling is between next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) sites while the nearest neighbor (NN) magnetic exchange coupling is ferromagnetic (FM). This is different from the iron pnictides, where the NN magnetic exchange coupling is AFM and leads to strong competition between s-wave and d-wave pairing in the electron overdoped region. Our finding of a robust s-wave pairing in $(\text{K, Cs}) \text{Fe}_{2-x}\text{Se}_2$ differs from the d-wave pairing result obtained by other theories where non-local bare interaction terms and the NNN $J_2$ term are underestimated. Detecting the pairing symmetry in $(\text{K, Cs}) \text{Fe}_{2-x}\text{Se}_2$ may hence provide important insights regarding the mechanism of superconducting pairing in iron based superconductors.Comment: 10 pages, 16 figure

Fokker-Planck type equations with Sobolev diffusion coefficients and BV drift coefficients

In this paper we give an affirmative answer to an open question mentioned in [Le Bris and Lions, Comm. Partial Differential Equations 33 (2008), 1272--1317], that is, we prove the well-posedness of the Fokker-Planck type equations with Sobolev diffusion coefficients and BV drift coefficients.Comment: 11 pages. The proof has been modifie

A Novel Risk Assessment Model for Prefabricated Building Construction Based on Combination Weight and Catastrophe Progression Method

To reduce the construction risk of prefabricated building projects, a prefabricated building construction risk assessment index system with five first-level indicators and 21 second-level indicators was established based on human, machine, material, management, and environmental factors. By combining the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), CRiteria Importance through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC), and catastrophe theory, a risk assessment model of prefabricated building construction based on a combination weighting and catastrophe progression method was constructed. The effectiveness of the assessment model using the combination weighting and catastrophe progression method was verified through case analysis. The results show the following: (1) The quality of the prefabricated components, the standardization degree of the prefabricated components, and the environment of the installation working space in the construction risk assessment indicators of prefabricated buildings obtained by the AHP-CRITIC weighting method have higher weights. (2) Four prefabricated construction enterprises under China State Construction Corporation are evaluated, and the evaluation results effectively evaluate the project risk situation before an accident occurred, achieving the goal of improving the risk management efficiency. (3) The AHP-CRITIC weighting method can reflect the fuzziness of the construction risk of the evaluated project, effectively reduce information loss, and thus make the evaluation results more accurate. The conclusions have important practical significance for improving the construction risk management of prefabricated buildings

3-(4-Methoxy­phen­yl)-1-(2-nitrophen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one

The title compound, C16H13NO4, was prepared from 2-nitrylhypnone [systematic name: 1-(2-nitrophenyl)ethanone] and 4-methoxy­benzophenone by a Claisen–Schmidt condensation. The dihedral angle formed by the two benzene rings is 80.73 (2). The crystal packing is stabilized by inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

A Simple Inner-Stopper Guarded Trephine for Creation of Uniform Keratectomy Wounds in Rodents

Purpose: Creating controllable, reproducible keratectomy wounds in rodent corneas can be a challenge due to their small size, thickness, and the lack of usual tools available for human eyes such as a vacuum trephine. The purpose of this work is to provide a consistent, reproducible corneal stromal defect in rats using a simple, economical, and customized inner-stopper guarded trephine. Methods: The inner-stopper guarded trephine is used to induce a circular wound in rat corneas. After trephination, the corneal flap can be removed by manual dissection using a blunt spatula. We used optical coherence topography (OCT) to measure the defect wound depth induced in ex vivo rat eyes. Results: Despite a minor learning curve, this simple device enables depth control, reduces variability of manual keratectomy wound depth in rats, and decreases the risk for corneal perforation during keratectomy. Corneal defect creation was highly reproducible across different researchers and was independent of their surgical training. Conclusion: This inner-stopper guarded trephine can be utilized and applied to preclinical testing of a wide range of corneal wound healing therapies, including but not limited to biotherapeutics, corneal prosthetics, and regenerative technologies

Study of synchronization for a rotor-pendulum system with Poincare method

A simplified model of the system of unbalanced rotors coupled with pendulum rod is examined. The model consists of two counter-rotating rotors, a rigid pendulum rod and a rigid vibrating body, which is horizontally connected to a fixed support by means of springs. The synchronous state of the system, i.e. synphase and antiphase synchronization of the rotors, is studied by means of the Poincare method. Moreover, the assessment of the synchronous state is converted to find a solution that should satisfy a balanced function and a stability function of the system. However, frequency ratios and installation angular are included in the two functions. It is demonstrated that the spring stiffness and the installation angular have a large influence on the existence and stability of the synchronization state in the coupling system. Finally, computer simulations are preformed to verify the theoretical computations