Deep Technology Tracing for High-tech Companies

Technological change and innovation are vitally important, especially for high-tech companies. However, factors influencing their future research and development (R&D) trends are both complicated and various, leading it a quite difficult task to make technology tracing for high-tech companies. To this end, in this paper, we develop a novel data-driven solution, i.e., Deep Technology Forecasting (DTF) framework, to automatically find the most possible technology directions customized to each high-tech company. Specially, DTF consists of three components: Potential Competitor Recognition (PCR), Collaborative Technology Recognition (CTR), and Deep Technology Tracing (DTT) neural network. For one thing, PCR and CTR aim to capture competitive relations among enterprises and collaborative relations among technologies, respectively. For another, DTT is designed for modeling dynamic interactions between companies and technologies with the above relations involved. Finally, we evaluate our DTF framework on real-world patent data, and the experimental results clearly prove that DTF can precisely help to prospect future technology emphasis of companies by exploiting hybrid factors.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Baiji genomes reveal low genetic variability and new insights into secondary aquatic adaptations

The baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), is a flagship species for the conservation of aquatic animals and ecosystems in the Yangtze River of China; however, this species has now been recognized as functionally extinct. Here we report a high-quality draft genome and three re-sequenced genomes of L. vexillifer using Illumina short-read sequencing technology. Comparative genomic analyses reveal that cetaceans have a slow molecular clock and molecular adaptations to their aquatic lifestyle. We also find a significantly lower number of heterozygous single nucleotide polymorphisms in the baiji compared to all other mammalian genomes reported thus far. A reconstruction of the demographic history of the baiji indicates that a bottleneck occurred near the end of the last deglaciation, a time coinciding with a rapid decrease in temperature and the rise of eustatic sea level

Influence of reservoir impoundment on rainfall erosivity in the Three Gorges Reservoir region of China

New dammed reservoirs are expected to have a significant effect on the regional hydrocycle, but the detailed patterns may not be well understood. Regional climate change is likely to cause soil erosion uncertainty by affecting rainfall erosivity. In the present study, local precipitation and rainfall erosivity were investigated to determine the impounding influence of the Three Gorges Reservoir. Daily erosive precipitation, from 1980 to 2020, was categorized into four intensity levels (light, moderate, heavy, and very heavy), as well as extreme rainfall, to understand their contribution to erosivity. It was found that the impoundment significantly affected local precipitation, with both heavy precipitation and the relative erosivity showing a substantial declining trend (Sen's slope = 2.141, p < 0.05). The Mann–Kendall test indicated an abrupt change point around the year 2002, evidencing the effect of the reservoir impoundment (since 2003). Reservoir impoundment redistributed the intensity levels of erosive precipitation, leading to a 24.3% decrease in the erosivity of heavy precipitation and an 8.2% increase in the moderate category. The unimodal distribution of monthly precipitation was altered to a bimodal distribution with peaks in July and September, resulting in a longer but lower-risky erosion period of high concern. The fluctuations of Rx1day and Rx5day were obviously flattened after impoundment, with a 54.2% peak reduction in relative erosivity on average. Results indicated that heavy rainfall (including extreme rainfall) was reduced, and annual precipitation and erosivity both had a more even seasonal distribution following reservoir impoundment. HIGHLIGHTS The Three Gorges Reservoir impoundment significantly affected local precipitation.; The abrupt change point (Mann–Kendall test) was around the year 2002.; The heavy precipitation and the relative erosivity both substantially declined.; The monthly precipitation distribution was altered from unimodal to bimodal.; The interannual fluctuations of extreme rainfall were significantly reduced.

Soil Moisture Content Dominates the Photosynthesis of C₃ and C₄ Plants in a Desert Steppe after Long-Term Warming and Increasing Precipitation

Plant photosynthesis has a non-negligible influence on forage quality and ecosystem carbon sequestration. However, the influence of long-term warming, increasing precipitation, and their interactions on the photosynthesis of dominant species in desert steppe remains unclear, and the main factors regulating plant photosynthesis in desert steppes have remained unrevealed. Therefore, we measured the photosynthetic parameters and specific leaf area of the dominant species and calculated the water and nitrogen content of leaves and soil in a desert steppe after long-term warming and increasing precipitation (air temperature, W0, air temperature increases of 2 °C and 4 °C, W1 and W2; natural precipitation, P0, natural precipitation increases of 25% and 50%, P1 and P2). Results showed that warming and increasing precipitation significantly enhanced photosynthesis in C3 and C4 species (p 3 and C4 species in W2P2 increased by 159.46% and 178.88%, respectively. Redundancy analysis showed that soil water content significantly explained the photosynthesis of C3 and C4 plants (the degree of explanation was 48% and 67.7%), followed by soil-available nitrogen content (the degree of explanation was 19.6% and 5.3%). Therefore, our study found that climate change enhanced photosynthesis in C3 and C4 plants, and soil water content plays a critical role in regulating photosynthesis in desert steppes

Propofol Induces the Expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 in <i>Echinococcus granulosus</i> via the JNK and p38 Pathway In Vitro

The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Nrf2 signaling pathways in Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus). E. granulosus protoscoleces (PSCs) cultured in vitro were divided into different groups: a control group, PSCs were pretreated with various concentrations of propofol followed by exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and PSCs were pretreated with MAPK inhibitors, then co-treated with propofol and incubated in the presence of H2O2. PSCs activity was observed under an inverted microscope and survival rate was calculated. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected by fluorescence microscopy, western blotting was used to detect the expression of Nrf2, Bcl-2, and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) in the PSCs among different groups. Pretreatment of PSCs with 0–1 mM propofol for 8 h prevented PSCs death after exposure to 0.5 mM H2O2. PSCs were pretreated with PD98059, SB202190, or SP600125 for 2 h, co-treated with propofol for an additional 8 h, and then exposed to 0.5 mM H2O2 for 6 h. On day 6, the PSCs viability was 42% and 39% in the p38 and JNK inhibitor groups, respectively. Additionally, pretreatment with propofol significantly attenuated the generation of ROS following H2O2 treatment. Propofol increased the expression of Nrf2, HO-1, and BCL2 compared with that of the control group. Pretreatment PSCs with SP600125 or SB202190, co-incubation with propofol and H2O2, can reduce the expression of Nrf2, HO-1, and BCL2 (p E. granulosus disease