Intra-Storm Temporal Patterns of Rainfall in China Using Huff Curves

Intra-storm temporal distributions of precipitation are important for infiltration, runoff, and erosion process understanding and models. A convenient and established method for characterizing precipitation hyetographs is the use of non-dimensional Huff curves. In this study, 11,801 erosive rainfall events with 1 min resolution data collected over 30 to 40 years from 18 weather stations located across the central and eastern parts of China were analyzed to produce Huff curves. Each event was classified according to the quartile period within the event that contained the greatest fraction of rainfall. The results showed that 38.3% of events had the maximum rainfall amounts in the first quartile, followed by the second (26.8%), third (22.4%), and fourth (12.5%) quartiles. Quartile I and II events were generally characteristic of shorter duration and heavier intensity events. Quartile I events averaged 23% shorter durations than quartile IV events, whereas the mean intensity (Iavg), mean maximum 30 min intensity (I30), and mean rainfall erosivity index (EI30) were 1.71, 1.22, and 1.23 times greater, respectively, than those for quartile IV and were significant at a 5% level based on two-sample t-tests. The proportion of quartile I events was less for events of longer duration, whereas the proportions of quartile III and IV events were greater. Two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests suggested that regional Huff curves can be derived for the central and eastern parts of China. Regional Huff curves developed in this study exhibited dissimilarities in terms of the percentages of storms for different quartiles and the shapes of the curves compared to those reported for Illinois, peninsular Malaysia, and Santa Catarina in Brazil

Watermark-based Detection and Attribution of AI-Generated Content

Several companies--such as Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI--have deployed techniques to watermark AI-generated content to enable proactive detection. However, existing literature mainly focuses on user-agnostic detection. Attribution aims to further trace back the user of a generative-AI service who generated a given content detected as AI-generated. Despite its growing importance, attribution is largely unexplored. In this work, we aim to bridge this gap by providing the first systematic study on watermark-based, user-aware detection and attribution of AI-generated content. Specifically, we theoretically study the detection and attribution performance via rigorous probabilistic analysis. Moreover, we develop an efficient algorithm to select watermarks for the users to enhance attribution performance. Both our theoretical and empirical results show that watermark-based detection and attribution inherit the accuracy and (non-)robustness properties of the watermarking method

Optimization of extraction process and antioxidant activity of total flavonoids from Aloe vera stir-fry products

Objective: To optimize the extraction process of total flavonoids from Aloe vera stir-fry products and investigate its antioxidant activity. Methods: Single factor test and response surface method were used to optimize the extraction process, The content of total flavonoids in Aloe vera raw and fried products from different areas was determined by UV spectrophotometry,The antioxidant activity was studied by DPPH·, ABTS+·, ·OH and FRAP methods, the correlation between total flavonoids yield and antioxidant activity was analyzed by Pearson correlation. Results: The optimal extraction conditions were as follows soaking time 3 h, ultrasonic time 15 min, ethanol volume fraction 60% and solid-liquid ratio 1∶10 （g/mL）. The content of total flavonoids in Aloe vera increased. The total flavonoids of Aloe vera raw and fried products from 8 producing areas had certain scavenging effect on four kinds of free radicals, and the concentration was positively correlated with that of Aloe vera, showing good antioxidant activity.Correlation analysis showed that antioxidant capacity was significantly correlated with total flavonoid yield. Conclusion: The optimized extraction process of total flavonoids from Aloe vera stir-fried products is reasonable and feasible, and has strong antioxidant activity

Effects of N-Acetylcysteine on Nicotinamide Dinucleotide Phosphate Oxidase Activation and Antioxidant Status in Heart, Lung, Liver and Kidney in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Purpose: Hyperglycemia increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the resulting oxidative stress plays a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. Nicotinamide dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase is one of the major sources of ROS production in diabetes. We, therefore, examined the possibility that NADPH oxidase activation is increased in various tissues, and that the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) may have tissue specifc effects on NADPH oxidase and tissue antioxidant status in diabetes. Materials and Methods: Control (C) and streptozotocin-induced diabetic (D) rats were treated either with NAC (1.5 g/kg/ day) orally or placebo for 4 weeks. The plasma, heart, lung, liver, kidney were harvested immediately and stored for biochemical or immunoblot analysis. Results: levels of free 15-F 2t-isoprostane were increased in plasma, heart, lung, liver and kidney tissues in diabetic rats, accompanied with significantly increased membrane translocation of the NADPH oxidase subunit p67phox in all tissues and increased expression of the membrane-bound subunit p22phox in heart, lung and kidney. The tissue antioxidant activity in lung, liver and kidney was decreased in diabetic rats, while it was increased in heart tissue. NAC reduced the expression of p22phox and p67phox, suppressed p67phox membrane translocation, and reduced free 15-F 2t-isoprostane levels in all tissues. NAC increased antioxidant activity in liver and lung, but did not signifcantly affect antioxidant activity in heart and kidney. Conclusion: The current study shows that NAC inhibits NADPH oxidase activation in diabetes and attenuates tissue oxidative damage in all organs, even though its effects on antioxidant activity are tissue specifc. © Yonsei University College of Medicine 2012.link_to_OA_fulltex

Monitoring the Process and Characterizing Symptoms of Suckling Mouse Inoculation Promote Isolating Viruses from Ticks

Suckling mouse inoculation is an important method that has been used for years to isolate viruses from ticks; however, this method has usually been briefly described in the literature on a case-by-case basis upon successful isolation rather than providing extensive details. This study describes the procedure from preparation of tick homogenates to identification of virus isolation using the suckling mouse inoculation method. The transient and persistent features were characterized and the incidence of manifestations that developed in the suckling mice, especially in mice from which viruses were isolated, is reported. We identified 22 symptoms that developed in mice, including 13 transient symptoms that recovered by the end of the observation period and 7 persistent symptoms that the mice suffered from throughout the observation period. Persistent symptoms (lateral positioning and dead) and transient symptoms (malaise, emaciation, and difficulty turning over) were the main symptoms based on the high overall incidence. Moreover, we showed that mice from which viruses were isolated had a concentrated period and advanced days of disease onset. This study provides detailed information necessary for better use of suckling mouse inoculation to isolate viruses from ticks, which may benefit optimization of this method to identify, discover, and acquire tick-borne viruses

Spatial Distribution of Human Schistosoma japonicum Infections in the Dongting Lake Region, China

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to spatially model the effect of demographic, reservoir hosts and environmental factors on human Schistosoma japonicum infection prevalence in the Dongting Lake area of Hunan Province, China and to determine the potential of each indicator in targeting schistosomiasis control. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Cross-sectional serological, coprological and demographic data were obtained from the 2004 nationwide periodic epidemiologic survey for Hunan Province. Environmental data were downloaded from the USGS EROS data centre. Bayesian geostatistical models were employed for spatial analysis of the infection prevalence among study participants. A total of 47,139 participants from 47 administrative villages were selected. Age, sex and occupation of residents and the presence of infected buffaloes and environmental factors, i.e. NDVI, distance to the lake and endemic type of setting, were significantly associated with S. japonicum infection prevalence. After taking into account spatial correlation, however, only demographic factors (age, sex and occupation) and the presence of infected buffaloes remained significant indicators. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Long established demographic factors, as well presence of host reservoirs rather than environmental factors are driving human transmission. Findings of this work can be used for epidemiologic surveillance and for the future planning of interventions in the Dongting Lake area of Hunan Province

N-Acetylcysteine and Allopurinol Synergistically Enhance Cardiac Adiponectin Content and Reduce Myocardial Reperfusion Injury in Diabetic Rats

Background: Hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress plays a central role in the development of diabetic myocardial complications. Adiponectin (APN), an adipokine with anti-diabetic and anti-ischemic effects, is decreased in diabetes. It is unknown whether or not antioxidant treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and/or allopurinol (ALP) can attenuate APN deficiency and myocardial ischemia reperfusion (MI/R) injury in the early stage of diabetes. Methodology/Principal Findings: Control or streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats were either untreated (C, D) or treated with NAC (1.5 g/kg/day) or ALP (100 mg/kg/day) or their combination for four weeks starting one week after STZ injection. Plasma and cardiac biochemical parameters were measured after the completion of treatment, and the rats were subjected to MI/R by occluding the left anterior descending artery for 30 min followed by 2 h reperfusion. Plasma and cardiac APN levels were decreased in diabetic rats accompanied by decreased cardiac APN receptor 2 (AdipoR2), reduced phosphorylation of Akt, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) but increased IL-6 and TNF-α (all P<0.05 vs. C). NAC but not ALP increased cardiac APN concentrations and AdipoR2 expression in diabetic rats. ALP enhanced the effects of NAC in restoring cardiac AdipoR2 and phosphorylation of Akt, STAT3 and eNOS in diabetic rats. Further, NAC and ALP, respectively, decreased postischemic myocardial infarct size and creatinine kinase-MB (CK-MB) release in diabetic rats, while their combination conferred synergistic protective effects. In addition, exposure of cultured rat cardiomyocytes to high glucose resulted in significant reduction of cardiomyocyte APN concentration and AdipoR2 protein expression. APN supplementation restored high glucose induced AdipoR2 reduction in cardiomyocytes. Conclusions/Significance: NAC and ALP synergistically restore myocardial APN and AdipoR2 mediated eNOS activation. This may represent the mechanism through which NAC and ALP combination greatly reduces MI/R injury in early diabetic rats. © 2011 Wang et al.published_or_final_versio

Intra-Storm Temporal Patterns of Rainfall in China Using Huff Curves

Intra-storm temporal distributions of precipitation are important for infiltration, runoff, and erosion process understanding and models. A convenient and established method for characterizing precipitation hyetographs is the use of non-dimensional Huff curves. In this study, 11,801 erosive rainfall events with 1 min resolution data collected over 30 to 40 years from 18 weather stations located across the central and eastern parts of China were analyzed to produce Huff curves. Each event was classified according to the quartile period within the event that contained the greatest fraction of rainfall. The results showed that 38.3% of events had the maximum rainfall amounts in the first quartile, followed by the second (26.8%), third (22.4%), and fourth (12.5%) quartiles. Quartile I and II events were generally characteristic of shorter duration and heavier intensity events. Quartile I events averaged 23% shorter durations than quartile IV events, whereas the mean intensity (Iavg), mean maximum 30 min intensity (I30), and mean rainfall erosivity index (EI30) were 1.71, 1.22, and 1.23 times greater, respectively, than those for quartile IV and were significant at a 5% level based on two-sample t-tests. The proportion of quartile I events was less for events of longer duration, whereas the proportions of quartile III and IV events were greater. Two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests suggested that regional Huff curves can be derived for the central and eastern parts of China. Regional Huff curves developed in this study exhibited dissimilarities in terms of the percentages of storms for different quartiles and the shapes of the curves compared to those reported for Illinois, peninsular Malaysia, and Santa Catarina in Brazil.This article is published as Yin, Shui-qing, Yun Xie, Mark A. Nearing, Wen-li Guo, and Zheng-yuan Zhu. "Intra-Storm Temporal Patterns of Rainfall in China Using Huff Curves." Transactions of the ASABE 59, no. 6 (2016): 1619-1632. DOI: 10.13031/trans.59.11010. Posted with permission.</p