The Advantages of BIM Application in EPC Mode

Applying BIM in the model of EPC General contracting, general contractor, designer, constructor, Supervisor and other professional sub contractors can share resource which can achieve the project information, standardization, visualization, collaborative and ultimately make the project quality, schedule, cost, safety and other objectives to achieve maximum

RISE-Based Integrated Motion Control of Autonomous Ground Vehicles With Asymptotic Prescribed Performance

This article investigates the integrated lane-keeping and roll control for autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) considering the transient performance and system disturbances. The robust integral of the sign of error (RISE) control strategy is proposed to achieve the lane-keeping control purpose with rollover prevention, by guaranteeing the asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system, attenuating systematic disturbances, and maintaining the controlled states within the prescribed performance boundaries. Three contributions have been made in this article: 1) a new prescribed performance function (PPF) that does not require accurate initial errors is proposed to guarantee the tracking errors restricted within the predefined asymptotic boundaries; 2) a modified neural network (NN) estimator which requires fewer adaptively updated parameters is proposed to approximate the unknown vertical dynamics; and 3) the improved RISE control based on PPF is proposed to achieve the integrated control objective, which analytically guarantees both the controller continuity and closed-loop system asymptotic stability by integrating the signum error function. The overall system stability is proved with the Lyapunov function. The controller effectiveness and robustness are finally verified by comparative simulations using two representative driving maneuvers, based on the high-fidelity CarSim-Simulink simulation

Structural pathway for nucleation and growth of topologically close-packed phase from parent hexagonal crystal

The solid diffusive phase transformation involving the nucleation and growth of one nucleus is universal and frequently employed but has not yet been fully understood at the atomic level. Here, our first-principles calculations reveal a structural formation pathway of a series of topologically close-packed (TCP) phases within the hexagonally close-packed (hcp) matrix. The results show that the nucleation follows a nonclassical nucleation process, and the whole structural transformation is completely accomplished by the shuffle-based displacements, with a specific 3-layer hcp-ordering as the basic structural transformation unit. The thickening of plate-like TCP phases relies on forming these hcp-orderings at their coherent TCP/matrix interface to nucleate ledge, but the ledge lacks the dislocation characteristics considered in the conventional view. Furthermore, the atomic structure of the critical nucleus for the Mg2Ca and MgZn2 Laves phases was predicted in terms of Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT), and the formation of polytypes and off-stoichiometry in TCP precipitates is found to be related to the nonclassical nucleation behavior. Based on the insights gained, we also employed high-throughput screening to explore several common hcp-metallic (including hcp-Mg, Ti, Zr, and Zn) systems that may undergo hcp-to-TCP phase transformations. These insights can deepen our understanding of solid diffusive transformations at the atomic level, and constitute a foundation for exploring other technologically important solid diffusive transformations

WristSketcher: Creating Dynamic Sketches in AR with a Sensing Wristband

Restricted by the limited interaction area of native AR glasses (e.g., touch bars), it is challenging to create sketches in AR glasses. Recent works have attempted to use mobile devices (e.g., tablets) or mid-air bare-hand gestures to expand the interactive spaces and can work as the 2D/3D sketching input interfaces for AR glasses. Between them, mobile devices allow for accurate sketching but are often heavy to carry, while sketching with bare hands is zero-burden but can be inaccurate due to arm instability. In addition, mid-air bare-hand sketching can easily lead to social misunderstandings and its prolonged use can cause arm fatigue. As a new attempt, in this work, we present WristSketcher, a new AR system based on a flexible sensing wristband for creating 2D dynamic sketches, featuring an almost zero-burden authoring model for accurate and comfortable sketch creation in real-world scenarios. Specifically, we have streamlined the interaction space from the mid-air to the surface of a lightweight sensing wristband, and implemented AR sketching and associated interaction commands by developing a gesture recognition method based on the sensing pressure points on the wristband. The set of interactive gestures used by our WristSketcher is determined by a heuristic study on user preferences. Moreover, we endow our WristSketcher with the ability of animation creation, allowing it to create dynamic and expressive sketches. Experimental results demonstrate that our WristSketcher i) faithfully recognizes users' gesture interactions with a high accuracy of 96.0%; ii) achieves higher sketching accuracy than Freehand sketching; iii) achieves high user satisfaction in ease of use, usability and functionality; and iv) shows innovation potentials in art creation, memory aids, and entertainment applications

Identification of New Glutamate Decarboxylases from \u3cem\u3eStreptomyces\u3c/em\u3e for Efficient Production of γ-Aminobutyric Acid in Engineered \u3cem\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/em\u3e

Background Gamma (γ)-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) as a bioactive compound is used extensively in functional foods, pharmaceuticals and agro-industry. It can be biosynthesized via decarboxylation of monosodium glutamate (MSG) or L-glutamic acid (L-Glu) by glutamate decarboxylase (GAD; EC4.1.1.15). GADs have been identified from a variety of microbial sources, such as Escherichia coli and lactic acid bacteria. However, no GADs from Streptomyces have been characterized. The present study is aimed to identify new GADs from Streptomyces strains and establish an efficient bioproduction platform for GABA in E. coli using these enzymes. Results By sequencing and analyzing the genomes of three Streptomycesstrains, three putative GADs were discovered, including StGAD from Streptomyces toxytricini NRRL 15443, SsGAD from Streptomyces sp.MJ654-NF4 and ScGAD from Streptomyces chromofuscus ATCC 49982. The corresponding genes were cloned from these strains and heterologously expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3). The purified GAD proteins showed a similar molecular mass to GadB from E. coliBL21(DE3). The optimal reaction temperature is 37 °C for all three enzymes, while the optimum pH values for StGAD, SsGAD and ScGAD are 5.2, 3.8 and 4.2, respectively. The kinetic parameters including Vmax, Km, kcat and kcat/Km values were investigated and calculated through in vitro reactions. SsGAD and ScGAD showed high biocatalytic efficiency with kcat/Km values of 0.62 and 1.21 mM− 1·s− 1, respectively. In addition, engineered E. coli strains harboring StGAD, SsGAD and ScGAD were used as whole-cell biocatalysts for production of GABA from L-Glu. E. coli/SsGAD showed the highest capability of GABA production. The cells were repeatedly used for 10 times, with an accumulated yield of 2.771 kg/L and an average molar conversion rate of 67% within 20 h. Conclusions Three new GADs have been functionally characterized from Streptomyces, among which two showed higher catalytic efficiency than previously reported GADs. Engineered E. coli harboring SsGAD provides a promising cost-effective bioconversion system for industrial production of GABA

An Early Evaluation of GPT-4V(ision)

In this paper, we evaluate different abilities of GPT-4V including visual understanding, language understanding, visual puzzle solving, and understanding of other modalities such as depth, thermal, video, and audio. To estimate GPT-4V's performance, we manually construct 656 test instances and carefully evaluate the results of GPT-4V. The highlights of our findings are as follows: (1) GPT-4V exhibits impressive performance on English visual-centric benchmarks but fails to recognize simple Chinese texts in the images; (2) GPT-4V shows inconsistent refusal behavior when answering questions related to sensitive traits such as gender, race, and age; (3) GPT-4V obtains worse results than GPT-4 (API) on language understanding tasks including general language understanding benchmarks and visual commonsense knowledge evaluation benchmarks; (4) Few-shot prompting can improve GPT-4V's performance on both visual understanding and language understanding; (5) GPT-4V struggles to find the nuances between two similar images and solve the easy math picture puzzles; (6) GPT-4V shows non-trivial performance on the tasks of similar modalities to image, such as video and thermal. Our experimental results reveal the ability and limitations of GPT-4V and we hope our paper can provide some insights into the application and research of GPT-4V.Comment: Technical Report. Data are available at https://github.com/albertwy/GPT-4V-Evaluatio

Anisodamine combined with lidocaine improves healing of myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in rats via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

Purpose: To study the effects of anisodamine (Ad) combined with lidocaine (Ldc) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) in rats, and its correlation with PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.Methods: A total of 70 healthy rats were randomly divided into S group, M group, Ad group, Ldc group, Ad + Ldc group, Ad + Ldc + LY group, and LY group. The cardiac hemodynamic indices in each group were determined, and the area of myocardial infarction measured. Serum biochemical indices were also determined. Furthermore, the protein expressions of p-Akt, T-Akt, Bcl-2, and Bax in myocardial cells were determined by Western blotting.Results: Compared with those in M group, Ad group, Ldc group, Ad + Ldc + LY group, and LY group, cardiac hemodynamic indices significantly improved, while the area of myocardial infarction was significantly reduced (p < 0.01). Furthermore, serum malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration but the activities of CK, CK-MB, TNF-α, and IL-6 declined, while the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), CAT and GSH-Px rose in Ad + Ldc group (p < 0.01). In Ad + Ldc group, p-Akt, T-Akt, and Bcl-2 increased, while Bax significantly decreased. Through comparison LY294002 significantly inhibited the protective effect of Ad combined with Ldc against MIRI in rats (p < 0.01).Conclusion: Anisodamine combination with lidocaine has a protective effect against MIRI in rats via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, thus indicating that it is a potential therapeutic strategy for the management of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion

Antioxidative Activities and Active Compounds of Extracts from Catalpa

In order to screen the Catalpa plant with high antioxidant activity and confirm the corresponding active fractions from Catalpa ovata G. Don, C. fargesii Bur., and C. bungei C. A. Mey., total flavonoid contents and antioxidant activities of the extracts/fractions of Catalpa plant leaves were determined. The determined total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity were used as assessment criteria. Those compounds with antioxidant activity were isolated with silica gel column chromatography and ODS column chromatography. Our results showed that the total flavonoid content in C. bungei C. A. Mey. (30.07 mg/g·DW) was the highest, followed by those in C. fargesii Bur. (25.55 mg/g·DW) and C. ovata G. Don (24.96 mg/g·DW). According to the determination results of total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity in 3 clones of leaves of C. bungei C. A. Mey., the total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity in crude extracts from C. bungei C. A. Mey. 6 (CA6) leaves were the highest. Moreover, the results showed that the total flavonoid content and antioxidant activities of ethyl acetate (EA) fraction in ethanol crude extracts in CA6 leaves were the highest, followed by n-butanol, petroleum ether (PE), and water fractions. Two flavonoid compounds with antioxidant activity were firstly isolated based on EA fraction. The two compounds were luteolin (1) and apigenin (2), respectively

Comparison of Multiple Functional-Active Ingredients in Different Varieties of Natto

In order to investigate the important functional-active components in different varieties of natto, natto was processed using soybean, black bean, red bean, mung bean, lentil, chickpea, kidney bean, pea, red bean and cowpea, and the differences of nattokinase, polyphenol, natto polysaccharide and γ-aminobutyric acid were compared and analyzed in these natto. The results showed that the nattokinase activity ranged from 985.31 to 2453.18 U/g, and the nattokinase activity in chickpea natto was significantly higher than those of other natto (P<0.05). The total phenol content ranged from 1.44 to 3.21 mg GAE/g, and the total phenolic acid content ranged from 19.754 to 183.902 μg/g. The types of phenolic substances were abundant in black bean natto, mung bean natto and cowpea natto. The yield of polysaccharide was 1.03%~15.11%, the content of total sugar was 21.86%~58.40%, and the content of uronic acid was 4.26%~15.09%. And the yield of polysaccharide, the contents of total sugar and uronic acid in kidney bean natto were significantly higher than those of other natto (P<0.05). The content of γ-aminobutyric acid was 4.97~15.99 mg/g, and the content of γ-aminobutyric acid in cowpea natto was significantly higher than those of other natto (P<0.05). The viable number of Bacillus subtilis natto in lentil natto was significantly higher than those of other natto (P<0.05). After comprehensive evaluation, black bean, cowpea and kidney bean were ideal raw materials for the produce of new natto