An Exploration on Condorcet-Approval-Range Voting Function with limits

In contrast to most social choice methods, which use ranked ballots, range voting is a well-known social choice method that offers the voters more choices in the form of an allowed range of possible scores. In this project, by allowing voters to give positive and negative scores, we hope to find a way that can explicitly show how voters disapprove, feel neutral, or approve of the alternatives instead of just giving ranking orders. Also, by applying a function to constrain the scores given in range voting, each voter will have the same influence when they give scores. After combining these conditions with Condorcet method by transferring scores into the ranked ballot, we get a new voting function that involves Condorcet, approval, and range voting. In this project, we explore how this new voting function behaves with respect to certain voting criteria

A novel unemployment rate forecasting method based on fuzzy information granules and GM(1,1) model

Granular computing is a novel method to solve complex tasks in the context of big data by simulating human problem-solving thinking, abstracting complex problems and dividing them into several simpler problems (i.e., granulation), which helps to better analyze and solve problems. In order to improve the accuracy of forecasting unemployment rates, this paper introduces the granulation idea of granular computing into the time series analysis of unemployment rates. Therefore, a novel method based on fuzzy information granules (FIGs) and grey system theory, namely FIG-GM(1,1) model, is proposed. This method not only reduces the dimensionality of the problem and computational complexity but also effectively reduces cumulative errors. In empirical analysis, three different performance indicators, mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and root mean squared error (RMSE), and seven comparative models are used to evaluate the forecasting performance of our proposed model. The empirical results indicate that the MAE, MAPE, and RMSE values of the FIG-GM(1,1) model are significantly lower than those of other models, indicating that the FIG-GM(1,1) model has better forecasting performance compared to other models

TranssionADD: A multi-frame reinforcement based sequence tagging model for audio deepfake detection

Thanks to recent advancements in end-to-end speech modeling technology, it has become increasingly feasible to imitate and clone a user`s voice. This leads to a significant challenge in differentiating between authentic and fabricated audio segments. To address the issue of user voice abuse and misuse, the second Audio Deepfake Detection Challenge (ADD 2023) aims to detect and analyze deepfake speech utterances. Specifically, Track 2, named the Manipulation Region Location (RL), aims to pinpoint the location of manipulated regions in audio, which can be present in both real and generated audio segments. We propose our novel TranssionADD system as a solution to the challenging problem of model robustness and audio segment outliers in the trace competition. Our system provides three unique contributions: 1) we adapt sequence tagging task for audio deepfake detection; 2) we improve model generalization by various data augmentation techniques; 3) we incorporate multi-frame detection (MFD) module to overcome limited representation provided by a single frame and use isolated-frame penalty (IFP) loss to handle outliers in segments. Our best submission achieved 2nd place in Track 2, demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed system

Effects of Temperature on the Quality of Vacuum Concentrated Pear Juice and Construction of Quality Evaluation Model

Objective: To compare the quality of vacuum concentrated pear juice at different temperatures and construct a quality evaluation method for concentrated pear juice. Method: Fresh pear juice was concentrated under decompression condition (vacuum degree 0.005 MPa) at concentration temperatures of 50, 60, 70 and 80 ℃, respectively. The evaluation model of concentrated pear juice was constructed based on the browning degree, pH, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, Fe3+reducing power, soluble sugar, organic acid and volatile components of the concentrated pear juice. Results: The content of tartaric acid, fumaric acid and pH decreased significantly with the increasing temperature, while the browning degree, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, Fe3+reducing power, quinic acid, malic acid, citric acid increased significantly. The content of alcohols was the highest in concentrated pear juice of 50 ℃ (4.753 μg/mL), the esters was the highest in concentrated pear juice of 70 ℃ (2.808 μg/mL), the aldehydes and ketones were the highest in concentrated pear juice of 70 ℃ (12.478 μg/mL). This study obtained a model for evaluating the quality of concentrated pear juice and found that 70 ℃ was best vacuum concentration temperature for pear juice. Conclusion: The vacuum concentration temperature could affect the quality of concentrated pear juice, which could be well distinguished by the quality evaluation model. This study would provide references for the quality control of vacuum concentrated pear juice

Understanding willingness to use oral pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men in China.

BACKGROUND: Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended as an additional prevention choice for men who have sex with men (MSM) at substantial risk of HIV. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent, and reasons, for MSM's willingness to use oral PrEP in Wuhan and Shanghai, China. METHODS: Between May and December 2015, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 487 MSM recruited through snowball sampling in physical locations frequented by MSM and through social media applications. Exploratory factor analysis was used to group reasons for being willing or not willing to use PrEP. Chi-square tests were used to explore bivariate associations between groupings of reasons for being willing or unwilling to use PrEP, and key sociodemographic and sexual-behavioral characteristics of MSM. RESULTS: Overall, 71.3% of respondents were willing to use PrEP. The most commonly reported reasons for being willing to use PrEP were preventing HIV infection (91.6%), taking responsibility for own sexual health (72.6%) and protecting family members from harm (59.4%). The main reasons for being unwilling to use PrEP were being worried about side effects (72.9%), the necessity of taking PrEP for long periods of time (54.3%) and cost (40.4%). Individual characteristics that influenced the type of reasons given for being willing or unwilling to use PrEP included being married to a woman, having a regular sex partner, rates of condom use with regular and casual sex partners, and the number of casual sex partners. CONCLUSION: The introduction of PrEP in China could benefit from promotion campaigns that emphasize its role in preventing HIV infection, in taking responsibility for own sexual health, and in protecting family members from potential harm. To reduce uptake barriers, it will be essential to provide accurate information to potential PrEP users about the mild and short-term nature of side effects, and the possibility of taking PrEP only during particular periods of life when the risk of HIV exposure might be highest

De novo transcriptome analysis of Medicago falcata reveals novel insights about the mechanisms underlying abiotic stress-responsive pathway

BACKGROUND: The entire world is facing a deteriorating environment. Understanding the mechanisms underlying plant responses to external abiotic stresses is important for breeding stress-tolerant crops and herbages. Phytohormones play critical regulatory roles in plants in the response to external and internal cues to regulate growth and development. Medicago falcata is one of the stress-tolerant candidate leguminous species and is able to fix atmospheric nitrogen. This ability allows leguminous plants to grow in nitrogen deficient soils. METHODS: We performed Illumina sequencing of cDNA prepared from abiotic stress treated M. falcata. Sequencedreads were assembled to provide a transcriptome resource. Transcripts were annotated using BLASTsearches against the NCBI non-redundant database and gene ontology definitions were assigned. Acomparison among the three abiotic stress treated samples was carried out. The expression of transcriptswas confirmed with qRT-PCR. RESULTS: We present an abiotic stress-responsive M. falcata transcriptome using next-generation sequencing data from samples grown under standard, dehydration, high salinity, and cold conditions. We combined reads from all samples and de novo assembled 98,515 transcripts to build the M. falcata gene index. A comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome revealed abiotic stress-responsive mechanisms underlying the metabolism and core signalling components of major phytohormones. We identified nod factor signalling pathways during early symbiotic nodulation that are modified by abiotic stresses. Additionally, a global comparison of homology between the M. falcata and M. truncatula transcriptomes, along with five other leguminous species, revealed a high level of global sequence conservation within the family. CONCLUSIONS: M. falcata is shown to be a model candidate for studying abiotic stress-responsive mechanisms in legumes. This global gene expression analysis provides new insights into the biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved in the acclimation to abiotic stresses. Our data provides many gene candidates that might be used for herbage and crop breeding. Additionally, FalcataBase (http://bioinformatics.cau.edu.cn/falcata/) was built for storing these data. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-2019-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Controllable sliding transfer of wafer‐size graphene

The innovative design of sliding transfer based on a liquid substrate can succinctly transfer high‐quality, wafer‐size, and contamination‐free graphene within a few seconds. Moreover, it can be extended to transfer other 2D materials. The efficient sliding transfer approach can obtain high‐quality and large‐area graphene for fundamental research and industrial applications

Shox2 is essential for the differentiation of cardiac pacemaker cells by repressing Nkx2-5

The pacemaker is composed of specialized cardiomyocytes located within the sinoatrial node (SAN), and is responsible for originating and regulating the heart beat. Recent advances towards understanding the SAN development have been made on the genetic control and gene interaction within this structure. Here we report that the Shox2 homeodomain transcription factor is restrictedly expressed in the sinus venosus region including the SAN and the sinus valves during embryonic heart development. Shox2 null mutation results in embryonic lethality due to cardiovascular defects, including an abnormal low heart beat rate (bradycardia) and severely hypoplastic SAN and sinus valves attributed to a significantly decreased level of cell proliferation. Genetically, the lack of Tbx3 and Hcn4 expression, along with ectopic activation of Nppa, Cx40, and Nkx2-5 in the Shox2−/− SAN region, indicates a failure in SAN differentiation. Furthermore, Shox2 overexpression in Xenopus embryos results in extensive repression of Nkx2-5 in the developing heart, leading to a reduced cardiac field and aberrant heart formation. Reporter gene expression assays provide additional evidence for the repression of Nkx2-5 promoter activity by Shox2. Taken together our results demonstrate that Shox2 plays an essential role in the SAN and pacemaker development by controlling a genetic cascade through the repression of Nkx2-5

RMDAP: A Versatile, Ready-To-Use Toolbox for Multigene Genetic Transformation

Background: The use of transgenes to improve complex traits in crops has challenged current genetic transformation technology for multigene transfer. Therefore, a multigene transformation strategy for use in plant molecular biology and plant genetic breeding is thus needed. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we describe a versatile, ready-to-use multigene genetic transformation method, named the Recombination-assisted Multifunctional DNA Assembly Platform (RMDAP), which combines many of the useful features of existing plant transformation systems. This platform incorporates three widely-used recombination systems, namely, Gateway technology, in vivo Cre/loxP and recombineering into a highly efficient and reliable approach for gene assembly. RMDAP proposes a strategy for gene stacking and contains a wide range of flexible, modular vectors offering a series of functionally validated genetic elements to manipulate transgene overexpression or gene silencing involved in a metabolic pathway. In particular, the ability to construct a multigene marker-free vector is another attractive feature. The built-in flexibility of original vectors has greatly increased the expansibility and applicability of the system. A proof-ofprinciple experiment was confirmed by successfully transferring several heterologous genes into the plant genome. Conclusions/Significance: This platform is a ready-to-use toolbox for full exploitation of the potential for coordinate regulation of metabolic pathways and molecular breeding, and will eventually achieve the aim of what we call ‘‘one-sto

Development and application of a porous cage carrier method for detecting trace elements in soils by direct current glow discharge mass spectrometry

The accurate and reliable determination of trace elements in soil still remains a big challenge for glow discharge mass spectrometry due to the poor conductive nature of soils. In the present work, a porous cage carrier was developed and used in the analysis of soils. The investigation results suggested that the carrier with a circular cross-sectional area in the range from 20 to 38 mm2, length from 15 to 17 mm and diameter of hole size from 1.5 mm to 2.0 mm could obtain good signals. Then the porous cage carrier method was systematically evaluated by analysing three types of soil reference materials. The discharge process was kept stable for more than 100 minutes, which was much longer than the boric acid method and indium sheet method. The investigations suggested that the internal precision was obtained within 16%, the external precision was better than 20% and the relative error was in the range from 0.7% to 17%. The detection limit of Tb could reach 0.014 μg g−1, which indicated that the new method qualified for the analysis of trace elements in soils. Compared to traditional tablet-pressed methods, the porous cage carrier method was not only convenient for sample preparation, but also showed good stability, reproducibility and better detection limits for trace elements. Furthermore, this method was proved to promote the potential application of GD-MS in the environmental field