171 research outputs found
Chandra Observation of a Weak Shock in the Galaxy Cluster A2556
Based on a 21.5 ks \chandra\ observation of A2556, we identify an edge on the
surface brightness profile (SBP) at about 160 kpc northeast of the
cluster center, and it corresponds to a shock front whose Mach number
is calculated to be . No prominent
substructure, such as sub-cluster, is found in either optical or X-ray band
that can be associated with the edge, suggesting that the conventional
super-sonic motion mechanism may not work in this case. As an alternative
solution, we propose that the nonlinear steepening of acoustic wave, which is
induced by the turbulence of the ICM at the core of the cluster, can be used to
explain the origin of the shock front. Although nonlinear steepening weak shock
is expected to occur frequently in clusters, why it is rarely observed still
remains a question that requires further investigation, including both deeper
X-ray observation and extensive theoretical studies.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Ap
Meta-optimized Contrastive Learning for Sequential Recommendation
Contrastive Learning (CL) performances as a rising approach to address the
challenge of sparse and noisy recommendation data. Although having achieved
promising results, most existing CL methods only perform either hand-crafted
data or model augmentation for generating contrastive pairs to find a proper
augmentation operation for different datasets, which makes the model hard to
generalize. Additionally, since insufficient input data may lead the encoder to
learn collapsed embeddings, these CL methods expect a relatively large number
of training data (e.g., large batch size or memory bank) to contrast. However,
not all contrastive pairs are always informative and discriminative enough for
the training processing. Therefore, a more general CL-based recommendation
model called Meta-optimized Contrastive Learning for sequential Recommendation
(MCLRec) is proposed in this work. By applying both data augmentation and
learnable model augmentation operations, this work innovates the standard CL
framework by contrasting data and model augmented views for adaptively
capturing the informative features hidden in stochastic data augmentation.
Moreover, MCLRec utilizes a meta-learning manner to guide the updating of the
model augmenters, which helps to improve the quality of contrastive pairs
without enlarging the amount of input data. Finally, a contrastive
regularization term is considered to encourage the augmentation model to
generate more informative augmented views and avoid too similar contrastive
pairs within the meta updating. The experimental results on commonly used
datasets validate the effectiveness of MCLRec.Comment: 11 Pages,8 figure
Exploration of the slope effect on the uplift capacity of single straight and belled piles supporting transmission towers
Single piles are normally used to support the transmission tower in mountain areas. Uplift capacity of piles is a key factor in the engineering design to increase the stability of transmission tower foundation. This study numerically investigated the uplift capacity of single straight and belled piles in the sloping ground which consisted of a clay layer underlain by medium weathered sandstone. A non-linear 3D finite element model was proposed to describe the uplift behavior of single piles and was calibrated against a field test on single piles subjected to uplift loading. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of the slope angle (θ) on the uplift behavior of single piles. The uplift capacity decreased as θ increased for either straight piles or belled piles. Moreover, the range of the equivalent plastic strain was greatest for single piles in the level ground. For piles in the sloping ground, the range of equivalent plastic strain was wider at the position of the downstream slope than that at the position of the upstream slope when the uplift load of single piles reached the maximum. As the expansion angle increased to 30° and 45°, the uplift capacity of belled piles (Ru) was increased by 100% and 180% with respect to that of straight piles, respectively. The increase percentage in Ru was independent of θ. A practical method was proposed to quantify the slope effect on Ru
Bearing capacities of single piles under combined HM loading near slopes
Piles are widely used to transfer the horizontal load of high-rise buildings, transmission towers, and bridges, especially for superstructures constructed near slopes. This study investigated bearing capacities of single piles under the combined horizontal force (H) and bending moment (M) for the pile in sloping ground. A 3D finite element model was proposed to simulate the non-linear pile–soil interaction and was verified by a model test. A series of numerical tests were conducted to obtain the failure envelope of bearing capacities of single piles under various combinations of H and M. The existence of slopes significantly reduced the bearing capacity of piles, especially when the horizontal and rotational displacements moved to the dip direction of the slope. An oblique ellipse was able to describe the failure envelope of bearing capacities of single piles near slopes in the HM plane. As the pile was installed away from the crest of the slope, both the width and height of the ellipse increased and the center of the ellipse was approaching the origin. The results of this article can provide useful references for designing horizontally loaded piles near slopes
Quality of life in rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy in Xi’an
Purposes: The aim of this study was to observe the quality of life (QOL) in rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy in different periods after operation. Methods: A 1-,3-,6-month prospective study of QOL in 51 rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy and 50 ones without permanent colostomy was assessed by using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QOL-30 and CR38 questionnaires. Results: The variation of QOL in different periods was “v” type. In the 1st postoperative month, these patients had the lowest quality of life scores, accompanied significantly varied functions and severe symptoms. Almost of all indexes of these patients had improved consistently in postoperative periods. The scores of global QOL even better than pre-operative level at 6th months post-operation, but the social function, body image, chemotherapy side effects and financial difficulties had not restored to the baseline level. Patients without permanent colostomy had a better score in most of categories of QOL-30 and CR38. Conclusions: The 1st postoperative month was crucial for patients’ recovery, in which we should pay great attention to these problems which relate to the recovery of rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy.Keywords: Quality of life, Rectal cancer, Permanent colostomy, EORTC QOL-30 and CR38 questionnairesAfrican Health sciences Vol 14 No. 1 March 201
Gene cloning, expression, and characterization of two endo-xylanases from Bacillus velezensis and Streptomyces rochei, and their application in xylooligosaccharide production
Endo-xylanase hydrolyzing xylan in cellulosic residues releasing xylobiose as the major product at neutral pH are desirable in the substitute sweeteners industry. In this study, two endo-xylanases were obtained from Streptomyces rochei and Bacillus velezensis. SrocXyn10 showed the highest identity of 77.22%, with a reported endo-xylanase. The optimum reaction temperature and pH of rSrocXyn10-Ec were pH 7.0 and 60°C, with remarkable stability at 45°C or pHs ranging from 4.5 to 11.0. rBvelXyn11-Ec was most active at pH 6.0 and 50°C, and was stable at 35°C or pH 3.5 to 10.5. Both rSrocXyn10-Ec and rBvelXyn11-Ec showed specific enzyme activities on wheat arabinoxylan (685.83 ± 13.82 and 2809.89 ± 21.26 U/mg, respectively), with no enzyme activity on non-xylan substrates. The Vmax of rSrocXyn10-Ec and rBvelXyn11-Ec were 467.86 U mg−1 and 3067.68 U mg−1, respectively. The determined Km values of rSrocXyn10-Ec and rBvelXyn11-Ec were 3.08 g L−1 and 1.45 g L−1, respectively. The predominant product of the hydrolysis of alkaline extracts from bagasse, corncob, and bamboo by rSrocXyn10-Ec and rBvelXyn11-Ec were xylooligosaccharides. Interestingly, the xylobiose content in hydrolysates by rSrocXyn10-Ec was approximately 80%, which is higher than most reported endo-xylanases. rSrocXyn10-Ec and rBvelXyn11-Ec could be excellent candidates to produce xylooligosaccharides at neutral/near-neutral pHs. rSrocXyn10-Ec also has potential value in the production of xylobiose as a substitute sweetener
A Chandra Study of Temperature Substructures in Intermediate-Redshift Galaxy Clusters
By analyzing the gas temperature maps created from the Chandra archive data,
we reveal the prevailing existence of temperature substructures on ~100 kpc
scales in the central regions of nine intermediate-redshift (z~0.1) galaxy
clusters, which resemble those found in the Virgo and Coma Clusters. Each
substructure contains a clump of hot plasma whose temperature is about 2-3 keV
higher than the environment, corresponding to an excess thermal energy of
~1E58-1E60 erg per clump. Since if there were no significant non-gravitational
heating sources, these substructures would have perished in 1E8-1E9 yrs due to
thermal conduction and turbulent flows, whose velocity is found to range from
about 200 to 400 km/s, we conclude that the substructures cannot be created and
sustained by inhomogeneous radiative cooling. We also eliminate the
possibilities that the temperature substructures are caused by supernova
explosions, or by the non-thermal X-ray emission due to the
inverse-Comptonization of the CMB photons. By calculating the rising time of
AGN-induced buoyant bubbles, we speculate that the intermittent AGN outbursts
(~ 1E60 erg per burst) may have played a crucial role in the forming of the
high temperature substructures. Our results are supported by recent study of
McNamara & Nulsen (2007), posing a tight observational constraint on future
theoretical and numerical studies.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures, ApJ accepte
Two-Phase ICM in the Central Region of the Rich Cluster of Galaxies Abell 1795: A Joint Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku View
Based on a detailed analysis of the high-quality Chandra, XMM-Newton, and
Suzaku data of the X-ray bright cluster of galaxies Abell 1795, we report clear
evidence for a two-phase intracluster medium (ICM) structure, which consists of
a cool (with a temperature T = 2.0-2.2 keV) and a hot (T = 5.0-5.7 keV)
component that coexist and dominate the X-ray emission at least in the central
80 kpc. A third weak emission component (T = 0.8 keV) is also detected within
the innermost 144 kpc and is ascribed to a portion of inter-stellar medium
(ISM) of the cD galaxy. Deprojected spectral analysis reveals flat radial
temperature distributions for both the hot phase and cool phase components.
These results are consistent with the ASCA measurements reported in Xu et al.
(1998), and resemble the previous findings for the Centaurus cluster (e.g.,
Takahashi et al. 2009). By analyzing the emission measure ratio and gas metal
abundance maps created from the Chandra data, we find that the cool phase
component is more metal-enriched than the hot phase one in 50-100 kpc region,
which agrees with that found in M87 (Simionescu et al. 2008). The coexistence
of the cool phase and hot phase ICM cannot be realized by bubble uplifting from
active galactic nuclei (AGN) alone. Instead, the two-phase ICM properties are
better reconciled with a cD corona model (Makishima et al. 2001). (Abridged)Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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