A New Algorithm to Approximate Bivariate Matrix Function via Newton-Thiele Type Formula

A new method for computing the approximation of bivariate matrix function is introduced. It uses the construction of bivariate Newton-Thiele type matrix rational interpolants on a rectangular grid. The rational interpolant is of the form motivated by Tan and Fang (2000), which is combined by Newton interpolant and branched continued fractions, with scalar denominator. The matrix quotients are based on the generalized inverse for a matrix which is introduced by C. Gu the author of this paper, and it is effective in continued fraction interpolation. The algorithm and some other important conclusions such as divisibility and characterization are given. In the end, two examples are also given to show the effectiveness of the algorithm. The numerical results of the second example show that the algorithm of this paper is better than the method of Thieletype matrix-valued rational interpolant in Gu (1997)

The Use of Nanoscaled Fibers or Tubes to Improve Biocompatibility and Bioactivity of Biomedical Materials

Nanofibers and nanotubes have recently gained substantial interest for potential applications in tissue engineering due to their large ratio of surface area to volume and unique microstructure. It has been well proved that the mechanical property of matrix could be largely enhanced by the addition of nanoscaled fibers or tubes. At present, more and more researches have shown that the biocompatibility and bioactivity of biomedical materials could be improved by the addition of nanofibers or nanotubes. In this review, the efforts using nanofibers and nanotubes to improve biocompatibility and bioactivity of biomedical materials, including polymeric nanofibers/nanotubes, metallic nanofibers/nanotubes, and inorganic nanofibers/nanotubes, as well as their researches related, are demonstrated in sequence. Furthermore, the possible mechanism of improving biocompatibility and bioactivity of biomedical materials by nanofibers or nanotubes has been speculated to be that the specific protein absorption on the nanoscaled fibers or tubes plays important roles

Fast Learning of Temporal Action Proposal via Dense Boundary Generator

Generating temporal action proposals remains a very challenging problem, where the main issue lies in predicting precise temporal proposal boundaries and reliable action confidence in long and untrimmed real-world videos. In this paper, we propose an efficient and unified framework to generate temporal action proposals named Dense Boundary Generator (DBG), which draws inspiration from boundary-sensitive methods and implements boundary classification and action completeness regression for densely distributed proposals. In particular, the DBG consists of two modules: Temporal boundary classification (TBC) and Action-aware completeness regression (ACR). The TBC aims to provide two temporal boundary confidence maps by low-level two-stream features, while the ACR is designed to generate an action completeness score map by high-level action-aware features. Moreover, we introduce a dual stream BaseNet (DSB) to encode RGB and optical flow information, which helps to capture discriminative boundary and actionness features. Extensive experiments on popular benchmarks ActivityNet-1.3 and THUMOS14 demonstrate the superiority of DBG over the state-of-the-art proposal generator (e.g., MGG and BMN). Our code will be made available upon publication.Comment: Accepted by AAAI 2020. Ranked No. 1 on ActivityNet Challenge 2019 on Temporal Action Proposals (http://activity-net.org/challenges/2019/evaluation.html

Laser speckle contrast imaging to monitor microcirculation: An effective method to predict outcome in patients with sepsis and septic shock

Background: This study examines the microcirculation of patients with sepsis and septic shock using Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) technology, to enhance monitoring and predict outcomes of sepsis and septic shock.Methods: From 01 July 2021, to 31 January 2022, 44 patients diagnosed with septic shock and sepsis were included in the study, their clinical data were collected, and LSCI was used to monitor the mean peripheral blood flow perfusion index (PI).Results: The average peripheral blood flow PI of septic shock patients was significantly lower than that of septic patients, with a cutoff value of 26.25. The average peripheral blood flow PI negatively correlated with acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) Ⅱ score (p = .01 < .05), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score (p < .01), and lactic acid levels (p = .01 < .05). We report average peripheral blood flow no correlation with age, mean arterial pressure, body temperature, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and body mass index. There was no correlation with procalcitonin, C-reactive protein (CRP), red blood cell distribution width, or platelet distribution width (p > .05). PI significantly correlated with the group sepsis and septic shock (p < .001, r = −.865). And PI significantly correlated with the outcome or mortality (p = .007 < .05, r = −.398). The ROC curve was calculated for PI and the sensitivity was 81.3%, and the specificity was 75% when PI cutoff value chooses 20.88.Conclusion: LSCI technology successfully detected the fingertip microcirculation of patients with septic shock. LSCI can reliably differentiate patients with sepsis vs patients with septic shock. Additionally, the average peripheral blood PI negatively correlated with APACHE Ⅱ, SOFA score, and lactate acid levels, providing useful and supplementary information for the diagnosis and monitoring of septic shock. Trial registration: Chictr2100046761. Registered on May 28, 2021.Clinical Trial Registration:clinicaltrials.gov, identifier Chictr210004676

Deficiency in Silicon Transporter Lsi1 Compromises Inducibility of Anti-herbivore Defense in Rice Plants

Silicon (Si) application can significantly enhance rice resistance against herbivorous insects. However, the underlying mechanism is elusive. In this study, silicon transporter mutant OsLsi1 and corresponding wild-type rice (WT) were treated with and without Si to determine Si effects on rice resistance to leaffolder (LF), Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Si application on WT plants significantly promoted rice plant growth, upregulated expression level of OsLsi1 and increased Si accumulation in the leaves and roots, as well as effectively reduced LF weight gain, while it showed only marginal or no effect on the mutant plants. Furthermore, upon LF infestation, transcript levels of OsLOX, OsAOS2, OsCOI1a, OsCOI1b, and OsBBPI, and activity of catalase, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase were significantly higher in Si-treated than untreated WT plants. However, OsLsi1 mutant plants displayed higher susceptibility to LF, and minimal response of defense-related enzymes and jasmonate dependent genes to Si application. These results suggest that induced defense plays a vital role in Si-enhanced resistance and deficiency in silicon transporter Lsi1 compromises inducibility of anti-herbivore defense in rice plants

The Ninth Visual Object Tracking VOT2021 Challenge Results

acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Cultural Interaction: The Transformation of Textile design for Traditional Cheongsam in the Republic of China

This paper aims to discuss the artistic characteristics of traditional cheongsam and the transformation that has taken place in cheongsam textile design in the Republic of China. By analysing a collection consisting of 259 traditional cheongsam material samples in various museums such as the China Silk Archives in Suzhou, we explored the transformation of cheongsam textile design during the Republic of China from the perspective of Eastern and Western art cultural exchanges and explored the spread of Western artistic thought in China. Our search shows that, firstly, with the development of industrialization, the traditional cheongsam textile business absorbed new design concepts; secondly, in terms of material selection and pattern style, it widened the range of fabrics used and broke the monotony of traditional Chinese patterns. Moreover, it reduced connotations of social class implied by traditional textile design. Finally, these textile designs reflect the progress that has been made in the development of this artistic trend and the cultural fusion of Eastern and Western arts during the Republic of China

Design and Cultural Aspects of 20th Century Chinese Xiangjin Brocade

As one of the representative silk-woven artworks of the 20th century in China, Chinese Xiangjin brocade, well-known as "the flower of Oriental art", draws on the essence of Sichuan brocade, Yun brocade, Song brocade, so as to form its own unique artistic style. It also takes the lead in the innovation of traditional brocade in key processes such as craftsmanship, design and jacquard, whose drawing technique is the exact core skill making it intangible cultural heritage. So far, there have been few studies on crafts and textile design in China before the 20th century or even after the reform and opening up, and rather fewer studies on the structure of Xiangjin brocade in the 20th century. This paper attempts to record and classify 1008 pieces of Xiangjin brocade in the Suzhou Silk Archive, China, as well as to find out their design features, oriental flavour, and unique weaving techniques. In addition, the cultural connotation of Xiangjin brocade as the painting medium was also put forward by analysing those brocades’ historical texts, images, and style