Exploring the meaning of agurment in China

This paper aims to explore the meaning of the English word argument in Chinese culture and language. It first reviews the various definitions and concepts of argument in western literature and Chinese culture. Next, it argues that there is no one single all-encompassing word in Chinese that can fully represent all the meanings of the English word argument. Finally, it conducts a survey research to get the possible Chinese translations of the English word argument

Relaxation oscillations of a piecewise-smooth slow-fast Bazykin's model with Holling type Ⅰ functional response

In this paper, we consider the dynamics of a slow-fast Bazykin's model with piecewise-smooth Holling type Ⅰ functional response. We show that the model has Saddle-node bifurcation and Boundary equilibrium bifurcation. Furthermore, it is also proven that the model has a homoclinic cycle, a heteroclinic cycle or two relaxation oscillation cycles for different parameters conditions. These results imply the dynamical behavior of the model is sensitive to the predator competition rate and the initial densities of prey and predators. In order to support the theoretical analysis, we present some phase portraits corresponding to different values of parameters by numerical simulation. These phase portraits include two relaxation oscillation cycles, an unstable relaxation oscillation cycle surrounded by a stable homoclinic cycle; the coexistence of a heteroclinic cycle and an unstable relaxation oscillation cycle. These results reveal far richer and much more complex dynamics compared to the model without different time scale or with smooth Holling type Ⅰ functional response

Self-Similar Random Process and Chaotic Behavior In Serrated Flow of High Entropy Alloys

The statistical and dynamic analyses of the serrated-flow behavior in the nanoindentation of a high-entropy alloy, Al0.5CoCrCuFeNi, at various holding times and temperatures, are performed to reveal the hidden order associated with the seemingly-irregular intermittent flow. Two distinct types of dynamics are identified in the high-entropy alloy, which are based on the chaotic time-series, approximate entropy, fractal dimension, and Hurst exponent. The dynamic plastic behavior at both room temperature and 200 °C exhibits a positive Lyapunov exponent, suggesting that the underlying dynamics is chaotic. The fractal dimension of the indentation depth increases with the increase of temperature, and there is an inflection at the holding time of 10 s at the same temperature. A large fractal dimension suggests the concurrent nucleation of a large number of slip bands. In particular, for the indentation with the holding time of 10 s at room temperature, the slip process evolves as a self-similar random process with a weak negative correlation similar to a random walk

Machine-Learning-Method-Based Inversion of Shallow Bathymetric Maps Using ICESat-2 ATL03 Data

peer reviewedThe application of empirical methods for satellite-derived bathymetry is limited by the lack of in situ bathymetric data in remote, inaccessible areas. This challenge has been addressed with the launch of Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2). This study provides an accurate bathymetric photon extraction process for ICESat-2 ATL03 data, and the ${{\bm{R}}}^2$ value of the bathymetric photons obtained using this process and airborne bathymetric LiDAR data is up to 99%. Next, based on two types of remote sensing data, ICESat-2 and Sentinel-2, machine learning models, including linear regression (LR), light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), and categorical boosting (CatBoost), were trained to obtain bathymetric maps. The experimental results show that the mean root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean relative error (MRE) values of the LR models are less than 3.02 m, 2.38 m, and 86.03%, respectively. The mean RMSE, MAE, and MRE values of the LightGBM and CatBoost models are less than 0.91 m, 0.66 m, and 23.17%, respectively. It is concluded that the proposed denoising process for ICESat-2 ATL03 data is effective, and the results of the bathymetric maps obtained using these data are satisfactory. Thus, the proposed approach is effective, and this strategy can be used to replace conventional bathymetric inversion methods to obtain high-accuracy bathymetric maps

Protective Role of Nuclear Factor-Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 Against Radiation-Induced Lung Injury and Inflammation

Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is one of the most common and fatal complications of thoracic radiotherapy. Inflammatory cell infiltration, imbalance of inflammatory cytokines, and oxidative damage were reported to be involved during RILI pathogenesis, especially in the early phase of RILI. Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a key transcriptional regulator of antioxidative cascades, and regulates life span of mice after administration of thoracic irradiation. We investigated the effects of Nrf2 on RILI and inflammation using Nrf2-knockout, Nrf2-overexpression and wild-type mice with or without 15 Gy ionizing radiation to thorax. Our results showed that Nrf2 deficiency aggravated radiation-induced histopathological changes, macrophage and neutrophil infiltration, serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, MCP-1, IFN-γ, TNF, and IL-12p70), and the levels of peroxidation products in the mouse lung. Moreover, loss of Nrf2 reduced radiation-induced serum levels of anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10, and antioxidative proteins. Nrf2 overexpression significantly alleviated radiation-induced histopathological changes, macrophages and neutrophils infiltration, serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and the levels of peroxidation products in lung tissues. Nrf2 overexpression also increased the serum levels of IL-10 and antioxidative proteins. These results indicated that Nrf2 had a protective role against radiation-induced acute lung injury and inflammation, and that antioxidative therapy might be a promising treatment for RILI

Identifying differentially methylated genes using mixed effect and generalized least square models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>DNA methylation plays an important role in the process of tumorigenesis. Identifying differentially methylated genes or CpG islands (CGIs) associated with genes between two tumor subtypes is thus an important biological question. The methylation status of all CGIs in the whole genome can be assayed with differential methylation hybridization (DMH) microarrays. However, patient samples or cell lines are heterogeneous, so their methylation pattern may be very different. In addition, neighboring probes at each CGI are correlated. How these factors affect the analysis of DMH data is unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose a new method for identifying differentially methylated (DM) genes by identifying the associated DM CGI(s). At each CGI, we implement four different mixed effect and generalized least square models to identify DM genes between two groups. We compare four models with a simple least square regression model to study the impact of incorporating random effects and correlations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrate that the inclusion (or exclusion) of random effects and the choice of correlation structures can significantly affect the results of the data analysis. We also assess the false discovery rate of different models using CGIs associated with housekeeping genes.</p

Thioredoxin Glutathione Reductase as a Novel Drug Target: Evidence from Schistosoma japonicum

Background: Schistosomiasis remains a major public health concern affecting billions of people around the world. Currently, praziquantel is the only drug of choice for treatment of human schistosomiasis. The emergence of drug resistance to praziquantel in schistosomes makes the development of novel drugs an urgent task. Thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) enzymes in Schistosoma mansoni and some other platyhelminths have been identified as alternative targets. The present study was designed to confirm the existense and the potential value of TGR as a target for development of novel antischistosomal agents in Schistosoma japonicum, a platyhelminth endemic in Asia. Methods and Findings: After cloning the S. japonicum TGR (SjTGR) gene, the recombinant SjTGR selenoprotein was purified and characterized in enzymatic assays as a multifunctional enzyme with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutaredoxin (Grx) activities. Immunological and bioinformatic analyses confirmed that instead of having separate TrxR and GR proteins in mammalian, S. japonicum only encodes TGR, which performs the functions of both enzymes and plays a critical role in maintaining the redox balance in this parasite. These results were in good agreement with previous findings in Schistosoma mansoni and some other platyhelminths. Auranofin, a known inhibitor against TGR, caused fatal toxicity in S. japonicum adult worms in vitro and reduced worm and egg burdens in S. japonicum infected mice. Conclusions: Collectively, our study confirms that a multifunctional enzyme SjTGR selenoprotein, instead of separate Trx

RAGE Mediates Accelerated Diabetic Vein Graft Atherosclerosis Induced by Combined Mechanical Stress and AGEs via Synergistic ERK Activation

Aims/Hypothesis: Diabetes with hypertension rapidly accelerates vascular disease, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We evaluated the hypothesis that the receptor of advanced glycation end products (RAGE) might mediate combined signals initiated by diabetes-related AGEs and hypertension-induced mechanical stress as a common molecular sensor. Methods: In vivo surgical vein grafts created by grafting vena cava segments from C57BL/6J mice into the common carotid arteries of streptozotocin (STZ)-treated and untreated isogenic mice for 4 and 8 weeks were analyzed using morphometric and immunohistochemical techniques. In vitro quiescent mouse vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) with either knockdown or overexpression of RAGE were subjected to cyclic stretching with or without AGEs. Extracellular signalregulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation and Ki-67 expression were investigated. Results: Significant increases in neointimal formation, AGE deposition, Ki-67 expression, and RAGE were observed in the vein grafts of STZ-induced diabetic mice. The highest levels of ERK phosphorylation and Ki-67 expression in VSMCs were induced by simultaneous stretch stress and AGE exposure. The synergistic activation of ERKs and Ki-67 in VSMCs was significantly inhibited by siRNA-RAGE treatment and enhanced by over-expression of RAGE. Conclusion: RAGE may mediate synergistically increased ERK activation and VSMC proliferation induced by mechanica

A study on fertility transition in Hong Kong

abstractpublished_or_final_versionStatistics and Actuarial ScienceMasterMaster of Philosoph