Estimating Behavioural Heterogeneity Under Regime Switching

Financial markets are typically characterized by high (low) price level and low (high) volatility during boom (bust) periods, suggesting that price and volatility tend to move together with different market conditions/states. By proposing a simple heterogeneous agent model of fundamentalists and chartists with Markov chain regime-dependent expectations and applying S&P500 data from January 2000 to June 2010, we show that the estimation of the model matches well with the boom and bust periods in the US stock market. In addition, we find evidence of time-varying behavioural heterogeneity within-group and that the model exhibits good forecasting accuracy.estimation; heterogeneity; regime switching; boom and bust

Anterolateral thigh perforator flap made by customized 3D-printing fabrication of fixed positioning guide for oromaxillofacial reconstruction:a preliminary study

Oromaxillofacial carcinomas frequently result in serious tissue defect due to enlarged resection for treating their extensive invasion, which require challenging reconstruction. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an advanced technology which has greatly promoted the progress of craniomaxillofacial reconstructive surgery. This present study aimed to investigate the advantages of anterolateral thigh (ALT) perforator flap manufactured by 3D printing fixed positioning guide template in curing oromaxillofacial defect. Twenty patients with oromaxillofacial defects resulted from severe primary malignant tumors were divided into experimental group assisted by digital technique (n=8) and controlled group conventionally aided by ultrasound (n=12). The therapeutic effectiveness, flap preparation time, amount of bleeding, deviation of perforator vessel location, aesthetic satisfaction of donor site, postoperative complications, adverse symptom of flap, and LEFS scores were compared. For experimental group, flap preparation time was significantly shorter; and it has obviously less bleeding, minor deviation of perforator vessel location, and better aesthetic satisfaction of donor site (P.05). The study suggests 3D printing template of fixed positioning guide provides a brand-new method for orienting perforated vessels of ALT flap, which is more accurate in clinical application. It can improve the operative efficacy, and increase the successful rate of operation as well

Recent developments on catalytic membrane for gas cleaning

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Catalytic membrane, a novel membrane separation technology that combines catalysis and separation, exhibits significant potential in gas purification such as formaldehyde, toluene and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The catalytic membrane can remove solid particles through membrane separation and degrade gaseous pollutants to clean gas via a catalytic reaction to achieve green emissions. In this review, we discussed the recent developments of catalytic membranes from two aspects: preparation of catalytic membrane and its application in gas cleaning. Catalytic membranes are divided into organic catalytic membranes and inorganic catalytic membranes depending on the substrate materials. The organic catalytic membranes which are used for low temperature operation (less than 300 °C) are prepared by modifying the polymers or doping catalytic components into the polymers through coating, grafting, or in situ growth of catalysts on polymeric membrane. Inorganic catalytic membranes are used at higher temperature (higher than 500 °C). The catalyst and inorganic membrane can be integrated through conventional deposition methods, such as chemical (physical) vapor deposition and wet chemical deposition. The application progress of catalytic membrane is focused on purifying indoor air and industrial exhaust to remove formaldehyde, toluene, NOx and PM2.5, which are also summarized. Perspectives on the future developments of the catalytic membranes are provided in terms of material manufacturing and process optimization

On the Process and Construction of Legal System of Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in China

目前，中国逐步进入电器电子产品废弃高峰期，由于缺乏相应的立法规范，其回收处理活动基本上处于无序状态，由此给环境和人体健康带来了极大的危害。其原因主要包括两方面：缺少正规的回收（收集）网络，法律对拆解处理业长期不设资质限制。为了解决该问题，国家推行了废旧家电回收处理试点、政府财政补贴的以旧换新试点、再生资源回收体系建设试点。试点反映了建立规范的回收体系始终是核心问题，以社区回收站为基础的回收（收集）网络是较为可行的渠道。在法制建设方面，《废弃电器电子产品回收处理管理条例》的颁布，标志着中国废弃电器电子产品回收处理法制渐成体系。它规定了多渠道回收和集中处理制度，提高了拆解处理企业的门槛，规定了生产者应当承担绿色设计和缴纳废弃电器电子产品处理专项基金的责任。由于《条例》以原则性条款居多，未来需要围绕EPR原则的实施、回收体系的完善、加强地方政府的作用等课题制定一系列配套规则。At present, China has gradually entered the peak of waste electrical andelectronic equipment (WEEE). Due to the lack of corresponding legislation, its recoveryand disposal are basically in a state of disorder, and such a situation has brought greatharm to the environment and human health. The reasons might be classified into twokinds: lack of regular network of collection, and no restriction on qualification ofprocessing industry for a long-term. To address this issue, the Chinese centralgovernment has promoted several projects, including the “Pilot Project of Recovery andDisposal of Used Household Appliances”, “Pilot Project of Giving Subsidies to Buy NewHome Appliances while Phasing out Used Ones”, and“Pilot Project of Construction ofRenewable Resources Recovery System”. These pilot projects proved that theestablishment of a standardized collection system has always been the core issue and thecommunity-based collection network is more viable in China. On the building of the legalsystem, the promulgation of the Regulations on the Administration of the Recovery andDisposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment marked the legal system creationof the recovery and disposal of WEEE in China. It introduces multiple-channel collectionand centralized treatment system. It also raises the qualification requirements of processing enterprises, and stipulates that the producers should promote design-forenvironmentand make contribution to the fund earmarked for processing WEEEpurposes responsibilities. Since the regulation is only a framework, it should be improvedby formulating a series of specifications focusing on the perfection of the collectionsystem, implementation of EPR principle, strengthening the administration of the localgovernment

Video Question Answering: Datasets, Algorithms and Challenges

Video Question Answering (VideoQA) aims to answer natural language questions according to the given videos. It has earned increasing attention with recent research trends in joint vision and language understanding. Yet, compared with ImageQA, VideoQA is largely underexplored and progresses slowly. Although different algorithms have continually been proposed and shown success on different VideoQA datasets, we find that there lacks a meaningful survey to categorize them, which seriously impedes its advancements. This paper thus provides a clear taxonomy and comprehensive analyses to VideoQA, focusing on the datasets, algorithms, and unique challenges. We then point out the research trend of studying beyond factoid QA to inference QA towards the cognition of video contents, Finally, we conclude some promising directions for future exploration.Comment: Accepted by EMNLP 202

Haplotype‐resolved DNA methylome of African cassava genome

ISSN:1467-7644ISSN:1467-765

Ultrafast Solvation Dynamics of Human Serum Albumin: Correlations with Conformational Transitions and Site-Selected Recognition

Human serum albumin, the most abundant protein found in blood plasma, transports a great variety of ligands in the circulatory system and undergoes reversible conformational transitions over a wide range of pH values. We report here our systematic studies of solvation dynamics and local rigidity in these conformations using a single intrinsic tryptophan (W214) residue as a local molecular probe. With femtosecond resolution, we observed a robust bimodal distribution of time scales for all conformational isomers. The initial solvation occurs in several picoseconds, representing the local librational/rotational motions, followed by the dynamics, in the tens to hundreds of picoseconds, which result from the more bonded water in the tryptophan crevice. Under the physiological condition of neutral pH, we measured ∼100 ps for the decay of the solvation correlation function and observed a large wobbling motion at the binding site that is deeply buried in a crevice, revealing the softness of the binding pocket and the large plasticity of the native structure. At acidic pH, the albumin molecule transforms to an extended conformation with a large charge distribution at the surface, and a similar temporal behavior was observed. However, at the basic pH, the protein opens the crevice and tightens its globular structure, and we observed significantly faster dynamics, 25−45 ps. These changes in the solvation dynamics are correlated with the conformational transitions and related to their structural integrity

Mutations in DNA polymerase δ subunit 1 co-segregate with CMD2-type resistance to Cassava Mosaic Geminiviruses

Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) suppresses cassava yields across the tropics. The dominant CMD2 locus confers resistance to cassava mosaic geminiviruses. It has been reported that CMD2-type landraces lose resistance after regeneration through de novo morphogenesis. As full genome bisulfite sequencing failed to uncover an epigenetic mechanism for this loss of resistance, whole genome sequencing and genetic variant analysis was performed and the CMD2 locus was fine-mapped to a 190 kilobase interval. Collectively, these data indicate that CMD2-type resistance is caused by a nonsynonymous, single nucleotide polymorphism in DNA polymerase δ subunit 1 (MePOLD1) located within this region. Virus-induced gene silencing of MePOLD1 in a CMD-susceptible cassava variety produced a recovery phenotype typical of CMD2-type resistance. Analysis of other CMD2-type cassava varieties identified additional candidate resistance alleles within MePOLD1. Genetic variation of MePOLD1, therefore, could represent an important genetic resource for resistance breeding and/or genome editing, and elucidating mechanisms of resistance to geminiviruses