Planck Constraints on Holographic Dark Energy

We perform a detailed investigation on the cosmological constraints on the holographic dark energy (HDE) model by using the Planck data. HDE can provide a good fit to Planck high-l (l>40) temperature power spectrum, while the discrepancy at l=20-40 found in LCDM remains unsolved in HDE. The Planck data alone can lead to strong and reliable constraint on the HDE parameter c. At 68% CL, we get c=0.508+-0.207 with Planck+WP+lensing, favoring the present phantom HDE at > 2sigma CL. Comparably, by using WMAP9 alone we cannot get interesting constraint on c. By combining Planck+WP with the BAO measurements from 6dFGS+SDSS DR7(R)+BOSS DR9, the H0 measurement from HST, the SNLS3 and Union2.1 SNIa data sets, we get 68% CL constraints c=0.484+-0.070, 0.474+-0.049, 0.594+-0.051 and 0.642+-0.066. Constraints can be improved by 2%-15% if we further add the Planck lensing data. Compared with the WMAP9 results, the Planck results reduce the error by 30%-60%, and prefer a phantom-like HDE at higher CL. We find no evident tension between Planck and BAO/HST. Especially, the strong correlation between Omegam h^3 and dark energy parameters is helpful in relieving the tension between Planck and HST. The residual chi^2_{Planck+WP+HST}-chi^2_{Planck+WP} is 7.8 in LCDM, and is reduced to 1.0 or 0.3 if we switch dark energy to the w model or the holographic model. We find SNLS3 is in tension with all other data sets; for Planck+WP, WMAP9 and BAO+HST, the corresponding Delta chi^2 is 6.4, 3.5 and 4.1, respectively. Comparably, Union2.1 is consistent with these data sets, but the combination Union2.1+BAO+HST is in tension with Planck+WP+lensing, corresponding to a Delta chi^2 8.6 (1.4% probability). Thus, it is not reasonable to perform an all-combined (CMB+SNIa+BAO+HST) analysis for HDE when using the Planck data. Our tightest self-consistent constraint is c=0.495+-0.039 obtained from Planck+WP+BAO+HST+lensing.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables; version accepted for publication in JCA

An Improved Upper Bound for SAT

We show that the CNF satisfiability problem can be solved $O^*(1.2226^m)$ time, where $m$ is the number of clauses in the formula, improving the known upper bounds $O^*(1.234^m)$ given by Yamamoto 15 years ago and $O^*(1.239^m)$ given by Hirsch 22 years ago. By using an amortized technique and careful case analysis, we successfully avoid the bottlenecks in previous algorithms and get the improvement

Gradual Network for Single Image De-raining

Most advances in single image de-raining meet a key challenge, which is removing rain streaks with different scales and shapes while preserving image details. Existing single image de-raining approaches treat rain-streak removal as a process of pixel-wise regression directly. However, they are lacking in mining the balance between over-de-raining (e.g. removing texture details in rain-free regions) and under-de-raining (e.g. leaving rain streaks). In this paper, we firstly propose a coarse-to-fine network called Gradual Network (GraNet) consisting of coarse stage and fine stage for delving into single image de-raining with different granularities. Specifically, to reveal coarse-grained rain-streak characteristics (e.g. long and thick rain streaks/raindrops), we propose a coarse stage by utilizing local-global spatial dependencies via a local-global subnetwork composed of region-aware blocks. Taking the residual result (the coarse de-rained result) between the rainy image sample (i.e. the input data) and the output of coarse stage (i.e. the learnt rain mask) as input, the fine stage continues to de-rain by removing the fine-grained rain streaks (e.g. light rain streaks and water mist) to get a rain-free and well-reconstructed output image via a unified contextual merging sub-network with dense blocks and a merging block. Solid and comprehensive experiments on synthetic and real data demonstrate that our GraNet can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art methods by removing rain streaks with various densities, scales and shapes while keeping the image details of rain-free regions well-preserved.Comment: In Proceedings of the 27th ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM 2019

Uplink Performance of Cell-Free Extremely Large-Scale MIMO Systems

In this paper, we investigate the uplink performance of cell-free (CF) extremely large-scale multiple-input-multipleoutput (XL-MIMO) systems, which is a promising technique for future wireless communications. More specifically, we consider the practical scenario with multiple base stations (BSs) and multiple user equipments (UEs). To this end, we derive exact achievable spectral efficiency (SE) expressions for any combining scheme. It is worth noting that we derive the closed-form SE expressions for the CF XL-MIMO with maximum ratio (MR) combining. Numerical results show that the SE performance of the CF XL-MIMO can be hugely improved compared with the small-cell XL-MIMO. It is interesting that a smaller antenna spacing leads to a higher correlation level among patch antennas. Finally, we prove that increasing the number of UE antennas may decrease the SE performance with MR combining

Block of mouse Slo1 and Slo3 K+ channels by CTX, IbTX, TEA, 4-AP and quinidine

pH-regulated Slo3 channels, perhaps exclusively expressed in mammalian sperm, may play a role in alkalization-mediated K(+) fluxes associated with sperm capacitation. The Slo3 channel shares extensive homology with Ca(2+)- and voltage-regulated BK-type Slo1 K(+) channels. Here, using heterologous expression in oocytes, we define distinctive differences in pharmacological properties of Slo3 and Slo1 currents, examine blockade in terms of distinct blocking models, and, for some blockers, use mutated constructs to evaluate determinants of block. Slo3 is resistant to block by the standard Slo1 blockers, iberiotoxin, charybdotoxin and extracellular TEA. Slo3 is relatively insensitive to extracellular 4-AP up to 100 mM, while Slo1 is blocked in a voltage-dependent fashion consistent with block on the extracellular side of the channel. Block of both Slo1 and Slo3 by cytosolic 4-AP can be described by open channel block, with Slo3 being ~10–15-fold more sensitive, but exhibiting weaker voltage-dependence of block. The cytosolic concentrations of 4-AP required to block Slo3 make it unlikely that the effects of 4-AP on volume regulation in mammalian sperm is mediated by Slo3. Quinidine was more effective in blocking Slo3 than Slo1. For Slo1, quinidine block was favored by depolarization, irrespective of the side of application. For Slo3, quinidine block was relieved by depolarization, irrespective of the side of application, with strong block by less than 10 μM quinidine at potentials near 0 mV. The unusual voltage-dependence of block of Slo3 by quinidine may result from preferential binding of quinidine to closed Slo3 channels. The quinidine concentrations effective in blocking Slo3 suggest, that in experiments that have examined quinidine effects on sperm, any Slo3 currents would be almost completely inhibited

Myocardin immunohistochemistry index is associated with clinical prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a clinical practice-based cohort study

Purpose: Recent findings have implicated the role of myocardin re-expression in carcinogenesisHowever, the clinical functions of myocardin in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not known yet. The purpose for the cohort research was to investigate whether myocardin re-expression level may predict clinical prognosis in NPC patients.Methods: 148 NPC patients were recruited from September, 2005 to September, 2011 with median follow-up time of 4.5 years in a clinical practice setting. At study entry myocardin re-expression of these patients was determined using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and additional 20 normal nasopharyngeal tissues were included as control. Two-sample t-test was used to compare mean myocardin reexpression levels and Chi-square test was used for comparing tumour recurrence rate. Logistic regression analysis was used for tumour local control rate, and log-rank test, Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazard model for disease-free survival and overall survival.Results: Myocardin IHC index was significantly downregulated in NPC samples than in normalnasopharyngeal tissues (mean ± standard deviation, 61.2 ±31.5 vs. 109.9 ±73.6, P= 0.009). However, among NPC patients was observed a roughly V-shaped change of myocardin IHC index according to Tumour T-stage (P=0.067); meanwhile higher IHC level was associated with more tumour recurrence rate in NPC patients (High vs. Low: 21.6% vs. 8.1%; P=0.021). Logistic regression analysis equally showed high myocardin IHC level was an independent risk factor for local tumour control rate regardless of adjustments [High vs. Low: unadjusted Odds Ratio (OR) 0.320, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.117 to 0.871; P=0.026]. Moreover, higher myocardin IHC level was associated with a marginal but not significant risk increase of disease-free survival [High vs. Low: adjusted Hazard Ratio (HR) 1.760, 95% CI: 0.981 to 3.158; log-rank: P=0.129]. A less obvious trend was observed with regard to overall survival [adjusted HR 1.409, 95% CI: 0.715 to 2.77; log-rank: P=0.745].Conclusion: The study results suggested that high myocardin IHC index level could be a potential clinically prognostic intermediate biomarker for tumour recurrence for NPC patients in routine practice. Large well-designed cohort studies involving IHC re-expression change over time is needed

Global stability of a three-species food-chain model with diffusion and nonlocal delays

In this paper, a three species reaction-diffusion food-chain system with nonlocal delays is investigated. Sufficient conditions are derived for the global stability of a positive steady state and boundary steady states of the system by using the energy function method. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the theoretical results