Collision centrality and energy dependence of strange hadron production in Au + Au collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}}= 7.7-54.4 GeV

We apply an equal-velocity quark combination model to systematically study the transverse momentum (p_{T}) spectra of strange hadrons K_{S}^{0}, \phi, \Lambda, \Xi^{-}, \Omega^{-}, \bar{\Lambda}, \bar{\Xi}^{+} and \bar{\Omega}^{+} at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}}= 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 54.4 GeV. Relative deviation between the model calculation and experimental data of these eight hadrons is generally about 2-3% at \sqrt{s_{NN}}= 27, 39, 54.4 GeV and in central collisions at 7.7, 11.5, 19.6 GeV. The deviation slightly increases up to about 4% in the semi-central and peripheral collision at \sqrt{s_{NN}}= 7.7, 11.5, 19.6 GeV. We systematically explain the dependence of two baryon-to-meson ratios \bar{\Lambda}/K_{S}^{0} and \Omega/\phi on p_{T}, collision centrality and collision energy by the property of quark p_{T} spectra at hadronization. We derive the analytic relations between R_{CP} of hadrons and those of quarks, and we use them to naturally explain the species and p_{T} dependence of R_{CP} of those strange hadrons

Does Haze Removal Help CNN-based Image Classification?

Hazy images are common in real scenarios and many dehazing methods have been developed to automatically remove the haze from images. Typically, the goal of image dehazing is to produce clearer images from which human vision can better identify the object and structural details present in the images. When the ground-truth haze-free image is available for a hazy image, quantitative evaluation of image dehazing is usually based on objective metrics, such as Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity (SSIM). However, in many applications, large-scale images are collected not for visual examination by human. Instead, they are used for many high-level vision tasks, such as automatic classification, recognition and categorization. One fundamental problem here is whether various dehazing methods can produce clearer images that can help improve the performance of the high-level tasks. In this paper, we empirically study this problem in the important task of image classification by using both synthetic and real hazy image datasets. From the experimental results, we find that the existing image-dehazing methods cannot improve much the image-classification performance and sometimes even reduce the image-classification performance

液体クロマトグラフィーを用いたアミノ酸類化合物の高速定量法の開発

学位の種別:課程博士University of Tokyo(東京大学

Topical Halometasone Reduces Acute Adverse Effects Induced by Pulsed Dye Laser for Treatment of Port Wine Stain Birthmarks

Introduction: Pulsed dye laser (PDL) for treatment of port wine stain (PWS) usually causes some acute adverse effects, including pain, erythema, scabbing and swelling. This study aimed to determine whether topical halometasone can be used to reduce these acute adverse effects for post-PDL care of patients.Methods: A total of 40 PWS subjects were enrolled in this study and randomly assigned into two regimens: PDL alone and PDL + halometasone. All subjects were given a single treatment of PDL with wavelength of 595 nm, fluence of 8.0~13.5 J/cm2, pulse duration of 0.45~20 ms (We mainly used purpuric pulse duration for PWS) and spot size of 7 mm. Subjects in the PDL + halometasone group received topical application of halometasone daily for 3 days. Subjects were followed-up on days 3, 7 and one month post-PDL to evaluate the reduction of adverse effects.Results: Subjects in the PDL + halometasone group had significantly improved erythema and scab scores and had less erythema duration days as compared to those in the PDL alone group. Topical halometasone also showed a decrease in pain index among subjects, but was statistically insignificant. Topical halometasone did not affect the ultimate efficacy of PDL treatment for PWS.Conclusion: Topical halometasone can significantly reduce acute adverse effects induced by PDL for treatment of PWS birthmarks, thus providing a safe and efficacious solution for post-PDL care of PWS patients

Indirect coupling method for structural analysis of refuge chamber

Structural analysis is important in the design of a refuge chamber, which can ensure the structural safety of the refuge chamber in case of an explosion. In this paper, an indirect coupling method is utilized to calculate deformation of a refuge chamber under explosion, when gas explosion is simulated in a roadway model, and the pressure waves on different locations of chamber are extracted. The extracted pressure-time curves are applied to a detailed model of the refuge chamber to obtain deformation values. However, reliabilities and validities of the simulation results are not provided. Thereby, we conducted three groups of small-scale physical experiments for comparing the corresponding simulation results calculated by the indirect coupling method. Meanwhile, the theoretical values were obtained by the method of extracting the specific impulse. The results show that the simulation values fit well with the experimental and theoretical values. The process of applying a pressure-time curve to the model covers the specific impulse which acts on the prototype. This method can be used to calculate the deformation of complex equipment under explosion

Trade-offs in carbon-degrading enzyme activities limit long-term soil carbon sequestration with biochar addition

We would like to thank all the authors whose data and work are included in this meta-analysis. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071595, 41830756 and 42177022). We also thank the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Program no. 2662019QD055). We acknowledge Cunbin Gao, Qianqian Zhao and Qin Liu for their assistance in data collection. J.C. received funding from Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond (AUFF-E-2019-7-1), EU H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (839806), Danish Independent Research Foundation (1127-00015B), and Nordic Committee of Agriculture and Food Research (https://nordicagriresearch.org/2020-5/). The authors declare no competing interests.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Characterization of an aspartate aminotransferase encoded by YPO0623 with frequent nonsense mutations in Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is a genetically monomorphic bacterial pathogen that evolved from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis approximately 7,400 years ago. We observed unusually frequent mutations in Y. pestis YPO0623, mostly resulting in protein translation termination, which implies a strong natural selection. These mutations were found in all phylogenetic lineages of Y. pestis, and there was no apparent pattern in the spatial distribution of the mutant strains. Based on these findings, we aimed to investigate the biological function of YPO0623 and the reasons for its frequent mutation in Y. pestis. Our in vitro and in vivo assays revealed that the deletion of YPO0623 enhanced the growth of Y. pestis in nutrient-rich environments and led to increased tolerance to heat and cold shocks. With RNA-seq analysis, we also discovered that the deletion of YPO0623 resulted in the upregulation of genes associated with the type VI secretion system (T6SS) at 26°C, which probably plays a crucial role in the response of Y. pestis to environment fluctuations. Furthermore, bioinformatic analysis showed that YPO0623 has high homology with a PLP-dependent aspartate aminotransferase in Salmonella enterica, and the enzyme activity assays confirmed its aspartate aminotransferase activity. However, the enzyme activity of YPO0623 was significantly lower than that in other bacteria. These observations provide some insights into the underlying reasons for the high-frequency nonsense mutations in YPO0623, and further investigations are needed to determine the exact mechanism