Weak monotonicity property of Korevaar-Schoen norms on nested fractals

In this paper, we study the weak monotonicity property of p-energy related Korevaar-Schoen norms on connected nested fractals for $1 < p < \infty$. Such property has many important applications on fractals and other metric measure spaces, such as constructing p-energies (when $p = 2$ this is basically a Dirichlet form), generalizing the classical Sobolev type inequalities and the celebrated Bourgain-Brezis-Mironescu convergence.Comment: 10 pages,1 figur

Pregnancy outcomes in different stages of systemic lupus erythematosus among Chinese women — a retrospective cohort study

Objectives: To analyze the outcomes of pregnancies and risk factors in Chinese women with different stages of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Material and methods: A total of 55 conceptions in 52 patients with SLE between Jan 2007 and Jan 2019 were retrospected systematically from a general hospital graded 3A in China. Medical records provided us a good way to retrieve the clinical parameters and lab data of patients.Results: Pregnant women with SLE activity had significant hyperimmunoglobulin, hypocomplement, low platelet counts, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and 24-h urine protein. Hydroxychloroquine had been used to reduce the rates of SLE activity in pregnant women. Logistic regression analysis showed low platelet counts, hypocomplement and 24-h urine protein were significantly correlated with fetal loss. Compared to those in stable stage, the active SLE patients have more risks of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, thrombocytopenia, lupus nephritis and placental infarction, and have worse fetal outcomes, including the higher rate of fetal loss, preterm and asphyxia neonatorum.Conclusions: Different stages of SLE during pregnancy are closely related to maternal and fetal outcomes. It is imperative to provide SLE women with pregnancy consultation and regular multispecialty care

Learning from the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Recommendations for Festivals and Performing Arts in Navigating Covid-19 and New Digital Contexts

When it happened, the announcement that the Edinburgh Festivals would not go ahead was both predictable and shocking. Cruelly, so many aspects of what makes the Edinburgh Festival Fringe unique, appeared suddenly impossible and unpalatable. How could this festival work remotely? What would happen, when the Fringe doesn’t happen? As researchers on Creative Informatics - a project to explore data-driven innovation in the Creative Industries – we wanted to record these remarkable circumstances and study the role(s) of digital technologies in response. In particular we sought to reflect on the pivots artists, venues and festivals would be required to make, and perhaps identify longer term shifts in the performing arts sector.We planned two studies. The first endeavoured to document a broad public response to whatever did (or did not) happen; the second sought to gather the experiences of intended Fringe 2020 participants whose shows had been cancelled or reworked for an online audience. If nothing else, we hope this report serves as a testament to the difficulties, perseverance and ingenuity of artists and performers who have endured and continued creating work during this time.Our findings aim to offer both a broad description of what and how performances took place in 2020, while also developing some of the specific challenges that performers faced. Our interviews with performers were both hopeful, inspiring and sombre. Some artists we spoke to had been unable to do their work, had put projects into deep freeze, and had grave financial concerns for their companies and colleagues. On a personal level, being able to create new work, and to perform with live audiences is also utterly bound up in many performers’ identity and daily practices; in this respect, being without a stage is more than just the economic or professional disappointment of being without a way to make a living. However, ironically perhaps, it is this same desire to be creating and performing that drove many of our participants to find new ways to perform and connect with audiences. In turning to and investing in digital means to record and share live performance, considerable investments have been made in new technologies, skills and collaborations. These have expanded viewpoints, and challenged assumptions, pushing performers and audiences towards new experiences that will change practices and expectations. In particular, the lack of a stage has encouraged performers to look again and highlight much of the hidden work that goes into a show, and to find ways to engage and transact with audiences beyond a single live performance. Furthermore, performers are suddenly in competition with Netflix, broadcasts of Broadway shows, and TikTok trends as performance becomes digital ‘content’, subject to the logics and economies of digital media. There are certainly opportunities here for some performers, but understanding and preserving the unique values of live performance in digital spheres is a considerable outstanding challenge.To this end, we have developed three broad areas of recommendations; for performers; for festivals and venues; and finally for researchers and designers. Though derived from the context of the Edinburgh Fringe - a quite unique event – we hope that they may be of service across the sector

H(2) enhances arabidopsis salt tolerance by manipulating ZAT10/12-mediated antioxidant defence and controlling sodium exclusion.

BACKGROUND: The metabolism of hydrogen gas (H(2)) in bacteria and algae has been extensively studied for the interesting of developing H(2)-based fuel. Recently, H(2) is recognized as a therapeutic antioxidant and activates several signalling pathways in clinical trials. However, underlying physiological roles and mechanisms of H(2) in plants as well as its signalling cascade remain unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this report, histochemical, molecular, immunological and genetic approaches were applied to characterize the participation of H(2) in enhancing Arabidopsis salt tolerance. An increase of endogenous H(2) release was observed 6 hr after exposure to 150 mM NaCl. Arabidopsis pretreated with 50% H(2)-saturated liquid medium, mimicking the induction of endogenous H(2) release when subsequently exposed to NaCl, effectively decreased salinity-induced growth inhibition. Further results showed that H(2) pretreatment modulated genes/proteins of zinc-finger transcription factor ZAT10/12 and related antioxidant defence enzymes, thus significantly counteracting the NaCl-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction and lipid peroxidation. Additionally, H(2) pretreatment maintained ion homeostasis by regulating the antiporters and H(+) pump responsible for Na(+) exclusion (in particular) and compartmentation. Genetic evidence suggested that SOS1 and cAPX1 might be the target genes of H(2) signalling. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our findings indicate that H(2) acts as a novel and cytoprotective regulator in coupling ZAT10/12-mediated antioxidant defence and maintenance of ion homeostasis in the improvement of Arabidopsis salt tolerance

ABC : Attributed Bipartite Co-clusteringg

Finding a set of co-clusters in a bipartite network is a fundamental and important problem. In this paper, we present the Attributed Bipartite Co-clustering (ABC) problem which unifies two main concepts: (i) bipartite modularity optimization, and (ii) attribute cohesiveness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to find co-clusters while considering the attribute cohesiveness. We prove that ABC is NP-hard and is not in APX, unless P=NP. We propose three algorithms: (1) a top-down algorithm; (2) a bottom-up algorithm; (3) a group matching algorithm. Extensive experimental results on real-world attributed bipartite networks demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our algorithms

H₂ protects Arabidopsis seedlings against salt stress-induced lipid peroxidation and ROS homeostasis.

<p>Seedlings were pre-incubated in 50% H₂-saturated MS liquid medium for 24 hr, and then exposed to the MS liquid medium in the presence or absence of 150 mM NaCl. Sample without chemicals was the control (Con). Levels of lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substance, TBARS) were measured at the indicated times (A). To detect O₂⁻ and H₂O₂, seedlings were stained with NBT (B) and DAB (C) 120 hr after various treatments, respectively. Bar  = 2 mm. (D) Transcript levels of <i>zinc finger protein10</i> (<i>ZAT10</i>; At1g27730), <i>zinc finger protein12</i> (<i>ZAT12</i>; At5g59820), <i>cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase1</i> (<i>cAPX1</i>, At1g07890) and <i>Fe superoxide dismutase1</i> (<i>FSD1</i>, Ag4g25100) after 120 hr of indicated treatments were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR. Expression levels were presented as values relative to corresponding untreated control samples (Con), after normalization to <i>actin2/7</i> (At3g18780) levels. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 software. Data are means ± SE from three independent experiments. Bars with different letters are significantly different at <i>P</i><0.05 according to Duncan’s multiple range test.</p

Regulation of transcripts responsible for Na compartmentation by H₂.

<p>(A, B) Relative gene expression of <i>Arabidopsis V-type proton ATPase proteolipid subunit c4</i> (<i>AVAP4</i>; At1g75630), <i>sodium hydrogen exchanger2</i> (<i>NHX2</i>; At3g05030), <i>sodium hydrogen exchanger5</i> (<i>NHX5</i>; At1g54370), <i>Arabidopsis vacuolar membrane proton pump1</i> (<i>AVP1</i>; At1g15690), <i>sodium hydrogen exchanger1</i> (<i>NHX1</i>; At5g27150), and <i>sodium hydrogen exchanger3</i> (<i>NHX3</i>; At5g55470) in Arabidopsis seedling roots or leaves, respectively. Seedlings were pre-incubated in 50% H₂-saturated MS liquid medium for 24 hr, and then exposed to the MS liquid medium in the presence or absence of 150 mM NaCl for anther 120 hr. Sample without chemicals was the control (Con). Plot key illustrated each bar shown in A and B. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 software. Data are means ± SE from three independent experiments. Differences among treatments were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, taking <i>P</i><0.05 level as significant according to Duncan’s multiple range test.</p