Issues in Chinese Nepali Sound Translation: An Equivalence Based Dualistic Approach

This paper sheds light on the phonological issues of Chinese-named entities transliterated into Nepali in contrast to the Source language phonology, Hàny? P?ny?n (pinyin) and the target language phonology. We compared 500 transliterated nouns, related their pronunciation to source language employing speaker and listener oriented experiment on phonological similarity and found out that the prevailed sound translation approaches are strictly inclined to pinyin, where the preservation of the source language phonological units and their nativization in target language orthography, the priority over phonological equivalence are completely neglected and the prevalent issues like phonological gaps, inconsistencies, mis-syllabification etc. aroused. We purpose phonological based Dualistic Equivalence Approach (hybrid transliteration approach)based on Nepali Chinese bilinguals’ perceptual similarity to address the existing issues mainly where the monotonous sound alignment in between source language, pinyin and target language breaks down.

VeRi3D: Generative Vertex-based Radiance Fields for 3D Controllable Human Image Synthesis

Unsupervised learning of 3D-aware generative adversarial networks has lately made much progress. Some recent work demonstrates promising results of learning human generative models using neural articulated radiance fields, yet their generalization ability and controllability lag behind parametric human models, i.e., they do not perform well when generalizing to novel pose/shape and are not part controllable. To solve these problems, we propose VeRi3D, a generative human vertex-based radiance field parameterized by vertices of the parametric human template, SMPL. We map each 3D point to the local coordinate system defined on its neighboring vertices, and use the corresponding vertex feature and local coordinates for mapping it to color and density values. We demonstrate that our simple approach allows for generating photorealistic human images with free control over camera pose, human pose, shape, as well as enabling part-level editing

Chromatin interaction neural network (ChINN): a machine learning-based method for predicting chromatin interactions from DNA sequences.

Chromatin interactions play important roles in regulating gene expression. However, the availability of genome-wide chromatin interaction data is limited. We develop a computational method, chromatin interaction neural network (ChINN), to predict chromatin interactions between open chromatin regions using only DNA sequences. ChINN predicts CTCF- and RNA polymerase II-associated and Hi-C chromatin interactions. ChINN shows good across-sample performances and captures various sequence features for chromatin interaction prediction. We apply ChINN to 6 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patient samples and a published cohort of 84 CLL open chromatin samples. Our results demonstrate extensive heterogeneity in chromatin interactions among CLL patient samples

Positive Inotropic Effects of ATP Released via the Maxi-Anion Channel in Langendorff-Perfused Mouse Hearts Subjected to Ischemia-Reperfusion.

The organic anion transporter SLCO2A1 constitutes an essential core component of the ATP-conductive large-conductance anion (Maxi-Cl) channel. Our previous experiments using Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts showed that the Maxi-Cl channel contributes largely to the release of ATP into the coronary effluent observed during 10-min reperfusion following a short period (6 min) of oxygen-glucose deprivation. The present study examined the effect of endogenous ATP released via Maxi-Cl channels on the left ventricular contractile function of Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts, using a fluid-filled balloon connected to a pressure transducer. After the initial 30-min stabilization period, the heart was then perfused with oxygen-glucose-deprived Tyrode solution for 6 min, which was followed by a 10-min perfusion with oxygenated normal Tyrode solution in the absence and presence of an ATP-hydrolyzing enzyme, apyrase, and/or an adenosine A1 receptor antagonist, 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX). In the absence of apyrase and DPCPX, the left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) decreased from a baseline value of 72.3 ± 7.1 to 57.5 ± 5.5 mmHg (n = 4) at the end of 6-min perfusion with oxygen-glucose-deprived Tyrode solution, which was followed by a transient increase to 108.5 ± 16.5 mmHg during subsequent perfusion with oxygenated normal Tyrode solution. However, in the presence of apyrase and DPCPX, the LVDP decreased to the same degree during 6-min perfusion with oxygen-glucose-deprived Tyrode solution, but failed to exhibit a transient increase during a subsequent perfusion with oxygenated normal Tyrode solution. These results strongly suggest that endogenous ATP released through Maxi-Cl channels contributes to the development of transient positive inotropy observed during reperfusion after short-period hypoxia/ischemia in the heart

Fano resonance engineering in mirror-symmetry-broken THz metamaterials

We introduce a comprehensive approach to the design of mirror-symmetry broken terahertz (THz) metamaterials and present both the simulation and experimental results which show the desired asymmetric Fano resonances and electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT)-like windows. With a full wave simulation, we find these asymmetry-induced resonance modes possess extremely high quality factors and they broaden with increase of the structure asymmetry. This phenomenon arises from the destructive interference of a super-radiative bright mode and a sub-radiative dark mode which can’t be excited directly. Surface current and electric field distributions are analyzed to explain the emergence of these Fano resonances. An intuitive mechanical coupled oscillator model is derived to explain the unique line-shape of such Fano resonances. Moreover, large resonant frequency tuning (50 GHz) of Fano resonance has been demonstrated by temperature induced phase change in liquid crystals. We believe that the Fano resonance in THz metamaterials may serve as a strong building block for passive or active THz elements with potential applications for future detection and sensing systems and devices.The authors would like to thank the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for the support through the Platform Grant for Liquid Crystal Photonics (EP/F00897X/1). Xuefeng Li would like to acknowledge the support from Cambridge Trust.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Springer

A Bibliometric Review Study on Reading Literacy over Fourteen Years

Reading literacy has been considered one of the essential vital competencies in modern society and has thus gained increasing attention in research. With both qualitative and quantitative research methods, this study aimed to investigate the overall picture in this research field and investigate the role of reading motivation and online reading activities and how online reading literacy was assessed. The top ten organizations, countries with the highest publications, author keywords, all keywords, cited references, cited sources, and cited authors were visualized via VOSviewer clustering and counting techniques. Reading motivation, online reading activities, and digital reading literacy assessment tests were also explored through the visualization citation network in CitNetExplorer. In conjunction with the citation network, 13 peer-reviewed articles were selected for further analysis based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA-P). The results show that reading motivation played an essential role in reading literacy achievement in formal schooling, while online reading activities could both positively and negatively affect digital reading literacy due to their multifaceted nature. The digital reading literacy assessment tests vary across the world. Implications for widely investigating adults and L2 reading literacy and relevant support or interventional measures to boost reading literacy were also discussed

Sulfate Sources of Thermal Sulfate Reduction (TSR) in the Permian Changxing and Triassic Feixianguan Formations, Northeastern Sichuan Basin, China

Thermal sulfate reduction (TSR) occurred throughout the Permian Changxing (P2c) and Triassic Feixianguan (T1f) dolostone reservoirs in the western and eastern parts of the Kaijiang-Liangping (K-L) trough in the northeastern part of the Sichuan Basin. To determine the sulfate sources of this TSR, fourteen solid bitumen samples and eight anhydrite samples were collected from the northeastern part of the Sichuan Basin. These samples were analyzed to determine their sulfur isotopes. In addition, untreated, HNO3-treated, and CrCl2-treated solid bitumen samples were analyzed to determine their sulfur isotopes in order to obtain reliable δ34S data for the TSR solid bitumen. The results show that the HNO3 method is more effective at removing pyrite from solid bitumen than the method using CrCl2 thrice because the HNO3-treated solid bitumen has lower sulfur contents and higher δ34S. The δ34S of the T1f solid bitumen samples from the Puguang gas field (in the eastern part of the K-L trough, 12.0-24.0‰) is significantly lower than that of the samples from the Yuanba gas field (in the western part of the K-L trough, 24.1-34.2‰). The δ34S of the T1f1–2 anhydrite is 18.1-26.6‰, which is lower than that of the T1f3–4 anhydrite samples (29.9-39.6‰). The TSR sulfates from the Puguang gas field were most likely from the coeval T1f1–2 evaporating seawater and were enriched during the reflux-seepage dolomitization process. The TSR sulfates from the Yuanba gas field were primarily caused by the evaporation of seawater during the T1f4. First, the evaporating seawater would flow vertically into the P2c reservoirs in the adjacent area, and then, it would flow laterally into the P2c reservoirs in the Yuanba gas field. Considering the fact that the sulfate sources of TSR and the δ34S values of the TSR sulfates are different in the Puguang and Yuanba gas fields, the δ34S of TSR solid bitumen cannot be simply used to show the extent of TSR

Learning Single Image Defocus Deblurring with Misaligned Training Pairs

By adopting popular pixel-wise loss, existing methods for defocus deblurring heavily rely on well aligned training image pairs. Although training pairs of ground-truth and blurry images are carefully collected, e.g., DPDD dataset, misalignment is inevitable between training pairs, making existing methods possibly suffer from deformation artifacts. In this paper, we propose a joint deblurring and reblurring learning (JDRL) framework for single image defocus deblurring with misaligned training pairs. Generally, JDRL consists of a deblurring module and a spatially invariant reblurring module, by which deblurred result can be adaptively supervised by ground-truth image to recover sharp textures while maintaining spatial consistency with the blurry image. First, in the deblurring module, a bi-directional optical flow-based deformation is introduced to tolerate spatial misalignment between deblurred and ground-truth images. Second, in the reblurring module, deblurred result is reblurred to be spatially aligned with blurry image, by predicting a set of isotropic blur kernels and weighting maps. Moreover, we establish a new single image defocus deblurring (SDD) dataset, further validating our JDRL and also benefiting future research. Our JDRL can be applied to boost defocus deblurring networks in terms of both quantitative metrics and visual quality on DPDD, RealDOF and our SDD datasets

Enhancing methane production and organic loading capacity from high solid-content wastewater in modified granular activated carbon (GAC)-amended up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)

Anaerobic digestion of high solid-content wastewater is hindered by high organic loading rates (OLRs). Granular activated carbon (GAC) was reported to promote direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) and enhance reactor performance. In this study, three up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were supplied with GAC in different locations: bottom (R1), top (R2), and bottom+top (R3). The performances of three reactors at different OLRs treating high solid-content wastewater were evaluated. At a low OLR, the highest methane yield (74 ± 4 %, g CH4-COD/g TCOD) was detected when GAC was supplied at top of the UASB (R2). When a high OLR was applied, the UASB supplemented with GAC at both bottom and top (R3) achieved the highest methane yield (66 ± 2 %, g CH4-COD/g TCOD), whereas the UASB supplemented with GAC at the top (R2) failed. Further studies on spatial distributions of sludge stability, specific methanogenic activities (SMAs), and microbial communities demonstrated the different impacts of GAC location on reactor performance and sludge characteristics under different OLRs. This study highlights the significance of considering organic loading capacity treating high solid-content wastewater when choosing GAC-based UASB systems.</p