Translation Strategies of Culture Factors From the Perspective of Game Theory

Translation is what makes cross-cultural communication possible by crossing language and cultural barriers. Standing among the cultures, the translator has a major role to play and strategies to choose from as to how to produce a satisfactory outcome. The game theory, dealing with the conflict and cooperation of rational decision-makers, has a wide range of applications and is significantly enlightening. The paper aims to bring the choices of translation strategies under rational and objective guidance of the game theory rules so that translation can better serve as the bridge of cultural communication

A New Leptoceratopsid (Ornithischia: Ceratopsia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China and Its Implications for Neoceratopsian Evolution

BACKGROUND: The ceratopsians represent one of the last dinosaurian radiations. Traditionally the only universally accepted speciose clade within the group was the Ceratopsidae. However, recent discoveries and phylogenetic analyses have led to the recognition of a new speciose clade, the Leptoceratopsidae, which is predominantly known from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report a new leptoceratopsid taxon, Zhuchengceratops inexpectus gen. et sp. nov., based on a partial, articulated skeleton recovered from the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group of Zhucheng, Shandong Province, China. Although Zhuchengceratops is significantly different from other known leptoceratopsids, it is recovered as a derived member of the group by our phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, Zhuchengceratops exhibits several features previously unknown in leptoceratopsids but seen in ceratopsids and their close relatives, suggesting that the distribution of morphological features within ceratopsians is more complex than previously realized. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The discovery of Zhuchengceratops increases both the taxonomic diversity and the morphological disparity of the Leptoceratopsidae, providing further support for the hypothesis that this clade represents a successful radiation of horned dinosaurs in parallel with the Ceratopsidae in the Late Cretaceous. This documents a surprising case of the coexistence and radiation of two closely-related lineages with contrasting suites of jaw and dental features that probably reflect adaptation to different food resources

Analgesia for total knee arthroplasty: a meta-analysis comparing local infiltration and femoral nerve block

Patients frequently experience postoperative pain after a total knee arthroplasty; such pain is always challenging to treat and may delay the patient’s recovery. It is unclear whether local infiltration or a femoral nerve block offers a better analgesic effect after total knee arthroplasty.We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to compare local infiltration with a femoral nerve block in patients who underwent a primary unilateral total knee arthroplasty. We searched Pubmed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library through December 2014. Two reviewers scanned abstracts and extracted data. The data collected included numeric rating scale values for pain at rest and pain upon movement and opioid consumption in the first 24 hours. Mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each end point. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate potential sources of heterogeneity.While the numeric rating scale values for pain upon movement (MD-0.62; 95%CI: -1.13 to -0.12; p=0.02) in the first 24 hours differed significantly between the patients who received local infiltration and those who received a femoral nerve block, there were no differences in the numeric rating scale results for pain at rest (MD-0.42; 95%CI:-1.32 to 0.47; p=0.35) or opioid consumption (MD 2.92; 95%CI:-1.32 to 7.16; p=0.18) in the first 24 hours.Local infiltration and femoral nerve block showed no significant differences in pain intensity at rest or opioid consumption after total knee arthroplasty, but the femoral nerve block was associated with reduced pain upon movement

GCMD: Genetic Correlation Multi-Domain Virtual Network Embedding algorithm

With the increase of network scale and the complexity of network structure, the problems of traditional Internet have emerged. At the same time, the appearance of network function virtualization (NFV) and network virtualization technologies has largely solved this problem, they can effectively split the network according to the application requirements, and flexibly provide network functions when needed. During the development of virtual network, how to improve network performance, including reducing the cost of embedding process and shortening the embedding time, has been widely concerned by the academia. Combining genetic algorithm with virtual network embedding problem, this paper proposes a genetic correlation multi-domain virtual network embedding algorithm (GCMD-VNE). The algorithm improves the natural selection stage and crossover stage of genetic algorithm, adds more accurate selection formula and crossover conditions, and improves the performance of the algorithm. Simulation results show that, compared with the existing algorithms, the algorithm has better performance in terms of embedding cost and embedding time.Postprint (published version

Low Serum Vitamin D Is Associated with Anti-Thyroid-Globulin Antibody in Female Individuals

Objectives. Some evidence has pointed out that vitamin D plays a significant role in reducing the incidence of autoimmune diseases, especially autoimmune thyroid diseases. The authors aimed to examine the relationship between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and thyroid autoantibody in a population-based health survey of Xinjiang Chinese population. Subjects and Methods. A total of 1714 Chinese adults were analyzed. 25(OH)D, anti-thyroid antibodies, and thyroid function were measured. Results. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency was 28.3% in Hans and 9.3% in Uyghurs, and the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 61.6% in Hans and 87.6% in Uyghurs. Overall prevalence of TgAb positivity was 6.2% (0.9% males; 5.3% females). In female subjects, mean serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly lower in Hans and Uyghurs compared with males, and the difference was statistically significant. Importantly, after adjusting for age and ethnicity, a negative correlation (r=-0.121, P=0.014) was recognized between 25(OH)D and TgAb levels only in female subjects. Conclusion. Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are prevalent among Chinese adults. Low serum 25(OH)D is related to the presence of TgAb in females. The causal effect of low vitamin D level on thyroid autoimmunity should be studied further more

A novel Greenness and Water Content Composite Index (GWCCI) for soybean mapping from single remotely sensed multispectral images

As a critical source of food and one of the most economically significant crops in the world, soybean plays an important role in achieving food security. Large area accurate mapping of soybean has long been a vital, but challenging issue in remote sensing, relying heavily on large-volume and representative training samples, whose collection is time-consuming and inefficient, especially for large areas (e.g., national scale). Thus, methods are needed that can map soybean automatically and accurately from single-date remotely sensed imagery. In this research, a novel Greenness and Water Content Composite Index (GWCCI) was proposed to map soybean from just a single Sentinel-2 multispectral image in an end-to-end manner without employing training samples. By capitalizing on the product of the NDVI (related to greenness) and the short-wave infrared (SWIR) band (related to canopy water content), the GWCCI provides the required information with which to discriminate between soybean and other land cover types. The effectiveness of the proposed GWCCI was investigated in seven typical soybean planting regions within four major soybean-producing countries across the world (i.e., China, the United States, Brazil and Argentina), with diverse climates, cropping systems and agricultural landscapes. In the experiments, an optimal threshold of 0.17 was estimated and adopted by the GWCCI in the first study site (S1) in 2021, and then generalised to the other study sites over multiple years for soybean mapping. The GWCCI method achieved a consistently higher accuracy in 2021 compared to two conventional comparative classifiers (support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF)), with an average overall accuracy (OA) of 88.30% and a Kappa coefficient (k) of 0.77; significantly greater than those of RF (OA: 80.92%, k: 0.62) and SVM (OA: 80.29%, k: 0.60). Furthermore, the OA of the extended years was highly consistent with that of 2021 for study sites S2 to S7, demonstrating the great generalisation capability and robustness of the proposed approach over multiple years. The proposed GWCCI method is straightforward, reliable and robust, and represents an important step forward for mapping soybean, one of the most significant crops grown globally

The penC mutation conferring antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae arises from a mutation in the PilQ secretin that interferes with multimer stability: GonococcalpilQmutants with increased antibiotic resistance

The penC resistance gene was previously characterized in a FA19 penA mtrR penB gonococcal strain (PR100) as a spontaneous mutation that increased resistance to penicillin and tetracycline. We show here that antibiotic resistance mediated by penC is the result of a Glu-666 to Lys missense mutation in the pilQ gene that interferes with the formation of the SDS-resistant high-molecular-mass PilQ secretin complex, disrupts piliation, and decreases transformation frequency by 50-fold. Deletion of pilQ in PR100 confers the same level of antibiotic resistance as the penC mutation, but increased resistance was observed only in strains containing the mtrR and penB resistance determinants. Site-saturation mutagenesis of Glu-666 revealed that only acidic or amidated amino acids at this position preserved PilQ function. Consistent with early studies suggesting the importance of cysteine residues on stability of the PilQ multimer, mutation of either of the two cysteine residues in FA19 PilQ led to a similar phenotype as penC: increased antibiotic resistance, loss of piliation, intermediate levels of transformation competence, and absence of SDS-resistant PilQ oligomers. These data show that a functional secretin complex can enhance the entry of antibiotics into the cell and suggest that the PilQ oligomer forms a pore in the outer membrane through which antibiotics diffuse into the periplasm

Endothelial cell activation, reduced endothelial cell reparative capacity, and impaired endothelial-dependent vasodilation after anger provocation

The experience of anger increases the acute and long-term risks of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events [1] and [2]. The mechanism(s) whereby anger is associated with increased CVD risk remains to be fully characterized. One promising candidate mechanism is endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction, as evidenced by impaired endothelial-dependent vasodilation, is an early pathogenic process underlying atherosclerosis development and CVD onset. More recent investigations have elucidated the cellular pathways underlying endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial cell (EC) injury can be assessed by measuring circulating levels of EC-derived microparticles (EMPs), which are phospholipid rich, submicron particles derived and released from the membranes of activated or apoptotic ECs [3]. In addition, the discovery of circulating, bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) capable of EC repair and regeneration [4] suggests that endothelial function represents a balance between ongoing injury and repair. We previously reported that anger provocation acutely impairs arterial vasomotion in apparently healthy individuals [5]. We conducted a study to examine the acute effects of anger provocation not only on arterial vasodilation but also on levels of EMPs and bone marrow-derived EPCs. To our knowledge, this is the first report concerning the adverse effects of anger provocation on cellular pathways underlying EC health