Generalized Witten Genus and Vanishing Theorems

We construct a generalized Witten genus for spin$^c$ manifolds, which takes values in level 1 modular forms with integral Fourier expansion on a class of spin$^c$ manifolds called string$^c$ manifolds. We also construct a mod 2 analogue of the Witten genus for $8k+2$ dimensional spin manifolds. The Landweber-Stong type vanishing theorems are proven for the generalized Witten genus and the mod 2 Witten genus on string$^c$ and string (generalized) complete intersections in (product of) complex projective spaces respectively.Comment: 28 page

Inferring Document Readability by Integrating Eye Movement Features

Capturing user’s emotional state is an emerging way for implicit relevance feedback in information retrieval (IR). Recently, EEG-based emotion recognition has drawn increasing attention. However, a key challenge is effective learning of useful features from EEG signals. In this paper, we present our on-going work on using Deep Belief Network (DBN) to automatically extract high-level features from raw EEG signals. Our preliminary experiment on the DEAP dataset shows that the learned features perform comparably to the use of manually generated features for emotion recognition

Analysis on Simulation Experiment of Outburst in Uncovering Coal Seam in Cross-cut

AbstractBased on the criteria of the Hoek-Brown rupture, the stress state of the coal's outburst is analyzed. The establishment of coal mining mechanical model and the critical pressure of the gas outburst are obtained on the basis of catastrophe theory, and then cross-cut outburst process of uncovering coal is classified as outburst breeding, outburst initiation, outburst development and outburst termination. Choosing Luling coal mine's #8 coal seam as a sample, this article relies on the large-scale three-dimensional coal and gas outburst experiment platform of the Key Laboratory of Mine Disaster Prevention and Control of Shandong University of Science and Technology to conduct cross-cut uncovering coal outburst simulation experiment. Through analysis of the surrounding rock stress and gas pressure experimental data, surrounding rock mechanical properties and the change situations when outburst happens in the process of uncovering coal are obtained. The experiments show that: when outburst occurs, the greater changes of crustal stress and gas pressure happen near the outburst mouth; and the stress and gas pressure in front of outburst mouth change significantly more than that at the rear of the mouth

Detecting regions of interest using eye tracking for CBIR

Identifying Regions of Interest (ROIs) in images has been shown an effective way to enhance the performance of Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Most existing ROI identification methods are based on salience detection, and the identified ROIs may not be the regions that users are really interested in. While manual selection of ROIs can directly reflect users’ interests, it puts extra cognitive overhead to users. To alleviate these limitations, in this paper, we propose a novel eye-tracking based method to detect ROIs for CBIR, in an unobtrusive way. Experimental results have demonstrated that our model performed effectively compared with various state of the art methods

R-bUCRP: A Novel Reputation-Based Uneven Clustering Routing Protocol for Cognitive Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy of nodes is an important factor that affects the performance of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), especially in the case of existing selfish nodes, which attracted many researchers’ attention recently. In this paper, we present a reputation-based uneven clustering routing protocol (R-bUCRP) considering both energy saving and reputation assessment. In the cluster establishment phase, we adopt an uneven clustering mechanism which controls the competitive scope of cluster head candidates to save the energy of WSNs. In the cluster heads election phase, the residual energy and reputation value are used as the indexes to select the optimal cluster head, where the reputation mechanism is introduced to support reputation assessment. Simulation results show that the proposed R-bUCRP can save node energy consumption, balance network energy distribution, and prolong network lifetime

Characterization of photosystem II in transgenic tobacco plants with decreased iron superoxide dismutase

AbstractIron superoxide dismutases (FeSODs) play an important role in preventing the oxidative damage associated with photosynthesis. To investigate the mechanisms of FeSOD in protection against photooxidative stress, we obtained transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants with severely decreased FeSOD by using a gene encoding tobacco chloroplastic FeSOD for the RNAi construct. Transgenic plants were highly sensitive to photooxidative stress and accumulated increased levels of O2•− under normal light conditions. Spectroscopic analysis and electron transport measurements showed that PSII activity was significantly reduced in transgenic plants. Flash-induced fluorescence relaxation and thermoluminescence measurements revealed that there was a slow electron transfer between QA and QB and decreased redox potential of QB in transgenic plants, whereas the donor side function of PSII was not affected. Immunoblot and blue native gel analyses showed that PSII protein accumulation was also decreased in transgenic plants. PSII photodamage and D1 protein degradation under high light treatment was increased in transgenic plants, whereas the PSII repair was not affected, indicating that the stability of the PSII complex was decreased in transgenic plants. The results in this study suggest that FeSOD plays an important role in maintaining PSII function by stabilizing PSII complexes in tobacco plants

Clinical efficacy of combined use of Xuebijing and mild hypothermia therapy for the treatment of severe traumatic brain injury, and its effect on patient mortality and complications

Purpose: To investigate the clinical efficacy of combined use of Xuebijing and mild hypothermia therapy in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), and its effect on mortality and incidence of complications. Methods: Eighty-six severe TBI patients admitted to The Fourth People's Hospital of Chongqing were selected. Patients were randomly and equally assigned to control group (COG) who received conventional treatment, and study group (EXG) given a combination of Xuebijing and mild hypothermia therapy. Relevant clinical indicators and therapeutic effects were compared. Results: Post-treatment levels of inflammatory indices, including procalcitonin (PCT), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were significantly reduced, with lower levels in EXG (p < 0.05). Between-group differences were seen in human leukocyte antigen-DR isotype (HLA-DR), CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and C3 indicators (p < 0.05). EXG had significantly lower protein expression levels of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S100 beta than COG (p < 0.05). After treatment, plasma protein levels of coagulation indices, viz, prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) were lower than pre-treatment levels, with even much lower levels in EXG (p < 0.05). There were reduced incidence of lung infection, acute gastrointestinal injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and hypernatremia (p < 0.05). More patients had better recovery in EXG (p < 0.05) than in control group. Conclusion: The combined therapy improves the prognosis of severe TBI, lowers the levels of inflammatory factors, ameliorates plasma coagulation, and enhances immunity with a high degree of safety. However, further clinical trials should be undertaken prior to application in clinical practic

P-bRS: A Physarum-Based Routing Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

Routing in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is an extremely challenging issue due to the features of WSNs. Inspired by the large and single-celled amoeboid organism, slime mold Physarum polycephalum, we establish a novel selecting next hop model (SNH). Based on this model, we present a novel Physarum-based routing scheme (P-bRS) for WSNs to balance routing efficiency and energy equilibrium. In P-bRS, a sensor node can choose the proper next hop by using SNH which comprehensively considers the distance, energy residue, and location of the next hop. The simulation results show how P-bRS can achieve the effective trade-off between routing efficiency and energy equilibrium compared to two famous algorithms