User interface and data structure design for architectural expert system

Computers are currently used to generate drawings in the architectural design process. This thesis anticipates the development of an Architectural Expert System, which could provide assistance in the decision-making processes in architectural design. The focus is on the design of the user interface of such a system. Architectural object-oriented data hierarchies are created. Also, a set of drawing tools, which assist the user in the creation of architectural objects such as walls, windows, and doors, are provided

Ensemble Multi-Quantiles: Adaptively Flexible Distribution Prediction for Uncertainty Quantification

We propose a novel, succinct, and effective approach to quantify uncertainty in machine learning. It incorporates adaptively flexible distribution prediction for $\mathbb{P}(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{X}=x)$ in regression tasks. For predicting this conditional distribution, its quantiles of probability levels spreading the interval $(0,1)$ are boosted by additive models which are designed by us with intuitions and interpretability. We seek an adaptive balance between the structural integrity and the flexibility for $\mathbb{P}(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{X}=x)$, while Gaussian assumption results in a lack of flexibility for real data and highly flexible approaches (e.g., estimating the quantiles separately without a distribution structure) inevitably have drawbacks and may not lead to good generalization. This ensemble multi-quantiles approach called EMQ proposed by us is totally data-driven, and can gradually depart from Gaussian and discover the optimal conditional distribution in the boosting. On extensive regression tasks from UCI datasets, we show that EMQ achieves state-of-the-art performance comparing to many recent uncertainty quantification methods. Visualization results further illustrate the necessity and the merits of such an ensemble model

Urban Growth Boundaries of the Hangzhou Metropolitan Area Based on Ecosystem Service

The identification of urban growth boundaries (UGBs) as components of an ecologically liveable city is rather significant in urban space management. However, the evaluation of ecosystem service in establishing UGBs as reactions to protect open spaces and ecological sensitive area are largely ignored. Furthermore, the lack of scenario analysis for urban growth patterns has made it difficult to adjust planning existed. Accordingly, in this paper, we take Hangzhou metropolitan areas (HMA) as the study area, using Landsat TM image data, and established the UGBs for the HMA based on ecosystem service by the Green Infrastructure Assessment (GIA) model with scenario analysis. The results suggested that: 1) The risk of urban development in the northern and eastern areas of the central city is relatively low, while the southern, eastern and south-western areas need intensive protection; 2) In the model of ecological management, the erosion of ecological space has increased gradually and the regional ecological patterns in the fourth scenarios have faced great challenges; 3) UGBs for the HMA were identified as the view of development and ecological space complementarily

Spatial and temporal characteristics of drought in the Mu Us Sandy Land based on the Standardized Precipitation Index

The environment of the Mu Us Sandy Land, northern Shaanxi, is fragile, so the temporal and spatial evolution of drought can provide a reference for ecological construction and agricultural production. Based on the daily precipitation data of five meteorological stations from 1967 to 2020, the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of drought in the Mu Us Sandy Land of northern Shaanxi were analyzed using the methods Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and run-length theory. The results show that 1) the smaller the time scale, the higher the sensitivity of the SPI to primary precipitation. 2) The annual, summer, autumn, and winter SPI showed an upward and a wetting trend, and the fastest wetting speed is observed in summer, while spring showed an increasing trend of drought. 3) In the past 54 years, the duration, degree, and intensity of drought events at SPI-3 and SPI-12 scales in the Mu Us Sandy Land of northern Shaanxi showed an insignificant decreasing trend, but the decreasing rate at the SPI-12 scale was faster than that at the SPI-3 scale. The serious periods of drought are November 2018 to May 2019 and April 1999 to July 2021. 4) The duration of drought events at two timescales in each region showed a decreasing trend. The longest durations of drought were in Yulin and Jingbian; Shenmu and Dingbian are the regions with the fastest reduction rate of drought degree at the two scales. Hengshan shows rapid reduction of drought intensity at the two scales and also the region with large average drought intensity. These results are helpful in understanding and describing drought events for drought risk management under the condition of global warming

Testicular metastasis from urothelial carcinoma: case report and literature review

Urothelial carcinoma (UC) with testicular metastasis is extremely rare, and its modes of metastasis, prognosis, and treatment are unclear. In this report, we present an extraordinarily rare case of testicular metastasis arising from UC 8 years after surgery. The patient underwent left orchiepididymectomy and received immunotherapy postoperatively. After a 6-month follow-up, there were no signs of recurrence. Moreover, the clinical characteristics, metastasis pattern, and treatment plan were also summarized based on 14 earlier reported cases of UC with testicular metastasis

Impact analysis of electricity supply unreliability to interdependent economic sectors by an economic-technical approach

This paper proposes a novel framework to quantify the economic impact of electricity supply interruptions to other economic sectors considering their interdependency and increasing penetration of wind power. It is achieved by a novel integrated model that combines economic interdependency and electricity supply reliability. Leontief Input-Output model is used to determine the dependency of other economic sectors on electricity supply and electricity reliability theory is utilised to quantify electricity supply interruptions. The two models are combined to quantify two key indexes: the inoperability of different economic sectors and their losses under electricity supply unreliability. Further, an optimal model is designed to allocate available electricity to minimise the economic losses of these sectors when electricity supply is interrupted. Two UK electricity generation scenarios are used to demonstrate the concept. It is found that economic sectors have various degrees of dependency on electricity supply and their losses also differ significantly. In addition, more wind power penetration could jeopardize electricity supply adequacy and consequences to other sectors. The findings can assist policy makers to understand the importance of electricity security to other sectors and quantify potential economic losses so that new policies and regulations can be designed to mitigate the adverse consequences, such as developing the capacity market

Cell Wall Invertase and Sugar Transporters Are Differentially Activated in Tomato Styles and Ovaries During Pollination and Fertilization

Flowering plants depend on pollination and fertilization to activate the transition from ovule to seed and ovary to fruit, namely seed and fruit set, which are key for completing the plant life cycle and realizing crop yield potential. These processes are highly energy consuming and rely on the efficient use of sucrose as the major nutrient and energy source. However, it remains elusive as how sucrose imported into and utilizated within the female reproductive organ is regulated in response to pollination and fertilization. Here, we explored this issue in tomato by focusing on genes encoding cell wall invertase (CWIN) and sugar transporters, which are major players in sucrose phloem unloading, and sink development. The transcript level of a major CWIN gene, LIN5, and CWIN activity were significantly increased in style at 4 h after pollination (HAP) in comparison with that in the non-pollination control, and this was sustained at 2 days after pollination (DAP). In the ovaries, however, CWIN activity and LIN5 expression did not increase until 2 DAP when fertilization occurred. Interestingly, a CWIN inhibitor gene INVINH1 was repressed in the pollinated style at 2 DAP. In response to pollination, the style exhibited increased expressions of genes encoding hexose transporters, SlHT1, 2, SlSWEET5b, and sucrose transporters SlSUT1, 2, and 4 from 4 HAP to 2 DAP. Upon fertilization, SlSUT1 and SlHT1 and 2, but not SlSWEETs, were also stimulated in fruitlets at 2 DAP. Together, the findings reveal that styles respond promptly and more broadly to pollination for activation of CWIN and sugar transporters to fuel pollen tube elongation, whereas the ovaries do not exhibit activation for some of these genes until fertilization occurs.HighlightsExpression of genes encoding cell wall invertases and sugar transporters was stimulated in pollinated style and fertilized ovaries in tomato

Involvement of Fenton chemistry in rice straw degradation by the lignocellulolytic bacterium Pantoea ananatis Sd-1

Additional file 7: Table S2. Primers used for quantitative real time-PCR