A Vector Matroid-Theoretic Approach in the Study of Structural Controllability Over F(z)

In this paper, the structural controllability of the systems over F(z) is studied using a new mathematical method-matroids. Firstly, a vector matroid is defined over F(z). Secondly, the full rank conditions of [sI-A|B] are derived in terms of the concept related to matroid theory, such as rank, base and union. Then the sufficient condition for the linear system and composite system over F(z) to be structurally controllable is obtained. Finally, this paper gives several examples to demonstrate that the married-theoretic approach is simpler than other existing approaches

A vector matroid-theoretic approach in the study of structural controllability over F(z)

In this paper, the structural controllability of the systems over F(z) is studied using a new mathematical method-matroids. First, a vector matroid is de ned over F(z). Second, the full rank conditions of [sI AB](s 2 ) are derived in terms of the concept related to matroid theory, such as rank, base, and union. Then, the suf cient condition for the linear system and composite system over F(z) to be structurally controllable is obtained. Finally, this paper gives several examples to demonstrate that the married-theoretic approach is simpler than other existing approaches.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Fund under Grant 51307047 and Grant 51505475, in part by the Self-Determined and Innovative Research Funds of Wuhan University of Technology under Grant 2010-YB-12, in part by the Yingcai Project of CUMT, and in part by the National Research Foundation, South Africa under Grant RDYR160404161474.http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=6287639am2017Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

Study of Highly Pixelated CdZnTe Detector for PET Applications

AbstractWe are investigating the feasibility of a high-resolution PET insert device based on a Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) detector with 350μm anode pixel pitch to be integrated into a conventional animal PET scanner to improve its image resolution to sub-500 micrometer range. In this work, we have used a simplified version of the future 2048-pixel CdZnTe planar detector with 250μm anode pixel size and 100μm gap. This simplified 9 anode pixel structure makes it possible to conduct experiments without a complete ASIC readout system (with 2048 channels) that is still under development. We characterized this CdZnTe detector by investigating it charge sharing, spatial resolution, and energy resolution. We imaged a Na-22 point source using the coincidence events between this 350μm pixelated CdZnTe detector and a lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) based Siemens Inveon PET detector. The reconstructed PET image shows a resolution of 590μm full width at half maximum (FWHM) by using single-pixel events. When we included double-pixel charge sharing events in the image reconstruction, the image resolution was degraded to 655μm, but the sensitivity of the coincidence system increased 2.5 to 3 times

The ecdysteroid receptor regulates salivary gland degeneration through apoptosis in Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides

Background: It is well established that ecdysteroid hormones play an important role in arthropod development and reproduction, mediated by ecdysteroid receptors. Ticks are obligate hematophagous arthropods and vectors of pathogens. The salivary gland plays an essential role in tick growth and reproduction and in the transmission of pathogens to vertebrate hosts. During tick development, the salivary gland undergoes degeneration triggered by ecdysteroid hormones and activated by apoptosis. However, it is unknown how the ecdysteroid receptor and apoptosis regulate salivary gland degeneration. Here, we report the functional ecdysteroid receptor (a heterodimer of the ecdysone receptor [EcR] and ultraspiracle [USP]) isolated from the salivary gland of the tick Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides and explore the molecular mechanism of ecdysteroid receptor regulation of salivary gland degeneration. Methods: The full length of RhEcR and RhUSP open reading frames (ORFs) was obtained from the transcriptome. The RhEcR and RhUSP proteins were expressed in a bacterial heterologous system, Escherichia coli. Polyclonal antibodies were produced against synthetic peptides and were able to recognize recombinant and native proteins. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot were used to detect the distribution of RhEcR, RhUSP, and RhCaspases in the R. haemaphysaloides organs. A proteomics approach was used to analyze the expression profiles of the ecdysteroid receptors, RhCaspases, and other proteins. To analyze the function of the ecdysteroid receptor, RNA interference (RNAi) was used to silence the genes in adult female ticks. Finally, the interaction of RhEcR and RhUSP was identified by heterologous co-expression assays in HEK293T cells. Results: We identified the functional ecdysone receptor (RhEcR/RhUSP) of 20-hydroxyecdysone from the salivary gland of the tick R. haemaphysaloides. The RhEcR and RhUSP genes have three and two isoforms, respectively, and belong to a nuclear receptor family but with variable N-terminal A/B domains. The RhEcR gene silencing inhibited blood-feeding, blocked engorgement, and restrained salivary gland degeneration, showing the biological role of the RhEcR gene in ticks. In the ecdysteroid signaling pathway, RhEcR silencing inhibited salivary gland degeneration by suppressing caspase-dependent apoptosis. The heterologous expression in mammalian HEK293T cells showed that RhEcR1 interacts with RhUSP1 and induces caspase-dependent apoptosis

Thingking and utilization technology of coalbed methane in soft and low permeability coal seams in Huainan Mining Area

In order to solve the problems that restrict the efficient development of coalbed methane resources under the conditions of soft and low permeability outburst coal seams in Huainan Mining Area, such as complex coal seam structure, multi-source gas emission, rapid decline of drainage flow, high rock roadway and drilling costs, and low (ultra-low) concentration coalbed methane utilization rate, six key technologies suitable for the coordinated development mode of coal and coalbed methane under the condition of coal seam group mining in Huainan mining area are put forward, namely: coalbed methane extraction technology of ground level staged fracturing wells, shield rapid construction technology of coalbed methane extraction roadways, enhanced extraction technology of underground soft coalbed methane, coalbed methane extraction technology of pressure relief in ground mining area, the construction technology of "replacing roadways with holes", and cascade utilization technology of low concentration coalbed methane. The application of supporting key technologies shows that staged fracturing technology and refined drainage and production technology of roof horizontal wells in broken and soft coal seam have effectively improved the pre pumping production of coalbed methane; The full face hard rock roadheader in deep coal mine roadway greatly improves the roadway excavation efficiency, realizing the automation and less humanization of hard rock excavation; Sand adding of hydraulic fracturing and ultra-high hydraulic slotting have realized pressure relief and permeability enhancement in large areas underground coal mine; Type III and IV surface mining area wells can replace the roof high drainage roadway in the treatment of pressure relief gas in coal seam group mining, and reduce the coalbed methane drainage intensity of other measures; The technology of "replacing roadways with holes" has significantly improved the quality of successful directional drilling at middle and high levels in complex roof; Cascade utilization technology of low concentration coalbed methane has greatly reduced the emission of coalbed methane. The six key technologies have guaranteed the safe production in Huainan mining area, and comprehensively improved the output of coal and coalbed methane and the utilization level of coalbed methane. Six key technologies ensure the safe production in Huainan mining area, and comprehensively improved the output of coal and coalbed methane and the utilization level of coalbed methane. Finally, in view of the problems such as high operation cost, low production, small scope of hydraulic fracturing coal reservoir reconstruction technology for surface horizontal wells, and the risk of breakage of mining wells, and small scale of cascade utilization of ultra-low concentration coalbed methane, the development direction of deep CBM precise geological guidance, super large scale efficient reservoir volume transformation, pumping effect evaluation technology, stable and continuous pumping technology of surface wells in mining areas, underground large area intelligent hydraulic enhanced permeability technology, "one well with multiple uses" collaborative pumping CBM technology, and full concentration CBM comprehensive utilization technology are proposed

Electrochemical mechanical micromachining based on confined etchant layer technique

National Science Foundation of China [91023006, 91023047, 91023043, 21061120456, 21021002]; Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China [2012J06004]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2010121022]; Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (State Education Ministry)The confined etchant layer technique (CELT) has been proved an effective electrochemical microfabrication method since its first publication at Faraday Discussions in 1992. Recently, we have developed CELT as an electrochemical mechanical micromachining (ECMM) method by replacing the cutting tool used in conventional mechanical machining with an electrode, which can perform lathing, planing and polishing. Through the coupling between the electrochemically induced chemical etching processes and mechanical motion, ECMM can also obtain a regular surface in one step. Taking advantage of CELT, machining tolerance and surface roughness can reach micro-or nano-meter scale

RNA-Seq Mapping and Detection of Gene Fusions with a Suffix Array Algorithm

High-throughput RNA sequencing enables quantification of transcripts (both known and novel), exon/exon junctions and fusions of exons from different genes. Discovery of gene fusions–particularly those expressed with low abundance– is a challenge with short- and medium-length sequencing reads. To address this challenge, we implemented an RNA-Seq mapping pipeline within the LifeScope software. We introduced new features including filter and junction mapping, annotation-aided pairing rescue and accurate mapping quality values. We combined this pipeline with a Suffix Array Spliced Read (SASR) aligner to detect chimeric transcripts. Performing paired-end RNA-Seq of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using the SOLiD system, we called 40 gene fusions among over 120,000 splicing junctions. We validated 36 of these 40 fusions with TaqMan assays, of which 25 were expressed in MCF-7 but not the Human Brain Reference. An intra-chromosomal gene fusion involving the estrogen receptor alpha gene ESR1, and another involving the RPS6KB1 (Ribosomal protein S6 kinase beta-1) were recurrently expressed in a number of breast tumor cell lines and a clinical tumor sample

The Genomes of Oryza sativa: A History of Duplications

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family