A Discrete Conley-Zehnder Index for Symplectic Polytopes

A Hamiltonian system is a dynamical system governed by Hamilton’s equations. Hamiltonian systems provide a framework for studying classical mechanics. One fundamental principle in Hamiltonian mechanics is the conservation of energy along the flow of the Hamiltonian vector field. The smooth hypersurface of a Hamiltonian function on a symplectic manifold has a contact structure, and the associated Reeb vector field is, up to a scale, the Hamiltonian vector field. We are interested in the non-smooth case and a symplectic polytope makes a good model to study. In this dissertation, we study the Reeb dynamics on the boundary of a symplectic polytope. In particular, we calculate the Conley-Zehnder index of a path of symplectic matrices starting from the identity to a symplectic matrix that does not have eigenvalue 1. We start by analyzing the mapping torus, and study the Conley-Zehnder index in that context. We then analyze the situation relevant for 4-dimensional symplectic polytope in Chaidez and Hutchings’ research where the quaternionic trivialization plays an essential role. The new part of this work is that we introduce a family of trivializations that generalizes the quaternions in R4. We prove our trivializations give positive elliptic transition matrices and the same Conley-Zehnder index in comparison to the quaternionic trivialization. We generalize the transition matrices for symplectic polytopes in dimension 6 and higher

Improving Person Re-identification by Attribute and Identity Learning

Person re-identification (re-ID) and attribute recognition share a common target at learning pedestrian descriptions. Their difference consists in the granularity. Most existing re-ID methods only take identity labels of pedestrians into consideration. However, we find the attributes, containing detailed local descriptions, are beneficial in allowing the re-ID model to learn more discriminative feature representations. In this paper, based on the complementarity of attribute labels and ID labels, we propose an attribute-person recognition (APR) network, a multi-task network which learns a re-ID embedding and at the same time predicts pedestrian attributes. We manually annotate attribute labels for two large-scale re-ID datasets, and systematically investigate how person re-ID and attribute recognition benefit from each other. In addition, we re-weight the attribute predictions considering the dependencies and correlations among the attributes. The experimental results on two large-scale re-ID benchmarks demonstrate that by learning a more discriminative representation, APR achieves competitive re-ID performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods. We use APR to speed up the retrieval process by ten times with a minor accuracy drop of 2.92% on Market-1501. Besides, we also apply APR on the attribute recognition task and demonstrate improvement over the baselines.Comment: Accepted to Pattern Recognition (PR

Revisit Weakly-Supervised Audio-Visual Video Parsing from the Language Perspective

We focus on the weakly-supervised audio-visual video parsing task (AVVP), which aims to identify and locate all the events in audio/visual modalities. Previous works only concentrate on video-level overall label denoising across modalities, but overlook the segment-level label noise, where adjacent video segments (i.e., 1-second video clips) may contain different events. However, recognizing events in the segment is challenging because its label could be any combination of events that occur in the video. To address this issue, we consider tackling AVVP from the language perspective, since language could freely describe how various events appear in each segment beyond fixed labels. Specifically, we design language prompts to describe all cases of event appearance for each video. Then, the similarity between language prompts and segments is calculated, where the event of the most similar prompt is regarded as the segment-level label. In addition, to deal with the mislabeled segments, we propose to perform dynamic re-weighting on the unreliable segments to adjust their labels. Experiments show that our simple yet effective approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods by a large margin

LINC01134: a pivotal oncogene with promising predictive maker and therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a leading and fatal malignancy within the gastrointestinal tract. Recent advancements highlight the pivotal role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in diverse biological pathways and pathologies, particularly in tumorigenesis. LINC01134, a particular lncRNA, has attracted considerable attention due to its oncogenic potential in hepatoma. Current research underscores LINC01134’s potential in augmenting the onset and progression of HCC, with notable implications in drug resistance. This review comprehensively explores the molecular functions and regulatory mechanisms of LINC01134 in HCC, offering a fresh perspective for therapeutic interventions. By delving into LINC01134’s multifaceted roles, we aim to foster novel strategies in HCC management

Load-Balanced Parallel Implementation on GPUs for Multi-Scalar Multiplication Algorithm

Multi-scalar multiplication (MSM) is an important building block in most of elliptic-curve-based zero-knowledge proof systems, such as Groth16 and PLONK. Recently, Lu et al. proposed cuZK, a new parallel MSM algorithm on GPUs. In this paper, we revisit this scheme and present a new GPU-based implementation to further improve the performance of MSM algorithm. First, we propose a novel method for mapping scalars into Pippenger’s bucket indices, largely reducing the number of buckets compared to the original Pippenger algorithm. Second, in the case that memory is sufficient, we develop a new efficient algorithm based on homogeneous coordinates in the bucket accumulation phase. Moreover, our accumulation phase is load-balanced, which means the parallel speedup ratio is almost linear growth as the number of device threads increases. Finally, we also propose a parallel layered reduction algorithm for the bucket aggregation phase, whose time complexity remains at the logarithmic level of the number of buckets. The implementation results over the BLS12-381 curve on the V100 graphics card show that our proposed algorithm achieves up to 1.998x, 1.821x and 1.818x speedup compared to cuZK at scales of 221, 222, and 223, respectively

Electroacupuncture Inhibits Visceral Nociception via Somatovisceral Interaction at Subnucleus Reticularis Dorsalis Neurons in the Rat Medulla

Electroacupuncture (EA) is an efficacious treatment for alleviating visceral pain, but the underlining mechanisms are not fully understood. This study investigated the role of medullary subnucleus reticularis dorsalis (SRD) neurons in the effects of EA on visceral pain. We recorded the discharges of SRD neurons extracellularly by glass micropipettes on anesthetized rats. The responses characteristics of SRD neurons to different intensities of EA (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 mA, 0.5 ms, and 2 Hz) on acupoints “Zusanli” (ST 36) and “Shangjuxu” (ST 37) before and during noxious colorectal distension (CRD) were analyzed. Our results indicated that SRD neurons responded to either a noxious EA stimulation ranging from 2 to 8 mA or to noxious CRD at 30 and 60 mmHg by increasing their discharge frequency at an intensity-dependent manner. However, during the stimulation of both CRD and EA, the increasing discharges of SRD neurons induced by CRD were significantly inhibited by 2–8 mA of EA. Furthermore, SRD neurons can encode the strength of EA, where a positive correlation between current intensity and the magnitude of neuronal responses to EA was observed within 2–6 mA. Yet, the responses of SRD neurons to EA stimulation reached a plateau when EA exceeded 6 mA. In addition, 0.5–1 mA of EA had no effect on CRD-induced nociceptive responses of SRD neurons. In conclusion, EA produced an inhibiting effect on visceral nociception in an intensity-dependent manner, which probably is due to the somatovisceral interaction at SRD neurons

Characterization and identification of the integrin family in silkworm, Bombyx mori

YesAs an important economic insect, Bombyx mori is also a useful model organism for lepidopteran insect. Integrins are evolutionarily conserved fromsponges to humans, and play vital roles inmany physiological and pathological processes. To explore their diverse functions of integrins in insect, eleven integrins including sixα and five β subunitswere cloned and characterized fromsilkworm. Our results showed that integrins fromsilkwormown more family members compared to other invertebrates. Among those α subunits, integrins α1, α2, and the other four subunits belong to PS1, PS2, and PS3 groups, respectively. The β subunits mainly gather in the insect βν group except the β1 subunit which belongs to the insect β group. Expression profiles demonstrated that the integrins exhibited distinct patterns, but were mainly expressed in hemocytes. α1 and β2 subunits are the predominant ones either in the embryogenesis or larva stages. Interestingly, integrins were significantly up-regulated after stimulated by 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-E) in vivo. These results indicate that integrins performdiverse functions in hemocytes of silkworm. Overall, our results provide a newinsight into the functional and evolutionary features of integrins.National Basic Research Programof China (No. 2012cb114603), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20130182110003), the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (cstc2013jcyjys0007), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWU111014)

Isolation, Purification, Structure Characterization and Antioxidant Activity of Alkali-extracted Polysaccharide from Abalone Viscera

Objective: Alkali-extracted polysaccharides from Abalone viscera (Aavp) were isolated and purified. The structure and antioxidant activity of Aavp were studied, which would provide a reference for developing and applying polysaccharides. Methods: The crude alkali-extracted polysaccharide was prepared by hot alkali extraction and alcohol precipitation. After the purification of DEAE sepharose fast flow and sephacryl S-400 HR, the purified polysaccharide was obtained and subjected to the structural analysis and antioxidant activity assay, such as Gas chromatography (GC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), etc. Result: Four kinds of components (Aavp Ia, Aavp Ib, Aavp IIa, and Aavp IIb) were obtained from the crude polysaccharide. Because of the highest yield, Aavp IIa was selected for further structural analysis. Aavp IIa was composed of xylose and galactose, with a relative molecular weight of 166513 Da. IR characterized the α-glycosidic bond configuration. The composition of Aavp IIa was possible as follows: The molar percentage of the galactose 1→4 glycosidic bond was 11.81%, the galactose 1→3 glycosidic bond was 34.14%, and the galactose 1→2 glycosidic bond was 10.14%. The molar percentage of the xylose 1→3 glycosidic bond was 33.85%, and the 1→2 and 1→4 glycosidic bond was 10.06%. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that Aavp IIa was broken and decomposed at 226.4~332.6 °C, and the thermal weight loss rate was 43.65%. Antioxidant experiments showed that Aavp IIa had a scavenging rate of 85.89% for superoxide anion radicals and 62.17% for DPPH radicals, respectively, presenting a certain antioxidant activity. Conclusion: Aavp is a heteropolysaccharide with specific antioxidant activity

Preparation Process of Alkali-extracted Polysaccharides from Abalone Viscera and Its Repair Activity against H2O2 Oxidative Damage in L929 Cells

Objective: The extraction process of alkali-extracted abalone viscera polysaccharides (Aavp) was optimized, and the preventive and repair effects of purified Aavp on H2O2 oxidative damage on L929 cells were studied to provide a reference for the development and application of Aavps. Methods: Crude Aavp was obtained by hot alkali extraction followed by alcohol precipitation, and its extraction process was optimized by the response surface method. The preventive and repair abilities of H2O2 oxidative damage on L929 cells were analyzed. Resulst: The optimum extraction conditions of crude Aavps were as follows: Solid-liquid ratio of 1:150 g/mL, extraction time of 2 h, and extraction temperature of 70 ℃. Under these optimal conditions, the yield of crude Aavp was 8.57%. In the prevention test of H2O2 oxidative damage on L929 cells, different doses of purified Aavp (20, 50 and 100 μg/mL) had a significant preventive effect on L929 cell oxidative damage (P<0.001) but did not show a dose effect. The cell survival rate of the middle dose group (50 μg/mL) was the highest (71.94%±3.08%), which was slightly better than the positive control vitamin E group but not significant. In the repair test, different doses of purified Aavp (20, 50 and 100 μg/mL) had a significant repair effect on the oxidative damage of L929 cells (P<0.001) and showed a dose effect. In contrast, the cell survival rate of the high-dose group (100 μg/mL) was the highest (90.93%±1.17%), slightly higher than that of the positive control vitamin E group (87.96%±3.05%). The results showed that purified Aavp showed an excellent preventive and repair effect on H2O2 oxidative damage in L929 cells. Conclusion: Aavp has an ability to repair H2O2 oxidative damage of L929 cells