Surrogate modeling for unsaturated infiltration via the physics and equality-constrained artificial neural networks

Machine learning(ML)provides a new surrogate method for investigating groundwater flow dynamics in unsaturated soils.Traditional pure data-driven methods(e.g.deep neural network,DNN)can provide rapid predictions,but they do require sufficient on-site data for accurate training,and lack interpretability to the physical processes within the data.In this paper,we provide a physics and equalityconstrained artificial neural network(PECANN),to derive unsaturated infiltration solutions with a small amount of initial and boundary data.PECANN takes the physics-informed neural network(PINN)as a foundation,encodes the unsaturated infiltration physical laws(i.e.Richards equation,RE)into the loss function,and uses the augmented Lagrangian method to constrain the learning process of the solutions of RE by adding stronger penalty for the initial and boundary conditions.Four unsaturated infiltration cases are designed to test the training performance of PECANN,i.e.one-dimensional(1D)steady-state unsaturated infiltration,1D transient-state infiltration,two-dimensional(2D)transient-state infiltration,and 1D coupled unsaturated infiltration and deformation.The predicted results of PECANN are compared with the finite difference solutions or analytical solutions.The results indicate that PECANN can accurately capture the variations of pressure head during the unsaturated infiltration,and present higher precision and robustness than DNN and PINN.It is also revealed that PECANN can achieve the same accuracy as the finite difference method with fewer initial and boundary training data.Additionally,we investigate the effect of the hyperparameters of PECANN on solving RE problem.PECANN provides an effective tool for simulating unsaturated infiltration.

Reducing oxidative stress and hepatoprotective effect of water extracts from Pu-erh tea on rats with high-fat diet

Reducing oxidative stress and hepatoprotective effect of Pu-erh tea water extracts on rats fed with high-fat diet were researched for explaining health care of Pu-erh tea.Fifty SD rats were divided into five groups.The body weight was measured once a day.The malondialdehyde(MDA)and glucose(Glu)levels and the activities of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST),nitric oxide synthase(NOS),and pyruvate kinase(PK)in serum were determined.Furthermore,the hepatic glycogen level(HGL)and the activities of hepatic total superoxide dismutase(T-SOD),catalase(CAT),and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px)were also measured after continuous administration for 12 weeks.The result demonstrated that Pu-erh extract caused the decreases in body weight,fat index,MDA and NOS levels,and the increases in hepatic T-SOD,CAT and GSH-Px activities,indicating that the extract may be due to inhibiting the increases of body weight and fat index,reducing oxidant stress state and inhibiting lipid peroxidation,thus decreasing the activities of ALT and AST,and protecting the liver in rat.Meanwhile,the extracts could increase the production of hepatic glycogen and the activity of PK,and reduce glucose level,protecting the liver from the diseases associated with type II diabetes.

Chinese investment in Greenland

In 2009 Greenland moved to a more extensive degree of self-government in relation to the Kingdom of Denmark （the Realm）, and most policy areas related to business activities and investment are now under the control of Greenland. Under the Self-Government Act, Greenland has issued legislation within several business sectors and other business-related policy areas, including the mineral resources sector. Today, Greenland is highly dependent on fishing and fish exports; however, the government is quite ambi-tious in its desire to develop new business sectors and attract foreign investment, including investment from China, especially to develop its mineral resources. China is now the second largest economy in the world, and outbound investments by Chinese companies present unprecedented opportunities for both the Chinese companies and their global partners. However, Chinese outbound investment faces many hurdles, both at home and elsewhere. It is highly advisable for Chinese companies to evaluate the regulatory, political, environmental, labor, and financial conditions and under-stand what remedies may mitigate the risks they identify before investing in Green land. This paper investigates and analyzes the hurdles faced by Chinese investors in both Greenland and the Danish Realm. The paper focuses on but is not limited to investments in the mining industry.

Genomic variation of 363 diverse tea accessions unveils the genetic diversity, domestication, and structural variations associated with tea adaptation

Domestication has shaped the population structure and agronomic traits of tea plants, yet the complexity of tea population structure and genetic variation that determines these traits remains unclear.We here investigated the resequencing data of 363 diverse tea accessions collected extensively from almost all tea distributions and found that the population structure of tea plants was divided into eight subgroups, which were basically consistent with their geographical distributions. The genetic diversity of tea plants in China decreased from southwest to east as latitude increased. Results also indicated that Camellia sinensis var. assamica(CSA) illustrated divergent selection signatures with Camellia sinensis var. sinensis(CSS). The domesticated genes of CSA were mainly involved in leaf development, flavonoid and alkaloid biosynthesis, while the domesticated genes in CSS mainly participated in amino acid metabolism, aroma compounds biosynthesis,and cold stress. Comparative population genomics further identified ~730 Mb novel sequences, generating 6,058 full-length protein-encoding genes,significantly expanding the gene pool of tea plants.We also discovered 217,376 large-scale structural variations and 56,583 presence and absence variations(PAVs) across diverse tea accessions, some of which were associated with tea quality and stress resistance. Functional experiments demonstrated that two PAV genes(CSS0049975 and CSS0006599)were likely to drive trait diversification in cold tolerance between CSA and CSS tea plants. The overall findings not only revealed the genetic diversity and domestication of tea plants, but also underscored the vital role of structural variations in the diversification of tea plant traits.

Liver-specific deficiency of TMEM30A develops spontaneous hepatocellular carcinoma

Introduction Hepatocellular carcinoma is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and mainly originates from chronic liver diseases[1].It is essential to establish a stable and effective model for studying hepatocellular carcinomas.At present,chemical induction is the most common method to establish liver cancer models in mice,in which diethylnitrosamine(DEN)and carbon tetrachloride(CCl4)are the main inducers[2].It simulates well the natural formation process of liver cancer,but the induction time is long.Human primary liver cancer organoids retain livertissue function and genetic stability[3].

家蚕整合素Bmintegrin β1基因的克隆及表达

整合素作为一种跨膜糖蛋白,与生物体的生理和病理等多个过程密切相关。为了探究其在家蚕中扮演的角色,通过PCR及RACE技术克隆得到了家蚕整合素β家族成员Bmintegrinβ1,通过结构域预测网站对其结构域进行了预测,并构建进化树对其进化关系进行分析,此外通过原核表达系统及蛋白纯化方法获得其重组蛋白,使用重组蛋白免疫小鼠获得其多克隆抗体,并采用半定量PCR及Western blotting方法检测Bmintegrin β1的时空表达。文中得到家蚕整合素Bmintegrin β1的3种剪切形式,且这3种剪切体具有长为2 502 bp的开放阅读框架,编码833个氨基酸。根据预测该蛋白含有Integrin-B-tail、跨膜区等一系列整合素家族保守的结构域。进化树结果表明该蛋白与同为鳞翅目成员的烟夜蛾和黑脉金斑蝶的整合素蛋白最为接近。此外我们通过原核表达系统及亲和层析技术获得了高纯度的Bmintegrin β1蛋白,进一步制得多克隆抗体。并通过免疫印迹反应证明该抗血清能特异识别Bmintegrin β1重组蛋白。之后通过半定量PCR及免疫印迹检测,结果显示该蛋白在家蚕的各组织以及血细胞各时期均有较高表达且在血液中表达量最高。总之,这项研究为家蚕整合素家族的研究提供了基础。

Particulate matter pollution in Kunshan High-Tech zone： Source apportionment with trace elements, plume evolution and its monitoring

Particulate matter （PM} in the Kunshan High-Tech zone is studied during a three-month campaign. PM and trace elements are measured by the online pollution monitoring, forecast-warning and source term retrieval system AS3. Hourly measured concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and 16 trace elements in the PM2.5 section （Ca, Pb, Cu, C1, V, Cr, Fe, Ti, Mn, Ni, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Sr, Ba） are focused. Source apportionment of trace elements by Positive Matrix Factorization modeling indicates that there are five major sources, including dust, industrial processing, traffic, combustion, and sea salt with contribution rate of 23.68%, 21.66%, 14.30%, 22.03%, and 6.89%, respectively. Prediction ofptume dispersion from concrete plant and traffic emissions shows that PM20 pollution of concrete plant is three orders of magnitude more than that of the traffic. The influence range can extend to more than 3 km in 1 hr. Because the footprint of the industrial plumes is constantly moving according to the local meteorological conditions, the fixed monitoring sites scattered in a few hundred meters haven＇t captured the heaviest pollution plume at the local scale of a few km2. As a more intensive monitoring network is not operationally possible, the use of online modeling gives accurate and quantitative information of plume location, which increases the spatial pollution monitoring capacity and improves the understanding of measurement data. These results indicate that the development of the AS3 system, which combines monitoring equipment and air pollution modeling systems, is beneficial to the real-time pollution monitoring in the industrial zone.

Bombyx mori U-shaped regulates the melanization cascade and immune response via binding with the Lozenge protein

Zinc finger protein,an important transcription factor,regulates gene expression associated with various physiological and pathological processes.U-shaped,belong to the Friend of GATA(FOG)transcription factor,plays a crucial role in hematopoiesis by interacting with the GATA transcription factor as a co-factor.However,little is known about its functions in insects.In the present study,a U-shaped cDNA was identified and characterized from the silkworm Bombyx mori and its potential roles in innate immunity investigated.The predicted silkworm U-shaped amino acid sequence contained a classical nuclear localization signal(NLS)motif“GESSPKRRRR”at position 45CU459,and arginine residues at position 456 and 478 are the critical sites of the NLS.U-shaped mRNA was detected in all tested tissues of the B.mori;however,the highest levels were found in the hemocytes.U-shaped mRNA expression levels were upregulated in the hemocyte after the Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus challenge.Furthermore,U-shaped knockdown significantly reduced the melanization process and suppressed the expression of melanization-associated genes,including PPO1,PPO2,PPAE and BAEE.In addition,U-shaped interacts with Lozenge protein to regulate the innate immune response of the insect.Our results revealed that U-shaped binds directly to Lozenge protein to modulate the melanization process and innate immune responses in silkworm.

Integrin β2 and β3:Two plasmatocyte markers deepen our understanding of the development of plasmatocytes in the silkworm Bombyx mori

Insect hemocytes play important biological roles at developmental stages,metamorphosis,and innate immunity.As one of the most abundant cell types,plasmatocytes can participate in various innate immune responses,especially in encapsulation and node formation.Here,2 molecular markers of plasmatocytes,consisting of integrinβ2 andβ3,were identified and used to understand the development of plasmatocytes.Plasmatocytes are widely distributed in the hematopoietic system,including circulating hemolymph and hematopoietic organs(HPOs).HPOs constantly release plasmatocytes with high proliferative activity in vitro;removal of HPOs leads to a dramatic reduction in the circulating plasmatocytes,and the remaining plasmatocytes gradually lose their ability to proliferate in vivo.Our results demonstrated that the release of plasmatocytes from HPOs is regulated by insulin-mediated signals and their downstream pathways,including PI3K/Akt and MAPK/Erk signals.The insulin/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway can significantly irritate the hematopoiesis,and its inhibitor LY294002 could inhibit the hemocytes discharged from HPOs.While the insulin/MAPK/Erk signaling pathway plays a negative regulatory role,inhibiting its activity with U0126 can markedly promote the discharge of plasmatocytes from HPOs.Our results indicate that the circulating plasmatocytes are mainly generated and discharged by HPOs.This process is co-regulated by the PI3K/Akt and MAPK/Erk signals in an antagonistic manner to adjust the dynamic balance of the hemocytes.These findings can enhance our understanding of insect hematopoiesis.