Measurement Research Based on Bayesian Structural Equation Cognitive Model

The Bayesian structural equation model integrates the principles of Bayesian statistics, providing a more flexible and comprehensive modeling framework. In exploring complex relationships between variables, handling uncertainty, and dealing with missing data, the Bayesian structural equation model demonstrates unique advantages. Therefore, Bayesian methods are used in this paper to establish a structural equation model of innovative talent cognition, with the measurement of college students’ cognition of innovative talent being studied. An in-depth analysis is conducted on the effects of innovative self-efficacy, social resources, innovative personality traits, and school education, aiming to explore the factors influencing college students’ innovative talent. The results indicate that innovative self-efficacy plays a key role in perception, social resources are significantly positively correlated with the perception of innovative talents, innovative personality tendencies and school education are positively correlated with the perception of innovative talents, but the impact is not significant.

Preparation and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm Elimination Effect of Baicalein-Loaded Hyaluronic acid/β-Cyclodextrin grafted Chitosan Nanoparticles

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)is a common pathogen causing acquired infections.Antibiotics are routinely employed for bacterial infection treatment.Excessive antibiotic use for bacterial infections heightens resistance,and MRSA resistance is being prevalent[1].MRSA exhibits substantial resistance to conventional antibiotics,which is associated with its biofilm-forming capability.The bacterial biofilm serves as a barrier,restricting nutrient access and slowing internal metabolism,increasing antibiotic resistance.The bacterial biofilm forms a defensive layer,resisting antibiotic penetration while preventing nutrient entry,inducing a slow bacterial metabolism,and increasing bacterial resistance[2].Consequently,biofilm formation and the emergence of resistance to conventional antibiotics have become substantial challenges in the field of infectious diseases.The development of agents to remove biofilm barriers is urgently required because biofilms are extremely hazardous.

Stabilization Parametric Region of Distributed PID Controllers for General First-Order Multi-Agent Systems With Time Delay

The stabilization problem of distributed proportional-integral-derivative(PID)controllers for general first-order multi-agent systems with time delay is investigated in the paper.The closed-loop multi-input multi-output(MIMO)framework in frequency domain is firstly introduced for the multi-agent system.Based on the matrix theory,the whole system is decoupled into several subsystems with respect to the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix.Considering that the eigenvalues may be complex numbers,the consensus problem of the multi-agent system is transformed into the stabilizing problem of all the subsystems with complex coefficients.For each subsystem with complex coefficients,the range of admissible proportional gains is analytically determined.Then,the stabilizing region in the space of integral gain and derivative gain for a given proportional gain value is also obtained in an analytical form.The entire stabilizing set can be determined by sweeping proportional gain in the allowable range.The proposed method is conducted for general first-order multi-agent systems under arbitrary topology including undirected and directed graph topology.Besides,the results in the paper provide the basis for the design of distributed PID controllers satisfying different performance criteria.The simulation examples are presented to check the validity of the proposed control strategy.

The R2R3-type MYB transcription factor MdMYB90-like is responsible for the enhanced skin color of an apple bud sport mutant

The anthocyanin content in apple skin determines its red coloration,as seen in a Fuji apple mutant.Comparative RNA-seq analysis was performed to determine differentially expressed genes at different fruit development stages between the wild-type and the skin color mutant.A novel R2R3-MYB transcription factor,MdMYB90-like,was uncovered as the key regulatory gene for enhanced coloration in the mutant.The expression of MdMYB90-like was 21.3 times higher in the mutant.MdMYB90-like regulates anthocyanin biosynthesis directly through the activation of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes and indirectly through the activation of other transcription factors that activate anthocyanin biosynthesis.MdMYB90-like bound to the promoters of both structural genes(MdCHS and MdUFGT)and other transcription factor genes(MdMYB1 and MdbHLH3)in the yeast one-hybrid system,electrophoretic mobility shift assay,and dual-luciferase assay.Transgenic analysis showed that MdMYB90-like was localized in the nucleus,and its overexpression induced the expression of other anthocyanin-related genes,including MdCHS,MdCHI,MdANS,MdUFGT,MdbHLH3,and MdMYB1.The mutant had reduced levels of DNA methylation in two regions(−1183 to−988 and−2018 to−1778)of the MdMYB90-like gene promoter,which might explain the enhanced expression of the gene and the increased anthocyanin content in the mutant apple skin.

MdWRKY75e enhances resistance to Alternaria alternata in Malus domestica

The Alternaria alternata apple pathotype adversely affects apple(Malus domestica Borkh.)cultivation.However,the molecular mechanisms underlying enhanced resistance to this pathogen in apple remain poorly understood.We have previously reported that MdWRKY75 expression is upregulated by A.alternata infection in‘Sushuai’apples.In this study,we discovered that overexpression of MdWRKY75e increased the resistance of transgenic apple lines to A.alternata infection,whereas silencing this gene enhanced susceptibility to A.alternata infection.Furthermore,we found that MdWRKY75e directly binds to the MdLAC7 promoter to regulate the biosynthesis of laccase and increase the biosynthesis of lignin during A.alternata infection.Moreover,the thickening of the cell wall enhanced the mechanical defense capabilities of apple.In addition,we found that jasmonic acid remarkably induced MdWRKY75e expression,and its levels in transgenic apple lines were elevated.These results indicate that MdWRKY75e confers resistance to the A.alternata apple pathotype mainly via the jasmonic acid pathway and that pathogenesis-related genes and antioxidant-related enzyme activity are involved in the disease resistance of MdWRKY75e transgenic plants.In conclusion,our fi ndings provide insights into the importance of MdWRKY75e for resistance to A.alternata infection in apples.

Genomic variants of genes associated with three horticultural traits in apple revealed by genome re-sequencing

The apple(Malus×domestica Borkh.)cultivar‘Su Shuai’exhibits greater disease resistance,shorter internodes and lighter fruit flavor compared with its parents‘Golden Delicious’and‘Indo’.To obtain a comprehensive overview of the sequence variation in these three horticultural traits,the genomes of‘Su Shuai’and‘Indo’were resequenced using next-generation sequencing and compared to the genome of‘Golden Delicious’.A wide range of genetic variations were detected,including 2454406 and 18749349 single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)and 59547 and 50143 structural variants(SVs)in the‘Indo’and‘Su Shuai’genomes,respectively.Among the SVs in‘Su Shuai’,17 genes related to disease resistance,10 genes related to Gibberellin(GA)and 19 genes associated with fruit flavor were identified.The expression patterns of eight of the SV genes were examined using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR).The results of this study illustrate the genomic variation in these cultivars and provide evidence for a genetic basis for the horticultural traits of disease resistance,short internodes and lighter flavor exhibited in these cultivars.These results provide a genetic basis for the phenotypic characteristics of‘Su Shuai’and,as such,these SVs could serve as gene-specific molecular markers in maker-assisted breeding of apples.

Transcriptomic analysis of interstockinduced dwarfism in Sweet Persimmon(Diospyros kaki Thunb.)

Growth monitoring indicated that the height of‘Kanshu’plants with‘Nantong-xiaofangshi’as an interstock was significantly shorter than that of‘Kanshu’plants with no interstock.A transcriptome analysis of the two graft combinations(‘Kanshu’/Diospyros lotus and‘Kanshu’/‘Nantong-xiaofangshi’/Diospyros lotus)was conducted to explore the dwarfing genes related to the use of the‘Nantong-xiaofangshi’interstock.Hormone levels and water conductance were also measured in these two graft combinations.The results indicated that the levels of both IAA and GA were lower in‘Kanshu’that had been grafted onto the‘Nantong-xiaofangshi’interstock than in‘Kanshu’with no interstock;additionally,the water conductance was lower in grafts with interstocks than in grafts without interstocks.The expression of AUX/IAA and auxin-responsive GH3 genes was enhanced in scions grafted on the interstock and was negatively correlated with the IAA content and growth of scions.The expression of GA2ox,DELLA,and SPINDLY genes were also upregulated and associated with a decrease in the level of GA in scions grafted on the interstock.Since one of the GA2ox unigenes was annotated as DkGA2ox1 in Diospyros kaki,but was not functionally validated,a functional analysis was conducted in transgenic tobacco.Overexpression of DkGA2ox1 in transgenic plants resulted in a dwarf phenotype that could be recovered by the exogenous application of GA3.We conclude that the‘Nantong-xiaofangshi’interstock affects the water conductance and expression of genes related to the metabolism and transduction of IAA and GA in the grafted scion and thus regulates phytohormone levels,producing dwarfing.

Research on the Low-order Control Strategy of the Power System With Time Delay

In this paper, the design problem of the low-order controller is considered for the power system with a fixed time delay. A linear model of the power system with time delay is firstly established. Then the proportional-integral-differential(PID) controller, which is the typical low-order controller, is designed to improve the stability of the power system. The stabilizing region of the PID controller is obtained. The control parameters chosen arbitrarily in the resultant region can ensure the stability of the power system. Finally, based on the stabilizing result, the PID controller satisfying the H∞performance index is designed, which improves the robustness of the whole power system. The main advantage of the proposed method lies in that there is no need to approximate the model of the power system.The method can be further extended to the power system which is more complex.

Prediction of Global Languages' Distribution Based on Grey Model

Summary:Driven by the progress of globalization, in order to simulate the development trend and distribution range of the global language, and then predict the total number of language users and global migration patterns over the next 50 years. We establish the regression model and grey model to determine the main influencing factors. The time series model is used to predict the development trend of the languages in the next 50 years and the migration pattern of population.

Current status and perspective of persimmon research in China

The persimmon,belonging to the genus Diospyros,is one of the most common fruits with high edible and economic value.China has the largest cultivated area and annual production of persimmons in the world.Pollination-constant nonastringent(PCNA)persimmon,which has great advantages of natural deastringency and direct edibility,has been a key target for industry development and variety selection worldwide.However,there are still many challenges in the development of persimmons in China;for example,the ineffective cost of artificial deastringency treatment of persimmons,laborious breeding of fine varieties of PCNA persimmon,and severe symptoms of delayed graft-incompatibility.This review summarizes the current status and development of persimmons in China.The current progress on the removal of astringency in persimmons,screening of rootstocks with wide compatibility,and the breeding process of PCNA persimmon is highlighted.This review will help promote the breeding of excellent persimmon varieties and the sustainable development of the persimmon industry in China.

Asymmetric time-varying integral barrier Lyapunov function based adaptive optimal control for nonlinear systems with dynamic state constraints

This paper investigates the issue of adaptive optimal tracking control for nonlinear systems with dynamic state constraints.An asymmetric time-varying integral barrier Lyapunov function(ATIBLF)based integral reinforcement learning(IRL)control algorithm with an actor–critic structure is first proposed.The ATIBLF items are appropriately arranged in every step of the optimized backstepping control design to ensure that the dynamic full-state constraints are never violated.Thus,optimal virtual/actual control in every backstepping subsystem is decomposed with ATIBLF items and also with an adaptive optimized item.Meanwhile,neural networks are used to approximate the gradient value functions.According to the Lyapunov stability theorem,the boundedness of all signals of the closed-loop system is proved,and the proposed control scheme ensures that the system states are within predefined compact sets.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed control approach is validated by simulations.

Corrigendum to “Establishment and functional characterization of the reversibly immortalized mouse glomerular podocytes (imPODs)” [Genes & Diseases 5 (2018) 137–149]

The authors regret having an image assembly error in Figure 3A,in which the image for "imPOD Synaptopodin DAPl stain"groupwas erroneouslyduplicatedwiththe imagefrom the"tsPOD-33C SynaptopodinDAPIstain"group.We confirm the error is restricted to the image assembly,and the underlying data and conclusions are correct and unchanged.The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Corrigendum to “The development of a sensitive fluorescent protein-based transcript reporter for high throughput screening of negative modulators of lncRNAs” [Genes & Diseases 5 (2018) 62–74]

The authors regret having an image assembly error in Figure 5Ca,in which the image for the "Oh dBiFP-AdRFp"group was erroneously duplicated with an overlapping image from the"36h BiFP dBIFP-AdR-simH19"group.We confirm the error is restricted to the image assembly,and the underlying data and conclusions are correct and unchanged.The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Adenovirus-mediated gene delivery:Potential applications for gene and cell-based therapies in the new era of personalized medicine

With rapid advances in understanding molecular pathogenesis of human diseases in the era of genome sciences and systems biology,it is anticipated that increasing numbers of therapeutic genes or targets will become available for targeted therapies.Despite numerous setbacks,efficacious gene and/or cell-based therapies still hold the great promise to revolutionize the clinical management of human diseases.It is wildly recognized that poor gene delivery is the limiting factor for most in vivo gene therapies.There has been a long-lasting interest in using viral vectors,especially adenoviral vectors,to deliver therapeutic genes for the past two decades.Among all currently available viral vectors,adenovirus is the most efficient gene delivery system in a broad range of cell and tissue types.The applications of adenoviral vectors in gene delivery have greatly increased in number and efficiency since their initial development.In fact,among over 2000 gene therapy clinical trials approved worldwide since 1989,a significant portion of the trials have utilized adenoviral vectors.This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview on the characteristics of adenoviral vectors,including adenoviral biology,approaches to engineering adenoviral vectors,and their applications in clinical and preclinical studies with an emphasis in the areas of cancer treatment,vaccination and regenerative medicine.Current challenges and future directions regarding the use of adenoviral vectors are also discussed.It is expected that the continued improvements in adenoviral vectors should provide great opportunities for cell and gene therapies to live up to its enormous potential in personalized medicine.

Wnt and BMP signaling crosstalk in regulating dental stem cells:Implications in dental tissue engineering

Tooth is a complex hard tissue organ and consists of multiple cell types that are regulated by important signaling pathways such as Wnt and BMP signaling.Serious injuries and/or loss of tooth or periodontal tissues may significantly impact aesthetic appearance,essential oral functions and the quality of life.Regenerative dentistry holds great promise in treating oral/dental disorders.The past decade has witnessed a rapid expansion of our understanding of the biological features of dental stem cells,along with the signaling mechanisms governing stem cell self-renewal and differentiation.In this review,we first summarize the biological characteristics of seven types of dental stem cells,including dental pulp stem cells,stem cells from apical papilla,stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth,dental follicle precursor cells,periodontal ligament stem cells,alveolar bone-derived mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs),and MSCs from gingiva.We then focus on how these stem cells are regulated by bone morphogenetic protein(BMP)and/or Wnt signaling by examining the interplays between these pathways.Lastly,we analyze the current status of dental tissue engineering strategies that utilize oral/dental stem cells by harnessing the interplays between BMP and Wnt pathways.We also highlight the challenges that must be addressed before the dental stem cells may reach any clinical applications.Thus,we can expect to witness significant progresses to be made in regenerative dentistry in the coming decade.

Establishment and functional characterization of the reversibly immortalized mouse glomerular podocytes(imPODs)

Glomerular podocytes are highly specialized epithelial cells and play an essential role in establishing the selective permeability of the glomerular filtration barrier of kidney.Maintaining the viability and structural integrity of podocytes is critical to the clinical management of glomerular diseases,which requires a thorough understanding of podocyte cell biology.As mature podocytes lose proliferative capacity,a conditionally SV40 mutant tsA58-immortalized mouse podocyte line(designated as tsPC)was established from the Immortomouse over 20 years ago.However,the utility of the tsPC cells is hampered by the practical inconvenience of culturing these cells.In this study,we establish a user-friendly and reversibly-immortalized mouse podocyte line(designated as imPOD),on the basis of the tsPC cells by stably expressing the wildtype SV40 T-antigen,which is flanked with FRT sites.We show the imPOD cells exhibit long-term high proliferative activity,which can be effectively reversed by FLP recombinase.The imPOD cells express most podocyte-related markers,including WT-1,Nephrin,Tubulin and Vinculin,but not differentiation marker Synaptopodin.The imPOD cells do not form tumor-like masses in vivo.We further demonstrate that TGFb1 induces a podocyte injury-like response in the FLP-reverted imPOD cells by suppressing the expression of slit diaphragm-associated proteins P-Cadherin and ZO-1 and upregulating the expression of mesenchymal markers,a-SMA,Vimentin and Nestin,as well as fibrogenic factors CTGF and Col1a1.Collectively,our results strongly demonstrate that the newly engineered im-POD cells should be a valuable tool to study podocyte biology both under normal and under pathological conditions.

The development of a sensitive fluorescent protein-based transcript reporter for high throughput screening of negative modulators of lncRNAs

While the human genome is pervasively transcribed,<2%of the human genome is transcribed into protein-coding mRNAs,leaving most of the transcripts as noncoding RNAs,such as microRNAs and long-noncoding RNAs(lncRNAs),which are critical components of epigenetic regulation.lncRNAs are emerging as critical regulators of gene expression and genomic stability.However,it remains largely unknown about how lncRNAs are regulated.Here,we develop a highly sensitive and dynamic reporter that allows us to identify and/or monitor negative modulators of lncRNA transcript levels in a high throughput fashion.Specifically,we engineer a fluorescent fusion protein by fusing three copies of the PEST destruction domain of mouse ornithine decarboxylase(MODC)to the C-terminal end of the codon-optimized bilirubin-inducible fluorescent protein,designated as dBiFP,and show that the dBiFP protein is highly destabilized,compared with the commonly-used eGFP protein.We further demonstrate that the dBiFP signal is effectively down-regulated when the dBiFP and mouse lncRNA H19 chimeric transcript is silenced by mouse H19-specific siRNAs.Therefore,our results strongly suggest that the dBiFP fusion protein may serve as a sensitive and dynamic transcript reporter to monitor the inhibition of lncRNAs by microRNAs,synthetic regulatory RNA molecules,RNA binding proteins,and/or small molecule inhibitors so that novel and efficacious inhibitors targeting the epigenetic circuit can be discovered to treat human diseases such as cancer and other chronic disorders.

An NgAgo tool for genome editing:did CRISPR/Cas9 just find a competitor?

While CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing technology has been experiencing a rapid transformation during the past few years,a recent report on NgAgo-mediated singlestranded DNA-guided genome editing may offer an attractive alternative for genome manipulation.While it’s too early to predict whether NgAgo will be able to compete with or be superior to CRISPR/Cas9,the scientific community is anxiously waiting for further optimization and broader applications of the NgAgo genome editing technology.

Trinary tools for continuously valued binary classifiers

Classification methods for binary(yes/no)tasks often produce a continuously valued score.Machine learning practitioners must perform model selection,calibration,discretization,performance assessment,tuning,and fairness assessment.Such tasks involve examining classifier results,typically using summary statistics and manual examination of details.In this paper,we provide an interactive visualization approach to support such continuously-valued classifier examination tasks.Our approach addresses the three phases of these tasks:calibration,operating point selection,and examination.We enhance standard views and introduce task-specific views so that they can be integrated into a multi-view coordination(MVC)system.We build on an existing comparison-based approach,extending it to continuous classifiers by treating the continuous values as trinary(positive,unsure,negative)even if the classifier will not ultimately use the 3-way classification.We provide use cases that demonstrate how our approach enables machine learning practitioners to accomplish key tasks.