Consistence of Network Filtering Rules

The inconsistence of firewall/VPN(Virtual Private Network) rule makes a huge maintainable cost. With development of Multinational Company, SOHO office, E-government the number of firewalls/VPN will increase rapidly. Rule table in stand-alone or network will be increased in geometric series accordingly. Checking the consistence of rule table manually is inadequate. A formal approach can define semantic consistence, make a theoretic foundation of intelligent management about rule tables. In this paper, a kind of formalization of host rules and network ones for auto rule-validation based on SET theory were proporsed and a rule validation scheme was defined. The analysis results show the superior performance of the methods and demonstrate its potential for the intelligent management based on rule tables.

DYNAMICAL CONSISTENCE IN 3-DIMENSIONAL TYPE-K COMPETITIVE LOTKA-VOLTERRA SYSTEM

A 3-dimensional type-K competitive Lotka-Volterra system is considered in this paper. Two discretization schemes are applied to the system with an positive interior fixed point, and two corresponding discrete systems are obtained. By analyzing the local dynamics of the corresponding discrete system near the interior fixed point, it is showed that this system is not dynamically consistent with the continuous counterpart system.

Nonlinear Registration of Brain Magnetic Resonance Images with Cross Constraints of Intensity and Structure

Many deep learning-based registration methods rely on a single-stream encoder-decoder network for computing deformation fields between 3D volumes.However,these methods often lack constraint information and overlook semantic consistency,limiting their performance.To address these issues,we present a novel approach for medical image registration called theDual-VoxelMorph,featuring a dual-channel cross-constraint network.This innovative network utilizes both intensity and segmentation images,which share identical semantic information and feature representations.Two encoder-decoder structures calculate deformation fields for intensity and segmentation images,as generated by the dual-channel cross-constraint network.This design facilitates bidirectional communication between grayscale and segmentation information,enabling the model to better learn the corresponding grayscale and segmentation details of the same anatomical structures.To ensure semantic and directional consistency,we introduce constraints and apply the cosine similarity function to enhance semantic consistency.Evaluation on four public datasets demonstrates superior performance compared to the baselinemethod,achieving Dice scores of 79.9%,64.5%,69.9%,and 63.5%for OASIS-1,OASIS-3,LPBA40,and ADNI,respectively.

Individual consistency in spatiotemporal characteristics of migratory Whimbrels in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

Many migratory birds exhibit interannual consistency in migration schedules,routes and stopover sites.Detecting the interannual consistency in spatiotemporal characteristics helps understand the maintenance of migration and enables the implementation of targeted conservation measures.We tracked the migration of Whimbrel(Numenius phaeopus)in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and collected spatiotemporal data from individuals that were tracked for at least two years.Wilcoxon non-parametric tests were used to compare the interannual variations in the dates of departure from and arrival at breeding/nonbreeding sites,and the inter-annual variation in the longitudes when the same individual across the same latitudes.Whimbrels exhibited a high degree of consistency in the use of breeding,nonbreeding,and stopover sites between years.The variation of arrival dates at nonbreeding sites was significantly larger than that of the departure dates from nonbreeding and breeding sites.Repeatedly used stopover sites by the same individuals in multiple years were concentrated in the Yellow Sea coast during northward migration,but were more widespread during southward migration.The stopover duration at repeatedly used sites was significantly longer than that at sites used only once.When flying across the Yellow Sea,Whimbrels breeding in Sakha(Yakutia)exhibited the highest consistency in migration routes in both autumn and spring.Moreover,the consistency in migration routes of Yakutia breeding birds was generally higher than that of birds breeding in Chukotka.Our results suggest that the northward migration schedule of the Whimbrels is mainly controlled by endogenous factors,while the southward migration schedule is less affected by endogenous factors.The repeated use of stopover sites in the Yellow Sea coast suggests this region is important for the migration of Whimbrel,and thus has high conservation value.

Locally and globally uniform approximations for ruin probabilities of a nonstandard bidimensional risk model with subexponential claims

Consider a nonstandard continuous-time bidimensional risk model with constant force of interest,in which the two classes of claims with subexponential distributions satisfy a general dependence structure and each pair of the claim-inter-arrival times is arbitrarily dependent.Under some mild conditions,we achieve a locally uniform approximation of the finite-time ruin probability for all time horizon within a finite interval.If we further assume that each pair of the claim-inter-arrival times is negative quadrant dependent and the two classes of claims are consistently-varying-tailed,it shows that the above obtained approximation is also globally uniform for all time horizon within an infinite interval.

Artificial Bear Bile:A Novel Approach to Balancing Medical Requirements and Animal Welfare

Bear bile has been a valuable and effective medicinal material in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)for over 13 centuries.However,the current practice of obtaining it through bear farming is under scrutiny for its adverse impact on bear welfare.Here,we present a new approach for creating artificial bear bile(ABB)as a high-quality and sustainable alternative to natural bear bile.This study addresses the scientific challenges of creating bear bile alternatives through interdisciplinary collaborations across various fields,including resources,chemistry,biology,medicine,pharmacology,and TCM.A comprehensive efficacy assessment system that bridges the gap between TCM and modern medical terminology has been established,allowing for the systematic screening of therapeutic constituents.Through the utilization of chemical synthesis and enzyme engineering technologies,our research has achieved the environmentally friendly,large-scale production of bear bile therapeutic compounds,as well as the optimization and recomposition of ABB formulations.The resulting ABB not only closely resembles natural bear bile in its composition but also offers advantages such as consistent product quality,availability of raw materials,and independence from threatened or wild resources.Comprehensive preclinical efficacy evaluations have demonstrated the equivalence of the therapeutic effects from ABB and those from commercially available drained bear bile(DBB).Furthermore,preclinical toxicological assessment and phase I clinical trials show that the safety of ABB is on par with that of the currently used DBB.This innovative strategy can serve as a new research paradigm for developing alternatives for other endangered TCMs,thereby strengthening the integrity and sustainability of TCM.

Decoding the inconsistency of six cropland maps in China

Accurate cropland information is critical for agricultural planning and production,especially in foodstressed countries like China.Although widely used medium-to-high-resolution satellite-based cropland maps have been developed from various remotely sensed data sources over the past few decades,considerable discrepancies exist among these products both in total area and in spatial distribution of croplands,impeding further applications of these datasets.The factors influencing their inconsistency are also unknown.In this study,we evaluated the consistency and accuracy of six cropland maps widely used in China in circa 2020,including three state-of-the-art 10-m products(i.e.,Google Dynamic World,ESRI Land Cover,and ESA WorldCover)and three 30-m ones(i.e.,GLC_FCS30,GlobeLand 30,and CLCD).We also investigated the effects of landscape fragmentation,climate,and agricultural management.Validation using a ground-truth sample revealed that the 10-m-resolution WorldCover provided the highest accuracy(92.3%).These maps collectively overestimated Chinese cropland area by up to 56%.Up to 37%of the land showed spatial inconsistency among the maps,concentrated mainly in mountainous regions and attributed to the varying accuracy of cropland maps,cropland fragmentation and management practices such as irrigation.Our work shed light on the promotion of future cropland mapping efforts,especially in highly inconsistent regions.

A Dual Discriminator Method for Generalized Zero-Shot Learning

Zero-shot learning enables the recognition of new class samples by migrating models learned from semanticfeatures and existing sample features to things that have never been seen before. The problems of consistencyof different types of features and domain shift problems are two of the critical issues in zero-shot learning. Toaddress both of these issues, this paper proposes a new modeling structure. The traditional approach mappedsemantic features and visual features into the same feature space;based on this, a dual discriminator approachis used in the proposed model. This dual discriminator approach can further enhance the consistency betweensemantic and visual features. At the same time, this approach can also align unseen class semantic features andtraining set samples, providing a portion of information about the unseen classes. In addition, a new feature fusionmethod is proposed in the model. This method is equivalent to adding perturbation to the seen class features,which can reduce the degree to which the classification results in the model are biased towards the seen classes.At the same time, this feature fusion method can provide part of the information of the unseen classes, improvingits classification accuracy in generalized zero-shot learning and reducing domain bias. The proposed method isvalidated and compared with othermethods on four datasets, and fromthe experimental results, it can be seen thatthe method proposed in this paper achieves promising results.

Cross-Modal Consistency with Aesthetic Similarity for Multimodal False Information Detection

With the explosive growth of false information on social media platforms, the automatic detection of multimodalfalse information has received increasing attention. Recent research has significantly contributed to multimodalinformation exchange and fusion, with many methods attempting to integrate unimodal features to generatemultimodal news representations. However, they still need to fully explore the hierarchical and complex semanticcorrelations between different modal contents, severely limiting their performance detecting multimodal falseinformation. This work proposes a two-stage detection framework for multimodal false information detection,called ASMFD, which is based on image aesthetic similarity to segment and explores the consistency andinconsistency features of images and texts. Specifically, we first use the Contrastive Language-Image Pre-training(CLIP) model to learn the relationship between text and images through label awareness and train an imageaesthetic attribute scorer using an aesthetic attribute dataset. Then, we calculate the aesthetic similarity betweenthe image and related images and use this similarity as a threshold to divide the multimodal correlation matrixinto consistency and inconsistencymatrices. Finally, the fusionmodule is designed to identify essential features fordetectingmultimodal false information. In extensive experiments on four datasets, the performance of the ASMFDis superior to state-of-the-art baseline methods.

Identifying Brand Consistency by Product Differentiation Using CNN

This paper presents a new method of using a convolutional neural network(CNN)in machine learning to identify brand consistency by product appearance variation.In Experiment 1,we collected fifty mouse devices from the past thirty-five years from a renowned company to build a dataset consisting of product pictures with pre-defined design features of their appearance and functions.Results show that it is a challenge to distinguish periods for the subtle evolution of themouse devices with such traditionalmethods as time series analysis and principal component analysis(PCA).In Experiment 2,we applied deep learning to predict the extent to which the product appearance variation ofmouse devices of various brands.The investigation collected 6,042 images ofmouse devices and divided theminto the Early Stage and the Late Stage.Results show the highest accuracy of 81.4%with the CNNmodel,and the evaluation score of brand style consistency is 0.36,implying that the brand consistency score converted by the CNN accuracy rate is not always perfect in the real world.The relationship between product appearance variation,brand style consistency,and evaluation score is beneficial for predicting new product styles and future product style roadmaps.In addition,the CNN heat maps highlight the critical areas of design features of different styles,providing alternative clues related to the blurred boundary.The study provides insights into practical problems for designers,manufacturers,and marketers in product design.It not only contributes to the scientific understanding of design development,but also provides industry professionals with practical tools and methods to improve the design process and maintain brand consistency.Designers can use these techniques to find features that influence brand style.Then,capture these features as innovative design elements and maintain core brand values.

Differentiating consistency of meningioma based on grey-level histogram analysis of T2WI

Objective To observe the value of grey-level histogram analysis based on T2WI for differentiating consistency of meningioma.Methods Data of 109 patients with meningioma were retrospectively analyzed.The patients were divided into hard group(n=71)and soft group(n=38)according to the consistency of tumors.Tumor ROI was outlined on axial T2WI showing the largest tumor section,gray levels were extracted and histogram analysis was performed.The value of each histogram parameter were compared between groups.Then receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn,and the area under the curve(AUC)was calculated to evaluate the efficiency for differentiating soft and hard meningioma.Results P 1,P 10,P 50,P 90,P 99 and the mean grey levels on T2WI in soft group were all higher than those in hard group(all P<0.05),while the variance,the kurtosis and the skewness were not significantly different between groups(all P>0.05).The differentiating efficiency of P 1,P 10,P 50,P 90,P 99 and the mean grey levels on T2WI were all fine,with AUC of 0.774 to 0.833,and no significant difference was found(all P>0.05).Conclusion Parameters of grey-level histogram analysis such as P 1,P 10,P 50,P 90,P 99 and the mean values based on T2WI were all valuable for differentiating soft and hard meningioma.

Nonparametric Estimation of the Trend Function for Stochastic Processes Driven by Fractional Brownian Motion of the Second Kind

The present paper deals with the problem of nonparametric kernel density estimation of the trend function for stochastic processes driven by fractional Brownian motion of the second kind.The consistency,the rate of convergence,and the asymptotic normality of the kernel-type estimator are discussed.Besides,we prove that the rate of convergence of the kernel-type estimator depends on the smoothness of the trend of the nonperturbed system.

A Combined Antenna Array Deployment with High Positioning Accuracy and Low Angular Measurement Error

In this paper,an antenna array composed of circular array and orthogonal linear array is proposed by using the design of long and short baseline“orthogonal linear array”and the circular array ambiguity resolution design of multi-group baseline clustering.The effectiveness of the antenna array in this paper is verified by sufficient simulation and experiment.After the system deviation correction work,it is found that in the L/S/C/X frequency bands,the ambiguity resolution probability is high,and the phase difference system error between each channel is basically the same.The angle measurement error is less than 0.5°,and the positioning error is less than 2.5 km.Notably,as the center frequency increases,calibration consistency improves,and the calibration frequency points become applicable over a wider frequency range.At a center frequency of 11.5 GHz,the calibration frequency point bandwidth extends to 1200 MHz.This combined antenna array deployment holds significant promise for a wide range of applications in contemporary wireless communication systems.

AHermitian C^(2) Differential Reproducing Kernel Interpolation Meshless Method for the 3D Microstructure-Dependent Static Flexural Analysis of Simply Supported and Functionally Graded Microplates

This work develops a Hermitian C^(2) differential reproducing kernel interpolation meshless(DRKIM)method within the consistent couple stress theory(CCST)framework to study the three-dimensional(3D)microstructuredependent static flexural behavior of a functionally graded(FG)microplate subjected to mechanical loads and placed under full simple supports.In the formulation,we select the transverse stress and displacement components and their first-and second-order derivatives as primary variables.Then,we set up the differential reproducing conditions(DRCs)to obtain the shape functions of the Hermitian C^(2) differential reproducing kernel(DRK)interpolant’s derivatives without using direct differentiation.The interpolant’s shape function is combined with a primitive function that possesses Kronecker delta properties and an enrichment function that constituents DRCs.As a result,the primary variables and their first-and second-order derivatives satisfy the nodal interpolation properties.Subsequently,incorporating ourHermitianC^(2)DRKinterpolant intothe strong formof the3DCCST,we develop a DRKIM method to analyze the FG microplate’s 3D microstructure-dependent static flexural behavior.The Hermitian C^(2) DRKIM method is confirmed to be accurate and fast in its convergence rate by comparing the solutions it produces with the relevant 3D solutions available in the literature.Finally,the impact of essential factors on the transverse stresses,in-plane stresses,displacements,and couple stresses that are induced in the loaded microplate is examined.These factors include the length-to-thickness ratio,the material length-scale parameter,and the inhomogeneity index,which appear to be significant.

Censored Composite Conditional Quantile Screening for High-Dimensional Survival Data

In this paper,we introduce the censored composite conditional quantile coefficient(cC-CQC)to rank the relative importance of each predictor in high-dimensional censored regression.The cCCQC takes advantage of all useful information across quantiles and can detect nonlinear effects including interactions and heterogeneity,effectively.Furthermore,the proposed screening method based on cCCQC is robust to the existence of outliers and enjoys the sure screening property.Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method performs competitively on survival datasets of high-dimensional predictors,particularly when the variables are highly correlated.

Dynamic evaluation of digital and green development policies based on text mining of the PMC framework

Aiming to identify policy topics and their evolutionary logic that enhance the digital and green development(dual development)of traditional manufacturing enterprises,address weaknesses in current policies,and provide resources for refining dual development policies,a total of 15954 dual development-related policies issued by national and various departmental authorities in China from January 2000 to August 2023 were analyzed.Based on topic modeling techniques and the policy modeling consistency(PMC)framework,the evolution of policy topics was visualized,and a dynamic assessment of the policies was conducted.The results show that the digital and green development policy framework is progressively refined,and the governance philosophy shifts from a“regulatory government”paradigm to a“service-oriented government”.The support pattern evolves from“dispersed matching”to“integrated symbiosis”.However,there are still significant deficiencies in departmental cooperation,balanced measures,coordinated links,and multi-stakeholder participation.Future policy improvements should,therefore,focus on guiding multi-stakeholder participation,enhancing public demand orientation,and addressing the entire value chain.These steps aim to create an open and shared digital industry ecosystem to promote the coordinated dual development of traditional manufacturing enterprises.

Reproducibility study of intravoxel incoherent motion and apparent diffusion coefficient parameters in normal pancreas

BACKGROUND The consistency of pancreatic apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)values and intravoxel incoherent motion(IVIM)parameter values across different magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)devices significantly impacts the patient’s diagnosis and treatment.AIM To explore consistency in image quality,ADC values,and IVIM parameter values among different MRI devices in pancreatic examinations.METHODS This retrospective study was approved by the local ethics committee,and informed consent was obtained from all participants.In total,22 healthy volunteers(10 males and 12 females)aged 24-61 years(mean,28.9±2.3 years)underwent pancreatic diffusion-weighted imaging using 3.0T MRI equipment from three vendors.Two independent observers subjectively scored image quality and measured the pancreas’s overall ADC values and signal-to-noise ratios(SNRs).Subsequently,regions of interest(ROIs)were delineated for the IVIM parameters(true diffusion coefficient,pseudo-diffusion coefficient,and perfusion fraction)using post-processing software.These ROIs were on the head,body,and tail of the pancrease.The subjective image ratings were assessed using the kappa consistency test.Intraclass correlation coefficients(ICCs)and mixed linear models were used to evaluate each device’s quantitative parameter values.Finally,a pairwise analysis of IVIM parameter values across each device was performed using Bland-Altman plots.RESULTS The Kappa value for the subjective ratings of the different observers was 0.776(P<0.05).The ICC values for interobserver and intra-observer agreements for the quantitative parameters were 0.803[95% confidence interval(CI):0.684-0.880]and 0.883(95%CI:0.760-0.945),respectively(P<0.05).The ICCs for the SNR between different devices was comparable(P>0.05),and the ICCs for the ADC values from different devices were 0.870,0.707,and 0.808,respectively(P<0.05).Notably,only a few statistically significant inter-device agreements were observed for different IVIM parameters,and among those,the ICC values were generally low.The mixed linear model results indicated differences(P<0.05)in the f-value for the pancreas head,D-value for the pancreas body,and D-value for the pancreas tail obtained using different MRI machines.The Bland-Altman plots showed significant variability at some data points.CONCLUSION ADC values are consistent among different devices,but the IVIM parameters’repeatability is moderate.Therefore,the variability in the IVIM parameter values may be associated with using different MRI machines.Thus,caution should be exercised when using IVIM parameter values to assess the pancreas.

Tensile Shock Physics in Compressible Thermoviscoelastic Solid Medium

This paper addresses tensile shock physics in thermoviscoelastic (TVE) solids without memory. The mathematical model is derived using conservation and balance laws (CBL) of classical continuum mechanics (CCM), incorporating the contravariant second Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor, the covariant Green’s strain tensor, and its rates up to order n. This mathematical model permits the study of finite deformation and finite strain compressible deformation physics with an ordered rate dissipation mechanism. Constitutive theories are derived using conjugate pairs in entropy inequality and the representation theorem. The resulting mathematical model is both thermodynamically and mathematically consistent and has closure. The solution of the initial value problems (IVPs) describing evolutions is obtained using a variationally consistent space-time coupled finite element method, derived using space-time residual functional in which the local approximations are in hpk higher-order scalar product spaces. This permits accurate description problem physics over the discretization and also permits precise a posteriori computation of the space-time residual functional, an accurate measure of the accuracy of the computed solution. Model problem studies are presented to demonstrate tensile shock formation, propagation, reflection, and interaction. A unique feature of this research is that tensile shocks can only exist in solid matter, as their existence requires a medium to be elastic (presence of strain), which is only possible in a solid medium. In tensile shock physics, a decrease in the density of the medium caused by tensile waves leads to shock formation ahead of the wave. In contrast, in compressive shocks, an increase in density and the corresponding compressive waves result in the formation of compression shocks behind of the wave. Although these are two similar phenomena, they are inherently different in nature. To our knowledge, this work has not been reported in the published literature.

Efficacy and tolerability of chitin-glucan combined with simethicone(GASTRAP^(■)DIRECT)in irritable bowel syndrome:A prospective,open-label,multicenter study

BACKGROUND Irritable bowel syndrome(IBS),defined according to the Rome IV diagnostic criteria,is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by recurrent abdominal pain related to altered bowel habits.First-line recommended treatments are limited to combining drugs targeting predominant symptoms,particularly pain(antispasmodics),constipation(laxatives),and diarrhea(loperamide),yielding only a limited therapeutic gain.GASTRAP^(■)DIRECT is a class IIa medical formulation composed of a combination of chitin-glucan and simethicone indicated for the symptomatic treatment of gas-related gastrointestinal disorders by combining different mechanisms of action.AIM To evaluate the efficacy,tolerability,and safety of 4-week GASTRAP^(■)DIRECT treatment in patients with IBS.METHODS In this prospective,multicenter,open-label trial,120 patients with IBS received three sticks of GASTRAP^(■)DIRECT(1.5 g/d of chitin-glucan and 0.75 mg/d of simethicone)per day for 4 weeks.The primary endpoint was the responder rate,defined as the number of patients whose abdominal pain score decreased by≥30%from baseline to week(W)4.The analysis was performed using the per-protocol set.Cardinal symptoms,impact of global symptoms on daily life,change in stool consistency,and improvement in defecatory disorders were evaluated.RESULTS Overall,100 patients were evaluated.At W4,67%(95%CI:57-75)showed improvement in abdominal pain(score:5.8±2.4 vs 2.9±2.0,P<0.0001).Similar improvements were observed for bloating[8.0±1.7 vs 4.7±2.9,P<0.0001;60%(95%CI:50-70)responders],abdominal distension[7.2±2.1 vs 4.4±3.1,P<0.0001;53%(95%CI:43-63)responders],and impact of global symptoms on daily life[7.1±2.0 vs 4.6±2.9,P<0.0001;54%(95%CI:44-64)responders].Stool consistency improved in most patients(90%and 57%for patients with liquid and hard stools,respectively).Overall,42%of patients with defecatory disorders reported very much/considerable improvements by W2.No severe adverse event occurred,and tolerability was rated“good”or“very good”by 93%of patients.CONCLUSION GASTRAP^(■)DIRECT is safe and well tolerated,alleviating IBS symptoms rapidly in 2 weeks.This open-label study suggests that the combination of chitin-glucan and simethicone could be beneficial in patients with IBS.

An Eighth Order A-Stable Rational Integrator

In this work we derived and analyzed the stability structure of an order eight rational integrator wherein our numerator and denominator is 4 (i.e. m = n = 4) for the solution of problems in ordinary differential equations. The integrator was observed to be A-stable and also L-stable.