Formation and ecological response of sand patches in the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway,China

The development of bare patches typically signifies a process of ecosystem degradation.Within the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway,the extensive emergence of bare sand patches poses a threat to both stability and sustainability.However,there is limited knowledge regarding the morphology,dynamic changes,and ecological responses associated with these sand patches.Therefore,we analyzed the formation and development process of sand patches within the protection system and its effects on herbaceous vegetation growth and soil nutrients through field observation,survey,and indoor analysis methods.The results showed that sand patch development can be divided into three stages,i.e.,formation,expansion,and stabilization,which correspond to the initial,actively developing,and semi-fixed sand patches,respectively.The average dimensions of all sand patch erosional areas were found to be 7.72 m in length,3.91 m in width,and 0.32 m in depth.The actively developing sand patches were the largest,and the initial sand patches were the smallest.Throughout the stage of formation and expansion,the herbaceous community composition changed,and the plant density decreased by more than 50.95%.Moreover,the coverage and height of herbaceous plants decreased in the erosional area and slightly increased in the depositional lobe;and the fine particles and nutrients of soils in the erosional area and depositional lobe showed a decreasing trend.In the stabilization phases of sand patches,the area from the inlet to the bottom of sand patches becomes initially covered with crusts.Vegetation and 0-2 cm surface soil condition improved in the erosional area,but this improvement was not yet evident in the depositional lobe.Factors such as disturbance,climate change,and surface resistance to erosion exert notable influences on the formation and dynamics of sand patches.The results can provide evidence for the future treatment of sand patches and the management of the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway.

Do brood parasitic Common Cuckoos develop brood patches during the breeding season?

Many birds develop brood patches on their ventral apterium under hormonal regulation to effectively transmit body heat to eggs during incubation.The developed patch has several characteristics,including de-feathering,vascularization,and edema.However,little is known about whether avian brood parasites that do not incubate their eggs exhibit brood patch development during the breeding season.In this study,we measured the size of the ventral apterium in 114 Common Cuckoos(Cuculus canorus)captured in the field throughout the breeding season and examined the appearance of the ventral apterium to confirm the development of brood patches.We also examined whether morphological traits and various factors correlated with the size of the ventral apterium(sternal apterium and abdominal apterium)and how it changed during the breeding season.We found no clear signs of brood patch development in Common Cuckoos captured throughout the breeding season,indicating that they likely did not develop brood patches on the ventral apterium during this period.We also found that ventral apterium size was positively correlated with wing length and body weight.In addition,Common Cuckoos with newly growing feathers on the boundary of the ventral apterium with pteryla were frequently observed as seasons progressed to the end.In conclusion,Common Cuckoos exhibit neither brood patch development nor the vestigial characteristics of ancestral brood patches,except for the growth of feathers on boundary the ventral apterium.Further studies examining brood patches across different groups of avian brood parasites are valuable for enhancing our understanding of the developmental and physiological adaptations of avian brood parasites.

Unveiling the adaptation strategies of woody plants in remnant forest patches to spatiotemporal urban expansion through leaf trait networks

Background:With the expansion of urban areas,the remnants of forested areas play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity in urban environments.This study aimed to explore the impact of spatiotemporal urban expansion on the networks of leaf traits in woody plants within remnant forest patches,thereby enhancing our understanding of plant adaptive strategies and contributing to the conservation of urban biodiversity.Methods:Our study examined woody plants within 120 sample plots across 15 remnant forest patches in Guiyang,China.We constructed leaf trait networks (LTNs) based on 26 anatomical,structural,and compositional leaf traits and assessed the effects of the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban expansion on these LTNs.Results and conclusions:Our results indicate that shrubs within these patches have greater average path lengths and diameters than trees.With increasing urban expansion intensity,we observed a rise in the edge density of the LTN-shrubs.Additionally,modularity within the networks of shrubs decreased as road density and urban expansion intensity increased,and increases in the average path length and average clustering coefficient for shrubs were observed with a rise in the composite terrain complexity index.Notably,patches subjected to‘leapfrog’expansion exhibited greater average patch length and diameter than those experiencing edge growth.Stomatal traits were found to have high degree centrality within these networks,signifying their substantial contribution to multiple functions.In urban remnant forests,shrubs bolster their resilience to variable environmental pressures by augmenting the complexity of their leaf trait networks.

Deep Global Multiple-Scale and Local Patches Attention Dual-Branch Network for Pose-Invariant Facial Expression Recognition

Pose-invariant facial expression recognition(FER)is an active but challenging research topic in computer vision.Especially with the involvement of diverse observation angles,FER makes the training parameter models inconsistent from one view to another.This study develops a deep global multiple-scale and local patches attention(GMS-LPA)dual-branch network for pose-invariant FER to weaken the influence of pose variation and selfocclusion on recognition accuracy.In this research,the designed GMS-LPA network contains four main parts,i.e.,the feature extraction module,the global multiple-scale(GMS)module,the local patches attention(LPA)module,and the model-level fusion model.The feature extraction module is designed to extract and normalize texture information to the same size.The GMS model can extract deep global features with different receptive fields,releasing the sensitivity of deeper convolution layers to pose-variant and self-occlusion.The LPA module is built to force the network to focus on local salient features,which can lower the effect of pose variation and self-occlusion on recognition results.Subsequently,the extracted features are fused with a model-level strategy to improve recognition accuracy.Extensive experimentswere conducted on four public databases,and the recognition results demonstrated the feasibility and validity of the proposed methods.

Observing eddy dye patches induced by shear instabilities in the surf zone on a plane beach

The effects of surf zone eddy generated by alongshore currents on the deformation and transport of dye are still poorly understood,and related tracer release experiments are lacking.Therefore,a tracer release laboratory experiment was conducted under monochromatic,unidirectional incident waves with a large incident angle(30°)on a plane beach with a 1:100 slope in a large wave basin.A charge-coupled device suspended above the basin recorded the dye patch image.The evolution of eddy dye patch was observed and the transport and diffusion were analyzed based on the collected images.Subsequently,a linear instability numerical model was adopted to calculate the perturbation velocity field at the initial stage.The observation and image processing results show that surf zone eddy patches occurred and were separated from the original dye patches.Our numerical analysis results demonstrate that the structure of the perturbation velocity field is consistent with the experimental observations,and that the ejection of eddy patches shoreward or offshore may be ascribed to the double vortex.

B-Spline曲线聚风装置直线翼垂直轴风力机启动性能数值模拟

为了提升直线翼垂直轴风力机的启动性能,基于B-Spline曲线生成方法,提出一种具有流线型轮廓的聚风装置,将其分别安装在风轮顶端和底端,用以提升风轮附近的来流风速,使风轮汲取更多风能,达到更易启动的特点.选取聚风装置的5个结构参数进行设计:聚风装置与风轮间隙距离ΔL、底圆半径R_(1)、顶圆半径R_(2)、入口角度α_(1)和出口角度α_(2).设计方法采用二次旋转正交组合筛选最优模型,通过三维数值模拟研究聚风装置参数对直线翼垂直轴风力机启动性能的影响,获得了最佳外形参数组合.此外,对有无加装聚风装置的直线翼垂直轴风力机进行了静态三维数值模拟.结果表明,通过添加具有外凸流线型轮廓的聚风装置,直线翼垂直轴风力机的启动性能有显著提升.在风速较低的情况下,性能改善更加明显.聚风装置可使直线翼垂直轴风力机的平均启动力矩系数最大增加38.8%,峰值平均启动力矩系数最大可增加31.2%.

一种基于图像patches分割的自监督生成对抗模型

近年来,通过将基于角度旋转的自监督模型引入到生成对抗网络中,一定程度上缓解了生成对抗模型稳定性不足与模式坍塌问题。但是,这种自监督模型基于全局信息对比,缺乏局部相关性,模型特征提取能力不足,导致生成图片的全局相似度较高而像素精度不足。因此,提出一种新型自监督生成对抗模型,将图像块(patches)引入到传统的角度旋转自监督模型中,通过对图像进行分块,将局部图像与整体图像作为输入,在旋转角度判别器的基础上新增位置判别器,在提高模型全局相似性的同时,增强了局部特征相关性。在CIFAR-10与STL-10数据集上进行测试,实验结果表明,基于图像patches分割的自监督生成模型比角度旋转自监督模型的效果更好。

基于PatchTracker的对抗补丁防御算法

基于深度神经网络的目标检测技术已经广泛应用于各领域,然而,通过对抗补丁攻击在图像中添加局部扰动,以此来误导深度神经网络,对基于目标检测技术的视觉系统构成了严重威胁。针对这一问题,利用对抗补丁和图像背景的语义差异性,提出了一种基于PatchTracker的对抗补丁防御算法,该算法由上游补丁检测器与下游数据增强模块组成。上游补丁检测器使用带有注意力机制的YOLOV5(you only look once-v5)确定对抗补丁所在位置,有助于提高对小尺度对抗补丁的检测精度;将检测区域用合适的像素值覆盖以抹除对抗补丁,上游补丁检测器不仅能够有效降低对抗样本的攻击性,而且不依赖大规模的训练数据;下游数据增强模块通过改进模型训练范式,提高下游目标检测器的鲁棒性;将抹除补丁后的图像输入经过数据增强的下游YOLOV5目标检测模型。在公开的TT100K交通标志数据集上进行了交叉验证,实验表明,与未采取防御措施相比,所提算法能够有效防御多种类型的通用对抗补丁攻击,在检测对抗补丁图像时的mAP(mean average precision)提高65%左右,有效地改善了小尺度对抗补丁的漏检情况。与现有算法比较,所提算法有效提高了神经网络在检测对抗样本时的准确率。此外,所提算法不涉及下游模型结构的修改,具有良好的兼容性。

Divergent responses of Picea crassifolia Kom.in different forest patches to climate change in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Global climate changes have significantly affected tree growth and forest structures and functions in some arid and semi-arid regions,which are becoming warmer and wetter.Due to natural factors such as climate and terrain,some tree species may form different forest patches at the edges of their distribution areas.However,how forest patches of various sizes respond to climate change is unclear.In this study,we collected 203 tree cores from six different sizes of forest patches at the edge of the distribution area of Picea crassifolia Kom.in the northeast Tibetan Plateau.And we used the dendrochronology method to study the response of tree growth and resilience in different forest patches to climate change from 1961 to 2020.We simultaneously measured the contents of nonstructural carbohydrates(NSC),total nitrogen and total phosphorus of tree needles.Our results showed that the growth of trees in small-and medium-size forest patches(0.8–18.6 ha)has increased significantly.The early growing season(May–July)minimum temperature was the most important climate factor driving the growth of small-and medium-sized patch trees.The early growing season maximum temperature was the most important climate factor that inhibited the growth of trees in the largest patches(362.8 ha).The growth of individual trees in medium forest patches was better and the correlation with annual minimum temperature,maximum temperature,precipitation,actual evapotranspiration,and palmer drought severity index was stronger.The higher NSC content,stronger photosynthesis,and higher nitrogen utilization efficiency in leaves might be one of the reasons for the better growth of trees in moderate forest patches.In extreme drought years,as the forest patch area increased,the overall trend of tree growth resistance showed a unimodal pattern,with the highest at a forest patch area of 7.1 ha,while the overall trend of tree growth recovery was opposite.Therefore,we should strengthen the management of trees in large forest patches to cope with climate change.

Patch-Locator:一种基于排序学习的开源软件漏洞补丁定位方法

日益增多的开源软件漏洞对软件安全带来了巨大的风险,补丁在应对这一风险的过程中扮演了非常重要的角色.不幸的是,尽管大部分漏洞的补丁在被披露前就已经开发完毕,但仅有部分补丁会随漏洞同步公开.现有的研究发现了漏洞与其补丁之间存在一定的相关性,并基于这些相关性特征对提交进行了排序,以定位漏洞的补丁,但仍旧存在漏洞数据部分缺失、定位准确率不佳等问题.本文提出了Patch-Locator,一种新的基于排序学习的补丁定位方法,通过扩展漏洞数据源对漏洞数据进行补充,并根据漏洞与补丁文本的相似性、漏洞产生的原因和导致的结果等更能反映漏洞与补丁间关联的因素提取了更具有针对性的相关性特征,并使用LambdaMart排序学习模型对提交基于其具有的相关性特征进行排序以定位安全补丁.本文用来自10个开源软件项目的1669个漏洞来评估Patch-Locator.实验结果表明,Patch-Locator的Recall@1指标为92.22%,Recall@5指标为95.51%,Manual Effort@5指标为1.2455,均优于现有方法.

B-SPLINE PATCHES AND TRANSFINITE INTERPOLATION METHOD FOR PDE CONTROLLED SIMULATION

This paper is to discuss an approach which combines B-spline patches and transfinite interpolation to establish a linear algebraic system for solving partial differential equations and modify the WEB-spline method developed by Klaus Hollig to derive this new idea. First of all, the authors replace the R-function method with transfinite interpolation to build a function which vanishes on boundaries. Secondly, the authors simulate the partial differential equation by directly applying differential opera- tors to basis functions, which is similar to the RBF method rather than Hollig＇s method. These new strategies then make the constructing of bases and the linear system much more straightforward. And as the interpolation is brought in, the design of schemes for solving practical PDEs can be more flexi- ble. This new method is easy to carry out and suitable for simulations in the fields such as graphics to achieve rapid rendering. Especially when the specified much faster than WEB-spline method. precision is not very high, this method performs

Epidural Blood Patches Performed with Miethke Sensor Reservoir for Continuous Intracranial Pressure Monitoring

An epidural blood patch (EBP) is a procedure performed by injecting autologous blood into a patient’s epidural space, usually at the site of a suspected CSF leak. It is typically performed in patients with characteristic postural headaches due to low intracranial pressure. We report a case of a young female with an implanted Miethke Sensor Reservoir, which was used for continuous intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring during a two-level epidural blood patch. ICP increased only with thoracic injection, suggesting thoracic EBP may have greater efficacy than lumbar EBP in treating SIH and PDPH when the site of CSF leak is unknown.

Mechanobiomaterials:Mechanics-Guided Design of Epicardial Patch for Treating

In recent years,the field of mechanomaterials has emerged at the interface of mechanics,materials science,biology,medicine and data science,where materials are proactively designed or programmed to achieve targeted functionalities by leveraging the fundamental mechanics principles and force-geometry-property relationships.In the biological context,one may likewise introduce mechanobiomaterials as a field with the following goals:(1)proactive design or programming of materials for precisely mediating biomechanical environment of living systems for tissue repair/restoration;(2)proactive control/programming of living systems themselves by an external field via force-structure-function relationships.Here,we will discuss an example of research in mechanobiomaterials on using mechanics to guide the design of acellular epicardial patches for the treatment of myocardial infarction.This technology aims to employ a biocompatible material patch to help reverse left ventricular remodeling and restore heart function after myocardial infarction by increasing the mechanical integrity of damaged heart tissues.However,its application is currently limited by widely scattered therapeutic efficacy.Here,we develop a biomechanics-based simulation platform that allows us to test,design and optimize the performance of an epicardial patch.We show that the widely scattered therapeutic efficacy of this technology can be attributed to a“pre-strain sensitivity”caused by attaching an elastic patch to a dynamically beating heart.To mitigate this challenge,we introduce a viscoelastic epicardial patch,designed at the so-called‘gel point’of the material,that effectively accommodates the cyclic deformation of the myocardium.This then leads to the fabrication and experimentally validated epicardial patch that outperforms all existing ones in restoring heart function after both acute and subacute myocardial infarction in rats.Our study also demonstrates the potential of employing viscoelastic interfaces for better integration of synthetic materials with biological tissues.

Scheme Based on Multi-Level Patch Attention and Lesion Localization for Diabetic Retinopathy Grading

Early screening of diabetes retinopathy(DR)plays an important role in preventing irreversible blindness.Existing research has failed to fully explore effective DR lesion information in fundus maps.Besides,traditional attention schemes have not considered the impact of lesion type differences on grading,resulting in unreasonable extraction of important lesion features.Therefore,this paper proposes a DR diagnosis scheme that integrates a multi-level patch attention generator(MPAG)and a lesion localization module(LLM).Firstly,MPAGis used to predict patches of different sizes and generate a weighted attention map based on the prediction score and the types of lesions contained in the patches,fully considering the impact of lesion type differences on grading,solving the problem that the attention maps of lesions cannot be further refined and then adapted to the final DR diagnosis task.Secondly,the LLM generates a global attention map based on localization.Finally,the weighted attention map and global attention map are weighted with the fundus map to fully explore effective DR lesion information and increase the attention of the classification network to lesion details.This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method through extensive experiments on the public DDR dataset,obtaining an accuracy of 0.8064.

Treatment of 198 Cases of Thyroid Nodules with Sanying Capsule Combined with Xiaoying Patch

[Objectives]To observe the clinical efficacy of Sanying capsule combined with Xiaoying Patch in treating thyroid nodule(TN).[Methods]Two groups were treated similarly,with 200 cases in the control group undergoing basic treatment for 12 weeks and 198 cases in the observation group receiving Sanying capsule combined with Xiaoying patches for the same duration.The clinical symptoms,number of nodules,diameter of the largest nodule,and maximum reduction of nodules were observed before and after treatment.A control analysis was performed,and the underlying mechanisms were explored.[Results]The primary symptoms of the observation group exhibited a more favorable improvement than those of the control group.Additionally,the number of nodules decreased,the diameter of the largest nodule decreased,and the maximum reduction of nodules decreased in both groups following treatment.However,the observation group demonstrated a more pronounced improvement than the control group(P<0.05).[Conclusions]The combination of Sanying capsule and Xiaoying patch has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for TN,with a high degree of reliability in terms of safety.

Ginger oil-loaded transdermal adhesive patch treats post-traumatic stress disorder

Objective:To find a viable alternative to reduce the number of doses required for the patients with post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD),and to improve efficacy and patient compliance.Methods: In this study,we used ginger oil,a phytochemical with potential therapeutic properties,to prepare ginger oil patches.High-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)was used to quantify the main active component of ginger oil,6-gingerol.Transdermal absorption experiments were conducted to optimize the various pressure-sensitive adhesives and permeation enhancers,including their type and concentration.Subsequently,the ginger oil patches were optimized and subjected to content determination and property evaluations.A PTSD mouse model was established using the foot-shock method.The therapeutic effect of ginger oil patches on PTSD was assessed through pathological sections,behavioral tests,and the evaluation of biomarkers such as tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleukin-6(IL-6),brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF),and melatonin(MT).Results: The results demonstrated that ginger oil patches exerted therapeutic effects against PTSD by inhibiting inflammatory responses and modulating MT and BDNF levels.Pharmacokinetic experiments revealed that ginger oil patches maintained a stable blood drug concentration for at least one day,addressing the rapid metabolism drawback of 6-gingerol and enhancing its therapeutic efficacy.Conclusions: Ginger oil can be prepared as a transdermal drug patch that meets these requirements,and the bioavailability of the prepared patch is better than that of oral administration.It can improve PTSD with good patient compliance and ease of administration.Therefore,it is a promising therapeutic formulation for the treatment of PTSD.

基于B-spline的路径规划与轨迹跟踪研究

为满足局部路径规划换道路径下的特性和提高智能驾驶车辆在多种变曲率条件下的路径跟踪精度和稳定性,采用贝塞尔曲线、B-spline等路径规划换道条件下的方法,分别在圆形轨迹、8字形轨迹、S形轨迹、正弦曲线形轨迹路径下,基于MATLAB对4类路径跟踪算法进行分析,得出最合理的B-spline路径规划和跟踪算法。结果表明,B-spline算法在换道点和并道点曲率为0,满足换道条件的要求;MPC算法在正弦轨迹下比其他算法平均误差小约48.6%,在圆形轨迹下比其他算法平均误差小约84%,说明该算法在多种轨迹下都具有很好的跟踪性,能在一定程度上保证智能驾驶汽车的安全性和稳定性,为今后智能车辆路径规划和轨迹跟踪控制研究提供参考。

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Auricular Acupoint Pressure Patch Combined with Modified Huangqi Decoction in Treating Diabetic Nephropathy

Objective:To explore the efficacy of auricular acupoint pressure patch combined with modified Huangqi Decoction in treating diabetic nephropathy.Methods:60 patients with diabetic nephropathy treated in our hospital from January 2021 to December 2022 were selected for this study.The patients were randomly divided into two groups using the random number table method,with 30 patients in each group.Among them,the control group was treated with conventional Western medicine,while the experimental group was treated with auricular acupoint pressure patches combined with modified Huangqi Decoction.The patients’fasting blood glucose(FPG),2-hour postprandial blood glucose(2hPG),glycated hemoglobin(HbA1c),urinary protein quantification,urea nitrogen(BUN),serum creatinine(SCr),and other indicators were detected and recorded before and after treatment.Results:Before treatment,there was no statistically significant difference in the FPG,the 2hPG,and the HbA1c between the two groups of patients(P>0.05);after treatment,the FPG,the 2hPG,and the HbA1c of the patients in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P<0.05).Before treatment,there was no statistically significant difference in the urinary protein quantification,the BUN,and the SCr between the two groups of patients(P>0.05);after treatment,the urinary protein quantification,BUN,and SCr of the patients in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P<0.05).The experimental group showed better improvement in symptoms such as fatigue,backache,and frequency of nocturia(P<0.05).Conclusion:Auricular acupoint pressure patch combined with modified Huangqi Decoction effectively treats diabetic nephropathy and it helps control blood sugar and renal function indicators and improve clinical symptoms,therefore improving the patients’quality of life.

A Simple Egg Membrane Patch Bridging Method for Repairing Tympanic Membrane Perforation

Objective:To analyze the clinical effect of a simple egg membrane patch bridging method in repairing tympanic membrane perforation.Methods:A total of 93 tympanic membrane perforation patients admitted to the hospital between September 2022 and October 2023 were selected and divided into two groups according to the random number table method.The control group implemented the conventional treatment(n=46 cases),and the patch group adopted the simple egg membrane patch bridging method(n=47 cases).The healing rate of the tympanic membrane,the air-bone gap,the air conduction hearing threshold,the dry ear rate,and the incidence of complications in both groups were compared before and after treatment.Results:The healing rate of the tympanic membrane in the patch group was significantly higher than that of the control group(95.75%vs.76.09%),with P<0.05;there was no difference in the air-bone gap and air conduction hearing threshold levels between the two groups before treatment(P>0.05),and the hearing indexes of the patch group were significantly lower than those of the control group 3 months after treatment(P<0.05);the dry ear rate in the patch group was significantly higher than that of the control group after treatment(85.11%vs.67.39%),and the total incidence of complications was also significantly lower than that of the control group(6.38%vs.21.74%),with P<0.05.Conclusion:The simple egg membrane patch bridging method is effective in repairing tympanic membrane perforation,which can effectively improve patients’hearing levels and reduce the occurrence of post-treatment complications.Thus,it is worth popularizing and applying in the clinic.

利用GPS对磁暴期间极区TEC变化与极区碎片(Polar Patches)的研究

利用2004年11月6-10日磁暴发生期间南极区域内的中国中山站GPS常年跟踪站（ZHON）和国际GPS服务站（CAS1,MCM4,SYOG,MAW1）的GPS观测数据,计算了可观测卫星传播路径上的TEC和ROT值,进而依据TEC的波动频率和幅度推估出极区碎片的个数,分析了极区磁暴期间电离层响应及其极区碎片特性.最终所得TEC和ROT结果与极区地磁场Dst和Kp指数信息相吻合,如实地反映了磁暴事件和极区碎片的出现.本文所做工作在国内尚未开展,因此所用方法和结论为将来这一方向的研究提供了一定的参考.