In the multilevel thresholding segmentation of the image, the classification number is always given by the supervisor. To solve this problem, a fast multilevel thresholding algorithm considering both the threshold val...In the multilevel thresholding segmentation of the image, the classification number is always given by the supervisor. To solve this problem, a fast multilevel thresholding algorithm considering both the threshold value and the classification number is proposed based on the maximum entropy, and the self-adaptive criterion of the classification number is given. The algorithm can obtain thresholds and automatically decide the classification number. Experimental results show that the algorithm is effective.展开更多
In order to eliminate semantic heterogeneity and implement semantic combination in web information integration, the classification ontology is introduced into web information integration. It constructs a standard clas...In order to eliminate semantic heterogeneity and implement semantic combination in web information integration, the classification ontology is introduced into web information integration. It constructs a standard classification ontology based on web-glossary by extracting classified structures of websites and building mappings between them in order to get unified views. Mapping is defined by calculating concept subordinate matching degrees, concept associate matching degrees and concept dominate matching degrees. A web information integration system is realized, which can effectively solve the problem of classification semantic heterogeneity and implement the integration of web information source and the personal configuration of users.展开更多
Chinese culture, which has been regarded as a collectivistic one by such great heads as G. Hofstede and Triands for a long time, seldom receives challenge on its very nature. The authors, however, found at least three...Chinese culture, which has been regarded as a collectivistic one by such great heads as G. Hofstede and Triands for a long time, seldom receives challenge on its very nature. The authors, however, found at least three critical mistakes in Hofstede＇s work, and raised their argument that Chinese culture is not a collectivistic one, but a ＂shi＂ culture which relies heavily on context. The split of mind is the fundamental cause of this ＂shi＂ culture.展开更多
Terrain can influence the spatial distribution of settlements. Studies on the terrain characteristics of settlements can help to understand the effects of the environment on human activities. This paper provides a qua...Terrain can influence the spatial distribution of settlements. Studies on the terrain characteristics of settlements can help to understand the effects of the environment on human activities. This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the relationship between settlements and topographical factors. A statistically significant sample of residential locations and ASTER GDEM V2 were used to investigate terrain traits and settlements distributions. We selected eight topographical factors and introduced a practical concept, distributive entropy, into assessing the aggregation extent of the settlements' spatial distribution. The study showed that topography varies within the study area, and distributive entropy indicates that settlements have distinctive distribution tendency in statistic approach. According to the results of this study, mountain inhabitants prefer to settle in valleys. Additionally, with distributive entropy, residential suitability was divided to three levels: suitable, normal, and unsuited. The results showed that suitable area is small in Sichuan Province, accounting for 8.2%～29.9%; however, unsuited area is large, accounting for 33%～63.3%.展开更多
The authors examine the relation between the perturbed Cauchy singular integral with its kernel density belong to H＊ and unperturbed one and show that the Cauchy singular integral is stable under perturbation of the ...The authors examine the relation between the perturbed Cauchy singular integral with its kernel density belong to H＊ and unperturbed one and show that the Cauchy singular integral is stable under perturbation of the curve of integration.展开更多
In electroencephalogram (EEG) modeling techniques, data segment selection is the first and still an important step. The influence of a set of data-segment-related parameters on feature extraction and classification in...In electroencephalogram (EEG) modeling techniques, data segment selection is the first and still an important step. The influence of a set of data-segment-related parameters on feature extraction and classification in an EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI) was studied. An auto search algorithm was developed to study four datasegment-related parameters in each trial of 12 subjects’ EEG. The length of data segment (LDS), the start position of data (SPD) segment, AR order, and number of trials (NT) were used to build the model. The study showed that, compared with the classification ratio (CR) without parameter selection, the CR was increased by 20% to 30% with proper selection of these data-segment-related parameters, and the optimum parameter values were subject-dependent. This suggests that the data-segment-related parameters should be individualized when building models for BCI.展开更多
Experiments of forecasting daily bi-variate index of the tropical atmospheric Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) are performed in the context of adaptive filtering prediction models by combining the singular spectrum ana...Experiments of forecasting daily bi-variate index of the tropical atmospheric Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) are performed in the context of adaptive filtering prediction models by combining the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) with the autoregressive (AR) methods.the MJO index,a pair of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) time series,called RMM1 and RMM2,predicts by the combined statistical SSA and AR models:firstly,according to the index of historic observation decomposed by SSA and then reconstructed by selecting the first several components based on prominent variance contributions;after that,established an AR prediction model from the composite (scheme A) or built the forecast models for each of these selected reconstructed components,separately (Scheme B).Several experimental MJO index forecasts are performed based on the models.The results show that both models have useful skills of the MJO index forecast beyond two weeks.In some cases,the correlation coefficient between the observed and predicted index series stays above 0.5 in 20 leading days.The SSA-AR model,based on the reconstructed composite series,has better performance on MJO forecast than the AR model,especially for the leading time longer than 5 days.Therefore,if we build a real-time forecast system by the SSA-AR model,it might provide an applicable tool for the operational prediction of the MJO index.展开更多
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a dreadful cancer and a major cause of death among patients with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. The apparent alterations in a diversity of intracellular pathways found in HCC ha...Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a dreadful cancer and a major cause of death among patients with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. The apparent alterations in a diversity of intracellular pathways found in HCC has set the rational for developing molecular-directed drugs that simultaneously inhibit multiple pathways, such as the multi-kinase inhibitor Sorafenib. However, recently this concept has been challenged by showing that HCC is heavily dependent on a single oncogene designated late SV-40 factor (LSF), a transcription factor that is over-expressed in liver cancer cells and that its expression is strongly correlated with tumor grade and aggressiveness. Furthermore, using an intensive screening for drugs that inhibit LSF activity, Grant et al have found a molecule designated factor quinolinone inhibitor 1 that can specifically block the ability of LSF to bind its target promoters, resulting in a massive death of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. The innovative findings of HCC representing "oncogene addiction" to LSF and the ability of a single molecule to block the activity of this oncogene resulting in tumor abolishment are encouraging and provide us with the hope that the "Achilles heel" of HCC has been found.展开更多
Objective: Pure mucinous breast carcinoma (PMBC) is an uncommon histological type of breast cancer characterized by a large amount of mucin production. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a large class of small noncoding RNA of about...Objective: Pure mucinous breast carcinoma (PMBC) is an uncommon histological type of breast cancer characterized by a large amount of mucin production. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a large class of small noncoding RNA of about 22 nt involved in the regulation of various biological processes. This study aims to identify the miRNA expression profile in PMBC. Methods: MiRNA expression profiles in 11 PMBCs were analyzed by miRNA-microarray and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thirty-one PMBCs and 27 invasive ductal carcinoma of no special types (IDC-NSTs) were assessed by immunohistochemistry using antibodies against ER, PR-progesterone receptor, HER2, Ki-67, Bcl-2, p53, PCNA, and CK5 and 6. Results: We analyzed the miRNA expression in 11 PMBCs and corresponding normal tissues using miRNA-microarray and real-time PCR, and found that miR-143 and miR-224-5p were significantly downregulated in mucinous carcinoma tissue. Compared with IDC-NSTs, PMBC showed a significantly higher ER positive rate, lower HER-2 positive rate, and lower cell proliferation rates. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the miRNA expression profile of PMBC, and our findings may lead to further understanding of this type of breast cancer.展开更多
AIMTo compare predictive ability of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) prognostic indices (PIs) for one-year survival and Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) patency.METHODSThis retrospective study enrolled 1...AIMTo compare predictive ability of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) prognostic indices (PIs) for one-year survival and Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) patency.METHODSThis retrospective study enrolled 194 Egyptian patients with primary BCS who presented to the Budd-Chiari Study Group of Ain Shams University Hospital. Calculation of the available PIs was performed using Child-Pugh and model for end-stage liver disease scores, BCS-specific PIs (Clichy, New Clichy and Rotterdam) for all patients, and BCS-TIPS PI only for patients who underwent TIPS. The overall one-year survival rate and the one-year shunt patency rate for TIPS were reported.RESULTSThe overall one-year survival rate was 69.6%, and the New Clichy PI revealed the best validity for its prediction at a cut-off value of 3.75, with sensitivity and specificity of 78% and 73.3%, respectively [area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.806]. The one-year survival rate post-TIPS was 89.7%, and the BCS-TIPS score demonstrated validity for its prediction at a cut-off value of 3.92 (sensitivity and specificity were 71.4% and 64.5%, respectively) (AUC = 0.715). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the New Clichy PI (P = 0.030), high serum total bilirubin (P = 0.047) and low albumin (P < 0.001) were independent factors for predicting mortality within one year. The one-year shunt patency rate in TIPS was 80.2%, and none of the PIs exhibited significant validity for its prediction.CONCLUSIONThe New Clichy score could independently predict the one-year survival in Egyptian BCS patients.展开更多
Resource allocation is an important problem in ubiquitous network. Most of the existing resource allocation methods considering only wireless networks are not suitable for the ubiquitous network environment, and they ...Resource allocation is an important problem in ubiquitous network. Most of the existing resource allocation methods considering only wireless networks are not suitable for the ubiquitous network environment, and they will harm the interest of individual users with instable resource requirements. This paper considers the multi-point video surveillance scenarios in a complex network environment with both wired and wireless networks. We introduce the utility estimated by the total costs of an individual network user. The problem is studied through mathematical modeling and we propose an improved problem-specific branch-and-cut algorithm to solve it. The algorithm follows the divide-and-conquer principle and fully considers the duality feature of network selection. The experiment is conducted by simulation through C and Lingo. And it shows that compared with a centralized random allocation scheme and a cost greed allocation scheme, the proposed scheme has better per- formance of reducing the total costs by 13.0% and 30.6% respectively for the user.展开更多
Paul Tillich once confided to his secretary at Harvard that he was a schizophrenic. In this article, the author, who is also a schizophrenic, discusses symptoms of schizophrenia in Tillich＇s biography and theology. T...Paul Tillich once confided to his secretary at Harvard that he was a schizophrenic. In this article, the author, who is also a schizophrenic, discusses symptoms of schizophrenia in Tillich＇s biography and theology. Tillich had always insisted that his theology was one of the kairos. By hiding his theological thought behind an arcane Greek word, Tillich dissimulated his own messiah complex. On several occasions, Tillich describes a mystical schizophrenic hallucination with such accuracy that it is obvious to those who have had similar visions that he was speaking from personal experience. This article raises unanswerable questions about the relationships between religious revelation, mystical ecstasy and schizophrenia.展开更多
Regularization method is an effective method for solving ill\|posed equation. In this paper the unbiased estimation formula of unit weight standard deviation in the regularization solution is derived and the formula i...Regularization method is an effective method for solving ill\|posed equation. In this paper the unbiased estimation formula of unit weight standard deviation in the regularization solution is derived and the formula is verified with numerical case of 1 000 sample data by use of the typical ill\|posed equation, i.e. the Fredholm integration equation of the first kind.展开更多
AIM:To investigate whether the secretion of phospha-tidylcholine(PC)in intestinal mucus occurs by apical secretion or via basolateral excretion and to determine its subsequent passage across the tight junctions to the...AIM:To investigate whether the secretion of phospha-tidylcholine(PC)in intestinal mucus occurs by apical secretion or via basolateral excretion and to determine its subsequent passage across the tight junctions to the apical mucus.METHODS:We addressed this question using the po-larized intestinally differentiated tumor cell line CaCo-2 grown on filters to confluence in Transwell culture chambers.The released PC and sphingomyelin(Sph)from apical and basolateral media were analyzed by mass spectrometry.RESULTS:The secreted PC species were identical in both compartments indicating the same intracellular origin of PC.However,PC secretion into the basolateral compart-ment was more effective,and the PC:Sph ratio in the ba-solateral compartment was signif icantly higher than that in the apical compartment(8.18 ± 1.84 vs 4.31 ± 1.22,P = 0.01).Both pathways were temperature sensitive and were unaltered in the presence of cyclosporine.CONCLUSION:The data demonstrate the PC secre-tion capacity of CaCo-2 cells and indicate two sepa-rated apical and basolateral release mechanisms.展开更多
文摘In the multilevel thresholding segmentation of the image, the classification number is always given by the supervisor. To solve this problem, a fast multilevel thresholding algorithm considering both the threshold value and the classification number is proposed based on the maximum entropy, and the self-adaptive criterion of the classification number is given. The algorithm can obtain thresholds and automatically decide the classification number. Experimental results show that the algorithm is effective.
基金The National Key Technologies R&D Program ofChina during the10th Five-Year Plan Period (No.2004BA721A05).
文摘In order to eliminate semantic heterogeneity and implement semantic combination in web information integration, the classification ontology is introduced into web information integration. It constructs a standard classification ontology based on web-glossary by extracting classified structures of websites and building mappings between them in order to get unified views. Mapping is defined by calculating concept subordinate matching degrees, concept associate matching degrees and concept dominate matching degrees. A web information integration system is realized, which can effectively solve the problem of classification semantic heterogeneity and implement the integration of web information source and the personal configuration of users.
文摘Chinese culture, which has been regarded as a collectivistic one by such great heads as G. Hofstede and Triands for a long time, seldom receives challenge on its very nature. The authors, however, found at least three critical mistakes in Hofstede＇s work, and raised their argument that Chinese culture is not a collectivistic one, but a ＂shi＂ culture which relies heavily on context. The split of mind is the fundamental cause of this ＂shi＂ culture.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41871294)
文摘Terrain can influence the spatial distribution of settlements. Studies on the terrain characteristics of settlements can help to understand the effects of the environment on human activities. This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the relationship between settlements and topographical factors. A statistically significant sample of residential locations and ASTER GDEM V2 were used to investigate terrain traits and settlements distributions. We selected eight topographical factors and introduced a practical concept, distributive entropy, into assessing the aggregation extent of the settlements' spatial distribution. The study showed that topography varies within the study area, and distributive entropy indicates that settlements have distinctive distribution tendency in statistic approach. According to the results of this study, mountain inhabitants prefer to settle in valleys. Additionally, with distributive entropy, residential suitability was divided to three levels: suitable, normal, and unsuited. The results showed that suitable area is small in Sichuan Province, accounting for 8.2%～29.9%; however, unsuited area is large, accounting for 33%～63.3%.
基金Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province（2008J0187）
文摘The authors examine the relation between the perturbed Cauchy singular integral with its kernel density belong to H＊ and unperturbed one and show that the Cauchy singular integral is stable under perturbation of the curve of integration.
文摘In electroencephalogram (EEG) modeling techniques, data segment selection is the first and still an important step. The influence of a set of data-segment-related parameters on feature extraction and classification in an EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI) was studied. An auto search algorithm was developed to study four datasegment-related parameters in each trial of 12 subjects’ EEG. The length of data segment (LDS), the start position of data (SPD) segment, AR order, and number of trials (NT) were used to build the model. The study showed that, compared with the classification ratio (CR) without parameter selection, the CR was increased by 20% to 30% with proper selection of these data-segment-related parameters, and the optimum parameter values were subject-dependent. This suggests that the data-segment-related parameters should be individualized when building models for BCI.
基金National Key Technologies R & D Program (2009BAC51B01)Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD)Natural Science Foundation of China (40875058)
文摘Experiments of forecasting daily bi-variate index of the tropical atmospheric Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) are performed in the context of adaptive filtering prediction models by combining the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) with the autoregressive (AR) methods.the MJO index,a pair of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) time series,called RMM1 and RMM2,predicts by the combined statistical SSA and AR models:firstly,according to the index of historic observation decomposed by SSA and then reconstructed by selecting the first several components based on prominent variance contributions;after that,established an AR prediction model from the composite (scheme A) or built the forecast models for each of these selected reconstructed components,separately (Scheme B).Several experimental MJO index forecasts are performed based on the models.The results show that both models have useful skills of the MJO index forecast beyond two weeks.In some cases,the correlation coefficient between the observed and predicted index series stays above 0.5 in 20 leading days.The SSA-AR model,based on the reconstructed composite series,has better performance on MJO forecast than the AR model,especially for the leading time longer than 5 days.Therefore,if we build a real-time forecast system by the SSA-AR model,it might provide an applicable tool for the operational prediction of the MJO index.
文摘Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a dreadful cancer and a major cause of death among patients with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. The apparent alterations in a diversity of intracellular pathways found in HCC has set the rational for developing molecular-directed drugs that simultaneously inhibit multiple pathways, such as the multi-kinase inhibitor Sorafenib. However, recently this concept has been challenged by showing that HCC is heavily dependent on a single oncogene designated late SV-40 factor (LSF), a transcription factor that is over-expressed in liver cancer cells and that its expression is strongly correlated with tumor grade and aggressiveness. Furthermore, using an intensive screening for drugs that inhibit LSF activity, Grant et al have found a molecule designated factor quinolinone inhibitor 1 that can specifically block the ability of LSF to bind its target promoters, resulting in a massive death of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. The innovative findings of HCC representing "oncogene addiction" to LSF and the ability of a single molecule to block the activity of this oncogene resulting in tumor abolishment are encouraging and provide us with the hope that the "Achilles heel" of HCC has been found.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grand No. 81001187)
文摘Objective: Pure mucinous breast carcinoma (PMBC) is an uncommon histological type of breast cancer characterized by a large amount of mucin production. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a large class of small noncoding RNA of about 22 nt involved in the regulation of various biological processes. This study aims to identify the miRNA expression profile in PMBC. Methods: MiRNA expression profiles in 11 PMBCs were analyzed by miRNA-microarray and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thirty-one PMBCs and 27 invasive ductal carcinoma of no special types (IDC-NSTs) were assessed by immunohistochemistry using antibodies against ER, PR-progesterone receptor, HER2, Ki-67, Bcl-2, p53, PCNA, and CK5 and 6. Results: We analyzed the miRNA expression in 11 PMBCs and corresponding normal tissues using miRNA-microarray and real-time PCR, and found that miR-143 and miR-224-5p were significantly downregulated in mucinous carcinoma tissue. Compared with IDC-NSTs, PMBC showed a significantly higher ER positive rate, lower HER-2 positive rate, and lower cell proliferation rates. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the miRNA expression profile of PMBC, and our findings may lead to further understanding of this type of breast cancer.
文摘AIMTo compare predictive ability of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) prognostic indices (PIs) for one-year survival and Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) patency.METHODSThis retrospective study enrolled 194 Egyptian patients with primary BCS who presented to the Budd-Chiari Study Group of Ain Shams University Hospital. Calculation of the available PIs was performed using Child-Pugh and model for end-stage liver disease scores, BCS-specific PIs (Clichy, New Clichy and Rotterdam) for all patients, and BCS-TIPS PI only for patients who underwent TIPS. The overall one-year survival rate and the one-year shunt patency rate for TIPS were reported.RESULTSThe overall one-year survival rate was 69.6%, and the New Clichy PI revealed the best validity for its prediction at a cut-off value of 3.75, with sensitivity and specificity of 78% and 73.3%, respectively [area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.806]. The one-year survival rate post-TIPS was 89.7%, and the BCS-TIPS score demonstrated validity for its prediction at a cut-off value of 3.92 (sensitivity and specificity were 71.4% and 64.5%, respectively) (AUC = 0.715). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the New Clichy PI (P = 0.030), high serum total bilirubin (P = 0.047) and low albumin (P < 0.001) were independent factors for predicting mortality within one year. The one-year shunt patency rate in TIPS was 80.2%, and none of the PIs exhibited significant validity for its prediction.CONCLUSIONThe New Clichy score could independently predict the one-year survival in Egyptian BCS patients.
基金Supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project (No.2011ZX03005-004-04)the National Grand Fundamental Research 973 Program of China (No.2011CB302-905)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.61170058,61272133,and 51274202)the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No.20103402110041)the Suzhou Fundamental Research Project (No.SYG201143)
文摘Resource allocation is an important problem in ubiquitous network. Most of the existing resource allocation methods considering only wireless networks are not suitable for the ubiquitous network environment, and they will harm the interest of individual users with instable resource requirements. This paper considers the multi-point video surveillance scenarios in a complex network environment with both wired and wireless networks. We introduce the utility estimated by the total costs of an individual network user. The problem is studied through mathematical modeling and we propose an improved problem-specific branch-and-cut algorithm to solve it. The algorithm follows the divide-and-conquer principle and fully considers the duality feature of network selection. The experiment is conducted by simulation through C and Lingo. And it shows that compared with a centralized random allocation scheme and a cost greed allocation scheme, the proposed scheme has better per- formance of reducing the total costs by 13.0% and 30.6% respectively for the user.
文摘Paul Tillich once confided to his secretary at Harvard that he was a schizophrenic. In this article, the author, who is also a schizophrenic, discusses symptoms of schizophrenia in Tillich＇s biography and theology. Tillich had always insisted that his theology was one of the kairos. By hiding his theological thought behind an arcane Greek word, Tillich dissimulated his own messiah complex. On several occasions, Tillich describes a mystical schizophrenic hallucination with such accuracy that it is obvious to those who have had similar visions that he was speaking from personal experience. This article raises unanswerable questions about the relationships between religious revelation, mystical ecstasy and schizophrenia.
文摘Regularization method is an effective method for solving ill\|posed equation. In this paper the unbiased estimation formula of unit weight standard deviation in the regularization solution is derived and the formula is verified with numerical case of 1 000 sample data by use of the typical ill\|posed equation, i.e. the Fredholm integration equation of the first kind.
基金Supported by A Grant From the Dietmar Hopp Foundation (Stremmel WR)the Post-Doc programme of the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg (Gotthardt D and Braun A)
文摘AIM:To investigate whether the secretion of phospha-tidylcholine(PC)in intestinal mucus occurs by apical secretion or via basolateral excretion and to determine its subsequent passage across the tight junctions to the apical mucus.METHODS:We addressed this question using the po-larized intestinally differentiated tumor cell line CaCo-2 grown on filters to confluence in Transwell culture chambers.The released PC and sphingomyelin(Sph)from apical and basolateral media were analyzed by mass spectrometry.RESULTS:The secreted PC species were identical in both compartments indicating the same intracellular origin of PC.However,PC secretion into the basolateral compart-ment was more effective,and the PC:Sph ratio in the ba-solateral compartment was signif icantly higher than that in the apical compartment(8.18 ± 1.84 vs 4.31 ± 1.22,P = 0.01).Both pathways were temperature sensitive and were unaltered in the presence of cyclosporine.CONCLUSION:The data demonstrate the PC secre-tion capacity of CaCo-2 cells and indicate two sepa-rated apical and basolateral release mechanisms.
