The composite channel models of the generalized distributed antenna system (GDAS) such as Rayleigh-lognormal fading are studied. Then comparisons are performed between the GDAS and the traditional multiple-input mul...The composite channel models of the generalized distributed antenna system (GDAS) such as Rayleigh-lognormal fading are studied. Then comparisons are performed between the GDAS and the traditional multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system to analyze the ergodic capacity of the GDAS and make conclusions that it is impossible to achieve an analytical expression for the ergodic capacity of the GDAS. Moreover, in order to evaluate the performance of the ergodic capacity of the GDAS conveniently, the analytical lower bound and upper bound of the ergodic capacity of the GDAS are derived by using the results from multivariate statistics and matrix inequalities, under the scenarios of Rayleigh-lognormal fading and equal power allocation scheme at transmitter. Finally, the analytical bounds are verified by comparisons with the numerical results.展开更多
Parkinson disease(PD) is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Although investigation in mammalian animal models of PD has enhanced our understanding of PD, the complexit...Parkinson disease(PD) is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Although investigation in mammalian animal models of PD has enhanced our understanding of PD, the complexity of the mammalian nervous system and our inability to visualize DA neurons in vivo restricts the advances in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of PD. Conservation between C. elegans and mammals in genomic, biosynthetic and metabolic pathways as well as the advantages of observing DA neurons morphology in vivo and the ease of transgenic and genetic manipulation make C. elegans an excellent model organism for PD.展开更多
A multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) approach for multi-objective economic load dispatch problem in power system is presented in this paper. The economic load dispatch problem is a non-linear constrai...A multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) approach for multi-objective economic load dispatch problem in power system is presented in this paper. The economic load dispatch problem is a non-linear constrained multi-objective optimization problem. The proposed MOPSO approach handles the problem as a multi-objective problem with competing and non-commensurable fuel cost, emission and system loss objectives and has a diversity-preserving mechanism using an external memory (call “repository”) and a geographically-based approach to find widely different Pareto-optimal solutions. In addition, fuzzy set theory is employed to extract the best compromise solution. Several optimization runs of the proposed MOPSO approach were carried out on the standard IEEE 30-bus test system. The results revealed the capabilities of the proposed MOPSO approach to generate well-distributed Pareto-optimal non-dominated solutions of multi-objective economic load dispatch. Com- parison with Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) showed the superiority of the proposed MOPSO approach and confirmed its potential for solving multi-objective economic load dispatch.展开更多
Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package/practices and improved package/practices was conducted in Birbhum district, West Bengal, located in the red and lateritic ...Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package/practices and improved package/practices was conducted in Birbhum district, West Bengal, located in the red and lateritic belt of lower Gangetic plain of eastern lndia. Diversified triple cropping systems (peanut-brinjal+brinjal, rice-potato-pumpkin, and cucumber-cabbage-basella) required higher cost for cultivation, but also produced higher rice equivalent yield, higher net return and higher return rupee1 invested in both management practices. Considering the resource-ability and risk-bearing capacity, and net return and return rupee^-1 (RPR) invested, these cropping systems can be recommended for resource-rich farmers. Rice-rapeseed-cowpea, rice-wheat-green gram and radish-tomato-amaranthus systems profitable. These cropping systems can be required less inputs for cultivation, were less risky, and economically viable and recommended for resource-poor farmers. Peanut-brinjal + brinjal-okra-chilli + chilli-cucumber-cabbage-basella system was the best among all the 3-year rotational systems in respect to RPR in both management practices. This rotational system will be suitable for resource-rich farmers. Vegetable-based rotational systems (ridge gourd-marigold-okra-black gram-pointed gourd + pointed gourd-radish-tomato-amaranthus) or rice-based rotational system (rice-wheat-green gram-rice-rapeseed-cowpea-rice-potato-pumpkin) also found to be suitable to increase the profitability and system sustainability. These cropping systems can be recommended for all groups of farmers.展开更多
Objective To identify an interaction between the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphism and risk of Al-zheimer’s disease. Methods The study included 117 healthy controls, 85 patients with Alzheimer’s di...Objective To identify an interaction between the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphism and risk of Al-zheimer’s disease. Methods The study included 117 healthy controls, 85 patients with Alzheimer’s disease in a Northeastern Chinese popu-lation of Han nationality. Genotypes were determined by a polymerase chain reaction amplification of the intron 2 fragment, harbouring a variable number of short tandem nucleotide sequences. Amplification products were separated on a 2% agarose gel. Results The allele 2 frequency was 27% in healthy controls, and 21% in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Thus for all-ele 2 as well as for all other alleles, genotypes, or carriage rates, no significant differences compared with controls. Conclusions No association of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphism with Alzheimer’s disease was iden-tified in this population. It is also possible that the increased risk and disease modifying effects are caused by linkage disequ-ilibrium with other genomic variants in other nearby genes.展开更多
Exciting new features have been described concerning neurogenic bowel dysfunction,including interactions between the central nervous system,the enteric nervous system,axonal injury,neuronal loss,neurotransmission of n...Exciting new features have been described concerning neurogenic bowel dysfunction,including interactions between the central nervous system,the enteric nervous system,axonal injury,neuronal loss,neurotransmission of noxious and non-noxious stimuli,and the fields of gastroenterology and neurology.Patients with spinal cord injury,myelomeningocele,multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease present with serious upper and lower bowel dysfunctions characterized by constipation,incontinence,gastrointestinal motor dysfunction and altered visceral sensitivity.Spinal cord injury is associated with severe autonomic dysfunction,and bowel dysfunction is a major physical and psychological burden for these patients.An adult myelomeningocele patient commonly has multiple problems reflecting the multisystemic nature of the disease.Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disorder in which axonal injury,neuronal loss,and atrophy of the central nervous system can lead to permanent neurological damage and clinical disability.Parkinson's disease is a multisystem disorder involving dopaminergic,noradrenergic,serotoninergic and cholinergic systems,characterizedby motor and non-motor symptoms.Parkinson's disease affects several neuronal structures outside the substantia nigra,among which is the enteric nervous system.Recent reports have shown that the lesions in the enteric nervous system occur in very early stages of the disease,even before the involvement of the central nervous system.This has led to the postulation that the enteric nervous system could be critical in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease,as it could represent the point of entry for a putative environmental factor to initiate the pathological process.This review covers the data related to the etiology,epidemiology,clinical expression,pathophysiology,genetic aspects,gastrointestinal motor dysfunction,visceral sensitivity,management,prevention and prognosis of neurogenic bowel dysfunction patients with these neurological diseases.Embryological,morphological and experimental studies on animal models and humans are also taken into account.展开更多
Objective To investigate the clinical neurological manifestations of Takayasu arteritis (TA). Methods A retrospective study was conducted with 63 consecutive TA cases admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital ...Objective To investigate the clinical neurological manifestations of Takayasu arteritis (TA). Methods A retrospective study was conducted with 63 consecutive TA cases admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2009 to May 2010. All the patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of TA by the American College of Rheumatology. Among the 63 TA patients, 27 with neurological manifestations were included in the present study. All the patients were evaluated using standardized neurological examination, sonography, computed tomography (CT) angiography, and cerebral CT or magnetic resonance imaging. Results Dizziness and visual disturbance were the most common symptoms, which occurred in 20 (74.1%) and 16 (59.3%) patients respectively. Another common symptom was headache, observed in 15 (55.6%) patients. Six (22.2%) patients had suffered from ischemic stroke; 7 (25.9%) patients had epileptic seizures. Two (7.4%) patients were diagnosed as reversible posterior encephalopathy syndrome (RPES) based on typical clinical and imaging manifestations. Conclusions Neurological manifestations are common symptoms in TA patients in the chronic phase, including dizziness, visual disturbance, headache, ischemic stroke, seizures, and some unusual ones such as RPES. We suggested RPES be included into the differential diagnosis of acute neurological changes in TA.展开更多
Migratory livestock raising has been one of the most important livelihood options for people residing in high mountain areas and has made a significant contribution to the economy of the Hindu Kush Himalayan(HKH) regi...Migratory livestock raising has been one of the most important livelihood options for people residing in high mountain areas and has made a significant contribution to the economy of the Hindu Kush Himalayan(HKH) region, both in terms of supporting households and in export earnings. However, in recent decades, changes in the socioeconomic situation and increasing climate variability have led to a need to enhance adaptation by building the resilience of local socio-ecological systems, including economic diversification and sustainable management of natural resources. Based on semistructured interviews with pastoral communities in six countries within the pastoral HKH region, this paper discusses the situation, trends and driving forces behind the diversification of pastoral livelihood. For internal diversification the study highlights the need for enhancement of pastoral livelihoods through value-adding activities in the pastoral sectors. For external diversification changes on policy changes are needed to support free out-migration, market exploitation, and multiple resource use. Finally the paper highlights the role of education in determining household adaptation strategies in the face of various socio-ecological pressures and recommends integrating innovative and indigenous knowledge to develop appropriate methods for risk management and resource management in the pastoral HKH region.展开更多
Proposes a reinforcement learning scheme based on a special Hierarchical Fuzzy Neural-Networks (HFNN)for solving complicated learning tasks in a continuous multi-variables environment. The output of the previous layer...Proposes a reinforcement learning scheme based on a special Hierarchical Fuzzy Neural-Networks (HFNN)for solving complicated learning tasks in a continuous multi-variables environment. The output of the previous layer in the HFNN is no longer used as if-part of the next layer, but used only in then-part. Thus it can deal with the difficulty when the output of the previous layer is meaningless or its meaning is uncertain. The proposed HFNN has a minimal number of fuzzy rules and can successfully solve the problem of rules combination explosion and decrease the quantity of computation and memory requirement. In the learning process, two HFNN with the same structure perform fuzzy action composition and evaluation function approximation simultaneously where the parameters of neural-networks are tuned and updated on line by using gradient descent algorithm. The reinforcement learning method is proved to be correct and feasible by simulation of a double inverted pendulum system.展开更多
Epilepsy is a severe neurological disorder clinically identified by hyper-excitability and/or hyper-synchrony in the cortex and other subcortical regions of the brain. To regulate such excitability and synchrony, Hodg...Epilepsy is a severe neurological disorder clinically identified by hyper-excitability and/or hyper-synchrony in the cortex and other subcortical regions of the brain. To regulate such excitability and synchrony, Hodgkin and Huxley model has been deployed with either PUFA or calcium buffering coupled with ATP modulate neurotransmitter release. We formulate and analyze a system of differential equations that describe the effects of PUFA, ATP, and calcium buffering in regulating neuronal hyper-excitability and hyper-synchrony in epileptic patients. We observed that PUFA had diverse effects on the gating variables. Specifically, there was a significant reduction in the inhibitory potency of PUFA on the m-gates which may cause a direct inhibition of the voltage-gated Na+ channels and thus reduce neuronal excitability in epileptic patients. Also, the activation of the potassium channels by PUFA directly limited the neuronal hyper-excitability, while a small change in voltage potential coupled with PUFA restraint activated the voltage dependent ion channels which aided in lowering epileptic excitability in patients. In addition, higher ATP buffer levels in the presence of PUFA caused a significant hyperpolarization which may decrease neuronal excitability while lower ATP level initiated neuron depolarization. These results clearly suggest that PUFA coupled with calcium and ATP buffering could be used to modulate neuronal excitability excessive synchrony in epileptic patients.展开更多
Artificial neural network has unique advantages for massively parallel processing, distributed storage capacity and self-learning ability. The paper mainly constructs neural network identifier and neural network contr...Artificial neural network has unique advantages for massively parallel processing, distributed storage capacity and self-learning ability. The paper mainly constructs neural network identifier and neural network controller for system identification and control on temperature and hmnidity of heating and drying system of materials. And the paper introduces the structure and principles of neural network, and focuses on analyzing learning algorithm, training algorithm and limitation of the most widely applied multi-layer feed-forward neural network ( BP network) , based on which the paper proposes introducing momentum to improve BP network.展开更多
Polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases are a family of neurodegenerative disorders including Huntington’s disease, spinobulbar muscular atrophy,dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy and several spinocerebellar ataxias.polyQ...Polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases are a family of neurodegenerative disorders including Huntington’s disease, spinobulbar muscular atrophy,dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy and several spinocerebellar ataxias.polyQ diseases are caused by abnormal expansion of CAG repeats in certain genes.The expanded CAG repeats are then translated into a series of abnormally expanded polyQ tracts.Such polyQ tracts may induce misfolding of the disease-causing proteins.The present review mainly focuses on the common characteristics of the pathogenesis of these polyQ diseases,including conformational transition of proteins and its influence on the function of these proteins,the correlation between decreased ability of proteoly-sis and late-onset polyQ diseases,and the relationship between wide expression of disease-causing proteins and selective neuronal death.展开更多
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited mental retardation, characterized by moderate-to- severe mental retardation, attention deficits, and hyperactivity. This disease results from the expansi...Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited mental retardation, characterized by moderate-to- severe mental retardation, attention deficits, and hyperactivity. This disease results from the expansion of a trinucleotide repeat (CGG) within the X-linked fragile X mental retardation l (FMR1) gene, which leads to the lack of the product of the FMR1 gene--fragile X mental retardation protein. Many mental disorders such as FXS and Rett syndrome are thought to originate during early developmental period, but recent findings have suggested the involvement of the processes in the adult nervous system. Here we outline our recent studies and initial clinical trials that may provide an approach to treat FXS in the adulthood.展开更多
A coupled neural system with multiple delays has been investigated. The number of equilibrium points is analyzed. It implies that the neural system exhibits a unique equilibrium and three ones for the different values...A coupled neural system with multiple delays has been investigated. The number of equilibrium points is analyzed. It implies that the neural system exhibits a unique equilibrium and three ones for the different values of coupling weight by employing the pitchfork bifurcation of the trivial equilibrium point. Further, the local asymptotical stability of the trivial equilibrium point is studied by analyzing the corresponding characteristic equation. Some stability criteria involving multiple delays and coupling weight are obtained. The results show that the neural system exhibits the delay-independent and delay-dependent stability. Increasing delay induces stability switching between resting state and periodic motion in some parameter regions of coupling weight. In addition, the criterion for the global stability of the trivial equilibrium is also derived by constructing a suitable Lyapunov functional. Finally, some numerical simulations are taken to support the theoretical results.展开更多
The primary reason for the failure of traditional medicine in treating the disorders of the central nervous system(CNS) is the obstruction to traverse the blood-brain barrier(BBB). Due to the unique physiochemical pro...The primary reason for the failure of traditional medicine in treating the disorders of the central nervous system(CNS) is the obstruction to traverse the blood-brain barrier(BBB). Due to the unique physiochemical properties of nanoparticles, they can preferably help deliver drugs passing through the BBB. Researchers have been investigating the capacity of multifunctional nanomaterials as theranostical agents. However, some of the studies have reported controversial results, which might be due to different schematic designs, including size, surface charge, and shape. This review summarizes the applications of nanoparticles to overcome the BBB or contribute to improving the diagnostic and therapeutic effects in CNS diseases.展开更多
In the course of improving and/or designing an energy system,either purely economic criteria,although the overriding criteria,or purely energy-based criteria,although the emphasized criteria,can not separately handle ...In the course of improving and/or designing an energy system,either purely economic criteria,although the overriding criteria,or purely energy-based criteria,although the emphasized criteria,can not separately handle real-world situations in a satisfactory manner.The economic effectiveness and the energy efficiency must be considered simultaneously to demonstrate the conflicting and non-commensurable characteristics of these multiple criteria. An iterative and interactive approach to formulating and solving non-linear multi-criteria decision making problems for the analysis of an energy system is proposed.It allows the decision maker(DM)to learn from the available information and dynamically change his mind.Criterion functions can be treated as objective functions,as constraints or as something in between by the DM.After a series of iterations and interactive procedures,a preferred solution can be made among the non-inferior sets considering thermodynamic criteria and economic criteria simultaneously.A simple example for design of a heat exchanger is used to illustrate the procedure.展开更多
基金Foundation item:The National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.60496311)
文摘The composite channel models of the generalized distributed antenna system (GDAS) such as Rayleigh-lognormal fading are studied. Then comparisons are performed between the GDAS and the traditional multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system to analyze the ergodic capacity of the GDAS and make conclusions that it is impossible to achieve an analytical expression for the ergodic capacity of the GDAS. Moreover, in order to evaluate the performance of the ergodic capacity of the GDAS conveniently, the analytical lower bound and upper bound of the ergodic capacity of the GDAS are derived by using the results from multivariate statistics and matrix inequalities, under the scenarios of Rayleigh-lognormal fading and equal power allocation scheme at transmitter. Finally, the analytical bounds are verified by comparisons with the numerical results.
文摘Parkinson disease(PD) is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Although investigation in mammalian animal models of PD has enhanced our understanding of PD, the complexity of the mammalian nervous system and our inability to visualize DA neurons in vivo restricts the advances in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of PD. Conservation between C. elegans and mammals in genomic, biosynthetic and metabolic pathways as well as the advantages of observing DA neurons morphology in vivo and the ease of transgenic and genetic manipulation make C. elegans an excellent model organism for PD.
基金Project (Nos. 60074040 and 6022506) supported by the NationalNatural Science Foundation of China
文摘A multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) approach for multi-objective economic load dispatch problem in power system is presented in this paper. The economic load dispatch problem is a non-linear constrained multi-objective optimization problem. The proposed MOPSO approach handles the problem as a multi-objective problem with competing and non-commensurable fuel cost, emission and system loss objectives and has a diversity-preserving mechanism using an external memory (call “repository”) and a geographically-based approach to find widely different Pareto-optimal solutions. In addition, fuzzy set theory is employed to extract the best compromise solution. Several optimization runs of the proposed MOPSO approach were carried out on the standard IEEE 30-bus test system. The results revealed the capabilities of the proposed MOPSO approach to generate well-distributed Pareto-optimal non-dominated solutions of multi-objective economic load dispatch. Com- parison with Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) showed the superiority of the proposed MOPSO approach and confirmed its potential for solving multi-objective economic load dispatch.
文摘Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package/practices and improved package/practices was conducted in Birbhum district, West Bengal, located in the red and lateritic belt of lower Gangetic plain of eastern lndia. Diversified triple cropping systems (peanut-brinjal+brinjal, rice-potato-pumpkin, and cucumber-cabbage-basella) required higher cost for cultivation, but also produced higher rice equivalent yield, higher net return and higher return rupee1 invested in both management practices. Considering the resource-ability and risk-bearing capacity, and net return and return rupee^-1 (RPR) invested, these cropping systems can be recommended for resource-rich farmers. Rice-rapeseed-cowpea, rice-wheat-green gram and radish-tomato-amaranthus systems profitable. These cropping systems can be required less inputs for cultivation, were less risky, and economically viable and recommended for resource-poor farmers. Peanut-brinjal + brinjal-okra-chilli + chilli-cucumber-cabbage-basella system was the best among all the 3-year rotational systems in respect to RPR in both management practices. This rotational system will be suitable for resource-rich farmers. Vegetable-based rotational systems (ridge gourd-marigold-okra-black gram-pointed gourd + pointed gourd-radish-tomato-amaranthus) or rice-based rotational system (rice-wheat-green gram-rice-rapeseed-cowpea-rice-potato-pumpkin) also found to be suitable to increase the profitability and system sustainability. These cropping systems can be recommended for all groups of farmers.
基金Supported by a grant from the Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (D01-21) and partly by the National Postdoctoral Research Foundation (LRB 00071).
文摘Objective To identify an interaction between the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphism and risk of Al-zheimer’s disease. Methods The study included 117 healthy controls, 85 patients with Alzheimer’s disease in a Northeastern Chinese popu-lation of Han nationality. Genotypes were determined by a polymerase chain reaction amplification of the intron 2 fragment, harbouring a variable number of short tandem nucleotide sequences. Amplification products were separated on a 2% agarose gel. Results The allele 2 frequency was 27% in healthy controls, and 21% in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Thus for all-ele 2 as well as for all other alleles, genotypes, or carriage rates, no significant differences compared with controls. Conclusions No association of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphism with Alzheimer’s disease was iden-tified in this population. It is also possible that the increased risk and disease modifying effects are caused by linkage disequ-ilibrium with other genomic variants in other nearby genes.
文摘Exciting new features have been described concerning neurogenic bowel dysfunction,including interactions between the central nervous system,the enteric nervous system,axonal injury,neuronal loss,neurotransmission of noxious and non-noxious stimuli,and the fields of gastroenterology and neurology.Patients with spinal cord injury,myelomeningocele,multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease present with serious upper and lower bowel dysfunctions characterized by constipation,incontinence,gastrointestinal motor dysfunction and altered visceral sensitivity.Spinal cord injury is associated with severe autonomic dysfunction,and bowel dysfunction is a major physical and psychological burden for these patients.An adult myelomeningocele patient commonly has multiple problems reflecting the multisystemic nature of the disease.Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disorder in which axonal injury,neuronal loss,and atrophy of the central nervous system can lead to permanent neurological damage and clinical disability.Parkinson's disease is a multisystem disorder involving dopaminergic,noradrenergic,serotoninergic and cholinergic systems,characterizedby motor and non-motor symptoms.Parkinson's disease affects several neuronal structures outside the substantia nigra,among which is the enteric nervous system.Recent reports have shown that the lesions in the enteric nervous system occur in very early stages of the disease,even before the involvement of the central nervous system.This has led to the postulation that the enteric nervous system could be critical in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease,as it could represent the point of entry for a putative environmental factor to initiate the pathological process.This review covers the data related to the etiology,epidemiology,clinical expression,pathophysiology,genetic aspects,gastrointestinal motor dysfunction,visceral sensitivity,management,prevention and prognosis of neurogenic bowel dysfunction patients with these neurological diseases.Embryological,morphological and experimental studies on animal models and humans are also taken into account.
文摘Objective To investigate the clinical neurological manifestations of Takayasu arteritis (TA). Methods A retrospective study was conducted with 63 consecutive TA cases admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2009 to May 2010. All the patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of TA by the American College of Rheumatology. Among the 63 TA patients, 27 with neurological manifestations were included in the present study. All the patients were evaluated using standardized neurological examination, sonography, computed tomography (CT) angiography, and cerebral CT or magnetic resonance imaging. Results Dizziness and visual disturbance were the most common symptoms, which occurred in 20 (74.1%) and 16 (59.3%) patients respectively. Another common symptom was headache, observed in 15 (55.6%) patients. Six (22.2%) patients had suffered from ischemic stroke; 7 (25.9%) patients had epileptic seizures. Two (7.4%) patients were diagnosed as reversible posterior encephalopathy syndrome (RPES) based on typical clinical and imaging manifestations. Conclusions Neurological manifestations are common symptoms in TA patients in the chronic phase, including dizziness, visual disturbance, headache, ischemic stroke, seizures, and some unusual ones such as RPES. We suggested RPES be included into the differential diagnosis of acute neurological changes in TA.
基金The financial supports received from the ICIMOD innovation fundDeutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)+1 种基金Austrian Development Agency (ADA)UK Department for International Development (DFID)
文摘Migratory livestock raising has been one of the most important livelihood options for people residing in high mountain areas and has made a significant contribution to the economy of the Hindu Kush Himalayan(HKH) region, both in terms of supporting households and in export earnings. However, in recent decades, changes in the socioeconomic situation and increasing climate variability have led to a need to enhance adaptation by building the resilience of local socio-ecological systems, including economic diversification and sustainable management of natural resources. Based on semistructured interviews with pastoral communities in six countries within the pastoral HKH region, this paper discusses the situation, trends and driving forces behind the diversification of pastoral livelihood. For internal diversification the study highlights the need for enhancement of pastoral livelihoods through value-adding activities in the pastoral sectors. For external diversification changes on policy changes are needed to support free out-migration, market exploitation, and multiple resource use. Finally the paper highlights the role of education in determining household adaptation strategies in the face of various socio-ecological pressures and recommends integrating innovative and indigenous knowledge to develop appropriate methods for risk management and resource management in the pastoral HKH region.
文摘Proposes a reinforcement learning scheme based on a special Hierarchical Fuzzy Neural-Networks (HFNN)for solving complicated learning tasks in a continuous multi-variables environment. The output of the previous layer in the HFNN is no longer used as if-part of the next layer, but used only in then-part. Thus it can deal with the difficulty when the output of the previous layer is meaningless or its meaning is uncertain. The proposed HFNN has a minimal number of fuzzy rules and can successfully solve the problem of rules combination explosion and decrease the quantity of computation and memory requirement. In the learning process, two HFNN with the same structure perform fuzzy action composition and evaluation function approximation simultaneously where the parameters of neural-networks are tuned and updated on line by using gradient descent algorithm. The reinforcement learning method is proved to be correct and feasible by simulation of a double inverted pendulum system.
文摘Epilepsy is a severe neurological disorder clinically identified by hyper-excitability and/or hyper-synchrony in the cortex and other subcortical regions of the brain. To regulate such excitability and synchrony, Hodgkin and Huxley model has been deployed with either PUFA or calcium buffering coupled with ATP modulate neurotransmitter release. We formulate and analyze a system of differential equations that describe the effects of PUFA, ATP, and calcium buffering in regulating neuronal hyper-excitability and hyper-synchrony in epileptic patients. We observed that PUFA had diverse effects on the gating variables. Specifically, there was a significant reduction in the inhibitory potency of PUFA on the m-gates which may cause a direct inhibition of the voltage-gated Na+ channels and thus reduce neuronal excitability in epileptic patients. Also, the activation of the potassium channels by PUFA directly limited the neuronal hyper-excitability, while a small change in voltage potential coupled with PUFA restraint activated the voltage dependent ion channels which aided in lowering epileptic excitability in patients. In addition, higher ATP buffer levels in the presence of PUFA caused a significant hyperpolarization which may decrease neuronal excitability while lower ATP level initiated neuron depolarization. These results clearly suggest that PUFA coupled with calcium and ATP buffering could be used to modulate neuronal excitability excessive synchrony in epileptic patients.
文摘Artificial neural network has unique advantages for massively parallel processing, distributed storage capacity and self-learning ability. The paper mainly constructs neural network identifier and neural network controller for system identification and control on temperature and hmnidity of heating and drying system of materials. And the paper introduces the structure and principles of neural network, and focuses on analyzing learning algorithm, training algorithm and limitation of the most widely applied multi-layer feed-forward neural network ( BP network) , based on which the paper proposes introducing momentum to improve BP network.
基金supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30600197)the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China(No.20050285017)
文摘Polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases are a family of neurodegenerative disorders including Huntington’s disease, spinobulbar muscular atrophy,dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy and several spinocerebellar ataxias.polyQ diseases are caused by abnormal expansion of CAG repeats in certain genes.The expanded CAG repeats are then translated into a series of abnormally expanded polyQ tracts.Such polyQ tracts may induce misfolding of the disease-causing proteins.The present review mainly focuses on the common characteristics of the pathogenesis of these polyQ diseases,including conformational transition of proteins and its influence on the function of these proteins,the correlation between decreased ability of proteoly-sis and late-onset polyQ diseases,and the relationship between wide expression of disease-causing proteins and selective neuronal death.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30670684,30770686)
文摘Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited mental retardation, characterized by moderate-to- severe mental retardation, attention deficits, and hyperactivity. This disease results from the expansion of a trinucleotide repeat (CGG) within the X-linked fragile X mental retardation l (FMR1) gene, which leads to the lack of the product of the FMR1 gene--fragile X mental retardation protein. Many mental disorders such as FXS and Rett syndrome are thought to originate during early developmental period, but recent findings have suggested the involvement of the processes in the adult nervous system. Here we outline our recent studies and initial clinical trials that may provide an approach to treat FXS in the adulthood.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11202068&11572224)the University Key Teacher Foundation for Youths of Henan Province(Grant No.2014GGJS-076)the Key Technologies Research Project of Henan Province(Grant No.152102210089)
文摘A coupled neural system with multiple delays has been investigated. The number of equilibrium points is analyzed. It implies that the neural system exhibits a unique equilibrium and three ones for the different values of coupling weight by employing the pitchfork bifurcation of the trivial equilibrium point. Further, the local asymptotical stability of the trivial equilibrium point is studied by analyzing the corresponding characteristic equation. Some stability criteria involving multiple delays and coupling weight are obtained. The results show that the neural system exhibits the delay-independent and delay-dependent stability. Increasing delay induces stability switching between resting state and periodic motion in some parameter regions of coupling weight. In addition, the criterion for the global stability of the trivial equilibrium is also derived by constructing a suitable Lyapunov functional. Finally, some numerical simulations are taken to support the theoretical results.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771031 and 81701829)
文摘The primary reason for the failure of traditional medicine in treating the disorders of the central nervous system(CNS) is the obstruction to traverse the blood-brain barrier(BBB). Due to the unique physiochemical properties of nanoparticles, they can preferably help deliver drugs passing through the BBB. Researchers have been investigating the capacity of multifunctional nanomaterials as theranostical agents. However, some of the studies have reported controversial results, which might be due to different schematic designs, including size, surface charge, and shape. This review summarizes the applications of nanoparticles to overcome the BBB or contribute to improving the diagnostic and therapeutic effects in CNS diseases.
文摘In the course of improving and/or designing an energy system,either purely economic criteria,although the overriding criteria,or purely energy-based criteria,although the emphasized criteria,can not separately handle real-world situations in a satisfactory manner.The economic effectiveness and the energy efficiency must be considered simultaneously to demonstrate the conflicting and non-commensurable characteristics of these multiple criteria. An iterative and interactive approach to formulating and solving non-linear multi-criteria decision making problems for the analysis of an energy system is proposed.It allows the decision maker(DM)to learn from the available information and dynamically change his mind.Criterion functions can be treated as objective functions,as constraints or as something in between by the DM.After a series of iterations and interactive procedures,a preferred solution can be made among the non-inferior sets considering thermodynamic criteria and economic criteria simultaneously.A simple example for design of a heat exchanger is used to illustrate the procedure.