Missing Value Imputation for Radar-Derived Time-Series Tracks of Aerial Targets Based on Improved Self-Attention-Based Network

The frequent missing values in radar-derived time-series tracks of aerial targets(RTT-AT)lead to significant challenges in subsequent data-driven tasks.However,the majority of imputation research focuses on random missing(RM)that differs significantly from common missing patterns of RTT-AT.The method for solving the RM may experience performance degradation or failure when applied to RTT-AT imputation.Conventional autoregressive deep learning methods are prone to error accumulation and long-term dependency loss.In this paper,a non-autoregressive imputation model that addresses the issue of missing value imputation for two common missing patterns in RTT-AT is proposed.Our model consists of two probabilistic sparse diagonal masking self-attention(PSDMSA)units and a weight fusion unit.It learns missing values by combining the representations outputted by the two units,aiming to minimize the difference between the missing values and their actual values.The PSDMSA units effectively capture temporal dependencies and attribute correlations between time steps,improving imputation quality.The weight fusion unit automatically updates the weights of the output representations from the two units to obtain a more accurate final representation.The experimental results indicate that,despite varying missing rates in the two missing patterns,our model consistently outperforms other methods in imputation performance and exhibits a low frequency of deviations in estimates for specific missing entries.Compared to the state-of-the-art autoregressive deep learning imputation model Bidirectional Recurrent Imputation for Time Series(BRITS),our proposed model reduces mean absolute error(MAE)by 31%~50%.Additionally,the model attains a training speed that is 4 to 8 times faster when compared to both BRITS and a standard Transformer model when trained on the same dataset.Finally,the findings from the ablation experiments demonstrate that the PSDMSA,the weight fusion unit,cascade network design,and imputation loss enhance imputation performance and confirm the efficacy of our design.

Feasibility and clinical benefits of the double-ProGlide technique for hemostasis after cryoballoon atrial fibrillation ablation with uninterrupted oral anticoagulants

OBJECTIVE To access the efficacy and safety of the double-ProGlide technique for the femoral vein access-site closure in cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted oral anticoagulants(OAC),and its impact on the electrophysiology laboratory time as well as hospital stay after the procedure in this observational study.METHODS Patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted OAC at Department of Cardiology,Beijing Anzhen Hospital,Capital Medical University,Beijing,China from May 2019 to May 2021 were enrolled in this study.From October 2020,double-ProGlide technique was consistently used for hemostasis(ProGlide group),and before that conventional manual compression was utilized(manual compression group).The occurrence of vascular and groin complications was accessed during the hospital stay and until the three-month follow-up.RESULTS A total of 140 participants(69.30%of male,mean age:59.21±10.29 years)were evaluated,70 participants being in each group.Immediate hemostasis was achieved in all the patients with ProGlide closure.No major vascular complications were found in the ProGlide group while two major vascular complications were occurred in the manual compression group.The incidence of any groin complication was obviously higher in subjects with manual compression than patients with ProGlide devices(15.71%vs.2.86%,P=0.009).In addition,compared with the manual compression group,the ProGlide group was associated with significantly shorter total time in the electrophysiology laboratory[112.0(93.3–128.8)min vs.123.5(107.3–158.3)min,P=0.006],time from sheath removal until venous site hemostasis[3.8(3.4–4.2)min vs.8.0(7.6–8.5)min,P<0.001],bed rest time[8.0(7.6–8.0)h vs.14.1(12.0–17.6)h,P<0.001]and hospital stay after the procedure[13.8(12.5–17.8)h vs.38.0(21.5–41.0)h,P<0.001].CONCLUSIONS Utilization of the double-ProGlide technique for hemostasis after cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted OAC is feasible and safe,which has the clinical benefit in reducing the total electrophysiology laboratory time and the hospital stay length after the procedure.

Meteorological factors, ambient air pollution, and daily hospital admissions for depressive disorder in Harbin: A time-series study

BACKGROUND The literature has discussed the relationship between environmental factors and depressive disorders;however,the results are inconsistent in different studies and regions,as are the interaction effects between environmental factors.We hypo-thesized that meteorological factors and ambient air pollution individually affect and interact to affect depressive disorder morbidity.AIM To investigate the effects of meteorological factors and air pollution on depressive disorders,including their lagged effects and interactions.METHODS The samples were obtained from a class 3 hospital in Harbin,China.Daily hos-pital admission data for depressive disorders from January 1,2015 to December 31,2022 were obtained.Meteorological and air pollution data were also collected during the same period.Generalized additive models with quasi-Poisson regre-ssion were used for time-series modeling to measure the non-linear and delayed effects of environmental factors.We further incorporated each pair of environ-mental factors into a bivariate response surface model to examine the interaction effects on hospital admissions for depressive disorders.RESULTS Data for 2922 d were included in the study,with no missing values.The total number of depressive admissions was 83905.Medium to high correlations existed between environmental factors.Air temperature(AT)and wind speed(WS)significantly affected the number of admissions for depression.An extremely low temperature(-29.0℃)at lag 0 caused a 53%[relative risk(RR)=1.53,95%confidence interval(CI):1.23-1.89]increase in daily hospital admissions relative to the median temperature.Extremely low WSs(0.4 m/s)at lag 7 increased the number of admissions by 58%(RR=1.58,95%CI:1.07-2.31).In contrast,atmospheric pressure and relative humidity had smaller effects.Among the six air pollutants considered in the time-series model,nitrogen dioxide(NO_(2))was the only pollutant that showed significant effects over non-cumulative,cumulative,immediate,and lagged conditions.The cumulative effect of NO_(2) at lag 7 was 0.47%(RR=1.0047,95%CI:1.0024-1.0071).Interaction effects were found between AT and the five air pollutants,atmospheric temperature and the four air pollutants,WS and sulfur dioxide.CONCLUSION Meteorological factors and the air pollutant NO_(2) affect daily hospital admissions for depressive disorders,and interactions exist between meteorological factors and ambient air pollution.

Graph Construction Method for GNN-Based Multivariate Time-Series Forecasting

Multivariate time-series forecasting(MTSF)plays an important role in diverse real-world applications.To achieve better accuracy in MTSF,time-series patterns in each variable and interrelationship patterns between variables should be considered together.Recently,graph neural networks(GNNs)has gained much attention as they can learn both patterns using a graph.For accurate forecasting through GNN,a well-defined graph is required.However,existing GNNs have limitations in reflecting the spectral similarity and time delay between nodes,and consider all nodes with the same weight when constructing graph.In this paper,we propose a novel graph construction method that solves aforementioned limitations.We first calculate the Fourier transform-based spectral similarity and then update this similarity to reflect the time delay.Then,we weight each node according to the number of edge connections to get the final graph and utilize it to train the GNN model.Through experiments on various datasets,we demonstrated that the proposed method enhanced the performance of GNN-based MTSF models,and the proposed forecasting model achieve of up to 18.1%predictive performance improvement over the state-of-the-art model.

Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Military and Civilian Regimes in Nigeria: A Statistical Evidence from Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources are used in the economy. Higher taxes, fees, and greater regulations can stymie businesses or entire industries and the resulting impact is reflected on the country’s economy status (strong or weak). The growth rate of GDP is often used as an indicator of the general health of the economy. In broad terms, an increase in real GDP is interpreted as a sign that the economy is doing well. So it is important to study and pay more attention to country’s GDP growth rate. In this paper, an intervention analysis approach was applied to Nigeria GDP data in order to evaluate the performances of military and civilian rules in the country. Data on Nigeria GDP were collected and subjected to interrupted (intervention) time series model. Based on the Alkaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and sigma2 values, the interrupted time series model ARIMA (1, 1, 0) with exogenous variables (per capita per capita GDP, intervention, year and yearAfter) was identified as the best model amongst other competing models. It was observed that the intervention (civilian rule) was significant at the 10% level of significance in increasing the Nigeria GDP by 10B US$ on the average since 2005 till 2021 while controlling for the effects of other determinants. Also, the ARIMA (1, 1, 0) forecasts indicate that the Nigeria GDP will continue increasing during the civilian rule. As a result, changing from military rule to civilian rule in Nigeria significantly increased the GDP of the country.

Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Military and Civilian Regimes in Nigeria: A Statistical Evidence from Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources are used in the economy. Higher taxes, fees, and greater regulations can stymie businesses or entire industries and the resulting impact is reflected on the country’s economy status (strong or weak). The growth rate of GDP is often used as an indicator of the general health of the economy. In broad terms, an increase in real GDP is interpreted as a sign that the economy is doing well. So it is important to study and pay more attention to country’s GDP growth rate. In this paper, an intervention analysis approach was applied to Nigeria GDP data in order to evaluate the performances of military and civilian rules in the country. Data on Nigeria GDP were collected and subjected to interrupted (intervention) time series model. Based on the Alkaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and sigma2 values, the interrupted time series model ARIMA (1, 1, 0) with exogenous variables (per capita per capita GDP, intervention, year and yearAfter) was identified as the best model amongst other competing models. It was observed that the intervention (civilian rule) was significant at the 10% level of significance in increasing the Nigeria GDP by 10B US$ on the average since 2005 till 2021 while controlling for the effects of other determinants. Also, the ARIMA (1, 1, 0) forecasts indicate that the Nigeria GDP will continue increasing during the civilian rule. As a result, changing from military rule to civilian rule in Nigeria significantly increased the GDP of the country.

Generating Time-Series Data Using Generative Adversarial Networks for Mobility Demand Prediction

The increasing penetration rate of electric kickboard vehicles has been popularized and promoted primarily because of its clean and efficient features.Electric kickboards are gradually growing in popularity in tourist and education-centric localities.In the upcoming arrival of electric kickboard vehicles,deploying a customer rental service is essential.Due to its freefloating nature,the shared electric kickboard is a common and practical means of transportation.Relocation plans for shared electric kickboards are required to increase the quality of service,and forecasting demand for their use in a specific region is crucial.Predicting demand accurately with small data is troublesome.Extensive data is necessary for training machine learning algorithms for effective prediction.Data generation is a method for expanding the amount of data that will be further accessible for training.In this work,we proposed a model that takes time-series customers’electric kickboard demand data as input,pre-processes it,and generates synthetic data according to the original data distribution using generative adversarial networks(GAN).The electric kickboard mobility demand prediction error was reduced when we combined synthetic data with the original data.We proposed Tabular-GAN-Modified-WGAN-GP for generating synthetic data for better prediction results.We modified The Wasserstein GAN-gradient penalty(GP)with the RMSprop optimizer and then employed Spectral Normalization(SN)to improve training stability and faster convergence.Finally,we applied a regression-based blending ensemble technique that can help us to improve performance of demand prediction.We used various evaluation criteria and visual representations to compare our proposed model’s performance.Synthetic data generated by our suggested GAN model is also evaluated.The TGAN-Modified-WGAN-GP model mitigates the overfitting and mode collapse problem,and it also converges faster than previous GAN models for synthetic data creation.The presented model’s performance is compared to existing ensemble and baseline models.The experimental findings imply that combining synthetic and actual data can significantly reduce prediction error rates in the mean absolute percentage error(MAPE)of 4.476 and increase prediction accuracy.

Sentinel-1 In SAR observations and time-series analysis of co-and postseismic deformation mechanisms of the 2021 Mw 5.8 Bandar Ganaveh Earthquake,Southern Iran

In the past two decades,because of the significant increase in the availability of differential interferometry from synthetic aperture radar and GPS data,spaceborne geodesy has been widely employed to determine the co-seismic displacement field of earthquakes.On April 18,2021,a moderate earthquake(Mw 5.8)occurred east of Bandar Ganaveh,southern Iran,followed by intensive seismic activity and aftershocks of various magnitudes.We use two-pass D-InSAR and Small Baseline Inversion techniques via the LiCSBAS suite to study the coseismic displacement and monitor the four-month post-seismic deformation of the Bandar Ganaveh earthquake,as well as constrain the fault geometry of the co-seismic faulting mechanism during the seismic sequence.Analyses show that the co-and postseismic deformation are distributed in relatively shallow depths along with an NW-SE striking and NE dipping complex reverse/thrust fault branches of the Zagros Mountain Front Fault,complying with the main trend of the Zagros structures.The average cumulative displacements were obtained from-137.5 to+113.3 mm/yr in the SW and NE blocks of the Mountain Front Fault,respectively.The received maximum uplift amount is approximately consistent with the overall orogen-normal shortening component of the Arabian-Eurasian convergence in the Zagros region.No surface ruptures were associated with the seismic source;therefore,we propose a shallow blind thrust/reverse fault(depth~10 km)connected to the deeper basal decollement fault within a complex tectonic zone,emphasizing the thin-skinned tectonics.

Using Interrupted Time Series Design to Analyze Changes in Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease Incidence during the Declining Incidence Periods of 2008-2010 in China

Objective To identify patterns of hand, foot and mouth disease （HFMD） incidence in China during declining incidence periods of 2008, 2009, and 2010. Methods Reported HFMD cases over a period of 25 months were extracted from the National Disease Reporting System （NDRS） and analyzed. An interrupted time series （ITS） technique was used to detect changes in HFMD incidence rates in terms of level and slope between declining incidence periods of the three years. Results Over 3.58 million HFMD cases younger than 5 years were reported to the NDRS between May 1, 2008, and May 31, 2011. Males comprised 63.4% of the cases. ITS analyses demonstrated a significant increase in incidence rate level （P〈0.0001） when comparing the current period with the previous period. There were significant changes in declining slopes when comparing 2010 to 2009, and 2010 to 2008 （all P〈O.O05）, but not 2009 to 2008. Conclusion Incremental changes in incidence rate level during the declining incidence periods of 2009 and 2010 can potentially be attributed to a few factors. The more steeply declining slope in 2010 compared with previous years could be ascribed to the implementation of more effective interventions and preventive strategies in 2010. Further investigation is required to examine this possibility.

Temperature and Daily Mortality in Shanghai:A Time-series Study

To investigate the association between temperature and daily mortality in Shanghai from June 1, 2000 to December 31, 2001. Methods Time-series approach was used to estimate the effect of temperature on daily total and cause-specific mortality. We fitted generalized additive Poisson regression using non-parametric smooth functions to control for long-term time trend, season and other variables. We also controlled for day of the week. Results A gently sloping V-like relationship between total mortality and temperature was found, with an optimum temperature (e.g. temperature with lowest mortality risk) value of 26.7癈 in Shanghai. For temperatures above the optimum value, total mortality increased by 0.73% for each degree Celsius increase; while for temperature below the optimum value, total mortality decreased by 1.21% for each degree Celsius increase. Conclusions Our findings indicate that temperature has an effect on daily mortality in Shanghai, and the time-series approach is a useful tool for studying the temperature-mortality association.

Mapping winter wheat using phenological feature of peak before winter on the North China Plain based on time-series MODIS data

By employing the unique phenological feature of winter wheat extracted from peak before winter （PBW） and the advantages of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer （MODIS） data with high temporal resolution and intermediate spatial resolution, a remote sensing-based model for mapping winter wheat on the North China Plain was built through integration with Landsat images and land-use data. First, a phenological window, PBW was drawn from time-series MODIS data. Next, feature extraction was performed for the PBW to reduce feature dimension and enhance its information. Finally, a regression model was built to model the relationship of the phenological feature and the sample data. The amount of information of the PBW was evaluated and compared with that of the main peak （MP）. The relative precision of the mapping reached up to 92% in comparison to the Landsat sample data, and ranged between 87 and 96% in comparison to the statistical data. These results were sufficient to satisfy the accuracy requirements for winter wheat mapping at a large scale. Moreover, the proposed method has the ability to obtain the distribution information for winter wheat in an earlier period than previous studies. This study could throw light on the monitoring of winter wheat in China by using unique phenological feature of winter wheat.

Review of the SBAS InSAR Time-series algorithms, applications, and challenges

In the past 30 years,the small baseline subset(SBAS)InSAR time-series technique has emerged as an essential tool for measuring slow surface displacement and estimating geophysical parameters.Because of its ability to monitor large-scale deformation with millimeter accuracy,the SBAS method has been widely used in various geodetic fields,such as ground subsidence,landslides,and seismic activity.The obtained long-term time-series cumulative deformation is vital for studying the deformation mecha-nism.This article reviews the algorithms,applications,and challenges of the SBAS method.First,we recall the fundamental principle and analyze the shortcomings of the traditional SBAS algorithm,which provides a basic framework for the following improved time series methods.Second,we classify the current improved SBAS techniques from different perspectives:solving the ill-posed equation,increasing the density of high-coherence points,improving the accuracy of monitoring deformation and measuring the multi-dimensional deformation.Third,we summarize the application of the SBAS method in monitoring ground subsidence,permafrost degradation,glacier movement,volcanic activity,landslides,and seismic activity.Finally,we discuss the difficulties faced by the SBAS method and explore its future development direction.

Precipitation behavior of γ′ phase in superalloy FGH96 under interrupted cooling test

The precipitation behavior of γ′ phase,under various interrupt cooling tests after 1170℃,solution treatment was examined.The results indicate that the size of secondary γ′ precipitates increases with the decrease of interrupt temperature,and the shape changes from spherical to butterfly like.The fine tertiary γ′ can form either during the post cool air quenching at high interrupt-temperatures,or during the specified 5℃ min-1cooling.Air quenching at high temperatures cannot suppress further nucleation of tertiary γ′ phase.

Clustering Structure Analysis in Time-Series Data With Density-Based Clusterability Measure

Clustering is used to gain an intuition of the struc tures in the data.Most of the current clustering algorithms pro duce a clustering structure even on data that do not possess such structure.In these cases,the algorithms force a structure in the data instead of discovering one.To avoid false structures in the relations of data,a novel clusterability assessment method called density-based clusterability measure is proposed in this paper.I measures the prominence of clustering structure in the data to evaluate whether a cluster analysis could produce a meaningfu insight to the relationships in the data.This is especially useful in time-series data since visualizing the structure in time-series data is hard.The performance of the clusterability measure is evalu ated against several synthetic data sets and time-series data sets which illustrate that the density-based clusterability measure can successfully indicate clustering structure of time-series data.

ECCM scheme against interrupted sampling repeater jammer based on time-frequency analysis

The interrupted sampling repeater jamming（ISRJ） is an effective deception jamming method for coherent radar, especially for the wideband linear frequency modulation（LFM） radar. An electronic counter-countermeasure（ECCM） scheme is proposed to remove the ISRJ-based false targets from the pulse compression result of the de-chirping radar. Through the time-frequency（TF） analysis of the radar echo signal, it can be found that the TF characteristics of the ISRJ signal are discontinuous in the pulse duration because the ISRJ jammer needs short durations to receive the radar signal. Based on the discontinuous characteristics a particular band-pass filter can be generated by two alternative approaches to retain the true target signal and suppress the ISRJ signal. The simulation results prove the validity of the proposed ECCM scheme for the ISRJ.

Does Monetary Support Increase the Number of Scientific Papers？ An Interrupted Time Series Analysis

Purpose： One of the main indicators of scientific production is the number of papers published in scholarly journals. Turkey ranks 18th place in the world based on the number of scholarly publications. The objective of this paper is to find out if the monetary support program initiated in 1993 by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council （TUBITAK） to incentivize researchers and increase the number, impact, and quality of international publications has been effective in doing so.Design/methodology/approach： We analyzed some 390,000 publications with Turkish affiliations listed in the Web of Science （WoS） database between 1976 and 2015 along with about 157,000 supported ones between 1997 and 2015. We used the interrupted time series （ITS） analysis technique （also known as ＂quasi-experimental time series analysis＂ or ＂intervention analysis＂） to test if TOBITAK＇s support program helped increase the number of publications. We defined ARIMA （1,1,0） model for ITS data and observed the impact of TOBiTAK＇s support program in 1994, 1997, and 2003 （after one, four and 10 years of its start, respectively）. The majority of publications （93%） were full papers （articles）, which were used as the experimental group while other types of contributions functioned as the control group. We also carried out a multiple regression analysis.Findings： TUBITAK＇s support program has had negligible effect on the increase of the number of papers with Turkish affiliations. Yet, the number of other types of contributions continued to increase even though they were not well supported, suggesting that TUBITAK＇s support program is probably not the main factor causing the increase in the number of papers with Turkish affiliations. Research limitations： Interrupted time series analysis shows if the ＂intervention＂ has had any significant effect on the dependent variable but it does not explain what caused the increase in the number of papers if it was not the intervention. Moreover, except the＂intervention＂, other ＂event（s）＂ that might affect the time series data （e.g., increase in the number of research personnel over the years） should not occur during the period of analysis, a prerequisite that is beyond the control of the researcher. Practical implications： TUBITAK＇s ＂cash-for-publication＂ program did not seem to have direct impact on the increase of the number of papers published by Turkish authors, suggesting that small amounts of payments are not much of an incentive for authors to publish more. It might perhaps be a better strategy to concentrate limited resources on a few high impact projects rather than to disperse them to thousands of authors as ＂micropayments.＂ Originality/value： Based on 25 years＇ worth of payments data, this is perhaps one of the first large-scale studies showing that ＂cash-for-publication＂ policies or ＂piece rates＂ paid to researchers tend to have little or no effect on the increase of researchers＇ productivity. The main finding of this paper has some implications for countries wherein publication subsidies are used as an incentive to increase the number and quality of papers published in international journals. They should be prepared to consider reviewing their existing support programs （based usually on bibliometric measures such as journal impact factors） and revising their reward policies.

Skin-Adhesive Tape versus Interrupted Suture in Episiotomy Skin Repair: Randomized Control Trial

Introduction: The ideal method for perineal repair should be quick, easy to perform and preferably, with minimal pain. Aim: To compare skin adhesive tape and interrupted?absorbable subcuticular suture for episiotomy repair after birth as regard postoperative pain, skin closure time and wound infection. Design: Prospective double-blinded randomized controlled trial. Methods: Three-hundred qualified patients were equally distributed between two groups. Group 1 underwent skin repair with skin adhesive tape, while group 2 underwent the currently traditional method for perineal repair by interrupted suture. Pain was evaluated at 2, 4, 6 and 12 hours after birth then daily until one week using Wong-Baker faces pain rating scale with verbal expression for pain intensity as primary outcome. Skin closure time and wound infection were also evaluated as secondary outcomes. Results: Statistically significant difference in pain was?found at 4 and 6 hours, and 3,?4,?5 and 7 days after perineal repair in favor of the adhesive tape group (p = 0.04 and 0.02 respectively) (p = 0.002, 0.002, 0.003 and 0.001 respectively). No statistically significant difference was found in skin closure time between both groups, and no cases of wound infection occurred in both groups (p = 0.3). Conclusion: Skin adhesive tape may be superior to skin suturing in decreasing pain resulting from perineal repair after birth;however, further studies are needed to assess long-term effects, calculate costs and accurately measure patients’ satisfaction, which were not addressed in this study.

Research on arc root stagnation when small current is interrupted in self-excited circuit breaker

The self-excited DC air circuit breaker(SE-DCCB)has been widely used in urban rail transit due to its excellent stability.It can realize forward and reverse interruption,but has difficulty interrupting small currents due to the phenomenon of arc root sticking at the entrance of the arc chamber in the splitting process,which is known as arc root stagnation.A coupling model of the self-excited magnetic field and magnetohydrodynamics is established for the SE-DCCB with the traditional structure.The magnetic field,temperature and airflow distribution in the arc chamber are investigated with an interrupting current of 150 A.The simulation results show that the direction and magnitude of the magnetic blowout force are the dominant factors in the arc root stagnation.The local high temperature of the arc chamber due to arc root stagnation increases the obstruction effect of the airflow vortex on the arc root movement,which significantly increases the arc duration time of small current interruption.Based on the research,the structure of the magnetic conductance plate of the actual product is improved,which can improve the direction and magnitude of the magnetic blowout force at the arc root so as to restrain the development of the airflow vortex effectively and solve the problem of arc root stagnation when the small current is interrupted.The simulation results show that the circuit breaker with improved structure has a better performance for a small current interruption range from 100 A to 350 A.

Time-series gene expression prof iles in AGS cells stimulated with Helicobacter pylori

AIM: To extend the knowledge of the dynamic interaction between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and host mucosa. METHODS: A time-series cDNA microarray was performed in order to detect the temporal gene expression prof iles of human gastric epithelial adenocarcinoma cells infected with H. pylori. Six time points were selected to observe the changes in the model. A differential expression prof ile at each time point was obtained by comparing the microarray signal value with that of 0 h. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was subsequently performed to evaluate the data quality. RESULTS: We found a diversity of gene expression patterns at different time points and identifi ed a group of genes whose expression levels were significantly correlated with several important immune response and tumor related pathways. CONCLUSION: Early infection may trigger some important pathways and may impact the outcome of the infection.

Spatio-temporal changes of underground coal fires during 2008-2016 in Khanh Hoa coal field(North-east of Viet Nam) using Landsat time-series data

Underground coal fires are one of the most common and serious geohazards in most coal producing countries in the world. Monitoring their spatio-temporal changes plays an important role in controlling and preventing the effects of coal fires, and their environmental impact. In this study, the spatio-temporal changes of underground coal fires in Khanh Hoa coal field(North-East of Viet Nam) were analyzed using Landsat time-series data during the 2008-2016 period. Based on land surface temperatures retrieved from Landsat thermal data, underground coal fires related to thermal anomalies were identified using the MEDIAN+1.5×IQR(IQR: Interquartile range) threshold technique. The locations of underground coal fires were validated using a coal fire map produced by the field survey data and cross-validated using the daytime ASTER thermal infrared imagery. Based on the fires extracted from seven Landsat thermal imageries, the spatiotemporal changes of underground coal fire areas were analyzed. The results showed that the thermalanomalous zones have been correlated with known coal fires. Cross-validation of coal fires using ASTER TIR data showed a high consistency of 79.3%. The largest coal fire area of 184.6 hectares was detected in 2010, followed by 2014(181.1 hectares) and 2016(178.5 hectares). The smaller coal fire areas were extracted with areas of 133.6 and 152.5 hectares in 2011 and 2009 respectively. Underground coal fires were mainly detected in the northern and southern part, and tend to spread to north-west of the coal field.