Improved spatio-temporal alignment measurement method for hull deformation

In this paper,an improved spatio-temporal alignment measurement method is presented to address the inertial matching measurement of hull deformation under the coexistence of time delay and large misalignment angle.Large misalignment angle and time delay often occur simultaneously and bring great challenges to the accurate measurement of hull deformation in space and time.The proposed method utilizes coarse alignment with large misalignment angle and time delay estimation of inertial measurement unit modeling to establish a brand-new spatiotemporal aligned hull deformation measurement model.In addition,two-step loop control is designed to ensure the accurate description of dynamic deformation angle and static deformation angle by the time-space alignment method of hull deformation.The experiments illustrate that the proposed method can effectively measure the hull deformation angle when time delay and large misalignment angle coexist.

Post-disaster spatial reconstruction from the perspective of a rural settlement niche in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River

Post-disaster recovery and reconstruction provide an effective way to reduce the disaster vulnerability of, and promote leapfrog development in, an affected area. To date, studies that have used administrative boundaries to investigate the reconstruction of settlement space have not been able to clearly define the real boundaries of land use changes or quantify the degree of response to the ‘Build-Back-Better’ initiative, and have lacked any consideration of the fourth reconstruction stage–development period(10 years). This study constructed a mountain settlement niche and analyzed the characteristics, spatial reconstruction, and drivers of rural settlements during 2009–2019 in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, southwest China. The results showed the following:(1) Natural factors were the basis for the formation and development of mountain settlement niches. The scale of the settlement niche and its land use structure depended on the physical geography features and the ethnic farming and grazing traditions. The settlement niche provided a realistic boundary for the spatial reconstruction.(2) The layout of residential land around cropland was the common feature of the mountain settlement niche. Of all the land use types, the roads and rural residential lands showed the most change over the 10 years;13,860 residential patches increased in size and 4,742 patches were abandoned.(3) The area of orchards, planted to reconstruct the economy in the mountains, increased by nearly 2.5 times.(4) Collapses, landslides, and debris flow disasters and the ecological red line influenced the spatial reconstruction. While the main focus of post-disaster recovery is spatial reconstruction, initiatives should include economic and spiritual recovery, and should also achieve sustainable development of the region.

An Intelligent Framework for Resilience Recovery of FANETs with Spatio-Temporal Aggregation and Multi-Head Attention Mechanism

Due to the time-varying topology and possible disturbances in a conflict environment,it is still challenging to maintain the mission performance of flying Ad hoc networks(FANET),which limits the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)swarms in harsh environments.This paper proposes an intelligent framework to quickly recover the cooperative coveragemission by aggregating the historical spatio-temporal network with the attention mechanism.The mission resilience metric is introduced in conjunction with connectivity and coverage status information to simplify the optimization model.A spatio-temporal node pooling method is proposed to ensure all node location features can be updated after destruction by capturing the temporal network structure.Combined with the corresponding Laplacian matrix as the hyperparameter,a recovery algorithm based on the multi-head attention graph network is designed to achieve rapid recovery.Simulation results showed that the proposed framework can facilitate rapid recovery of the connectivity and coverage more effectively compared to the existing studies.The results demonstrate that the average connectivity and coverage results is improved by 17.92%and 16.96%,respectively compared with the state-of-the-art model.Furthermore,by the ablation study,the contributions of each different improvement are compared.The proposed model can be used to support resilient network design for real-time mission execution.

Deer antler stem cell niche: An interesting perspective

In recent years,there has been considerable exploration into methods aimed at enhancing the regenerative capacity of transplanted and/or tissue-resident cells.Biomaterials,in particular,have garnered significant interest for their potential to serve as natural scaffolds for cells.In this editorial,we provide commentary on the study by Wang et al,in a recently published issue of World J Stem Cells,which investigates the use of a decellularized xenogeneic extracellular matrix(ECM)derived from antler stem cells for repairing osteochondral defects in rat knee joints.Our focus lies specifically on the crucial role of biological scaffolds as a strategy for augmenting stem cell potential and regenerative capabilities,thanks to the establishment of a favorable microenvironment(niche).Stem cell differen-tiation heavily depends on exposure to intrinsic properties of the ECM,including its chemical and protein composition,as well as the mechanical forces it can generate.Collectively,these physicochemical cues contribute to a bio-instructive signaling environment that offers tissue-specific guidance for achieving effective repair and regeneration.The interest in mechanobiology,often conceptualized as a form of“structural memory”,is steadily gaining more validation and momen-tum,especially in light of findings such as these.

A Reference Vector-Assisted Many-Objective Optimization Algorithm with Adaptive Niche Dominance Relation

It is still a huge challenge for traditional Pareto-dominatedmany-objective optimization algorithms to solve manyobjective optimization problems because these algorithms hardly maintain the balance between convergence and diversity and can only find a group of solutions focused on a small area on the Pareto front,resulting in poor performance of those algorithms.For this reason,we propose a reference vector-assisted algorithmwith an adaptive niche dominance relation,for short MaOEA-AR.The new dominance relation forms a niche based on the angle between candidate solutions.By comparing these solutions,the solutionwith the best convergence is found to be the non-dominated solution to improve the selection pressure.In reproduction,a mutation strategy of k-bit crossover and hybrid mutation is used to generate high-quality offspring.On 23 test problems with up to 15-objective,we compared the proposed algorithm with five state-of-the-art algorithms.The experimental results verified that the proposed algorithm is competitive.

Spatio-Temporal Change of Dispersal Areas of Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) in Lake Bogoria Landscape, Kenya

Decline in wildlife populations is manifest globally, regionally and locally. A wildlife decline of 68% has been reported in Kenya’s rangelands with Baringo County experiencing more than 85% wildlife loss in the last four decades. Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is endemic to Lake Bogoria landscape in Baringo County and constitutes a major tourist attraction for the region necessitating use of its photo on the County’s logo and thus a flagship species. Tourism plays a central role in Baringo County’s economy and is a major source of potential growth and employment creation. The study was carried out to assess spatio-temporal change of dispersal areas of Greater Kudu (GK) in Lake Bogoria landscape in the last four years for enhanced adaptive management and improved livelihoods. GK population distribution primary data collected in December 2022 and secondary data acquired from Lake Bogoria National Game Reserve (LBNGR) for 2019 and 2020 were digitized using in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Measures of dispersion and point pattern analysis (PPA) were used to analyze dispersal of GK population using GIS. Spatio-temporal change of GK dispersal in LBNR was evident thus the null hypothesis was rejected. It is recommended that anthropogenic activities contributing to GK’s habitat degradation be curbed by providing alternative livelihood sources and promoting community adoption of sustainable technologies for improved livelihoods.

Spatio-temporal differentiation of landscape ecological niche in western ecological frangible region： A case study of Yan＇an region in northwestern China

In this study, we attempt to put forward a conception of landscape ecological niche, enlightened by international scholars on extending the ecological niche theory from spatial niche to functional niche. That is helpful for comprehensively appraising landscape spatial patterns and ecological functions, also, presents a new method for analyzing landscape features from multidimensional aspects. The practice process is demonstrated by taking Yan＇an region in northwestern China as a case. Firstly, the indices system including spatial attribute and functional attribute is established for assessing landscape ecological niche. Additionally, two-dimensional figures are drawn for comparing the spatio-temporal features of landscape ecological niche in 1987 and 2000 among the 13 administrative counties. The results show that from 1987 to 2000, towards Yan＇an region, spatial attribute value of landscape ecological niche changes from 1.000 to 1.178 with an obvious increment, and functional attribute value changes from 0.989 to 1.069 with a little increment, both of which enhance the regional landscape ecological niche. Towards each county, spatial attribute value of landscape ecological niche increases to different extent while functional attribute value changes dissimilarly with an increment or a decrement.

Cellular and molecular characteristics of the premetastatic niches

The premetastatic niches(PMN)formed by primary tumor-derived molecules regulate distant organs and tissues to further favor tumor colonization.Targeted PMN therapy may prevent tumor metastasis in the early stages,which is becoming increasingly important.At present,there is a lack of in-depth understanding of the cellular and molecular characteristics of the PMN.Here,we summarize current research advances on the cellular and molecular characteristics of the PMN.We emphasize that PMN intervention is a potential therapeutic strategy for early prevention of tumor metastasis,which provides a promising basis for future research and clinical application.

Leveraging Transfer Learning for Spatio-Temporal Human Activity Recognition from Video Sequences

Human Activity Recognition(HAR)is an active research area due to its applications in pervasive computing,human-computer interaction,artificial intelligence,health care,and social sciences.Moreover,dynamic environments and anthropometric differences between individuals make it harder to recognize actions.This study focused on human activity in video sequences acquired with an RGB camera because of its vast range of real-world applications.It uses two-stream ConvNet to extract spatial and temporal information and proposes a fine-tuned deep neural network.Moreover,the transfer learning paradigm is adopted to extract varied and fixed frames while reusing object identification information.Six state-of-the-art pre-trained models are exploited to find the best model for spatial feature extraction.For temporal sequence,this study uses dense optical flow following the two-stream ConvNet and Bidirectional Long Short TermMemory(BiLSTM)to capture longtermdependencies.Two state-of-the-art datasets,UCF101 and HMDB51,are used for evaluation purposes.In addition,seven state-of-the-art optimizers are used to fine-tune the proposed network parameters.Furthermore,this study utilizes an ensemble mechanism to aggregate spatial-temporal features using a four-stream Convolutional Neural Network(CNN),where two streams use RGB data.In contrast,the other uses optical flow images.Finally,the proposed ensemble approach using max hard voting outperforms state-ofthe-art methods with 96.30%and 90.07%accuracies on the UCF101 and HMDB51 datasets.

Relationship between spatio-temporal evolution of soil pH and geological environment/surface cover in the eastern Nenjiang River Basin of Northeast China during the past 30 years

To illuminate the spatio-temporal variation characteristics and geochemical driving mechanism of soil pH in the Nenjiang River Basin,the National Multi-objective Regional Geochemical Survey data of topsoil,the Second National Soil Survey data and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)were analyzed.The areas of neutral and alkaline soil decreased by 21100 km^(2)and 30500 km^(2),respectively,while that of strongly alkaline,extremely alkaline,and strongly acidic soil increased by 19600 km^(2),18200 km^(2),and 15500 km^(2),respectively,during the past 30 years.NDVI decreased with the increase of soil pH when soil pH>8.0,and it was reversed when soil pH<5.0.There were significant differences in soil pH with various surface cover types,which showed an ascending order:Arbor<reed<maize<rice<high and medium-covered meadow<low-covered meadow<Puccinellia.The weathering products of minerals rich in K_(2)O,Na_(2)O,CaO,and MgO entered into the low plain and were enriched in different parts by water transportation and lake deposition,while Fe and Al remained in the low hilly areas,which was the geochemical driving mechanism.The results of this study will provide scientific basis for making scientific and rational decisions on soil acidification and salinization.

Ecological Niche Modelling Reveals the Peculiarities of Ecological Disjunction Between Two Sympatric Racerunners in Kazakhstan:Eremias lineolata(Nikolsky,1897)and Eremias scripta(Strauch,1867)

The ecological-niche models for two sympatric species,Eremias lineolata(Nikolsky,1897)and Eremias scripta(Strauch,1867),reveal evidence of spatial and temporal disjunction in the actual niches of both species.Eremias lineolata demonstrates a wide range of adaptations and,at the same time,has a greater need for winter precipitation and minimal temperature than E.scripta.Possible explanations for the thermal diversity of both species are provided.Thermal variables(monthly temperatures,monthly solar radiation,etc.)are traditionally important for ectotherm animals.Interestingly,as many as half of the key variables in both species are related to different aspects of environmental water balance(precipitation,air humidity,vapor pressure).There are several ways in which moisture may impact the lizard’s life cycle.Soil humidity is related to soil temperature and may be important during winter hibernation.In summer,soil humidity may support successful embryogenesis.Precipitation during the warm months is a key factor in maintaining the moisture content of the soil.In winter,snow cover provides a better thermal balance of the soil’s top layers where winter shelters are housed.Ecological niche modeling(ENM)is an interdisciplinary approach combining the geographical,climatic,ecological,and biological aspects of the wellbeing of species.This interdisciplinary approach lifts biological studies onto a new,integrative level,providing a comprehensive view on species biology and answering the questions that might not be answered if the traditional methods for studying animals were used alone.

Niche differentiation shapes the bacterial diversity and composition of apple

Microorganisms play an important role in plant growth,health and ecological function.It is necessary to explore the microbial community because of the significant ecological and economic value of apples(Malus x domestica).However,the related bacterial communities in different ecological habitats are not clear in the unique scion/rootstock combinations of apples.In this study,the Illumina Miseq platform was used to analyze the bacterial communities in different niches(bulk soil,rhizosphere soil and roots)of two scion/rootstock combinations[Fuji/Malus xiaojinensis Cheng et Jiang(Mx)and Fuji/Malus baccata(L.)Borkh.(Mb)].The relationship between the microbial community,soil properties,and plant characters was explored.The results showed that the diversity of the bacterial community decreased from bulk soil to rhizosphere soil and then to roots.In addition,at the phylum level,Proteobacteria,Actinobacteria and Acitinobacteria were dominant and had notable divergence in different ecological niches.Distinct niches had remarkable effects on the diversity and composition of the bacterial community according to PCoA.The rootstock genotype had an effect on the bacterial composition but no effect on the diversity.pH,soil organic matter(SOM),alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen(AN)were the main factor affecting the structure of bacterial community in rhizosphere soil,as shown by Pearson analysis.Bacteria taxa in the roots were affected by starch,fructose,sucrose and sorbitol.This study showed the microbial community structure in different ecological niches of different scion/rootstock combinations and provided some evidence for understanding the microbial-plant interaction of apple rootstocks.

Host niche, genotype, and field location shape the diversity and composition of the soybean microbiome

Plant-associated microbes represent a key determinant of plant fitness through acquiring nutrients,promoting growth,and resisting to abiotic and biotic stresses.However,an extensive characterization of the bacterial and fungal microbiomes present in different plant compartments of soybean in field conditions has remained elusive.In this study,we investigated the effects of four niches(roots,stems,leaves,and pods),four genotypes(Andou 203,Hedou 12,Sanning 16,and Zhonghuang 13),and three field locations(Jining,Suzhou,and Xuzhou)on the diversity and composition of bacterial and fungal communities in soybean using 16S and internal transcribed spacer rRNA amplicon sequencing,respectively.The soybean microbiome significantly differed across organs.Host genotypes explained more variation in stem bacterial community composition and leaf fungal community composition.Field location significantly affected the composition of bacterial communities in all compartments and the effects were stronger in the root and stem than in the leaf and pod,whereas field location explained more variation in stem and leaf fungal community composition than in the root and pod.The relative abundances of potential soybean fungal pathogens also differed among host organs and genotypes,reflecting the niches of these microbes in the host and probably their compatibility to the host genotypes.Systematic profiling of the microbiome composition and diversity will aid the development of plant protection technologies to benefit soybean health.

Injectable hydrogel made from antler mesenchyme matrix for regenerative wound healing via creating a fetal-like niche

BACKGROUND Scar formation and loss of cutaneous appendages are the greatest challenges in cutaneous wound healing.Previous studies have indicated that antler reserve mesenchyme(RM)cells and their conditioned medium improved regenerative wound healing with partial recovery of cutaneous appendages.AIM To develop hydrogels from the antler RM matrix(HARM)and evaluate the effect on wound healing.METHODS We prepared the hydrogels from the HARM via enzymatic solubilization with pepsin.Then we investigated the therapeutic effects of HARM on a full-thickness cutaneous wound healing rat model using both local injections surrounding the wound and topical wound application.RESULTS The results showed that HARM accelerated wound healing rate and reduced scar formation.Also,HARM stimulated the regeneration of cutaneous appendages and blood vessels,and reduced collagen fiber aggregation.Further study showed that these functions might be achieved via creating a fetal-like niche at the wound site.The levels of fetal wound healing-related genes,including Collagen III and TGFβ3 treated with HARM were all increased,while the expression levels of Collagen I,TGFβ1,and Engrailed 1 were decreased in the healing.Moreover,the number of stem cells was increased in the fetal-like niche created by HARM,which may contribute to the regeneration of cutaneous appendages.CONCLUSION Overall,we successfully developed an injectable hydrogel made from antler RM matrix for the regenerative repair of full-thickness cutaneous wounds.We uncovered the molecular mechanism of the hydrogels in promoting regenerative wound healing,and thus pave the way for HARM to be developed for the clinic use.

Allopolyploid origin and niche expansion of Rhodiola integrifolia(Crassulaceae)

Polyploidy after hybridization between species can lead to immediate post-zygotic isolation,causing saltatory origin of new species.Although the incidence of polyploidization in plants is high,it is thought that a new polyploid lineage can succeed only if it establishes a new ecological niche divergent from its progenitor lineages.We tested the hypothesis that Rhodiola integrifolia from North America is an allopolyploid produced by R. rhodantha and R.rosea and determined whether its survival can be explained by the niche divergence hypothesis.To this end,we sequenced two low-copy nuclear genes(ncpGS and rpb2) in a phylogenetic analysis of 42 Rhodiola species and tested for niche equivalency and similarity using Schoener’s D as the index of niche overlap.Our phylogeny-based approach showed that R integrifolia possesses alleles from both R. rhodantha and rosea Dating analysis showed that the hybridization event that led to R.integrifolia occurred ca.1.67 Mya and niche modeling analysis showed that at this time,both R.rosea and R.rhodantha may have been present in Beringia,providing the opportunity for the hybridization event.We also found that the niche of R.integrifolia differs from that of its progenitors in both niche breadth and optimum.Taken together,these results confirm the hybrid origin of R.integrifolia and support the niche divergence hypothesis for this tetraploid species.Our results underscore the fact that lineages with no current overlapping distribution could produce hybrid descendants in the past,when climate oscillations made their distributions overlap.

Spatial niche segregation between bird species in the Białowieża primeval forest(NE Poland)

Drivers of bird niche separation in temperate primeval forests have not yet been determined,due to the low number of intact forest sites.Here,we analyzed the general patterns of niche usage on trees by birds’assemblages.We tested how tree species affect the sharing of space in an assemblage of birds and their level of specialization.We conducted our study in the Białowieża primeval forest(NE Poland).During two breeding seasons,we observed bird positions on trees,divided into three vertical and six horizontal zones in 768 observation points.Based on the interaction networks framework we calculated the Kullback-Leibler distance d′as a metric of species specialization and the resource range RR index,which estimates the species’specificity based on the fraction of space utilized with a non-zero performance.The d′index was the highest in the lower understory for all parts of the tree on the basis of the position from the trunk.The RR index was the highest in the lower understory for all parts based on the position from the trunk.Regarding the tree species,the lowest d′index was observed in all tree species together,and hornbeam,whereas the highest in oak.At the tree species level,the RR index was the lowest for hornbeam.We show tree species importance in forest space sharing in the case of bird assemblages.Hornbeam,alder,and spruce are universal species that were used by birds almost entirely.In contrast,oak,lime,and maple were only partially used.Tree species with less complex structures could shape bird assemblages,as they could offer birds much fewer niches to realize.Therefore,we showed that high specialization and niche separation are drivers of high bird diversity.Consequently maintaining a diverse stand structure is crucial for biodiversity conservation.

Preliminary delivery efficiency prediction of nanotherapeutics into crucial cell populations in bone marrow niche

Several crucial stromal cell populations regulate hematopoiesis and malignant diseases in bone marrow niches.Precise regulation of these cell types can remodel niches and develop new therapeutics.Multiple nanocarriers have been developed to transport drugs into the bone marrow selectively.However,the delivery efficiency of these nanotherapeutics into crucial niche cells is still unknown,and there is no method available for predicting delivery efficiency in these cell types.Here,we constructed a three-dimensional bone marrow niche composed of three crucial cell populations:endothelial cells(ECs),mesenchymal stromal cells(MSCs),and osteoblasts(OBs).Mimetic niches were used to detect the cellular uptake of three typical drug nanocarriers into ECs/MSCs/OBs in vitro.Less than 5%of nanocarriers were taken up by three stromal cell types,and most of themwere located in the extracellular matrix.Delivery efficiency in sinusoidal ECs,arteriole ECs,MSCs,and OBs in vivo was analyzed.The correlation analysis showed that the cellular uptake of three nanocarriers in crucial cell types in vitro is positively linear correlated with its delivery efficiency in vivo.The delivery efficiency into MSCs was remarkably higher than that into ECs and OBs,no matterwhat kind of nanocarrier.The overall efficiency into sinusoidal ECswas greatly lower than that into arteriole ECs.All nanocarriers were hard to be delivered into OBs(<1%).Our findings revealed that cell tropisms of nanocarriers with different compositions and ligand attachments in vivo could be predicted via detecting their cellular uptake in bone marrow niches in vitro.This study provided the methodology for niche-directed nanotherapeutics development.

Single-cell RNA sequencing in cornea research:Insights into limbal stem cells and their niche regulation

The corneal epithelium is composed of stratified squamous epithelial cells on the outer surface of the eye,which acts as a protective barrier and is critical for clear and stable vision.Its continuous renewal or wound healing depends on the proliferation and differentiation of limbal stem cells(LSCs),a cell population that resides at the limbus in a highly regulated niche.Dysfunction of LSCs or their niche can cause limbal stem cell deficiency,a disease that is manifested by failed epithelial wound healing or even blindness.Nevertheless,compared to stem cells in other tissues,little is known about the LSCs and their niche.With the advent of single-cell RNA sequencing,our understanding of LSC characteristics and their microenvironment has grown considerably.In this review,we summarized the current findings from single-cell studies in the field of cornea research and focused on important advancements driven by this technology,including the heterogeneity of the LSC population,novel LSC markers and regulation of the LSC niche,which will provide a reference for clinical issues such as corneal epithelial wound healing,ocular surface reconstruction and interventions for related diseases.

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Drought in the North-Eastern Coastal Region of Vietnam Using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI)

Spatio-temporal analysis of drought provides valuable information for drought management and damage mitigation. In this study, the Standardized Precipitation Index at the time scale of 6 months (SPI-6) is selected to reflect drought conditions in the North-Eastern coastal region of Vietnam. The drought events and their characteristics from 1981 to 2019 are detected at 9 meteorological stations and 10 Chirps rainfall stations. The spatio-temporal variation of drought in the study region is analyzed on the basis of the number, duration, severity, intensity, and peak of the detected drought events at the 19 stations. The results show that from 1981 to 2019 the drought events mainly occurred with 1-season duration and moderate intensity and peak. The number, duration, severity, and peak of the drought events were the greatest in the period 2001-2010 and were the smallest in the period 2011-2019. Among the 19 stations, the drought duration tends to decrease at 11 stations, increase at 7 stations, and has a slight variant at 1 station;the drought severity tends to decrease at 14 stations, increase at 4 stations, and has not a significant trend at 1 station;the drought intensity tends to decrease at 17 stations, increase at 1 station, and has a slight variant at 1 station;and the drought peak tends to decrease at 18 stations and increase at 1 station.

Dynamic Spatio-Temporal Modeling in Disease Mapping

Spatio-temporal models are valuable tools for disease mapping and understanding the geographical distribution of diseases and temporal dynamics. Spatio-temporal models have been proven empirically to be very complex and this complexity has led many to oversimply and model the spatial and temporal dependencies independently. Unlike common practice, this study formulated a new spatio-temporal model in a Bayesian hierarchical framework that accounts for spatial and temporal dependencies jointly. The spatial and temporal dependencies were dynamically modelled via the matern exponential covariance function. The temporal aspect was captured by the parameters of the exponential with a first-order autoregressive structure. Inferences about the parameters were obtained via Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques and the spatio-temporal maps were obtained by mapping stable posterior means from the specific location and time from the best model that includes the significant risk factors. The model formulated was fitted to both simulation data and Kenya meningitis incidence data from 2013 to 2019 along with two covariates;Gross County Product (GCP) and average rainfall. The study found that both average rainfall and GCP had a significant positive association with meningitis occurrence. Also, regarding geographical distribution, the spatio-temporal maps showed that meningitis is not evenly distributed across the country as some counties reported a high number of cases compared with other counties.