Illustrations with Real Examples of Using Ecological Regulation Strategies Against Crop Pests in China

In this paper, a series of examples from China, including those using ecological regulation strategies successfully to keep crop pests under control and those making more damages of crop pests caused by wrong cropping systems, crop distributions or extensive cultivation, were given and analyzed. From these, two pieces of experience were enlightened as follows： the first, the refoms of cropping systems and crop distributions must be beneficial to pest control or at least not increase the damage of crop pests; the second, we should further clarify the relationship between population dynamics of pests and cropping system/crop distribution, the basis for correctly laying down the ecological regulation systems.     

Research and Application of All-Position Automatic Welding Machine

The all-position automatic welding machine system is the special welding system for pipeline girth automatic welding on site, which has been widely used in the long distance pipeline construction projects due to the advantages of automatic control for welding parameters at all position, moving speed of bugs and operating. This automatic pipeline welding system has been successfully used in several main pipeline projects in China, and has been approved by the constructors with the benefits of higher quality passing rate, higher welding efficiency and lower labor intensity.     

Development of liquid-nitrogen-cooling friction stir spot welding for AZ31 magnesium alloy joints

A liquid-nitrogen-cooling friction stir spot welding (C-FSSW) technology was developed for welding AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets. The liquid-nitrogen cooling degraded the deformability of the welded materials such that the width of interfacial cracks increased with increasing cooling time. The grain size of the stirred zone (SZ) and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the C-FSSW-welded joints decreased, whereas that of the thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) increased with increasing cooling time. The maximum tensile shear load of the C-FSSW-welded joints welded with a cooling time of 5 or 7 s was larger than that of the friction stir spot welding (FSSW)-welded joint, and the tensile shear load decreased with increasing cooling time. The microhardness of the C-FSSW-welded joints was greater than that of the FSSW-welded joint. Moreover, the microhardness of the SZ and the HAZ of the C-FSSW-welded joints increased, whereas that of the TMAZ decreased, with increasing cooling time.     

Novel camera calibration method based on invariance of collinear points and pole–polar constraint

To address the eccentric error of circular marks in camera calibration, a circle location method based on the invariance of collinear points and pole–polar constraint is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the centers of the ellipses are extracted,and the real concentric circle center projection equation is established by exploiting the cross ratio invariance of the collinear points. Subsequently, since the infinite lines passing through the centers of the marks are parallel, the other center proje...     

An Efficient Multidimensional Fusion Algorithm for IoT Data Based on Partitioning

The Internet of Things (IoT) implies a worldwide network of interconnected objects uniquely addressable, via standard communication protocols. The prevalence of IoT is bound to generate large amounts of multisource, heterogeneous, dynamic, and sparse data. However, IoT offers inconsequential practical benefits without the ability to integrate, fuse, and glean useful information from such massive amounts of data. Accordingly, preparing us for the imminent invasion of things, a tool called data fusion can be used to manipulate and manage such data in order to improve process efficiency and provide advanced intelligence. In order to determine an acceptable quality of intelligence, diverse and voluminous data have to be combined and fused. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the computational efficiency for fusing and mining multidimensional data. In this paper, we propose an efficient multidimensional fusion algorithm for IoT data based on partitioning. The basic concept involves the partitioning of dimensions (attributes), i.e., a big data set with higher dimensions can be transformed into certain number of relatively smaller data subsets that can be easily processed. Then, based on the partitioning of dimensions, the discernible matrixes of all data subsets in rough set theory are computed to obtain their core attribute sets. Furthermore, a global core attribute set can be determined. Finally, the attribute reduction and rule extraction methods are used to obtain the fusion results. By means of proving a few theorems and simulation, the correctness and effectiveness of this algorithm is illustrated.     

Angular dependent NEXAFS study of the molecular orientation of PTCDA multilayers on Au （111） surface

The molecular orientation of perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (PTCDA) multilayers adsorbed on Au (111) surface has been investigated using angular dependent O K-edge near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The significant angular dependence of important resonant structures (π* and σ*) reveals that PTCDA molecules adopt an ordered geometry on the substrate surface. The average tilt angle of the PTCDA molecular planes is 27°±10° from the Au (111) surface.     

Genome sequence and analysis of the tuber crop potato

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world's most important non-grain food crop and is central to global food security. It is clonally propagated, highly heterozygous, autotetraploid, and suffers acute inbreeding depression. Here we use a homozygous doubled-monoploid potato clone to sequence and assemble 86% of the 844-megabase genome. We predict 39,031 protein-coding genes and present evidence for at least two genome duplication events indicative of a palaeopolyploid origin. As the first genome sequence of an asterid, the potato genome reveals 2,642 genes specific to this large angiosperm clade. We also sequenced a heterozygous diploid clone and show that gene presence/absence variants and other potentially deleterious mutations occur frequently and are a likely cause of inbreeding depression. Gene family expansion, tissue-specific expression and recruitment of genes to new pathways contributed to the evolution of tuber development. The potato genome sequence provides a platform for genetic improvement of this vital crop.     

Extremely low-coverage sequencing and imputation increases power for genome-wide association studies

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have proven to be a powerful method to identify common genetic variants contributing to susceptibility to common diseases. Here, we show that extremely low-coverage sequencing (0.1-0.5×) captures almost as much of the common (>5%) and low-frequency (1-5%) variation across the genome as SNP arrays. As an empirical demonstration, we show that genome-wide SNP genotypes can be inferred at a mean r(2) of 0.71 using off-target data (0.24× average coverage) in a whole-exome study of 909 samples. Using both simulated and real exome-sequencing data sets, we show that association statistics obtained using extremely low-coverage sequencing data attain similar P values at known associated variants as data from genotyping arrays, without an excess of false positives. Within the context of reductions in sample preparation and sequencing costs, funds invested in extremely low-coverage sequencing can yield several times the effective sample size of GWAS based on SNP array data and a commensurate increase in statistical power.     

Frequent mutations of chromatin remodeling genes in transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder

Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is the most common type of bladder cancer. Here we sequenced the exomes of nine individuals with TCC and screened all the somatically mutated genes in a prevalence set of 88 additional individuals with TCC with different tumor stages and grades. In our study, we discovered a variety of genes previously unknown to be mutated in TCC. Notably, we identified genetic aberrations of the chromatin remodeling genes (UTX, MLL-MLL3, CREBBP-EP300, NCOR1, ARID1A and CHD6) in 59% of our 97 subjects with TCC. Of these genes, we showed UTX to be altered substantially more frequently in tumors of low stages and grades, highlighting its potential role in the classification and diagnosis of bladder cancer. Our results provide an overview of the genetic basis of TCC and suggest that aberration of chromatin regulation might be a hallmark of bladder cancer.