Learning to handle hypothetical situations in a new language is always difficult(Catford,et al.,1974).This rule holds true for Moroccan Arabic(henceforth MA)speakers learning English because grammatical devices in the...Learning to handle hypothetical situations in a new language is always difficult(Catford,et al.,1974).This rule holds true for Moroccan Arabic(henceforth MA)speakers learning English because grammatical devices in the two languages differ in almost all equivalent situations.For instance,while English verb forms are used to indicate tense in conditional sentences,MA uses them to indicate aspect.Adopting the typology of conditional constructions suggested by Dancygier(1999)and Dancygier&Sweetser(2005),this study provides a contrastive analysis of conditionals in English and MA to predict the possible errors EFL/ESL learners are likely to make while learning English.The analysis shows that the main discrepancy between English conditionals and MA conditionals lies in the verb form used by the two systems.Accordingly,if EFL/ESL learners are influenced by verb form in their L1,they are likely to face some challenges while learning English conditionals.That is,they are likely to use the past tense in the protases of English predictive conditionals and generic conditionals since the perfective form of the verb is used in the protases of these two types in MA.Concerning the protases of English non-predictive conditionals,Moroccan EFL/ESL learners are likely to use either the past tense or the present tense since both the perfective and the imperfective forms of the verb are possible in the protases of MA non-predictive conditionals.However,due to the fact that the perfective form is the prototypical form in the protases of conditionals in MA,EFL/ESL learners are likely to use the past tense more often than the present tense.The analysis also shows that EFL/ESL learners tend to use the present tense in the apodoses of English conditionals since the prevalent form in the apodoses of MA conditionals is the imperfective.展开更多
The issue of whether online teaching could replace traditional classroom(TC)teaching has attracted the attention of researchers in the applied linguistics literature.The current study attempted to shed light on this p...The issue of whether online teaching could replace traditional classroom(TC)teaching has attracted the attention of researchers in the applied linguistics literature.The current study attempted to shed light on this proposition by testing it on the difficult linguistic target of conditional if-clauses in English.The difficulty of these clauses stems from the fact that different tenses are used to express meanings that are sometimes not related to the tense used.The study recruited 49 participants,who were divided into two groups(23 in the online group,26 in the TC teaching group)and given a multiple-choice task containing 20 items.The study adopted a longitudinal research design(pretest and posttest).Each group was pretested before receiving just one two-hour treatment session.Then both groups were posttested.The results showed that both groups struggled with the second and third types of conditionals more than the zero and first types.The TC teaching group improved in the posttest in all types of conditionals.The online group improved in only two types of conditionals(zero and first).The TC teaching group outperformed the online group in the second and third conditionals.The findings indicate that classroom learning is superior to online learning and that,depending on their type,some conditionals in English are more difficult to learn than others.展开更多
In order to provide scientists with a computational methodology and some computational tools to program their epistemic processes in scientific discovery, we are establishing a novel programming paradigm, named ‘Epis...In order to provide scientists with a computational methodology and some computational tools to program their epistemic processes in scientific discovery, we are establishing a novel programming paradigm, named ‘Epistemic Programming’, which regards conditionals as the subject of computing, takes primary epistemic operations as basic operations of computing, and regards epistemic processes as the subject of programming. This paper presents our fundamental observations and assumptions on scientific discovery processes and their automation, research problems on modeling, automating, and programming epistemic processes, and an outline of our research project of Epistemic Programming.展开更多
Conditionals are often divided into two categories: real conditional and unreal conditional. This paper will only discuss the former. As for the latter, it has been explained comparative exhaustively both in tradition...Conditionals are often divided into two categories: real conditional and unreal conditional. This paper will only discuss the former. As for the latter, it has been explained comparative exhaustively both in traditional grammar and contemporary grammar. In fact, real conditional is much more difficult than it is thought, because people have not described it as exhaustively as unreal conditional.展开更多
Recently there have been two causal modelling approaches to indicative conditionals,i.e.extrapolationist(Deng&Lee,2021)and filterist(Liang&Wang,2022),although they all take an interventionist position on subju...Recently there have been two causal modelling approaches to indicative conditionals,i.e.extrapolationist(Deng&Lee,2021)and filterist(Liang&Wang,2022),although they all take an interventionist position on subjunctive conditionals.Motivated by the so-called OK pairs,they try to provide a convincing explanation of the intuition underlying the OK pairs.As far as we know,what they have done is to provide not only an explanation of the OK pairs,but also a way of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals.Although we agree with their success in explaining the OK pairs within a causal modelling framework,we argue that their ways of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals fail.Instead,we argue that their approaches can be used to distinguish between two readings of conditionals,the epistemic reading and the ontic reading.which can be applied to both indicative and subjunctive conditionals.We conclude by arguing that these two readings are related to two approaches to asking and answering causal questions:the“auses-of-effects"approach and the"effects-of-causes"approach.展开更多
This paper deals with Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations with weak monotonicity coefficients.We first establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions to Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic diff...This paper deals with Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations with weak monotonicity coefficients.We first establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions to Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations.Then we obtain a comparison theorem in one-dimensional situation.展开更多
In this article,we show the existence,uniqueness and stability of bounded solutions to the following quasilinear problems with mean curvature operator(φ'(x′(t)))′=f(t,x),t≥t_(0),lim_(t→∞)x(t)=ψ_(0),lim_(t→...In this article,we show the existence,uniqueness and stability of bounded solutions to the following quasilinear problems with mean curvature operator(φ'(x′(t)))′=f(t,x),t≥t_(0),lim_(t→∞)x(t)=ψ_(0),lim_(t→∞)x′(t)e^(t)=0,where t_(0) and ψ_(0) are real constants,φ(s)=s/√1−s^(2),s∈R with s∈(−1,1),f:[t_(0),∞)×R→R satisfies the Lipschitz or Osgood-type conditions.展开更多
The mechanistic target of rapamycin(m TOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a pivotal role in cellular growth, proliferation, survival, and metabolism. In the central nervous system(CNS), the mTOR pathway regul...The mechanistic target of rapamycin(m TOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a pivotal role in cellular growth, proliferation, survival, and metabolism. In the central nervous system(CNS), the mTOR pathway regulates diverse aspects of neural development and function. Genetic mutations within the m TOR pathway lead to severe neurodevelopmental disorders, collectively known as “mTORopathies”(Crino, 2020). Dysfunctions of m TOR, including both its hyperactivation and hypoactivation, have also been implicated in a wide spectrum of other neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions, highlighting its importance in CNS health.展开更多
Traumatic spinal cord injury result in considerable and lasting functional impairments,triggering complex inflammatory and pathological events.Spinal cord scars,often metaphorically referred to as“fire barriers,”aim...Traumatic spinal cord injury result in considerable and lasting functional impairments,triggering complex inflammatory and pathological events.Spinal cord scars,often metaphorically referred to as“fire barriers,”aim to control the spread of neuroinflammation during the acute phase but later hinder axon regeneration in later stages.Recent studies have enhanced our understanding of immunomodulation,revealing that injury-associated inflammation involves various cell types and molecules with positive and negative effects.This review employs bibliometric analysis to examine the literature on inflammatory mediators in spinal cord injury,highlighting recent research and providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of research and the latest advances in studies on neuroinflammation related to spinal cord injury.We summarize the immune and inflammatory responses at different stages of spinal cord injury,offering crucial insights for future research.Additionally,we review repair strategies based on inflammatory mediators for the injured spinal cord.Finally,this review discusses the current status and future directions of translational research focused on immune-targeting strategies,including pharmaceuticals,biomedical engineering,and gene therapy.The development of a combined,precise,and multitemporal strategy for the repair of injured spinal cords represents a promising direction for future research.展开更多
Previous research has demonstrated the feasibility of repairing nerve defects through acellular allogeneic nerve grafting with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.However,adult tissue–derived mesenchymal stem cells en...Previous research has demonstrated the feasibility of repairing nerve defects through acellular allogeneic nerve grafting with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.However,adult tissue–derived mesenchymal stem cells encounter various obstacles,including limited tissue sources,invasive acquisition methods,cellular heterogeneity,purification challenges,cellular senescence,and diminished pluripotency and proliferation over successive passages.In this study,we used induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells,known for their self-renewal capacity,multilineage differentiation potential,and immunomodulatory characteristics.We used induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells in conjunction with acellular nerve allografts to address a 10 mm-long defect in a rat model of sciatic nerve injury.Our findings reveal that induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells exhibit survival for up to 17 days in a rat model of peripheral nerve injury with acellular nerve allograft transplantation.Furthermore,the combination of acellular nerve allograft and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells significantly accelerates the regeneration of injured axons and improves behavioral function recovery in rats.Additionally,our in vivo and in vitro experiments indicate that induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells play a pivotal role in promoting neovascularization.Collectively,our results suggest the potential of acellular nerve allografts with induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells to augment nerve regeneration in rats,offering promising therapeutic strategies for clinical translation.展开更多
Johnson-Laird and Byrne distinguished ten kinds of conditionals. Their framework was the mental models theory and they attributed different combinations of semantic possibilities to those ten types of conditionals. Ba...Johnson-Laird and Byrne distinguished ten kinds of conditionals. Their framework was the mental models theory and they attributed different combinations of semantic possibilities to those ten types of conditionals. Based on such combinations, the mental models theory has clear predictions for reasoning tasks, including those kinds of conditionals and involving reasoning schemata such as Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, the affirming the consequent fallacy, and the denying the antecedent fallacy. My aim in this paper is to show that the prediction,; of the mental logic theory for those reasoning tasks are exactly the same as those of the mental models theory, and that, therefore, such tasks are not useful to decide which of the two theories is correct.展开更多
Some studies have confirmed the neuroprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning against stroke. Although numerous animal researches have shown that the neuroprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning may...Some studies have confirmed the neuroprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning against stroke. Although numerous animal researches have shown that the neuroprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning may be related to neuroinflammation, cellular immunity, apoptosis, and autophagy, the exact underlying molecular mechanisms are unclear. This review summarizes the current status of different types of remote ischemic conditioning methods in animal and clinical studies and analyzes their commonalities and differences in neuroprotective mechanisms and signaling pathways. Remote ischemic conditioning has emerged as a potential therapeutic approach for improving stroke-induced brain injury owing to its simplicity, non-invasiveness, safety, and patient tolerability. Different forms of remote ischemic conditioning exhibit distinct intervention patterns, timing, and application range. Mechanistically, remote ischemic conditioning can exert neuroprotective effects by activating the Notch1/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway, improving cerebral perfusion, suppressing neuroinflammation, inhibiting cell apoptosis, activating autophagy, and promoting neural regeneration. While remote ischemic conditioning has shown potential in improving stroke outcomes, its full clinical translation has not yet been achieved.展开更多
Our previous study found that rat bone marrow–derived neural crest cells(acting as Schwann cell progenitors)have the potential to promote long-distance nerve repair.Cell-based therapy can enhance peripheral nerve rep...Our previous study found that rat bone marrow–derived neural crest cells(acting as Schwann cell progenitors)have the potential to promote long-distance nerve repair.Cell-based therapy can enhance peripheral nerve repair and regeneration through paracrine bioactive factors and intercellular communication.Nevertheless,the complex contributions of various types of soluble cytokines and extracellular vesicle cargos to the secretome remain unclear.To investigate the role of the secretome and extracellular vesicles in repairing damaged peripheral nerves,we collected conditioned culture medium from hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cells,and found that it significantly promoted the repair of sensory neurons damaged by oxygen-glucose deprivation.The mRNA expression of trophic factors was highly expressed in hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cells.We performed RNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis and found that miR-21-5p was enriched in hypoxia-pretreated extracellular vesicles of neural crest cells.Subsequently,to further clarify the role of hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cell extracellular vesicles rich in miR-21-5p in axonal growth and regeneration of sensory neurons,we used a microfluidic axonal dissociation model of sensory neurons in vitro,and found that hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cell extracellular vesicles promoted axonal growth and regeneration of sensory neurons,which was greatly dependent on loaded miR-21-5p.Finally,we constructed a miR-21-5p-loaded neural conduit to repair the sciatic nerve defect in rats and found that the motor and sensory functions of injured rat hind limb,as well as muscle tissue morphology of the hind limbs,were obviously restored.These findings suggest that hypoxia-pretreated neural crest extracellular vesicles are natural nanoparticles rich in miRNA-21-5p.miRNA-21-5p is one of the main contributors to promoting nerve regeneration by the neural crest cell secretome.This helps to explain the mechanism of action of the secretome and extracellular vesicles of neural crest cells in repairing damaged peripheral nerves,and also promotes the application of miR-21-5p in tissue engineering regeneration medicine.展开更多
Ti(C,N)-Mo_(2)C-Ni cermet as alternative materials was explored for use in alkaline conditions,replacing the WC-Co cemented carbides,since Co is classified as a potentially carcinogenic substance and there is potentia...Ti(C,N)-Mo_(2)C-Ni cermet as alternative materials was explored for use in alkaline conditions,replacing the WC-Co cemented carbides,since Co is classified as a potentially carcinogenic substance and there is potential hazard of“hard metal disease”under the exposure to cobalt dust.The changes in microstructure,corrosion rate and volumetric loss rate of the two materials were compared under electrochemical corrosion and erosion-corrosion in alkaline environment.The results demonstrates that Ti(C,N)-Mo_(2)C-Ni cermet undergoes passivation when exposed to electrochemical corrosion of NaOH solution,resulting in a significant increase in oxygen content on the corroded surface.The corrosion rate of cermet is approximately one order of magnitude lower than that of the cemented carbide.Under the erosion-corrosion of an alkaline sand-water mixture,both the cermet and cemented carbide experience a gradual increase in volumetric loss rate with prolonging the erosion time.During erosion,the rim phase in cermet is fragile,so cracks easily penetrate it while the core phase remains intact.The medium-grained cemented carbide commonly demonstrates transgranular fracture mode,while in the fine-grained cemented carbide,cracks tend to propagate along phase boundaries.The erosive wear and damage caused by sand particles play a predominant role in the erosion-corrosion process of alkaline sand-water mixtures.This process represents an accelerated destructive phenomenon influenced and intensified by the combined effects of corrosion and erosion.It is confirmed that using cermet as an alternative anti-wear material to cemented carbides is feasible under alkaline conditions,and even better.展开更多
In this paper,we propose a three-term conjugate gradient method for solving unconstrained optimization problems based on the Hestenes-Stiefel(HS)conjugate gradient method and Polak-Ribiere-Polyak(PRP)conjugate gradien...In this paper,we propose a three-term conjugate gradient method for solving unconstrained optimization problems based on the Hestenes-Stiefel(HS)conjugate gradient method and Polak-Ribiere-Polyak(PRP)conjugate gradient method.Under the condition of standard Wolfe line search,the proposed search direction is the descent direction.For general nonlinear functions,the method is globally convergent.Finally,numerical results show that the proposed method is efficient.展开更多
BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the risk factors associated with intensive care unitacquired weakness(ICU-AW) in critically ill patients at risk of malnutrition and to evaluate the efficacy of early enteral nu...BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the risk factors associated with intensive care unitacquired weakness(ICU-AW) in critically ill patients at risk of malnutrition and to evaluate the efficacy of early enteral nutrition(EEN) and the role of biomarkers in managing ICU-AW.METHODS: This retrospective, observational cohort study included 180 patients at risk of malnutrition admitted to the emergency intensive care unit of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University Hospital from January 2022 to December 2023. Patients were divided into ICU-AW group and non-ICU-AW group according to whether they developed ICU-AW, or categorized into EEN and parenteral nutrition(PN) groups according to nutritional support. ICU-AW was diagnosed using the Medical Research Council score. The primary outcome was the occurrence of ICU-AW.RESULTS: The significant factors associated with ICU-AW included age, sex, type of nutritional therapy, mechanical ventilation(MV), body mass index(BMI), blood urea nitrogen(BUN), and creatinine(Cr) levels(P<0.05). The PN group developed ICU-AW earlier than did the EEN group, with a significant difference observed(log-rank P<0.001). Among biomarkers for ICU-AW, the mean prealbumin(PAB)/C-reactive protein(CRP) ratio had the highest diagnostic accuracy(area under the curve [AUC] 0.928, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.892–0.946), surpassing the mean Cr/BUN ratio(AUC 0.740, 95% CI 0.663–0.819) and mean transferrin levels(AUC 0.653, 95% CI 0.574–0.733).CONCLUSION: Independent risk factors for ICU-AW include female sex, advanced age, PN, MV, lower BMI, and elevated BUN and Cr levels. EEN may potentially delay ICU-AW onset, and the PAB/CRP ratio may be an effective diagnostic marker for this condition.展开更多
In cold regions,rock structures will be weakened by freeze-thaw cycles under various water immersion conditions.Determining how water immersion conditions impact rock deterioration under freeze-thaw cycles is critical...In cold regions,rock structures will be weakened by freeze-thaw cycles under various water immersion conditions.Determining how water immersion conditions impact rock deterioration under freeze-thaw cycles is critical to assess accurately the frost resistance of engineered rock.In this paper,freeze-thaw cycles(temperature range of-20℃-20℃)were performed on the sandstones in different water immersion conditions(fully,partially and non-immersed in water).Then,computed tomography(CT)tests were conducted on the sandstones when the freeze-thaw number reached 0,5,10,15,20 and 30.Next,the effects of water immersion conditions on the microstructure deterioration of sandstone under freezethaw cycles were evaluated using CT spatial imaging,porosity and damage factor.Finally,focusing on the partially immersed condition,the immersion volume rate was defined to understand the effects of immersion degree on the freeze-thaw damage of sandstone and to propose a damage model considering the freeze-thaw number and immersion degree.The results show that with increasing freeze-thaw number,the porosities and damage factors under fully and partially immersed conditions increase continuously,while those under non-immersed condition first increase and then remain approximately constant.The most severe freeze-thaw damage occurs in fully immersed condition,followed by partially immersed condition and finally non-immersed condition.Interestingly,the freeze-thaw number and the immersion volume rate both impact the microstructure deterioration of the partially immersed sandstone.For the same freeze-thaw number,the damage factor increases approximately linearly with increasing immersion volume rate,and the increasing immersion degree exacerbates the microstructure deterioration of sandstone.Moreover,the proposed model can effectively estimate the freeze-thaw damage of partially immersed sandstone with different immersion volume rates.展开更多
Landslide susceptibility prediction(LSP)is significantly affected by the uncertainty issue of landslide related conditioning factor selection.However,most of literature only performs comparative studies on a certain c...Landslide susceptibility prediction(LSP)is significantly affected by the uncertainty issue of landslide related conditioning factor selection.However,most of literature only performs comparative studies on a certain conditioning factor selection method rather than systematically study this uncertainty issue.Targeted,this study aims to systematically explore the influence rules of various commonly used conditioning factor selection methods on LSP,and on this basis to innovatively propose a principle with universal application for optimal selection of conditioning factors.An'yuan County in southern China is taken as example considering 431 landslides and 29 types of conditioning factors.Five commonly used factor selection methods,namely,the correlation analysis(CA),linear regression(LR),principal component analysis(PCA),rough set(RS)and artificial neural network(ANN),are applied to select the optimal factor combinations from the original 29 conditioning factors.The factor selection results are then used as inputs of four types of common machine learning models to construct 20 types of combined models,such as CA-multilayer perceptron,CA-random forest.Additionally,multifactor-based multilayer perceptron random forest models that selecting conditioning factors based on the proposed principle of“accurate data,rich types,clear significance,feasible operation and avoiding duplication”are constructed for comparisons.Finally,the LSP uncertainties are evaluated by the accuracy,susceptibility index distribution,etc.Results show that:(1)multifactor-based models have generally higher LSP performance and lower uncertainties than those of factors selection-based models;(2)Influence degree of different machine learning on LSP accuracy is greater than that of different factor selection methods.Conclusively,the above commonly used conditioning factor selection methods are not ideal for improving LSP performance and may complicate the LSP processes.In contrast,a satisfied combination of conditioning factors can be constructed according to the proposed principle.展开更多
Actuator faults can be critical in turbofan engines as they can lead to stall,surge,loss of thrust and failure of speed control.Thus,fault diagnosis of gas turbine actuators has attracted considerable attention,from b...Actuator faults can be critical in turbofan engines as they can lead to stall,surge,loss of thrust and failure of speed control.Thus,fault diagnosis of gas turbine actuators has attracted considerable attention,from both academia and industry.However,the extensive literature that exists on this topic does not address identifying the severity of actuator faults and focuses mainly on actuator fault detection and isolation.In addition,previous studies of actuator fault identification have not dealt with multiple concurrent faults in real time,especially when these are accompanied by sudden failures under dynamic conditions.This study develops component-level models for fault identification in four typical actuators used in high-bypass ratio turbofan engines under both dynamic and steady-state conditions and these are then integrated with the engine performance model developed by the authors.The research results reported here present a novel method of quantifying actuator faults using dynamic effect compensation.The maximum error for each actuator is less than0.06%and 0.07%,with average computational time of less than 0.0058 s and 0.0086 s for steady-state and transient cases,respectively.These results confirm that the proposed method can accurately and efficiently identify concurrent actuator fault for an engine operating under either transient or steady-state conditions,even in the case of a sudden malfunction.The research results emonstrate the potential benefit to emergency response capabilities by introducing this method of monitoring the health of aero engines.展开更多
文摘Learning to handle hypothetical situations in a new language is always difficult(Catford,et al.,1974).This rule holds true for Moroccan Arabic(henceforth MA)speakers learning English because grammatical devices in the two languages differ in almost all equivalent situations.For instance,while English verb forms are used to indicate tense in conditional sentences,MA uses them to indicate aspect.Adopting the typology of conditional constructions suggested by Dancygier(1999)and Dancygier&Sweetser(2005),this study provides a contrastive analysis of conditionals in English and MA to predict the possible errors EFL/ESL learners are likely to make while learning English.The analysis shows that the main discrepancy between English conditionals and MA conditionals lies in the verb form used by the two systems.Accordingly,if EFL/ESL learners are influenced by verb form in their L1,they are likely to face some challenges while learning English conditionals.That is,they are likely to use the past tense in the protases of English predictive conditionals and generic conditionals since the perfective form of the verb is used in the protases of these two types in MA.Concerning the protases of English non-predictive conditionals,Moroccan EFL/ESL learners are likely to use either the past tense or the present tense since both the perfective and the imperfective forms of the verb are possible in the protases of MA non-predictive conditionals.However,due to the fact that the perfective form is the prototypical form in the protases of conditionals in MA,EFL/ESL learners are likely to use the past tense more often than the present tense.The analysis also shows that EFL/ESL learners tend to use the present tense in the apodoses of English conditionals since the prevalent form in the apodoses of MA conditionals is the imperfective.
文摘The issue of whether online teaching could replace traditional classroom(TC)teaching has attracted the attention of researchers in the applied linguistics literature.The current study attempted to shed light on this proposition by testing it on the difficult linguistic target of conditional if-clauses in English.The difficulty of these clauses stems from the fact that different tenses are used to express meanings that are sometimes not related to the tense used.The study recruited 49 participants,who were divided into two groups(23 in the online group,26 in the TC teaching group)and given a multiple-choice task containing 20 items.The study adopted a longitudinal research design(pretest and posttest).Each group was pretested before receiving just one two-hour treatment session.Then both groups were posttested.The results showed that both groups struggled with the second and third types of conditionals more than the zero and first types.The TC teaching group improved in the posttest in all types of conditionals.The online group improved in only two types of conditionals(zero and first).The TC teaching group outperformed the online group in the second and third conditionals.The findings indicate that classroom learning is superior to online learning and that,depending on their type,some conditionals in English are more difficult to learn than others.
基金Supported in part by The Ministry of EducationCulture+1 种基金SportsScience and Technology of Japan under Grant-in-Aid for Explor
文摘In order to provide scientists with a computational methodology and some computational tools to program their epistemic processes in scientific discovery, we are establishing a novel programming paradigm, named ‘Epistemic Programming’, which regards conditionals as the subject of computing, takes primary epistemic operations as basic operations of computing, and regards epistemic processes as the subject of programming. This paper presents our fundamental observations and assumptions on scientific discovery processes and their automation, research problems on modeling, automating, and programming epistemic processes, and an outline of our research project of Epistemic Programming.
文摘Conditionals are often divided into two categories: real conditional and unreal conditional. This paper will only discuss the former. As for the latter, it has been explained comparative exhaustively both in traditional grammar and contemporary grammar. In fact, real conditional is much more difficult than it is thought, because people have not described it as exhaustively as unreal conditional.
基金supported by China’s MOE project of Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Universities(22JJD720021)the project of Shandong University(11090087395308).
文摘Recently there have been two causal modelling approaches to indicative conditionals,i.e.extrapolationist(Deng&Lee,2021)and filterist(Liang&Wang,2022),although they all take an interventionist position on subjunctive conditionals.Motivated by the so-called OK pairs,they try to provide a convincing explanation of the intuition underlying the OK pairs.As far as we know,what they have done is to provide not only an explanation of the OK pairs,but also a way of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals.Although we agree with their success in explaining the OK pairs within a causal modelling framework,we argue that their ways of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals fail.Instead,we argue that their approaches can be used to distinguish between two readings of conditionals,the epistemic reading and the ontic reading.which can be applied to both indicative and subjunctive conditionals.We conclude by arguing that these two readings are related to two approaches to asking and answering causal questions:the“auses-of-effects"approach and the"effects-of-causes"approach.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(12001074)the Research Innovation Program of Graduate Students in Hunan Province(CX20220258)+1 种基金the Research Innovation Program of Graduate Students of Central South University(1053320214147)the Key Scientific Research Project of Higher Education Institutions in Henan Province(25B110025)。
文摘This paper deals with Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations with weak monotonicity coefficients.We first establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions to Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations.Then we obtain a comparison theorem in one-dimensional situation.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.12361040,12061064)the Na-tional Science Foundation of Gansu Province(Grant No.22JR5RA264)State Scholarship Fund(Grant No.20230862021).
文摘In this article,we show the existence,uniqueness and stability of bounded solutions to the following quasilinear problems with mean curvature operator(φ'(x′(t)))′=f(t,x),t≥t_(0),lim_(t→∞)x(t)=ψ_(0),lim_(t→∞)x′(t)e^(t)=0,where t_(0) and ψ_(0) are real constants,φ(s)=s/√1−s^(2),s∈R with s∈(−1,1),f:[t_(0),∞)×R→R satisfies the Lipschitz or Osgood-type conditions.
基金supported by grants from Simons Foundation (SFARI 479754),CIHR (PJT-180565)the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada (to YL)funding from the Canada Research Chairs program。
文摘The mechanistic target of rapamycin(m TOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a pivotal role in cellular growth, proliferation, survival, and metabolism. In the central nervous system(CNS), the mTOR pathway regulates diverse aspects of neural development and function. Genetic mutations within the m TOR pathway lead to severe neurodevelopmental disorders, collectively known as “mTORopathies”(Crino, 2020). Dysfunctions of m TOR, including both its hyperactivation and hypoactivation, have also been implicated in a wide spectrum of other neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions, highlighting its importance in CNS health.
基金supported by a grant from NIH(R01AI132695)to RM。
文摘Chronic wasting disease—a prion disease affecting cervids:Many neurological conditions,including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,frontotemporal dementias,among others,are caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain.These diseases affect not only humans,but also animals.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,Nos.82272470 (to GN),82072439 (to GN),81930070 (to SF)the Tianjin Health Key Discipline Special Project,No.TJWJ2022XK011 (to GN)+2 种基金the Outstanding Youth Foundation of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital,No.22ZYYJQ01 (to GN)Tianjin Key Medical Disciplines,No.TJYXZDXK-027A (to SF)National Key Research and Development Program-Stem Cells and Transformation Research,No.2019YFA0112100 (to SF)
文摘Traumatic spinal cord injury result in considerable and lasting functional impairments,triggering complex inflammatory and pathological events.Spinal cord scars,often metaphorically referred to as“fire barriers,”aim to control the spread of neuroinflammation during the acute phase but later hinder axon regeneration in later stages.Recent studies have enhanced our understanding of immunomodulation,revealing that injury-associated inflammation involves various cell types and molecules with positive and negative effects.This review employs bibliometric analysis to examine the literature on inflammatory mediators in spinal cord injury,highlighting recent research and providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of research and the latest advances in studies on neuroinflammation related to spinal cord injury.We summarize the immune and inflammatory responses at different stages of spinal cord injury,offering crucial insights for future research.Additionally,we review repair strategies based on inflammatory mediators for the injured spinal cord.Finally,this review discusses the current status and future directions of translational research focused on immune-targeting strategies,including pharmaceuticals,biomedical engineering,and gene therapy.The development of a combined,precise,and multitemporal strategy for the repair of injured spinal cords represents a promising direction for future research.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.32171356(to YW)Self-Support Research Projects of Shihezi University,No.ZZZC2021105(to WJ)+1 种基金Capital Medical University Natural Science Cultivation Fund,No.PYZ23044(to FQM)Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation,No.7244410(to JHD)。
文摘Previous research has demonstrated the feasibility of repairing nerve defects through acellular allogeneic nerve grafting with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.However,adult tissue–derived mesenchymal stem cells encounter various obstacles,including limited tissue sources,invasive acquisition methods,cellular heterogeneity,purification challenges,cellular senescence,and diminished pluripotency and proliferation over successive passages.In this study,we used induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells,known for their self-renewal capacity,multilineage differentiation potential,and immunomodulatory characteristics.We used induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells in conjunction with acellular nerve allografts to address a 10 mm-long defect in a rat model of sciatic nerve injury.Our findings reveal that induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells exhibit survival for up to 17 days in a rat model of peripheral nerve injury with acellular nerve allograft transplantation.Furthermore,the combination of acellular nerve allograft and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells significantly accelerates the regeneration of injured axons and improves behavioral function recovery in rats.Additionally,our in vivo and in vitro experiments indicate that induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells play a pivotal role in promoting neovascularization.Collectively,our results suggest the potential of acellular nerve allografts with induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells to augment nerve regeneration in rats,offering promising therapeutic strategies for clinical translation.
文摘Johnson-Laird and Byrne distinguished ten kinds of conditionals. Their framework was the mental models theory and they attributed different combinations of semantic possibilities to those ten types of conditionals. Based on such combinations, the mental models theory has clear predictions for reasoning tasks, including those kinds of conditionals and involving reasoning schemata such as Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, the affirming the consequent fallacy, and the denying the antecedent fallacy. My aim in this paper is to show that the prediction,; of the mental logic theory for those reasoning tasks are exactly the same as those of the mental models theory, and that, therefore, such tasks are not useful to decide which of the two theories is correct.
基金supported partly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.82071332the Chongqing Natural Science Foundation Joint Fund for Innovation and Development,No.CSTB2023NSCQ-LZX0041 (both to ZG)。
文摘Some studies have confirmed the neuroprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning against stroke. Although numerous animal researches have shown that the neuroprotective effect of remote ischemic conditioning may be related to neuroinflammation, cellular immunity, apoptosis, and autophagy, the exact underlying molecular mechanisms are unclear. This review summarizes the current status of different types of remote ischemic conditioning methods in animal and clinical studies and analyzes their commonalities and differences in neuroprotective mechanisms and signaling pathways. Remote ischemic conditioning has emerged as a potential therapeutic approach for improving stroke-induced brain injury owing to its simplicity, non-invasiveness, safety, and patient tolerability. Different forms of remote ischemic conditioning exhibit distinct intervention patterns, timing, and application range. Mechanistically, remote ischemic conditioning can exert neuroprotective effects by activating the Notch1/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway, improving cerebral perfusion, suppressing neuroinflammation, inhibiting cell apoptosis, activating autophagy, and promoting neural regeneration. While remote ischemic conditioning has shown potential in improving stroke outcomes, its full clinical translation has not yet been achieved.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.31870977(to HYS)the National Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China,No.2017YFA0104700(to FD)+2 种基金2022 Jiangsu Funding Program for Excellent Postdoctoral Talent(to MC)Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions[PAPD]the Major Project of Basic Science(Natural Science)Research in Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province,No.22KJA180001(to QRH)。
文摘Our previous study found that rat bone marrow–derived neural crest cells(acting as Schwann cell progenitors)have the potential to promote long-distance nerve repair.Cell-based therapy can enhance peripheral nerve repair and regeneration through paracrine bioactive factors and intercellular communication.Nevertheless,the complex contributions of various types of soluble cytokines and extracellular vesicle cargos to the secretome remain unclear.To investigate the role of the secretome and extracellular vesicles in repairing damaged peripheral nerves,we collected conditioned culture medium from hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cells,and found that it significantly promoted the repair of sensory neurons damaged by oxygen-glucose deprivation.The mRNA expression of trophic factors was highly expressed in hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cells.We performed RNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis and found that miR-21-5p was enriched in hypoxia-pretreated extracellular vesicles of neural crest cells.Subsequently,to further clarify the role of hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cell extracellular vesicles rich in miR-21-5p in axonal growth and regeneration of sensory neurons,we used a microfluidic axonal dissociation model of sensory neurons in vitro,and found that hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cell extracellular vesicles promoted axonal growth and regeneration of sensory neurons,which was greatly dependent on loaded miR-21-5p.Finally,we constructed a miR-21-5p-loaded neural conduit to repair the sciatic nerve defect in rats and found that the motor and sensory functions of injured rat hind limb,as well as muscle tissue morphology of the hind limbs,were obviously restored.These findings suggest that hypoxia-pretreated neural crest extracellular vesicles are natural nanoparticles rich in miRNA-21-5p.miRNA-21-5p is one of the main contributors to promoting nerve regeneration by the neural crest cell secretome.This helps to explain the mechanism of action of the secretome and extracellular vesicles of neural crest cells in repairing damaged peripheral nerves,and also promotes the application of miR-21-5p in tissue engineering regeneration medicine.
基金Chongqing Light Alloy Materials and Processing Engineering Technology Research Center Open Fund Project(GCZX201903)Yunnan Province Major Science and Technology Special Project Plan(202302AA310038)Sichuan University-Suining Municipal-University Cooperation Project(2023CDSN-12)。
文摘Ti(C,N)-Mo_(2)C-Ni cermet as alternative materials was explored for use in alkaline conditions,replacing the WC-Co cemented carbides,since Co is classified as a potentially carcinogenic substance and there is potential hazard of“hard metal disease”under the exposure to cobalt dust.The changes in microstructure,corrosion rate and volumetric loss rate of the two materials were compared under electrochemical corrosion and erosion-corrosion in alkaline environment.The results demonstrates that Ti(C,N)-Mo_(2)C-Ni cermet undergoes passivation when exposed to electrochemical corrosion of NaOH solution,resulting in a significant increase in oxygen content on the corroded surface.The corrosion rate of cermet is approximately one order of magnitude lower than that of the cemented carbide.Under the erosion-corrosion of an alkaline sand-water mixture,both the cermet and cemented carbide experience a gradual increase in volumetric loss rate with prolonging the erosion time.During erosion,the rim phase in cermet is fragile,so cracks easily penetrate it while the core phase remains intact.The medium-grained cemented carbide commonly demonstrates transgranular fracture mode,while in the fine-grained cemented carbide,cracks tend to propagate along phase boundaries.The erosive wear and damage caused by sand particles play a predominant role in the erosion-corrosion process of alkaline sand-water mixtures.This process represents an accelerated destructive phenomenon influenced and intensified by the combined effects of corrosion and erosion.It is confirmed that using cermet as an alternative anti-wear material to cemented carbides is feasible under alkaline conditions,and even better.
基金Supported by the Science and Technology Project of Guangxi(Guike AD23023002)。
文摘In this paper,we propose a three-term conjugate gradient method for solving unconstrained optimization problems based on the Hestenes-Stiefel(HS)conjugate gradient method and Polak-Ribiere-Polyak(PRP)conjugate gradient method.Under the condition of standard Wolfe line search,the proposed search direction is the descent direction.For general nonlinear functions,the method is globally convergent.Finally,numerical results show that the proposed method is efficient.
文摘BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the risk factors associated with intensive care unitacquired weakness(ICU-AW) in critically ill patients at risk of malnutrition and to evaluate the efficacy of early enteral nutrition(EEN) and the role of biomarkers in managing ICU-AW.METHODS: This retrospective, observational cohort study included 180 patients at risk of malnutrition admitted to the emergency intensive care unit of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University Hospital from January 2022 to December 2023. Patients were divided into ICU-AW group and non-ICU-AW group according to whether they developed ICU-AW, or categorized into EEN and parenteral nutrition(PN) groups according to nutritional support. ICU-AW was diagnosed using the Medical Research Council score. The primary outcome was the occurrence of ICU-AW.RESULTS: The significant factors associated with ICU-AW included age, sex, type of nutritional therapy, mechanical ventilation(MV), body mass index(BMI), blood urea nitrogen(BUN), and creatinine(Cr) levels(P<0.05). The PN group developed ICU-AW earlier than did the EEN group, with a significant difference observed(log-rank P<0.001). Among biomarkers for ICU-AW, the mean prealbumin(PAB)/C-reactive protein(CRP) ratio had the highest diagnostic accuracy(area under the curve [AUC] 0.928, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.892–0.946), surpassing the mean Cr/BUN ratio(AUC 0.740, 95% CI 0.663–0.819) and mean transferrin levels(AUC 0.653, 95% CI 0.574–0.733).CONCLUSION: Independent risk factors for ICU-AW include female sex, advanced age, PN, MV, lower BMI, and elevated BUN and Cr levels. EEN may potentially delay ICU-AW onset, and the PAB/CRP ratio may be an effective diagnostic marker for this condition.
基金funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12172019).
文摘In cold regions,rock structures will be weakened by freeze-thaw cycles under various water immersion conditions.Determining how water immersion conditions impact rock deterioration under freeze-thaw cycles is critical to assess accurately the frost resistance of engineered rock.In this paper,freeze-thaw cycles(temperature range of-20℃-20℃)were performed on the sandstones in different water immersion conditions(fully,partially and non-immersed in water).Then,computed tomography(CT)tests were conducted on the sandstones when the freeze-thaw number reached 0,5,10,15,20 and 30.Next,the effects of water immersion conditions on the microstructure deterioration of sandstone under freezethaw cycles were evaluated using CT spatial imaging,porosity and damage factor.Finally,focusing on the partially immersed condition,the immersion volume rate was defined to understand the effects of immersion degree on the freeze-thaw damage of sandstone and to propose a damage model considering the freeze-thaw number and immersion degree.The results show that with increasing freeze-thaw number,the porosities and damage factors under fully and partially immersed conditions increase continuously,while those under non-immersed condition first increase and then remain approximately constant.The most severe freeze-thaw damage occurs in fully immersed condition,followed by partially immersed condition and finally non-immersed condition.Interestingly,the freeze-thaw number and the immersion volume rate both impact the microstructure deterioration of the partially immersed sandstone.For the same freeze-thaw number,the damage factor increases approximately linearly with increasing immersion volume rate,and the increasing immersion degree exacerbates the microstructure deterioration of sandstone.Moreover,the proposed model can effectively estimate the freeze-thaw damage of partially immersed sandstone with different immersion volume rates.
基金funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.42377164 and 41972280)the Badong National Observation and Research Station of Geohazards(Grant No.BNORSG-202305).
文摘Landslide susceptibility prediction(LSP)is significantly affected by the uncertainty issue of landslide related conditioning factor selection.However,most of literature only performs comparative studies on a certain conditioning factor selection method rather than systematically study this uncertainty issue.Targeted,this study aims to systematically explore the influence rules of various commonly used conditioning factor selection methods on LSP,and on this basis to innovatively propose a principle with universal application for optimal selection of conditioning factors.An'yuan County in southern China is taken as example considering 431 landslides and 29 types of conditioning factors.Five commonly used factor selection methods,namely,the correlation analysis(CA),linear regression(LR),principal component analysis(PCA),rough set(RS)and artificial neural network(ANN),are applied to select the optimal factor combinations from the original 29 conditioning factors.The factor selection results are then used as inputs of four types of common machine learning models to construct 20 types of combined models,such as CA-multilayer perceptron,CA-random forest.Additionally,multifactor-based multilayer perceptron random forest models that selecting conditioning factors based on the proposed principle of“accurate data,rich types,clear significance,feasible operation and avoiding duplication”are constructed for comparisons.Finally,the LSP uncertainties are evaluated by the accuracy,susceptibility index distribution,etc.Results show that:(1)multifactor-based models have generally higher LSP performance and lower uncertainties than those of factors selection-based models;(2)Influence degree of different machine learning on LSP accuracy is greater than that of different factor selection methods.Conclusively,the above commonly used conditioning factor selection methods are not ideal for improving LSP performance and may complicate the LSP processes.In contrast,a satisfied combination of conditioning factors can be constructed according to the proposed principle.
基金support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52402520)。
文摘Actuator faults can be critical in turbofan engines as they can lead to stall,surge,loss of thrust and failure of speed control.Thus,fault diagnosis of gas turbine actuators has attracted considerable attention,from both academia and industry.However,the extensive literature that exists on this topic does not address identifying the severity of actuator faults and focuses mainly on actuator fault detection and isolation.In addition,previous studies of actuator fault identification have not dealt with multiple concurrent faults in real time,especially when these are accompanied by sudden failures under dynamic conditions.This study develops component-level models for fault identification in four typical actuators used in high-bypass ratio turbofan engines under both dynamic and steady-state conditions and these are then integrated with the engine performance model developed by the authors.The research results reported here present a novel method of quantifying actuator faults using dynamic effect compensation.The maximum error for each actuator is less than0.06%and 0.07%,with average computational time of less than 0.0058 s and 0.0086 s for steady-state and transient cases,respectively.These results confirm that the proposed method can accurately and efficiently identify concurrent actuator fault for an engine operating under either transient or steady-state conditions,even in the case of a sudden malfunction.The research results emonstrate the potential benefit to emergency response capabilities by introducing this method of monitoring the health of aero engines.
