Alterations in the Genomic Distribution of 5hmC in In Vivo Aged Human Skin Fibroblasts

5-Hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is a functionally active epigenetic modification. We analyzed whether changes in DNA 5-hydroxymethylation are an element of age-related epigenetic drift. We tested primary fibroblast cultures originating from individuals aged 22–35 years and 74–94 years. Global quantities of methylation-related DNA modifications were estimated by the dot blot and colorimetric methods. Regions of the genome differentially hydroxymethylated with age (DHMRs) were identified by hMeDIP-seq and the MEDIPS and DiffBind algorithms. Global levels of DNA modifications were not associated with age. We identified numerous DHMRs that were enriched within introns and intergenic regions and most commonly associated with the H3K4me1 histone mark, promoter-flanking regions, and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) binding sites. However, only seven DHMRs were identified by both algorithms and all of their settings. Among them, hypo-hydroxymethylated DHMR in the intron of Rab Escort Protein 1 (CHM) coexisted with increased expression in old cells, while increased 5-hydroxymethylation in the bodies of Arginine and Serine Rich Protein 1 (RSRP1) and Mitochondrial Poly(A) Polymerase (MTPAP) did not change their expression. These age-related differences were not associated with changes in the expression of any of the ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes or their activity. In conclusion, the distribution of 5hmC in DNA of in vivo aged human fibroblasts underwent age-associated modifications. The identified DHMRs are, likely, marker changes.     

Adaptive compensation of persistent actuator failures of nonlinear systems

In this article, adaptive compensation designs are developed for nonlinear systems with uncertainties from the system functions and persistent actuator failures of characterizations that (i) some unknown system inputs are stuck at some unknown fixed or varying values at unknown time instants and (ii) the failure pattern always switches from one to another and the switching does not stop. Such a controlled plant is described by an uncertain time-varying nonlinear system, and some robust adaptive feedback linearization based failure compensation results are studied for closed-loop system stabilization and bounded output tracking for some specific conditions. To improve the tracking performance in the presence of persistent actuator failures, a new adaptive control scheme is developed, using the failure indicator function which contains the failure pattern and failure time in the formulation. Detailed stability and tracking performance are shown. Simulation results are shown to verify the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive actuator failure compensation method.     

Supporting hydrogen technologies deployment in EU regions and Member States: The Smart Specialisation Platform on Energy (S3PEnergy)

In order to maximise European, national and regional research and innovation potential the European Union is investing in these fields through different funding mechanisms such as the ESIF or H2020 programme. This investment plan is part of the European 2020 strategy, where the concept of Smart Specialisation is also included.Smart Specialisation is an innovation policy concept designed to promote the efficient and effective use of public investment in regional innovation in order to achieve economic growth. The Smart Specialisation Platform was created to support this concept by assisting regions and Member States in developing, implementing and reviewing their research and innovation Smart Specialisation strategies.The Smart Specialisation Platform comprises several thematic platforms. The thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on energy (S3PEnergy) is a joint initiative of three European Commission services: DG REGIO, DG ENER, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The main objective of the S3PEnergy is to support the optimal and effective uptake of the Cohesion Policy funds for energy, and to better align energy innovation activities at national, local and regional level through the identification of the technologies and innovative solutions that support in the most cost-effective way the EU energy policy priorities.In the particular case of hydrogen technologies, the activities of the platform are mainly focused on supporting the new Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) initiative involving regions and cities. To date, more than 80 European cities and regions have committed to participate in this initiative through the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding, and more participants are expected to join. S3PEnergy is helping in the identification of potential combination of H2020 funding (provided through FCH JU) and ESIF.To identify potential synergies among these two funding sources, a mapping of the different ESIF opportunities has been performed. In order to map these opportunities, Operational Programmes (OPs) and research and innovation strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) of the different European regions and Member States were analysed. The results of this mapping and analysis are presented in this paper.     

Antimicrobial and Amyloidogenic Activity of Peptides. Can Antimicrobial Peptides Be Used against SARS-CoV-2?

At present, much attention is paid to the use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of natural and artificial origin to combat pathogens. AMPs have several points that determine their biological activity. We analyzed the structural properties of AMPs, as well as described their mechanism of action and impact on pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Recently published data on the development of new AMP drugs based on a combination of molecular design and genetic engineering approaches are presented. In this article, we have focused on information on the amyloidogenic properties of AMP. This review examines AMP development strategies from the perspective of the current high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the potential prospects and challenges of using AMPs against infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).     

The organization of biological sequences into constrained and unconstrained parts determines fundamental properties of genotype–phenotype maps

Biological information is stored in DNA, RNA and protein sequences, which can be understood as genotypes that are translated into phenotypes. The properties of genotype–phenotype (GP) maps have been studied in great detail for RNA secondary structure. These include a highly biased distribution of genotypes per phenotype, negative correlation of genotypic robustness and evolvability, positive correlation of phenotypic robustness and evolvability, shape-space covering, and a roughly logarithmic scaling of phenotypic robustness with phenotypic frequency. More recently similar properties have been discovered in other GP maps, suggesting that they may be fundamental to biological GP maps, in general, rather than specific to the RNA secondary structure map. Here we propose that the above properties arise from the fundamental organization of biological information into ‘constrained'' and ‘unconstrained'' sequences, in the broadest possible sense. As ‘constrained'' we describe sequences that affect the phenotype more immediately, and are therefore more sensitive to mutations, such as, e.g. protein-coding DNA or the stems in RNA secondary structure. ‘Unconstrained'' sequences, on the other hand, can mutate more freely without affecting the phenotype, such as, e.g. intronic or intergenic DNA or the loops in RNA secondary structure. To test our hypothesis we consider a highly simplified GP map that has genotypes with ‘coding'' and ‘non-coding'' parts. We term this the Fibonacci GP map, as it is equivalent to the Fibonacci code in information theory. Despite its simplicity the Fibonacci GP map exhibits all the above properties of much more complex and biologically realistic GP maps. These properties are therefore likely to be fundamental to many biological GP maps.     

Rural idylls and urban economies: the making of metropolitan wine regions

In our quest to understand wine industries and their location and development worldwide, much emphasis has been given to key environmental, cultural and economic factors. The concept of terroir is used widely to describe, delimit and promote favoured wine regions. In this, we see constructions of rurality that tend to render invisible important connections between wine regions and urban places. However, many if not most wine regions owe much to their urban neighbours. Cities are sources of labour, capital and customers. Indeed, many wine regions are, in effect, metropolitan wine regions that owe as much to their proximity to cities than they do to any putative environmental distinctiveness and advantages. Wineries in such places develop strategies to survive and prosper not by producing bottles of wine that are widely sold on global markets – and compete on the basis on price or global reputation – but rather because they develop strong and loyal local markets tied to urban economies and because they appeal to the rural idylls held by urban consumers. This paper explores the way urban places have been critical in the development of certain wine regions in New Zealand.     

具有光照鲁棒的图像匹配方法

针对现有的基于局部特征的图像匹配算法对光照变化敏感、匹配正确率低等问题，提出一种具有光照鲁棒性的图像匹配算法。首先使用实时对比保留去色（RTCP）算法灰度化图像，然后利用对比拉伸函数模拟不同光照变换对图像的影响从而提取抗光照变换特征点，最后采用局部强度顺序模式建立特征点描述符，根据待匹配图像局部特征点描述符的欧氏距离判断是否为成对匹配点。在公开数据集上，所提算法与尺度不变特征变换（SIFT）算法、加速鲁棒特征（SURF）算法、"风"（KAZE）算法和ORB算法在匹配速度和匹配正确率上进行了对比实验。实验结果表明：随着图像亮度差异的增加，SIFT算法、SURF算法、"风"（KAZE）算法和ORB算法匹配正确率下降迅速，所提算法下降缓慢并且正确率均高于80%；所提算法特征点检测较慢和描述符维数较高，平均耗时为23.47 s，匹配速度不及另外四种算法，但匹配质量却远超过它们。对实时性要求不高的系统中，所提算法可以克服光照变化对图像匹配造成的影响。     

一种新的多渐消因子容积卡尔曼滤波

将强跟踪思想引入容积卡尔曼滤波（cubature Kalman filter，CKF），建立强跟踪CKF能有效克服CKF在模型不确定、状态突变等情况下，滤波性能下降的问题。通过分析现有多渐消因子计算方法，发现它们均只利用了协方差矩阵的对角线元素，并没有考虑各个状态之间的相关性，不能充分发挥多渐消因子的优势。为此，本文提出渐消因子矩阵，基于正交原理推导渐消因子矩阵的求解方法，提出多渐消因子强跟踪CKF算法。多渐消因子强跟踪CKF算法突破了传统多渐消因子为向量的限制，也不再要求渐消因子取值要大于1。仿真验证了算法具有更好的滤波精度何鲁棒性，能更好的满足工程应用的要求。     

考虑节点过载的碳排放空间关联系统级联失效模型

为提高突发事件级联失效对现实碳排放关联系统破坏程度的评估可信性，在传统复杂网络的"负载-容量"级联失效模型基础上，考虑个体成员对负载的冗余能力，提出一种过载失效概率，构建了考虑节点过载状态的级联失效模型，并基于节点特性提出了6种过载节点负载分配策略。仿真结果表明：在过载节点负载分配策略中，综合分配策略整体上较优，能够有效控制级联失效的规模，增加网络鲁棒性；在一定范围内提升过载参数有助于降低级联失效的影响，但提升到一定程度时改善效果不明显；在不同负载分配策略下，剩余系数存在一个最优值，容量可调参数存在最优区间，可以使碳排放关联网络保持较好鲁棒性的同时，花费较小的构建成本，其中紧密度分配策略对应的网络构建成本较高。     

西部山地旅游公共服务游客满意度评价研究——以318国道川藏线为例

文章在对相关研究进行文献综述的基础上,以318国道川藏线为例,提出西部山地旅游公共服务5个维度的游客感知假设,选用偏最小二乘结构方程模型(PLS-SEM)对游客满意度组合模型进行因子分析与假设检验。根据模型拟合结果分析,旅游信息类公共服务在西部山地旅游公共服务中供需矛盾最为突出,其次为旅游交通类公共服务和旅游安全保障管理类公共服务,相对而言,旅游基础设施类公共服务和休闲空间与旅游便民惠民类公共服务供需矛盾较小。该结果为西部山地旅游公共服务体系构建明确了发展方向。