Rip currents near coastal structures in Lake Michigan: Characterization and assessment for warnings

Rip currents near coastal structures commonly occur in Lake Michigan in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Lack of timely warning due to undocumented characteristics of rip currents and no assessment tool can contribute to tragic drownings incidents. In this paper, we characterized rip current occurrences near breakwater structures and developed an assessment tool for providing timely rip current warnings to beachgoers at the study site, City of Port Washington, WI. Characteristics of rip currents near the structure were observed from field measurements or visual images. Deflection rip currents had speeds of ～ 0.2 m/s and lasted for several hours. The rip current occurrences were associated with environmental proxies. It was found that rip currents can occur even when the water appears calm near the structure. A Structure Rip Checklist and Assessment Matrix (SRiCAM) with a four-tiered risk was developed and validated using observations. Furthermore, the SRiCAM was integrated into cyberinfrastructure with a data contingency plan to provide real-time warnings to the public. The applicability of the SRiCAM to other locations across Lake Michigan was further tested and results are promising. Overall, the SRiCAM has the potential to be widely extended to foster recreational water safety and resilience to rip current hazards in the Great Lakes.     

A New NTRU-Type Public-Key Cryptosystem over the Binary Field

As the development of cloud computing and the convenience of wireless sensor netowrks, smart devices are widely used in daily life, but the security issues of the smart devices have not been well resolved. In this paper, we present a new NTRU-type public-key cryptosystem over the binary field. Specifically, the security of our scheme relies on the computational intractability of an unbalanced sparse polynomial ratio problem (DUSPR). Through theoretical analysis, we prove the correctness of our proposed cryptosystem. Furthermore, we implement our scheme using the NTL library, and conduct a group of experiments to evaluate the capabilities and consuming time of encryption and decryption. Our experiments result demonstrates that the NTRU-type public-key cryptosystem over the binary field is relatively practical and effective.     

Matrilin-3-Primed Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Spheroids Prevent Mesenchymal Stromal-Cell-Derived Chondrocyte Hypertrophy

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (Ad-MSCs) are a promising tool for articular cartilage repair and regeneration. However, the terminal hypertrophic differentiation of Ad-MSC-derived cartilage is a critical barrier during hyaline cartilage regeneration. In this study, we investigated the role of matrilin-3 in preventing Ad-MSC-derived chondrocyte hypertrophy in vitro and in an osteoarthritis (OA) destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) model. Methacrylated hyaluron (MAHA) (1%) was used to encapsulate and make scaffolds containing Ad-MSCs and matrilin-3. Subsequently, the encapsulated cells in the scaffolds were differentiated in chondrogenic medium (TGF-β, 1–14 days) and thyroid hormone hypertrophic medium (T3, 15–28 days). The presence of matrilin-3 with Ad-MSCs in the MAHA scaffold significantly increased the chondrogenic marker and decreased the hypertrophy marker mRNA and protein expression. Furthermore, matrilin-3 significantly modified the expression of TGF-β2, BMP-2, and BMP-4. Next, we prepared the OA model and transplanted Ad-MSCs primed with matrilin-3, either as a single-cell suspension or in spheroid form. Safranin-O staining and the OA score suggested that the regenerated cartilage morphology in the matrilin-3-primed Ad-MSC spheroids was similar to the positive control. Furthermore, matrilin-3-primed Ad-MSC spheroids prevented subchondral bone sclerosis in the mouse model. Here, we show that matrilin-3 plays a major role in modulating Ad-MSCs’ therapeutic effect on cartilage regeneration and hypertrophy suppression.     

物理化学课程的创新教学模式研究及其效果分析

物理化学课程创新教学模式是以学生学习为中心,吐故纳新,优化精选,以新颖或变化的教学方式进行教学。调查表明创新教学模式受到绝大多数学生的肯定和认可,有效地调动学生的积极性,提高了学生对物理化学的学习和探究兴趣,学生提问问题的广度和难度发生显著变化。该教学模式能够逐步提升学生的创新意识和创新能力。     

Invader amphipods Gmelinoides fasciatus (Stebbing, 1899) inhabiting distant waterbodies demonstrate differences in tolerance and energy metabolism under elevated temperatures

Gmelinoides fasciatus is a successful invasive amphipod (Amphipoda, Crustacea) that dispersed from Lake Baikal to various waterbodies. Here we studied whether Baikal conditions are optimal for G. fasciatus in terms of thermotolerance and investigated lethal temperatures, 70 kDa heat shock protein level, energy metabolism, and antioxidant defense of animals from three geographically distant waterbodies under changing temperatures. We used acute heat exposure to 28 °C to assess the median lethal times and gradual temperature increase from 6 °C to determine the lethal temperatures. Mortality under heat shock was explainable by the baseline content of Hsp70 that correlated with thermal history. But it was not the case under gradual temperature increase where Hsp70 levels became similar and the mortality pattern changed. The most thermotolerant amphipods from the Gulf of Finland demonstrated a higher amount of free glucose during the temperature increase that may be related to the higher salinity of this waterbody and less energy required for ion regulation. Even though concentrations of major physiological ions in Lake Baikal are lower than in Lake Ladoga, G. fasciatus from Ladoga was slightly more sensitive to the gradual temperature increase. This difference could be explained by the influence of high levels of humic and other potentially toxic substances in Lake Ladoga indicated by increased activities of catalase and glutathione S-transferase. Importantly, all G. fasciatus populations accumulated relatively low levels of lactate during the temperature increase, which may reflect the ability of this invasive species to effectively maintain aerobic metabolism under various conditions.     

一类两性分枝过程条件均值增长率的极限性质

本文主要研究随机环境中配对依赖人口数两性 Galton-Watson 分枝过程的条件均值增长率的极限性质．利用上可加函数的性质，得到配对单元平均增长率的极限性质和该过程条件均值的上界和下界．文中给出了关于过程条件均值增长率的两个序列，利用配对单元平均增长率的性质，获得了这两个序列的极限性质．随机环境中配对依赖人口数两性分枝过程比较复杂，本文的结论推广了现有的研究成果．     

土壤中石油污染物的脱附过程

文章中主要采用有机溶剂萃取法（OSE）对高浓度石油污染土壤进行修复，经过精馏操作，有效回收原油，建立脱附等温曲线，研究了石油污染物在土壤-有机溶剂两相间的迁移规律。     

Phytoplankton primary production, chlorophyll-a and nutrient concentrations in the water column of mountainous Lake Phewa, Nepal

The seasonal patterns of phytoplankton primary production, chlorophyll‐a concentration, cell number and several other limnological variables in Lake Phewa, located in the active monsoon zone in Central Himalaya, Nepal, were studied for a year beginning in April 2001. During the study period, the gross primary production and chlorophyll‐a concentrations were relatively low during the monsoon season. The phytoplankton cell number, represented by 24 genera, also fluctuated seasonally, but tended to increase in the pre‐ and post‐monsoon period. These results suggest that the monsoon plays a crucial role in the primary production and phytoplankton dynamics for Lake Phewa. Among the phytoplankton species, Microcystis aeruginosa, a representative species for eutrophic lakes, was the dominant phytoplankton. At the same time, however, it is clear that the lake is not yet heavily eutrophic. The present study suggests that the exchange of lake water during the monsoon season contributes to maintaining the health of the lake against further degradation. Nevertheless, the silt carried in the monsoon rain run‐off from the lake's catchment area suggests increasingly serious degradation problems for this small mountainous lake.     

Does decision quality (always) increase with the size of information samples? Some vicissitudes in applying the law of large numbers.

Adaptive decision making requires that contingencies between decision options and their relative assets be assessed accurately and quickly. The present research addresses the challenging notion that contingencies may be more visible from small than from large samples of observations. An algorithmic account for such a seemingly paradoxical effect is offered within a satisficing-choice framework. Accordingly, a choice is only made when the sample contingency describing the relative evaluation of the 2 options exceeds a critical threshold. Small samples, because of the high dispersion of their sampling distribution, facilitate above-threshold contingencies. Across a broad range of parameters, the resulting small-sample advantage in terms of hits is stronger than their disadvantage in false alarms. Computer simulations and experiments support the model predictions. The relative advantage of small samples is most apparent when information loss is low, when the threshold is high relative to the ecological contingency, and when the sampling process is self-truncated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

接轨站设置位置和布置图型的影响因素及其分类

通过对接轨站设置位置和布置图型主要影响因素的分析。按照能够充分反映接轨站作业特点的交接方式。对接轨站所采用的布置图型进行了归纳和分类。