Improving Generalization and Personalization in Model-Heterogeneous Federated Learning.

Conventional federated learning (FL) assumes the homogeneity of models, necessitating clients to expose their model parameters to enhance the performance of the server model. However, this assumption cannot reflect real-world scenarios. Sharing models and parameters raises security concerns for users, and solely focusing on the server-side model neglects clients' personalization requirements, potentially impeding expected performance improvements of users.

Population Viability Analysis on Chinese Goral Indicates an Extinction Risk for a Local Population in Beijing, China.

The Chinese goral () is identified as a vulnerable species on the Red List of China's Biodiversity and listed as a national second-class key protected wild animal in China. It is a representative flagship ungulate in Beijing. Its distribution range is fragmented and small populations are separated by dense infrastructures and tourism sites.

A Hybrid Heuristic-Exact Optimization for Large-Scale Home Health Care Problem.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous people experiencing illness or senescence choose to receive home health care (HHC) services. However, a rapid increase in patients makes it a challenge to reasonably allocate nurses to provide HHC services under the condition of a paucity of nurse resources and patient time window constraints. To solve the large-scale HHC problem, a hybrid heuristic-exact optimization algorithm is proposed with three novel contributions.

Programmable RNA-guided DNA endonucleases are widespread in eukaryotes and their viruses.

Programmable RNA-guided DNA nucleases perform numerous roles in prokaryotes, but the extent of their spread outside prokaryotes is unclear. Fanzors, the eukaryotic homolog of prokaryotic TnpB proteins, have been detected in genomes of eukaryotes and large viruses, but their activity and functions in eukaryotes remain unknown. Here, we characterize Fanzors as RNA-programmable DNA endonucleases, using biochemical and cellular evidence.

Shows a New Connection between Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic DNA Transposons.

DDD/E transposase gene is the most abundant gene in nature and many DNA transposons in all three domains of life use it for their transposition. A substantial number of eukaryotic DNA transposons show similarity to prokaryotic insertion sequences (ISs). The presence of IS-like DNA transposons was indicated in the genome of .

Malignant obstruction in the ileocecal region treated by self-expandable stent placement under the fluoroscopic guidance: A case report.

Background: Malignant tumors of the ileocecal region often cause intestinal obstruction. Emergency surgery is the main treatment for patients presenting with an obstruction. However, this procedure is associated with a high mortality rate and frequent complications.

Current Genetic Structure Analysis of Leopard Cats Reveals a Weak Disparity Trend in Subpopulations in Beijing, China.

In the face of habitat shrinkage and segregation, the survival of wild cats looks bleak. Interpreting their population genetic structure during habitat fragmentation is critical in planning effective management strategies. To reveal the segregation effects of road construction and human settlements on the population genetic structure, we analyzed non-invasive fecal DNA samples from leopard cats () from five nature reserves in mountainous areas around Beijing.

A unique eukaryotic lineage of composite-like DNA transposons encoding a DDD/E transposase and a His-Me finger homing endonuclease.

Background: DNA transposons are ubiquitous components of eukaryotic genomes. A major group of them encode a DDD/E transposase and contain terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) of varying lengths. The Kolobok superfamily of DNA transposons has been found in a wide spectrum of organisms.

Medical code prediction via capsule networks and ICD knowledge.

Background: Clinical notes record the health status, clinical manifestations and other detailed information of each patient. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes are important labels for electronic health records. Automatic medical codes assignment to clinical notes through the deep learning model can not only improve work efficiency and accelerate the development of medical informatization but also facilitate the resolution of many issues related to medical insurance.

Population Genetic Structure Analysis Reveals Decreased but Moderate Diversity for the Oriental Fire-Bellied Toad Introduced to Beijing after 90 Years of Independent Evolution.

Detailed molecular genetic research on amphibian populations has a significant role in understanding the genetic adaptability to local environments. The oriental fire-bellied toads () were artificially introduced to Beijing from Shandong Province in 1927, and since then, this separated population went through an independent evolution. To explore the differentiation of the introduced population with its original population, this study analyzed the genetic structure of the oriental fire-bellied toad, based on the mitochondrial genome control region and six microsatellite sites.

Factors Related to Instrumentation Failure in Titanium Mesh Reconstruction for Thoracic and Lumbar Tumors: Retrospective Analysis of 178 Patients.

Purpose: To investigate risk factors for instrumentation failure (IF) in titanium (Ti) mesh reconstruction for thoracic and lumbar tumors.

Patients And Methods: The clinical data of patients with thoracic or lumbar tumors who received Ti mesh reconstruction via the posterior approach in our hospital from 2013 to 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The observation indexes included sex, age, BMI, the vertebra resection mode, the number of resected vertebral segments, application of bone cement, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, revision or primary surgery, and primary tumor metastasis.

Molecular epidemiology of Rickettsia sp. and Coxiella burnetii collected from Hyalomma asiaticum in Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) in inner Mongolia of China.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the presence of Rickettsia sp. and Coxiella burnetii in Hyalomma asiaticum collected from Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) in Inner Mongolia of China. A total of 385 H.

Bioinformatic and Molecular Analysis of Satellite Repeat Diversity in Genomes.

Bioinformatic and molecular characterization of satellite repeats was performed to understand the impact of their diversification on genome evolution. Satellite repeat diversity was evaluated in four cultivated and wild species, including the diploid species and , as well as the tetraploid species and . We comparatively characterized six satellite repeat families using in total 76 clones with 180 monomers.

An oriented laterally-growing NiCoO nanowire array on a FeO microdisc as a high-capacity and excellent rate-performance secondary battery anode.

A novel hierarchical composite consisting of an ordered NiCo2O4 nanowire array growing on the lateral side of a Fe2O3 microdisc is presented, which was confirmed by X-ray holography technology on a synchrotron radiation station. The composite-based Li-ion battery anode exhibits a high capacity of 1528 mA h g-1 after 200 cycles at 0.2C, a recoverable rate-performance after repeated tests, and robust mechanical properties.

The Complete Genome of an Endogenous Nimavirus () From the Pacific Whiteleg Shrimp () .

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV), the lone virus of the genus under the family , is one of the most devastating viruses affecting the shrimp farming industry. Knowledge about this virus, in particular, its evolution history, has been limited, partly due to its large genome and the lack of other closely related free-living viruses for comparative studies. In this study, we reconstructed a full-length endogenous nimavirus consensus genome, (279,905 bp), in the genome sequence of () breed Kehai No.

A Study of Population Size and Activity Patterns and Their Relationship to the Prey Species of the Eurasian Lynx Using a Camera Trapping Approach.

Revealing the behavioral relationships between predators and their prey is fundamental in understanding the community structure and ecosystem functions of such animals. This study aimed at detecting the population size and activity patterns of Eurasian lynx () (along with its prey) by camera trapping monitoring from 2014 to 2017 at the Saihanwula nature reserve in central Inner Mongolia. The total effective trapping days were 29,892 and 20 lynx were identified from 343 trapping photos based on the inner side patterns of their forelimbs.

The role of the adiponectin system in acute fasting-impaired mouse ovaries.

Adiponectin (ADIPOQ, encoded by Adipoq) is an important white adipose-derived adipokine linked to energy homeostasis and reproductive function. This study aims to reveal the expression and role of the adiponectin system in the ovaries under acute malnutrition. In this study, 48-h food deprivation significantly inhibited ovarian growth by suppressing cell proliferation and inducing cell apoptosis in the ovaries of gonadotrophin-primed immature mice.

Non-invasive genetic analysis indicates low population connectivity in vulnerable Chinese gorals: concerns for segregated population management.

Detailed information on the size and genetic structure of wildlife populations is critical for developing effective conservation strategies, especially for those species that have suffered population decline and fragmentation due to anthropogenic activities. In the present study, we used a non-invasive approach combining fecal pellet sampling with mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA microsatellite marker analysis to monitor and compare the population structure of the Chinese goral () in Beijing and northeast Inner Mongolia in China. Of the 307 fecal samples confirmed to be from , 15 individuals (nine females and six males) were found in the Beijing population and 61 individuals (37 females and 24 males) were found in the Inner Mongolian population.

A General Cross-Layer Cloud Scheduling Framework for Multiple IoT Computer Tasks.

The diversity of IoT services and applications brings enormous challenges to improving the performance of multiple computer tasks' scheduling in cross-layer cloud computing systems. Unfortunately, the commonly-employed frameworks fail to adapt to the new patterns on the cross-layer cloud. To solve this issue, we design a new computer task scheduling framework for multiple IoT services in cross-layer cloud computing systems.

The Dfam database of repetitive DNA families.

Repetitive DNA, especially that due to transposable elements (TEs), makes up a large fraction of many genomes. Dfam is an open access database of families of repetitive DNA elements, in which each family is represented by a multiple sequence alignment and a profile hidden Markov model (HMM). The initial release of Dfam, featured in the 2013 NAR Database Issue, contained 1143 families of repetitive elements found in humans, and was used to produce more than 100 Mb of additional annotation of TE-derived regions in the human genome, with improved speed.

Repbase Update, a database of repetitive elements in eukaryotic genomes.

Repbase Update (RU) is a database of representative repeat sequences in eukaryotic genomes. Since its first development as a database of human repetitive sequences in 1992, RU has been serving as a well-curated reference database fundamental for almost all eukaryotic genome sequence analyses. Here, we introduce recent updates of RU, focusing on technical issues concerning the submission and updating of Repbase entries and will give short examples of using RU data.

Bats as the main prey of wintering long-eared owl (Asio otus) in Beijing: Integrating biodiversity protection and urban management.

The loss of biodiversity from urbanized areas is a major environmental problem challenging policy-makers throughout the world. Solutions to this problem are urgently required in China. We carried out a case study of wintering long-eared owls (Asio otus) and their main prey to illustrate the negative effects of urbanization combined with ineffective conservation of biodiversity in Beijing.

Context-aware and locality-constrained coding for image categorization.

Improving the coding strategy for BOF (Bag-of-Features) based feature design has drawn increasing attention in recent image categorization works. However, the ambiguity in coding procedure still impedes its further development. In this paper, we introduce a context-aware and locality-constrained Coding (CALC) approach with context information for describing objects in a discriminative way.

Homologues of bacterial TnpB_IS605 are widespread in diverse eukaryotic transposable elements.

Background: Bacterial insertion sequences (IS) of IS200/IS605 and IS607 family often encode a transposase (TnpA) and a protein of unknown function, TnpB.

Results: Here we report two groups of TnpB-like proteins (Fanzor1 and Fanzor2) that are widespread in diverse eukaryotic transposable elements (TEs), and in large double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses infecting eukaryotes. Fanzor and TnpB proteins share the same conserved amino acid motif in their C-terminal half regions: D-X(125, 275)-[TS]-[TS]-X-X-[C4 zinc finger]-X(5,50)-RD, but are highly variable in their N-terminal regions.

Distinct groups of repetitive families preserved in mammals correspond to different periods of regulatory innovations in vertebrates.

Background: Mammalian genomes are repositories of repetitive DNA sequences derived from transposable elements (TEs). Typically, TEs generate multiple, mostly inactive copies of themselves, commonly known as repetitive families or families of repeats. Recently, we proposed that families of TEs originate in small populations by genetic drift and that the origin of small subpopulations from larger populations can be fueled by biological innovations.