Deep-Learning-Assisted Sensor with Multiple Perception Capabilities for an Intelligent Driver Assistance Monitoring System.

Driver assistance systems can help drivers achieve better control of their vehicles while driving and reduce driver fatigue and errors. However, the current driver assistance devices have a complex structure and severely violate the privacy of drivers, hindering the development of driver assistance technology. To address these limitations, this article proposes an intelligent driver assistance monitoring system (IDAMS), which combines a Kresling origami structure-based triboelectric sensor (KOS-TS) and a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based data analysis. For different driving behaviors, the output signals of the KOS-TSs contain various features, such as a driver's pressing force, pressing time, and sensor triggering sequence. This study develops a multiscale CNN that employs different pooling methods to process KOS-TS data and analyze temporal information. The proposed IDAMS is verified by driver identification experiments, and the results show that the accuracy of the IDAMS in discriminating eight different users is improved from 96.25% to 99.38%. In addition, the results indicate that IDAMS can successfully monitor driving behaviors and can accurately distinguish between different driving behaviors. Finally, the proposed IDAMS has excellent hands-off detection (HOD), identification, and driving behavior monitoring capabilities and shows broad potential for application in the fields of safety warning, personalization, and human-computer interaction.

Triglyceride Glucose Index and Prognosis of Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE: The triglyceride glucose (TyG) index is regarded as a reliable alternative indicator for measuring insulin resistance. We investigated the association between the prognosis of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)and the TyG index, explored the potential of the TyG index as a new biomarker for forecasting the outcomes of SAH patients, and explored independent risk factors for predicting the condition of SAH patients. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed of patients who were admitted to a single center due to SAH. Differences in clinical data and correlation between laboratory indexes, disease severity score on admission, and prognosis score were compared between the 2 groups. The study employed multivariate logistic regression analysis to examine the independent influencing aspects of Glasgow Outcome Scale score. The receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn and the area under the curve (AUC) calculated to predict the best cutoff value of the degree of neurological impairment in patients with SAH. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed that Glasgow Coma Scale score (86.3% vs. 12.0%, P < 0.001), Hunt-Hess grade (88.2% vs. 15.7%, P < 0.001), white blood cell count (11.20 [7.9, 15.2] vs. 9.1 [7.0, 12.2], P = 0.027), and TyG index (1.49 [1.40, 1.59] vs. 1.16 [1.06, 1.27], P < 0.001) were statistically significantly different. Multivariate analysis showed that TyG index, Hunt-Hess grade, and GCS score were independent risk factors for poor prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with SAH may benefit from using the TyG index as a predictive method. In our clinical practice, the TyG index is beneficial for managing diseases and making decisions. More research is required to determine if improved TyG index control would lead to better clinical results in the future.

rMATS-turbo: an efficient and flexible computational tool for alternative splicing analysis of large-scale RNA-seq data.

Pre-mRNA alternative splicing is a prevalent mechanism for diversifying eukaryotic transcriptomes and proteomes. Regulated alternative splicing plays a role in many biological processes, and dysregulated alternative splicing is a feature of many human diseases. Short-read RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is now the standard approach for transcriptome-wide analysis of alternative splicing. Since 2011, our laboratory has developed and maintained Replicate Multivariate Analysis of Transcript Splicing (rMATS), a computational tool for discovering and quantifying alternative splicing events from RNA-seq data. Here we provide a protocol for the contemporary version of rMATS, rMATS-turbo, a fast and scalable re-implementation that maintains the statistical framework and user interface of the original rMATS software, while incorporating a revamped computational workflow with a substantial improvement in speed and data storage efficiency. The rMATS-turbo software scales up to massive RNA-seq datasets with tens of thousands of samples. To illustrate the utility of rMATS-turbo, we describe two representative application scenarios. First, we describe a broadly applicable two-group comparison to identify differential alternative splicing events between two sample groups, including both annotated and novel alternative splicing events. Second, we describe a quantitative analysis of alternative splicing in a large-scale RNA-seq dataset (~1,000 samples), including the discovery of alternative splicing events associated with distinct cell states. We detail the workflow and features of rMATS-turbo that enable efficient parallel processing and analysis of large-scale RNA-seq datasets on a compute cluster. We anticipate that this protocol will help the broad user base of rMATS-turbo make the best use of this software for studying alternative splicing in diverse biological systems.

Reliability and validity of a simplified touch experiences and attitudes questionnaire for Chinese college students.

Touch cultures have both differences and commonalities in different regions. The Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ) is a widely applicable self-report tool. The purpose of our research was to examine the validity and reliability of the Chinese version of TEAQ for Chinese college students. We translated the 57 items of the original TEAQ into Chinese and assessed its cultural and linguistic adaptation in Chinese context. Two samples were recruited for the assessment of validity and reliability. The Social Support Rating Scale, Index of Well-being Scale and Security Questionnaire were chosen as criterion-related validity indicators. Item analysis, principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the simplified Chinese version of TEAQ contained 18 items in three factors: Attitude to Intimate Touch, Childhood Touch and Current Positive Touch, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 57.12%. The 3-factor model had good validity and reliability. The TEAQ was positively correlated with social support, sense of security and well-being. There were demographic differences in sex and left-behind experience. We anticipate the simplified TEAQ will be a valuable tool for the research of touch among Chinese college students.

A portable microfluidic device for thermally controlled granular sample manipulation.

Effective granular sample manipulation with a portable and visualizable microfluidic device is significant for lots of applications, such as point-of-care testing and cargo delivery. Herein, we report a portable microfluidic device for controlled particle focusing, migration and double-emulsion droplet release via thermal fields. The device mainly contains a microfluidic chip, a microcontroller with a DC voltage control unit, a built-in microscope with a video transmission unit and a smartphone. Five microheaters located at the bottom of the microfluidic chip are used to unevenly heat fluids and then induce thermal buoyancy flow and a thermocapillary effect, and the experiments can be conveniently visualized through a smartphone, which provides convenient sample detection in outdoor environments. To demonstrate the feasibility and multifunctionality of this device, the focusing manipulation of multiple particles is first analyzed by using silica particles and yeast cells as experimental samples. We can directly observe the particle focusing states on the screen of a smartphone, and the particle focusing efficiency can be flexibly tuned by changing the control voltage of the microheater. Then the study focus is transferred to single-particle migration. By changing the voltage combinations applied on four strip microheaters, the single particle can migrate at predetermined trajectory and speed, showing attractiveness for those applications needing sample transportation. Finally, we manipulate the special three-phase flow system of double-emulsion drops in thermal fields. Under the combined effect of the thermocapillary effect and increased instability, the shell of double-emulsion droplets gradually thins and finally breaks, resulting in the release of samples in inner cores. The core release speed can also be flexibly adjusted by changing the control voltage of the microheater. These three experiments successfully demonstrate the effectiveness and multifunctionality of this thermally actuated microfluidic device on granular manipulation. Therefore, this portable microfluidic device will be promising for lots of applications, such as analytical detection, microrobot actuation and cargo release.

Origami-inspired Bionic Soft Robot Stomach with Self-Powered Sensing.

The stomach is a vital organ in the human digestive system, and its digestive condition is critical to human health. The physical movement of the stomach during digestion is controlled by the circular and oblique muscles. Existing stomach simulators are unable to realistically reproduce the physical movement of the stomach. Due to the complexity of gastric motility, it is challenging to simulate and sense gastric motility. This paper proposes for the first time a bionic soft robotic stomach (BSRS) with an integrated drive and sensing structure inspired by origami and self-powered sensing technology. This soft stomach (SS) can realistically simulate and sense the movements of various parts of the human stomach in real-time. The contraction force and contraction rate of the BSRS are investigated with different viscosity contents, and the experimental values are similar to the physiological range (maximum contraction force is 3.2 N, and maximum contraction rate is 0.8). This paper provides an experimental basis for the study of gastric digestive medicine and food science by simulating the peristaltic motion of the BSRS according to the human stomach and by combining the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) sensing technology to monitor the motion of the BSRS in real-time. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

ARIAS: An AR-based interactive advertising system.

In this paper, we present an interactive advertising system based on augmented reality(AR) called ARIAS, which is manipulated with gestures for displaying advertising videos. Two-dimensional markers are defined in the system. The system captures the frame data through the camera in real time, uses OpenCV library to identify the predefined markers, and calculates the pose of markers captured by the camera. With OpenGL library, a virtual cubic model is created at the position of the marker, and thus videos or images are displayed on the six faces of the cube. The virtual cube, together with the original frame data collected by the camera, is displayed in the interactive window to achieve the augmented reality effect. Customers are accessible to various advertising content by observing the marker from different positions. The system, meanwhile, supports gesture operation in order to make the customers pay attention to the content they are interested in with one hand. The MediaPipe Hand framework is used to extract the landmarks of hands, based on which, a series of gestures are designed for interactive operation. The efficiency and accuracy of the system are tested and analyzed with the result, indicating that the system has high reliability and good interactiveness. This system is open at https://github.com/wanzhuxie/ARIAS/tree/PLOS-ONE.

Flexible droplet transportation and coalescence via controllable thermal fields.

Flexible droplet transportation and coalescence are significant for lots of applications such as material synthesis and analytical detection. Herein, we present an effective method for controllable droplet transportation and coalescence via thermal fields. The device used for droplet manipulation is composed of a glass substrate with indium tin oxide-made microheaers and a microchannel with two transport branches and a central chamber, and it's manipulated by sequentially powering the microheaters located at the bottom of microchannel. The fluid will be unevenly heated when the microheater is actuated, leading to the formation of thermal buoyancy convection and the decrease of interfacial tension of fluids. Subsequently, the microdroplets can be transported from the inlets of microchannel to the target position by the buoyancy flow-induced Stokes drag. And the droplet migration velocity can be flexibly adjusted by changing the voltage applied on the microheater. After being transported to the center of central chamber, the coalescence behaviors of microdroplets can be triggered if the microheater located at the bottom of central chamber is continuously actuated. The droplet coalescence is the combined effect of decreased fluid interfacial tension, the shortened droplet distance by buoyancy flow and the increased instability of droplet under the elevated temperature. The droplet coalescence efficiency is also related to the voltage of microheater, by increasing the voltage from 3.5 V to 7 V, the needed time for droplet coalescence dramatically decrease from 220s to 1.4 s. Finally, by the droplet coalescence-triggered calcium hydroxide precipitation reaction, we demonstrate the applicability of the droplet manipulation method on specific sample detection. Therefore, this approach used for droplet transportation and coalescence can be attractive for many droplet-based applications such as analytical detection.

Profiles and spatial distributions of heavy metals, microbial communities, and metal resistance genes in sediments from an urban river.

The occurrence and propagation of resistance genes due to exposure to heavy metals (HMs) in rivers is an emerging environmental issue. Little is known about resistance genes in microbial communities in river sediments with low HM concentrations. The profiles and spatial distributions of HMs, the microbial community, and metal resistance genes (MRGs) were analyzed in sediment samples from the Zhilong River basin in Yangjiang city, near the Pearl River Delta. Concentrations of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), and nickel (Ni) were relatively low compared with those in other urban river sediments in China. HM chemical composition and fractions and the structure of the microbial community varied along the main channel, but the composition and abundance of MRGs were relatively homogeneous. Variations in HMs and microbial communities in mid- to upstream areas were related to the presence of tributaries, whose inputs were one of the major factors affecting HM chemical fractions and genera structure in mainstream sediments. There were no significant correlations (p < 0.05) between HM concentrations, bacterial communities, and the MRG profiles; thus, HM concentrations were not the main factor affecting MRGs in sediments. These results contribute to understanding the propagation of MRGs in urban rivers in developing cities.

Dual-Mode Coupled Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Random Vibration Energy.

As a new energy harvesting technology, triboelectric nanogenerators are widely used for vibration mechanical energy harvesting. However, the current schemes ignore the composite characteristics of vibration, with problems such as utilization and low collection efficiency. In this paper, a random resonance cantilever beam triboelectric nanogenerator (RCB-TENG) with dual-mode coupled is presented, the working mode is a coupling form of in-plane sliding and vertical contact-separation that can effectively collect complex vibration energy in transverse and longitudinal directions. The influences of the structural parameters of the RCB-TENG and different dielectric materials on the output performance are systematically investigated. The single vibration module achieved a power density of 463.56 mW/m2 and a transfer charge of 10.7 µC at a vibration frequency of 46 Hz, an increase in power density, and a transfer charge of 4.94 and 3.82 times, respectively, compared to the conventional contact-separation mode. Finally, the RCB-TENG was tested in practice, and it was observed that nine 1 W commercial LED bulbs and 500 5 mm diameter LED lamps were successfully lit. This work offers new ideas for distributed energy harvesting technologies and holds broad promise in the field of energy harvesting from wind, water, wave, and random vibrations caused by mechanical energy.

Power to biogas upgrading: Effects of different H2/CO2 ratios on products and microbial communities in anaerobic fermentation system.

Two anaerobic reactors with and without Ca2+ were operated at 35 °C to investigate the effects of different H2/CO2 ratios on products and microbial communities. Through the investigation of various parameters, it was shown that the change of pH triggered by the variations of H2/CO2 is the decisive factor affecting the product selection in anaerobic fermentation system. During the biosynthesis of ATP for cell growth and reproduction, protons (H+) were pumped from extracellular to intracellular by proton pump, which caused an increase of intrinsic pH of fermentative system. When the pH below 9.5, the methanogenic pathway was more prevalent. While the pH above 10.0 was conducive to the homoacetogenesis. Microbial community analysis showed that with the changes of H2/CO2 ratio, a turnover had occurred. When the ratio of H2/CO2 was 4, the main methanogen was Methanobacterium with the dominant interspecies electron transfer bacteria (IETB) of Thermovirga and DMER64. The turnover of microbial community occurred when the H2/CO2 ratio was 4.5 and 4.25. The dominant acetogenic microorganisms were norank_o_Clostridia_UCG-014 (homoacetogen) and Natronincola (obligately alkaliphilic acetogen). When the H2/CO2 ratio returned to 4, the dominant methanogens were hydrotropic Methanobacterium and Methanobrevibacter with four interspecies electron transfer bacteria including DMER64, Thermovirga, Dechlorobacter and Achromobacter.

Nitrification resistance and functional redundancy maintain the system stability of partial nitrification in high-strength ammonium wastewater system.

The sudden change of ammonia loading in high-strength ammonium wastewater treatment can directly affect the system stability by altering microbial community dynamics. To maintain the system stability, the effects of ammonia shock loading on microbial community dynamics must be studied. Two sets of sequencing batch reactors were operated with 6 shock cycles (maximum volumetric loading rate of 1928 mg N/(L·d)). CN system contained both organic carbon and ammonia and N system contained only ammonia. Comparing with N system, CN system operated more stably and had higher nitrite accumulation rate. Free ammonia (FA) was the select stress for the turnover of CN microbial communities, while the N communities didn t shift much. The increase of Nitrosomonas and the appearance of heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification bacteria in CN system presented its resistance and redundancy against FA impact, while the increase of functional genes exhibited functional genes redundancy which maintained the system stability.

Flexible on-chip droplet generation, switching and splitting via controllable hydrodynamics.

Flexible droplet preparation and manipulation are significant for lots applications such as immunoreaction and monocellular culture. Herein, we present a novel method for effective on-chip droplet generation, splitting and switching via controllable hydrodynamics. The microchannel of the designed chip has 6 inlets and 3 three outlets. The water solution is injected from a specific inlet (inlet d), and the other 5 inlets are used to inject oil fluids. Under the shearing effect of immiscible oils, the water phase breaks into dispersed droplets first, and the generated droplets can be further split into daughter drops or switched into side outlets from the middle outlet. To investigate the hydrodynamic droplet manipulation behaviors, a two-dimensional simulation model based on phase-field method is established. Utilizing the computational model, we systematically analyze the influences of the flow rates of continuous and dispersed fluids and the manipulation modes on droplet generation, splitting and switching. The numerical results indicate that the droplets can be generated with controlled sizes. For instance, at Qd = 5 µL/min and Qc1,2 = 5 µL/min, the droplet diameter decreases from 89.2 µm to 49.2 µm as Qs1,2 gradually rises from 15 µL/min to 40 µL/min. Moreover, the prepared droplets can realize on-demand splitting and switching. When Qd, Qc1,2, and Qs1,2 are fixed at 5 µL/min, 5 µL/min and 25 µL/min, respectively, the generated droplet is split into different proportional daughter drops with the rising of Qs3 (or Qs4) at first, and finally it is switched into the side-outlets when Qs3 (or Qs4) is higher than 80 µL/min. Therefore, this proposed droplet manipulation approach will be promising for various applications, and the numerical simulations can provide useful guidelines on the design and operation of droplet-based microfluidic systems.

The biological and abiotic effects of powdered activated carbon on the anaerobic digestion performance of cornstalk.

To comprehensively evaluate the biological and abiotic influence of powdered activated carbon (PAC) on the anaerobic digestion of cornstalk, mesophilic and thermophilic digestion were conducted. Adding PAC (10 g/L) under thermophilic system obtained the maximum cellulose degradation rate and methane yield (MY), which were 57.47% and 128.19 L/kg VS. However, adding same dose of PAC at mesophilic system decreased the MY by 8.16% while increased the cellulose degradation rate and methane production rate by 6.48% and 17.92%. Under mesophilic conditions, the enhancement of PAC was owing to the enrichment of cellulolytic microorganisms, improvement of the syntrophic process and direct interspecies electron transfer. The lower methane yield was attributed to the adsorption of carbon source by PAC and CH4 consumption by Norank_c_Bathyarchaeia. The good performance of thermophilic system was owing to the lower adsorption capability of PAC, absence of Norank_c_Bathyarchaeia, and concentrated carbon flow to methane.

Fear of Backlash Moderates Female Senior Executives' Communion (but Not Agency) as Compared to Female Lecturers.

Today, many women work in occupational roles that had once been dominated by men (e.g., senior business executives). However, expectations on senior executives to be agentic (e.g., assertive, dominant) may conflict with prescriptive stereotypes about women to be communal (e.g., helpful, warm). According to this double-bind dilemma, female senior executives get criticized for lacking either agency or communion as both dimensions can be perceived as posing a tradeoff. We hypothesize that female senior executives report higher levels of agency and lower levels of communion than women in a more neutral role (e.g., lecturers) due to the perceived requirements of these occupational roles. In Study 1, N = 212 students rated adjectives on their desirability for men vs. women in Chinese society. They rated agentic characteristics as more desirable for men and communal characteristics as more desirable for women. Studies 2 and 3 used this material. Study 2 randomly assigned N = 207 female students to the role of a senior executive vs. lecturer. Study 3 was conducted with N = 202 female role occupants (96 senior executives, 106 lecturers). As expected, female senior executives reported higher levels of agency and lower levels of communion than female lecturers in both studies. Some women may be particularly aware of the above-mentioned double-bind dilemma and may be more worried about the potential backlash than others. They may attempt to reconcile occupational demands (i.e., higher agency, lower communion) with prescriptive gender stereotypes (i.e., lower agency, higher communion). We, therefore, explored whether fear of backlash attenuates the effect of the type of role of women (senior executives vs. lecturers) on agency and communion. Indeed, we found that senior executives who were particularly worried about backlash reported almost as much communion as lecturers did. In contrast, senior executives consistently reported higher levels of agency than lecturers regardless of their fear of backlash. The present study documents prescriptive gender stereotypes in China, how women differ as a function of their occupational roles, and how fear of backlash may motivate female senior executives to reconcile having high levels of both agency and communion.

Compartmentation of microbial communities in structure and function for methane oxidation coupled to nitrification-denitrification.

A hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor was designed and constructed to achieve simultaneous nitrification-denitrification coupled to methane oxidation in low O2/CH4 ratio and high nitrogen removal rate. Three O2/CH4 ratio stages were operated. Ammonia removal rates reached 77.5 and 95 mg/(L·d) at the O2/CH4 ratio of 1.47 and 2.1, respectively. Microbial community analysis revealed that aeration through physical partition and O2/CH4 ratio stages achieved compartmentation of microbial community in structure and function. Combined functional genes analysis using qPCR, the aeration through gas distributer was proved to promote the enrichment of autotrophic ammonia oxidizers in the suspended liquid/mixed filler samples, and the aeration through hollow-fiber membrane favored the growth of methanotrophs and heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification bacteria. This study helps to develop effective regulatory strategies for high nitrogen removal based on the understanding of the community assembly process and the key driving factors.

The synergistic effect of rumen cellulolytic bacteria and activated carbon on thermophilic digestion of cornstalk.

To explore the bioaugmentation of rumen cellulolytic bacteria (RCB) and activated carbon (AC) on thermophilic digestion of cornstalk, biochemical methane potential tests were carried out. Adding RCB or AC can improve methane production, while simultaneous existence of AC (10 g/L) and RCB (5%) obtained the best performance. The maximum cellulose degradation rate, methane production rate and methane yield were 66.92%, 32.2 L/(kgVS·d), and 144.9 L/kgVS, which increased by 30.23%, 51.17%, and 20.35% compared with control group. The cellulolytic and fermentative bacteria (Hydrogenispora), syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (norank_o_MBA03), and hydrogenotrophic Methanothermobacter were crucial for thermophilic digestion of cornstalk. The enhancement of AC was due to the enrichment of Hydrogenispora and Methanothermobacter, while RCB can increase the abundance of cellulolytic bacteria (Halocella and norank_o_M55-D21) and mixotrophic Methanosarcina. The synergetic effect of AC and RCB owing to the enriched cellulolytic bacteria, the enhanced syntrophic acetate oxidation and the concentrated carbon metabolic flow to methane.

Comparison of microbial community structures between mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of vegetable waste.

The anaerobic digestion performance correlates with the functional microbial community. Mesophilic and thermophilic digestions of vegetable waste were conducted, and dynamics of the microbial community were investigated. The mesophilic and thermophilic collapsed stages occurred at organic loading rates of 1.5 and 2.0 g VS/(L d) due to the accumulation of volatile fatty acids with final concentrations of 2276 and 6476 mg/L, respectively. A high concentration of volatile fatty acids caused the severe inhibition of methanogens, which finally led to the imbalance between acetogenesis and methanogenesis. The mesophilic digestion exhibited a higher microbial diversity and richness than the thermophilic digestion. Syntrophic acetate-oxidizing coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis was the dominant pathway in the thermophilic stable system, and acetoclastic methanogenesis in the mesophilic stable system. The dominant acidogens, syntrophus, and methanogens were unclassified_f__Anaerolineaceae (8.68%), Candidatus_Cloacamonas (19.70%), Methanosaeta (6.10%), and Methanosarcina (4.08%) in the mesophilic stable stage, and Anaerobaculum (12.59%), Syntrophaceticus (4.84%), Methanosarcina (30.58%), and Methanothermobacter (3.17%) in thermophilic stable stage. Spirochaetae and Thermotogae phyla were the characteristic microorganisms in the mesophilic and thermophilic collapsed stages, respectively. These findings provided valuable information for the deep understanding of the difference of the microbial community and methane-producing mechanism between mesophilic and thermophilic digestion of vegetable waste.

Ammonia removal through combined methane oxidation and nitrification-denitrification and the interactions among functional microorganisms.

It would be highly beneficial to use the methane produced by anaerobic digestion, which is low cost and accessible, as the carbon source in the removal of nitrogenous contaminants in wastewater. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding coupling systems that entail methane oxidation, nitrification, and denitrification, which restricts their industrial application. In this study, we acclimated a mixed culture to deal with simultaneous nitrification-denitrification coupled to methane oxidation in a laboratory-scale hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor, which achieved a steady ammonia removal rate of 38.09 mg N/(L•d). Furthermore, a series of batch experiments were conducted to test methane oxidation coupled to nitrate denitrification (AME-D3), nitrite denitrification (AME-D2), and simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (ME-SND). The molar ratio between methane consumed and nitrate reduced (C/N) equals 10 and 5 mol CH4C mol-1 NO3N in AME-D3 and AME-D2, averagely and respectively. Without methane injection, the removal of nitrates and nitrites was very low, indicating that the coupling of nitrate/nitrite denitrification and methane oxidation was beneficial. The average ammonia removal rates in the 20% O2 and 25% O2 groups were 20.06 and 22.03 mg N/(L•d) in the ME-SND system, respectively. Without methane, the ammonia oxidation rate declined, and large amounts of nitrite accumulated. As traditional ammonia and nitrite oxidation approaches are autotrophic, we proposed the possibility of heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification (HN-AD). To study the coupling systems, the microbial communities and functional bacteria were analyzed. The results indicated that the system contained a guild of methanotrophs (mainly Methylobacter) and HN-AD bacteria (mainly Chrysobacterium and Comamonas).

Detecting Allele-Specific Alternative Splicing from Population-Scale RNA-Seq Data.

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is a powerful technology for studying human transcriptome variation. We introduce PAIRADISE (Paired Replicate Analysis of Allelic Differential Splicing Events), a method for detecting allele-specific alternative splicing (ASAS) from RNA-seq data. Unlike conventional approaches that detect ASAS events one sample at a time, PAIRADISE aggregates ASAS signals across multiple individuals in a population. By treating the two alleles of an individual as paired, and multiple individuals sharing a heterozygous SNP as replicates, we formulate ASAS detection using PAIRADISE as a statistical problem for identifying differential alternative splicing from RNA-seq data with paired replicates. PAIRADISE outperforms alternative statistical models in simulation studies. Applying PAIRADISE to replicate RNA-seq data of a single individual and to population-scale RNA-seq data across many individuals, we detect ASAS events associated with genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals of complex traits or diseases. Additionally, PAIRADISE ASAS analysis detects the effects of rare variants on alternative splicing. PAIRADISE provides a useful computational tool for elucidating the genetic variation and phenotypic association of alternative splicing in populations.