Explore the vast range of titles available.

With the breakthrough of AlphaGo, human-computer gaming AI has ushered in a big explosion, attracting more and more researchers all over the world. As a recognized standard for testing artificial intelligence, various human-computer gaming AI systems (AIs) have been developed, such as Libratus, OpenAI Five, and AlphaStar, which beat professional human players. The rapid development of human-computer gaming AIs indicates a big step for decision-making intelligence, and it seems that current techniques can handle very complex human-computer games. So, one natural question arises: What are the possible challenges of current techniques in human-computer gaming and what are the future trends? To answer the above question, in this paper, we survey recent successful game AIs, covering board game AIs, card game AIs, first-person shooting game AIs, and real-time strategy game AIs. Through this survey, we 1) compare the main difficulties among different kinds of games and the corresponding techniques utilized for achieving professional human-level AIs; 2) summarize the mainstream frameworks and techniques that can be properly relied on for developing AIs for complex human-computer games; 3) raise the challenges or drawbacks of current techniques in the successful AIs; and 4) try to point out future trends in human-computer gaming AIs. Finally, we hope that this brief review can provide an introduction for beginners and inspire insight for researchers in the field of AI in human-computer gaming.

Aim： Aberrant c-Met activation plays a critical role in cancer formation, progression and dissemination, as well as in development of resistance to anticancer drugs. Therefore, c-Met has emerged as an attractive target for cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to develop new c-Met inhibitors and elaborate the structure-activity relationships of identified inhibitors. Methods： Based on the predicted binding modes of Compounds ,5 and 14 in docking studies, a new series of c-Met inhibitor-harboring 3-（（1H-pyrrolo[3,2-c]pyridin-1-yl）sulfonyl）imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffolds was discovered. Potent inhibitors were identified through extensive optimizations combined with enzymatic and cellular assays. A promising compound was further investigated in regard to its selectivity, its effects on c-Met signaling, cell proliferation and cell scattering in vitro. Results： The most potent Compound 31 inhibited c-Met kinase activity with an ICso value of 12.8 nmol/L, which was 〉78-fold higher than those of a panel of 16 different tyrosine kinases. Compound 31 （8, 40, 200 nmol/L） dose-dependently inhibited the phosphorylation of c-Met and its key downstream Akt and ERK signaling cascades in c-Met aberrant human EBC-1 cancer cells. In 12 human cancer cell lines harboring different background levels of c-Met expression/activation, Compound 31 potently inhibited c-Met- driven cell proliferation. Furthermore, Compound 31 dose-dependently impaired c-Met-mediated cell scattering of MDCK cells. Conclusion： This series of c-Met inhibitors is a promising lead for development of novel anticancer drugs.

Aim： The aim of this study was to investigate whether Gs-Rbl relieves the CoC12-induced apoptosis of hypoxic neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and in which the role of glucose transporter-4 （GLUT-4）. Methods： Gs-Rbl （0, 10, 50, 100, 200, 400, and 500 μmol/L）, adenine 9-β-D-arabinofuranoside （ara A, 500 μmol/L; AMPK inhibitor） and wortmannin （0.5μmol/L; PI3K inhibitor） only in combination with 200 μmol/L Gs-Rbl were administered in hypoxic cardiomyocytes, which were induced by 500μmol/L COCl2 for 12 h. Then, the apoptotic rate （AR）, 2-[3H]-deoxy- D-glucose （2-[3H]-DG） uptake, and the expression of GLUT-4 （including in plasma membrane, PM）, phospho-AMPKa （Thr172）, AMPKa and Akt in cells were assayed. Results： Compared with simple hypoxia （0μmol/L Gs-Rbl）, Gs-Rbl greater than 10μmol/L significantly decreased the apoptotic rate （P〈0.01） and significantly increased 2-[3H]-DG uptake （P〈0.01）, GLUT-4 content in cells and PM （P〈0.01）, AMPK activity （P〈0.01） and Akt （P〈0.01） levels in a dose-dependent manner. AMPK activity was completely suppressed by ara-A, just as Akt was suppressed by wortmannin. The AR, glucose uptake and GLUT-4 levels in cells and PM were partly down-regulated by ara-A or wortmannin. Conclusion： Gs-Rbl may protect neonatal rat cardiomyocytes from apoptosis induced by CoCl2. The anti-apoptotic effect of Gs-Rbl may occur by improving glucose uptake, in which GLUT-4 translocation and expression played a key role. Both the AMPK and the PI3K/Akt pathways may take part in the anti-hypoxic efficacy of Gs-Rbl.

Aim： Chinese medicine CGA formula consists of polysaccharide from Cordyceps sinensis mycelia （CS-PS）, gypenosides and amygdalin, which is derived from Fuzheng Huayu （FZHY） capsule for treating liver fibrosis. In this study we attempted to confirm the therapeutic effects of CGA formula in dimethylnitrosamine （DMN）-induced liver fibrosis in rats, and to identify the mechanisms of anti-fibrotic actions. Methods： Rats were injected with DMN （10 mg.kg-l.d-1, ip） for 3 consecutive days per week over a 4-week period. The rats then were orally administered with CGA formula （CS-PS 60 mg.kg-1.-1, gypenosides 50 mg.kg-1.d-1 and amygdalin 80 mg.kg-1.d-1） daily in the next 2 weeks. CS-PS, gypenosides or amygdalin alone were administered as individual component controls, whereas colchicine and FZHY were used as positive controls. Serum biomarkers were measured. Hepatic injury, collagen deposition and stellate cell activation were examined. The MMP activities, expression of TIMP protein and proteins involved in the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathways in liver tissues were assayed. Results： In DMN-treated rats, administration of CGA formula significantly decreased serum ALT, AST and total bilirubin and hepatic hydroxyproline levels, increased serum albumin level, and attenuated liver fibrosis as shown by histological examination. Furthermore, these effects were comparable to those caused by administration of FZHY, and superior to those caused by administration of colchicine or the individual components of CGA formula. Moreover, administration of CGA formula significantly decreased the protein levels of a-SMA, TGF-β1, TGF-β1 receptor （TI3R-I）, p-T-R-I, p-TI3R-II, p-Smad2, p-Smad3, TIMP1 and TIMP2, as well as MMP2 and MMP9 activities in liver tissues of DMN-treated rats. Conclusion： Chinese medicine CGA formula ameliorates DMN-induced liver fibrosis in rats, and this effect was likely associated with the down-regulation of MMP2/9 activities, TIMP1/2 protein expression and the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathways in the liver.

Cloud computing is a computing model that fully utilizes the resources on the Internet to maximize the utilization of resources. Due to a large number of users and tasks, it is important to achieve efficient scheduling of tasks submitted by users. Task scheduling is one of the crucial and challenging non-deterministic polynomial-hard problems in cloud computing. In task scheduling, obtaining shorter makespan is an important objective and is related to the pros and cons of the algorithm. Machine learning algorithms represent a new method for solving this type of problem. In this paper, we propose a novel task scheduling algorithm called QL-HEFT that combines Q -learning with the heterogeneous earliest finish time (HEFT) algorithm to reduce the makespan. The algorithm uses the upward rank ( rank u ) value of HEFT as the immediate reward in the Q -learning framework. The agent can obtain better learning results to update the Q -table through the self-learning process. The QL-HEFT algorithm is divided into two major phases: a task sorting phase based on Q -learning for obtaining an optimal order and a processor allocation phase using the earliest finish time strategy. Experiments show that QL-HEFT achieves a shorter makespan compared to three other classical scheduling algorithms as well as good performances in terms of the average response time.

Drought is an important factor which limits growth of sugarcane. To elucidate the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of tolerance, a pot experiment was conducted at Sugarcane Research Institute, Kaiyuan, China. Two genotypes (Yuetang 93-159-sensitive and Yunzhe 05-51-tolerant), were subjected to three treatments; 70±5% (control), 50±5% (moderate drought) and 30±5% (severe drought) of soil field capacity. The results demonstrated that drought induced considerable decline in morpho-physiological, biochemical and anatomical parameters of both genotypes, with more pronounced detrimental effects on Yuetang 93-159 than on Yunzhe 05-51. Yunzhe 05-51 exhibited more tolerance by showing higher dry biomass, photosynthesis and antioxidant enzyme activities. Compared with Yuetang 93-159, Yunzhe 05-51 exhibited higher soluble sugar, soluble protein and proline contents under stress. Yunzhe 05-51 illustrated comparatively well-composed chloroplast structure under drought stress. It is concluded that the tolerance of Yunzhe 05-51 was attributed to improved antioxidant activities, osmolyte accumulation and enhanced photosynthesis. These findings may provide valuable information for future studies on molecular mechanism of tolerance.

Angiogenesis is a key process in regenerative medicine generally, as well as in the specific field of nerve regeneration. However, no convenient and objective method for evaluating the angiogenesis of tissue-engineered nerves has been reported. In this study, tissue-engineered nerves were constructed in vitro using Schwann cells differentiated from rat skin-derived precursors as supporting cells and chitosan nerve conduits combined with silk fibroin fibers as scaffolds to bridge 10-mm sciatic nerve defects in rats. Four weeks after surgery, three-dimensional blood vessel reconstructions were made through MICROFIL perfusion and micro-CT scanning, and parameter analysis of the tissue-engineered nerves was performed. New blood vessels grew into the tissue-engineered nerves from three main directions： the proximal end, the distal end, and the middle. The parameter analysis of the three-dimensional blood vessel images yielded several parameters, including the number, diameter, connection, and spatial distribution of blood vessels. The new blood vessels were mainly capillaries and microvessels, with diameters ranging from 9 to 301 μm. The blood vessels with diameters from 27 to 155 μm accounted for 82.84% of the new vessels. The microvessels in the tissue-engineered nerves implanted in vivo were relatively well-identified using the MICROFIL perfusion and micro-CT scanning method, which allows the evaluation and comparison of differences and changes of angiogenesis in tissue-engineered nerves implanted in vivo.

In this paper, we report the fabrication, electrical and physical characteristics of TiN/HfO2/Si MOS capacitors with erbium （Er） ion implantation. It is demonstrated that the fiat band voltage can be reduced by 0.4 V due to the formation of Er oxide. Moreover, it is observed that the equivalent oxide thickness is thinned down by 0.5 nm because the thickness of interfacial layer is significantly reduced, which is thought to be attributed to the strong binding capability of the implanted Er atoms with oxygen atoms. In addition, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy experiment shows that the HfO2 layer with Er ion implantation is still amorphous after annealing at a high temperature. This Er ion implantation technique has the potential to be implemented as a band edge metal gate solution for NMOS without a capping layer, and may also satisfy the demand of the EOT reduction in 32 nm technology node.

Currently, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA)[3] and an emerging method of droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR)[4] are two widely used genetic screening methods. [...]the reproducibility of the two different technologies was compared for assessing copy numbers of SMN1 and SMN2. [...]it became clearly that there were other modifiers caused the inconsistent phenotype for the siblings. [...]it could be seen that when patients who have inconsistent phenotype were met, as the most basic and common factor to determine the severity clinical phenotype of SMA patients, it is better to select a reproducible and reliable genetic screening method for copy number quantification of SMN2, then to provide the basis for further discussing SMA-severity genetic modifiers. Genetic screening method for analyzing survival motor neuron copy number in spinal muscular atrophy by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction.

Objectives To compare the efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF) with methotrexate (MTX) in the treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Design: a multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial. All patients were assessed by trained investigators who were unaware of the therapeutic regimen. Intervention: 207 patients with active RA were randomly allocated (1:1:1) to treatment with MTX 12.5 mg once a week, or TwHF 20 mg three times a day, or the two in combination. At week 12, if reduction of the 28-joint count Disease Activity Score (DAS28) was <30% in the monotherapy groups, the patient was switched to MTX+TwHF. The primary efficacy point was the proportion of patients achieving an American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 50 response at week 24. Results 174/207 (84.1%) patients completed 24 weeks of the trial. In an intention-to-treat analysis, the proportion of patients reaching the ACR50 response criteria was 46.4% (32/69), 55.1% (38/69) and 76.8% (53/69), respectively, in the MTX, TwHF and MTX+TwHF groups (TwHF vs MTX monotherapy, p=0.014; MTX+TwHF vs MTX monotherapy, p<0.001). Similar statistically significant patterns at week 24 were found for ACR20, ACR70, clinical Disease Activity Index good responses, EULAR good response, remission rate and low disease activity rate. Significant improvement in the Health Assessment Questionnaire and 36-item Short-Form Health Survey questionnaire scores from baseline to week 24 was seen in each treatment arm (p<0.05), though no significant difference was found among the treatment arms (p>0.05). The result of per-protocol analysis agreed with that seen in the intention-to-treat analysis. Seven, three and five women in the TwHF, MTX and combination groups, respectively, developed irregular menstruation (TwHF vs MTX monotherapy, p=0.216). Conclusions TwHF monotherapy was not inferior to, and MTX+TwHF was better than, MTX monotherapy in controlling disease activity in patients with active RA. Trial registration number NCT01613079.