Recognizing highly occluded objects is believed to arises from the interaction between the brain's vision and cognition controlling areas, although supporting neuroimaging data is currently limited. To explore the neural mechanism during this activity, we conducted an occlusion object recognition experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During magnet resonance examinations, 66 subjects engaged in object recognition tasks with three different occlusion degrees. Generalized linear model (GLM) analysis showed that the activation degree of occipital lobe (inferior occipital gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and occipital fusiform gyrus) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) was related to the occlusion degree of the objects. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) further unearthed a considerable surge in classification precision when dACC activation was incorporated as a feature. This suggested the combined role of dACC and occipital lobe in occluded object recognition tasks. Moreover, psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis disclosed that functional connectivity (FC) between the dACC and the occipital lobe was enhanced with increased occlusion, highlighting the necessity of FC between these two brain regions in effectively identifying exceedingly occluded objects. In conclusion, these findings contribute to understanding the neural mechanisms of highly occluded objects recognition, augmenting our appreciation of how the brain manages incomplete visual data.

Kiwifruits are often exposed to various temperature fluctuation (TF) during postharvest storage. To evaluate the effect of TF on the qualities of kiwifruits, fruits were stored at 2 ºC, 2 ºC or 5 ºC (TF2ºC-5ºC), 2 ºC or 7 ºC (TF2ºC-7ºC), alternating every 12 h. Observations revealed that kiwifruits stored at constant 2 °C showed the lowest loss of weight and vitamin C due to the minimum ethylene production and respiratory rate compared to that of TF2ºC-5ºC and TF2ºC-7ºC. Moreover, the results of RT-qPCR verifed that the expression of genes encoding polygalacturonase, β-galacturonidase, and pectin methyl esterase was significantly increased by the treatment of TF. Hence, TF accelerated the degradation of the cell walls, softening, translucency and relative conductivity of the flesh of kiwifruits. Besides, the impact of TF2ºC-7ºC on kiwifruits was more significant relative to TF2ºC-5ºC. The present study provides a theoretical basis for kiwifruit during cold storage.

In this paper, the main physicochemical characteristics and evolutionary laws of microbial community structure during the fermentation of aged vinegar were discussed, and the correlation between Cuqu and microorganisms and physicochemical characteristics during fermentation was explored. The results showed that there are significant differences in genera at different stages of fermentation, the main dominant bacteria in R1 are Bacillus, Lactobacillus, Aspergillus and Issatchenkia. At R2 fermentation stage, Lactobacillus, Acetobacter and Saccharomyces showed an upward trend and finally became absolute advantage bacteria. The main genus of bacteria at the end of overall fermentation is Aspergillus. Correlation analysis shows that in Cuqu, the bacterial genera that are significantly positively and negatively correlated with reducing sugars and amino acid nitrogen are the same, while the bacterial genera that are significantly positively and negatively correlated with pH and saccharification power are the same. During the fermentation process, pH, reducing sugar and saccharification ability are mainly positively correlated with bacterial genera. And research has found that during the fermentation process, the overall correlation between fungal communities and physicochemical characteristics is weaker compared to bacteria.

The most frequent, noticeable, and frequent natural calamity in the karakoram region is landslides. Extreme landslides have occurred frequently along Karakoram highway, particularly during the monsoon, causing a major loss of life and property. Therefore, it was necessary to look for a solution to increase growth and vigilance in order to lessen losses related to landslides caused by natural disasters. By utilizing contemporary technologies, an early warning system might be developed. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are widely used nowadays across many industries. This paper's major goal is to provide new integrative models for assessing landslide susceptibility in a prone area of north of Pakistan. To do this, the training of an artificial neural network (ANN) is supervised using metaheuristic and Bayesian techniques: particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), Genetic algorithm (GA), Bayesian optimization Gaussian process (BO_GP), and Bayesian optimization Gaussian process (BO_TPE). 304 previous landslides and the eight most prevalent conditioning elements combine to form a geographical database. The models are hyper-parameter optimized, and the best ones are employed to generate the susceptibility maps. The area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUROC) accuracy index found demonstrated that the maps produced by both Bayesian and metaheuristic algorithms are highly accurate. The effectiveness and efficiency of applying artificial neural networks (ANNs) for landslide mapping, susceptibility analysis, and forecasting are studied in this research it’s observed from experimentation that the performance differences for GA, BO_GP, and PSO compared to BO_TPE are relatively small, ranging from 0.3166% to 1.8399%. This suggests that these techniques achieved comparable performance to BO_TPE in terms of AUC. However, it's important to note that the significance of these differences can vary depending on the specific context and requirements of the ML task. Additionally in this study, we explore eight feature selection algorithms to determine the geospatial variable importance for landslide susceptibility mapping along the KKH. The algorithms considered include Information Gain, Gain Ratio, OneR Classifier, Subset Evaluators, Principal Components, Relief Attribute Evaluator, Correlation, and Symmetrical Uncertainty. These algorithms enable us to evaluate the relevance and significance of different geospatial variables in predicting landslide susceptibility. By applying these feature selection algorithms, we aim to identify the most influential geospatial variables that contribute to landslide occurrences along the KKH. The algorithms encompass a diverse range of techniques, such as measuring entropy reduction, accounting for attribute bias, generating single rules, evaluating feature subsets, reducing dimensionality, and assessing correlation and information sharing. The findings of this study will provide valuable insights into the critical geospatial variables associated with landslide susceptibility along the KKH. These insights can aid in the development of effective landslide mitigation strategies, infrastructure planning, and targeted hazard management efforts. Additionally, the study contributes to the field of geospatial analysis by showcasing the applicability and effectiveness of various feature selection algorithms in the context of landslide susceptibility mapping.

Grain shape and chalkiness are important appearance quality traits of rice, which also affect the yield and milling quality. In this study, 190 F2 families derived from the cross between Hua 5178S and Hua 611 were sequenced to construct a genetic linkage map. Combined with F2 and F2:3 generations grain shape and chalkiness phenotype, a total of 15 QTL were detected. There are 8 grain shape QTL distributed on chromosomes 2, 5, 6, 8, and 10; 7 chalkiness QTL distributed on chromosomes 2, 3, and 6. A QTL cluster affecting multiple chalkiness traits was found on chromosome 6, qWBR6.1, qWCR6 and qCR6 were selected for genetic effect verification. It was found that qWBR6.1, qWCR6 and qCR6 explained 13% and 24%, and 29% of the phenotypic variations respectively, and qWCR6 and qCR6 were co-mapped. This study laid a foundation for further cloning of rice appearance quality genes.

Helicosporous hyphomycetes is a class of filamentous fungi that shows promising application prospects in metabolizing bioactive natural compounds. During a study of helicosporous fungi in China, six new helicosporous taxa were collected and isolated from decaying wood in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Morphological comparisons with multi-gene phylogenetic analyses revealed that these six taxa belong to Helicosporium (Tubeufiaceae, Tubeufiales), and they can be recognized as three novel species, named Helicosporium liuzhouense, H. multidentatum and H. nanningense. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of the newly discovered taxa and comparisons with similar fungi are provided. In addition, a list and a key to accepted Helicosporium species are provided.

In the present study, a nanostructured FeAl coating was prepared by cold spraying of ball milled powder. Annealing treatment was applied to the coating to investigate its effect on the microstructure, phase structure and microhardness of the cold-sprayed nanostructured FeAl coating. The results showed that the FeAl phase was kept unchangeable when the coating annealed at the temperature above 500oC. Annealing temperature significantly influenced the microstructure and microhardness of cold-sprayed FeAl coating. With raising annealing temperature, the lamellar structure in the as-sprayed coating disappeared and a dense coating microstructure with fully bonding of deposited particles at their interfaces was achieved after annealing at 950oC. Nanograin growth of the FeAl phase occurred at an annealing temperature higher than 800oC. The microhardness of cold-sprayed FeAl coating remained about 400 Hv0.1 at the annealing temperature below 800oC and decreased to 300 Hv0.1 at 1100oC.

The four-way reversing valve is a key component determining whether a heat pump air conditioning system can work. Studying the four-way reversing valve is of great significance for improving the performance of the heat pump air conditioning system. In this paper, the control equation of the sliding block movement process is constructed to simulate the reversing process of the four-way reversing valve in fluid mechanics, and a detailed study is carried out from the sliding block speed, sliding block acceleration, sliding block force, refrigerant leakage, and other aspects. Research has shown that optimizing the structure of the slider can greatly improve the working performance of the four-way reversing valve. Increasing the height of the slider not only improves the pressure relief ability of the four-way reversing valve and prevents the slider from being damaged by high-pressure gas impact, but also reduces the leakage of refrigerant during the directional process; When reducing the length of the slider, although it will improve the pressure relief capacity of the four-way reversing valve, it also increases the amount of refrigerant leakage. The research results provide a theoretical basis and improvement direction for designers to improve the performance of four-way reversing valves.

The TGACG motif-binding factor1 (TGA1) transcription factor, a significant protein in the bZIP transcription factor family, exhibits a myriad of functions, contributes to numerous biological events, and holds substantial application potential. In this study, our analysis revealed a diverse range of photoregulatory and hormone regulatory elements within the MtTGA1 promoter region. The expression profile of MtTGA1 indicated its highest expression in the root, with its regulation influenced by SA, ABA, BR, and GA. Under salt stress conditions, transgenic plants demonstrated significantly longer root lengths and heightened activities of antioxidant enzymes such as ascorbic acid catalase (APX), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in their roots and leaves compared to control plants. Simultaneously, the levels of endogenous hormones ABA and BR escalated in transgenic plants, with a marked change in the morphology of their leaf cells. Transcriptome analysis identified a total of 193 differentially expressed genes, implicating a wide array of biological processes. Furthermore, we found that MtTGA1 is able to interact with Medicago truncatula SPX domain containing protein 1 (SPX1). In conclusion, the MtTGA1 transcription factor plays a crucial role in enhancing salt tolerance, which provides new insights for improving plant survival under salt stress conditions.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a non-protein-producing amino acid, is extensively found in microorganisms, plants and vertebrates, and is abundantly expressed in the spinal cord and brain. To date, GABA is considered to be the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. Its physiological effects are related to the regulation of synaptic transmission, the promotion of neuronal development and relaxation, and the prevention of insomnia and depres-sion. Mediated through its specific receptors, it plays a pivotal role in the control of neuronal ex-citability, which can serve as anovel target for developing analgesics for pain management. This review provides an update on the accumulating evidence of specific GABA receptors and their subtypes in the involvement of pain analgesia.

Species diversity has been shown to be influenced by environmental factors, but the mechanism underlying their relationship remains unclear across spatial scales. Based on field investigation data collected from 3,077 sample plots in temperate forest ecosystems, we compared tree species richness, evenness and dominance at 10 km × 10 km, 30 km × 30 km and 90 km × 90 km spatial scales. Then, we detected the scale dependence of changes in tree species composition on climate, topography and forest structure using variation partitioning and quantified their contribution to tree diversity with gradient boosted models (GBMs) and fitted their relationships. The magnitude of tree richness, evenness and dominance significantly increased with spatial scale. Ecological factors jointly accounted for 24.3%, 26.5% and 38.5% of the variation in tree species composition at the three spatial scales, respectively. Annual mean temperature had a strong impact on tree richness, evenness and dominance and peaked at an intermediate scale. Tree evenness and dominance increased with the variation of temperature but had upper and lower limits. Tree richness obviously increased with annual precipitation on multiple scales and decreased with annual sunshine duration at large spatial scale. Tree richness, evenness and dominance obviously increased with the variation elevation and diameter at breast height at large scales and small scales, respectively. Tree dominance decreased with tree height in a hump at small scale. The dependence of tree diversity on ecological factors increased with spatial scales. Furthermore, different factors exert various controls on tree diversity at different spatial scales, representing a comprehensive mechanism regulating tree diversity.

Ningxiang pig is renowned breed for its exceptional meat quality, but it possesses suboptimal carcass traits. To elucidate the genetic architecture of meat quality and carcass traits in Ningxiang pigs, we assessed heritability and executed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) concerning carcass length, backfat thickness, meat color parameters (L.LD, a.LD, b.LD), and pH at two postmortem intervals (45 minutes and 24 hours) within a Ningxiang pig population. Heritability estimates ranged from moderate to high (0.30 ~ 0.80) for carcass traits and from low to high (0.11 ~ 0.48) for meat quality traits. We identified 21 significant SNPs, the majority of which were situated within previously documented QTL regions. Furthermore, the HMGA1 gene emerged as a pleiotropic gene correlated with carcass length and backfat thickness. The ADGRF1, FKBP5, and PRIM2 genes were associated with carcass length, while the NIPBL gene was linked to backfat thickness. These genes hold potential for use in selective breeding programs targeting carcass traits in Ningxiang pigs.

To overcome the temperature effect of NaI(Tl) detectors for energy spectrometry without additional hardware, a new correction method was put forward based on pulse deconvolution, trapezoidal shaping and amplitude correction, named DTSAC. To verify this method, actual pulses from a NaI(Tl)-PMT detector were measured at different temperatures from -20℃ to 50℃. Pulse processing and spectrum synthesis showed that the position drift of the 662 keV peak was less than 3 keV, and the corresponding resolution at 662 keV of the sum spectra ranges from 6.9% to 10.60% with trapezoidal width set as 1000 ns to 100 ns. The DTSAC method corrects temperature effect by pulse processing, and need no reference peak, reference spectrum and additional circuits. The method solves the problem of correction of pulse shape and pulse amplitude at the same time, and can be used even at high counting rate.

Multisource meteorological re-analyses are the most reliable forcing data for driving hydrological models to simulate streamflow. We aimed to assess the different hydrological responses through hydrological modeling in the upper Lancang-Mekong River Basin (LMRB) using the two gridded meteorological datasets, climate forecast system reanalysis (CFSR) and the China Meteorological Assimilation Driving Datasets for the SWAT model (CMADS). We selected the Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R), percent bias (PBIAS), and root mean square error (RMSE) indices to compare the six meteorological variables of the two datasets. The spatial distributions of the statistical indicators in the CFSR and CMADS, namely, the R, PBIAS, and RMSE values, were different. Furthermore, the soil and water assessment tool plus (SWAT+) model was used to do hydrological modeling based on CFSR and CMADS meteorological re-analyses in the upper LMRB. Different meteorological datasets resulted in significant differences of hydrological responses, which reflected by different sensitive parameters and their optimal value. These different calibrated optimal values of sensitive parameters further lead to the different simulated water balance components between CFSR- and CMADS-based SWAT+ model. These findings can help in a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different meteorological re-analysis datasets and the roles on the hydrological modeling.

Background: It remains unclear whether transfer RNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) play a role in pathological cardiac hypertrophy (PCH). We aimed to clarify the expression profile of tsRNAs and disclose their relationship to the clinical phenotype of PCH and the putative role. Methods: Small RNA sequencing was performed in the plasma of PCH patients and healthy volunteers. In a larger sample size and angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang II)-stimulated H9c2 cells, the data were validated by real-time qPCR. The atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were examined in Ang II-stimulated H9c2 cells. The role of tsRNAs in the pathogenesis of PCH was explored by bioinformatics analysis. Results: A total of 4185 differentially expressed tsRNAs were identified, of which 4 and 5 tsRNAs were observed to be significantly differentially upregulated and downregulated expressed. Of the 5 down-regulated tsRNAs, 4 of them were verified to be significantly down-regulated in the larger sample group, among which tRF-30-3JVIJMRPFQ5D, tRF-16-R29P4PE, tRF-21-NB8PLML3E, and tRF-21-SWRYVMMV0 had areas under the curve to diagnose concentric hypertrophy. The 4 down-regulated tsRNAs were negatively correlated with left ventricular posterior wall dimensions in PCH patients (r=-0.4227; r=-0.4517; r=-0.5567; r=-0.4223). The levels of ANP and BNP as well as cell size were decreased in Ang II-stimulated H9c2 cells with 21-NB8PLML3E mimic transfection. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the target genes of tRF-21-NB8PLML3E were mainly enriched in the metabolic pathway and involved in the regulation of ribosomes. Conclusion: The plasma tsRNAs tRF-21-NB8PLML3E might be considered biomarkers in patients with PCH with early screening potential.

To meet an ever global population's food demand, crop yields must be sustained and increased. Drought, which is getting harsher as a result of global warming, is largely impeding the agricultural productivity. Maize is widely used as food and animal feed in many regions of the world, but its yields are largely effected by drought and heat stress. Historical data on climate change predicts that drought and heat stress becoming major threat for maize cultivation in coming years, which will have huge impact on food security of the world especially in Africa and Asia. Thus there is an immense necessary to develop drought tolerant and climate resilient maize to feed the predicted population of the world. Availability and accessibility of crop genetic resources plays a huge role in development of drought-tolerant maize cultivars. A huge genetic resources of maize, including its landraces and crop wild relatives (CWR) have been reported naturally and many of them have stored in National and International gene banks globally. Conventional breeding methods have been tremendously increased maize yields, but these methods frequently fall short of achieving the demand for improved drought stress resistance. In this article, we have briefly discussed about impact of climate variability on crop production, maize yield losses due to drought, drought tolerance in maize landraces and CWR, and origin and evolution of Mexican landraces. This information may help in utilization of these potential resources in various pre-breeding programs.

Ion-complementary self-assembling peptides have been studied in many fields for their distinct advantages mainly due to their self-assembly properties. However, their shortcomings, such as insufficient specific activity and poor mechanical properties, also limited their application. For better and wider application of this kind of promising biomaterials, ion-complementary self-assembling peptides can be modified with their self-assembly properties not being destroyed to the greatest extent. The modification strategies were reviewed by taking RADA16-Ⅰ as an example. For the insufficient specific activity, RADA16-Ⅰ can be structurally modified with active motifs derived from the active domain of the extracellular matrix or other related active factors. For weak mechanical properties, materials with strong mechanical properties or materials that can undergo chemical crosslinking were used to mix with RADA16-Ⅰto enhance the mechanical properties of RADA16-Ⅰ. To improve the performance of RADA16-Ⅰ as drug carriers, appropriate adjustment of the RADA16-Ⅰ sequence and/ or modification of the RADA16-Ⅰ-related delivery system with polymer materials or specific molecules can be considered to achieve sustained and controlled release of specific drugs or active factors. The modification strategies reviewed in this paper may provide some references for the further basic research and clinical application of ion-complementary self-assembling peptides and their derivatives.

The change of tire groove depth will have a huge impact on tire performance, and the use of excessively worn tires is not conducive to the driving safety of automobiles. Tire groove depth detection has become one of the annual inspection items of automobiles, but the research on its related detection technology is still relatively backward. Based on the principle of monocular vision ranging (MVR), image processing technology and cloud platform technology, this paper develops a tire groove depth detection system, which realizes non-destructive detection of tire groove depth. In addition, the system uses the cloud platform to store the test results, and builds a multi-level data management system, allowing car owners to keep track of the tire wear status and historical changes, which is of great significance to ensuring driving safety.

The Drosophila imaginal disc has been an excellent model for the study of developmental gene regulation. In particular, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have gained widespread attention in recent years due to their important role in gene regulation. Their specific spatiotemporal expressions further support their role in developmental processes and diseases. In this study, we explored the role of a novel lncRNA in Drosophila leg development by dissecting and dissociating w1118 third-instar larval third leg (L3) discs into single cells and single nuclei, and performing single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and single-cell assays for transposase-accessible chromatin (scATAC-seq). Single-cell transcriptomics analysis of the L3 discs across three developmental timepoints revealed different cell types and identified lncRNA:CR33938 as a distal specific gene with high expression in late development. This was further validated by fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH). The scATAC-seq results reproduced the single-cell transcriptomics landscape and elucidated the distal cell functions at different timepoints. Furthermore, overexpression of lncRNA:CR33938 in the S2 cell line increased the expression of leg development genes, further confirming its important role in development.

A model for parasitic motility has been proposed in which parasite filamentous actin (F-actin) is attached to surface adhesins by a large component of the glideosome, known as the glideosome-associated connector protein (GAC). This large 286 kDa protein interacts at the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane with the phosphatidic acid-enriched inner leaflet and cytosolic tails of surface adhesins to connect them to the parasite actomyosin system. GAC is observed initially to the conoid at the apical pole and re-localised with the glideosome to the basal pole in gliding parasite. GAC presumably functions in force transmission to surface adhesins in the plasma membrane and not in force generation. Proper connection between F-actin and the adhesins is as important for motility and invasion as motor operation itself. This notion highlights the need for new structural information on GAC interactions, which has eluded the field since its discovery. We have obtained crystals that diffracted to 2.6-2.9 Å for full-length GAC from Toxoplasma gondii in native and selenomethionine-labelled forms. These crystals belong to space group P212121, cell dimensions are roughly a=119 Å, b=123Å, c=221Å, α=90, β=90, γ=90 with 1 molecule per asymmetric unit, suggesting a more compact conformation than previously proposed.

Periodontitis is a progressive and inflammatory oral disease and results in the damage of the supporting tissues of teeth. Peroxiredoxin6 (PRDX6) is an antioxidant enzyme and has been identified as a regulator in redox balance. This study aimed to investigate whether PRDX6 could protect human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) from lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced inflammation and its mechanisms. Here, both inflamed and non-inflamed human gingival tissues were collected to assess the expression of PRDX6 and NRF2 by Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Furthermore, HGFs were stimulated with LPS, MJ33 (PRDX6 phospholipase A2 inhibitor), or ML385 (NRF2 inhibitor). The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines were measured by RT-qPCR and ELISA, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected using DCFH-DA. PRDX6 was downregulated in inflamed gingival tissues. In HGFs, LPS induced inflammatory cytokines and ROS was upregulated in PRDX6 knockdown cells. Furthermore, co-treatment with MJ33 alleviated LPS-induced inflammatory cytokines and ROS, while inhibiting NRF2 upregulated those in HGFs. Therefore, this study provided a new mechanistic insight that PRDX6, regulated by the NRF2 signaling, alleviates LPS- induced periodontitis in human gingival fibroblasts.

Evidence indicates that the long noncoding RNAs are involved in the metformin-mediated anti-cancer processes. However, the potential effects of the long noncoding RNAs in metformin-mediated anti-tumor processes in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) are still elusive. This study uncovered that metformin decreases the level of long noncoding RNAs CCAT1 and SPRY4-IT1 thereby contributing to the down-regulation of c-Myc and vimentin. Also, the RNA level test of human ESCC tissue confirmed the positive correlation between CCAT1 and c-Myc. These findings demonstrated that metformin facilitated anti-cancer effects by targeting the 2 long noncoding RNAs (CCAT1 and SPRY4-IT1) and their consequential targets c-Myc and vimentin. Therefore, the CCAT1 and SPRY4-IT1 might act as novel molecular targets that mediate the anti-tumor effects in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. This helps in predicting the treatment response of metformin in patients diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Although cooperative social networks are considered key to human evolution, emphasis has usually been placed on the functions of men’s cooperative networks. What do women's networks look like? Do they resemble or differ from men's and what does this suggest about evolutionarily inherited gender differences in reproductive and social strategies? In this paper, we test the ‘universal gender differences’ hypothesis positing gender-specific network structures against the ‘gender reversal’ hypothesis that posits women's networks looking more 'masculine' under matriliny. Specifically, we ask whether men's friendship networks are always larger than women's and we investigate measures of centrality by gender and descent system. To do so, we use tools from social network analysis and data on men’s and women’s friendship ties in matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo communities. In tentative support of the gender reversal hypothesis, we find that women's friendship networks in matriliny are relatively large. Measures of centrality and generalized linear models otherwise reveal greater differences between communities than between men and women. The data and analyses we present are primarily descriptive given limitations of sample size and sampling strategy. Nonetheless, our results provide support for the flexible application of social relationships across genders and clearly challenge the predominant narrative of universal gender differences across space and time.

We demonstrate hybrid integration of a lithium niobate microring resonator with a silicon nitride waveguide in the vertical configuration to achieve efficient light coupling. The microring resonator is fabricated on a lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) substrate using photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching (PLACE). A fused silica cladding layer is deposited on the LNOI ring resonator. The silicon nitride waveguide is further produced on the fused silica cladding layer by first fabricating a trench in the fused silica using focused ion beam (FIB) etching for facilitating the evanescent coupling, followed by formation of the silicon nitride waveguide on the bottom of the trench. The FIB etching ensures the required high positioning accuracy between the waveguide and the ring resonator. We achieve Q-factors as high as 1.4*10^7 with the vertically integrated device.

Based on the observation and reanalysis data, the relationship between Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) over the Maritime Continent (MC) and the tropical Pacific-Indian Ocean temperature anomaly mode is analyzed. The results showed that the MJO over the MC region (100°-140°E, 10°S-5°N) (referred to as MC-MJO) possesses prominent interannual and interdecadal variations and seasonally "phase-locked" features. MC-MJO is strongest in the boreal winter and weakest in the boreal summer. Winter MC-MJO kinetic energy variation has significant relationships with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in winter and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) in autumn, but it correlates better with the tropical Pacific-Indian Ocean associated mode (PIOAM). The correlation coefficient between the winter MC-MJO kinetic energy index and the autumn PIOAM index is as high as -0.43. This means that when the positive (negative) autumn PIOAM anomaly strengthens, the MJO kinetic energy over the winter MC region weakens (strengthens). However, the correlation between the MC-MJO convection and PIOAM in winter is significantly weaker. The propagation of MJO over the Maritime Continent differs significantly in the contrast phases of PIOAM. During the positive phase of the PIOAM, the eastward propagation of the winter MJO kinetic energy always fails to move across the MC region and cannot enter the western Pacific. However, during the negative phase of the PIOAM, the anomalies of MJO kinetic energy over the MC is not significantly. MJO can propagate farther eastward and enter the western Pacific. One thing must be pointed out that there is a significant difference between the propagation of MJO convection over the MC region in winter and that of the MJO kinetic energy. That said, the MJO convection is more likely to extend to the western Pacific in the positive phases of PIOAM than in the negative phases

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has gained much attentions in recent years due to its advantages including geometric freedom and design complexity, appropriate to a wide range of potential industrial applications. However, conventional metal AM methods have high-cost barriers due to the initial cost of the capital equipment, support and maintenance, etc. This study presents a unique low-cost metal material extrusion (MME) technology. The filaments used have polylactic acid (PLA) as the matrix and metal powders (copper, bronze, stainless steel, high carbon iron, and aluminum) as reinforcements. Using the proposed fabrication technology, test specimens were built by extruding polymer/metal composite filaments, which were then sintered in an open-air furnace to produce solid metallic parts. In this research, the mechanical and thermal properties of the built parts are examined using tensile tests, thermogravimetric-, thermomechanical- and microstructural analysis.

Kiwifruit vines are generally sensitive to waterlogging stress. So far, molecular responses of different kiwifruit genotypes for waterlogging stress are less well-explored. In this study, using RNA-sequencing, we examined transcriptional regulation in the roots of a waterlogging-tolerant genotype KR5 (Actinidia valvata), and a sensitive genotype ‘Hayward’ (Actinidia deliciosa) subjected to 0, 12, 24, and 72 h of waterlogging. Compared with 0 h, transcriptional adjustments of these two genotypes occurred as early as 12 h and became notably pronounced 72 h after waterlogging. Waterlogging stress for 72 h promoted the expression of genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis, sucrose and hexose transport, anaerobic fermentation, nitrate reduction, alanine accumulation, and reactive oxygen scavenging in both genotypes. The differential regulation of genes encoding 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase, phosphoglucomutase, alanine-glyoxylate transaminase, and other enzymes pointed to their diverse strategies upon waterlogging in these two genotypes. In addition, more sucrose and trehalose contents, as well as a higher activity of alcohol dehydrogenase and manganese superoxide dismutases were stimulated in KR5 roots after 72h of waterlogging than that in ‘Hayward’. Overall, our results provided more insights into the molecular basis of the waterlogging response in kiwifruit.

Chickens have extensive phenotypic variation. The Wuhua yellow chicken (WHYC) is an important traditional yellow-feathered chicken in China, characterized by white tail feathers, white flight feathers, and strong disease resistance. However, the genomic basis of traits associated with WHYC is still poorly understood. In this study, whole genome resequencing was performed with an average coverage of 20.77-fold to investigate heritable variation and identify selection signals in WHYC. Reads were mapped onto the chicken reference genome (Galgal5) with a coverage of 85.95%. After quality control, 11,953,471 SNPs and 1,069,574 InDels were obtained. In addition, 41,408 structural variants and 33,278 copy number variants were found. A comparative genomic analysis of WHYC and other yellow-feathered chicken showed that selected regions were enriched in genes involved in transport and catabolism, immune system, infectious diseases, signal transduction, and signaling molecules and interaction. Several genes associated with disease resistance were identified, including IFNA, IFNB, CD86, IL18, IL11RA, VEGFC, and ATG10. Furthermore, PMEL and TYRP1 may contribute to the coloring of white feathers in WHYC. These findings improve our understanding of the genetic characteristics of WHYC and may contribute to future breed improvement.

The ongoing pandemic of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) raises a global health crisis, which has resulted in 75,778 confirmed cases with 2130 deaths in China and beyond. Atypical symptom renders it challenging to earlier recognize the 2019-nCoV carrier with the potential ability of equivalent transmission. Therefore, it is needed to gain full spectrum of COVID-19. Here we report clustered COVID-19 cases of person-to-person transmission. The symptoms of typical pneumonia are shared by the two familial members, namely son (Patient 1) and father (Patient 2). Unexpectedly, an influenza-like illness (ILI) is also caused in Patient 3 having close contact with Patient 1 at personal dinner party. Combined with clinical and epidemiological study, chest computed tomography (CT) and molecular diagnosis demonstrate that all the three cases tested positive for COVID-19 with distinct symptoms by human-to-human transmission. To the best of knowledge, it closes in part (if not all), a missing gap of clinical repertoires of COVID-19 outbreaks and underlines the possibility that neglection of cryptic/asymptomatic/mild cold-like syndromes gives biased screen in the earlier stage of COVID-19 cases.

Given of the outstanding versatile properties, the multilayered anti-corrosion coatings have drawn great interests in academic and engineering fields. However, the application of multilayered coatings is restricted by some limitations such as low interlayer compatibilities, harsh preparation process, etc. This work introduced a composite film fabricated on 2A12 aluminum alloy surface, including an anodic oxide film, a sol-gel film as well as a layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembling film from bottom to top. The microstructure and elemental characterization indicated that the finish of the coating with the LBL film resulted in a closely connected multilayered coating with a smoother surface. The anticorrosion performance was systematically evaluated in the simulated corrosive medium and neutral salt-spray environment. The intergrated coating with the LBL film presented an excellent anticorrosion ability with the system impedance over 108 Ω•cm² and the self-corrosion current density two orders of magnitude lower than that of the other coatings. After the acceleration test in salt-spray environment, the multilayered coatings could still show a good protective performance with almost no cracks and no penetration of chloride ions. It is believed that the as-constructed multilayered coating with high corrosive properties and fine surface state will have promising applications in the field of anticorrosion engineering.

In this paper, we have used magnetron sputtering to grow the high-quality GeSn layer on Ge (100) with Sn compositin up to 7%. The crystallinity of the GeSn layer is pretty good, and the strain relaxation degree of the GeSn layer is evaluated to be approximately 50%. The root mean square (RMS) value is 0.8 nm, and the averaged TDDs in the GeSn layer is 8.7×109 cm-2, which is obtained from the rocking curve of GeSn layer along (004) plane. PL measurement result shows the significant optical emission from the deposited high-quality GeSn layer, which also means that magnetron sputtering is an optional way to achieve the higher Sn composition GeSn luminescent material. To verify whether our deposited GeSn can used for optoelectronic devices, we fabricate the simple vertical p-i-n diode, and the room temperature current-voltage (I-V) characteristic was obtained. This result paves the way for future sputtered-GeSn optimization, which is critical for the optoelectronic application.

Wasted Green tuff powder produced by cutting Towada stone is recycled as environmental cleaning material. The optimum temperature for green tuff powder calcination to reduce the hydroxyl radical produced in hydrogen peroxide decomposition with ultraviolet light (UV) and no light. The green tuff calcined at 800 °C shows the large decomposition rate of hydrogen peroxide with no UV light when measured by using ESR. With UV light, the optimum temperature for calcinating the green tuff powder in order to reduce hydroxyl radical is also 800 °C. Next, the powder calcined at 800 °C is used to produce the tile by compression and heating, and then the formaldehyde adsorption rate was measured. The green tuff powder calcined at 800 °C showed a high adsorption rate, similar to that of the activated carbon. The tiles formed at 40 MPa and heated st 1100 °C were the strongest and also adsorbed formaldehyde. The adsorbed formaldehyde on the green tuff tile and powder might have a possibility to decompose by photocatalytic.

Cotton fiber development transition from elongation to secondary cell wall biosynthesis is a critical growth shifting phase that affects cotton fiber final length, strength and other properties. Morphological dynamic analysis indicates that an asynchronous fiber developmental pattern between two cotton species. The critical time point for Gh and Gb fiber elongation termination is, respectively, 23 and 27 days post-anthesis (dpa). The temporal changes of protein expression at three representative development periods (15–19, 19–23, 23–27 dpa) were examined in both species with iTRAQ technics. Strikingly, a large proportion of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) was identified at 19–23 dpa in Gh or at 23–27 dpa in Gb, corresponding to their fiber developmental transition timing from elongation to secondary cell wall biosynthesis. To better understand fibers transitional development, we comparatively analyzed those DEPs in 19–23 dpa of Gh vs. in 23–27 dpa of Gb, and noted that these cotton species indeed share fundamentally similar fiber development features under the biological processes. It also showed that there have limited overlaps in both specific upregulated and downregulated proteins between the two species, suggesting specie-specific protein regulations in development. Proteomic profiling revealed dynamic changes of several key proteins and biological processes that potentially correlate with fiber development transition. During the transition, upregulated proteins mainly involved in carbohydrate/energy metabolism, oxidation-reduction, cytoskeleton, protein turnover, Ca²⁺ signaling etc, whereas important downregulated proteins mostly concentrated in phenylpropanoid and flavonoid secondary metabolism pathways. Several changed proteins in this key stage were also validated by qRT-PCR. Overall, the present study provides accurate pictures of the regulatory networks of functional proteins during the fiber developmental transition.

By combing continuum topology optimization (TO) method and lattice structure technique, a sandwich aircraft spoiler with a high stiffness-to-weight is designed. TO method is served to produce the shell of the aircraft spoiler and the lattice structure, used as cores, is employed to support the shell. TO problem is established as maximizing the stiffness of the structure with limited material volume. Density-based method is utilized to achieve a 0/1 solution. We then empirically replace the core of the aircraft spoiler by using 3D kagome lattice structure. Two different materials, i.e., aluminum alloy and titanium alloy, are synthetically applied to further reduce the weight and simultaneously improve the strength of the aircraft spoiler. Numerical simulations are conducted to show that the designed aircraft spoiler can meet the service environment with a reduction of its weight by approximately 80% when compared with that of the initial design model. Finally, we have fabricated the designed model with photosensitive resin by using 3D printing technique.

This work demonstrates that a plasmid can function as an efficient biocatalyst in mediating the nitroaldol (Henry) reaction at high temperatures in ultrapure water. Compared with ssDNA, the plasmid displayed a remarkable catalytic efficiency (97% yield within 20 min). Aromatic aldehydes which bear strong or moderate electron-withdrawing groups reacted satisfactorily with nitromethane, which afforded the corresponding β-nitroalcohols in good yields within 2 h (up to 98%). By contrast, aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes with electron-donating groups did not react. Moreover, the yield significantly dropped when the size of the carbanion increased, and the yield was only 10% when nitropropane was used as the donor.

The aim of this study was to develop a novel nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) with hepatocytes targeting as carriers for the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent (i.e., magnetic nanostructured lipid carriers, MNLCs), and to evaluate the targeting ability of the MNLCs with T2-weighted MRI both in vitro and in vivo. Here, the galactose-octadecylamine (Gal-ODA) conjugates were synthesized by chemical coupling reaction between lactose acid (LA) and octadecylamine (ODA). Then the superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) loaded nanostructured lipid carrier (conjugated by Gal-ODA, Gal-NLC-SPIO) was prepared by emulsification-ultrasonic method using monoglyceride as lipid materials. The Gal-NLC-SPIO with a diameter of about 50 nm could specifically internalize into LO2 (human hepatic cell line) cells. In vitro MRI results also proved the specific targeting ability of Gal-NLC-SPIO to LO2 cells. The in vivo MR imaging experiments using an orthotopic intrahepatic xenograft tumor model further validated the hepatocytes targeted effect of Gal-NLC-SPIO. The results of this study suggested that Gal-NLC-SPIO can be used as a contrast agent to aid in the diagnosis of hepatic diseases.

Human epidemiologic studies and laboratory investigations in animal models suggest that exposure to general anesthetic agents (GAs) have harmful effects on brain development. The mechanism underlying this putative iatrogenic condition is not clear and there are currently no accepted strategies for prophylaxis or treatment. Recent evidence suggests that anesthetics might cause persistent deficits in synaptogenesis by disrupting key events in neurodevelopment. Using an in vitro model consisting of dissociated primary cultured mouse neurons we demonstrate abnormal pre- and post-synaptic marker expression after a clinically relevant isoflurane anesthesia exposure conducted during neuron development. We find that pharmacologic inhibition of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway can reverse the observed changes. Isoflurane exposure increases expression of phospho-S6, a marker of mTOR pathway activity, in a concentration-dependent fashion and this effect occurs throughout neuronal development. The mTOR 1 complex (mTORC1) and the mTOR 2 complex (mTORC2) branches of the pathway are both activated by isoflurane exposure and this is reversible with branch-specific inhibitors. Upregulation of mTOR is also seen with sevoflurane and propofol exposure, suggesting that this mechanism of developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity may occur with all the commonly used GAs in pediatric practice. We conclude that GAs disrupt the development of neurons during development by activating a well-defined neurodevelopmental disease pathway and that this phenotype can be reversed by pharmacologic inhibition.

The dioecious property of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) prevents sex recognition via traditional observation at the juvenile stage, thus impeding breeding and economic cropping; RAPD and SCAR markers were used to identify the sexes. A total of 45 random decamer primers were used to screen genomic DNA pools of staminate and pistillate genotypes for genetic polymorphisms. One female sex-linked marker was identified. D15 (5′-CATCCGTGCT-3′) amplified a particular band of 885 bp, which showed polymorphism among staminate and pistillate genotype plants. The SCAR marker Hrcx-15 was obtained by sequencing the fragment. The alleles of 140 pistillate genotypes were examined but not of the 140 staminate genotypes discerned via taxonomy. Staminate and pistillate genotypes of sea buckthorn plants can be distinguished, using Hrcx-15 as a genetic marker for sex identification and for expediting cultivation for commercial applications.

The treatment of large-area bone defects remains a challenge; however, various strategies have been developed to improve the performances of scaffolds in bone tissue engineering. In this study, poly(lactide-co-glycolide)/hydroxyapatite (PLGA/HA) scaffold was coated with Asp-Gly-Glu-Ala (DGEA)-incorporated collagen for the repair of rat skull defect. Our results indicated that the mechanical strength and hydrophilicity of PLGA/HA scaffold were clearly improved and conducive to cell adhesion and proliferation. The collagen-coated scaffold with DGEA significantly promoted the repair of skull defect. These findings indicated that a combination of collagen coating and DGEA improved scaffold properties for bone regeneration, thereby providing a new potential strategy for scaffold design.

The specific role of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) in hepatic triglyceride (TG) accumulation in alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD) were unclear. Poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) is a NAD-consuming enzyme and its specific role in the pathogenesis of AFLD is still elusive. In current investigation, we found that chronic alcohol exposure enhanced hepatic PARP expression and activity and lowered hepatic NAD⁺ level. PARP activity inhibitor PJ34 decreased the intracellular TG content in hepatocyte. Moreover, PJ34 suppressed the gene expression of DGAT1 and DGAT2 and elevated the intracellular NAD⁺ level in hepatocyte. These mechanistic observation was validated in alcohol-fed mice injected with PJ34 intraperitoneally. PJ34 injection attenuated hepatic TG accumulation in alcohol-fed mice. Further, the gene expression of hepatic SERBP-1c, DGAT1 and DGAT2 were lowered by PJ34 injection, while the hepatic NAD⁺ level was augmented by PJ34 injection in alcohol-fed mice. At last, the nicotinamide riboside supplementation alleviated hepatic TG accumulation in alcohol-fed mice. These data indicate that applying PARP specific inhibitor PJ34 by intraperitoneal injection attenuated hepatic NAD⁺ depletion and TG accumulation in alcohol-fed mice, which might be a potential candidate for AFLD therapy.

Aerial image classification has become popular and has attracted extensive research efforts in recent decades. The main challenge lies in its very high spatial resolution but relatively insufficient spectral information. To this end, spatial-spectral feature extraction is a popular strategy for classification. However, parameter determination for that feature extraction is usually time-consuming and depends excessively on experience. In this paper, an automatic spatial feature extraction approach based on image raster and segmental vector data cross-analysis is proposed for the classification of very high spatial resolution (VHSR) aerial imagery. First, multi-resolution segmentation is used to generate strongly homogeneous image objects and extract corresponding vectors. Then, to automatically explore the region of a ground target, two rules, which are derived from Tobler’s First Law of Geography (TFL) and a topological relationship of vector data, are integrated to constrain the extension of a region around a central object. Third, the shape and size of the extended region are described. A final classification map is achieved through a supervised classifier using shape, size, and spectral features. Experiments on three real aerial images of VHSR (0.1 to 0.32 m) are done to evaluate effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach. Comparisons to state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in VHSR image classification.

Forest ecosystems make a greater contribution to carbon (C) stocks than any other terrestrial ecosystem. To understand the role of regional forest ecosystems in global climate change and carbon exchange, forest C stock and its spatial distribution within the small (2,300 km2) Liuxihe River basin were analyzed to determine the different contributors to the C stock. Forest C stocks were quantified by measuring the biomass of trees, understory vegetation, litter and roots, as well as soil organic C, using data from field samples and laboratory experiments. The results showed that forests stored 38.04 Tg C in the entire basin, with secondary and planted forests accounting for 89.82% and 10.18%, respectively, of the stored C. Five types of forests, a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, a subtropical coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, a subtropical coniferous forest, a timber forest, and a non-wood forest, stored 257.55 ± 15.01, 218.92 ± 9.59, 195.24 ± 18.29, 177.42 ± 17.55, and 117.86 ± 6.04 Mg C ha−1, respectively. In the forest ecosystem C stocks of the basin, soils averagely contribute about 73.78%, not including root underground biomass. It provides a comprehensive method for forest ecosystem carbon investigation and forest management in small basin scale.

With the continuing development of sequencing technology, genomics has been applied in a variety of biological research areas. In particular, the application of genomics to marine species, which boast a high diversity, promises great scientific and industrial potential. Significant progress has been made in marine genomics especially over the past few years. Consequently, BGI, leveraging its prominent contributions in genomics research, established BGI-Qingdao, an institute specifically aimed at exploring marine genomics. In order to accelerate marine genomics research and related applications, BGI-Qingdao initiated the International Conference on Genomics of the Ocean (ICG-Ocean) to develop international collaborations and establish a focused and coherent global research plan. Last year, the first ICG-Ocean conference was held in Qingdao, China, during which 47 scientists in marine genomics from all over the world reported on their research progress to an audience of about 300 attendees. This year, we would like to build on that success, drafting a report on marine genomics to draw global attention to marine genomics. We summarized the recent progress, proposed future directions, and we would like to enable additional profound insights on marine genomics. Similar to the annual report on plant and fungal research by Kew Gardens, and the White Paper of ethical issues on experimental animals, we hope our first report on marine genomics can provide some useful insights for researchers, funding agencies as well as industry, and that future versions will expand upon the foundation established here in both breadth and depth of knowledge.This report summarizes the recent progress in marine genomics in six parts including: marine microorganisms, marine fungi, marine algae and plants, marine invertebrates, marine vertebrates and genomics-based applications.

The coseismic surface three-dimensional deformation fields were significant for quantified the geometric and kinematic characteristics of earthquake rupture faults. Traditional geodetic techniques were constrained by their intrinsic limitations, such as InSAR, which could only extract far-field deformation fields due to its incoherence, and GNSS, which could only acquire deformations at discrete points. The recently developing optical pixel correlation technique based on high resolution remote sensing images could acquire the near-field coseismic horizontal deformation. In this study, the vertical displacement field of the 2022 Mw 6.6 Menyuan earthquake was obtained by differencing the pre- and post-earthquake DEMs from GaoFen-7 stereo satellite images. Further, the line-of-sight (LOS) and azimuthal (AZI) directions far-field deformations by InSAR, the horizontal near-field deformation by optical pixel correlation based on pre- and post-earthquake GF-2/7 images, and the vertical deformation by differencing the pre- and post-earthquake DEMs, were incorporated to comprehensively solve the complete three-dimensional deformation fields of the 2022 Mw 6.6 Menyuan earthquake. Firstly, the vertical displacement field by differencing DEMs indicated there were significant vertical displacements about 1 m at the bend region, which was induced by the local compressive stress. In addition, at the epicenter on the middle segment of ruptured Lenglongling fault (LLLF), the maximum lifting occurred on the southern sides of the main and secondary faults exceeded 2 m. Secondly, the three-dimensional deformation fields solved by multiple deformation data demonstrated that the near-field deformation field calculated by optical pixel correlation method could quantify the displacements distributed over the rupture fault zone, which were not available on the InSAR deformation maps. Finally, the surface 2D strain derived from the displacement maps calculated by optical pixel correlation revealed high strain concentration on the rupture fault zone. Our study focused on the complete surface three-dimensional deformation estimation from multiple far- and near-field deformation data, and provided a new perspective for a deeper understanding of the characteristics of coseismic surface deformation and the rupture pattern of the fault.

Intelligent fault diagnosis techniques have replaced the time-consuming and unreliable human analysis, increasing the efficiency of fault diagnosis. Deep learning model can improve the accuracy of intelligent fault diagnosis with the help of its multilayer nonlinear mapping ability. This paper has proposed a novel method named Deep Convolutional Neural Networks with Wide First-layer Kernels (WDCNN). The proposed method uses raw vibration signals as input (data augmentation is used to generate more inputs), and uses the wide kernels in first convolutional layer for extracting feature and suppressing high frequency noise. Small convolutional kernels in the preceding layers are used for multilayer nonlinear mapping. AdaBN is implemented to improve the domain adaptation ability of the model. The proposed model addresses the problem that currently, the accuracy of CNN applied to fault diagnosis is not very high. WDCNN can not only achieve 100% classification accuracy on normal signals, but also outperform state of the art DNN model which is based on frequency features under different working load and noisy environment.

College students play an important role in higher education and future social life. Research has a significant impact on college students' self-efficacy. Taking college students in Chengdu, China as an example, this study adopts the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method, comprehensively incorporating various influencing factors such as demographic characteristics, physical exercise behavior, and life satisfaction. From the perspective of physical exercise behavior and life satisfaction, an asymmetric causal model that affects college students' high self-efficacy is constructed. The research results support the main principles of complexity theory, confirming the heterogeneity and complexity of the antecedent conditions for high self-efficacy among college students. Nineteen causal condition combinations that can promote high self-efficacy among college students are obtained. This study conducts exploratory research on the introduction of complexity theory analysis into the study of college students' physical exercise, life satisfaction, and self-efficacy. It also provides a decision-making reference path for improving the life satisfaction, physical exercise behavior, and self-efficacy of college students.

High entropy alloys have excellent wear resistance, so they have great application prospects in the fields of wear resistance and surface protection. In this study, the wear resistance of FeNiCrCoCu high entropy alloy coating was systematically analyzed by molecular dynamics method. FeNiCrCoCu high entropy alloy was used as a coating material to adhere to the surface of Cu matrix. The friction and nano indentation simulation of this coating material were carried out by controlling the ambient temperature. The influence of temperature on its friction properties was analyzed from five aspects: lattice structure, dislocation evolution, friction coefficient, hardness and elastic modulus. The results show that with the increase of temperature, the disorder of the lattice structure increases, which leads to the increase of the tangential force and the friction coefficient in the friction process. At 300K and 600K, the ordered lattice structure of the high entropy alloy coating material is basically the same, and thus their hardness is basically the same. However, the dislocation density at 600K is significantly reduced compared with that at 300K, resulting in the increase of the elastic modulus of the material from 173GPa to 219GPa. At the temperatures of 900K and 1200k, lattice disorder take place rapidly, and dislocation density also decreases significantly, resulting in a significant decrease in the hardness and elastic modulus of the material. When the temperature reaches 900K, the wear resistance of the FeNiCrCoCu high entropy alloy coating decreases sharply. This work is of great value to the analysis of wear resistance of high entropy alloy at high temperature.

In human body, carboxylesterases (CEs) play the crucial roles in xenobiotic metabolism and lipid homeostasis. But the abnormal CEs expression is highly associated with some diseases, such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes and liver cancer. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop an efficient tool for the accurate detection of CEs in living organisms. Herein, an innovative near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe TTAP−AB has been designed for CEs detection based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) mechanism. This probe exhibits rapid response (2 min), excellent sensitivity (limit of detection = 8.14×10−6 U/mL), and high selectivity towards CEs. Additionally, owing to the good biocompatibility, probe TTAP−AB enables to monitor the dynamic changes of CEs level under drug-induced modulation in living cells and zebrafish. More importantly, probe TTAP−AB is successfully employed to image the liver tumor and assist tumor resection by the real-time monitoring of CEs, indicating that TTAP−AB is promising to guide liver cancer surgery. Therefore, probe TTAP−AB can not only enrich the strategies for CEs detection in biological systems, but also has great potential for some clinical imaging applications, including medical diagnosis, preclinical research, and imaging-guided surgery.

The use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) in natural killer (NK) cells for cancer therapy is gaining momentum, marking a significant shift in cancer treatment. This review aims to explore the potential of CAR-NK cell therapy in cancer immunotherapy, providing a fresh perspective. It discusses the innovative approaches in CAR-NK cell design and engineering, particularly targeting refractory or recurrent cancers. By comparing CAR-NK cells with traditional therapies, the review highlights their unique ability to tackle tumor heterogeneity and immune system suppression. Additionally, it explains how novel cytokines and receptors can enhance CAR-NK cell efficacy, specificity, and functionality. The review underscores the advantages of CAR-NK cells, including reduced toxicity, lower cost, and broader accessibility compared to CAR-T cells, along with their potential in treating both blood cancers and solid tumors.

Hypochlorite (ClO−) and viscosity both affect the physiological state of mitochondria, and their abnormal levels are closely related to many common diseases. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop a mitochondria-targeting fluorescent probes for the dual sensing of ClO− and viscosity. Herein, we have explored a new fluorescent probe XTAP−Bn, which responds sensitively to ClO− and viscosity with off-on fluorescence changes at 558 and 765 nm, respectively. Because the emission wavelength gap is more than 200 nm, XTAP−Bn can effectively eliminate the signal crosstalk during the simultaneous detection of ClO− and viscosity. In addition, XTAP−Bn exhibits a series of advantages, including high selectivity, rapid response, good water solubility, low cytotoxicity, and excellent mitochondrial targeting ability. More importantly, probe XTAP−Bn has been successfully employed to monitor the dynamic change of ClO− and viscosity levels in mitochondria of living cells and zebrafish. Taken together, this work not only provides a reliable tool for identifying mitochondrial dysfunction, but also offers a potential approach for the early diagnosis of mitochondrial-related diseases.

Marine industries are dependent on the ocean and often have a direct impact on the marine environment. Although previous studies have talked about pollution from marine industries, it is not known to what extent and to what extent these behaviors affect the ocean. Therefore, this study examines the impacts of major marine industries on the marine environment, using China as an example. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China categorizes the quality of seawater into Class I, Class II, Class III, Class IV, and Inferior Class IV in descending order according to the quality from good to poor. In this study, water quality of Class I and Class II are defined as good quality seawater, Class III as average quality, Class IV and Class IV as poor quality, and the proportion of the area of seawater with different water quality to the total area of the sea area symbolizes the overall quality of the marine environment. We use panel data from 11 provinces and cities along the coast of mainland China from 2006 to 2020, estimated by the full feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method, to study the impacts of the development of coastal tourism, marine transportation, marine shipbuilding, marine salt, mariculture, and marine fishing on the marine environment. The empirical results show that, in descending order of the degree of influence, the marine industries that cause a decrease in the area of good quality seawater are coastal tourism, mariculture and shipbuilding, and the marine industries that cause an increase in the area of poor quality seawater are marine transportation and shipbuilding, while the marine salt industry has no obvious influence on the marine environment, and the development of the marine fishing industry indirectly contributes to the improvement of the marine environment.

With the inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in both the DSM-5 and ICD-11, understanding the prevalence and diagnostic discrepancies is crucial for developing appropriate interventions. This study presents a meta-analysis of the prevalence of IGD based on two diagnostic criteria. We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science databases. 17 studies were included in the final analysis, The analysis incorporated studies employing the DSM-5 and ICD-11 criteria and focused on the impact of various factors, including study location, sample size, and quality score, on the reported prevalence rates using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity and publication bias were analyzed using an I2 test and Galbraith plots , The prevalence of IGD varied among the selected studies, with a general pooled prevalence of 5% (95% CI: 3%–7%). Subgroup analysis indicated that the prevalence rates of IGD (DSM-5 criteria) and GD (ICD-11 criteria) do not show significant differences. DSM-5-based scales yielded varied results, while heterogeneity among the studies was high (I2 = 98.50). In contrast, ICD-11-based scales produced more consistent and less variable findings. Our findings highlight that assessment scales, not diagnostic criteria, impact IGD prevalence. This underscores the importance of adopting standardized methodologies to guide public health interventions. However, given the limited research based on ICD-11 diagnostic criteria, further investigation is necessary to determine the variations in prevalence rates of IGD under different diagnostic standards.

A case of low level windshear at Beijing Daxing International Airport is studied in the present pa-per. It is related to the synoptic scale/mesoscale changes of the airflow pattern over northern China. The shear was captured well by the Doppler LIDAR at the airport and timely alerts had been issued. This study considers the technical feasibility of forecasting the shear feature using a high resolution numerical weather prediction model with a lead time of several hours. It turns out that the shear feature could be forecast well, and is generally consistent with the actual observations. However, there are still discrepancies between reality and the simulation, such as the strength of the shear and persistency of the feature. More cases of windshear at Daxing airport would be studied in the fu-ture in order to understand the nature of windshear over there.

This study investigates the impact of specimen size on the mechanical properties of wood, specifically focusing on compression strength, elastic modulus, and Poisson's ratio. Compression tests were conducted using three different specimen sizes (20mm×20mm×30mm, 40mm×40mm×60mm, 60mm×90mm×90mm) in the longitudinal, radial, and tangential directions. Mechanical parameters, failure mechanisms, load-displacement curves, and stress-strain relationships were systematically analyzed for each size. The study also evaluated the influence of specimen size on the accuracy of finite element numerical simulations by utilizing the obtained mechanical parameters. The results reveal a significant correlation between compressive strength and specimen size, indicating a decrease in compressive strength with increasing specimen size. Conversely, elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio exhibit less sensitivity to variations in specimen size. Notably, parameters derived from small-sized specimens (20mm×20mm×30mm) exhibited substantial errors, while those obtained from medium-sized (40mm×40mm×60mm) and large-sized specimens (60mm×90mm×90mm) demonstrated greater reliability, providing precise results in finite element numerical simulations.

Global warming may increase the potential evapotranspiration (Etp), thereby affecting the amount of clean water resources available in a region. In this study, the systematic biases in temperature outputs of 24 global climate models (GCMs) under 3 emission scenarios are corrected by using 8 bias correction methods. The trend of Etp in Yangzi River Delta in the 21st century is projected by using 4 Etp calculation formulas. The uncertainty of the projections is estimated and decomposed by using multi-way analysis of variance. The influence of uncertainty on the projected change signal is quantified by using the signal-to-noise ratio. The results show that, relative to the reference period (1971~2000), the annual mean daily Etp in Yangzi River Delta will increase by 0.14~0.17mm/d during the period 2021~2050 and by 0.21~0.41mm/d during the period 2061~2090, respectively. During 2021~2050, the uncertainty of Etp increase projections is dominantly contributed by the main effects of GCM (63%) and Etp calculation formula (24%). During 2061~2090, it is mainly contributed by the main effect of GCM (36%), followed by the main effects of emission scenario (34%) and Etp calculation formula (18%). The increase projections of Etp are generally reliable and robust during the two projection periods.

Although numerous organizational researchers have acknowledged that COVID-19 shocks reduced the tourism industry’s financial performance, relevant literature remains scarce. Do tourism firms reduce corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments to decrease costs? The answer is unclear. This study fills the gap between stakeholder and cost stickiness theories. Based on a quasi-natural experiment of listed Chinese tourism companies from 2017 to 2021, the study finds that the COVID-19 shock caused tourism firms to increase strategic and decrease responsive CSR. In addition, tourism firms that adopted cost leadership strategies trimmed responsive CSR more than strategic CSR. Tourism firms with differentiated leadership strategies increased strategic and decreased responsive CSR. Tourism firms with higher levels of political connections increased responsive CSR, while tourism firms with higher organizational resilience increased strategic CSR. At the theoretical level, this study reveals the theoretical mechanism of the COVID-19 epidemic’s shock on tourism firms' adjustment of CSR from the perspective of cost stickiness. On a practical level, it helps inform tourism firms’ decision-making regarding CSR adjustments for sustainable development when they face widespread crisis scenarios.

The fertility rate and litter size of female pigs are critically affected by the expression of estrus. The objective of this study was to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of estrus expression by analyzing the differential expression of genes and long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNA), as well as the utilization of alternative polyadenylation (APA) sites, in the vulva and vagina during the estrus and diestrus stages of Large White and indigenous Chinese Mi gilts. Our study revealed that the number of differentially expressed genes (DEG) in the vulva was less than that in the vagina, and the DEGs in the vulva were enriched in pathways such as “neural” pathways and steroid hormone responses, including the “Calcium signaling pathway” and “Oxytocin signaling pathway”. The DEGs in the vagina were enriched in the “Metabolic pathways” and “VEGF signaling pathway”. Furthermore, 27 and 21 differentially expressed lincRNAs (DEL), whose target genes were enriched in the “Endocrine resistance” pathway, were identified in the vulva and vagina, respectively. Additionally, we observed that 63 and 618 transcripts of the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) were lengthened during estrus in the vulva and vagina, respectively. Interestingly, the genes undergoing APA events in the vulva exhibited species-specific enrichment in neural or steroid-related pathways, whereas those in the vagina were enriched in apoptosis or autophagy-related pathways. Further bioinformatic analysis of these lengthened 3'-UTRs revealed the presence of multiple miRNAs binding sites and cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE) regulatory elements. In particular, we identified more than 10 CPEs in the validated lengthened 3'-UTRs of the NFIX, PCNX4, CEP162 and ABHD2 genes using RT-qPCR. These findings demonstrated the involvement of APA and lincRNAs in the regulation of estrus expression in female pigs, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying estrus expression in pigs.

Benzimidazole fungicides are a class of highly effective, low-toxicity, systemic broad-spectrum fungicides developed in the 1960s and 1970s, based on the fungicidal activity of the benzimidazole ring structure. They exhibit biological activities including anticancer, antibacterial, and antiparasitic effects. Due to their particularly outstanding antibacterial properties, they are widely used in agriculture to prevent and control various plant diseases caused by fungi. The main products of benzimidazole fungicides include benomyl, carbendazim, thiabendazole, albendazole, thiophanate, thiophanate-methyl, fuberidazole, carbamic acid, and carbendazim salicylate. This article mainly reviews the physicochemical properties, toxicological properties, and disease control efficacy, and pesticide residue and detection technologies of the aforementioned nine benzimidazole fungicides and their main metabolite (2-aminobenzimidazole). On this basis, a brief outlook on the future research directions of benzimidazole fungicides is presented.

Abstract Background: Numerous studies have demonstrated that the amalgamation of populations belonging to the same breed or closely related breeds leads to enhanced accuracies in genomic predictions (GP). Extensive experimentation with diverse Bayesian and Genome-enabled best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP) models has been conducted to explore multi-breed genomic selection (GS) in livestock, ultimately establishing they as successful approaches for predicting genomic estimated breeding value (GEBV). This study aimed to examine the efficacy of BayesR and GBLUP model with different weighted genomic relationship matrices (GRM) in making genomic predictions for three distinct beef cattle breeds. Subsequently, we conducted a comparative analysis of the predictive accuracy pertaining to various marker densities and genetic correlations across three distinct beef cattle breeds. This investigation aimed to identify the optimal approach for enhancing the predictive accuracy of multi-breed genomic selection in beef cattle. Results：Genetic relationship matrices revealed moderate similarities between YL and the other breeds, with a striking genetic similarity of 0.87 between WG and HX. In HX cattle, BayesR demonstrated an enhancement in prediction accuracy, achieving 0.52 with HD and 0.46 with WGS, a marked improvement over 0.41 with HD and 0.42 with WGS in GBLUP. In WG and YL breeds, both methods showed comparable accuracies with HD, but BayesR slightly outperformed GBLUP with WGS. Further, multi-breed GS analysis indicated that BayesR consistently surpassed GBLUP in prediction accuracy, particularly with WGS data. For instance, in a combined HX and WG reference population, BayesR achieved a superior accuracy of 0.53 with WGS in HX cattle, a significant enhancement over GBLUP models. The study also underscores the advantage of incorporating multiple breeds in the reference population, which improved prediction accuracy, underscoring the value of broad-based genomic selection strategies. Conclusion: The results show that accuracy of multi-breed genomic predictions was higher with BayesR than with GBLUP, especially for the distantly genetic relationship between reference and validation breeds. Further improvements of multi-breed accuracy of genomic predictions could be achieved by increasing the density of the SNP marker. These findings underscore that BayesR providing a substantial improvement in genomic prediction and the importance of considering genetic relationships in the development of GS strategies for multi-breed cattle populations. Further research is warranted to optimize GRM construction and to explore alternative models for genomic prediction across breeds.

Watermelon fruits of different ploidy exhibit significant variations in texture. In order to investigate the primary factors influencing texture differences, this study was conducted to investigate the differences in fruit texture development using homozygous autogamous diploid (2X)lines and their autotriploid (3X) and autotetraploid (4X) lines 'Yixuan'. The research encompassed fruit development, flesh texture profile analysis (TPA), flesh cell wall polysaccharide content, and flesh cell microstructure analysis, specifically in 2X, 3X, and 4X watermelon fruits.The results showed that as watermelon fruits matured, several characteristics exhibited an ascending trend, including fruit weight, TSS (total soluble solids) content, rind hardness, flesh cell size, and cell wall polysaccharide contents such as crude fiber, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and protopectin. Conversely, the flesh texture parameters and soluble pectin content of the flesh cell wall gradually declined. Notably, significant differences in fruit flesh texture and flesh cell structure were observed among fruits of different ploidy at the 32d. Specifically, 2X fruits displayed considerably lower rind hardness, reduced flesh texture (Hardness, Fracturability, Chewiness, Gumminess), and cell density compared to 3X and 4X fruits. Additionally, 2X fruits exhibited larger cell sizes than 3X and 4X fruits. However, no significant differences were observed in the content of flesh cell wall polysaccharide contents across various ploidy levels.These findings suggested that the variation in texture among watermelon fruits of different ploidy can be attributed to the size and arrangement of flesh cells. Importantly, this research provided a foundation for further exploration of the intrinsic regulatory factors and molecular mechanisms contributing to texture variation in polyploid watermelon fruits.

The Spiking Neural Network (SNN) has attracted more and more attention recently. It adopts binary spike signals to transmit information. Benefitting from the information passing paradigm of SNNs, the multiplications of activations and weights can be replaced by additions, which are more energy-efficient. However, its ``Hard Reset" mechanism for the firing activity would ignore the difference among membrane potentials when the membrane potential is above the firing threshold, causing information loss. Meanwhile, quantifying the membrane potential to 0/1 spikes at the firing instants will inevitably introduce the quantization error thus bringing about information loss too. To address these problems, we propose to use the ``Soft Reset" mechanism for the supervised training-based SNNs, which will drive the membrane potential to a dynamic reset potential according to its magnitude, and Membrane Potential Rectifier (MPR) to reduce the quantization error via redistributing the membrane potential to a range close to the spikes. Results show that the SNNs with the ``Soft Reset" mechanism and MPR outperform their vanilla counterparts on both static and dynamic datasets.

Biodegradable and renewable plastic films have been regarded as promising alternative green materials to achieve the substitution polythene (PE)films to reduce plastic pollution. Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) is a kind of biodegradable polyester, which is widely used in the production of biodegradable mulching films. However, the high cost of PBAT limited it applications. Thus, lignin, one of the most abundant biomass resources was incorporated into PBAT matrix in the present work. A series of Lignin/PBAT biodegradable plastics films with different Lignin/PBAT weight ratios (0.00 %-5.00 %) were successfully fabricated using twin screw and twin roll extruders. The chemical compositions, morphologies, thermal stabilities, mechanical properties, and barrier properties of samples were characterized by XRD, FTIR, TG/DSC, mechanical testing machine, and WVTR, respectively. Results show that the corporation of lignin into PBAT matrix could lead to improved thermal stabilities, mechanical properties and barrier properties of films even after Xenon lamp aging process, especially when Lignin/PBAT weight ratio is 1.00 % in the present work. This work provides a very promising approach for fabrication of biodegradable plastics films with low cost, enhanced mechanical properties and barrier properties, the as-prepared samples may have potential applications in agricultural or food packaging materials.

The A. japonicus industry has expanded significantly, but no research has focused on how to de-termine the age of A. japonicus during farming. Correctly estimating the age of A. japonicus can provide a decision-making basis for the breeding process, and data for the protection of A. japonicus aquatic germplasm resources. DNA methylation levels in the body wall of Apostichopus japonicus at 4 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years old were determined by MethylRAD-Seq, and differentially methylated genes related to age were screened. The results of the study found that 441 and 966 differentially methylated genes were detected at CCGG and CCWGG sites, respectively. As-partate aminotransferase, succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, the histone H2AX, heat shock protein Hsp90, aminopeptidase N, cell division cycle CDC6, Ras GTPase activating protein (RasGAP), slit guidance ligand slit 1, integrin linked kinase ILK, mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase Mtor, protein kinase A Pka, and autophagy-related 3 atg3 these genes may play key roles in the growth and aging process of A. japonicus. This study provided data for identifying the age of A. japonicus.

Using numerical software to establish a three-dimensional geological model of shield tunneling through fault fracture zones, considering the synchronous grouting effect at the shield tail, the disturbance of various geotechnical structures in the fault fracture zone under deep burial and high water pressure conditions is studied. According to the comparison between the numerical model analysis results and the on-site inspection results of the entire process of Shiziyang B3 section, synchronous grouting at the shield tail is the main reason for the changes in soil and water pressure in the fault fracture zone area. The soil and water pressure changes strongly during shield tunneling, and the maximum excess pore pressure value occurs when the shield tail passes. When the shield tunneling machine is far away, the soil and water stress shows a downward trend. The impact of synchronous grouting decreases with the increase of tunneling distance. Due to the difference in permeability, the variation law of pore pressure in the fault fracture zone is significantly different from the original rock, leading to a faster increase in pore pressure in the fracture zone area and a wider range of influence.

(1) Background: This study aimed to investigate the effect of increased HER-2 expression on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and determine its impact on the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients; (2) Methods: HER-2, CD4, CD8, CD19, LY6G, CD56, CD68, CD11b, and EpCam expression in CRC tissues and adjacent paracancerous tissues were assessed using multiplex fluorescence immunohistochemical staining. The correlation between HER-2 expression and the number of TILs in CRC tissues was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze survival outcomes; (3) Results: The expression of HER-2 in tumor tissues was higher than that in paracancerous tissues (1.31 ± 0.45 vs. 0.86 ± 0.20, P < 0.05). Additionally, there was an increase in the numbers of CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, and CD68+ cells in CRC tissues (14.11 ± 1.10 vs. 3.40 ± 0.18, P < 0.005; 0.16 ± 0.12 vs. 0.04 ± 0.04, P < 0.005; 0.71 ± 0.46 vs. 0.25 ± 0.13, P < 0.0005; 0.27 ± 0.24 vs. 0.03 ± 0.11, P < 0.05). The increase in HER-2 expression was positively correlated with an increase in CD4, CD8, and CD19 (p < 0.0001). In HER-2-positive CRC tissues, CD68 expression was increased (0.80 ± 0.55 vs. 0.25 ± 0.22, P < 0.05). In HER-2-upregulated CRC tissues, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD68, CD11b, Ly6G, and CD56 expressions were elevated (0.70 ± 0.37 vs. 0.32 ± 0.17, P = 0.03; 0.22 ± 0.13 vs. 0.09 ± 0.06, P = 0.03; 0.31 ± 0.19 vs. 0.12 ± 0.08, P = 0.02; 1.05 ± 0.62 vs. 0.43 ± 0.21, P < 0.01; 1.34 ± 0.81 vs. 0.53 ± 0.23, P < 0.01; 0.50 ± 0.31 vs. 0.19 ± 0.10, P < 0.01; 1.26 ± 0.74 vs. 0.52 ± 0.24, P < 0.01). Furthermore, increased HER-2 expression is an independent risk factor for recurrence-free survival (RFS) in patients (P < 0.01, HR = 3.421); (4) Conclusions: The increased expression of HER-2 and its relationship with immune cells will provide new insights for immunotherapy in CRC patients.

Cisplatin (CDDP), an important chemotherapeutic agent, could result in potential hepatotoxicity, but the precious molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, the protective effect of ellagic acid (EA) on CDDP exposure-induced hepatotoxicity and underlying molecular mechanisms were investigated using a mouse model. Mice were randomly divided into control, CDDP model, EA100 (i.e., EA 100 mg/kg/day), and CDDP plus EA 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg/day. Mice in all CDDP-treated groups were intraperitoneally injected with CDDP 20 mg/kg/day for 2 days. In all EA co-treatments, mice were orally administrated with EA for 7 days. Our results found that, compared to the control group, CDDP treatment resulted in liver dysfunction, oxidative stress, and hepatocyte necrosis, which are effectively revised by EA supplementation in a dose-dependent manner. Meanwhile, EA supplementation inhibited CDDP-induced the elevation of caspases-9 and -3 activities in the liver tissues of mice. Furthermore, EA supplementation significantly downregulated CDDP exposure-induced the increases of NF-κB, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 proteins and mRNAs, while further upregulated the expression of Nrf2, and HO-1 proteins and mRNAs. Taken together, our results reveal that EA supplementation could ameliorate CCDP-induced liver injury in mice via the opposite regulation of Nrf2/HO-1 and NF-kB pathways.

The economics and safety of reactors can be affected by the diffusion of fission products into graphite. Xenon (Xe) fission products diffusing into the graphite is the most critical neutron absorber and poison that can slow down or stop the chain reaction. The transport parameters for inhibiting the xenon diffusion in graphite are therefore the utmost scientific problem. Self-sintered nanopore-isotropic (~ 40nm) graphite (SSNG) derived from green pitch coke can decrease Xe diffusion into the graphite. In this study, a method for measurement of diffusion coefficients of fission products diffusion in graphite by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) was reported. The SSNG substrates were implanted with Xe at a dose of 4.8×1015 ions/cm2 and energy of 7 MeV. The RT-implanted samples were annealed in a vacuum at 650°C for 9 h. The implanted and annealed samples were characterized by RBS. The diffusion coefficient D(Xe,650°C) is 6.49×10-20 m2/s. The results indicate the excellent ability to inhibit Xe diffusion of the SSNG and present significance in designing and evaluating the safety of nuclear reactors.

Temperature is a crucial environmental factor that affects embryonic development, particularly for marine organisms with long embryonic development periods. However, the sensitive period of embryonic development and the role of autophagy/apoptosis in temperature regulation in cephalopods, enigmatic creatures, remain unclear. In this study, we cultured embryos of Sepiella japonica, a typical species in the local area of the East China Sea, at different incubation temperatures (18 ℃, 23 ℃, and 28 ℃) to investigate various developmental aspects, including morphological and histological characteristics, mortality rates, the duration of embryonic development, and expression patterns of autophagy-related genes (LC3, BECN1, Inx4) and apoptosis marker genes (Cas3, p53) at 25 developmental stages. Our findings indicate that embryos in the high-temperature (28 ℃) group had significantly higher mortality and embryonic malformation rates than those in the low-temperature (18 ℃) group. Furthermore, high temperature (28 ℃) shortened the duration of embryonic development by 7 days compared to the optimal temperature (23 ℃), while low temperature (18 ℃) caused a delay of 9 days. Therefore, embryos of S. japonica were more intolerant to high temperatures (28 ℃), emphasizing the critical importance of maintaining an appropriate incubation temperature (approximately 23 ℃). Additionally, our study observed, for the first time, that the Early blastula, Blastopore closure, and Optic vesicle to Caudal end stages were the most sensitive stages. During these periods, abnormalities in the expression of autophagy-related and apoptosis-related genes were associated with higher rates of mortality and malformations, highlighting the strong correlation and potential interaction between autophagy and apoptosis in embryonic development under varying temperature conditions.

The development of photocatalysts with a wide spectral response and effective carrier separation capability is essential for the green degradation of tetracycline. In this work, a magnetic recyclable Z-scheme ZnO/ZnFe2O4 heterojunction (ZZF) was successfully constructed by the solid phase method using MIL-88A(Fe)@Zn as the precursor. Appropriate band gap width and Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism make ZZF have excellent visible light absorption performance, efficient charge separation and strong redox ability. Under visible light irradiation, the degradation efficiency of TCH for optimal sample ZZF2 can reach 86.3 % within 75 min in deionized water, and achieve 92.9 % within 60 min in tap water, which exhibits superior stability and reusability after five cycles. Moreover, the catalyst in the water can be conveniently recovered by magnetic force. After visible light irradiation for 70 minutes, the temperature of the reaction system increased by 21.9 °C. Its degradation constant (35.53×10-3 min-1) increases 5.1 times that at room temperature (6.95×10-3 min-1). Thermal energy perfects the kinetic driving force of the reactants and promotes carrier migration to produce more •O2- and •OH. This work provides a potential candidate and inspires the design of photocatalyst for tetracycline hydrochloride degradation.

Due to the intermittency and fluctuation of photovoltaic (PV) output power, a high proportion of grid-connected PV power generation systems has a significant impact on power systems. Accurate PV power forecasting can alleviate the uncertainty of the PV power and is of great significance for the stable operation and scheduling of the power systems. Therefore, in this study, a feature rise-dimensional (FRD) two-layer ensemble learning (TLEL) model for short-term PV power deterministic forecasting and probability forecasting is proposed. First， based on the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Random Forest (RF), CatBoost, and Long-short-term memory (LSTM) models, a TLEL model is constructed utilizing the ensemble learning algorithm. Meanwhile, the FRD method is introduced to construct the FRD-XGBoost-LSTM (R-XGBL), FRD-RF-LSTM(R-RFL), and FRD- CatBoost - LSTM (R-CatBL) models. Subsequently, the above models are combined to construct the FRD-TLEL model for deterministic forecasting, and perform probability interval forecasting based on quantile regression(QR). Finally, the performance of the proposed model is demonstrated with a real-world dataset. By comparing with other models, the proposed model displays better forecasting accuracy for deterministic forecasting and reliable forecasting intervals for probability forecasting, and good generalization ability in the datasets of different seasons and weather types.

Our previous study found that intravesical perfusion metformin has excellent inhibitory effects against bladder cancer (BC). However, this administration route allows the drug to be diluted and excreted in urine. Therefore, increasing the adhesion of metformin to the bladder mucosal layer may prolong the retention time and increase the pharmacological activity. It is well known that chitosan (Cs) has a strong adhesion to the bladder mucosal layer. Thus, this study established a novel for-mulation of metformin to enhance its antitumor activity by extending its retention time. In this research, we prepared Cs freeze-dried powder and investigated the effect of metformin-loaded chitosan hydrogels (MLCH) in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that MLCH had a strong in-hibitory effect against proliferation and colony formation in vitro. The reduction in BC weight and expression of tumour biomarkers in orthotopic mice showed the robust antitumor activity of MLCH via intravesical administration in vivo. The non-toxic profile of MLCH was observed as well, using histological examinations. Mechanistically, MLCH showed stronger functional activation of the AMPK/mTOR signalling pathway compared with metformin alone. These findings highlighted the potential of this novel formulation as an efficient candidate for managing BC via intravesical ad-ministration.

Rikenella microfusus is an essential intestinal probiotic with great potential. The latest research shows that its imbalance in the intestinal flora is related to the occurrence of various diseases, such as intestinal diseases, immune diseases, and metabolic diseases. Rikenella may be a target or biomarker for some diseases, providing a new possibility for preventing and treating these diseas-es by monitoring and changing the abundance of Rikenella in the intestine. However, the current detection methods have disadvantages such as long detection time, complicated operation, and high cost, which seriously limit the possibility of clinical application of this new treatment method. Therefore, developing rapid and low-cost detection methods has become an urgent problem to be solved. In this study, we used Rikenella as the target bacterium, meanwhile including five other prominent gut bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila, Allobaculum stercoricanis, Blautia producta, Rose-buria intestinalis and Parabacteroides distasonis as control organisms. The aptamer library R.m-R13 was evolved with high specificity and strong affinity (Kd = 9.597 nM) in an iterative Cell-SELEX process after 13 rounds of selection. R. microfusus can efficiently be discriminated from other major gut bacteria in complex mixtures in different analysis techniques including fluorescence micros-copy or fluorometric suspension assays and even in human stool samples. These preliminary re-sults open new avenues towards the development of aptamer-based microbiome bio-sensing ap-plications for fast and reliable R. microfusus monitoring.

Orthohantaviruses can cause two types of human infections: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). HFRS is a zoonotic disease transmitted by multiple rodent species. Yunnan Province in southwest China is the natural foci of HFRS, and Dali Prefecture in Yunnan Province has the highest incidence of HFRS; however, the precise status of orthohantavirus infection in Dali Prefecture remains unknown. To this end, we obtained clinical data of HFRS patients from the medical records of the People's Hospital of Xiangyun County in Dali Prefecture from July 2019 to August 2021. We collected epidemiological data of HFRS patients through interviews and investigated host animals using the night clip or night cage method. We systematically performed epidemiological analyses of patients and host animals. The differences in the presence of rodent activity at home (2=8.75, P=0.031&lt;0.05), of rodent-proof equipment in the food (2=9.19, P=0.025&lt;0.05), and of rodents or rodent excrement in the workplace (2=10.35, P=0.014&lt;0.05) were statistically different in the four clinical types, including mild, medium, severe, and critical HFRS-associated diseases. Furthermore, we conducted molecular detection of orthohantavirus in host animals. The total orthohantavirus infection rate of rodents was 2.7% (9/331); the specific infection rate of specific animal species was 6.1% (5/82) for the Apodemus chevrieri, 100% (1/1) for the Rattus nitidus, 3.8% (2/53) for the Rattus norvegicus, and 12.5% (1/8) for the Crocidura dracula. In this study, a total of 21 strains of orthohantavirus were detected in patients and rodents. The 12 orthohantavirus strains from patients showed a closer relationship with Seoul orthohantavirus (SEOOV) L0199, DLR2, and GZRn60 strains; the six orthohantavirus strains from Rattus norvegicus and Apodemus chevrieri were closely related to SEOOV GZRn60 strain; One strains (XYRn163) from Rattus norvegicus and one strain (XYR.nitidus97) from Rattus nitidus were closely related to SEOOV DLR2 strain; the orthohantavirus strain from Crocidura dracula was closely related to the Luxi orthohantavirus (LUXV) LX309 strain. In conclusion, patients with HFRS in Xuangyun County of Dali Prefecture are predominantly affected by SEOOV, with multiple genotypes of orthohantavirus in host animals, and most importantly, these orthohantavirus strains constantly demonstrated zoonotic risk in humans.

Using analysis methods such as Rutherford backscattering Spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy, the diffusion behavior of iodine in micro/nano-porous graphite under high-temperature conditions was studied. The results indicate that iodine diffusion leads to the contraction of graphite microcrystals, a decrease in interlayer spacing, and an increase in defect density, resulting in a reduction in microcrystal size. Upon diffusion of iodine out of iodine-loaded graphite, the microcrystal size of the graphite increases, the interlayer spacing appears to return to the initial state, and the defect density decreases. By comparing the iodine diffusion performance of nanoporous graphite G400 and G450 with microporous graphite G500, it was determined that nanoporous graphite exhibits better inhibition of iodine diffusion compared to microporous graphite. Studying the diffusion behavior of iodine in micro/nano-porous graphite has significant academic significance and engineering value for the screening, design, and performance optimization of nuclear graphite.

The Pingbei area is the main accumulation area of oil and gas in the Xihu Sag. The phase characteristics of oil and gas in this area are complex, and the understanding of their genesis is still unclear. In this paper, based upon discussions of crude oil and natural gas geochemical data, integrated with local geological features, we discuss the sources, migration, and phase state characteristics of oil and gas in the Pingbei area of the Xihu Sag. The study results showed that the crude oil and natural gas in the Pingbei area are coal-derived and the oil and gas produced by the humic organic matter during the maturity stage. The oil and gas source correlation showed that crude oil and natural gas have good affinity with the Eocene Pinghu Formation (PF) coal-bearing source rocks. Crude oil has the characteristics of near-source accumulation and short-distance migration while natural gas is supplied from a dual source: the coal-derived hydrocarbon rocks of PH in the deep part of the study area, supplemented by the coal-derived hydrocarbon rocks of PH on the bottom of the slope, and adjacent hydrocarbon-bearing sub sag. The distribution characteristics and geochemical migration indices of hydrocarbon showed that the oil generated from the hydrocarbon source rocks of PH in the deep Pingbei area mainly migrates vertically along the fault connecting the reservoir and the source rocks to the trap, where it accumulates, while the natural gas exhibits deep and large faults that mainly migrate vertically, supplemented by its lateral migration along the composite transport system composed of faults and sandstone layers in the slope zone. The mechanisms of produced, exhausted, and geochromatographic effects (PGE), as well as evaporative fractionation (EF) and phase-controlled migration fractionation (PMF), result in the obvious discrepancy of hydrocarbon’s properties on the vertical profiles.

Background: There are ongoing workforce challenges with the delivery of long-term care (LTC), such as staffing decisions based on arbitrary standards. The Synergy tool, a resident-centered approach to staffing, pro-vides objective, real-time acuity and dependency scores (Synergy scores) for residents. The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate the impact of the Synergy tool on LTC delivery. Methods: A longitudinal mixed methods study took place within two publicly-funded LTC homes in British Columbia, Canada. Quantitative data included weekly Synergy scores for residents (24 weeks), monthly aggregated resident falls data (18 months) and a six-month economic evaluation. Qualitative data were gathered from family caregivers and thematically analyzed. Results: Quantitative findings from Synergy scores revealed considerable variability for resident acuity/dependency needs within and across units; and falls decreased during implementation. The six-month economic evaluation demonstrated some cost savings by comparing Synergy tool training and implementation costs with savings from resident fall rates reductions. Qualitative analyses yielded three positive impacts themes (improved care delivery, better communication, and improved resident-family-staff relationships), and two negative structural themes (language barrier and staff shortages). Conclusions: The Synergy tool provides useful data for enhancing a ‘fit’ between resident needs and available staff.

'Huangguan' pear has significant social and economic value, and phosphorus, as one of the three main mineral elements of plants, has an irreplaceable effect on the normal growth of 'Huangguan' pear trees. The objective of this study was to predict the content of phosphorus in the pulp and peel of ‘Huangguan’ pears nondestructively and conveniently by using near-infrared spectroscopy (900–1700 nm) technology. First, twelve algorithms are used to preprocess the original spectral data, and the partial least squares regression algorithm and the gradient boosting regression tree algorithm are used to build a full-band prediction model based on the original spectral data and the processed spectral data. The characteristic wavelengths were extracted using genetic algorithms, followed by establishing a characteristic wavelength prediction model. The prediction accuracy of the models was evaluated according to the coefficient of determination R² and the relative analysis error RPD. The study found that the best prediction model for predicting phosphorus content in the pulp of 'Huangguan' pear was MSC-GA-PLSR, which had R²=0.843 and RPD=1.857 in the modelling set and R²=0.989 and RPD=7.041 in the prediction set. The best prediction model for predicting phosphorus content in the peel of ‘Huangguan’ pear was SG+SNV+FD-GA-PLSR, which had R²=0.991 and RPD=7.470 in the modelling set and R²=0.974 and RPD=4.414 in the prediction set, and the effect was good and met expectations. The results demonstrated that near-infrared spectroscopy could successfully achieve nondestructive detection of phosphorus content in the pulp and peel of 'Huangguan' pears.

Mixed lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1) introduces 1-, 2- and 3-methylation into histone H3K4 through the evolutionarily conserved set domain. In this study, bovine embryonic stem cells (bESCs, named bESCs-F7) were established from the in vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos by Wnt signaling inhibition, while its contribution to endoderm in vivo is limited. To improve the quality of bESCs, MM-102, an inhibitor of MLL1, was applied to the culture. The results showed that MLL1 inhibition along with GSK3 and MAP2K inhibition (3i) at the embryonic stage did not affect bESCs establishment and pluripotency. MLL1 inhibition improves the pluripotency and differentiation potentials of bESCs via up-regulation of stem cell signaling pathways such as PI3K-Akt and WNT. MLL1 inhibition decreases H3K4me1 modification at promoters in bESCs and altered the distribution of DNA methylation in bESCs. In summary, MLL1 inhibition enables bESCs to acquire better pluripotency, and its application may provide high quality pluripotent stem cells for domestic animals.

Plant height is one of the key agronomic traits for improving the yield of sweetpotato. The phytohormones, especially gibberellins (GAs) are crucial to regulate plant height. The 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is the key enzyme for abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis signalling in higher plants. However, its role in regulating plant height has not been reported to date. Here, we cloned a NCED gene, IbNCED1, from sweetpotato cultivar Jishu26. This gene encoded the 587-amino acid polypeptide containing an NCED superfamily domain. The expression level of IbNCED1 was highest in the old tissues in the field-grown Jishu26. The expression of IbNCED1 was induced by ABA and GA. Overexpression of IbNCED1 promoted the accumulation of ABA and inhibited the content of active GA3 and plant height, and affected the expression levels of genes involved in the GA metabolic pathway. IbNCED1 overexpression reduced sensitivity to GA3 and exogenous application of GA3 could rescue the dwarf phenotype. In conclusion, we suggest that IbNCED1 regulates plant height and development by controlling the accumulation of active GA3 signalling pathway in transgenic sweetpotato.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic progressive disease caused by various factors, and causes various cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Reducing the plasma levels of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) is the primary goal in preventing and treating AS. Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 (PCSK9) plays a crucial role in regulating LDL-C metabolism. Panax notoginseng has potent lipid-reducing effects and protects against CVDs, and its saponins induce vascular dilatation, inhibit thrombus formation, and are used in treating CVDs. However, the anti-AS effect of the secondary metabolite, 20(S) -protopanaxatriol (20(S)-PPT), remains unclear. In this study, the anti-AS effect and molecular mechanism of 20(S)-PPT were investigated in vivo and in vitro by western blotting, real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), immunofluorescence staining, and other assays. The in vitro experiments revealed that 20(S)-PPT reduced the levels of PCSK9 in the supernatant of HepG2 cells, upregulated low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) protein levels, promoted LDL uptake by HepG2 cells, and reduced PCSK9 mRNA transcription by upregulating the levels of FoxO3 protein and mRNA and decreasing the levels of HNF1α protein and mRNA. The in vivo experiments revealed that 20(S)-PPT upregulated aortic αSMA expression, increased the stability of atherosclerotic plaques, and reduced aortic plaque formation induced by a high-cholesterol fed in ApoE-/- mice (HCF group). Additionally, 20(S)-PPT reduced the aortic expression of CD68, reduced inflammation in the aortic root, and alleviated the hepatic lesions in the HCF group. The study revealed that 20(S)-PPT inhibited LDLR degradation via PCSK9 to alleviate AS.

In this study, GC–IMS was used to analyze the volatile component and flavor profiles of Crassostrea gigas individuals of different ploidy and gender. Principal component analysis was used to explore overall differences in flavor profiles and a total of 54 volatile compounds were identified. The total volatile flavor contents in edible parts of tetraploid oysters were significantly higher than in diploid and triploid oysters. The concentrations of ethyl (E)-2-butenoate and 1-penten-3-ol were significantly higher of triploid oysters than in diploid and tetraploid oysters. In addition, the volatile compounds propanoic acid, ethyl propanoate, 1-butanol, butanal, and 2-ethyl furan were significantly higher in females than in males. The volatile compounds p-methyl anisole, 3-octanone, 3-octanone, and (E)-2-heptenal were present in higher levels in male than in female oysters. Overall, different ploidy and gender of oysters were being presented with different sensory characteristics, providing new insights for understanding the flavor characteristics of oysters.

Dual localization or dual targeting refers to the phenomenon by which identical, or almost identical, proteins are localized to two (or more) separate compartments of the cell. From previous work in the field, we had estimated that a third of the mitochondrial proteome is dual targeted to extra-mitochondrial locations and suggested that this abundant dual targeting presents an evolutionary advantage. Here we set out to study how many additional proteins whose main activity is outside mitochondria are also localized, albeit at low levels, to mitochondria (eclipsed). To do this we employed two complementary approaches utilizing the α-complementation assay in yeast to uncover the extent of such eclipsed distribution: one systematic and unbiased and the other based on Mitochondrial Targeting Signal (MTS) predictions. Using these approaches, we suggest 280 new eclipsed distributed protein candidates. Interestingly, these proteins are enriched for distinctive properties compared to their exclusively mitochondrial-targeted counterparts. We focus on one unexpected eclipsed protein-family of the Triose-phosphate DeHydrogenases (TDH), and prove that indeed their eclipsed distribution in mitochondria is important for mitochondrial activity. Our work provides a paradigm of deliberate eclipsed mitochondrial localization, targeting and function, and should expand our understanding of mitochondrial function in health and disease.

Plants do need a fixed proportion of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) elements to maintain normal metabolic activities. The P fertilizers are widely used to supplement nutrients in subtropical plantations. Stoichiometric homeostasis reflects the strategy of plants to cope with various environments (including P fertilizer supply rate). It is thus of great significance to understand C:N:P stoichiometry in the plant-litter-soil system under P addition and stoichiometric homeostasis of plant tissues for fertilization management of slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm) plantations. We measured the C, N and P contents in root, branch, needle, litter and soil in slash pine plantations fertilized with four treatments - P1 (25 kg P ha−1 yr−1), P2 (50 kg P ha−1 yr−1), P3 (100 kg P ha−1 yr−1), and a control (CK) in subtropical China and calculated stoichiometric homeostasis of plant tissues. Results showed that P addition increased the capacity of needle to obtain C, N and P elements and altered the C:N:P stoichiometry of plant tissues, as well promoted the accumulation of C and P elements in soil, but had no significant effect on soil stoichiometry. The nutrient contents of needle and branch were higher than those of root and litter, indicating that slash pine was more inclined to allocate nutrient to the aboveground tissues. The stoichiometric homeostasis of C, N and P among plant tissues was ranked as follows: root > branch > needle, and homeostasis of nutrient elements in the needle was C > N > P. This indicated that the C, N and P stoichiometric homeostasis was various among plant tissues and elements types under P addition. These findings suggest P addition would alleviate the P limitation of slash pine growth in subtropical regions. In the future, long-term observation experiments should be conducted and the trade-off between P addition rates and economic and ecological benefits should be considered.

Effective prediction of wastewater treatment is beneficial for precise control of wastewater treatment processes. The nonlinearity of pollutant indicators such as COD and TP makes the model difficult to fit and has low prediction accuracy. The classical deep learning methods have been shown to perform nonlinear modeling. However, there are enormous numerical differences between multi-dimensional data in the prediction problem of wastewater treatment, such as COD above 3000 mg/L and TP around 30 mg/L. It will make current normalization methods challenging to handle effectively, leading to the training failing to converge and the gradient disappears or exploding. This paper proposes a multi-factor prediction model based on deep learning. The model consists of a combined normalization layer and a codec. The combined normalization layer combines the advantages of three normalization calculation methods: z-score, Interval, and Max, which can realize the adaptive processing of multi-factor data, fully retain the characteristics of the data, and finally cooperate with the codec to learn the data characteristics and output the prediction results. Experiments show that the proposed model can overcome data differences and complex nonlinearity in predicting industrial wastewater pollutant indicators and achieve better prediction accuracy than classical models.

Due to the extremely inert surface of the polyester (PET) fabric, a toxic and traditional resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) dipping solution is always needs to be used in in rubber composite industry. Unfortunately, other effective methods for fabric surface treatment are in urgent needed to improve the poor bonding interface between the fabric and the rubber matrix. In our study, a facile way to modify PET fabric was developed. Specifically, the fabric is treated by an alkaline solution and a coupling agent with magnetic agitation. Afterwards, the treated fabric/rubber composites are prepared through a co-vulcanization process. Attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the surface chemical compositions of the modified fabrics. The adhesion behavior is analyzed by the peel test. The results show that the fabric surface is successfully grafted with a coupling agent, and the peel strength reaches 9.8 N/mm after KH550 treatment, which is increased 32% compared with that of the original fabric/rubber composites. In addition, the vulcanization rate and interfacial fracture mechanism are also researched.

Carbazole is one of the typical heterocyclic aromatic compounds (NSO-HETs) observed in pol-luted urban atmosphere, which has become a serious environmental concern. The most im-portant atmospheric loss process of carbazole is the reaction with OH radical. The present work investigated the mechanism of OH-initiated atmospheric oxidation degradation of carbazole by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the M06-2X/6-311++G(3df,2p)//M06-2X/6-311+G(d,p) level. The rate constants were determined by the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) theory. The lifetime of carbazole determined by OH was compared with other typical NSO-HETs. The theoretical results show that the degradation of carbazole initiated by OH radical includes four types of reactions: OH additions to “bend” C atoms, OH additions to “benzene ring” C atoms, H abstractions from C-H bonds and the H ab-straction from N-H bond. The OH addition to C1 atom and the H abstraction from N-H bond are energetically favorable. The main oxidation products are hydroxycarbazole, dialdehyde, carba-zolequinone, carbazole-ol, hydroxy-carbazole-one and hydroperoxyl-carbazole-one. The calcu-lated overall rate constant of carbazole oxidation by OH radical is 6.52 × 10−12 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 and the atmospheric lifetime is 43.92 h under the condition of 298 K and 1 atm. The lifetime of carbazole determined by OH radical is similar with that of dibenzothiophene oxidation but longer than those of pyrrole, indole, dibenzofuran and fluorene. This work provides a better understanding of the reactivity of carbazole in the atmospheric environment, the formation of secondary organic aerosols, and the chemical degradation and removal of carbazole in the at-mospheric environment.

In the next decade, further digitalisation of the entire wind energy project lifecycle is expected to be a major driver for reducing project costs and risks. In this paper, a literature review on the challenges related to implementation of digitalisation in the wind energy industry is first carried out, showing that there is a strong need for new solutions that enable co-innovation within and between organisations. Therefore, a new collaboration method called the WeDoWind Ecosystem is developed and demonstrated. The method is centred around specific "challenges", which are defined by "challenge providers" within a topical "space" and made available to participants via a digital platform. The data required in order to solve a particular "challenge" is provided by the "challenge providers" under the confidentiality conditions they specify. The method is demonstrated via a case study, the EDP Wind Turbine Fault Detection Challenge. Six submitted solutions using diverse approaches are evaluated. Two of the methods perform significantly better than EDP’s existing method in terms of Total Prediction Costs (saving up to €120,000). The WeDoWind Ecosystem is found to be a promising solution for enabling co-innovation in wind energy, providing a number of tangible benefits for both challenge and solution providers.

In order to solve the labor-intensive and time-consuming problem in the process of measuring yak body ruler and weight in yak breeding industry in Qinghai Province, a non-contact method for measuring yak body ruler and weight was proposed in this experiment, and key technologies based on semantic segmentation, binocular ranging and neural network algorithm were studied to boost the development of yak breeding industry in Qinghai Province. Main conclusions: (1) Study yak foreground image extraction, and implement yak foreground image extraction model based on U-net algorithm; select 2263 yak images for experiment, and verify that the accuracy of the model in yak image extraction is over 97%. (2) Develop an algorithm for estimating yak body ruler based on binocular vision, and use the extraction algorithm of yak body ruler related measurement points combined with depth image to estimate yak body ruler. The final test shows that the average estimation error of body height and body oblique length is 2.6%, and the average estimation error of chest depth is 5.94%. (3) Study the yak weight prediction model; select the body height, body oblique length and chest depth obtained by binocular vision to estimate the yak weight; use two algorithms to establish the yak weight prediction model, and verify that the average estimation error of the model for yak weight is 10.7% and 13.01% respectively.

Hyperactivation of Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling is an attractive therapeutic target for tumor therapy. Herein, forty-eight novel meridianin derivatives were designed and synthesized, and their anti-tumor activity were evaluated in vitro both for activity optimization and structure-activity relationship (SAR) study. The results indicated that most derivatives exhibited significantly improved anti-tumor activity, especially for compound 6e. The compound 6e contains an isothiouronium linked by an alkyl chain consisting of 6 carbon atoms with IC50 ranging from 1.11 to 2.80 μM on various cancer cell lines. Consistently, 6e dose dependently induced the apoptosis of A549 and DU145 cells, in which STAT3 are constitutively active. Western blotting assays indicated that the phosphorylation levels of JAK1, JAK2 and STAT3 were inhibited by 6e at 5 μM without significant change in total STAT3 level. Moreover, 6e also suppressed the expressions of STAT3 downstream genes, including c-Myc, Cyclin D1 and Bcl-XL at 10 μM. An additional in vivo study revealed that 6e at the dose of 10 mg/kg could potently inhibit the DU145 xenograft tumor without obvious body-weight loss. These results clearly indicate that 6e could be a potential anti-tumor agent by targeting JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway.

A microwave-photonics method has been developed for measuring distributed acoustic signals. This method uses microwave-modulated low coherence light as a probe to interrogate distributed in-fiber interferometers, which are used to measure acoustic-induced strain. By sweeping the microwave frequency at a constant rate, the acoustic signals are encoded into the complex microwave spectrum. The microwave spectrum is transformed into the joint time-frequency domain and further processed to obtain the distributed acoustic signals. The method is first evaluated using an intrinsic Fabry Perot interferometer (IFPI). Acoustic signals of frequency up to 15.6 kHz were detected. The method was further demonstrated using an array of in-fiber weak reflectors and an external Michelson interferometer. Two piezo-ceramic cylinders (PCCs) driven at frequencies of 1700 Hz and 3430 Hz were used as acoustic sources. The experiment results show that the sensing system can locate multiple acoustic sources. The system resolves 20 nε when the spatial resolution is 5 cm. The recovered acoustic signals match the excitation signals in frequency, amplitude, and phase, indicating an excellent potential for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS).

In China, the production of crop straw has been estimated to be approximately 800 Million tons yearly of which about 40% was burned. Corn stover is one of the main agricultural wastes in China. It has shown that lignin in corn stover could be effectively removed byMyrothecium verrucaria. The effects of the pretreatment of corn strover by Myrothecium verrucaria on compost were studied. The results showed that corn stover pretreatment by Myrothecium verrucaria, the Cellulose, Hemicellulose, and lignin were degraded and the results were 33.43%, 11.53% and 18.70% respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed that the surface structure of corn stover was changed. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis showed that the degradation products of lignin were increased. The exposed area of cellulose and hemicellulose was increased. Compared with the control group, the pH value was stable and the temperature was higher. The content of nitrogen in the material decreased, while the contents of total phosphorus and total potassium increased.The C/N ratio of materials decreased after composting.The results showed that the pretreatment of Myrothecium verrucaria improve the degradation of lignocelluloses, a great contribution was made to reduce the causes loss of plant nutrient and to fight against environmental pollution.

The magnetic polarization tensor has a promising capability of determining the geometry and material properties of metallic samples. In this paper, a novel computation method is proposed to estimate the magnetic polarization tensors for the metallic samples using the boundary element method. In this method, the metallic sample is placed in a uniformly distributed magnetic field. Based on assumptions that the excitation frequency and/or the conductivity of the sample is very high, the metallic sample is regarded as a perfect electrical conductor (PEC). Therefore, the scattered field at a certain distance can be simulated. By utilising the boundary element method, the magnetic polarization tensor can be derived from the simulated scattered field. The theoretical calculation is presented and simulations and experiments have been carried out to validate the proposed method. The results from the simulation are matched with the analytical solution for the case of sphere samples. Moreover, there is a good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental results for the copper cylindrical samples.

In this work, we designed and fabricated a multifunctional nanocomposite system which consists of chitosan, raspberry-like silver nanoparticles and graphene oxide. Room temperature atmospheric pressure microplasma (RT-APM) process provides a rapid, facile, and environment-friendly method for introducing silver nanoparticles into the composite system. By loading different drugs onto the polymer matrix and/or graphene oxide, our composite can achieve a pH controlled dual drug release with release profile specific to the drugs used. In addition to its strong antibacterial ability against E. coli and S. aureus, our composite also demonstrates excellent photothermal conversion effect under irradiation of near infrared lasers. These unique functionalities point to it’s the potential of nanocomposite system in multiple applications areas such as multimodal therapeutics in healthcare, water treatment, and anti-microbial, etc.

Plant breeding primarily focuses on improving conventional agronomic traits, e.g. yield, quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress; however, genetic improvement methods are being rapidly enhanced through genomics and phenomics. In the Genomics-Phenomics-Agronomics (GPA) paradigm, diverse research approaches have been conducted to bridge any two of these elements, and recently, all of them together. This review first highlights the progress to link i) genomics to agronomics; ii) genomics to phenomics; and iii) phenomics to agronomics. Secondly, the GPA domain is dissected into different layers, each addressing the three elements simultaneously. These dissected layers include genetic dissection through gene mapping using genome-wide association studies and genomic selection using Best Linear Unbiased Prediction, Bayesian approaches, and machine learning. The objective of the review is to help readers to grasp the core developments among the exponentially growing literature in each of these fields. Through this review, the connections among the three elements of the GPA paradigm are coherently integrated toward the prospect of sustainable development of agronomic traits through both genomics and phenomics.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infections cause significant economic losses to swine producers every year. Aerosols containing infectious PRRSV are an important route of transmission, and proper treatment of air could mitigate the airborne spread of the virus within and between barns. Previous bioaerosol studies focused on the microbiology of PRRSV aerosols; thus, the current study addressed the engineering aspects of virus aerosolization and collection. Specific objectives were to (1) build and test a virus aerosolization system, (2) achieve a uniform and repeatable aerosol generation and collection throughout all replicates, (3) identify and minimize sources of variation, (4) verify that the collection system (impingers) performed similarly. The system for virus aerosolization was built and tested (Obj. 1). The uniform airflow distribution was confirmed using a physical tracer (<12% relative standard deviation) for all treatments and sound engineering control of flow rates (Obj. 2). Theoretical uncertainty analyses and mass balance calculations showed <3% loss of air mass flow rate between the inlet and outlet (Obj. 3). A comparison of TCID₅₀ values among impinger fluids showed no statistical difference between any two of the three trials (p-value = 0.148, 0.357, 0.846) (Obj. 4). These results showed that the readiness of the system for research on virus aerosolization and treatment (e.g., by ultraviolet light), as well as its potential use for research on other types of airborne pathogens and their mitigation on a laboratory scale.

With the aim of profitable conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) in an efficient, economical and sustainable manner, we developed a CuBr/ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate) catalytic system which could efficiently catalyze the three-component reactions of propargylic alcohols, 2-aminoethanols, and CO2 to produce 2-oxazolidinones and α-hydroxy ketones. Remarkably, this catalytic system employed lower metal loading (0.0125-0.5 mol%) but exhibited the highest turnover number (2960) ever reported, demonstrating its excellent activity and sustainability. Moreover, our catalytic system could efficiently work under 1 atm of CO2 pressure and recycle among the metal-catalyzed systems.

Estimation of breeding values through Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) using pedigree-based kinship and Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) are the two fundamental breeding methods used before and after the introduction of genetic markers, respectively. The emergence of high-density genome-wide markers has led to the development of two parallel series of approaches inspired by BLUP and MAS, which are collectively referred to as Genomic Selection (GS). The first series of GS methods alters pedigree-based BLUP by replacing pedigree-based kinship with marker-based kinship in a variety of ways, including weighting markers by their effects in genome-wide association study (GWAS), joining both pedigree and marker-based kinship together in a single-step BLUP, and substituting individuals with groups in a compressed BLUP. The second series of GS methods estimates the effects for all genetic markers simultaneously. For the second series methods, the marker effects are summed together regardless of their individual significance. Instead of fitting individuals as random effects like in the BLUP series, the second series fits markers as random effects. Differing assumptions regarding the underlying distribution of these marker effects have resulted in the development of many Bayesian-based GS methods. This review highlights critical concept developments for both of these series and explores ongoing GS developments in machine learning, multiple trait selection, and adaptation for hybrid breeding. Furthermore, considering the increasing use and variety of GS methods in plant breeding programs, this review addresses important concerns for future GS development and application, such as the use of GWAS-assisted GS, the long-term effectiveness of GS methods, and the valid assessment of prediction accuracy.

The ergosterol pathway is a prime antifungal target. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay is a simple research tool that determines the lowest concentration at which a novel antimicrobial with limited scope to determine the mechanism of action for a drug. In this study, we show that by adding hydrogen peroxide, an oxidative stressor, or glutathione (GSH), an antioxidant, to modify a commonly performed MIC assay allowed us to screen selectively for new antifungal drugs that target ergosterol biosynthesis in fungi. A human pathogen, Microsporum gypseum, was used as a test organism. When exposed to ergosterol targeting drugs, the hydrogen peroxide treatment significantly decreased fungal survival by reducing ergosterol in the cell wall, whereas GSH increased survival of M. gypseum. Further, by performing a series of experiments with M. gypseum, it was determined that the oxidative stress from hydrogen peroxide causes cell death at different developmental stages. These findings allow us to describe a simple, high-throughput method for simultaneously screening new antifungal drugs for activity and effects on the ergosterol pathway. By using this tool, two isoquinoline alkaloids were discovered to be potent inhibitors of ergosterol biosynthesis by reducing the amount of ergosterol without affecting the expression of 1,3-β-glucan.

Ca-bentonite (CB) alone and in a mixture with limestone (L), tobacco biochar (TB) and zeolite (Z) on the fixation, geochemical fractions and absorption of Cd and Zn by Chinese cabbage in smelter heavily polluted (S-HP) and smelter low polluted (S-LP) soils were investigated. The results showed that the CB+TB and CB+L+TB treatments significantly immobilized Cd up to 22.03% and 29.68%, respectively, and reduced uptake by Chinese cabbage shoot to 35.98% with CB+Z+L and 61.35% with CB+L in S-HP and S-LP soils compared with the control. The CB+ Z+ L+TB treatment mobilized Cd up to 4.45% and increased absorption in the shoot by 9.85% in S-HP soil. The greatest immobilization of Zn was 53.18% and 58.20% with the CB+Z+L+TB treatment, which reduced Zn uptake in the plant shoot by 9.94% with CB + L and 58.04 with CB+Z+L+TB in S-HP and S-LP soils. The CB+Z+TB and CB+TB treatments mobilized Zn up to 35.40% and 4.80%, respectively, in both soils. Furthermore, the uptake of Zn in plant shoot was observed by 58.96% and 7.82% with application of CB+Z and CB+TB treatments, respectively, in S-HP and S-LP soils. Overall, our results suggest that Ca-bentonite alone and in mixtures with different amendments can be used to reduce the phyto-extraction of Cd and Zn in Zn-smelter polluted soils.

The newly emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people and caused tremendous morbidity and mortality worldwide. Effective treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to SARS-CoV-2 infection is lacking and different therapeutic strategies are under testing. Host humoral and cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection is a critical determinant for patients’ outcome. SARS-CoV-2 infection results in seroconversion and production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The antibodies may suppress viral replication through neutralization but also might also participate in COVID-19 pathogenesis through a process termed antibody-dependent enhancement. Rapid progress has been made in the research of antibody response and therapy in COVID-19 patients including characterization of the clinical features of antibody responses in different populations infected by SARS-CoV-2, treatment of COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma and intravenous immunoglobin products, isolation and characterization of a large panel of monoclonal neutralizing antibodies, as well as preliminary clinical results from several COVID-19 vaccine candidates. In this review, we summarize the recent progress and discuss the implications of these findings in vaccine development.