A 'little brother' of pain, itch is an unpleasant sensation that creates a specific urge to scratch. To date, various machine-learning based image classifiers (MBICs) have been proposed for quantitative analysis of itch-induced scratch behaviour of laboratory animals in an automated, non-invasive, inexpensive and real-time manner. In spite of MBICs' advantages, the overall performances (accuracy, sensitivity and specificity) of current MBIC approaches remains inconsistent, with their values varying from ~50% to ~99%, for which the reasons underlying have yet to be investigated further, both computationally and experimentally. To look into the variation of the performance of MBICs in automated detection of itch-induced scratch, this article focuses on the experimental data recording step, and reports here for the first time that MBICs' overall performance is inextricably linked to the sharpness of experimentally recorded video of laboratory animal scratch behaviour. This article furthermore demonstrates for the first time that a linearly correlated relationship exists between video sharpness and overall performance (accuracy and specificity, but not sensitivity) of MBICs, and highlight the primary role of experimental data recording in rapid, accurate and consistent quantitative assessment of laboratory animal itch.

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is an important index to evaluate radiation performance and image quality of optical imaging systems under low illumination background. Under the nighttime lighting condition, the illumination of remote sensing objects is low and varies greatly, usually ranging from several lux to tens of thousands of lux. Nighttime light remote sensing imaging requires high sensitivity and large dynamic range of detectors. Luojia 1-01 is the first professional nighttime light remote sensing satellite in the world. In this paper, we took the nighttime light remote sensing camera carried on the satellite as research object, proposed an in-orbit SNR test method based on time series images to overcome the problem of low spatial resolution. We first analyzed the process of luminous flux transmission between objects and satellite and established a radiative transfer model. By combining the parameters of large relative aperture optical system and high sensitivity CMOS device, we established SNR model and specially analyzed the effect of exposure time and quantization bits on SNR. Finally we used the proposed in-orbit test method to calculate SNR of lighting images acquired by satellite. And the measured result is in good agreement with the model predicted data. Under the condition of 10lx illumination, the SNR of typical objects can reach 27.02dB, which is much better than the requirement of 20dB for engineering application.

(R)-1-(4-Amino-3,5-dichlorophenyl)-2-bromoethan-1-ol has been synthesised in 93% enantiomeric excess (ee) by asymmetric reduction of the corresponding ketone catalysed by a ketoreductase and NADPH as the co-factor in DMSO. (S)-N-(2,6-Dichloro-4-(1-hydroxyethyl)phenyl)acetamide has been synthesised in >98% ee by the same system. Both synthons are potential precursors for clenbuterol enantiomers. Clenbuterol is a β₂-agonist used in veterinary treatment of asthma in several countries. The drug is listed on the World Anti-doping Agency’s Prohibited list due to its effect on increased protein synthesis in the body. However, racemic clenbuterol has recently been shown to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease. In order to reveal which one (or both) of the enantiomers that cause this effect, the pure enantiomers need to be studied separately. Our biocatalytic approach in order to obtain enantiopure clenbuterol should be applicable to industrial scale.

The explosive emergence of wireless technologies and standards, covering licensed and unlicensed spectrum bands has triggered the appearance of a huge amount of wireless technologies, with many of them coexisting in the same band. Unfortunately, the wireless spectrum is a scarce resource, and the available frequency bands will not scale with the foreseen demand for new capacity. Certain parts of the spectrum, in particular the license-free ISM bands, are overcrowded, while other parts, mostly licensed bands, may be significantly underutilized. As such, there is a need to introduce more advanced techniques to access and share the wireless medium, either to improve the coordination within a given band, or to explore the possibilities of intelligently using unused spectrum in underutilized (e.g., licensed) bands. Therefore, in this paper, we present an open source SDR-based framework that can be employed to devise disruptive techniques to optimize the sub-optimal use of radio spectrum that exists today. Additionally, we describe three use cases where the proposed framework can be employed along with intelligent algorithms to achieve improved spectrum utilization.

Effect of abrasive shape on the three-body abrasion behaviors of monocrystalline silicon was investigated by Molecular dynamics modelling. The axial ratio of abrasive particle was varied from 1.00, i.e., a complete sphere, to 0.40 to mimic abrasive shape. The particle’s movement turns toward sliding from rolling when the axial ratio becomes less than a critical value 0.46. In the abrasion process, the friction force and normal force showed an approximately sinusoid-like fluctuation for the rolling ellipsoidal particles, while the front cutting of particle caused that friction force increased and became larger than normal force for sliding particles. The phase transformation process was tracked under different particle’ movement patterns. The Si-II and Bct5 phase producing in loading process can partially transform to Si-III/Si-XII phase and backtrack to original crystal silicon under pressure release, which also occurred in the abrasion process. The secondary phase transformation showed difference for particles’ rolling and sliding movements after three-body abrasion. The rolling of particle induced the periodical and inhomogeneous deformation of substrates, while the sliding benefited producing high-quality surface in CMP process. This study aiming to construct more precise model to understand the wear mechanism benefits evaluating the MEMS wear and CMP process of crystal materials.

Chalcones are a class of flavonoids possessing a variety of biological activities, including antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. Therefore, chalcones and their derivatives have potential use in the control of postharvest diseases. In this work, the effects of 2ʹ,4ʹ-dichloro-chalcone on the in vitro growth and in vivo pathogenicity of F. tricinctum and T. roseum were investigated. The results showed that 100 µM of 2ʹ,4ʹ-dichloro-chalcone strongly inhibited mycelial growth and conidial production of F. tricinctum (32.3%) and T. roseum (65.2%) in vitro. This treatment also significantly inhibited the expansion of potato dry rot from F. tricinctum (48.6%) and apple rot spot from T. roseum (36.2%). The incubation of F. tricinctum and T. roseum conidia with this agent for 2 h increased their cell membrane permeability by 25% and 22.5%, respectively and conidial membrane permeability by 41.7 and 65.4%, respectively. This treatment also significantly inhibited the total respiration rate and activated the cyanide-resistant respiratory pathway in both pathogens. Protein immunoblotting showed that the treatment increased alternative oxidase (AOX) levels after 4 h in F. tricinctum and T. roseum by 52.76% and 39.13%, respectively. Conclusion: 100 µM 2ʹ,4ʹ-dichloro-chalcone significantly inhibited mycelial growth and spore production in F. tricinctum and T. roseum in vitro and reduced their pathogenicity in postharvest potato and apple crops. Further analysis indicated that 2ʹ,4ʹ-dichloro-chalcone disrupted the integrity of cell membranes and the mitochondrial respiratory electron transport chain which leaded to ROS burst and oxidative stress, AOXs were induced directly or indirectly, and the cyanide resistant respiratory pathway was activated. The in vitro growth and pathogenicity of F. tricinctum and T. roseum were inhibited.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-contacting neurons (CSF-N) located in the surface of both brain ventricles and the central canal (cc) in the spinal cord. The cc and CSF maintain a proliferative niche for neural progenitor cells and play a vital role in development of the brain. The CSF circulates in the ventricles and the subarachnoid spaces with the CSF rhythmic flow: cardiac pulsation and respiratory fluctuation. A new concept of CSF motion may be contrary to the classical one that the direction of CSF motion may vary in direction and may be dynamic in its location. The CSF pressure may also depend on the body position. Moderate music-making has been considered a potential approach for rehabilitative and restorative therapy of brain dysfunctions. Recently, we find that the CSF-Ns are present in both the interior CFS in the cc and also exterior CSF around the surface of the spinal cord. We hypothesize that CSF-N as mechanical sensors in the spinal cord could sense motion of the spinal cord. The myodural bridge is a ligament connecting a pair of deep, upper-neck muscles to the dura mater, which envelops the arachnoid mater and contains the CSF surrounding the brain and the spinal cord. We figure out the term “CSF-static compartment” and classify CSF storage location as rostral pool and caudal pool to demonstrate our hypothesis. We presume that the somatic body movement with music-making and rehabilitation-based interventions would orchestrate the CSF motion with head movement, myodural bridge stretching and puling as well as spinal bending.

While pioglitazone reduces insulin resistance and hepatic gluconeogenesis effectively in patients with T2DM, these benefits remained controversial in patients with ESRD. We compared MACCEs and mortality (overall, infection-related, and MACCE-related) of pioglitazone to that of DPP4-inhibitors in patients with T2DM and ESRD. From Taiwan’s national health insurance database, 647 pioglitazone users and 6080 DPP4-inhibitors users between April 1st, 2006 and December 31th, 2016 were followed from the 91th date after the ESRD certification till study outcomes, independently; withdraw from the NHI program, death, or Dec. 31th, 2017. After weighting, risks of MACCEs (10.48% vs 12.62% per person-years, [HR]: 0.85, 95% [CI]: 0.729–0.985) and all-cause mortality (12.86% vs 13.22% per person-years, [HR]: 0.88, 95% [CI]: 0.771–0.995) are significantly lower in pioglitazone group. Subgroup analysis found lower MACCEs risk in the pioglitazone users without insulin therapy (6.44% vs 10.04% [HR]: 0.59, 95% [CI]: 0.42–0.82) and lower MACCEs related death (2.76% vs 3.84% [HR]: 0.61, 95% [CI]: 0.40–0.95) in the pioglitazone group with dyslipidemia, when comparing with DPP4-inhibitors users. Pioglitazone is associated with lower all-cause mortality and MACCEs in diabetic patients with ESRD, compared to DPP4-inhibitors. These benefits were further significant in the non-insulin users and patients with dyslipidemia.

Avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is the causative agent of infectious bronchitis, which causes considerable economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. It is imperative to develop safe and efficient candidate vaccines to control IBV infection. In the current study, recombinant baculoviruses co-expressing S1 and N proteins, mono-expressing S1 or N proteins alone of IBV were constructed and prepared into subunit vaccines rHBM-S1-N, rHBM-S1 and rHBM-N. The levels of immune protection of these subunit vaccines were evaluated by inoculating specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens at 14 days of age, boosting with the same dose 14 days later, and following challenge with a virulent GX-YL5 strain of IBV 14 days post-booster (dpb). The commercial vaccine strain H120 was used as a control. The IBV-specific antibody levels as well as the percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were detected within 28 days post-vaccination (dpv). The morbidity, mortality, and re-isolation of virus from the tracheas and kidneys of challenged birds were evaluated at 5 days post-challenge (dpc). The results showed that the IBV-specific antibody levels and the percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocyte in rHBM-S1-N group were higher than those of rHBM-S1 and rHBM-N groups, especially the cellular immunity response. At 5 dpc, the mortality, morbidity and virus re-isolation rate of rHBM-S1-N were slightly higher than those of H120 group, but were lower than those of rHBM-S1 group and rHBM-N group. The present study demonstrated that the protection of recombinant baculovirus co-expressing S1 and N proteins was better than that of recombinant baculoviruses mono-expressing S1 or N protein alone. Thus, the recombinant baculovirus co-expressing S1 and N proteins could serve as a potential IBV vaccine and this demonstrates that the bivalent subunit vaccine including the S1 and N proteins might be a strategy for the development of an IBV subunit vaccine.

Density functional theory (DFT) and coupled cluster theory (CCSD(T)) calculations are performed to investigate the geometric, electronic structures and chemical bonding of a series of Cu-doped zinc oxide clusters, CunZn3O3 (n = 1-4). The structural evolution of CunZn3O3 (n = 1-4) clusters are elaborated in our work. The planar seven-membered ring of CuZn3O3 cluster plays an important role in the structural evolution, that is, the Cu atom, Cu dimer (Cu2) and Cu trimer (Cu3) anchor on the CuZn3O3 cluster. The aggregate behavior of Cu atoms on Zn3O3 may offer insight into the study of Cu/ZnO-based catalysts. Additionally, it is found that the CunZn3O3 clusters become more stable as the Cu content (n) increases. Bader charge analysis points out that as the Cu atoms doping, the reducibility of Cu aggregation (Cun-1) on the CuZn3O3 cluster increases. Combined with the d-band centers and the surface electrostatic potential (ESP), the reactivity and the possible reaction sites of CunZn3O3 (n = 1-4) clusters are also illustrated.

This article couples human metabolic factors and heating environmental factors, and uses a 57 node human thermal physiological model to study the heating effect of radiators. It provides a way to objectively calculate and directly quantify the effect of heating equipment on human thermal physiological parameters. As the inlet speed increases, the surface temperature of the human body first increases and then decreases. At a speed of 3m/s, it basically reaches a high value. Continuing to increase the wind speed, as the indoor convection intensity further increases, the surface temperature of the human body will decrease, leading to a decrease in thermal comfort. Compared with floor radiation heating under similar indoor temperature conditions, forced convection radiator heating has similar skin temperatures in various parts of the human body after the indoor design temperature exceeds 20 ℃, and the overall thermal comfort of the two technical solutions is equivalent. Research has shown that the turbulence wind speed of convective radiators should not be too small, with a wind speed range of 2.5m/s to 3m/s. The heating effect of using horizontal air outlet from the lower part of the radiator is better than that of vertical air outlet from the upper part. Convection type radiator heating is more suitable for buildings with rooms that are not too high due to the large indoor temperature gradient.

Reactions of N‚N'-bis(3-methylpyridyl)oxalamide (L1), N,N’-bis(3-methylpyridyl)adipoamide (L2) and N,N’-bis(3-methylpyridyl)sebacoamide (L3) with tricarboxylic acids and Cu(II) salts afforded {[Cu(L1)(1,3,5-HBTC)]·H2O}n (1,3,5-H3BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid), 1, {[Cu1.5(L2)1.5(1,3,5-BTC)(H2O)2]·6.5H2O}n, 2, [Cu(L2)0.5(1,3,5-HBTB)]n (1,3,5-H3BTB = 1,3,5-tri(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene), 3, [Cu4(L3)(OH)2(1,3,5-BTC)2]n, 4, {[Cu3(L3)2(1,3,5-BTB)2]·2.5MeOH·2H2O}n, 5, and {[Cu3(L3)2(1,3,5-BTB)2 ]·DMF·2H2O}n, 6, which have been structurally characterized by using single crystal X-ray crystallography. Complexes 1 – 4 form a 2D layer with the {44.62}-sql topology, a 2D layer with the (4.62)2(42.62.82)-bex topology, a 3-fold interpenetrated 3D net with the (412.63)-pcu topology and a 3D framework with the (410.632.83)(42.6)2(43.63) topology, respectively, whereas 5 and 6 are 3D frameworks with the (63)2(64.82)(68.85.102) topology. Complex 5 shows a better iodine-adsorption factor of 290.0 mg g-1 at 60 oC for 360 minutes than the other ones, revealing that the flexibility of the spacer ligand governs the structural diversity and the adsorption capacity.

For paramagnetic and elastic materials in the presence of quasi-static magnetic field, there is correspondingly quasi-static magnetic pressure, in contrast to the radiational electromagnetic pressure associated with electromagnetic momentum density. A thermodynamic pressure demagnetization is demonstrated. For the elastic dielectrics in the presence of quasi-static electrical field, its dual effect can be easily obtained by variable transformation.

The problem of health status prediction of insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) gains a lot of attention in the field of health management of power electronic equipment. The performance degradation of IGBT gate oxide layer is one of the important failure modes. In view of failure mechanism analysis and easy implementation of monitoring circuit, this paper selects the gate leakage current of IGBT as the precursor parameter of gate oxide degradation, and uses time domain characteristic analysis, gray correlation degree, Mahalanobis distance, Kalman filter and other methods to carry out feature selection and fusion, and finally obtains a health indicator characterizing the degradation of IGBT gate oxide. Based on the Convolutional Neural Network and Long Short-Term Memory (CNN-LSTM) network, this paper constructs an IGBT gate oxide degradation prediction model, and performs experimental analysis on the dataset released by NASA-Ames Laboratory, and the average absolute error of performance degradation prediction is as low as 0.0216. Compared with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Support Vector Regression (SVR) and CNN-LSTM models, CNN-LSTM network has the highest prediction accuracy. These results show the feasibility of gate leakage current as a precursor parameter of IGBT gate oxide layer failure, as well as the accuracy and reliability of the CNN-LSTM prediction model.

Background: COVID-19 booster uptake remained poor among healthcare workers (HCW) despite evidence of improved immunity against Delta and Omicron variants. While most studies used a questionnaire to assess hesitancy, this study aimed to identify factors affecting true booster hesitancy by examining actual vaccine uptake across time. Method: COVID-19 vaccination database records among HCW working at 7 Singaporean public primary care clinics between January to December 2021 were extracted, with gender, profession, place of practice, vaccination type and dates. Time to booster was calculated from the date of vaccination minus date of eligibility. Chi-square test was used to compare relationship between 1st dose and booster hesitancy, Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were adopted to evaluate differences in cumulative booster uptake. Multivariate cox regression was used to investigate predictors for timely booster vaccination. Vaccination rate was charted across time and corroborated with media releases pertaining to legislative changes. Results: 877 of 891 (98.9%) primary care HCW were fully vaccinated, 73.8% of eligible HCW had taken the booster. HCW were less booster hesitant [median 16 (5-31.3) days] compared to the 1st dose [median 39 (13-119.3) days]. 1st dose hesitant HCW were more likely to be booster hesitant (OR=3.66, 95%CI 2.61-5.14). Adjusting for sex, workplace and time to 1st dose, ancillary (HR=1.53, 95%CI 1.03-2.28), medical (HR=1.8, 95%CI 1.18-2.74) and nursing (HR=1.8, 95%CI 1.18-2.37) received boosters earlier compared with administrative staff. No temporal relationship was observed between booster uptake, legislative changes and COVID-19 infection numbers. Conclusion: Vaccine hesitancy among HCW had improved from booster to 1st dose, with timely booster vaccination among medical and nursing staff. Tailored education, risk messaging and strategic legislation might help to reduce delayed booster vaccination.

Static standing postural stability has been measured by multiscale entropy (MSE), which is used to measure complexity. In this study, we used the average entropy (AE) to measure the static standing postural stability, as AE is a good measure of disorder. The center of pressure (COP) trajectories were collected from 11 subjects under four kinds of balance situation, from stable to unstable: bipedal with open eyes, bipedal with closed eyes, unipedal with open eyes, and unipedal with closed eyes. The AE, entropy of entropy (EoE), and MSE methods were used to analyze these COP data, and EoE was found to be a good measure of complexity. The AE of the 11 subjects sequentially increased by 100%as the balance situations progressed from stable to unstable, but the results of EoE and MSE did not follow this trend. Therefore, AE, rather than EoE or MSE, is a good measure of static standing postural stability. Furthermore, the comparison of EoE and AE plots exhibited an inverted U curve, which is another example of a complexity versus disorder inverted U curve.

Our aim was to evaluate efficacy and safety of 30mL CaO alone or plus Asc in bowel preparation before colonoscopy. Two hundred and forty six patients were allocated randomly to ingest 2L PEG with 30mL CaO, 1L PEG with 30mL CaO plus 5g Asc, or 3L PEG. We used Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS) to evaluate bowel preparation efficacy. We also determined other outcomes such as procedure time, polyp or adenoma detection rate and adverse events (AEs). Of 282 patients recruited, 36 were excluded. Groups were matched for baseline characteristics except weight (P = 0.020) and body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.003). Patient’s satisfaction were higher in 2L PEG-CaO (P = 0.016) and 1L PEG-CaO-Asc groups (P = 0·017). Patients’ compliance was 67.5%, 71.4% and 80.5% in 3L PEG, 2L PEG-CaO and 1L PEG-CaO-Asc groups (P = 0.014). Adequate bowel preparation rate was 75%, 78.57% and 53.66% in 3L PEG, 2L PEG-CaO and 1L PEG-CaO-Asc groups (P = 0.021). There were no differences in terms of remaining outcomes. Despite an increase in patients’ satisfaction and compliance, 1L PEG-CaO-Asc significantly decreased adequate bowel preparation rate. However, 2L PEG-CaO improved the patients' satisfaction and compliance and increased adequate bowel preparation rate.

Magnesium hydroxide continuous coagulation process was used for treating simulated reactive orange wastewater in this study. Effects of mixing conditions and retention time on the coagulation performance and floc properties of magnesium hydroxide were based on the floc size distribution (FSD), zeta potential and floc morphology analysis. Floc formation and growth in different reactors were also discussed.The results showed that increasing rapid mixing speed led to a decrease in the final floc size. Floc formation process was mainly carried out in rapid mixer, rapid mixing speed of 300rpm was chosen according to zeta potential and removal efficiency. Reducing retention time caused relatively small floc size in all reactors. When influent flow is 30 L/h (retention time of 2min in rapid mixer), the average floc size reached 8.06μm in rapid mixer, through breakage and re-growth, the floc size remained stable in flocculation basin. After growth, the final floc size reached to 11.21μm in sedimentation tank. The removal efficiency of reactive orange is 89% in magnesium hydroxide coagulation process.

The resource allocation for tasks in heterogeneous distributed system is a well known NP-hard problem. For the sake of making the makespan is minimized, it is hard to distribute the tasks to proper processors. The problem is even more complex and challenging when the processors have unavailable time and the tasks type are various. This paper investigates a resource allocation problem for hybrid tasks comprising both divisible and bag-of-tasks(BoT) in heterogeneous distributed system when the processors has unavailable time. First, the mathematical model, which minimizes the makespan of the hybrid tasks when the processors have unavailable time, is established. Second, we propose a scheduling algorithm referred to as bag-of-tasks allocate-pull and divisible task allocation (BoTAPDTA) algorithm for handling hybrid tasks on heterogeneous distributed systems. In addition, to solving the optimization model efficiently, a generic algorithm(GA) is proposed. For the sake of reducing the search space and solving the optimization model effectively, a two step scheduling algorithm(TSGA), which first allocate bag-of-tasks(BoT) using generic algorithm and then assign divisible task to processors like BoTAPDTA, is designed. Finally, numerical simulation experiments are conducted, and experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.

Much has been explored in the individual health issue, and most of them adopt the objective data such as laboratory tests or health services utilization to analyze individual health assessment. However, the factors influencing individuals in self‐assessed health is still unclean. The study considers that self‐assessed health is viewed as catalyst in health management and explores various dimensions associated with self‐assessed health. Totally, 800 participants who were randomly sampled from the citizen of Porter County, Indiana completed the Needs Assessment Citizen Survey in 2007.After adjustment for age, gender, education, income, and health coverage, life quality (β=1.5538, sdandard erro of β=0.8404), and Medicaid assistance (β= -0.7715, sdandard erro of β= 0.3958) are the main determinants of individuals’ self‐assessed health. The results suggest that public health officials should consider improving citizens’ self-assessed health by providing good living and socio-economic environment.

The application of graph theory in chemical and molecular structure research far exceeds people's expectations, and it has recently grown exponentially. In the molecular graph, atoms are represented by vertices and bonded by edges. In this report, we study the silicon-carbon Si₂C₃-I[p,q] and Si₂C₃-II[p,q]. We compute several Zagreb polynomials and Redefined Zagreb indices of these silicon-carbons.

Therapeutics antibodies have increasingly shifted the paradigm of disease treatments, from small molecules to biologics, especially in cancer therapy. Despite the increasing number of antibody candidates, much remains unknown about the antibody and how its various regions interact. In fact, the constant region can govern effects that might be useful in reducing the unwanted consequences resulted from systemic circulation. For this reason, apart from the commonly used IgG isotypes, IgA antibodies are promising therapeutics drugs, given its localized mucosal effects. While the antibody Fc effector cell activity has been well explored, recent research has shown evidences that the constant region of the antibody can also influence antigen binding, challenging the conventional idea of region-specific antibody functions. To further investigate this, we analyzed the IgA antibody constant and its allosteric effects onto the antigen binding regions, using recombinant Pertuzumab IgA1 and IgA2 variants. We found mutations in the C-region to reduce Her2 binding, and our computational structural analysis showed that such allosteric communications were highly dependent on the antibody hinge, providing the evidence to consider antibodies as a whole protein rather than a sum of functional regions.

Novel Ca3(BTC)2 metal-organic frameworks with different sizes and shapes constructed by Ca2+ and trimesic acid as metal center and ligands respectively were synthesized by a surfactant-assisted method. The relationship between the quantity of surfactant and the particle morphology of the product have been further studied. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscope, powder X-ray diffraction and Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the size and shape of Ca3(BTC)2 could be regulated by changing the quantity of surfactant. Rod- and sheet-like Ca3(BTC)2 MOFs have been readily availabled. The removal kinetics of heavy metals of Pb(II) were also studied by rod-like Ca3(BTC)2. The results showed that as-synthesized Ca3(BTC)2 could effectively remove heavy metals of Pb(II) from the sewage.

Aiming at the classification identification problem of aeroengines, this paper adopts telemetry Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer to collect aeroengine hot jet infrared spectrum data, and proposes an aeroengine classification identification method based on spectral feature vectors. First, aeroengine hot jet infrared spectrum data are acquired and measured, meanwhile, the spectral feature vectors based on CO2 are constructed. Then, the feature vectors are combined with the seven mainstream classification algorithms to complete the training and prediction of the classification model. In the experiment, two Fourier transform infrared spectrometers, EM27 developed by Bruker and a self-developed telemetry FTIR, were used to telemeter the hot jet of three aeroengines to obtain infrared spectral data. The training data set and test data set were randomly divided in a ratio of 3:1. The model training of the training data set and the label prediction of the test data set were carried out by combining spectral feature vectors and classification algorithms. The classification evaluation indicators were accuracy, precision, recall, confusion matrix, and F1-score. The classification recognition accuracy of the algorithm was approximately 98%. This paper has great significance for the fault diagnosis of aeroengines and classification recognition of aircrafts.

The farnesoid X receptor (FXR)/βKlotho/fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) pathway is crucial for maintaining the intestinal barrier and preventing colorectal cancer (CRC). We used an FXR ago-nist, GW4064, and FXR knockout (KO) mice to investigate the role of FXR/Klothos/FGFs pathways in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction and colon carcinogenesis. The results showed that upregulation of FXR in enterocytes effectively ameliorated intestinal tight junction markers (claudin1, Zonula occludens-1), inflammation, and bile acid levels, thereby protecting mice from intestinal barrier dysfunction and colon carcinogenesis. GW4064 treatment increased FXR, αKlotho, βKlotho, FGF19, FGF21, and FGF23 in wild-type mice exposed to LPS, while FXR KO mice had decreased levels. FXR KO mice exhibited elevated colon cancer markers (β-catenin, LGR5, CD44, CD34, Cyclin D1) under LPS, underscoring the pivotal role of FXR in inhibiting the development of colon tumorigenesis. The varying gut microbiota responses in FXR KO mice versus wild-type mice post-LPS exposure emphasize the pivotal role of FXR in pre-serving intestinal microbial health, involving Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroides acidifaciens, and Helicobacter hepaticus. Our study validates the effectiveness of GW4064 in alleviating LPS-induced disruptions to the intestinal barrier and colon carcinogenesis, emphasizing the importance of the FXR/αKlotho/βKlotho/FGFs pathway and the interplay between bile acids and gut microbiota.

Our previous retrospective observational study demonstrated the safety of laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis and preservation of the superior rectal artery (SRA), without instances of leakage, in patients with slow-transit constipation (STC). Thus, we extended the enrollment period and enlarged the sample size to detect the differences in the post-operative complications, and surgical and functional outcomes between patients who underwent laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy with and without SRA preservation. We conducted a retrospective single-center analysis of patients with STC who underwent laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy between 2016 and 2020. The diagnosis of STC was based on the colonic transit and anal functional tests, and barium enema to exclude secondary causes. Patients were divided into group A that underwent surgery with SRA preservation, and group B that underwent ligation of the SRA during surgery. Outcome assessments for both groups included the incidence of anastomotic breakdown, intraoperative complications, length of hospital stay, estimated blood loss, time to first flatus, and complications. Propensity-score matching allocated 34 patients to groups A and B each. Postoperative bowel function, including time to first flatus, stool, and oral intake, recovered better in group A than that in group B. Anastomotic leakage, a significant postoperative complication, was less frequent in patients with SRA preservation. Preservation of the SRA in patients undergoing laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis for STC is associated with favorable postoperative bowel function recovery and lower anastomotic leakage rates.

The buildup dynamics of diode-pumped passively mode-locked solid-state laser is thoroughly explored by the real-time measurement with temporal sampling rate up to 40 GHz. A concise cavity is developed to ensure the transient dynamics purely arising from the gain medium and saturable absorber. Experimental results reveal that the laser output in the buildup process exhibits numerous passively Q-switched pulses followed with a damped relaxation oscillation prior to the stable mode locking. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the laser output has already displayed single clean mode-locked pulses inside the first several Q-switched envelopes before stepping into the stage of relaxation oscillation. The present real-time exploration is expected to provide important information for practical applications with temporal modulation of the pump intensity.

The time when a patient has mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an important period for delaying the onset of dementia and has been the main target of dementia prevention research in recent years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary intake and dietary patterns of MCI patients in Taiwan. In total, 40 subjects were enrolled in this cross-sectional study that was conducted from July 2019 to September 2021 at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Results of the clinical dementia rating (CDR) and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) were obtained from medical records. Participants were divided into two groups: a healthy group (MMSE ≥ 26 points, CDR=0) and an MCI group (MMSE ≥ 26 points, CDR=0.5). Results indicated that the MCI group had significantly higher copper and lower low-fat meat intake compared to the healthy group. Furthermore, the high MIND (Mediterranean-dietary approaches to stop hypertension intervention for neurodegenerative delay) diet score represented a lower risk of MCI. After adjusting for age and gender in the multivariate regression analysis, calcium and fruit intake levels were positively associated with the MMSE. In conclusion, the prevalence of MCI was closely associated with dietary intake, such as copper and calcium, as well as dietary patterns, particularly the MIND diet.

Recently, resistive random access memory (RRAM) has been an outstanding candidate among various emerging nonvolatile memories for high density storage and in-memory computing applications. However, the traditional RRAM, which accommodates two states depending on applied voltage, cannot meet the high density requirement in the era of big data. Many research groups have demonstrated that RRAM possesses the possibility of multi-level cell to overcome the demand of mass storage. Among numerous semiconductor materials, gallium oxide, as the fourth-generation semiconductor material, is highly-profile due to its excellent material proper-ties, and already be widely used in optoelectronics, high-power, resistive switching device and so on, due to its wide bandgap and transparent properties. In this study, we have successfully demonstrated the Al/GO/Ga2O3/ITO RRAM to achieve the possibility of two-bit storage. Compared to the single-layer counterpart, the bilayer structure has excellent electrical properties and stable reliability. The endurance characteristics could be enhanced above 100 switching cycles with an ON/OFF ratio of over 103. Moreover, the filament models are also described in this thesis to clarify the transport mechanisms.

To further explore the bearing capacity and sustainable construction of vacuum drainage pipe (VDP) piles, field tests were carried out to compare and analyze the ultimate single pile bearing capacity, pile side friction and pile end resistance of ordinary piles and vacuum drainage pipe piles. The effect of the VDP pile on energy conservation and emission reduction in practical projects is discussed. The results shows that the VDP pile basically eliminated the soil squeeze and did not cause excessive relative displacement of pile and soil after vacuum consolidation. The VDP pile enhances pile side friction resistance, resulting in a 17.6% increase in ultimate bearing capacity compared to traditional piles. The VDP pile method can reduce carbon emissions by 31.4% compared to traditional methods. This study provides guidance for the production and design of VDP piles in the future and demonstrates their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction benefits compared to traditional methods.

Heavy metal contaminants have serious consequences for the environment and human health. Consequently, effective methods for detecting their presence, particularly in water and food, are urgently required. Accordingly, the present study proposes a sensor for the detection of mercury Hg(II) and lead Pb(II) ions using graphene oxide (GO) as a quenching agent and aptamer solu-tion as a reagent. In the proposed device, the aptamer sequences are labeled by FAM and HEX fluorescent dyes, respectively, and are mixed with 500 ppm GO solution in a microfluidic device. The presence of Hg(II) and Pb(II) ions is then detected by measuring the change in the fluores-cence intensity of the GO/aptamer suspension as the aptamer molecules undergo fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The experimental results show that the aptamer sensors have a linear range of 10~250 nM (i.e., 2.0~50 ppb) for Hg(II) ions and 10~100 nM (i.e., 2.1~20.7 ppb) for Pb(II) ions. Furthermore, the limit of detection is around 2 ppb for both metals, which is signifi-cantly lower than the maximum limits of 6 ppb and 10 ppb prescribed by the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) for Hg(II) and Pb(II) in drinking water, respectively.

Detailed kinetics for a 3-wavelength photopolymerization confinement (PC) system is presented for both numerical solutions and analytic formulas. The dynamic profiles are simulated for oxygen, free radical, and conversion for various situations of: blue-light only, 2-light (red and UV), and 3-light (red, blue, UV). An effective PC requires two conditions: (i) a strong N-inhibition for uncured regime with a low conversion (triggered by the UV-light); and (ii) a weak S-inhibition (oxygen-induced) for high conversion under the blue-light or blue and red-light initiation. Good PC candidates are governed by collective factors of: (i) the double ratio of light-intensity and initiator-concentration, (ii) monomers rate-constant; and (iii) effective absorption constants at specific wavelength and initiators. A new reverse feature for the role of N-inhibition on the blue-conversion is found. Higher oxygen concentration leads to a lower conversion, which could be enhanced by reducing the S-inhibition via a red or blue-light pre-irradiation, having a pre-irradiation time TP=200 s for red-light only, and reduced to 150 s, when both red and blue-light. System under UV-only leads a conversion lower than that of blue-only. However, conversion could be improved by the dual-light (blue and UV), and further enhanced by the pre-irradiation of red-light. The two competing factors, N-inhibition and S-inhibition, could be independently and selectively tailored to achieve: (a) high conversion of blue-light (without UV-light), enhanced by red-light pre-irradiation for minimal S-inhibition; and (b) efficient PC initiated by UV-light produced N-inhibition for reduced confinement thickness and for high print speed.

The rapid development of multicopters has led to many security problems. In order to prevent multicopters from invading restricted areas or famous buildings, an Anti-UAV Defense System (AUDS) has been developed and become a research topic of interest. Topics under research in relation to this include electromagnetic interference guns for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), high-energy laser guns, US military net warheads, and AUDSs with net guns. However, these AUDSs use either manual aiming or expensive radar to track UAVs. This paper proposes a dual-axis rotary platform with UAV automatic tracking. The tracking platform uses visual image processing technology to track and lock the dynamic displacement of a UAV. When a target UAV is locked, the system uses a nine-axis attitude meter and laser rangefinders to measure its flight altitude and calculates its longitude and latitude coordinates through sphere coordinates to provide UAV monitoring for further defense or attack missions. Tracking tests of UAV flights in the air were carried out using a DJI MAVIC UAV at a height of 30 meters to 100 meters. It was set up for UAV image capture and visual recognition for tracking under various weather conditions by a thermal imager and a full-color camera respectively. When there was no cloud during the daytime, the images captured by the thermal imager and full-color camera provide a high-quality image recognition result. However, under dark weather, black clouds will emit radiant energy and seriously affect the capture of images by a thermal imager. When there is no cloud at night, the thermal imager performs well in UAV image capture. When the UAV is tracked and locked, the system can effectively obtain the flight altitude and longitude and latitude coordinate values.

InGaN/GaN samples grown on c-plane sapphire substrate with different In concentrations by metal organic chemical vapor deposition are demonstrated. The subsequent capping GaN layer growth opens a possibility for dislocation reduction due to the lateral strain relaxation in growth geometry. We present the further growth optimization and innovative characterization of InGaN layers overgrown on different structures with varying In concentrations. The photoelectrical and optical properties of the InGaN layers with or without capping GaN layer were investigated by time-resolved picosecond transient grating and temperature dependence photoluminescence. We note a 10-fold increase in carrier lifetime in the InGaN layers when the sample structure changes from PIN to single InGaN layer.

Plants produce above- and below-ground biomass. However, our understanding of both production and decomposition of below-ground biomass is poor, largely because of the difficulties of accessing study materials. Below-ground organic matter decomposition studies are scanty and especially rare in the tropics. Here, we used a litter bag experiment to quantify the mass loss and nutrients dynamics of decomposing twigs and fine roots from an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal associated tree, Parashorea chinensis, in a tropical rain forest in Southwest China. Overall, twig litter decomposed 1.9 times faster than fine roots (decay rate (k) twig=0.255, root=0.134). The difference in decomposition rates can be explained by a difference in phosphorus (P) concentration, availability and use by decomposers or C quality. Both materials showed an increase in N concentration, with final measurements still higher than initial levels. This suggests N may not be available due to microbial immobilization. Both carbon and nitrogen dynamics were significantly predicted by mass loss and showed a negative and positive relationship, respectively. Our study results imply that fine roots carbon and nitrogen contribute more to soils organic matter and enlarge the resident time. Therefore, better understanding of carbon cycle requires better understanding of mechanisms governing below ground biomass decomposition.

Traditional edible barbecue products use with lemon juice not only make the barbecue more delicious but also reduce the risk of PAHs in the barbecue products. One of the major economics crops in Taiwan, the waste from citrus fruits was very tremendous mass. However, the peelings of citrus fruits are rich in essential oil, especially, the limonene is the major. Whether the anti-carcinogenesis activities of terpene, such as limonene, in citrus fruits essential oil extraction. This study to demonstrate the PAHs content in fish skin increased markedly after being roasted at 210℃ for 20 minutes and greater mutagenicity risk of roasted fish skin was observed by Ame's test. The reduction of mutagenicity risk of roasted fish skin, which the antimutagenic abilities of substances in descending order were limonene > cold pressure oil > lemon >grapefruit. The antimutagenicity rate and ability of the three extracts were limonene: 18–23%; cold-pressed lemon oil: 18–22%; and steam distilled lemon essential oil: 8–16%. The obvious anti- mutagenicity effects against the PAHs mutagenicity of roasted fish skins can be found in citrus fruits essential oil extraction.

The parameter estimation problem for polynomial phase signals (PPSs) arises in a number of fields, including radar, sonar, biology, etc. In this paper, a fast algorithm of parameter estimation for monocomponent PPS is considered. We propose the so-called LSU-EKF estimator, which combines the least squares unwrapping (LSU) estimator and the extended Kalman filter (EKF). First, the coarse estimates of the parameters of PPS are obtained by the LSU estimator using a small number of samples. Subsequently, these coarse estimates are used to initial the EKF. Monte-Carlo simulations show that the computation complexity of the LSU-EKF estimator is much less than that of the LSU estimator, with little performance loss. Similar to the LSU estimator, the proposed algorithm is able to work over the entire identifiable region. Moreover, in the EKF stage, the accurate estimated results can be output point-by-point, which is useful in real applications.

Composite fiber materials are superior materials due to their high strength and light weight. Composites reflect the properties of their constituents, which is proportional to the volume fraction of each phase. There are different fiber reinforcement types and each affects it’s flexural, tensile and compression strength. When selecting a composite for a specific application, the forces excreted on the composite must be known in order to determine the reinforcement type. Unidirectional fiber reinforcement will allow very strong load resistance but only in one direction where as a random orientated fiber reinforcement can resist less load but can maintain this quota in all directions. These materials are said to be anisotropic. Certain composite fibers, taking into consideration there weights, are physically stronger than conventional metals. This research deals with the analysis of three composite materials with different reinforcement types, volume fraction and phase content. It was found that material A (glass epoxy) was the strongest in the longitudinal direction with a flexural strength of 534 MPa in the longitudinal and 420 MPa in the transverse direction. The flexural stresses of material B (glass silicone) and material C (glass polyester) where both found in the 120 to 135 MPa range. Differences were due to their differences in matrix composition and reinforcement type.

Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most prevalent type of sustained cardiac dysrhythmia globally, confers strikingly enhanced risks for cognitive dysfunction, stroke, chronic cardiac failure, and sudden cardiovascular demise. Aggregating studies underscore the crucial roles of inherited determinants in the occurrence and perpetuation of AF. However, due to conspicuous genetic heterogeneity, the inherited defects accounting for AF remain largely indefinite. Here, via the whole-genome genotyping with genetic markers and linkage assay in a family suffering AF, a new AF-causative locus was located at human chromosome 7p14.2-p14.3, a ~4.89-cM (~4.43-Mb) interval between the markers D7S526 and D7S2250. Exome-wide sequencing assay unveiled that at the defined locus, solely the mutation in the TBX20 gene, NM_001077653.2: c.695A>G; p.(His232Arg), co-segregated with AF in the family. Additionally, Sanger sequencing assay of TBX20 in another family suffering AF uncovered a novel mutation, NM_001077653.2: c.862G>C; p.(Asp288His). Neither of the two mutations was observed in 600 unrelated control individuals. Functional investigations demonstrated that the two mutations both significantly reduced the transactivation of the target gene KCNH2 (a well-established AF-causing gene) and the ability to bind the promoter of KCNH2, while without effect on the nuclear distribution of TBX20. Conclusively, these findings reveal a new AF-causative locus at human chromosome 7p14.2-p14.3 and strongly indicate TBX20 as a novel AF-causative gene, shedding light on the mechanism underlying AF and suggesting clinical significance for allele-specific treatment of AF patients.

A common spinal condition, spondylolisthesis is the presence of a relative back or forth displacement between the upper and lower vertebra due to one vertebra being oriented away from the smooth curvature of a normal spine. Aging-related illnesses such as degenerative spondylolisthesis are especially burdensome on social welfare and health-care systems in an aging society, especially radiologists and clinical physicians. Therefore, we proposed a computer aided diagnosis algorithm, named LumbarNet, for vertebral slippage detection on clinical X-ray images. Collaborating with i) a P-grade, ii) a piecewise slope detection scheme, and iii) a dynamic shift detection routine, LumbarNet was thus specialized for analyzing complex structural patterns in lumbar spine X-ray images and outcompeted other U-Net based methods. Extensive experiments on lumbar spine X-ray images in standard clinical practices showed that LumbarNet achieved a mean intersection over union value of 0.88 in vertebral region detection and an accuracy of 88.83% in vertebral slippage detection.

Skeletal muscle atrophy is one of the major side effects of high dose or sustained usage of glucocorticoids. Pyroptosis is a novel form of pro-inflammatory programmed cell death that may contribute to skeletal muscle injury. Trimetazidine, a well-known anti-anginal agent, can also improve skeletal muscle performance both in human and mice. We here showed that dexamethasone induced atrophy, evidenced by the increase of muscle atrophy F-box (Atrogin-1) and muscle ring finger 1 (MuRF1) expression , and the decrease of myotube diameter in C2C12 myotubes. Dexamethasone also induced pyroptosis, indicated by upregulated pyroptosis-related protein NLRP3, Caspase-1 and GSDMD. Knockdown of NLRP3 or GSDMD attenuated dexamethasone-induced myotube pyroptosis and atrophy. Trimetazidine administration ameliorated dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, trimetazidine improved exercise tolerance, as evidenced by increased running distance and running time, as well as increased skeletal muscle mass in dexamethasone-treated mice. Mechanically, trimetazidine could reverse dexamethasone-induced activation of pyroptosis both in C2C12 myotubes and in mice. Taken together, our present study demonstrated that NLRP3/GSDMD pathway-mediated pyroptosis was involved in dexamethasone-induced skeletal muscle atrophy. Trimetazidine could partially alleviate dexamethasone-induced skeletal muscle atrophy, and increase the diameter of C2C12 myotubes via inhibiting pyroptosis. Thus, trimetazidine might be a potential therapeutic compound for the prevention of muscle atrophy in glucocorticoid-treated patients.

In the realm of autonomous driving tort, a significant disparity exists in the parties' access to autonomous driving data and essential technical information, resulting in challenges in unilateral proof. The traditional burden of proof framework in driving litigation is inadequate for direct application in the autonomous driving sphere. As we approach the era of widespread autonomous driving operations, there is an urgent need to clarify and redefine the allocation of the burden of proof in specific litigations. Utilizing comparative legal analysis and case studies, this paper delves into the disparities in legislative provisions concerning the burden of proof for autonomous driving in Germany and China. China can learn from Germany's legislative precedence in shifting the burden of proof for 'product defect' and 'fault' onto the manufacturer, thereby requiring the infringed party to merely furnish preliminary evidence indicating a 'causal relationship between the defect and the damage.' This approach mitigates the evidentiary burden on the aggrieved party, clarifies litigation procedures, incentivizes manufacturers to enhance technology, reinforces risk management, and ultimately, facilitates the progression of autonomous driving technology.

In view of the fact that the field monitoring information can more intuitively and accurately reflect the stability state of slopes, this paper takes the warning threshold of slope deformation rate monitoring as the slope stability evaluation standard, and puts forward a method for solving the safety coefficient of rocky slopes. The discrete element method 3DEC, which is suitable for rocky slopes, is selected as the numerical calculation tool, and the convergence criterion of its strength reduction method is modified to the slope deformation rate threshold, and the method is realized by the bifurcation method through its built-in FISH programming language. The results of the classical case show that, by selecting the slope deformation rate threshold in the appropriate interval, the results of this paper's method are very close to those of the finite unit stress method and the limit equilibrium method, which verifies the reliability of this paper's method. Further, the method of this paper is applied to an open-pit mine slope project, based on the slope deformation on-site monitoring data, through the time series prediction method to determine the slope deformation rate warning threshold, using the threshold as an evaluation criterion to solve the slope's coefficient of safety, the calculation results show that: the slope's coefficient of safety in natural working conditions is 1.086, basically stable, suffered from continuous rainfall, the slope body is gradually saturated, the slope's coefficient of safety is reduced to 0.987, the slope's safety is reduced to 0.987. After continuous rainfall and gradual saturation of the slope, the coefficient of safety decreased to 0.987, destabilizing and destroying, which is consistent with the site conditions.

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and tomographic SAR measurement techniques are commonly used for the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of complex areas, while the effectiveness of these methods relies on the interferometric coherence among SAR images with minimal angular disparities. Radargrammetry exploits stereo image matching to determine the spatial coordinates of corresponding points in two SAR images, and acquire their 3D properties. The performance of the image matching process directly impacts the quality of the resulting digital surface model (DSM). However, the presence of speckle noise, along with dissimilar geometric and radiometric distortions, poses considerable challenges to achieve accurate stereo SAR image matching. To address the aforementioned challenges, this paper proposes a radargrammetric method based on composite registration of multi-aspect SAR images. The proposed method combines coarse registration using scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) with precise registration using normalized cross-correlation (NCC) to achieve accurate registration between multi-aspect SAR images with large disparities. Furthermore, the multi-aspect 3D point clouds are merged by the proposed radargrammetric 3D imaging method, resulting in 3D imaging of target scenes based on multi-aspect SAR images. For validation purpose, this paper presents a comprehensive 3D reconstruction of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) by using Ka-band airborne SAR images. It does not necessitate prior knowledge of the target and is applicable to the detailed 3D imaging of large-scale areas with complex structures. In comparison to other SAR 3D imaging techniques, it reduces the requirements for orbit control and radar system parameters. To sum up, the proposed 3D imaging method with composite registration guarantees imaging efficiency while enhances the imaging accuracy of crucial areas with limited data.

The main apple production areas of the Loess Plateau, China limited information on soil and leaf K, Ca, Mg, and micronutrients and their relationships in these orchards. Therefore, we collected soil and leaf samples from the main apple production areas of the Loess Plateau and analyzed them to assess soil and leaf K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Mn, Zn, and Fe as well as to visualize their relationships. The investigated apple orchards in the Loess Plateau exhibited low soil Mn, moderate soil K, Zn, Fe, and high Cu and deficiency of leaf Fe, Moderate of leaf K, Cu, and Zn, high of leaf Ca, Mg, and excessive in leaf Mn. Moreover, soil pH negatively correlated with soil K, Cu, Zn, and Fe and positively related to exchangeable Mg, leaf Mg, and leaf Ca. Exchangeable Ca was negatively related to soil Mg, Cu, Mn, and Fe. Meanwhile, exchangeable K also negative correlation with leaf Mg, indicating the importance of soil pH and exchangeable Ca as an indication of apple produc-tion. In addition, available Zn also negative correlation with leaf Ca and leaf Zn. Soil micronu-trient contents in Shaanxi province trend lower than in other provinces, suggesting that soil Mn and Zn deficiency may be a limiting factor for apple production. Consequently, it is suggested that the soil pH be reduced in the Loess Plateau, replenishing soil organic matter and micronutrients, controlling soil Ca and Mg, and the Loess Plateau must pay attention to controlling K fertilizer application to avoid soil exchangeable cation and enhancing organic fertilizer application to improve soil micronutrients (Zn, Mn, and Fe) are highly necessary and it is necessary to enhance leaf Fe.

Microbial community succession in raw milk determines its quality and storage period. In this study, carbon dioxide (CO2) at 2000 ppm was used to treat raw milk to investigate the mechanism of extending the shelf life of raw milk by CO2 treatment from the viewpoint of microbial colonies and metabolites. The results showed that the shelf life of CO2-treated raw milk was extended to 16 days at 4 ℃, while that of the control raw milk was only 6 days. Microbiomics analysis identified 221 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) in raw milk, and the alpha diversity of microbial communities increased (P < 0.05) with the extension of storage time. Among them, Pseudomonas, Actinobacteria and Serratia were the major microbial genus responsible for the deterioration of raw milk, with a percentage of 85.7%. A combined metagenomics and metabolomics analysis revealed that microorganisms altered the levels of metabolites, such as pyruvic acid, glutamic acid, 5'- cmp, arginine, 2-propenoic acid, and phenylalanine in the raw milk through metabolic activities, such as ABC transporters, pyrimidine metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism and phenylalanine metabolism, and reduced the shelf life of the raw milk. CO2 treatment prolonged the shelf life of the raw milk by inhibiting the abundance of Gram-negative aerobic bacteria, such as Acinetobacter guillouiae, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Serratia liquefaciens and Pseudomonas simiae.

TiO2-based building materials have air purification, auto-cleaning and sterilization functions, and these innovative green building materials have great potential for energy-saving and emission reduction applications in the future. However, there are still great challenges in improving photocatalytic efficiency and stability from laboratory to practical applications. In recent years, researchers have done a lot of work to improve the efficiency and stability of TiO2-based building materials. This paper briefly discussed the air purification principle by photocatalytic building, and the preparation techniques of TiO2-based building materials and the strategies to improve the efficiency of TiO2. Moreover, this paper has outlined the key factors that affect the photocatalytic building performance in practical applications, and analyzed the limitations and future development trends. Finally, we proposed some suggestions for further research on photocatalytic buildings and its application in practice, aiming to provide an efficient reference for developing highly efficient and stable photocatalytic building materials. The aim of this paper is to provide effective guidance for the application of TiO2-based photo-catalysts in the field of green buildings, helping to develop more efficient and stable low-carbon buildings for the development of sustainable cities.

Solid particle cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) is one of the most commonly used organic polymer flocculants in oilfield wastewater treatment, but there are some problems, such as slow dissolution rate, and easy to form a "fish-eye" in the process of diluting into aqueous solution. However, the current liquid CPAM products also have some problems, such as low effective content, poor storage stability, degradation in a short time and high preparation cost. In this paper, a secondary processing technology of solid particle CPAM was studied, and a CPAM suspension was successfully prepared. This suspension has an effective content of 50.00%, No separation in 7 days of storage at room temperature, no separation in 30 min of centrifugation at a speed of 2000 r/min, and diluted to a 0.40 % weak gel solution in just 16.00 min. For 1000 NTU of diatomite simulated wastewater, the optimal turbidity removal rate of the suspension was 99.50%, which was higher than the optimal turbidity removal rate of 98.40% for the inorganic flocculant polymeric aluminum chloride (PAC). For oil and gas field oily wastewater, the optimal turbidity removal rate of CPAM suspension was 35.60%, which was higher than the optimal turbidity removal rate of 28.40% for solid particle CPAM.

To realize fast and effective synthetic aperture radar (SAR) deception jamming, a high-quality SAR deception jamming template library can be generated by performing sample augmentation on SAR deception jamming templates. However, current sample augmentation schemes of SAR deception jamming templates face certain problems. First, the authenticity of templates is low due to the lack of speckle noise. Second, the generated templates have low similarity to the target and shadow areas of the input templates. To solve these problems, this study proposes a sample augmentation scheme based on generative adversarial networks, which can generate a high-quality library of SAR deception jamming templates with shadows. The proposed scheme solves the two aforementioned problems from the following aspects. First, the influence of the speckle noise is considered in the network to avoid the problem of reduced authenticity in generated images. Second, a channel attention mechanism module is used to improve the network's learning ability of shadow features, which improves the similarity between the generated template and the shadow area in the input template. Finally, the proposed scheme and the SinGAN scheme are compared regarding the equivalent numbers of looks and the structural similarity between the target and shadow in the sample augmentation results. The comparison results demonstrate that, compared to the templates generated by the SinGAN scheme, those generated by the proposed scheme have targets and shadow features similar to those of the original image, and can incorporate speckle noise characteristics, resulting in higher authenticity, which helps to achieve fast and effective SAR deception jamming.

Maize, a crop of international relevance, frequently undergoes xylem embolism due to water shortage, negatively impacting growth, yield, and quality. Consequently, a refined comprehension of xylem embolism is vital for enhancing maize cultivation. Notwithstanding extensive research and the generation of analytical models for embolism mechanisms, prevalent models often disregard crop-specific hydraulic processes and the formation of embolisms via air bubbles in the xylem conduit. In this research, we present an inventive model applying pipe cavitation parameters to discern water potential and bubble formation in maize leaf xylem. The model integrates pivotal physiological traits of maize—leaf count, leaf vein count, and average leaf radius—demonstrating robust correlations. Furthermore, we constructed a percentage conductivity loss (PLC) curve based on pre-dawn leaf water potential and compared it with our model, offering interval data to observe embolisation events triggered by air bubbles. Utilizing experimental data, our novel cavitation-parameters based model effectively corresponds with observed bubble phenomena and appropriately characterizes water transport in plant xylem conduits. This method enabled us to observe the transition from bubble occurrence to cavitation embolism microscopically, which aligned with the embolism intervals provided by the model. This procedure reveals potential trends in bubble-induced embolism and deepens our knowledge of microscopic plant hydraulics and crop embolism. This work establishes a basis for understanding the generation of bubble embolisms in maize, assists in evaluating maize plant water status for efficient water supply management throughout the growth cycle, and contributes towards potential water management strategies for maize.

Laser additively manufactured (LAM) Ti–6Al–4V alloy has huge application potential in aerospace structural parts such as turbine blades. However, there are few studies on the fatigue properties of such LAM parts under vibration loading, particularly with regard to anisotropy. In this paper, vibration fatigue properties of LAM Ti-6Al-4V by laser melted deposition process were investigated along the transversely deposited (TD) direction and parallelly deposited (PD) direction. Through the first-order bending vibration experiments, LAM Ti-6Al-4V alloy exhibits obvious anisotropic fatigue properties and significant dispersion in fracture position. The fracture morphology analysis reveals that the vibration fatigue failure was mainly dominated by the LAM process-induced defects and the microstructure. For the LAM samples without defects at crack initiation sites, the fatigue behavior is controlled by the prior β columnar grains with preferential orientation, which leads to enhanced fatigue crack propagation resistance for the PD samples. For the LAM samples with defects at initiation sites, having lower fatigue lives, the fatigue anisotropy strongly depends on the projection area of the lack-of-fusion defects relative to the loading direction, resulting in better fatigue performance for the TD samples.

This study evaluates the agricultural carbon emission efficiency of Shandong Province from 2011 to 2020 using the DEA-SBM model. The nexus between endogenous and exogenous variables is estimated using the Tobit model. The findings reveal an overall increasing trend in agricultural carbon emissions, with significant variations in efficiency values among different cities, leading to a severe polarization. Spatial evaluation shows a high distribution trend in the central region and low in the eastern and western regions of Shandong Province. The empirical tests conducted for Shandong Province and its three regions indicate that urbanization plays a major role in sup-porting the growth of agricultural carbon emission efficiency, while the education level of the la-bor force has a suppressive impact. Economic development and crop cultivation structure, how-ever, have no significant influence. The impact of these variables varies across the eastern, central, and western regions. The proposed countermeasures include improving planting structure and reducing brain drain in the eastern region, strengthening agricultural and rural inputs and in-creasing the added value of agricultural products in the central region, and intensifying the link-age between urbanization and industrial layout in the western region to reduce agricultural car-bon emissions efficiency in Shandong Province.

Two algorithms of data processing are proposed to shorten the unmeasurable dead-zone close to the zero-position of measurement, i.e., the minimum working distance of a dispersive interferometer using optical frequency comb, which is a critical issue in millimeter-order short-range absolute distance measurement. After demonstrating the limitation of the conventional data processing algorithm, the principles of the proposed algorithms, namely the spectral fringe algorithm, and the combined algorithm that combines the spectral fringe algorithm with the excess fraction method, are presented, together with simulation results for demonstrating the possibility of the proposed algorithms for shortening the dead-zone with a high accuracy. An experimental setup of dispersive interferometer is also constructed for implementing the proposed data processing algorithms over spectral interference signals. Experimental results demonstrate that the dead-zone by the proposed algorithms can be as small as half of that by the conventional algorithm while the measurement accuracy can be further improved with the combined algorithm.

The thoracic surgery has increased drastically in recent years, especially in the light of the severe outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Routine “passive” chest computed tomography (CT) screening of inpatients detects some pulmonary diseases requiring thoracic surgeries timely. As an essential device for thoracic anesthesia, the double-lumen tube (DLT) is particularly important for anesthesia and surgery. With the continuous upgrading of the DLTs and the widespread use of the fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB), the position of DLT in thoracic surgery is gradually becoming more stable and easier to observe or adjust. However, the DLT malposition still occurs during transferring patients from supine to lateral position in thoracic surgery, which leads to lung isolation failure and hypoxemia during one-lung ventilation (OLV). Recently some innovative DLTs or improved intervention methods have shown good results in reducing the incidence of DLT malposition. This review aims to summarize the recent studies of the incidence of left-sided DLT malposition, the reasons and effects of malposition, and summarize current methods for reducing DLT malposition and prospects for possible approaches. Meanwhile, we use bibliometric analysis to summarize the research trends and hot spots of the DLT research.

Along with the popularity of the Internet, people are exposed to more and more ways of micro-videos, and a huge amount of micro-video data has emerged. micro-videos have gradually become the Internet content preferred by the public, and a large number of micro-video apps have also emerged, such as Tiktok and Kwai. Intelligent classification and mining of micro-videos can greatly enhance user experience, improve business operation efficiency and enhance user experience. Through deep intelligent analysis and mining of micro-videos, important information in micro-videos can be extracted to provide an important basis for beautifying videos, content appreciation, video recommendation, content search, etc. In the past, content understanding for short videos often used human work annotation, but in recent years, with the great success of deep convolutional neural networks in image recognition, short video content understanding based on this method has gradually developed. Nowadays, most recognition algorithms extract the feature representation of each frame independently and then fuse them. However, while extracting the feature representation, some low-level semantic features are lost, which makes the algorithm unable to accurately distinguish the category of the video. At present, the algorithm of micro-video recognition based on deep learning has surpassed the iDT algorithm, making these traditional methods fade out of people’s view. In this paper according to the micro-video classification task, a new network model is proposed to concatenate features of each modality into the overall features of various modalities through the network, and then fuse the various modal features with the attention mechanism to obtain the whole micro-video features, which will be used for classification. In order to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm proposed in this paper, experiments are conducted in the public dataset, and it is shown the effectiveness of our model.

Metamorphosis is a critical process for most anurans to transition from water to land. The appearance of air-breathing lungs occurs during the change in oxygen medium from water to air. Revealing the structural construction and molecular switches of lung organogenesis is essential to understand the realization of air-breathing function. In this study, histology and transcriptomics were combinedly conducted to explore these issues in Microhyla fissipes lungs during metamorphosis. During the pro-metamorphic phase, histological structure improving of the alveolar wall was accompanied by robust substrate metabolism and protein turnover. The lungs, at the metamorphic climax phase, are characterized by an increased number of cilia in the alveolar epithelial cells and collagenous fibers in the connective tissues, corresponding to the transcriptional upregulation of cilia and extracellular matrix-related genes. The post-metamorphic lungs strengthen the contracting function, as suggested by the thickened muscle layer and the upregulated expression of genes involved in muscle contraction. The blood–gas barrier is fully developed in adult lungs whose transcriptional features are tissue growth and differentiation regulation and immunity. Importantly, significant transcriptional switches of pulmonary surfactant protein and hemoglobin facilitate air-breathing. Our results illuminated four key steps of lung development for amphibians to transition from water to land.

In this study, a new method for synthesizing Ag-NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ @ SiO2 nanocomposites was introduced. Using a hydrothermal method, the synthesized Yb3+- and Er3+-codoped NaYF4 upconversion luminescent materials and Ag nanoparticles were doped into upconversion nanomaterials and coated with SiO2 up-conversion nanomaterials. This material is known as Ag-UCNPs-SiO2’ it improves both the luminous intensity because of the doped Ag nanoparticles and has low cytotoxicity because of the SiO2 coating. The morphology of UCNPs was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the mapping confirmed the successful doping of Ag nanoparticles. Successful coating of SiO2 was confirmed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fluorescence spectra were used to compare changes in luminescence intensity before and after doping Ag nanoparticles. The reason for the increase in luminescence intensity after doping with Ag nanoparticles was simulated using first-principles calculations. The cytotoxicity of Ag-UCNPs-SiO2 was tested via the cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) method, and its imaging ability was characterized using the micro-CT method.

Graphically-rich applications such as games are ubiquitous with attractive visual effects of Graphical User Interface (GUI) that offers a bridge between software applications and end-users. However, various types of graphical glitches may arise from such GUI complexity and have become one of the main component of software compatibility issues. Our study on bug reports from game development teams in NetEase Inc. indicates that graphical glitches frequently occur during the GUI rendering and severely degrade the quality of graphically-rich applications such as video games. Existing automated testing techniques for such applications focus mainly on generating various GUI test sequences and check whether the test sequences can cause crashes. These techniques require constant human attention to captures non-crashing bugs such as bugs causing graphical glitches. In this paper, we present the first step in automating the test oracle for detecting non-crashing bugs in graphically-rich applications. Specifically, we propose GLIB based on a code-based data augmentation technique to detect game GUI glitches. We perform an evaluation of GLIB on 20 real-world game apps (with bug reports available) and the result shows that GLIB can achieve 100\% precision and 99.5\% recall in detecting non-crashing bugs such as game GUI glitches. Practical application of GLIB on another 14 real-world games (without bug reports) further demonstrates that GLIB can effectively uncover GUI glitches, with 48 of 53 bugs reported by GLIB having been confirmed and fixed so far.

The International Roughness Index (IRI) is the standard scale for evaluating road roughness in many countries in the world. The Taipei City government actively promotes a Road Smoothing Project and plans to complete the rehabilitation of the main and minor roads within its jurisdiction. This study aims to detect the road surface roughness in Taipei City and recommend appropriate IRI thresholds for road rehabilitation. A total of 171 asphalt concrete pavement sections in Taipei City with a total length of 803.49 km were analyzed and compared by IRI. The longitudinal profile of the detected road sections was measured using an inertial profiler. The statistical analysis showed that the IRI value prior to road leveling was mainly distributed between 5 and 8 m/km, while the IRI value after road leveling was mainly distributed between 3 and 4.5 m/km. This confirms that the implementation of the Road Smoothing Project has a significant effect on improving road smoothness. Moreover, based on the analysis results, it is recommended that the IRI threshold value for road rehabilitation in Taipei City be set at 4.50 m/km.

To evaluate the efficacy of fish oil for protection against coronary heart disease (CHD), we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the use of fish oil for protection against CHD. We retrieved relevant articles published from January 1966 to January 2020 by searching the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Web of Science databases. RCTs of fish oil in preventing CHD were selected. The study quality was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool with RevMan 5.3 software. The first selection involved 350 citations. After screening and evaluation of suitability, 19 RCTs adjusted for clustering were included in the meta-analysis. All selected manuscripts considered that fish oil was effective in preventing CHD, secondary outcome measures included angina, sepsis and death. Compared with the control group, fish oil may confer significant protection against CHD (odds ratio = 0.84; 95% confidence interval: 0.72–0.98). There was no significant difference in the incidence of secondary outcomes between the observation group and the control group (P > 0.05). The above results show that fish oil plays an important role in reducing CHD and cardiovascular events. However, because of the suboptimal quality of the studies included into the meta-analysis, these results do not justify adding fish oils systematically to the heavy pharmaceutical assortment already recommended in CHD patients.

Scattering hyperspectral technology is a nondestructive testing method with many advantages. Here, we propose a method to improve the accuracy of egg freshness, research the influence of incident angles of light source on the accuracy and explain its mechanism. A variety of weak classifiers classify eggs based on the spectra after preprocessing and feature wavelength extraction to obtain three classifiers with the highest accuracy. The three classifiers are used as metamodels of stacking ensemble learning to improve the highest accuracy from 96.25% to 100%. Moreover, the highest accuracy of scattering, reflection, transmission and mixed hyperspectral of eggs are 100.00%, 88.75%, 95.00% and 96.25%, respectively, indicating that the scattering hyperspectral for egg freshness detection is better than that of the others. In addition, the accuracy is inversely proportional to the angle of incidence due that the smaller the incident angle, the camera collects a larger proportion of scattering light, which contains more biochemical parameters of an egg than that of reflection and transmission. These results are very important for improving the accuracy of non-destructive testing and selecting the incident angle of the light source, and have potential applications in online non-destructive testing.

The complete genomic sequence of a Cassava common mosaic virus Linggao isolate (CsCMV-LG) was determined from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) with mild leafy mosaic symptom to no symptom in China. Excluding the poly(A) tail, the CsCMV-LG genome (GenBank accession No. MT038420) is 6374 nucleotides (nts) in length, with five major open reading frames encoding a 1450-amino acids (aa) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), three triple gene block (TGB) proteins (231-aa, 110-aa and 95-aa), and a 229-aa coat protein (CP). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the complete genome of the CsCMV-LG is closely related to that of CsCMV-Brazilian which has been assigned to the genus Potexvirus, but the sequence identity shared only 88.0%. Notable, the mild CsCMV-LG isolate can also infect Nicotiana benthamiana in laboratory through rub inoculation causing mild vein yellowing at 15-day post inoculation. This is the first full-length genome sequence of a distinct isolate of Cassava common mosaic virus (CsCMV) infecting cassava in Hainan, China.

M87 is the best available source for studying the AGN jet-launching region. To enrich our knowledge of this region, with quasi-simultaneous observations using VLBA at 22, 43 and 86~GHz, we capture the images of the radio jet in M87 on a scale within several thousand R_s. Based on the images, we analyze the transverse jet structure and obtain the spectral-index distribution in the jet. We find that the absorption is enhanced at the collimation regions and the interruption of the jet. The external medium, which may not be uniform, may have contributed a lot to the absorption in the jet-launching region. Additionally, the temporal morphology of the jet in its launching region may be largely affected by the local, short-lived kink instability growing in itself.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients in a nationwide population. Methods: We conducted a nationwide cohort study between 2003 and 2013 using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The AS cohort included 2210 patients who were newly diagnosed between 2003 and 2013. Randomly selected non-AS controls were matched at a 1:4 ratio based on age, sex and index date. The endpoint of OSA was occurrence or the end of 2013. Cumulative incidences, hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated after adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities and co-medications. Multivariate analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazards model. Due to violation of the proportionality assumption, landmark analysis was conducted to explore the risk of OSA during specific follow-up periods. Results: The adjusted HR (aHR) of OSA for the AS group was 2.826 (95% C.I. = 1.727–4.625) compared to the control group. On landmark analysis, aHR was 7.919 (95% C.I. = 3.169–19.792) for AS group 0–24 months from index date, and decreased to 1.816 (95% C.I. = 0.944–3.494) at ≥ 24 months from index date. On subgroup analyses increased risks of OSA in AS group compared to the control group were found for both males and females (aHRs were 4.533 (95% C.I. = 1.441–14.262) and 2.672 (95% C.I. = 1.522–4.692) for females and males, respectively). On age stratified analysis, there was significant risk only for the 40–59 age group with aHR of 3.913 (95% C.I. = 1.890–8.102). Conclusions: A higher risk of developing OSA was found among newly diagnosed AS cohort during the 12-year follow-up period, especially within 2 years after AS index date and in the 40–59 age group.

Methylsilsesquioxane aerogels with uniform mesopores have been facilely prepared via a sol–gel process followed by microwave drying with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) as precursor, hydrochloric acid (HCl) as catalyst, water and methanol as solvents, hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) as surfactant and template and propylene oxide (PO) as gelation agent. The microstructure, chemical composition and pore structures of the resultant MSQ aerogels were investigated in detail to achieve controllable preparation of MSQ aerogels, and the thermal stability of MSQ aerogels was also analyzed. The gelation agent, catalyst, solvent and microwave power have important roles on pore structures of MSQ aerogels. Meanwhile, microwave drying method is found to not only have a remarkable effect on improving production efficiency, but also be conducive to avoid the collapse of pore structure especially micropores during drying. The resulting MSQ aerogel microwave-dried at 500 W possesses a specific surface area up to 821 m2/g and a mesopore size of 20 nm, and displays good thermal stability.

Curcumin is a promising anti-cancer drug but its applications in cancer therapy are limited due to its poor solubility, short half-life and low bioavailability. In this study, curcumin loaded magnetic alginate / chitosan nanoparticles were fabricated to improve the bioavailability, uptake efficiency and cytotoxicity of curcumin to MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Alginate and chitosan were deposited on Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles based on their electrostatic properties. The sizes of the nanoparticles (120-200 nm) were within the optimum range for drug delivery. Sustained curcumin release was obtained use the nanoparticles with the ability to control the curcumin release rate by altering the number of chitosan and alginate layers. Confocal fluorescence microscopy results showed that targeted delivery of curcumin with the aid of magnetic field were achieved. The FACS assay indicated that MDA-MB-231 cells treated with curcumin loaded nanoparticles had a 3-6 folds uptake efficiency to those treated with free curcumin. MTT assay indicated that the curcumin loaded nanoparticles exhibited significantly higher cytotoxicity toward MDA-MB-231 cells than toward HDF cells. The sustained release profiles, enhanced uptake efficiency and cytotoxicity to cancer cells as well as the targeting potential make MACPs a promising candidate for cancer therapy.

The color changes corresponding to chromophore structures in lignin caused by exposure of Eucalyptus（Eucalyptus grandis and E. urophylla）to heat were investigated. Eucalyptus wood samples were heated in saturated steam atmospheres for 10 h at 110℃, 130℃, and 150℃. The lignin was isolated before and after heat treatment. The physicochemical properties of the lignin and changes in chromophore structures during heat treatment was evaluated through wet chemical analysis, FTIR, UV-Vis, GPC, XPSand 13C-NMR. The color of the wood became darker and redder with the increase in pressure and temperature. Depolymerization and dehydration reactions occurred via demethoxylation with heat treatment in saturated steam at 110℃ or 130℃. Lignin condensed to form insoluble compounds after heat treatment in saturated steam at 150℃. G units increased and S units decreased through demethylation during heat treatment, as revealed by FTIR and 13C-NMR analysis.

The water cushion depth of stilling basin with shallow-water cushion is a key factor that affects the flow regime of hydraulic jump in the basin. However, the specific depth at which the water cushion is considered as “shallow” has not be stated clearly for now, and only conceptual description is provided. This paper attempts to specify the best water cushion depth based on the flow regime of hydraulic jump and underflow speed; namely, in case of critical hydraulic jump in the basin, the best water cushion depth is located where the minimum distance to the bottom plate of the stilling basin is 1/5~1/4 of the water cushion depth. The theoretical analysis indicates, at different inclinations of discharge chute (θ) and depth ratios of inlet (m), instead of monotonic change, the Froude number (Fr) at inlet of the stilling basin with shallow-water cushion firstly reduces and then increases as the flow velocity at discharge chute inlet (V) increases; the parameters of inflection point (critical flow velocity and critical Fr) increase as the inclinations of discharge chute (θ) and depth ratios of inlet (m) increase. Such regularity is the theoretical basis for selecting representative study cases. The reliability of the large eddy simulation calculation results are verified by a model test; in the paper, 30 cases including five different Froude numbers and six shallow-water cushion depths are selected, for calculating the hydraulic factors such as flow profile, flow regime and flow velocity in the stilling basin with shallow-water cushion; and the varying pattern between the best depth of stilling basin with shallow-water cushion (depth-to-length ratio) and the inflow Froude number is obtained which indicates that the best depth of stilling basin with shallow-water cushion varies little as the change of the Froude number before reaching the critical Froude number; however, the best depth-to-length ratio of stilling basin with shallow-water cushion increases as the Froude number increases after the critical Froude number is reached. The study results in this paper are of reference significance to design and calculation of the stilling basin with shallow-water cushion.

A novel five-surface phosphor-in-ceramic (FS-PiC) for high illumination and excellent color uniformity in larger-scale LEDs for sensor light source application is demonstrated. YAG phosphor (Y3Al5O12:Ce3+) was uniformly mixed with ceramic and sintered at 680°C to form a phosphor wafer. A sophisticated laser engraving was employed on the phosphor wafer to form a saddle-shaped large-scale FS-PiC LEDs. The performance of the FS-PiC LEDs exhibited the illumination of 401lm, average color temperature (CCT) of 5488K±110K, and color coordinates (CIE) of (0.3179±0.003, 0.3352±0.003). In contrast to convention single-surface phosphor-in-ceramic (SS-PiC) LEDs, the performance exhibited the illumination of 380lm, average CCT of 5830K±758K, and CIE of (0.3083±0.07, 0.3172±0.07). These indicated that the performance of the FS-PiC LEDs was higher than the SS-PiC LEDs for illumination, CCT, and CIE of 1.1, 7, and 23 times, respectively. Furthermore, the FS-PiC LEDs demonstrate lower lumen loss of 2% and less chromaticity shift of 5.4x10-3 under accelerated aging at 350°C for 1008 hours, owing to the high ceramic melting temperature of up to 510°C. In this study, the proposed FS-PiC larger-scale LEDs having excellent optical performance and high reliability may be the promising candidates to replace the convention phosphor-in-organic silicone material used in high-power LEDs for the next generation of sensor light sources, display, and headlight applications.

Strawberry root rot caused by Neopestalotiopsis clavispora is one of the main diseases of strawberry and significantly impacts the yield and quality of strawberry fruit. There are now no effective control techniques available except for fungicide sprays, which may directly impact consumers. Biological control is becoming an alternative method for the control of plant diseases to replace or decrease the application of traditional synthetic chemical fungicides. Trichoderma is widely used as a biological agent for controlling strawberry root rot. In order to provide resources for screening the highly effective biocontrol fungus for controlling strawberry root rot caused by Neopestalotiopsis clavispora, the biocontrol mechanism,the control effects of Trichoderma asperellum CMT10 against strawberry root rot and growth-promoting effects on strawberry seedlings were investigated by plate culture, microscopy observation and root drenching methods.The results showed that CMT10 had obvious competitive, antibiotic and hyperparasitism effects on Neopestalotiopsis clavispora CMGF3. The CMT10 could quickly occupy nutritional space, and the inhibition rates of CMT10 against CMGF3 in confrontation culture on 7 d was 65.49%. The inhibition rates of volatile metabolite and fermentation metabolite produced by CMT10 against CMGF3 were 79.67% and 69.84%, respectively. The mycelium of strain CMT10 can act as hyperparasites by making contacting, winding and penetrating hyphae of CMGF3. Pot experiment showed that the biocontrol efficacy of CMT10 on strawberry root rot caused by Neopestalotiopsis clavispora was 63.00%. CMT10 had obvious promotion effect on strawberry growth, the plant height, root length, total fresh weight, root fresh weight, stem fresh weight and root dry weight, with the promotion rates were 20.09%, 22.39%, 87.11%, 101.58%, 79.82% and 72.33%, respectively. Overall, this study showed the ability of Trichoderma asperellum CMT10 to control strawberry root rot and their potential to develop as novel biocontrol agents to replace chemical fungicides for eco-friendly, sustainable agriculture.

As the global demand for clean and sustainable energy sources intensifies, hydrogen emerges as a promising alternative fuel. The widespread adoption of hydrogen, however, is impeded by the lack of efficient systems for storage and transportation. This review aims to summarize the recent advancements and prevailing challenges within the realm of hydrogen storage and transportation, thereby providing guidance and impetus for future research and practical applications in this domain. Through a systematic selection and analysis of the latest literature, this study highlights the strengths, limitations, and technological progress of various hydrogen storage methods, including compressed gaseous hydrogen, cryogenic liquid hydrogen, organic liquids hydrogen, solid materials hydrogen storage, as well as the feasibility, efficiency, and infrastructure requirements of different transportation modes such as pipelines, road and seaborne transportation. The findings reveal that challenges such as low storage density, high costs, and inadequate infrastructure persist despite progress in high-pressure storage and cryogenic liquefaction. The review also underscores the potential of emerging technologies and innovative concepts, including metal-organic frameworks, nanomaterials, and underground storage, along with the potential synergies with renewable energy integration and hydrogen production facilities. In conclusion, interdisciplinary collaboration, policy support, and ongoing research are essential in harnessing hydrogen’s full potential as a clean energy carrier. This review concludes that research in hydrogen storage and transportation is vital to global energy transformation and climate change mitigation.

Halide perovskite materials gain enormous attention for their semiconducting properties, higher power conversion efficiency and potential applications in a wide range field of studies along with their two key limitations: stability and toxicity. In spite of great progress made on the halide perovskites and many promising research developments, overcoming these limitations is not realized yet. Therefore, coordination engineering of new framework for obtaining alternative new halide perovskite materials and fundamental understanding of the coordination chemistry and electronic interactions forming the structure of these newly engineered halide perovskite materials might be one way in order to overcome the issues related to both stability and toxicity. In this review, the current development of halide perovskite families, both lead halide perovskites and lead free halide perovskites followed by coordination engineering of the new frameworks to engineer new halide perovskite materials will be reviewed comprehensively. Moreover, all the concerns of the fundamental ideas of coordination chemistry and electronic interactions that are keys in forming the halide perovskite structures are discussed in detail and form the main aim of this review. Interestingly, we also discuss recent potential energy applications beyond photovoltaic and this review has completed with an essential and open question: ‘what could happen in the future of halide perovskites?’ in order to excite commercial enterprises and research institutions again as well as to get motivating new predictions on the future continuity of this field.

Industrial radiography is a pivotal non-destructive testing (NDT) method that ensures quality and safety in a wide range of industrial sectors. Conventional human-based approaches, however, are prone to challenges in defect detection accuracy and efficiency, primarily due to the high inspection demand from manufacturing industries with high production throughput. To solve this challenge, numerous computer-based alternatives have been developed, including Auto-mated Defect Recognition (ADR) using deep learning algorithms. At the core of training, these algorithms demand large volumes of data that should be representative of real-world cases. However, the availability of digital X-ray radiography data for open research is limited by non-disclosure contractual terms in the industry. This study presents a pipeline that is capable of modeling synthetic images based on statistical information acquired from X-ray intensity distribution from real digital X-ray radiography images. Through meticulous analysis of the intensity distribution in digital X-ray images, the unique statistical patterns associated with the exposure conditions used during image acquisition, type of component, thickness variations, beam divergence, anode heel effect, etc., are extracted. The realized synthetic images were utilized to train deep learning models, yielding an impressive model performance with mean intersection over union (IoU) of 0.93, and mean dice coefficient of 0.96, on real unseen digital X-ray radiography images. This methodology is scalable and adaptable, making it suitable for diverse industrial applications.

In this study, we focused on the eco-driving of electric vehicles (EVs). The target vehicle is an electric bus developed by our research team. Using the parameters of the bus and speed pattern optimization algorithm, we derived the EV eco-driving speed pattern. Compared to eco-driving of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICVs), we found several different characteristics. We verified these characteristics with actual vehicle driving test data of the target bus, and the results confirmed its rationality. The EV eco-driving method can improve electricity consumption by about 10% - 20% under the same average speed.

Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) is widely existed in the inner coating of canned foods. It migrates into food and generate various derivatives in the process of storage, such as Bisphenol A (2, 3-dihydroxypropyl) glycidyl ether (BADGE·H2O), Bisphenol A (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) glycidyl ether (BADGE·HCl) and Bisphenol A (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) (2, 3-dihydroxypropyl) glycidyl ether (BADGE·HCl·H2O), which have negative effects on human health. A gold nanoparticle-based immu-nochromatographic assay for simultaneous detection of BADGE and its derivatives was developed by using a broad-spectrum polyclonal antibody, and the detection can be finished in 15 min. The visuali-zation of results was processed by Adobe Photoshop CC software to achieve quantitative analysis and the detection limit (IC15) is 0.97ng/mL. The recoveries of BADGE and its derivatives at various spiking levels in canned food samples ranged from 79.86% to 93.81%. The detection results of the proposed immu-nochromatographic assay were also validated by HPLC analysis, and got good consistency (R2=0.9580).

Land surface temperature (LST) is a crucial parameter in climate and ecology, exerting significant influence on meteorological conditions, ecosystems, and human life. LST data sources are diverse, with remote sensing being the prevailing means of acquisition. FY-4A/AGRI offers high-quality LST products for East Asia. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the product in Hunan Province and conducted refined analysis of surface heat resources based on the 4km/1h resolution product over a two-year period. The results demonstrate that the FY-4A LST product effectively captures surface temperature (R=0.893), albeit with a relatively high error level (Bias=-6.295℃; RMSE=8.58℃), particularly in capturing high LST values. The performance of this product is superior in the eastern flat terrain area of Hunan Province compared to its performance in the western mountainous region due to environmental conditions causing systematic errors that contribute to instability in detection deviation for this product. Surface heat resources are more abundant in eastern Hunan Province than in mountainous areas located west and southwardly, and the detailed distribution of them at finer scales is mainly influenced by the terrain and climate conditions. There is no obvious seasonal difference in the distribution of heat resources except in winter, and rapid urbanization within Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration during two years has significantly altered the spatial distribution pattern of surface heat resources across Hunan Province. These findings provide a quantitative baseline for assessing FY-4A satellite's detection capability while serving as a reference for further application of its LST products and establishing foundations for divisional classification and utilization strategies pertaining to surface heat resources within Hunan Province.

Raman spectroscopy is a type of inelastic scattering that provides rich information about a sub-stance based on the coupling of the energy levels of their vibrational and rotational modes with incident light. It has been applied extensively in many fields. As there is an increasing need for remote detection of chemicals in planetary exploration and anti-terrorism, it is urgent to develop a compact and easily transportable fully automated remote Raman detection system for trace detection and identification of information with high-level confidence about the target’s compo-sition and conformation in real-time and for real field scenarios. Here, we present an unmanned vehicle-based remote Raman system, which includes a 266 nm air-cooling passive Q-switched nanosecond pulsed laser of high-repetition frequency, a gated ICMOS, and an unmanned vehicle. This system obtains good spectral signals from remote distances ranging from 3 m to 10 m for simulating realistic scenarios, such as aluminum plate, woodblock, paperboard, black cloth, and leaves, and even for detected amounts as low as 0.1 mg. Furthermore, a CNN-based algorithm is implemented and packaged into the recognition software to achieve fast and more accurate de-tection and identification. This prototype provides a proof-of-concept for an unmanned vehicle with accurate remote substance detection in real-time, which can be helpful for remote detection and identification of hazardous gas, explosives, their precursors, and so forth.

In view of the floating rectangular aerostatic guideway problem of low load capacity and stiffness, this paper puts forward a kind of closed rectangular aerostatic guideway and its optimized design. Firstly, the analytic calculation formula of a closed rectangular aerostatic guideway was deduced. The use of MATLAB software for the numerical simulation and the parameter influence analyses was carried out in terms of the gas supply pressure on load capacity and stiffness. A simulation model of the rectangular air bearing was also built using the Fluent software, and the model was used for simulation calculations. Secondly, the static performance of the rectangular air bearing was analyzed by analyzing the distribution position and number of orifices on its load capacity and stiffness. On this basis, the response surface optimization design method is used to analyze the variation law of the load capacity and stiffness of the air bearing under different restrictor structural parameters. Finally, the optimal design parameters for the rectangular air bearing are obtained. The simulation results show that the optimized rectangular air bearing designed in this paper has a good load capacity and stiffness of 644.58N and 63.405N N∙μm^(-1).

Craters are the most prominent geomorphological features on the surface of celestial bodies, which is playing a crucial role in studying the formation and evolution of celestial bodies, as well as in landing and planning for surface exploration. Currently, the main automatic crater detection models and datasets focus on the detection of large and medium craters. In this paper, we created 23 small lunar crater datasets for model training based on the Chang’E-2 (CE-2) DOM, DEM, Slope, and integrated data with 7 kinds of visualization stretching methods. And then, we proposed the YOLO-Crater model for Lunar and Martian small crater detection by replacing EioU and VariFocal loss to solve the crater samples imbalance problem and introducing a CBAM attention mechanism to mitigate interference from the complex extraterrestrial environment. The results show that the accuracy (P = 87.86%, R = 66.04%, and F1 = 75.41%) of the Lunar YOLO-Crater model based on the DOM-MMS (Maximum-Minimum Stretching) dataset is the highest and better than that of YOLOX model. And the Martian YOLO-Crater, trained by the Martian dataset from the 2022 GeoAI Martian Challenge, achieves good performance with P = 88.37%, R = 69.25%, and F1 = 77.65%. It indicates that the YOLO-Crater model has a strong transferability and generalization capability, which can be applied to detect small craters on the Moon and other celestial bodies.

The development of good conductivity p-type β-Ga2O3 is critical to realize its devices and applications. The nitrogen-doped p-type β-Ga2O3 films with enhanced conductivity characteristics were prepared through the thermal oxidation of GaN in the N2O atmosphere. Further measurements were performed on the oxidized films at 1000, 1050, and 1100 °C to have insight into the underlying mechanism of the thermally activated transformation process. The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra demonstrated a moderate ultraviolet emission peak at 246 nm, confirming the generation of gallium oxide with a band gap of ~5.0 eV. The normalized X-ray diffraction (XRD), the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns were used to confirm the characteristic of polycrystalline and anisotropic growth. Then, the effects of the oxidation temperature on the amount of incorporated nitrogen were analyzed using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Moreover, the ionization energy of the acceptor of films oxidized at 1000, 1050, and 1100 °C was calculated and analyzed using the temperature-dependent Hall test results. The results showed that nitrogen doping was the main contributor to p-type electrical properties. The activation energy of the polycrystalline β-Ga2O3 prepared through thermal oxidation of GaN in the N2O atmosphere was estimated to be 147.175 kJ·mol-1 using the Arrhenius plot, which was considerably lower than that of both dry and wet oxidations of GaN in O2 ambient, thus confirming the efficiency of thermal oxidation of GaN in N2O.

Comparison with conventional reservoirs, the prediction of pressure in ultra-deep tight sandstone formations is difficult. The prediction of seismic pressure is more challenging than well logging pressure prediction. The main methods for seismic pressure prediction include equivalent depth method, Eaton method, Fillippone formula, and its modified versions. Among them, the Eaton method is widely used and has good effectiveness. However, this method relies on difficult-to-obtain normal compaction trend line, which leads to low prediction accuracy in space. To address this issue, a method combining the Eaton method and Collocated cokriging is proposed. The Eaton formula is used to predict formation pressure at the well, with compressional wave velocity as the covariate for predicting the main variable, formation pressure. By simulating the shear wave velocity based on seismic compressional wave velocity, the influence of various parameters on the prediction results is analyzed, and the accuracy of this method is verified by comparing it with other methods. The proposed method is then applied to predict formation pressure in the ultra-deep formations of the Junggar Basin. The simulation results show that the Collocated cokriging method achieves higher planar accuracy and better matches the experimental expectations in terms of prediction results. The application results also demonstrate the scientific effectiveness of the combined method, which has achieved good results in practical production applications.

Liquid biopsy is a rapidly emerging field which involves the minimal/non-invasive assessment of signature somatic mutations through analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) shed by tumor cells in bodily fluids. The broad, unmet need for liquid biopsy lung cancer detection is the lack of multiplex platform that can detect a mutation panel of lung cancer genes using minimum amount of sample, especially for ultra-short ctDNA (usctDNA). Here we developed a non-PCR and non-NGS-based single droplet based multiplexing microsensor technology “Electric Field-Induced Released and Measurement (EFIRM) Liquid Biopsy” (m-eLB) for lung can-cer-associated usctDNA. The m-eLB provides multiplexable assessment of usctDNA within a single droplet of biofluid in only one well of micro-electrodes, as each electrode coated with dif-ferent probes for the ctDNA. In this m-eLB prototype, it demonstrates accuracy for 3 tyrosine ki-nase inhibitor related EGFR target sequences in synthetic nucleotides. The accuracy for the multi-plexing assay has an AUC of 0.98 for L858R, Ex19del, AUC of 0.94 for Ex19 deletion and AUC of 0.93 for T790M. By combining the 3 EGFR assay together, the AUC was 0.97 for the multiplexing assay.

Vaccines trigger a complicated immunological response that includes B and T cells, with B cells producing antibodies. SARS-CoV-2 immunity weakens over time after vaccination. Discovering key changes in antigen-reactive antibodies over time after vaccination could help improve vaccine efficiency. In this study, we collected data on blood antibody levels in a cohort of healthcare workers vaccinated for COVID-19 and obtained 73 antigens in samples from four groups according to the duration after vaccination, including 104 unvaccinated healthcare workers, 534 healthcare workers within 60 days after vaccination, 594 healthcare workers between 60 and 180 days after vaccination, and 141 healthcare workers over 180 days after vaccination. An efficient machine learning based framework containing four feature selection methods (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, light gradient boosting machine, Monte Carlo feature selection, and maximum relevance minimum redundancy) and four classification algorithms (decision tree, k-nearest neighbor, random forest, and support vector machine) was designed to screen out essential antigens. Several efficient classifiers with weighted F1 value around 0.75 were constructed. This study revealed that S1+S2, S1.mFcTag, S1.HisTag, S1, S2, Spike.RBD.His.Bac, Spike.RBD.rFc, and S1.RBD.mFc were most highly ranked among all features, where S1 and S2 are the subunits of Spike, and the suffixes represent the tagging information of different recombinant proteins. Meanwhile, the classification rules were extracted from the optimal decision tree to explain quantitatively the roles of antigens in the classification. This study identified antibodies associated with decreased clinical immunity based on populations with different time spans after vaccination. These antibodies have important implications for maintaining long-term immunity to SARS-CoV-2.

Airborne virus, such as COVID-19, caused pandemics all over the world. Virus-containing particles produced by infected individuals are suspended in the air for extended periods of time, actually results in viral aerosols and the spread of infectious diseases. Aerosol collection and detection devices are essential for limiting the spread of airborne virus diseases. This review provides an overview of the primary mechanisms and enhancement techniques for collecting and detecting airborne viruses. Indoor virus detection strategies for scenarios with varying ventilations are also summarized based on the excellent performance of existing advanced comprehensive devices. This review provides guidance for the development of future aerosol detection devices and aids in the control of airborne transmission diseases, such as COVID-19, monkeypox, and other airborne transmission viruses.

Mechanistic models have been used for centuries to describe complex interconnected processes, including biological ones. As the scope of these models has widened, so have their computational demands. This complexity can limit their suitability when running many simulations or when real-time results are required. Surrogate machine learning models can be used to approximate the behaviour of complex mechanistic models, and once built, their computational demands are several orders of magnitude lower. This paper provides an overview of the relevant literature, both from an applicability and a theoretical perspective. For the latter, the paper focuses on the design and training of the underlying machine learning models. Application-wise, we show how machine learning surrogates have been used to approximate different mechanistic models. We present a perspective on how these approaches can be applied to models representing biological processes with potential industrial applications (e.g., metabolism and whole-cell modelling) and show why surrogate machine learning models may hold the key to making the simulation of complex biological models possible using a typical desktop computer.

Tillage has been reported to induce seasonal changes of organic carbon (Сmicro) and nitrogen (Nmicro) in biomass of microorganisms. Soil microorganisms execute such ecosystem functions as: it is an immediate sink of labile biophil elements; it is an agent of a conversion, catalysis and synthesis of humus substances; it transforms soil contaminants into non-hazardous wastes; it participates in soil aggregation and pedogenesis as a whole. However, the seasonal turnover of microorganisms on arable lands in temperate ecosystems has not been investigated on a relevant level. Hence, we aimed to study the dynamics of such soil microbial biomass patterns as: Сmicro, Nmicro, microbial index (MI = (Сmicro/CTOC)·100, %) and CO2-C emission on the background of 9 years of tillage and 22 years of abandoned (Ab) and fallow (F) usage. Our study was conducted on a long-term experimental site on a Mollisol in the northeast China. The maximum Сmicro and Nmicro content was found: at the beginning of the growing season – in 0-10-; in mid-July – in 20-40 cm layers, while the minimum – in August-October. The Сmicro content ranged from 577.79- and 381.79 mg-1 kg-1 under Ab in spring to 229.53- and 272.86 mg-1 kg-1 in autumn under CT (conventional tillage) and F in 0-10- and 10-20 cm layers, respectively. The amplitude of Nmicro content changes was several times lower comparatively to Сmicro. The smallest quartile range (IQR0.25-0.75) of such changes was under: no-till (NT) and Ab in 0-10-, NT and F – in 10-20- and CT - in 20-40 cm layers. The widest Сmicro : Nmicro ratio was found at F and CT – in 0-20- and CT and rotational tillage (Rot) – in 20-40 cm layers. MI dynamics resembled the trends of Сmicro and Nmicro and changed from 0.72  0.168- tо 2.00  0,030 %. The highest part of Сmicro in CTOC was at Ab (1.82  1.85 %) and NT (1.66  1.52 %) – in 0-10-; Ab (1.23  1.27 %) and NT (1.29  1.32 %) – in 10-20- and – Ab (1.19  1.09 %) and F (1.11  1.077 %) – in 20-40 cm layers, correspondingly. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between Сmicro and CTOC increased from the upper 0-10- to the lower 20-40 cm layer, it was "strong" and "high" between Сmicro and CTOC. Different use of Mollisol affected the amplitude of Сmicro and Nmicro seasonal changes, but it didn’t change their trend. Our results suggest the key role of Ab and NT technologies in Сmicro accumulation in total organic carbon (TOC).

Objective: To investigate the protein expression levels of cyclin‑dependent kinase subunit 2 (CKS2) and cluster of differentiation (CD) 47 in gastric cancer (GC) and their clinical significances. Methods: A total of 126 GC patients who underwent radical resection were selected as study subjects. Additionally, 32 patients with benign gastric tumor, 42 patients with low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIEN), and 49 patients with high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGIEN) who underwent surgery were selected as the control groups. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of CKS2 and CD47 in surgical specimens. We statistically analyzed the clinical significance of the expression of the two factors. Results: (1) The positivity rates for CKS2 in benign gastric tumor tissue, LGIEN tissue, HGIEN tissue, and GC tissue gradually increased, i.e., 6.3% (2/32), 30.9% (13/42), 38.8% (19/49), and 60.3% (76/126), respectively, and the positivity rates for CD47 were 18.8% (6/32), 38.1% (16/42), 46.9% (23/49), and 65.9% (83/126), respectively. (2) High expression of CKS2 and CD47 were associated with tumor diameter, Lauren classification, number of lymph node metastases, and TNM stage. In addition, the immunohistochemical scores for CKS2 and CD47 were positively correlated (r=0.625, P=0.000). (3) The median follow-up time of 126 patients was 46.5 months, and the overall survival rate was 40.5% (51/126). Survival analysis showed that compared with that in the CKS2 (-) group, the overall survival rate for patients in the CKS2 (+) group was significantly worse (25.0% vs 64.0%, 2=15.67, P=0.000) and that compared with the CD47 (-) group, the CD47 (+) group had significantly worse overall survival (30.1% vs 60.5%, 2=15.67, P=0.000). (4) The overall survival rates of CKS2(+)CD47(+) group, CKS2(+)CD47(-) group, CKS2(-)CD47(+) group, and CKS2 (-)CD47 (-) group were 20.0%(13/65), 58.3%(7/12), 57.1%(8/14), 65.7% (23/35), respectively, the prognosis of patients in CKS2(+)CD47(+) group was significantly poor. Conclusion: High expression levels of CKS2 and CD47 were closely related to the occurrence of GC and can be used as independent risk factors to assess the prognosis of patients.

Open domain question answering (OpenQA) tasks have been recently attracting more and more attention from the natural language processing (NLP) community. In this work, we present the first free-form multiple-choice OpenQA dataset for solving medical problems, MedQA, collected from the professional medical board exams. It covers three languages: English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese, and contains 12,723, 34,251, and 14,123 questions for the three languages, respectively. We implement both rule-based and popular neural methods by sequentially combining a document retriever and a machine comprehension model. Through experiments, we find that even the current best method can only achieve 36.7%, 42.0%, and 70.1% of test accuracy on the English, traditional Chinese, and simplified Chinese questions, respectively. We expect MedQA to present great challenges to existing OpenQA systems and hope that it can serve as a platform to promote much stronger OpenQA models from the NLP community in the future.

The origin and significance of the tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) units and the familiar metabasite xenoliths they host in the Yangtze Craton, China, remain controversial, and resolving these issues is important if we are to understand the evolution of the early Yangtze Craton. We focused on biotite–tremolite schist xenoliths in the Archean TTG units of the Kongling high-grade metamorphic terrane, and U–Pb dating of their zircons yielded ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages of ca. 3.00 Ga, which provides a minimum age for the formation of the pre-metamorphic basic igneous rock. The host TTGs and late intrusive granitic dikes yield three groups of upper intercept ages at 2.87–2.88, 2.91–2.94, and 3.07 Ga, and a concordant age at 2.94 Ga, which suggest that the Yangtze continental nucleus underwent three important metamorphic–magmatic events in the Mesoarchean at ca. 3.00, 2.94, and 2.87 Ga. The biotite–tremolite schists have high ratios of K₂O/Na₂O and high contents of CaO, Cr, and Ni, thus showing the characteristics of high-K calc-alkaline island-arc volcanic rocks (basalt–andesite) that form by the partial melting of subducted oceanic crust. The data also provide further proof that a Mesoarchean metamorphic basement exists in the Yangtze Plate. Derivation of the magmatic protoliths of the biotite–tremolite schist enclaves from an oceanic crust during slab subduction, and the presence of these xenoliths within the TTG suite, indicate the existence of the initiation of plate tectonics during the Mesoarchean (≤2.94 Ga).

In this work, numerical simulations for the absorption and scattering efficiencies of spheroid core–shell nanoparticles (CSNs) were conducted and studied using the discrete-dipole approximation method. The characteristics of surface plasmon resonances (SPR) depend upon shell thickness, the compositions of the core and shell materials, and the aspect ratio of the constructed CSNs. We used different core@shell compositions, specifically Au@SiO₂, Ag@SiO₂, Au@TiO₂, Ag@TiO₂, Au@Ag, and Ag@Au, for extinction spectra analysis. We also investigated coupled resonance mode wavelengths by adjusting the composition’s layer thickness and aspect ratio. In this study, we show that the extinction efficiency of the Ag@TiO₂ core–shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) was higher than that of the others, and we examined the impact of TiO₂ shell thickness and Ag core radius on SPR peak positions. From the extinction spectra we found that the Ag@TiO₂ nanoparticle had better refractive index sensitivity and figure of merit when the aspect ratio was set to 0.3. All of the experimental results proved that the tunability of these plasmonic resonances was highly dependent on the material used, the layer thickness, and the aspect ratio of the core@shell CSNPs.

Arthropods, the most abundant group in ecosystems, play crucial roles in human production. Soil physicochemical properties reflect soil health and are linked to arthropods through cascading effects. Gravel-sand mulching, commonly practiced in dry farming regions, initially aids in water retention and temperature regulation. However, long-term cultivation can lead to land degradation and habitat fragmentation. This study aimed to investigate field systems using multiple comparison, linear, and nonlinear correlation analyses to explore the effects of different tillage durations on soil properties and arthropod diversity under gravel-sand mulching. Results indicate that arthro-pod diversity was lower while the fields maintained better soil fertility than the desert steppe. Both soil fertility and arthropod diversity declined significantly with increased years of cultivation. Mantel tests revealed no significant response of desert steppe arthropods to the altered soil properties of gravel-sand mulched fields. However, the Generalized Additive Model analysis indicated significant linear correlations between arthropod occurrence and total nitrogen (positive), available phosphorus, and water content (negative). Arthropod abundance showed significant nonlinear correlations with total potassium, alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen, and organic matter (OM), with OM changes having the most pronounced impact. Thus, gravel-sand mulching can maintain soil fertility over time but at the expense of local arthropod diversity.

In this study, the team employed full-scale crash tests to investigate the impact of post-densification technology on the safety performance of separated central median W-beam barriers under low compaction conditions. By precisely simulating the design and construction environment of the central median, the study comprehensively evaluated the barrier's containment, redirection, buffering, and anti-intrusion performances, as well as the deformation of both the barrier and vehicles under various collision scenarios. The results indicate that under low compaction soil conditions, the A-level separated central median barriers reinforced with post-densification technology effectively meet the specified protection requirements. By comparing the influence of soil strength variations on barrier performance under simulated rainfall conditions, it was confirmed that enhancing soil compaction significantly improves soil stability, effectively increases the overall strength and stability of the barriers, reduces deformation, and significantly enhances safety performance. This study not only validates the effectiveness of the reinforcement scheme but also provides new perspectives for the scientific research of safety barriers and offers crucial technical support for the optimal design of road safety protection facilities.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) reduces survival in cirrhotic patients and correlates with systemic inflammation and gut-liver disequilibrium. We investigated the association between propranolol treatment and outcomes for cirrhotic patients with HE. Using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 4,754 cirrhotic patients newly diagnosed with HE. Among them, 519 patients received propranolol treatment and the other 519 patients without exposure to propranolol were enrolled into our study, both of which were matched by sex, age, and propensity score. The median overall survival (OS) was longer in the propranolol-treated cohort than in the untreated cohort (3.46 versus 1.88 years, p<0.001). A dose-dependent increase in survival was observed (median OS: 4.49, 3.29, and 2.46 years in patients treated with propranolol >30mg/day, 20–30mg/day, and <20mg/day, respectively [p<0.001, p=0.001, and p=0.079 versus the untreated group]). In addition to reduce the risk of mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.58; p<0.001), propranolol also diminished the risk of sepsis-related death (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.31; p=0.006) according to the multivariate analysis. However, the risk of circulatory or hepatic failure was non-significantly altered by propranolol treatment. In conclusion, propranolol treatment was associated with a better OS in cirrhotic patients with HE and its effects were dose-dependent.

Multi-threshold image segmentation is a relevant research field in further higher-level image preprocessing and computer vision. This paper adopts the Bayesian Forecasting Evolutionary Algorithm (BFEA) for natural scenery image segmentation using multilevel thresholding. An update method for the prediction vector is designed for image segmentation. The design idea of the BFEA algorithm for multilevel thresholding is based on the basic principle of Evolutionary Computation, the probability distribution of promising solutions, and the Bayesian theorem. BFEA could effectively solve the curse of dimensionality. Extensive experiments have demonstrated that the proposed algorithm dominated the state-of-the-art population-based thresholding method in term of the quality of image, function fitness value, optimal threshold value, SSIM value, PSNR value, computation time, dimensionality issue and convergence rate. The proposed method is very effective for color image segmentation.

Sensory descriptive analysis was used to evaluate the aged Feng-flavored baijiu. The results indicated that there are notable differences in the samples of different ages. The samples with shorter storage times and fresh distilled Baijiu present bran flavor, and fresh green flavor. with the increase of storage time, the fragrance of honey, sweetness, flowers, and aging gradually increases. The samples of Feng-flavored baijiu were dected by Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC–TOFMS) , in total, 496 sustances were identified in all samples, mainly containing 14 types of substances, such as esters, aldehydes etc., of which 42 substances were found in Feng-flavored baijiu for the first time. Chemometrics was used to analyze the key differential compounds. 143 differential compounds closely related to aging were preliminarily screened, and principal component analysis revealed that these samples were separated by year. 65 differential compounds were selected out by partial least squares discriminant analysis(PLS-DA). Furthermore, 43 key differential compounds were selected from the aged Feng-flavored baijiu combined with variable importance in projection and Pearson correlation coefficients. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to research the correlation of sensory properties and key differential compounds, and the results indicated that most compounds were closely related to the aged Baijiu . This study afford theoretical basis and reference for flavor research of Feng-flavored baijiu.

An efficient stereoselective three-component reaction for the synthesis of spiro[4H-chromene-3,3’-oxindole] derivatives was realized through an organocatalyzed cascade Knoevenagel/Michael/cyclization reaction using a quinidine-derived squaramide as the catalyst. Under the optimized conditions, the reactions of isatins, malononitrile, and sesamol yield the desired spirooxindoles in good yields (75–87%) and moderate to high ee values (up to 90% ee). Two pairs of selected enantiomers were subjected to evaluate their antiproliferative activities on three types of human cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. The results indicated that stereoselectivity and electrical effect showed significant impact on activity. Enanotiomer R-3f exhibited optimal cytotoxic activity against U2OS cell line, which was close to the inhibitory activity of positive control, Adriamycin.

The present paper provides a new definition for dual spline curves in a geometric intuitive way based on adaptive curve refinement techniques. The dual spline is an implementation of the interpolatory subdivision scheme for curve modeling, which is comprised of polynomial segments of different degrees. Specially, the dual spline curves are mainly aims to solve the difficult geometry defeaturing problems in the existing computer-aided technology. Dual spline curves maintain various desirable properties of conventional curve modeling methods, such as local adaptive subdivision, high interpolation accuracy and convergence, continuous and discontinuous boundary approximation. By adding fictitious and intrinsic nodes inside or at the vertices of interpolation elements, the dual spline is flexible and convenient for approximating a set of ordered points or discrete segments. Combined with the Lagrange interpolation polynomial and meshless method, the proposed approach is capable of approximating the non-smooth boundary for geometry defeaturing. Experimental results are given to verify the validity, robustness, and accuracy of the proposed method.

The main objective of this work is to study the effects of carbon nanotubes (CNT) on the strength and electrical properties of cement mortar. Molecular dynamic simulations (MDS) were carried out for the mechanical and electrical properties of the cementitious composite and the associated mechanisms. To model the atomic structure of the Calcium-Silicate-Hydrates (C-S-H) gel, tobermorite 11Å was chosen. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) embedded in tobermorite structure were tested numerically. In particular, the effect of the concentration of CNT in cement paste was studied. An innovative experiment of electrical characterization of a cementitious composite of carbon nanotubes has been developed.

ALDH+ H1975 lung adenocarcinoma stem cells (LSCs) are a rare cell population identified in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). LSCs can self-renew, drive tumor initiation, growth, metastasis, and recurrence, and are also the predominant cause of poor prognosis due to their intrinsic resistance to drugs and chemotherapy. Consequently, LSCs are a promising target for LUAD therapy. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs), exert many significant regulatory functions in the pathogenesis of human cancers, showing the necessity for a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that underlie lung carcinogenesis. Nonetheless, research on many known transcripts and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) has already generated new information. Unknown biomarkers in ncRNAs and systematic and comprehensive interrelation with unknown ncRNAs and mRNAs may provide further insights into the biology of LUAD. Herein, a set of novel ncRNAs that include miRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, were identified and differentially expressed patterns of ncRNAs and mRNAs in LSCs and ALDH- H1975 LUAD tumor cells (LTCs) were obtained using stringent bioinformatics pipelines. Through a meta-analysis of the identified landscapes, novel competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were constructed to reveal the potential molecular mechanisms that regulate the hallmarks of LSCs and LTCs. This study presents a summary of novel ncRNAs and the fundamental roles of differentially expressed ncRNAs implicated in the activity of LSCs and LTCs. In addition, the study also provides a comprehensive resource for the future identification of diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic biomarkers in LUAD.

Ciliopathies are genetic syndromes that link skeletal dysplasias to dysfunction of primary cilia. Primary cilia are sensory organelles synthesized by intraflagellar transport (IFT) - A and B complexes, which traffic protein cargo along a microtubular core. We have reported that deletion of IFT-A gene, Thm2, together with a null allele of its paralog, Thm1, causes a small skeleton with small mandible or micrognathia in juvenile mice. Using micro-computed tomography, here we quantify the craniofacial defects of Thm2^-/-;Thm1^aln/- triple allele mutant mice. At postnatal day 14, triple allele mutant mice exhibit micrognathia, maxillary hypoplasia, and a decreased facial angle due to shortened maxilla, premaxilla, and nasal bones, reflecting altered development of facial anterior-posterior elements. In contrast, other ciliopathy-related craniofacial defects, such as cleft lip and/or palate, hypo-/hypertelorism, broad nasal bridge, craniosynostosis, and facial asymmetry, were not observed, suggesting development of the facial transverse dimension is intact. Calvarial-derived osteoblasts of triple allele mutant mice showed reduced bone formation in vitro that was ameliorated by Hedgehog agonist, SAG. Together, these data indicate that Thm2 and Thm1 genetically interact to regulate bone formation and sculpting of the postnatal face. The triple allele mutant mice present as a novel model to study craniofacial bone development.