In this paper, we establish the generalized Qi-type inequality involving conformable fractional integrals. The results presented here would provide extensions of those given in earlier works.

Bearings are widely used in various types of electrical machinery and equipment. As their core components, failures will often cause serious consequences . At present, most methods of parameter adjustment are still manual adjustment of parameters. This adjustment method is susceptible to prior knowledge and easy to fall into the local optimal solution, failing to obtain the global optimal solution and requires a lot of resources.Therefore, this paper proposes a new method of bearing fault diagnosis based on wavelet packet transform and convolutional neural network optimized by simulated annealing algorithm.The experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper has a more accurate effect in feature extraction and fault classification compared with traditional bearing fault diagnosis methods. At the same time, compared with the traditional artificial neural network parameter adjustment, this paper introduces the simulated annealing algorithm to automatically adjust the parameters of the neural network, thereby obtaining an adaptive bearing fault diagnosis method. To verify the effectiveness of the method, the Case Western Reserve University bearing database was used for testing, and the traditional intelligent bearing fault diagnosis method was compared. The results show that the method proposed in this paper has good results in bearing fault diagnosis. Provides a new way of thinking in the field of bearing fault diagnosis in parameter adjustment and fault classification algorithms

Infrared dim and small target detection is a key technology of various detection tasks. However, due to the lack of shape, texture, and other information, it is a challenging task to detect dim and small targets. Recently, since many traditional algorithms ingore global information of infrared images, they generate some false alarms in complicated environments. To address this problem, in this paper, a coarse-to-fine deep learning-based method is proposed to detect dim and small targets. Firstly, a coarse-to-fine detection framework integrating deep learning and background prediction is applied for detecting targets. The framework contains of coarse detection module and fine detection module. In coarse detection stage, Region Proposal Network (RPN) is employed to generate masks in target candidate regions. Then, for further optimize the result, inpainting is utilized to predict the background by the global semnantic of images. In this paper, inpainting algorithm with a mask aware dynamic filtering module is incorporated into the fine detection stage to estimate background in candidate target areas. Finally, compared with existing algorithms, the experimental results indicate that the proposed framework have effective detection capability and robustness for complex surroundings.

PH value is one of the most significant ecological factors affecting the survival and growth of aquatic organisms. But the effect and tolerance of pH value on many aquatic species are still unknown. This study mainly investigated the effects of pH value on the hatching rate of eggs, the adaptability of newly hatched larva fish and the survival of 3-months-old juvenile fish of Takifugu obscurus. Water pH values can cause a great impact on Takifugu obscurus lives, when the fertilized eggs of Takifugu obscurus were incubated at pH 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 8.3 (control group), 9.0, 10.0 and 11.0 respectively. Under the pH of 5.0, 6.0, 10.0 and 11.0, the hatching rate and speed is greatly reduced and the deformity rate of hatching larvae is greatly increased; When the hatch-pH value was 6.0, the acid adaption of hatched larvae was significantly enhanced, but alkali adaptation was weakened; Under the condition of pH gradient of 6.0, 6.4, 6.8, 7.0, 8.0, 8.3, 9.0, 10.0, 10.2, 10.5, 11.0 and 12.0, survival time and survival rate of juvenile fish show a significant difference. Especially when the pH value was 6.0 and 12.0, juvenile fish die immediately after swimming quickly. Within 24 h, half of the fish died at the pH of 6.4 and 10.3, and within 48 h, half died at the pH of 7.1 and 9.9. In addition, the gradual pH value group in which the pH value gradually decreased or increased had stronger acid-base adaptability and a higher survival rate than the acute experimental group. The above results show the relationship between pH value and survival of Takifugu obscurus, which can provide more reference for the introduction of Takifugu obscurus into saline-alkali land in the future. Additionally, the incubated pH value can influence the pH tolerance of Takifugu obscurus, which can be applied to the breed improvement into an appropriate water environment.

A millimeter-wave microstrip leaky-wave antenna array based on the substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) and the complementary split-ring resonator (CSRR) is proposed in this paper. The slow wave characteristics of the SIW are enhanced by etching two rows of symmetrical CSRR-type slots on the surface of the SIW layer. The magnetic coupling between the CSRR-SIW layer and equally spaced circular patches array on the upper layer realizes the radiation of electromagnetic energy. In the 23~30 GHz (relative bandwidth 26.4%) operating frequency band, the horizontal polarization radiation beam scanning from -62° to -2° is realized, with a peak gain of 9.6~11.7 dBi, and the cross-polarization ratio is more than 43.8 dB.

We present a modified characteristic finite element method that exhibits second-order spatial accuracy for solving convection-reaction-diffusion equations on surfaces. The temporal direction adopted backward-Euler method, while the spatial direction employed surface finite element method. In contrast to regular domains, it is observed that the point in the characteristic direction traverses the surface only once within a brief time. Thus, the good approximation of the solution in the characteristic direction holds significant importance for the numerical scheme. In this regard, Taylor expansion is employed to reconstruct the solution beyond the surface in the characteristic direction. The stability of our scheme is then proved. A comparison is made with an existing characteristic finite element method based on face mesh. Numerical examples are provided to validate the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have increasingly become integral to multi-access edge computing (MEC) due to their flexibility and cost-effectiveness, especially in the B5G and 6G eras. This paper aims to enhance the Quality of Experience (QoE) in large-scale UAV-MEC networks by minimizing the shrinkage ratio through optimal decision-making in computation mode selection for each user device (UD), UAV flight trajectory, bandwidth allocation, and computing resource allocation at edge servers. However, the interdependencies among UAV trajectory, binary task offloading mode, and computing/network resource allocation across numerous IoT nodes pose significant challenges. To address these challenges, we formulate the shrinkage ratio minimization problem as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem and propose a two-tier optimization strategy. To reduce the scale of the optimization problem, we first design a low-complexity UAV partition coverage algorithm based on the Welzl method and determine the UAV flight trajectory by solving a Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). Subsequently, we develop a coordinate descent (CD) based method and an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) based method for network bandwidth and computing resource allocation in the MEC system. The CD-based method is simple to implement and has a low computational complexity, while the ADMM-based method can further enhance the optimization result through joint optimization. Extensive simulations demonstrate that our proposed algorithms perform well in large-scale edge networks and outperform other representative benchmark methods.

Excessive vibration of temporary grandstand owing to crowd has lateral rhythmic motions can cause human in panic, which attracted increasing attention in recent years. This paper focuses on experiments that a temporary grandstand occupied 20 participants is oscillated by a shaking table with a series of random waves and induced by crowd with rhythmic swaying motions at lateral direction, respectively. And then a series of vibration perception questionnaires about crowd reaction are obtained. Evaluation of annoying level derives in concept of degree of membership and annoying rate method is proposed, then the human health risk of vibration serviceability of temporary grandstand is assessed with acceleration vibration dose value(VDV). From these results it is clear that standing crowd is more tolerant to vibration than seated crowd. The measured vibrations generated by crowd activities on temporary grandstand can cause panic in crowd. New relationship between the annoyance rate and structural acceleration VDV at logarithmic coordinate is proposed. The findings of this study can be utilized to manage the vibration of temporary grandstand and assess the human health risk.

Low-sodium salt substitute (LSSS) has the potential in regulating sodium and potassium intake and has been available in China market for years. However, its real-world use and impact to sodium\potassium intake is unclear. Baseline data of 4000 adult participants who participated in three similar-designed randomized controlled trails were pooled together for this study. Self-reported awareness and use of LSSS were collected using the uniform questionnaire, and the 24-h urinary sodium and potassium excretion was used to estimate their dietary intake. Mixed-effects models were developed to assess the relationship between LSSS and 24-h urinary sodium and potassium excretion. 32.0% of the participants reported awareness of LSSS and 11.7% reported its current use. After adjusting location, sex, age, and education, compared with the group of participants unaware of LSSS, participants who were aware but not using LSSS and those who were using LSSS had a lower 24-h urinary sodium excretion by –356.1(95% CI: –503.9, –205.9) mg/d and –490.6(95% CI: –679.2, –293.7), respectively (p<0.001). No significant difference was found for 24-h urinary potassium excretion and sodium-to-potassium ratio among the three groups (p>0.05). In conclusion, although associated with lower sodium intake, the awareness and real-world use of LSSS are still very low in China.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) syndrome is the most common progressive human motor and sensory peripheral neuropathy. CMT type 1E is a demyelinating neuropathy affecting Schwann cells due to pmp22 mutations, modelized by Trembler-J mice. Curcumin, a natural polyphenol com-pound obtained from turmeric (Curcuma longa), exhibits dose- and time-varying antitumor, antioxidant and neuroprotective properties, however, the neurotherapeutic actions of curcumin still remain elusive. Here, we propose curcumin as a possible natural treatment capable of enhancing cellular detoxification mechanisms, resulting in an improvement of the neurodegenerative Trembler-J phenotype. Using a refined method for obtaining enriched Schwann cell cultures, we evaluated the neurotherapeutic action of low dose curcumin treatment on the PMP22 expression, and on the chaperones (HSF1 and Hsp27) and autophagy/mTOR (HDAC6 and ribosomes) pathways in Trembler-J and wild-type genotypes. In wild-type Schwann cells, the action of cur-cumin resulted in strong stimulation of the chaperone and macroautophagy pathway, whereas the modulation of ribophagy showed a mild effect. However, despite the promising neuroprotective effects for the treatment of neurological diseases, we report (demonstrate?) that the action of cur-cumin in Trembler-J Schwann cells could be impaired due to the irreversible impact of ethanol used as a common curcumin vehicle necessary for administration. These results contribute to expand our still limited understanding of PMP22 biology in neurobiology, and expose the intrinsic lability of the neurodegenerative Trembler-J genotype. Furthermore, they unravel interesting physiological mechanisms of cellular resilience relevant for to the pharmacological treatment of the neurodegenerative Tremble J phenotype with curcumin and ethanol. We conclude that the analysis of the effects of the vehicle itself is an essential and in-escapable step to comprehensibly assess the own effects and full potential of curcumin treatment for therapeutic purposes.

Antiretroviral therapy has effectively suppressed HIV infection and replication and prolonged the lifespan of HIV-infected individuals. In the meantime, various complications including type 2 diabetes associated with long-term antiviral therapy have shown steady increases. Metformin has been the front-line anti-hyperglycemic drug of choice and the most widely prescribed medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, little is known about the effects of Metformin on HIV infection and replication. In this study, we showed that Metformin treatment enhanced HIV gene expression and transcription in HIV-transfected 293T and HIV-infected Jurkat and human PBMC. Moreover, we demonstrated that Metformin treatment resulted in increased CREB expression and phosphorylation, and TBP expression. Furthermore, we showed that Metformin treatment increased the recruitment of phosphorylated CREB and TBP to the HIV LTR promoter. Lastly, we showed that inhibition of CREB activation significantly abrogated Metformin-enhanced HIV gene expression. Taken together, these results demonstrated that Metformin treatment increased HIV transcription, gene expression, and production though increased CREB phosphorylation and recruitment to the HIV LTR promoter. These findings may help design the clinical management plan and HIV cure strategy of using metformin to treat type 2 diabetes, a comorbidity with an increasing prevalence, in people living with HIV.

We know that the classical Mittag-Leffler function play an important role as solution of fractional order differential and integral equations. We introduce the j-generalized p - k Mittag-Leffler function. We evaluate the second order differential recurrence relation and four different integral representations and introduce a homogeneous linear differential equation whose one of the solution is the j-generalized p-k Mittag-Leffler function. Also we evaluate the certain relations that exist between j-generalized p - k Mittag-Leffler function and Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals and derivatives. We evaluate Mellin-Barnes integral representation of j-generalized p-k Mittag-Le er Function. The relationship of j-generalized p-k Mittag-Leffler Function with Fox H-Function and Wright hypergeometric function is also establish. we obtained its Euler transform, Laplace Transform and Mellin transform. Finally we derive some particular cases.

In this paper, a method of direct spinning is proposed for direct spinning of heterogeneous spun wire-blown holes standard parts and the motherboard mounted on the spin board assemblies. The standardization of the spinneret hole was conducive to improving the machining accuracy and efficiency of the pores, and the spinneret holes could be replaced in time when a hole in the spinneret fails. Moreover; on the other hand, according to the needs of the process of spinning, the spinnerets with various cross-sections were combined and installed on the same motherboard for spinning, and the spinning obtained different bionic new functional products. Based on the results, a finite element model of the standard part of the spinneret hole was developed, and the spinnability of the combinable spinnable spinneret board was verified by simulating the melt flow in the spinneret channel through POLYFLOW software. Further, by the processing of the spinneret, the motherboard was installed into a combined spinneret, and the spinneret assembly was installed on the spinning machine for the experiments. Furthermore, the tow section was observed using a microscope, and the results showed the feasibility of the proposed method.

The accurate monitoring of state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) is critical for the reliable management of lithium-ion battery (LIB) systems. In this paper, the online model identification is scrutinized to achieve high modeling accuracy and robustness, and a model-based joint estimator is further proposed to estimate the SOC and SOH of LIB concurrently. Specifically, an adaptive forgetting recursive least squares (AF-RLS) method is exploited to optimize the estimation alertness and numerical stability, so as to achieve accurate online adaption of model parameters. Leveraging the online adapted battery model, a joint estimator is proposed by combining an open-circuit voltage (OCV) observer with a low-order state observer to co-estimate the SOC and capacity of LIB. Simulation and experimental studies are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed data-model fusion method. Results suggest that the proposed method can effectively track the variation of model parameters by using the onboard measured current and voltage data. The SOC and capacity can be further estimated in real time with fast convergence, high accuracy and high stability.

In this research paper, design and development of pyramidal horn antenna for J-band application is reported. It is particularly designed for 17 dB gain and half beam width about 25 degrees at 6.93 GHz. Horn aperture, horn axial length and distance from the throat of the antenna to aperture are the main design constraints which are calculated and used for the antenna design and simulation. Beam width in E-plane and H-plane horn is calculated and it is 19.18 dB and 22.86 dB respectively. The reported antenna design shows good performance for J-band in radiometry, satellite, and radar applications.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate plant growth and development and their responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Although extensive studies show that miR159 family members regulate leaf and flower development in Arabidopsis thaliana, the roles of miRNAs in soybean (Glycine max) are poorly understood. Here, we identified six MIR159 genes in soybean, MIR159aMIR159f, and investigate their expression patterns in plants under low-phosphorus (low-P), NaCl, or abscisic acid (ABA) treatments. In soybean leaves, MIR159e and MIR159f expression was induced by low-P treatment, while in roots, MIR159b, MIR159c, MIR159e, and MIR159f expression was upregulated. In flowers, low-P led to upregulation of MIR159a, MIR159b, MIR159c, and MIR159f, but downregulation of MIR159d and MIR159e. In soybean nodules, MIR159b was upregulated but MIR159a, MIR159c, and MIR159d was downregulated under P deficiency. NaCl treatment induced MIR159a, MIR159b, MIR159c, and MIR159e expression in leaves, and MIR159aMIR159f expression in roots. ABA treatment upregulated MIR159a, MIR159b, and MIR159c but downregulated MIR159d, MIR159e, and MIR159f in leaves. These results suggest that miR159 family members function in plant abiotic stress responses. Moreover, total P content in leaves was significantly lower in plants overexpressing MIR159e than in the wild type, suggesting that miR159e may regulate P absorption and transport in soybean.

According to the operation conditions of time unlimited passive containment heat removal system (TUPAC), a separate effect experiment facility was established to investigate the heat transfer performance of steam condensation in presence of non-condensable gas. The effect of wall subcooling temperature, total pressure and mass fraction of the air on heat transfer process was analyzed. The heat transfer model was also developed. The results showed that the heat transfer coefficient decreased with the rising of subcooling temperature, the decreasing of the total pressure and air mass fraction. It was revealed that Dehbi’s correlation predicted the heat transfer coefficient conservatively, especially in the low pressure and low temperature region. The novel correlation was fitted by the data obtained in the following range: 0.20~0.45 MPa in pressure, 20% ~ 80% in mass fraction, 15°C ~ 45°C in temperature. The discrepancy of the correlation and experiment data was with ±20%.

This paper propose a kernel geometric mean metric learning (KGMML) algorithm. The basic idea is to obtain the closed-form solution of the geometric mean metric learning (GMML) algorithm in the high-dimensional feature space determined by the kernel function. Then, the solution is generalized as a form of kernel matrix by using the integral representation of the weighted geometric mean and the Woodbury matrix in this new feature space. Experimental results on 15 datasets show that the proposed algorithm can effectively improve the accuracy of the GMML algorithm and other metric algorithms.

Existing Knowledge Graph (KG) models for commonsense question answering present two challenges: (i) existing methods retrieved entities related to questions from the knowledge graph, which may extract noise and irrelevant nodes, and (ii) lack of interaction representation between questions and graph entities. However, current methods mainly focus on retrieving relevant entities with some noisy and irrelevant nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel Retrieval-augmented Knowledge Graph (RAKG) model, which solves the above issues through two key innovations. First, we leverage the density matrix to make the model reason along the corrected knowledge path and extract an enhanced knowledge graph subgraph. Second, we fuse representations of questions and graph entities through a bidirectional attention strategy, in which two representations fuse and update by Graph Convolutional Network (GCN). To evaluate the performance of our method, we conduct experiments on two widely-used benchmark datasets CommonsenseQA and OpenBookQA. The case study gives insight into findings that the augmented subgraph provides reasoning along the corrected knowledge path for question answering.

Electronic designers nowadays are facing two challenging demands for various applications: miniaturization and increased functionality. To satisfy these seemingly opposed requirements, reducing the number of mounted components—and thus solder joints—in PCB designs becomes an attractive approach by directly printing passive components such as embedded resistors into the circuit. This approach can also potentially increase the reliability, such as “mean time between failures” (MTBF), while reducing the circuit board size. With its unique capabilities for non-contact precision material deposition, the Aerosol Jet® direct-write technology has been enabling additive manufacturing of fine-feature electronics conformally onto flexible substrates of complicated shapes. The CAD/CAM controlled relative motions between substrate and print head allows convenient adjustment of the pattern and pile height of deposited material at a given ink volumetric deposition rate. To date in the printed electronics industry, additively printing embedded polymer-thick-film (PTF) resistors has mostly been done with screen printing using carbon-based paste inks. Here we demonstrate results of Aerosol Jet® printed PTF resistors of resistance values ranging from ~50 W to > 1 kW, adjustable (among several variable parameters) by the number of stacked layers (or print passes with each pass depositing a fixed amount of ink) between contact pads of around 1 mm apart with footprint line typically < 0.3 mm. In principle, any ink material that can be atomized into fine droplets of 1 to 5 microns can be printed with the Aerosol Jet® system. However, the print quality such as line edge cleanliness can significantly influenced by ink rheology which involves solvent volatility, solids loading, and so on. Our atomizable carbon ink was made by simply diluting a screen printing paste with a compatible solvent of reasonable volatility, which can be cured at temperatures below 200 ^oC. We show that Aerosol Jet® printed overlapping lines can be stacked to large pile height (to reduce the resistance value) without significant increase of line width, which enables fabricating embedded resistors with adjustable resistance values in a limited footprint space.

Up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNP) under near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation have been well investigated in the field of bio-imaging. However, the low up-conversion luminescence (UCL) intensity limits applications. Plasmatic modulation has been proposed as an effective tool to adjust the luminescence intensity and lifetime. In this study discrete dipole approximation (DDA) was explored concerning guiding the design of UCNP@mSiO2-Au structures with enhanced UCL intensity. The extinction effects of gold shells could be changed by adjusting the distance between the UCNPs and the Au NPs by synthesized tunable mesoporous silica (mSiO2) spacers. Enhanced UCL was obtained under 808 nm irradiation. Theoretical predictions could not be demonstrated to full extend by experimental data, indicating that better models for simulation need to better take into account inhomogeneities in particle morphologies.

The representation of aerosols in climate-chemistry models is important for air quality and climate change research, but it can require significant computational resources. To overcome this, simpler modules such as modal aerosol modules with three lognormal modes (MAM3) can be used. In this study, the coupling of the Carbon Bond Mechanism, version Z (CBMZ), and MAM3 chemistry modules in WRF-CAM5 was improved by adding biomass-burning emissions to both gas- and particle-phase chemistry and incorporating a conversion mechanism between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and secondary organic carbons (SOCs). The study conducted six simulations over the western U.S. and northeastern Pacific region and compared the model’s performance with observational benchmarks such as reanalysis, ground-based, and satellite data. The results showed that the model with enhanced chemistry capabilities had a 31% and 58% reduction in root-mean-square errors (RMSE) for black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) surface concentrations, respectively. The earlier release of the WRF-CAM5 version had two deficiencies that were addressed in this study. This research highlights the importance of accurate aerosol representation in climate-chemistry models for improving accuracy and reducing errors in simulations.

Two 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine-based Schiff bases (TPySSB and TPySB) have been synthesized. The TPySSB shows remarkable selective ‘off-on’ fluorescence for Al³⁺ by photoinduced electron transfer (PET) mechanism of sensing. Chemosensor TPySSB binds Al³⁺ in a 1:2 ratio with an association constant 6.8×10⁵ (R²=0.98) and this 1:2 stoichiometric model is established on Job’s plot and ¹H NMR. Compared TPySSB and TPySB, it is of great importance of the existence of salicylidene unit due to its strong binding abilities of both phenol and C=N structure to the Al³⁺.

The coal mine underground reservoir is an appropriate solution between coal mining and groundwater resource protection and utilization. By calculating the storage capacity of a groundwater reservoir, the storage coefficient has been proved to be always an empirical value. Based on the mathematical derivation of the vertical fracture area ratio and the horizontal fracture area rate of the collapse zone and the fissure zone in the goaf area of the coal seam, the mathematical models of tem are derived, and the model for calculating the water storage coefficient is derived. The water storage coefficient derived from the theoretical model had more basis and more advanced than the traditional empirical value. By using this method, the practical calculation of No.1 underground reservoir of the DaLliuta Coalmine in Shenhua Shendong, has got a perfect matching with the actual groundwater storage capacity.

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.

The ability to self-direct a research program determines graduate degree completion. Yet, research on incompletion of graduate physics programs assume students’ present level of self-direction adequate and neglects to recognize a lack of self-directed learning as key. One theoretical mathematical physicist focused on changing this challenge of physics graduate education by promoting self-directed learning through the type research flow that has been found to bring the greatest satisfaction to researchers with respect to their insights. This he provided through his space, time, open mindedness and theoretical contributions with his students and in collaboration with his colleagues. A self-directed learner himself, David J. Rowe developed methods of mentoring for encouraging physics graduate students to recognize symmetry as valuable in identifying solutions to problems quickly—helping these students take the lead in finding insightful resolutions to complex, multidimensional, mathematical physics uncertainties. How Rowe set about supporting self-directed learning in his graduate physics education interactions will be examined with the use of narrative research to interpret the texts and conversations with the author he made available. His techniques will be presented and recommendations made regarding how Rowe’s work in this regard can be modeled to improve self-direction in STEM graduate education.

With the advances in industry and commerce, passengers have become more accepting of environmental sustainability issues; thus, more people now choose to travel by bus. Government administration constitutes an important part of bus transportation services as the government gives the right-of-way to transportation companies allowing them to provide services. When these services are of poor quality, passengers may lodge complaints. The increase in consumer awareness and developments in wireless communication technologies have made it possible for passengers to easily and immediately submit complaints about transportation companies to government institutions, which has brought drastic changes to the supply-demand chain comprised of the public sector, transportation companies, and passengers. This study proposed the use of big data analysis technology including systematized case assignment and data visualization to improve management processes in the public sector and optimize customer complaint services. Taichung City, Taiwan was selected as the research area. There, the customer complaint management process in public sector was improved, effectively solving such issues as station-skipping, allowing the public sector to fully grasp the service level of transportation companies, improving the sustainability of bus operations, and supporting the sustainable development of the public sector-transportation company-passenger supply chain.

The use of tuning forks to measure fluid density and viscosity is widely employed in fields such as food, medicine, textiles, automobiles, petrochemicals, and deep drilling. The explicit analytical model based on Euler-Bernoulli cantilever beam theory for the relationship between tuning fork resonance characteristics and the density and viscosity of fluid is only applicable to the situation where the fluid viscous effect is very small. In this paper, the finite element method is used to simulate the influence of large variations in fluid density and viscosity on the resonance characteristic parameters (resonant frequency and quality factor) of the tuning fork. The numerical simulation results are compared with the analytical analysis results and experimental measurement results. Then, the sensitivity of tuning fork resonance characteristic parameters to fluid density and viscosity is studied. The results show that compared with the analytical results, the numerical simulation results have a higher degree of agreement with the experimental measurement results. The relative difference in resonant frequency is less than 2%, and the relative difference in quality factor is less than 4%. This indicates that the finite element method includes the influence of fluid viscosity on tuning fork resonance parameters, which is more in line with the actual conditions than the analytical model. Simulating and analyzing the sensitivity of the tuning fork to fluid density and viscosity by the finite element method, it is possible to consider the situation where fluid density and viscosity vary over a large range. Compared with experimental measurements, this method has higher efficiency and can significantly save time and economic costs. This study can overcome the limitation of existing explicit analytical models, which are only applicable when the viscous effects of the fluid are very small. It enables a more accurate simulation of the coupling vibration between tuning forks and fluids, thereby providing theoretical references for further optimizing tuning fork structural parameters to enhance the accuracy of measuring fluid characteristic parameters.

The possibility of releasing gold nanoparticles (GNP) into the environment has been rapidly increasing with the wide spread and flourishing application of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in a wide range of areas. Consequently, environmental effects of GNP, especially toxicities to living organisms have drawn great attention. However, their toxicological characteristics still remain unclear. Fungi, as the decomposers of the ecosystem, interact directly with the environment and critically control the overall health of the biosphere. Thus, their sensitivity to GNP toxicity is particularly important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of shape and size of GNPs on their toxicities to fungi, which could help reveal the ecotoxicity of GNPs. Aspergillus niger, Mucor hiemalis and Penicillium chrysogenum were chosen for toxicity assessment, and spherical and star/flower-shaped GNPs sized from 0.7 nm to large aggregates of 400 nm have been synthesised. After exposure to GNPs and their corresponding reaction agents and incubation for 48 hours, the survival rates of each kind of fungus was calculated and compared. The results indicated that fungal species was the major determinant of the variation of survival rates, whereby A. niger was most sensitive and M. himalis was least sensitive to GNP exposure. Additionally, larger and non-spherical GNPs had relatively stronger toxicities.

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.

This paper outlines evidence-based practice in the context of professionalism, and highlights the contribution evidence-based practice can make to the professional practice of higher education course managers. Implications of the changing HE landscape for the status of academics as professionals are reviewed, and evidence-based practice is proposed as a solution for both enhanced course management and to remedy perceived deprofessionalisation. Finally, questions regarding researching professional practice within one’s own institution are addressed.

: Sputtering of silicon in a Helium magnetron discharge (MS) has been reported as a bottom-up procedure to obtain He-charged silicon films (i.e. He nanobubbles encapsulated in a silicon matrix). The incorporation of heavier noble gases is demonstrated in this work with a synergistic effect producing increased Ne and Ar incorporations when using He-Ne and He-Ar gas mixtures in the MS process. Microstructural and chemical characterizations are reported by ion beam analysis (IBA) and scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). In addition to gas incorporation, helium promotes the formation of larger nanobubbles. For the case of Ne high resolution X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies (XPS and XAS) are reported with remarkable dependence of the Ne 1s photoemission and the Ne K-edge absorption on the nanobubbles size and composition. The gas (He, Ne, Ar) charged thin films are proposed as “solid” targets for the characterization of spectroscopic properties of noble gases in a confined state without the need for cryogenics or high-pressure anvils devices. Also their use as targets for nuclear reaction studies is foreseen.

Seed viability is routinely measured on seeds that fail to germinate at the end of an experiment. Together with the number of germinants, this is used to estimate viability of the seeds at start of the experiment (i.e., initial viability) and provides the comparative basis on which germination success is determined. We used this standard procedure on 40 Leucadendron species subjected to oscillating temperatures, heat and/or smoke pre-treatments to examine the extent to which they raised germination levels above that of the untreated controls. 16 species showed significantly different levels of estimated initial seed viability between treatments when they should have been unaffected. Loss of viability during the trial was an order of magnitude greater than annual loss during cold storage, which was usually negligible. Lowest levels of estimated initial viability occurred among the poorly germinating controls and confirmed that the heat and smoke treatments had little effect on viability. Species with soil-stored seeds were more vulnerable to this artefact than those with plant-stored seeds. We caution against the routine use of end-of-trial germination and viability of ungerminated seeds as an estimate of initial viability in determining germination success of various treatments. The preference is for estimates of initial viability to be undertaken on a separate sample of seeds in association with the trial.

In this paper, the deformation behavior of S32750 duplex stainless steel during low cycle fatigue was studied by controlling number of cycles. The microstructure of the specimens under different cycles was characterized by optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Microhardness of two phases was measured by a digital microhardness instrument. The results showed that the microhardness of ferrite increases significantly after the first 4000 cycles, while the austenite shows a higher strain hardening rate after fatigue fracture, and the microhardness of ferrite and austenite increases by 23 HV and 87 HV, respectively. Two-phase kernel average misorientation (KAM) diagram showed that the continuous accumulation of plastic deformation easily leads to the initiation of cracks inside the austenite and at the phase boundaries. The evolution of dislocation morphology in two phases was obviously different. With the increase of cycle number, the dislocation in ferrite gradually transforms from dislocation bundles and dislocation array to sub-grain structure, while the dislocation in austenite gradually develops from dipole array to ordered Taylor lattice network structure.

This paper seeks to model the crack propagation in of AAs (aluminum-alloys) 2524-T3 and 7050-T7452 subjected to fatigue loading at low temperature. Fatigue crack growth tests were performed on AAs 2524-T3 and 7050-T7452 subjected to constant-amplitude and actual random-spectra loading histories at room temperature of about 25 °C and at cryogenic temperature of -70 °C, respectively, to determine their crack growth properties and residual lives. The interaction mechanisms between cryogenic temperature and the fatigue load were deduced on the basis of the results of fractographic analysis. Temperature-dependent residual lives under actual random-spectrum load history were modeled based on a modified accumulation damage rule by accounting for the load interaction. Good correlation was achieved between the predictions and actual experiments, demonstrating the practical and effective use of the proposed method.

In this work, we develop a self-consistent physical model of bubbles in a gas solid two-phase flow. Using the Peng-Robonson state equation and a detailed specific heat ratio equation of bubbles, we obtain the kinetic equations of the bubbles on the basis of the Ergun equation, thermodynamic equations, and kinetic equations. It is found that the specific heat ratio of bubbles in such systems strongly depends on bubble pressures and temperatures, which play an important role in the characteristics of the bubbles. The theoretical studies show that with increasing height in the systems, the gas flow rate shows a downward trend. Moreover, the larger particles in the gas solid flows are, the greater the gas velocity is. The bubble sizes increase with the increasing heights of the gas solid systems, and then decrease. The bubble velocity is affected by the gas velocity and the bubble size, which gradually increase and eventually quasi-stabilize. This shows that gas and solid phases in a gas solid two-phase flow interact with each other and a self-consistent system comes into being. The theoretical results have exhibited important value as a guide for understanding the properties and effects of bubbles in gas solid two-phase flows.

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer is widely used in various fields today. In order to thoroughly reveal the structural impact performance of PMMA materials, this paper is based on the comprehensive Johnson-Cook constitutive model and damage failure model, and accurately confirm the J-C constitutive and damage failure model parameters of PMMA through material test data, The dynamic process of steel bullet impacting PMMA plate structure is analyzed by finite element software ABAQUS. The calculation results show that the numerical simulation results in this paper are in good agreement with the experimental test data. Therefore, the feasibility and accuracy of the impact analysis of PMMA structures based on J-C constitutive and damage failure models in this paper are studied. Finally, based on the J-C constitutive model and damage failure model, the variation of the residual velocity of the bullet with the PMMA plate thickness is analyzed in depth, that is, the results show that the residual velocity of the bullet has a certain linear relationship with the plate thickness.

Subchondral bone loss is an important pathological feature of early-stage temporomandibular joint (TMJ) osteoarthritis (OA). Previous studies focused mainly on the bone resorption by osteoclasts in early-stage OA, but the bone formation feature has not drawn enough attention. Sema4D/Plexin-B1 is a pair of molecules expressed by osteoclast/osteoblast, which is capable of inhibiting bone formation by osteoblasts. The present study found that subchondral bone loss in early-stage TMJ OA was accompanied by up-regulated expression of Sema4D in cartilage and subchondral bone and Plexin-B1 in subchondral bone. Reducing Sema4D level could inhibit the subchondral bone loss and cartilage degeneration of early-stage TMJ OA. In vitro, results revealed that Sema4D could reduce the expression of osteocalcin (OCN) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and increase the migrating capability of Plexin-B1-positive osteoblasts. Our results revealed that elevated Sema4D expression in early-stage TMJ OA might decrease the bone formation activity of osteoblasts in the subchondral bone by binding to Plexin-B1 expressed by osteoblasts. Inhibiting Sema4D/Plexin-B1 signaling in the early-stage OA holds promise as a strategy for new therapeutic approaches to osteoarthritis.

The fluorine-less noble-gas containing anions OBONgO- and OCNNgO-have been studied by correlated electronic structure calculation and density functional theory. The obtained energetics indicates that for Ng = Kr and Xe, these anions should be kinetically stable at low temperature. The molecular structures and electron density distribution suggests that these anions are stabilized by ion-induced dipole interactions with charges concentrated on the electronegative OBO and OCN groups. The current study shows that in additional to the fluoride ion, polyatomic groups with strong electronic affinities can also form stable noble-gas containing anions of the type X-...NgO.

The nucleon-pair shell model (NPSM) with broken symmetry basis is studied. The results demonstrate the validity of NPSM with symmetry broken basis, which leads to a significant reduction in the dimensionality of the multi-pair configuration space. We have observed that the axial-deformed basis provides a satisfactory description of the low-lying spectrum, even without the need for the projection procedure. In the case of the triaxial-deformed basis, we have investigated the variation after angular momentum projection, indicating the potential for NPSM to find exact solutions in the half-closed system.

We present here seven new zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) ages and three new zircon fission track ages (ZFT) analyzed from an age-elevation profile (Machu Picchu, Peru). ZFT data present older ages in comparison with the other thermochronological data, whereas the ZHe data interestingly present similar ages than the ones obtained with apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe). It has been proposed that He retention in zircon is linked to the damage dose, with an evolution of the closure-temperature from low values associated to low α-dose (<1016 α/g), subsequently increasing before decreasing again at very high α-dose (>1018 α /g). Studies have been focused on the He diffusion behavior at high α-dose, but little is known at low dose. We propose that the ZHe closure temperature at α-dose ranging from 0.6×1015 to 4×1016 α/g is in the range of ~60-80°C. This value is lower than the one proposed in the current damage model ZRDAAM and demonstrates that the ZHe and AHe methods could have similar closure temperatures at low α-dose (i.e. similar ages). These new data strengthen our previous geological conclusions and even highlight an about twice more important cooling rate than the one deduced from AHe and apatite fission-track data alone registered at Machu Picchu.

Introduction: The association of gene variants for interleukin 6(IL-6) (rs1800796), interleukin 10 (IL-10) (rs1800896) and tumor necrosis factorα (TNFα (rs1800629) with the occurrence of spontaneous preterm birth (PTB) was investigated to determine whether these genetic variants are a risk factor. Materials and methods: 199 blood samples from pregnant women who had given birth prematurely and 200 control blood samples were analyzed to determine single nucleotide polymor-phisms (SNPs) of genes for IL-6 (rs1800796), IL-10 (rs1800896) and TNFα (rs1800629). The control samples were samples from pregnant women with term delivery. Isolation of DNA was per-formed on mini-spin columns according to the manufacturer's protocol. The quality and purity of the isolated DNA were tested using a Qubit 3 fluorometer. Genotyping was performed with an ABI PRISM 7500 SDS using TaqMan SNP genotyping assays. The genotypes obtained were an-alyzed using the 7500 Software v2.3 package. Results: Carriers of the A/A genotype for the rs1800629 of the TNFα gene have 4.81 times greater chance of late-onset PTB compared to carriers of the G/G and A/G genotypes in the recessive inheritance model. The presence of the G/G genotype in the recessive inheritance model compared with the G/A and A/A genotypes for the rs1800896 of the IL-10 gene represents a potentially protective factor, with mothers in the term-birth group having an almost 2-fold lower odds of PTB in general and an almost 10-fold lower odds of early PTB. On the other hand, carriers of the A/G genotype of rs1800896 have a 1.54-fold higher chance of preterm birth in general and a 1.6-fold higher chance of late preterm birth in the super dominant inheritance model compared to the A/A and G/G genotypes in the group of mothers with PTB. In this study, no association was found between PTB and rs1800796 of the IL-6 gene. Conclusion: rs1800629 in mothers was associated with PTB. rs1800896 shows a potentially protective effect for the occurrence of PTB in this study. No association was found between PTB and rs1800796.

A new quinazolinone alkaloid, named peniquinazolinone A (1), as well as eleven known com-pounds, 2-(2-hydroxy-3-phenylpropionamido)-N-methylbenzamide (2), viridicatin (3), viridicatol (4), (±)-cyclopeptin (5a/5b), dehydrocyclopeptin (6), cyclopenin (7), cyclopenol (8), methyl-indole-3-carboxylate (9), 2,5-dihydroxyphenyl acetate (10), methyl m-hydroxyphenylacetate (11), conidiogenone B (12), was isolated from the endophytic Penicillium sp. HJT-A-6. The chemical structures of all compounds were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D, 2D NMR, and HRESIMS. The absolute configuration at C-13 of peniquinazolinone A (1) was established by applying the modified Mosher’s method. Compounds 2, 3, and 7 exhibited an op-timal promoting effect on the seed germination of Rhodiola tibetica at a concentration of 0.01 mg/mL, while the optimal concentration for compounds 4 and 9 to promote Rhodiola tibetica seed germination was 0.001 mg/mL. Compound 12 showed optimal seed-germination-promoting activity at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. Compared with the positive drug 6-benzyladenine (6-BA), compounds 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12 could extend the seed-germination period of Rhodiola tibetica up to the 11th day.

The transverse momentum distribution of J/ψ mesons produced in pp collisions at the center-of-mass energy 5 TeV, 7 TeV，and 13 TeV is described by the modified Hagedorn function which is based on the Tsallis function and Hagedorn function. The calculated results by the modified Hagedorn function are in accord with experimental data measured by the LHCb Collaboration at LHC. The related parameters are obtained and analyzed.

Considered one of the finest first-generation Nigerian writers, John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, who passed away on 13th October, 2020, had been categorised as a Eurocentric writer. This work assesses the authenticity or otherwise of this critics’ perception of Clark by critiquing his America, their America. By analysing this autobiography vis-à-vis the notion of self and other which is a theoretical concern in contemporary travel writing, it was established, among other things, that every culture has its dark sides which it must not feel too proud to change as time and situation demand; that Clark vehemently rejects the Americans’ claim of sophistication and superiority of their culture over African culture. The paper concludes that contemporary travel writing should be a rightful site for negotiating cultural, political and diplomatic compromises between the Self and the Other since the gulf may be difficult to close altogether.

Buckling defect will appear on the outer surface of the deformed ring during constrained ring rolling (CRR) of aluminum alloy thin wall conical ring with inner high ribs (AATWCRIHR), if the geometrical dimension of the ribs doesn't match the wall thickness. To avoid the buckling defect, a quantitative method for characterizing the degree of the buckling defect is proposed using the area of buckling profile. Then an orthogonal experimental scheme was designed taking the width of the middle rib, thickness of wall, and height of the middle rib as design variables and defining the area of buckling profile as optimization objective. Subsequently, a quadratic polynomial response surface model was established by combining the optimization algorithm with the finite element method (FEM), and the geometrical dimension of the middle ribs of the deformed AATWCRIHR is optimized. Also the optimal parameter combination to minimize the area of buckling profile is obtained and verified using FE simulation. Results show that the AATWCRIHR after optimization doesn’t generate the buckling defect during constrained ring rolling, and it is proved that the quantitative buckling defect representation method and the optimization design method based on the response surface model and the finite element simulation results are feasible for the constrained ring rolling process of the AATWCRIHR.

Tumid Lupus Erythematosus has been the subject of heated debate as to its correct nosographic classification. In particular, its definition has changed over time, depending on the different studies performed. In this review we address the initial definition of TLE, the changes that have taken place in the understanding and placement within the classification of Lupus Erythematosus (LE), and focus on clinical, histopathological, immunophenotypical and differential diagnosis aspects.

An ultra-low anti-reflection optical coating on both surfaces of a plastic cover slip was studied for use in confocal image measurement. The optical reflectance at a wavelength of 632.8 nm was less than 0.1% when the coated sample was placed in a liquid having a refractive index of 1.34 close to the aqueous solution of the biomaterial. The high- and low-index coating films, Substance-2 (PrTiO3) and silicon dioxide (SiO2), were measured by an ellipsometer to determine their optical refraction indices and extinction coefficients. Theoretically, when the two layer thicknesses are designed using the optical admittance diagram of the cover slip to approach the equivalent index of 1.34, a reflectance of 1.6×10-5% in the liquid could be obtained. Experimentally, the reflectance of the sample deposited on the two faces of the cover slip was 4.223±0.145% as measured in the air; and 0.050±0.002% as measured by a He-Ne laser in the liquid.

The threat of fine particulate matter concentration (PM2.5) is increasing globally, Tackling this issue requires an accurate understanding of its trends and drivers. The article investigates the PM2.5 characteristics of 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2000-2018 based on multiscale geographically weighted regression(MGWR), and the results show that（1）previous studies based on classical MGWR models may be somewhat unstable, while MGWR can reflect the scale of influence of different variables on the dependent variable, and its regression results are more reliable.（2）PM2.5 is very sensitive to carbon emission(CE) factors, and there is a high degree of spatial heterogeneity, and the influence scale of location is the smallest among all variables, close to the municipal scale.（3）In 2000, the constant term all, IS, OFT, CE, and LT positively affect PM2.5, while GDP (jurisdiction) and UR negatively affect PM2.5; in 2010, the constant term all, GDP (jurisdiction), IS, OFT and LT positively affect PM2.5, while UR and CE negatively affect PM2.5; in 2018 the constant term all, IS, OFT and CE factors positively affect PM2.5, and GDP (jurisdiction), UR and LT negatively affect PM2.5.

This work aimed to identify chemical compounds of Cinnamomum burmannii leaf essential oil (CBLEO) and to unravel antibacterial mechanism of CBLEO at molecular level for developing antimicrobial. CBLEO had 37 volatile profiling with abundant borneol (28.40 %), and showed good potential to control foodborne pathogens, of which Staphylococcus aureus had the greatest inhibition zone diameter (28.72 nm) with the lowest values of minimum inhibitory concentration (1.0 μg/mL) and bactericidal concentration (2.0 μg/mL). To unravel antibacterial action of CBLEO on S. aureus, a dynamic exploration of antibacterial growth, material leakage, ROS formation, protein oxidation, cell morphology and interaction with genome DNA were conducted on S. aureus exposed to CBLEO at different doses (1/2-2×MIC) and times (0-24 h), indicating that CBLEO acts as inducer for ROS production and oxidative stress of S. aureus. To highlight antibacterial action of CBLEO on S. aureus at molecular level, a comparative association of ROS accumulation with some key virulence-related gene (sigB/agrA/sarA/icaA/cidA/rsbU) transcription, protease production and biofilm formation in S. aureus subjected to CBLEO at different levels and times, revealing that CBLEO-induced oxidative stress caused transcript suppression of virulence regulators (RsbU and SigB) and its targeted genes, causing protease level increase destined for biofilm formation and growth inhibition of S. aureus, which may be as key bactericidal action. Our findings provide valuable information for studying the antibacterial mechanism of essential oil against pathogens.

Phenacoccus manihoti (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is an invasive pest that is very detrimental to cassava cultivation in Indonesia. Control efforts by utilizing natural enemies of the parasitoid have succeeded in overcoming the cassava mealybug in 25 countries such as in Africa and Thailand. The purpose of this study was to specifically evaluate the potential for parasitoid species associated with the mealybug P. manihoti by (1) determining the level of parasitization against mealybugs on various varieties of cassava, (2) determining parasitoid preference for P. manihoti instars, and (3) determining the type of parasitoid. This study was undertaken in the field to re-evaluate the kinds of parasitoids associated with cassava pests, and in the laboratory to assess the amount of parasitization, predilection, and functional response of parasitoids to P. manihoti population density. The findings revealed three of parasitoids linked with P. manihoti in the field: Anagyrus lopezi, Acerophagus sp., and Blepyrus sp. The parasitoid A. lopezi had the greatest parasitization rate in the field, which was 18.67 %. Furthermore, the parasitoids A. lopezi and Blepyrus sp. preferred 3rd instar nymphs, but Acerophagus sp. preferred 2nd instar nymphs. The parasitoid A. lopezi demonstrated a type-III functional response, while Acerophagus sp. and Blepyrus sp. demonstrated a type-II functional response. The handling capacity (Th) of A. lopezi is the shortest at 3.42 minutes. This work is a comprehensive study of the parasitoid A. lopezi's potential as a biological agent, highlighting how it effectively suppresses P. manihoti on various cassava varieties in Bali, providing an inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and applicable control in tropical countries.

The hyper-arid environment is characterized by high inter-annual climatic fluctuations. The yearly average rainfall can change substantially for several years, forming wet or dry sub-periods. Observing rainfall trends over a sub-period can lead to a false perception of a change in the trend but may in fact represent a periodic cycle when examined on a larger time scale. We aimed to better characterize the rainfall regime prevailing in the hyper-arid Arava Valley (Israel/Jordan), and to examine the response of vegetation to annual rainfall. We hypothesized that annual and perennial vegetation would respond differently to wet and dry sub-periods, and that grazing activities will impact vegetation growth. We used a time series of monthly rainfall, from which we calculated Standard Precipitation Index (SPI), and calculated proxies of perennial and annual vegetation over the last four decades using Landsat-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). We found no clear trend in rainfall amounts during this period, however we did identify wet and dry sub-periods which were statistically distinct in rain and in vegetation patterns from each other. The highest levels of correlation between rainfall and the NDVI derived proxies were found when examining average rainfall over a period of two- three years for the annual vegetation and over four years for perennial vegetation. Using the Mann-Kendall test, we identified a time lag of two to four years, with the proxies of annual vegetation responding faster than the proxies of perennial vegetation, to shifts between wet and dry sub-period. In addition, we found a consistent difference between natural vegetation cover in Jordan (grazed) and Israel (non-grazed), favoring the development of natural vegetation on the Israeli side. We conclude that integrating between long-term remote sensing satellite imagery and climatic records revealed the greater resilience of perennial vegetation in the hyper-arid region to climatic fluctuation, and enabled us to identify the vegetation’s sensitivity to anthropogenic impact.

The pregnane X receptor (PXR) is the main nuclear receptor regulating the expression of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes and is highly expressed in the liver and intestine. Recent studies have highlighted its additional role in lipid homeostasis, however, the mechanisms of these regulations are not fully elucidated. We investigated the transcriptomic signature of PXR activation in the liver of adult wild-type vs Pxr-/- C57Bl6/J male mice treated with the rodent specific ligand pregnenolone 16α-carbonitrile (PCN). PXR activation increased liver triglyceride accumulation and significantly regulated the expression of 1215 genes mostly xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes. Among the down-regulated genes, we identified a strong peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) signature. Comparison of this signature with a list of fasting-induced PPARα target genes confirmed that PXR activation decreased the expression of more than 25 PPARα target genes, among which the hepatokine fibroblast growth factor 21 (Fgf21). PXR activation abolished plasmatic levels of FGF21. We provide a comprehensive signature of PXR activation in the liver and identify new PXR target genes that might be involved in the steatogenic effect of PXR. Moreover, we show that PXR activation down-regulates hepatic PPARα activity and FGF21 circulation, which could participate in the pleiotropic role of PXR in energy homeostasis.

Antarctic krill protein-iron complex and peptide-iron complex were obtained to investigate their iron bioavailability, expression of iron-regulated genes, and in vivo antioxidant capacity. Results indicated that Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex increased significantly the hemoglobin (Hb), serum iron (SI) and iron content in the liver and spleen in iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) mice (P < 0.05) compared with those of Antarctic krill protein-iron complex. Despite the gene expressions of divalent metal transporter 1(DMT1), transferrin (Tf) and transferrin receptor (TfR) could be better regulated by both Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex and protein-iron complex, the relative iron bioavailability of the Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex group (152.53±21.05%) was significantly higher than that of the protein-iron complex group (112.75±9.60%) (P<0.05). Moreover, Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex could enhance the antioxidant enzyme activities of superoxidase dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), reduce the malondialdehyde (MDA) level in IDA mice compared with the protein-iron complex, reducing the cell damage caused by IDA. Therefore, these results demonstrated that Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex could be used as a highly efficient and multifunctional iron supplement.

In the paper, the author introduces the notions "multi-order logarithmic numbers" and "multi-order logarithmic polynomials", establishes an explicit formula, an identity, and two recurrence relations by virtue of the Faa di Bruno formula and two identities of the Bell polynomials of the second kind in terms of the Stirling numbers of the fi rst and second kinds, and constructs some determinantal inequalities, product inequalities, logarithmic convexity for multi-order logarithmic numbers and polynomials by virtue of some properties of completely monotonic functions.

The allosteric SERCA (Sarcoplasmic/Endoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+-ATPase) activator CDN1163 has been recently added to the group of pharmacological tools for probing SERCA function. We chose to investigate the effects of the compound on T lymphocyte Ca2+ stores, using the well-described Jurkat T lymphocyte as a reliable cell system for Ca2+ signaling pathways. Our study identified the lowest concentrations of the SERCA inhibitors thapsigargin (TG) and 2,5-di-(tert butyl)-1,4-benzohydroquinone (tBHQ) capable of releasing Ca2+, permitting the differentiation of the TG-sensitive SERCA 2b Ca2+ store from the tBHQ-sensitive SERCA 3 Ca2+ store. We proceeded to test the effects of CDN1163 on Ca2+ stores, examining specific actions on the SERCA 2b and SERCA 3 Ca2+ pools using our low dose SERCA blocker regimen. In contrast to previous work, we find CDN1163 exerts complex time-sensitive and SERCA isoform-specific actions on Ca2+ stores. Surprisingly, short-term exposure (0-30 minutes) to CDN1163 perturbs T cell Ca2+ stores by suppressing Ca2+ uptake with diminished Ca2+ release from the SERCA 2b-controlled store. Concomitantly, we find evidence for a SERCA-activating effect of CDN1163 on the SERCA 3 regulated store, given the observation of increased Ca2+ release inducible by low dose tBHQ. Intriguingly, longer-term (&gt;12 hours) CDN1163 exposure reversed this pattern, with increased Ca2+ release from SERCA 2b-regulated pools, yet decreased Ca2+ release responses from tBHQ-sensitive SERCA 3 pool. Our results reveal differential effects of CDN1163 on Ca2+ stores regulated by distinct SERCA isoforms, prompting the need for careful interpretation of the compound’s effects, particularly in cells expressing multiple SERCA isoforms.

The reason for excessive multidecade deflections is still unclear after 70 years of the cantilever method that has been applied in building large-span segmental concrete bridges. The failure of the Koror-Babeldaob bridge gives the author a clue that the reason might be the boundary condition. The asymmetric properties of the bearing and prestress tendon draw the author’s attention. To understand the process of stress redistribution, the virtual stiffness method which is derived from the principle of minimum potential energy was created, and the phenomenon the author suggested named Material Inelasticity and Prestress Loss Coupling Effect is discovered. The unexplainable excessive deflection and prestress loss are found in the new load model. The calculation of excessive deflection is discussed. The new model fits the experience well. The optimization design methods and construction key points are proposed.

The mining sector generates a substantial quantity of stone waste and tailings, which constitutes an environmental risk. The most prevalent method for disposing of this industrial waste is dumping, which contributes to soil deterioration and water contamination while acquiring precious land. It can be recycled using a number of processes, such as the promising geopolymerization technique, which transforms waste into value. This study reviews current developments in the manufacturing of mine tailings-based geopolymer composites from industrial waste as a possible sustainable building material. This paper also gives in-depth studies on the characteristics and behaviors of mine tailings composites used in geopolymer manufacturing, including durability, microstructure, thermal and leaching properties. This review also identifies knowledge gaps that must be filled in order to advance mine tailings composites for geopolymers.

Mitochondria are semiautonomous organelles, which are pivotal for the energy metabolism of eukaryotic cells. These organelles contain their own genetic system (mtDNA, mitogenome) that encodes to some structural RNAs and organellar proteins. The biogenesis and function of mitochondria is tightly regulated by nuclear-encoded protein cofactors. The mtDNAs of land plants are characteristically large, with a complex mode of gene organization and expression, in particularly at the post-transcriptional level. To become functional, the primary organellar transcripts undergo extensive maturation steps, which include endo- and exo-nucleolytic cleavage, RNA-base editing, and both ‘cis’- and ‘trans’-splicing events. These essential processing steps rely on the activities of a large set of nuclear-encoded factors. Among these, the RNA helicases serve as key players in organellar (mt-)RNA metabolism. This review summarizes the important roles played by these factors in regulating the highly dynamic processes of transcription, RNA processing, and translation within the mitochondria of land plants. We further discuss recent advancements in understanding how dysregulation of mitochondrial RNA helicases affects the organellar gene expression, respiratory functions, and hence the growth, development and physiology of land plants.

The Mara River basin (MRB) has a world-famous ecosystem, but the vegetation has been damaged due to economic development in recent years, and there is little known about the area that will experience severe vegetation damage in the future. Based on the vegetation vulnerability system, principal component analysis, and three CMIP6 scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5), vegetation vulnerability was calculated in the base period (2010-2019), near-term period (2020-2059) and long-term period (2060-2099) in the MRB. The spatial cluster of vegetation vulnerability was revealed by spatial correlation analysis, and the transition of vegetation vulnerability of different periods was analyzed by stochastic matrix. The results showed that in all periods, the vulnerability showed a high-high cluster in the east, and a low-low cluster midstream and downstream. From the stochastic matrix, the area of high vulnerability increased the least under the SSP1-2.6, while it increased the most under the SSP5-8.5. The vegetation vulnerability upstream increased the most from the base period to the near-term period and long-term period in the MRB. By comparing the vegetation vulnerability under different scenarios, and pointing out the areas with the highest vulnerability increase, this study can better provide comprehensive decision-making for vegetation protection in the MRB.

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), each sensor node can estimate the global parameter from the local data in distributed manner. This paper proposed a robust diffusion estimation algorithm based on minimum error entropy criterion with self-adjusting step-size, which are referred to as diffusion MEE-SAS (DMEE-SAS) algorithm. The DMEE-SAS algorithm has fast speed of convergence and is robust against non-Gaussian noise in the measurements. The detailed performance analysis of the DMEE-SAS algorithm is performed. By combining the DMEE-SAS with diffusion minimum error entropy (DMEE) algorithms, an Improving DMEE-SAS algorithm is proposed, in non-stationary environment where tracking is very important. The Improving DMEE-SAS algorithm can avoid insensitivity of the DMEE-SAS algorithm due to the small effective step-size near the optimal estimator, and obtain a fast convergence speed. Numerical simulations are given to verify the effectiveness and advantages of these proposed algorithms.

Coal is an important resource that is closely related to people’s lives and has an irreplaceable role. However, coal mine safety accidents occur from time to time in the process of working underground. To this end, this paper proposes a coal mine environmental safety early warning model to detect abnormalities and ensure worker safety in a timely manner by assessing the underground climate environment. In this paper, the support vector machine (SVM) parameters are optimized using an improved artificial hummingbird algorithm (IAHA), and its safety level is classified by combining various environmental parameters. To address the problems of insufficient global exploration capability and slow convergence of the artificial hummingbird algorithm during iterations, a strategy incorporating Tent chaos mapping and backward learning is used to initialize the population, a Levy flight strategy is introduced to improve the search capability during the guided foraging phase, and then the simplex method is introduced to replace the worst value before the end of each iteration of the algorithm. The IAHA-SVM safety warning model was established using the improved algorithm to classify and predict the safety of the coal mine environment into four classes. Finally, the performance of the IAHA algorithm and the IAHA-SVM model are simulated separately. The simulation results show that the convergence speed and the search accuracy of the IAHA algorithm are improved, and the performance of the IAHA-SVM model has a significant improvement.

With the integrated development of the Internet, wireless sensor technology, cloud computing, and mobile Internet, there has been a lot of attention given to research about and applications of the Internet of Things. A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is one of the important information technologies in the Internet of Things; it integrates multi-technology to detect and gather information in a network environment by mutual cooperation, using a variety of methods to process and analyze data, implement awareness, and perform tests. This paper mainly researches the localization algorithm of sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network. Firstly, a multi-granularity region partition is proposed to divide the location region. In the range-based method, the RSSI (Received Signal Strength indicator, RSSI) is used to estimate distance. The optimal RSSI value is computed by the Gaussian fitting method. Furthermore, a Voronoi diagram is characterized by the use of dividing region. Rach anchor node is regarded as the center of each region; the whole position region is divided into several regions and the sub-region of neighboring nodes is combined into triangles while the unknown node is locked in the ultimate area. Secondly, the multi-granularity regional division and Lagrange multiplier method are used to calculate the final coordinates. Because nodes are influenced by many factors in the practical application, two kinds of positioning methods are designed: the unknown node is in the positioning unit or not. When the unknown node is on the side of the positioning unit, we use the method of vector similarity. Moreover, we use the centroid algorithm to calculate the ultimate coordinates of unknown node. When the unknown node is not on the side of the positioning unit, we establish a Lagrange equation containing the constraint condition to calculate the first coordinates. Furthermore, we use the Taylor expansion formula to correct the coordinates of the unknown node. In addition, this localization method has been validated by establishing the real environment.

This work is a natural extension of the author’s previous work: “Multiple scattering theory for heterogeneous elastic continua with strong property fluctuation: theoretical fundamentals and applications” (arXiv:1706.09137 [physics.geo-ph]), which established the foundation for developing multiple scattering model for heterogeneous elastic continua with either weak or strong fluctuations in mass density and elastic stiffness. Polycrystalline material is another type of heterogeneous materials that widely exists in nature and extensively used in industry. In this work, the corresponding multiple scattering theory for polycrystalline materials with randomly oriented anisotropic crystallites is developed. To validate the theory, the theoretical results for a series of materials such as OFHC copper, 304 stainless steel, and Inconel 600 are compared to experimental measurements and the numerical results obtained using finite element simulations. Detailed analysis shows that the new theory is capable of predicting the dispersion and attenuation of polycrystals with satisfactory accuracy. The results also show the new model can give an estimate on the average grain size with a relative error equal to or less than ten percent. As applications in ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation, we calculated the dispersion and attenuation coefficient of one of the most important polycrystalline materials in aeronautics engineering: high-temperature titanium alloys. The effects of grain symmetry, grain size, and alloying elements on the dispersion and attenuation behaviors are examined. Key information is obtained which has significant implications for quantitatively evaluating the average grain size, monitoring the phase transition, and even estimating gradual change in chemical composition of titanium components in gas turbine engines. For applications in seismology, the velocities and Q-factors for both hexagonal and cubic polycrystalline iron models for the Earth’s uppermost inner core are obtained in the whole frequency range. Using the realistic material parameters of iron under the high temperature and high-pressure conditions calculated from ab initio simulations, the numerical results show that the Q-factors range from 0.001 to 0.05, which shows good agreement with that inferred from real seismic data. The new model predicts the velocity of longitudinal waves varies between ± 1% to ± 5 % relative to the Voight average velocity, while the velocity of transverse waves varies from ± 10% to ± 20%, which gives promising explanation to the abnormally slow transverse velocity observed in practical measurements. The numerical results support the conjecture that the Earth’s uppermost inner core is a solid polycrystalline medium. The comprehensive numerical examples show the new model is capable of capturing the most important scattering features of both ultrasonic and seismic waves with satisfactory accuracy. This work provides a universal, quantitative model for characterization of a large variety of polycrystalline materials. It also can be extended to incorporate more complicated microstructures, including ellipsoidal grains with or without textures, and even multi-phase polycrystalline materials. The new model demonstrates great potential of applications in ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation and inspection of aerospace and aeronautic structures. It also provides a theoretical framework for quantitative seismic data explanation and inversion for the material composition and structural formations of the Earth’s inner core.

The massive use of electronic equipment has raised concerns about electromagnetic (EM) pollution, leading to increased attention to EM shielding in both civil and military applications. EM absorption materials play a crucial role in reducing the energy of microwaves projected onto their surface. In this work, we propose a novel OTA (over-the-air) antenna test method to evaluate and analyze the functionality of EM absorption materials. This method offers a new and practical way to assess the effectiveness of these materials. Measured results indicate that the presence of the EM absorption material led to a decrease in antenna gain of approximately 2-3 dB, a reduction in efficiency of more than 10-15%, and a smaller radiation pattern during the actual testing process. These findings highlight the impact of EM absorption materials on antenna performance. Compared to the traditional S-parameter testing method, the gain comparison testing method exhibits the advantages of higher accuracy and simpler operation in the lower frequency experiment.

Scattering of elastic waves in heterogeneous media has become one of the most important problems in the field of wave propagation due to its broad applications in seismology, natural resource exploration, ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation and biomedical ultrasound. Nevertheless, it is one of the most challenging problems because of the complicated medium inhomogeneity and the complexity of the elastodynamic equations. A widely accepted model for the propagation and scattering of elastic waves, which properly incorporates the multiple scattering phenomenon and the statistical information of the inhomogeneities is still missing. In this work, the author developed a multiple scattering model for heterogeneous elastic continua with strong property fluctuation and obtained the exact solution to the dispersion equation under the first-order smoothing approximation. The model establishes an accurate quantitative relation between the microstructural properties and the coherent wave propagation parameters and can be used for characterization or inversion of microstructures. Starting from the elastodynamic differential equations, a system of integral equation for the Green functions of the heterogeneous medium was developed by using Green’s functions of a homogeneous reference medium. After properly eliminating the singularity of the Green tensor and introducing a new set of renormalized field variables, the original integral equation is reformulated into a system of renormalized integral equations. Dyson’s equation and its first-order smoothing approximation, describing the ensemble averaged response of the heterogeneous system, are then derived with the aid of Feynman’s diagram technique. The dispersion equations for the longitudinal and transverse coherent waves are then obtained by applying Fourier transform to the Dyson equation. The exact solution to the dispersion equations are obtained numerically. To validate the new model, the results for weak-property-fluctuation materials are compared to the predictions given by an improved weak-fluctuation multiple scattering theory. It is shown that the new model is capable of giving a more robust and accurate prediction of the dispersion behavior of weak-property-fluctuation materials. Numerical results further show that the new model is still able to provide accurate results for strong-property-fluctuation materials while the weak-fluctuation model is completely failed. As applications of the new model, dispersion and attenuation curves for coherent waves in the Earth’s lithosphere, the porous and two-phase alloys, and human cortical bone are calculated. Detailed analysis shows the model can capture the major dispersion and attenuation characteristics, such as the longitudinal and transverse wave Q-factors and their ratios, existence of two propagation modes, anomalous negative dispersion, nonlinear attenuation-frequency relation, and even the disappearance of coherent waves. Additionally, it helps gain new insights into a series of longstanding problems, such as the dominant mechanism of seismic attenuation and the existence of the Mohorovičić discontinuity. This work provides a general and accurate theoretical framework for quantitative characterization of microstructures in a broad spectrum of heterogeneous materials and it is anticipated to have vital applications in seismology, ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation and biomedical ultrasound.

In this data deposit, I describe a dataset that is the result of content mining 167,318 published articles for statistical test results. As a result of this content mining, 688,112 results from 50,845 articles were extracted. In order to provide a comprehensive set of data, the statistical results are supplemented with metadata from the article they originate from. The dataset is provided in a comma separated file (CSV) in long-format. For each of the 688,112 results, 20 variables are included, of which seven are article metadata and 13 pertain to the individual statistical results (e.g., reported and recalculated p-value). A five-pronged approach was taken to generate the dataset: (i) collect journal lists, (ii) spider journal pages for articles, (iii) download articles, (iv) add article metadata, and (v) mine articles for statistical results.

The geometry of mesoscopic inhomogeneities plays an important role in determining the macroscopic propagation behaviors of elastic waves in a heterogeneous medium. Non-equiaxed inhomogeneities can lead to anisotropic wave velocity and attenuation. Developing an accurate scattering theory to describe the quantitative relation between the microstructure features and wave propagation parameters is of fundamental importance for seismology and ultrasonic nondestructive characterization. This work presents a multiple scattering theory for strongly scattering elastic media with general tri-axial heterogeneities. A closed analytical expression of the shape-dependent singularity of the anisotropic Green’s tensor for the homogeneous reference medium is derived by introducing a proper non-orthogonal ellipsoidal coordinate. Renormalized Dyson’s equation for the coherent wave field is then derived with the help of Feynman’s diagram technique and the first-order-smoothing approximation. The exact dispersion curves and the inverse Q-factors of coherent waves in several representative medium models for the heterogeneous lithosphere are calculated numerically. Numerical results for small-scale heterogeneities with the aspect ratio varying from 1 to 7 show satisfactory agreement with those obtained from real earthquakes. The results for velocity dispersion give rise to a novel explanation to the formation mechanism of different seismic phases. The new model has potential applications in seismology and ultrasonic microstructure characterization.

In the paper, the author finds bounds of the sine and cosine along a circle on the complex plane in terms of two double inequalities for the norms of the sine and cosine along a circle on the complex plane.

In the paper, the author discusses and computes bounds of the sine and cosine along straight lines on the complex plane.

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) trigger the Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-dependent DNA damage response (DDR), which consists of histone H2AX, MDC1, RNF168, 53BP1, PTIP, RIF1, Rev7, and Shieldin. Early stages of B and T lymphocyte development are dependent on recombination activating gene (RAG)-induced DSBs that form the basis for further V(D)J recombination. Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway factors recognize, process, and ligate DSBs. Based on numerous loss-of-function studies, DDR factors were thought to be dispensable for the V(D)J recombination. In particular, mice lacking Mediator of DNA Damage Checkpoint Protein 1(MDC1) possessed nearly wild-type levels of mature B and T lymphocytes in the spleen, thymus, and bone marrow. NHEJ factor XRCC4-like factor (XLF)/Cernunnos is functionally redundant with ATM, histone H2AX, and p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) during the lymphocyte development in mice. Here, we genetically inactivated MDC1, XLF, or both MDC1 and XLF in murine vAbl pro-B cell lines and, using chromosomally integrated substrates, demonstrated that MDC1 stimulates the V(D)J recombination in cells lacking XLF. Moreover, combined inactivation of MDC1 and XLF in mice resulted in synthetic lethality. Together, these findings suggest that MDC1 and XLF are functionally redundant during the mouse development, in general, and the V(D)J recombination, in particular.

The paper studies some cases in physics such as Galilean inertia motion and etc., and presents a logical schema of recursive abduction, from which we can derive the universality of physical laws in an effective logical path without requiring infinite inductions. Recursive abduction provides an effective logical framework to connect a universal physical law with finite empirical observations based on both quasi-law tautologies and suitable recursive dimensions, two new concepts introduced in this paper. Under the viewpoint of recursive abduction, the historical difficulty from Hume’s problem naturally vanishes. In Hume’s problem one always misunderstood a time-recursive issue as an infinitely inductive problem and, thus, sank into an inescapable quagmire. With this new effective logical schema, the paper gives a concluding discussion to Hume’s problem and justifies the validity of probability argument for natural laws.

Ti and its alloys are the most commonly used materials for biomedical applications. However, bacterial infection after implant placement is still one of the significant rising complications. Therefore, the application of the antimicrobial agents into implant surfaces to prevent implant-associated infection has attracted lots of attention. Scientific papers have shown that inorganic antibacterial metal element (e.g. Ag, Cu, Zn) can be introduced to implant surfaces with the addition of metal nanoparticles or metallic compounds into electrolyte via micro-arc oxidation (MAO) technology. In this review, the effects of the composition and concentration of electrolyte and process parameters (e.g. voltage, current density, oxidation time) on morphological characteristics (e.g. surface morphology, bonding strength), antibacterial ability and biocompatibility of MAO antimicrobial coating were discussed in detail. Anti-infection and osseo-integration can be simultaneously accomplished with the selection of the proper antibacterial elements and operating parameters. Besides, MAO assisted by magnetron sputtering (MS) to endow Ti-based implant materials with superior antibacterial ability and biocompatibility was also discussed. Finally, the development trend of MAO technology in the future was forecasted.

In the paper, by convolution theorem for the Laplace transforms and analytic techniques, the author finds necessary and sufficient conditions for complete monotonicity, monotonicity, and inequalities of several functions involving polygamma functions. By these results, the author derives a lower bound of a function related to the sectional curvature of the manifold of the beta distributions. Finally, the author poses several guesses and open problems related to monotonicity, complete monotonicity, and inequalities of several functions involving polygamma functions.

The Yangtze River is cross-linked with numerous lakes within its floodplain and is a worldwide biodiversity hotspot. There is no evidence indicating when this unique river-lake system developed. The endemic East Asian cyprinid clade has evolved diverse spawning adaptations to different flow conditions. Our ancestral egg-type reconstruction showed an ancestral state of adhesive eggs and later demersal eggs origination (both stream adaptations). Semi-buoyant eggs emerged ~18 Mya as a fast-flowing river adaptation, with increased hydration via three yolk protein degradation pathways, ion transport pathways and egg envelope permeability transition pores. Adhesive eggs evolved secondarily ~14 Mya with the egg envelope increasing to four layers and an adhesive layer, along with an increase in adhesiveness via microfilament/adhesive-related protein crosslinking and enhanced glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis, improving adherence to submerged lake plants, indicating that the cross-linked river-lake system formed in the mid-Miocene. This study provides a unique biological evidence for large-scale water system evolution.

The 3x+1 problem asks the following: Suppose we start with a positive integer, and if it is odd then multiply it by 3 and add 1, and if it is even, divide it by 2. Then repeat this process as long as you can. Do you eventually reach the integer 1, no matter what you started with? Collatz conjecture (or 3n+1 problem) has been explored for about 85 years. In this paper, we convert an integer number from decimal to binary number, and convert the Collatz function to binary function, which is multiplication and division of two binary numbers. Finally the iternation of the Collatz function, eventually reach the integer 1, thus we solve the 3x+1 problem completely.

This paper presents a study to accurately evaluate defects in reinforced concrete decks using ultrasonic pulse-echo signals. Two validation specimens were designed and tested where reinforced concrete deck slab specimens included planned voids and defects. A commercial Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo (UPE) device obtains 2-D images of the void/defect locations of the reinforced concrete deck. The UPE is based on the ultrasonic shear-wave test method using dry-point-contact transmitting and receiving transducers and employing a synthetic aperture focusing technique. The authors analyzed the recorded UPE A-scan data to enhance the accuracy of estimating the defects' locations using the synthetic aperture focusing technique imaging method. The analysis benefitted from an advanced denoising approach and defect echo peak extraction based on empirical modal decomposition, Hurst exponent characterization, and Hilbert envelope estimation. While output from conventional UPC devices can only provide qualitative results, the new method provides quantitative information on the anomalies inside the reinforced concrete deck. The developed approach accurately assists with assessing the location and depth of the voids/defects in the reinforced concrete deck slabs.

As one of the typical deposits in Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou Pb-Zn metallogenic province, the Daliangzi Pb-Zn deposit has a close genetic relation with the structural system of “black/fracture zone” formed under the action of NWW-approx. EW strike-slip structures in the metallogenic province, but the mechanism of rock and ore-controlling action of the structural system remains unclear. Based on detailed analysis of tectonite-mineralized alteration lithofacies of R1 “black/fracture zone”, the tectonite-mineralized alteration lithofacies zones can be divided into 4 types in succession outward from the Pb-Zn mineralization center, i.e., ① brecciated and stockwork-like Pb-Zn mineralization-complex breccia facies zone, ② stockwork-like Pb-Zn mineralization-simple breccia and cataclasite facies zone, ③ veined pyrite-sulfide-dolomitic cataclasite facies zone, and ④ fine-veined calcite-black carbonized dolomite facies zone; Cl- and SO42--rich high-temperature oxidizing ore-bearing fluid mixes with reducing fluid in Zone ① while migration and precipitation occur in Zone ④. With the evolution of ore-forming fluid, the homogenization temperature decreases from Zone ① to Zone ④, the salinity increases from Zone ① to Zone ② and then decreases to Zones ③ and ④, and the fluid density has little change on the whole; the contents of Zn, Pb, Cu, Ga, Ge, Cd, Ag, and other metallogenic elements, the Zn/Pb ratio, and the CaO/MgO mole ratio decrease gradually from Zone ① to Zone ④; and REE fractionation, calcilization, silicification, and pyritization enhance gradually from Zone ① to Zone ④. This series of changes are the product of diapirism (cryptoexplosion) of strike-slip structures and “black/fracture zone”, among which the second-order structures (F5, F100, and other faults) derived from NWW-approx. EW striking dextral shear-tension faults F1 and F15 control the brecciated and stockwork-like Pb-Zn mineralized complex breccia facies zones and the stockwork-like Pb-Zn mineralized simple breccia and cataclasite facies zones. Therefore, this paper establishes the zoning mode of tectonite-mineralized alteration lithofacies of “black/fracture zone” and proposes that Zones ① and ② are important prospecting criteria. conclusions.

Background: Pediatric ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) is a common urinary tract issue. Accurate assessment of postoperative kidney function is crucial for prognosis. Previous studies mainly focused on postoperative renal function and individual factors. Radionuclide imaging was costly and unsuitable for long-term follow-up. For aligning closely with clinical needs, we emphasizing renal morphology enhancement, and comprehensively analyzed factors influencing UPJO surgery outcomes. Methods: We retrospectively studied 150 pediatric UPJO patients (July 2012-July 2022) with severe anteroposterior renal pelvis dilation (APD grades 4-5) who underwent laparoscopic dismembered pyeloplasty. Demographics, symptoms, preoperative findings, and postoperative renal ultrasounds were assessed. We performed multivariable logistic regression analysis to identify significant predictors of prognosis and construct a regression model. Results: Among the 150 pediatric patients, 78 (52%) showed improvement in renal morphology after surgery. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, age at surgery, duration of hydronephrosis, body weight, and preoperative creatinine were identified as significant prognostic factors for postoperative outcomes. The nomogram (AUC: 0.92) was constructed based on these factors and could serve as a useful tool for clinicians in evaluating the surgical prognosis of children with UPJO. Conclusions: This study reveals that among pediatric patients with severe hydronephrosis resulting from UPJO, those who are younger, have a shorter duration of illness, normal serum creatinine levels, and a healthy body weight tend to experience better postoperative recovery. This finding emphasizes the importance of adopting more proactive clinical interventions when managing such cases, with the goal of achieving enhanced recovery outcomes for affected children.

Selective hydrogenation of nitrobenzene was carried out under solvent-free conditions using supported AuPd nanoparticles catalyst, prepared by modified impregnation method (MIm), as efficient catalyst. >99% yield of aniline (AN) was obtained after 15 hours at 90 °C, 3 bar H2 that can be used without any further purification or separation, therefore reducing cost and energy input. Supported AuPd nanoparticles catalyst, prepared by MIm, was found to be active and stable even after 4 recycle experiments whereas the same catalyst prepared by SIm deactivated during the recycle experiments. The most effective catalyst was tested for the chemoselective hydrogenation of 4-chloronitrobenzene (CNB) to 4-chloroaniline (CAN). The activation energy of CNB to CAN was found to be 25 kJ mol-1, while that of CNB to AN was found to be 31 kJ mol-1. Based on this, the yield of CAN was maximized (92%) by lowering the reaction temperature to 25 °C.

J/ψ, a charmonium bound state made of a charm and an anti-charm quark, has been discovered in the 1970s and confirmed the quark model. Because the mass of charms quarks is significantly above the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) scale ΛQCD, charmonia are considered as excellent probes to test perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (pQCD) calculations. Over the past decades, they have been studied extensively at different high energy colliders. However, their production mechanisms, which involves multiple scales, are still not very well understood. Recently, in high multiplicity p+p collisions at RHIC and at the LHC, a significant enhancement of J/ψ production yield has been observed, which suggests a strong contribution from the Multi-Parton Interaction (MPI). This is different from the traditional pQCD picture where charm quark pairs are produced from a single hard scattering between partons in p+p collisions. In this work, we will report the J/ψ normalized production yield as a function of normalized charged particle multiplicity over a board range of rapidity and event multiplicity in the J/ψ→μ+μ− channel with PHENIX Run 15 p+p data at \sqrt{s}=200 GeV. The results are compared with PYTHIA 8 simulations with the MPI option on and off. Finally, the outlooks of J/ψ in p+Au and Au+p collisions along with Color Glass Condensate (CGC) predictions and of multiplicity dependent ψ(2S)/J/ψ ratio in p+p data will be briefly discussed.

Multi-rotor drones, a kind of unmanned equipment which is widely used in military, commercial consumption and other fields, has been developed very rapidly in recent years. However, their short flight time has hindered the expansion of their application range. This can be addressed by utilizing hydrogen fuel cells, which exhibit high energy density, strong adaptability to ambient temperature, and no pollution emissions, as the power source. Accordingly, the application of hydrogen fuel cells as the power source in multi-rotor drones is a promising technology that has attracted significant research attention. This paper summarizes the development process of hydrogen fuel cell mul-ti-rotor drones and analyzes the key obstacles that need to be addressed for the further development of hydrogen fuel cell multi-rotor drones, including structural lightweight, hydrogen storage methods, energy management strategies. Additionally, prospects for the future development of hydrogen fuel cell multi-rotor drones are presented.

Translation is spatiotemporally regulated and ER-associated mRNAs are generally in efficient translation. It is unclear whether the ER-associated mRNAs are deadenylated or degraded on the ER surface in situ or in the cytosol. Here, we showed that ER possessed active deadenylases, particularly the poly(A)-specific ribonuclease (PARN), in common cell lines and mouse tissues. Consistently, purified recombinant PARN exhibited a strong ability to insert into the Langmuir monolayer and liposome. ER-anchored PARN was found to be able to reshape the poly(A) length profile of the ER-associated RNAs by suppressing long poly(A) tails without significantly influencing the cytosolic RNAs. The shortening of long poly(A) tails did not affect global translation efficiency, suggesting that the non-specific action of PARN towards long poly(A) tails was beyond the scope of translation regulation on the ER surface. Transcriptome sequencing analysis indicated that the ER-anchored PARN trigged the degradation of a small subset of ER-enriched transcripts. The ER-anchored PARN modulated the translation of its targets by redistributing ribosomes to heavy polysomes, suggesting that PARN may play a role in dynamic ribosome reallocation. During DNA damage response, MK2 phosphorylated PARN-Ser557 to modulate PARN translocation from the ER to cytosol. By promoting the decay of ER-associated MDM2 transcripts with low ribosome occupancy, the ER-anchored PARN modulated DNA damage response and thereby cell viability. These findings revealed that a highly regulated communication between mRNA degradation rate and translation efficiency is present on the ER surface in situ and that PARN may contribute to this communication by modulating the dynamic ribosome reallocation between transcripts with low and high ribosome occupancies.

Glycosidic linkage analysis was conducted on the unfractionated polysaccharides in the alcohol-insoluble residues (AIRs) prepared from six red seaweeds (Gracilariopsis sp., Prionitis sp., Mastocarpus papillatus, Callophyllis sp., Mazzaella splendens, and Palmaria palmata) using GC-MS/FID analysis of partially methylated alditol acetates (PMAAs). The cell walls of P. palmata primarily contained mixed-linkage xylans and small amounts of sulfated galactans and cellulose. In contrast, the unfractionated polysaccharides of the other five species were rich in galactans displaying diverse 3,6-anhydro-galactose and galactose linkages with varied sulfation patterns. Different levels of cellulose were also observed. This glycosidic linkage method offers advantages for cellulose analysis over traditional monosaccharide analysis that is known for underrepresenting glucose in crystalline cellulose. Relative linkage compositions calculated from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements showed that anhydro sugar linkages generated more response in the latter detection method. This improved linkage workflow presents a useful tool for studying polysaccharide structural variations across red seaweed species. Furthermore, for the first time, relative linkage compositions from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements, along with normalized FID and total ion current (TIC) chromatograms without peak assignments, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the technique's potential to differentiate various red seaweed species.

Precision and accuracy estimation is an important index used to reflect the measurement performance and quality of a measurement system. To reveal the significance and connotations of the precision and accuracy estimation index of a close-range photogrammetry system, several common precision and accuracy estimation methods used in close-range photogrammetry are explained from a theoretical perspective, and the mechanism of the internal coincidence precision estimation and the external coincidence accuracy estimation are deduced, respectively. Through detailed experimental design and testing, the validity and reliability of the proposed precision and accuracy estimation methods are verified, which provides strong evidence for the quality control, optimisation, and evaluation of the measurement results from a close-range photogrammetry system. At the same time, it has significance for the further development of precision and accuracy estimation analysis of close-range photogrammetry systems.

This study presented a novel and sustainable method for producing chitin nanocrystals (PA-ChNCs) using phosphoric acid hydrolysis. The produced PA-ChNCs were used as stabilizers for Pickering emulsions and their physicochemical properties as well as stabilization mechanisms were systematically investigated. The PA-ChNCs exhibited small particle sizes and high surface areas, enabling an effective adsorption at the oil/water interface, which prevented coalescence in Pickering emulsions. The particle size and surface charge PA-ChNCs were strongly pH-dependent, which were critical factors for stabilizing Pickering emulsions. The study showed that emulsions with higher O:W ratios (50%) exhibited larger droplets but greater viscosity, forming a stable gel-like matrix that was more stable than emulsions with other O:W ratios after storage for 30 days. Emulsions with higher PA-ChNCs concentrations (2.0 wt%) and higher pH values (pH 10) showed small droplets and high viscosity, leading to stable emulsions. This research contributes to the development of sustainable and effective emulsifiers for use in the food industry, making utilization of seafood waste in an eco-friendly manner possible. Overall, this study highlights the potential of using newly developed PA-ChNCs as stabilizers for Pickering emulsions in food products.

Practical applications of CsPbX3 nanocrystals (NCs) are limited by their poor stability. The formation of heterojunction between CsPbX3 NCs and oxides is an effective means to protect perovskite from polar solvents and other external factors. Significantly improving the stability and photocatalytic properties of the core/shell perovskite is very important for its application in photoelectric and photocatalytic technology. Here, we report the synthesis of asymmetrical CsPbBr3/TiO2 core-shell heterostructure NCs at single particle level by hot injection liquid phase synthesis and sol-gel method, where each CsPbBr3 NCs is partially covered by titanium dioxide. It is shown that the type II arrangement is generated at the heterogeneous interface, which greatly facilitates the separation of electron-hole pairs and increases the carrier transport efficiency. More crucial, due to the protection of titanium dioxide shell, the product has higher long-term stability in humid air compared with bare CsPbBr3 NCs. The asymmetrical core-shell heterostructure prepared in this study not only improves the stability of CsPbX3 NCs, but also provides some ideas for optoelectronic device applications and TiO2-based photocatalysts.

This paper proposes a novel single-stage buck-boost three-Level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter with two independent dc sources coupled for the grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) application, which can effectively solve the unbalanced operational conditions generally appeared between two coupled independent PV sources induced by the unequal irradiation and temperature distribution. The proposed control scheme can simultaneously guarantee the maximum power point (MPP) operation of both PV sources and maintain the output waveform quality. Compared to the traditional two-stage PV inverter, the proposed NPC inverter could reduce the PV array voltage requirement and dc-link capacitors’ voltage rating, meanwhile show the advantage in operational efficiency. MATLAB simulations and the captured experimental results are presented to show the performance of the proposed three-level inverter.

Multi-cameras system is widely applied in 3D computer vision especially when multiple cameras are distributed on both sides of the measured object. The calibration methods of multi-cameras system are critical to the accuracy of vision measurement and the key is to find an appropriate calibration target. In this paper, a high-precision camera calibration method for multi-cameras system based on transparent glass checkerboard and ray tracing is described, which is used to calibrate multiple cameras distributed on both sides of the glass checkerboard. Firstly, the intrinsic parameters of each camera is obtained by Zhang’s calibration method. Then, multiple cameras capture several images from the front and back of the glass checkerboard with different orientations, and all images contain distinct grid corners. As the cameras on one side are not affected by the refraction of glass checkerboard, extrinsic parameters can be directly calculated. However, the cameras on another side are influenced by the refraction of glass checkerboard, and the direct use of projection model will produce calibration error. A multi-cameras calibration method using refractive projection model and ray tracing is developed to eliminate this error. Furthermore, both synthetic and real data are employed to validate the proposed approach. The experimental results of refractive calibration show that the error of the 3D reconstruction is smaller than 0.2 mm, the relative errors of both rotation and translation are less than 0.014%, and the mean and standard deviation of reprojection error of 4-cameras system are 0.00007 and 0.4543 pixel. The proposed method is flexible, high accurate, and simple to carry out.

Motion related human activity recognition using wearable sensors can potentially enable various useful daily applications. So far, most studies view it as a stand-alone mathematical classification problem without considering the physical nature of human motions. Consequently, they suffer from data dependencies and encounter the dimension disaster problem and the over-fitting issue, and their models are never human-readable. In this study, we start from a deep analysis on natural physical properties of human motions, and then propose a useful feature selection method to quantify each feature's classification contribution capability. On one hand, the "dimension disaster" problem can be avoid to some extent, due to the affined dimension of key features; On the other hand, over-fitting issue can be depressed since the knowledge implied in human motions are nearly invariant, which compensates the possible data inadequacy. The experiment results indicate that the proposed method performs superior to those adopted in related works, such as decision tree, k-NN, SVM, neural networks.

Since the discovery of transposable elements (TEs) in Maize in the 1940s by Barbara McClintock [1] transposable elements have been described as junk, as selfish elements with no benefit to the host, and more recently as major determinants of genome structure and genome evolution. TEs are DNA sequences that are capable of moving to new sites in the genome and make additional copies while doing so. To limit the propagation of TEs, host silencing mechanisms are directed at transposon-encoded genes that are required for mobilization. The mutagenic properties of TEs, the potential of TEs to form new genes and affect gene expression, together with the host silencing mechanisms shape eukaryotic genomes and drive genome evolution. While TEs constitute more than half of the genome in many higher eukaryotes, transposable elements in the nematode C. ele-gans form a relatively small proportion of genome, about 15% [2]. Genetic studies of transposon silencing and the discovery of RNAi in C. elegans, propelled C. elegans to the forefront of studies of RNA-based mechanisms that silence TEs. Here, I will review the transposable elements that are present and active in the C. elegans genome, and the host defense mechanisms that silence these elements.

Satellite-based remote sensing technologies are utilized extensively to investigate urban thermal environments under rapid urban expansion. Current MODIS data is, however, unable to adequately represent the spatially detailed information because of its relatively coarser spatial resolution, while Landsat data can’t explore temporally the refined analysis due to the low temporal resolution. In order to resolve this situation, we used MODIS and Landsat data to generate “Landsat-like” data by using the flexible spatiotemporal data fusion method (FSDAF), and then studied spatiotemporal variation of land surface temperature (LST) and its driving factors. The results showed that 1) The estimated “Landsat-like” data have high precision; 2) By comparing 2013 and 2016 datasets, LST increases ranging from 1.8°C to 4°C were measurable in areas where the impervious surface area (ISA) increased, while LST decreases ranging from -3.52°C to -0.70°C were detected in areas where ISA decreased; 3) LST has a strongly negative relationship with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and a strongly positive relationship with Normalized Difference Built Index (NDBI) in summer; and 4) LST is well correlated with Building density (BD), in a complex conic mode, and LST may increase by 0.460°C to 0.786°C when BD increases by 0.1. Our findings can provide information useful for mitigating undesirable thermal conditions and for long-term urban thermal environmental management.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc threatening the public health services and imposing economic collapse worldwide. Tailoring public health responses to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic depends on understanding the mechanism of viral replication, disease pathogenesis, and accurately identifying acute infections and mapping the spreading risk of hotspots across the globe. However, effective identification and isolation of persons with asymptomatic and mild SARS-CoV-2 infections remain the major obstacles to efforts in controlling the SARS-CoV-2 spread and hence the pandemic. Understanding the mechanism of persistent viral shedding, reinfection, and the post-acute sequalae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) is crucial in our efforts to combat the pandemic and provide better care and rehabilitation to survivors. Here we present a living literature review on SARS-CoV-2 viral persistence, reinfection and PASC. We also highlight potential areas of research to uncover putative links between viral persistence, intra-host evolution, host immune status, and protective immunity to guide and direct future basic science and clinical research priorities.

Europium (Eu)-doped fluorapatite (FA) nanorods has a similar biocompatibility with hydroxyapatite (HA) in terms, attracted much attention as cell imaging biomaterials due to their luminescent property. Here, we will discuss the new feature of europium doped fluorapatite (Eu-FA) nanorods as anticancer drug carrier. Eu-FA nanorods was prepared using a hydrothermal method. The morphology, crystal structure, fluorescence and composition are investigated. The specific crystal structure, enabling an effective loading of drug molecules. Doxorubicin (DOX), used as an anticancer model drug, was shown to be effectively loaded onto the surface of the nanorods. The DOX release was fairly pH-dependent, occurring more rapidly at pH 5.5 than pH 7.4 was observed. The intracellular penetration of the DOX-loaded Eu-FA nanorods (Eu-FA/DOX) can be imaged in situ due to the self-fluorescence property. Treatment of melanoma A375 cells with Eu-FA/DOX elicited a more effective apoptosis rate than direct DOX treatment. Overall, Eu-FA show great promise for tracking and treating tumor, may potentially useful as a multifunctional carrier system to effectively load and sustainably deliver drugs.

In order to overcome the limitation of the traditional adaptive Unscented Kalman Filtering (UKF) algorithm in noise covariance estimation for statement and measurement, we propose a hybrid adaptive UKF algorithm based on combining Maximum a posteriori (MAP) criterion and Maximum likelihood (ML) criterion, in this paper. First, to prevent the actual noise covariance deviating from the true value which can lead to the state estimation error and arouse the filtering divergence, a real-time covariance matrices estimation algorithm based on hybrid MAP and ML is proposed for obtaining the statement and measurement noises covariance, respectively; and then, a balance equation the two kinds of covariance matrix is structured in this proposed to minimize the statement estimation error. Compared with the UFK based MAP and based ML, the proposed algorithm provides better convergence and stability.

Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen, a valuable Chinese herb in Yunnan Province, is susceptible to leaf spot caused by Boeremia linicola. Nonetheless, effective control methods against leaf spot in P. notoginseng are lacking. We surveyed understorey P. notoginseng bases in Lincang, Lancang, and Xundian, with incidence rate reaching 80% and an average disease index of 25 in severe cases. We found that pathogenic bacteria overwinter in infected leaves and soil, with conidia and conidiophores serving as the primary infection source. The strain B. linicola LYB-2 showed the best growth at 20°C and pH 5.0. We also screened control agents using the plate and face-off culture methods. Tetramycin exhibited 38.56–74.67% inhibition with an EC50 of 0.60 mg/L. Copper abietate showed 3.10–34.76% inhibition with an EC50 of 3,120.05 mg/L. Trichoderma atroviride and T. harzianum exhibited inhibition rates of 52.48% and 44.19%, respectively, while Bacillus subtilis reached 78.45%. Field tests demonstrated significant control effects with 20% copper abresinate, B. subtilis, T. virenceae BH-10 preparation, and 0.3% tetramycin, achieving 82.57%, 72.56%, 71.3%, and 70.2% inhibition, respectively. These findings support their eco-friendly use for preventing and controlling leaf spot disease in P. notoginseng forests; we provide vital scientific evidence for disease prediction and green control strategies.

The CuCrSn alloy is promising as high-strength and high-conductivity Cu alloy due to its relative low smelting requirement, while thus far reports on the CuCrSn alloy is still quite lacked. In this study, the microstructure and properties of Cu-0.20Cr-0.25Sn (wt%) specimens prepared under different rolling and aging combinations were comprehensively characterized, in order to reveal the effects of cold rolling and aging on the CuCrSn alloy. The results show that increasing the aging temperature from 400 ºC to 450 ºC can obviously accelerates the precipitation, and the cold rolling before aging significantly increases the initial microhardness and promotes the precipitation. Whereas, the deformation hardening will be eliminated during the aging process, making the microhardness even decrease monotonically when the aging temperature and the rolling ratio before aging are high. Performing the cold rolling after the aging can maximize the effects of precipitation strengthening and deformation strengthening, and its adverse impact on the conductivity is not serious. A tensile strength of 506.5 MPa and a conductivity of 70.33% IACS were obtained with such a treatment, only the elongation decreases. Different strength-conductivity combinations of the CuCrSn alloy can be achieved through appropriate combinations of the aging and post aging cold rolling conditions.

Loneliness is becoming prevalent across Japan in spite of its a dense population and communal culture. Surveys show 40% of adults report isolation across demographics. The contradiction emerges due to deteriorating social structure with modernization, economic parity, urbanization, and fading conventional setup. The continually social withdrawals, called “hikikomori." Relief seekers have embraced AI based emotive robots, digital avatars, and immersive VR as low-stakes social surrogates despite limited capacity to cultivate human intimacy. To stabilise government attempts awareness through reforms, scheme and support services. But a concrete transformation can be brough in with work-life balance, gender equality and rewire the metrics for self-esteem. Even a perfectly personalized AI cannot replace the human affection lacking in the society. Lasting solutions demand technological aids be balanced by confronting and reinventing community purpose and bring in structural change. Overall Japan’s endemic isolation reveals the societal fraying when modernization privileges independence over interdependence. The path forward rests on restoring cultural foundations to reverse loneliness and social isolation.

Rice production in the Anhui province is threatened by fungal diseases. We obtained twenty-five fungal isolates from rice and wild-rice leaves showing leaf spot disease collected along the Yangtze River. A phylogenetic analysis based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1-α), and beta tubulin (TUB2) sequences revealed that one isolate (SS-2-JB-1B) grouped with Nigrospora shaerica, one (QY) with Nigrospora chinensis, twenty-two with Ngrospora oryzae, and one strain (QY-2) grouped in its own clade, related to but clearly different from N. oryzae. Nineteen tested isolates including sixteen strains from the N. oryzae clade and the three isolates of the other three clades, caused disease on detached rice leaves. The three isolates that did not belong to N. oryzae were also able to cause disease on rice seedlings, suggesting that they were rice pathogens. Isolate QY-2 differed from the other isolates in terms of colony mor-phology, cell-size, and susceptibility to fungicides, indicating that this isolate represents a new species that we named Nigrospora anhuiensis. Our analysis showed that N. sphaerica, N. chinensis, and the new species N. anhuiensis can cause rice leaf spot disease in the field. This research pro-vides new knowledge for understanding rice leaf spot disease.

Nowadays, brain signal processing is performed rapidly in various brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. Most researchers focus on developing new methods for the future or improving the basic implemented models to identify the optimum standalone feature set. Our research focuses on four ideas. One of them introduces future communication models, and the others are for improving old models or methods. These are: 1) new communication imagery model instead of speech imager using the mental task: Due to speech imagery is very difficult, and it is impossible to imagine sound for all of the characters in all of the languages. Our research introduces a new mental task model for all languages that call Lip-sync imagery. This model can use for all characters in all languages. This paper implemented two lip-sync for two sounds, characters or letters. 2) New combination Signals: Selecting an inopportune frequency domain can lead to inefficient feature extraction. Therefore, domain selection is so important for processing. This combination of limited frequency ranges proposes a preliminary for creating Fragmentary Continuous frequency. For the first model, two s intervals of 4 Hz as filter banks were examined and tested. The primary purpose is to identify the combination of filter banks with 4Hz (scale of each filter bank) from the 4Hz to 40Hz frequency domain as new combination signals (8Hz) to obtain well and efficient features using increasing distinctive patterns and decreasing similar patterns of brain activities.3) new supplement bond graph classifier for SVM classifier: When SVM linear uses in very noisy, the performance is decreased. But we introduce a new bond graph linear classifier to supplement SVM linear in noisy data. 4) a deep formula recognition model: it converts the data of the first layer into a formula model (formula extraction model). The main goal is to reduce the noise in the subsequent layers for the coefficients of the formulas. The output of the last layer is the coefficients selected by different functions in different layers. Finally, the classifier extracts the root interval of the formulas, and the diagnosis does based on the root interval. For all of the ideas achieved the results of implementing methods. The results are between 55% to 98%. Less result is 55% for the deep detection formula, and the highest result is 98% for new combination signals.