The effects of heating rate before solution treatment and cooling rate after solution treatment on the morphological distribution and evolution of precipitation phase of nickel-based single crystal superalloy were studied. The dissolution, precipitation and growth of precipitation phase and matrix phase during heat treatment were analyzed by means of high power scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the morphology of precipitated phase has nothing to do with the distribution of precipitated phase and the heating rate in the heating process, but the cooling rate in the cooling process affects the shape, size and distribution of precipitated phase. The faster the cooling rate, the smaller the precipitated phase is, the more irregular the shape is, the smaller the equivalent edge length is, and the smaller the channel width of matrix phase is.

The key issue in the post-genomic era is how to systematically describe the association between small molecule transcripts or translations inside cells. With the rapid development of high-throughput “omics” technologies, the achieved ability to detect and characterize molecules with other molecule targets opens up the possibility of investigating the relationships between different molecules from a global perspective. In this article, a Molecular Associations Network(MAN) is constructed and comprehensively analyzed by integrating the associations among miRNA, lncRNA, protein, drug, and disease, in which any kind of potential associations can be predicted. More specifically, each node in MAN can be represented as a vector by combining two kinds of information including the attributes of the node itself (e.g. sequences of ncRNAs and proteins, semantics of diseases and molecular fingerprints of drugs) and the manner of the node in the complex network (associations with other nodes). Random Forest classifier is trained to classify and predict new interactions or associations between biomolecules. In the experiment, the proposed method achieves a superb performance with 0.9735 AUC in 5-fold cross-validation, which show that the proposed method can provide new insight for exploration of the molecular mechanisms of disease and valuable clues for disease treatment.

We employed the Riemannian Face Manifold (RFM) as an alternative approach to the conventional linear Euclidean space for explaining the atypicality bias in face likeliness judgments. The RFM posits that the mental representation of faces is better captured as a manifold of stable states, accounting for the nonlinearity in the physical properties of faces. To examine the relationship between physical and psychological distance of morph and typical/atypical faces, we manipulated the parameter k and incorporated a weight function in the Riemannian metric. Our results indicate that the psychological distance between the morph and typical face was longer than that between the morph and atypical face, consistent with prior research on the atypicality bias in perceptual similarity. The RFM approach provides mathematical support and is a powerful tool for studying face perception and recognition, offering potential implications for explaining the other-race effect. Future research can utilize the RFM to investigate individual differences in face recognition abilities and expertise, and how they impact psychological distance and face processing.

In recent years, due to their frequent use and widespread use, IoT (Internet of Things) devices have become an attractive target for hackers. As a result of their limited network resources and complex operating systems, they are vulnerable to attacks. Using a honeypot can, therefore, be a very effective way of detecting malicious requests and capturing samples of exploits. The purpose of this article is to introduce honeypots, the rise of IoT devices, and how they can be exploited by attackers. Various honeypot ecosystems will be investigated further for capturing and analyzing information from attacks against these IoT devices. As well as how to leverage proactive strategies in terms of IoT security, it will provide insights on the attack vectors present in most IoT systems, along with understanding attack patterns.

The development of subterranean non-motorized traffic infrastructure, commonly referred to as the underground pedestrian system (UPS), has become increasingly necessary in densely populated megacities worldwide as a means of advancing the Sustainable Development Goal 11, which aims to promote sustainable cities and communities. To improve the overall spatial performance, it is imperative to decipher the fundamental formation mechanism of sustainable underground pedestrian systems (SUPS) that is simultaneously influenced by spatial morphology and pedestrian behaviors. Thereby, two representative case studies, namely Wujiaochang UPS and Loushanguanlu UPS located in Shanghai, were selected for an in-depth investigation. This study employed correlation and regression analysis to examine the impact of spatial configuration variables and spatial attribute factors on pedestrian flow distributions in distinct SUPSs. The findings indicate that the variables of Betweenness, as measured by both Euclidean and Angular metrics, along with the presence of metro station locations and commercial space connected by UPS, are the three most significant factors influencing pedestrian behaviors in both scenarios. The disclosure has been made that Wujiaochang UPS is seamlessly integrated into a comprehensive three-dimensional pedestrian network both above and below ground. On the other hand, it appears that Loushanguanlu UPS exhibits a greater degree of self-sufficiency as an underground system. This study aims to elucidate the mechanism underlying the development of SUPSs, thus offering effective guidance for the implementation of three-dimensional walking systems in cities that prioritize sustainability.

In this study, a composite flame retardant was created by combining fish scale (FS), fishery waste, and ammonium polyphosphate (APP), a commercially available flame retardant. The composite flame retardant was added to epoxy resin (EP) to form an EP/APP/FS composite that prevents burns and is environmentally friendly. The use of FS conforms to the concept of circular economy and lowers costs by reducing the consumption of APP. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), integral procedural decomposition temperature (IPDT), pyrolysis kinetics, limiting oxygen index (LOI), the Underwriters Laboratories 94 (UL94) flammability test, scanning election microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to determine the thermal properties, flame retardant properties, flame retardant mechanism, char morphology, and composition of the composites. The TGA results indicated that the addition of 40% flame retardant raised the char residue from 16.45 wt% (pure EP) to 36.07 wt%, IPDT from 685.6 °C (pure EP) to 1143.1°C, LOI from 21% (pure EP) to 30%, and UL94 classification from fail (pure EP) to V-0. These results suggest an increase in char residue, which indicates better protection of the polymer matrix material. The improvements in IPDT, LOI, and UL94 classification, which indicate greater thermal stability, lower flammability (from flammable to fireproof), and higher flammability rating (from fail to V-0), respectively, suggest that the composite material has favorable thermal properties and is less inflammable.

ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a major cause of mortality worldwide, has been shown through epidemiological studies to have a relationship with short-term exposure to air pollutants; however, the association between air pollutants and the outcome of STEMI has not been well studied. The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of air pollutants on the outcomes of STEMI. Data on particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM2.5), <10 μm (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) at each of the 11 air monitoring stations in Kaohsiung City were collected between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2017. Medical records of non-trauma patients aged > 20 years who had visited the ED with a principal diagnosis of STEMI were extracted. The primary outcome measure was in-hospital mortality. After adjusting for potential confounders and meteorological variables, we found that an increase in the interquartile range (IQR) in NO2 was associated with an elevated risk of in-hospital mortality in patients with STEMI. Moreover, during the warm season, an IQR increase in NO2 corresponded to a higher risk of in-hospital mortality in patients with STEMI on lag 3 (OR=3.266; 95% CI:1.203–8.864, p=0.02). Conversely, an IQR increase in PM10 was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality in patients with STEMI on lag 3 (OR=2.792; 95%CI:1.115–6.993, p=0.028) during the cold season. Our study suggests that exposure to NO2 (during warm season) and PM10 (during cold season) may contribute to a higher risk of poor prognosis in patients with STEMI.

Sinulariolide, a natural product extracted from cultured-type soft coral Sinularia flexibilis, possesses bioactivity against the movement of several types of cancer cell. However, the molecular pathway of its effects on human bladder cancer remain poorly understood. Using a human bladder cancer cell line as an in vitro model, this study investigated the underlying mechanism of sinulariolide against cell migration/invasion in TSGH-8301 cells. We found that sinulariolide inhibited TSGH-8301 cell migration/invasion, and the effect was concentration-dependent. Furthermore, the protein expressions of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) MMP-2 and MMP-9, as well as urokinase, were significantly decreased after 24-h sinulariolide treatment. Meanwhile, the increased expressions of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were in parallel with an increased concentration of sinulariolide. Finally, the expressions of several key phosphorylated proteins in the mTOR signaling pathway were also downregulated by sinulariolide treatment. Our results demonstrated that sinulariolide has significant effects against TSGH-8301 cell migration/invasion, and its effects were associated with decreased levels of MMP-2/-9 and urokinase expression, as well as increased TIMP-1/TIMP-2 expression. The inhibitory effects were mediated by reducing phosphorylation proteins of the PI3K, AKT and mTOR signaling pathway. The findings suggested that sinulariolide is a good candidate for advanced investigation with the aim of developing a new drug for the treatment of human bladder cancer.

Lung cancer (LC) stands as the foremost cause of cancer-related fatality rates worldwide. Early diagnosis significantly enhances patient survival rate. Nowadays, low dose computed tomography (LDCT) is widely employed on chest as a tool for large-scale lung cancer screening. Nonetheless, a large amount of chest radiographs causes an onerous burden on radiologists. Some computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) tools can provide insights to medical images for diagnosis and augmenting diagnostic speed. However, due to variation in parameter settings across different patients, substantial discrepancies in image voxels persist. We find different voxel-size causing a compromise between model generalization and diagnostic efficacy. This study investigates the performance disparities of diagnostic models trained on original images and LDCT images reconstructed to different voxel-sizes but isotropic. The application is to differentiate a nodule to be benign or malignant. Using 11 features, a support vector machine (SVM) is trained on LDCT images with an isotropic voxel having side-length of 1.5 mm for 225 patients in house. The result yields a favorable model performance with an accuracy of 0.9596 and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC/AUC) of 0.9855. In addition to furnish CAD tools for clinical applications, future research is encouraged to include LDCT images from multi-centers.

Clinical ketosis is a crucial metabolic disease in dairy cows that is often accompanied by severe lipolysis and inflammation in adipose tissue. Our previous study suggested that the fold change of calmodulin (CaM) was upregulated 2.401-fold in the adipose tissue of cows with clinical ketosis. Therefore, we hypothesize that CaM may regulate lipolysis and inflammatory responses in clinical ketosis cows. To verify the hypothesis, we conducted a thorough veterinary assessment of clinical symptoms and serum β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentration before collecting subcutaneous adipose tissue samples from six healthy and six clinically ketotic Holstein cows at 17 ± 4 days postpartum. Commercial kits were used to test the abundance of BHB, Non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), Liver function index (LFI), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). We found that Clinical ketosis cows had higher levels of BHB, NEFA, LFI, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, and lower glucose levels compared to healthy cows. Furthermore, the abundance of CaM, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), inhibitor of nuclear factor κB kinase subunit β (IKK), phosphorylated nuclear factor κB/nuclear factor κB, (p-NF-κB/NF-κB), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and phosphorylated hormone-sensitive lipase/hormone-sensitive lipase (p-HSL/HSL) were increased, while that of perilipin-1 (PLIN1) was decreased in the adipose tissue of cows with clinical ketosis. To investigate the mechanistic underlying the responses, we isolated the primary bovine adipocytes from the adipose tissue of healthy cows and induced the inflammatory response mediated by TLR4/IKK/NF-κB with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), in addition to treating with CaM overexpression adenovirus and CaM small interfering RNA. In vitro, LPS upregulated the abundance of CaM, TLR4, IKK, NF-κB, ATGL, p-HSL/HSL, and CaM and downregulated PLIN1. CaM silencing downregulated the abundance of LPS-activated p-HSL/HSL, TLR4, IKK, and NF-κB and upregulated PLIN1 in bovine adipocytes, except for ATGL. By contrast, CaM overexpression upregulated the abundance of LPS-activated p-HSL/HSL, TLR4, IKK, and NF-κB and downregulated PLIN1 expression in bovine adipocytes. In summary, these data suggest that CaM promotes lipolysis in adipocytes through HSL and PINL1 while activating the TLR4/IKK/NF-κB inflammatory pathway to promote an inflammatory response. There is a positive feedback loop between CaM, lipolysis, and inflammation. Overall, inhibiting CaM may act as an adaptive mechanism to alleviate metabolic dysregulation in adipose tissue, contributing to relief from lipolysis and inflammatory response.

Detecting, especially locating local degradations at an incipient stage, is very important for mission-critical high voltage rotating machines. One particular challenge of the existing testing techniques is that the characteristic of a local incipient defect is not prominent due to various factors such as averaging with the healthy remainder, attenuation in signal propagation, interference, and varied operating conditions. This paper proposes and investigates the frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) technique based on scattering parameter measurement. The FDR result presents the object length, wave impedance, and reflections due to impedance discontinuity along the measured windings. Experiments were performed on two commercial coils with artificially made defects. These defects include turn-to-turn short, surface creepage, loose coils, and local overheating, which are commonly seen in practice. Two practical water pumps in the field were also selected for investigation. The study outcome shows that the FDR can identify and locate both structure and insulation degradations of both shielded and unshielded objects with good sensitivity. This makes the FDR a comprehensive tool for fault diagnosis and aging assessment.

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) bending structure is widely used in the aviation field. The occurrence and propagation of delamination damage will reduce the safety of in-service bending structures. As a detection tool with high damage sensitivity, Lamb wave can effectively identify delamination damage. In this study, the signal difference coefficient (SDC) was introduced to quantify delamination damage and evaluate the sensitivity of A0 and S0 mode lamb waves to delamination damage. The simulation results show that compared with the S0 mode Lamb wave, the A0 mode Lamb wave exhibits higher delamination damage sensitivity. The delamination damage can be quantified based on the strong correlation between the SDC and the delamination damage size. The control effect of the linear array PZT phase time-delay method on Lamb wave mode was investigated by simulation. The phase time-delay method realizes the generation of a single-mode Lamb wave, which can separately excite the A0 mode and S0 mode Lamb wave to identify delamination damage of different sizes. The A0 mode Lamb wave was excited by the developed one-dimensional linear comb transducer (LCT), which was used to conduct the detection experiment on the CFRP bending plate with delamination damage sizes of Φ6.0 mm, Φ10.0 mm, and Φ15.0 mm. The experimental results verify the correctness of the simulation. According to the Hermite interpolation results of the finite-element simulation data, the relationship between the delamination damage size and the SDC was fitted by the Gaussian function, which can accurately quantify the delamination damage. The absolute error of the delamination damage quantification with fitting expression is not larger than 0.8 mm, and the percentage error is not more than 8%.

Water area segmentation in remote sensing is of great importance for flood monitoring. To overcome some challenges in this task, we construct the Water Index and Polarization Information (WIPI) multi-modality dataset and propose a multi-Modality Fusion and Gated multi-Filter U-Net (MFGF-UNet) convolutional neural network. The WIPI dataset enhances the water information and reduces the data dimension. In particular, the Cloud-Free label provided in the database effectively mitigates the issue of scarcity of labeled samples Since a single form or uniform kernel size cannot handle the variety in size and shape of water bodies, we proposed the gated multi-filter inception (GMF-Inception) module in our MFGF-UNet. Moreover, we utilize the attention mechanism by introducing the Gated Channel Transform (GCT) skip connection and integrating GCT into GMF- Inception to further improve model performance. Extensive experiments on three benchmarks, including WIPI, Chengdu and GF2020 datasets demonstrate that our method achieves favorable performance with lower complexity and better robustness against six competing approaches. For example, on WIPI, Chengdu and GF2020 datasets, the proposed MFGF-UNet model achieves F1 of 0.9191, 0.7410, and 0.8421, respectively, which average F1 on three datasets is 0.0045 higher than the U-Net model and reduces 62% average GFLOPs. New WIPI dataset, code and trained models have been released on GitHub

The morphological and compositional complexities of keratinized components make feathers ingenious skin appendages adapted to diverse ecological needs. Frizzling feathers, characterized by their distinct curling phenotypes, offer a unique model to explore the intricate morphogenesis in developing a keratin-based bioarchitecture over a wide range of morphospace. Here, we investigated the heterogeneous allocation of α- and β-keratins in flight feather shafts of homozygous and heterozygous frizzle chickens by analyzing the medulla-cortex integrations using quantitative morphology characterizations across scales. Our results reveal intriguing construction of frizzling feather shaft through modified medulla development, leading to a perturbed balance of the internal biomechanics and, therefore, introducing the inherent natural frizzling compared to those from wild-type chickens. We elucidate how the localized developmental suppression of the α-keratin in the medulla interferes with the growth of the hierarchical keratin organization by changing the internal stress in the frizzling feather shaft. This research not only offers insights into the morphogenetic origin of the inherent bending of frizzling feathers but also facilitates our in-depth understanding of the developmental strategies toward the diverse integuments adapted for ecological needs.

Aluminum wire is a common material for wire bonding due to its resistance to oxidation and low price. It does not melt when becoming a free air ball (FAB) during the electronic flame-off (EFO) process with wettability, and is applied by wedge bonding. This study used 20μm Zn-Coated Al-0.5wt.%Si (ZAS) wires to improve the FAB shape after the EFO process, while maintaining stability of the mechanical properties, including the interface bonding strength and hardness. In order to test circuit stability after ball bonding, the current-tensile test was performed. During the experiment, it was found that 80nm ZAS with wire bonding has lower resistance and higher fusing current. For the bias tensile test, the thicker Zn film diffused into the Al-Si matrix easily, after which the strength was reduced. The ball-bond interfaces had no change in their condition before and after the bias. Accordingly, ZAS could be a promising candidate for ball bonding in the future.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the effect of early pelvic binder use in emergency management of suspected pelvic trauma, compared with the conventional stepwise approach. Methods: We enrolled trauma patients with initial stabilization using a pelvic binder for suspecting pelvic injury. Inclusion criteria were traumatic injury requiring a trauma team and at least one of the following: loss of consciousness or Glasgow coma score (GCS) < 13; systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg; falling from ≥6 m; injury to multiple vital organs; and suspected pelvic injury. Various parameters, including gender, age, mechanism of injury, GCS, mortality, hospital stay, initial vital sign, revised trauma score, injury severity score, and outcome, were assessed and compared with historical controls. Results: A total of 204 patients with high-energy multiple-trauma from single level I trauma center in North Taiwan were enrolled in the study from August 2013 to July 2014. The two group baseline patient characteristics were all collected and compared. The trauma patients with suspected pelvic fractures initially stabilized with a pelvic binder had shorter hospital and ICU stays. The study group achieved statistically significantly improved survival and lower mean blood transfusion volume and mortality rate although they were more severe in the trauma score. Conclusions: We recommend prompt pelvic binder use for suspected pelvic injury before definitive imaging is available, as a cervical spine collar is used to protect the cervical spine from further injury prior to definitive identification and characterization of an injury.

The modeling of flood-induced bend scour near embankment toes can provide important information for river engineering, embankment safety warnings, and emergency action management. During the rainy seasons, short-term general scour and bend scour are the most common causes for the failure of reinforced concrete embankments in Taiwan. To gain a deeper understanding of the scouring process near levee foundations, this study proposed a straightforward and practical method for bend scour simulation. The proposed simulation method is subdivided into three stages: two-dimensional flow simulation, general scour estimation, and bend scour estimation. A new bend-scour computation equation is proposed and incorporated into a two-dimensional hydraulic finite-volume model for simulating the evolution of bend scour depth around embankment toes. The proposed method is applied to simulate the temporal evolution of bend scouring near the Shuideliaw Embankment on the Cho-Shui River in Taiwan, where serious failure occurred during the June 2012 monsoon. Field data were gathered using the numbered-brick technique at the Shuideliaw Embankment to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method. The results of the bend scour simulations compared reasonably well with field measurements, indicating close agreement in terms of water levels and bend scour depths near the Shuideliaw Embankment. The proposed method was found to quickly estimate the maximum short-term general scour and bend scour depths for further enhancement of the safety of the embankment toe.

The Complete Coverage Path Planning (CCPP) is a key technology in the field of agricultural robot, and has great significance for improving the efficiency and quality of tillage, fertilization, harvesting and other agricultural robot operations, as well as reducing the operation energy consumption. The traditional boustrophedon or heuristic search algorithm based CCPP methods, when coping with the field with irregular boundaries, obstacles and other complex environments, still face many problems and challenges, such as large repeated work areas, multiple turns or U-turns, low operation efficiency and prone to local optimum. In order to solve the above problems, an improved-genetic-algorithm-based CCPP method was proposed in this paper, which introduces the idea of chromosome pairs and multi-points mutation to improve its global optimization ability in complex environments, reduce the repeated work areas and the number of turns and U-turns, and thereby improve the operation efficiency. The simulation and experimental results on simple regular fields showed that the proposed improved genetic algorithm-based CCPP method achieved the comparable performance with the traditional boustrophedon-based CCPP method. However, on the complex irregular fields, although the proposed CCPP method increased the number of turns by 13.76%, the area of repeated operation and the number of U-turns were decreased by 38.54% and 35.00% respectively, and saves the battery voltage by 7.82% on average compared to the boustrophedon-based CCPP method. This proved that the proposed CCPP method has strong adaptive capacity to the environment, and has practical application value in improving the efficiency and quality of agricultural machinery operations, and reducing the energy consumption.

Diastolic dysfunction, a prevalent condition characterized by impaired relaxation and filling of the left ventricle, significantly contributes to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Galectin-3, a β-galactoside-binding lectin, has garnered attention as a potential biomarker and mediator of fibrosis and inflammation in cardiovascular diseases. This comprehensive review investigates the impact of galectin-3 on diastolic dysfunction. We explore its molecular mechanisms, including its involvement in cellular signaling pathways and interaction with components of the extracellular matrix. Evidence from both animal models and clinical studies elucidates galectin-3's role in cardiac remodeling, inflammation, and fibrosis, shedding light on the underlying pathophysiology of diastolic dysfunction. Additionally, we examine the diagnostic and therapeutic implications of galectin-3 in diastolic dysfunction, emphasizing its potential as both a biomarker and a therapeutic target. This review underscores the significance of comprehending galectin-3's role in diastolic dysfunction and its promise in enhancing diagnosis and treatment approaches for HFpEF patients.

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is an etiological agent of hand foot and mouth disease and can also cause neurological complications in young children. However, there are no approved drugs to treat EV71 infections. In this study, we conducted an antiviral drug screening by using a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug library. We identified five drugs that showed dose-dependent inhibition of viral replication. Sertraline was further characterized because it exhibited the most potent antiviral activity with the highest selectivity index among the five hits. The antiviral activity of sertraline was noted for other EV serotypes. The drug’s antiviral effect is not likely associated with its approved indications as an antidepressant and its mode-of-action as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. The time-of-addition assay revealed that sertraline inhibited an EV71 infection at the entry stage. We also showed that sertraline partitioned into acidic compartments, such as endolysosomes, to neutralize the low pH levels. In agreement with the findings, the antiviral effect of sertraline could be relieved greatly by exposing virus-infected cells to extracellular low-pH culture media. Together, we have identified an FDA-approved antidepressant with the new indication for the broad-spectrum EV inhibition by blocking viral entry through the alkalization of the endolysosomal route.

Aberrant neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation and the loss of barrier integrity in inflamed intestinal tissues have long been associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, whether NETs alter intestinal epithelium permeability during colitis remains elusive. Here, we demonstrated that NETs promote the breakdown in intestinal barrier function for the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation in mouse models of colitis. NETs were abundant in the colon of mice with colitis experimentally induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) or 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). Analysis of the intestinal barrier integrity revealed that NETs impaired gut permeability, enabling the initiation of luminal bacterial translocation and inflammation. Furthermore, NETs induced the apoptosis of epithelial cells and disrupted the integrity of tight junctions and adherens junctions. Intravenous administration of DNase I, an enzyme that dissolves the web-like DNA filaments of NETs, during colitis restored the mucosal barrier integrity which reduced the dissemination of luminal bacteria, and attenuated intestinal inflammation in both DSS and TNBS models. We conclude that NETs serve a detrimental factor in the gut epithelial barrier function leading to the pathogenesis of mucosal inflammation during acute colitis.

The images captured by UAVs during inspection often contain numerous small targets related to transmission lines, which are critical and vulnerable elements for ensuring the safe operation of these lines. However, due to various factors such as the small size of the targets, low resolution, complex background, and potential line aggregation, achieving accurate and real-time detection becomes challenging. To address these issues, this paper proposes a detection algorithm called P2-ECA-EIOU-YOLOv5 (P2E-YOLOv5). Firstly, in order to address the challenges posed by the complex background and environmental interference that impact small targets, an ECA attention module is integrated into the network. This module effectively enhances the network's focus on small targets while concurrently mitigating the influence of environmental interference. Secondly, considering the characteristics of small target size and low resolution, a new high-resolution detection head is introduced, which is more sensitive to small targets. Lastly, the network utilizes the EIOU-Loss as the regression Loss function to improve the positioning accuracy of small targets, as they tend to aggregate. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed P2E-YOLOv5 detection algorithm achieves an accuracy P of 96.0% and an average accuracy (mAP) of 97.0% for small target detection in transmission lines.

In order to make full use of the complementarity of existing navigation systems to improve the navigation and positioning accuracy, this paper investigates the visual/INS integrated navigation system based on the factor graph optimization (FGO) algorithm. In the traditional visual/INS integrated navigation system, there is often the problem of image blurring due to the rapid change of light and shadow captured by the vision sensor and the attitude change of the carrier, which leads to the decrease of the positioning accuracy of the combined navigation system. Therefore, this paper firstly introduces Retinex algorithm and BID algorithm to carry out the design of image de-blurring method; then implements the visual/INS integrated navigation algorithm based on the factor graph optimization method; finally, the experimental scheme is designed, comparative experiments are carried out, and the researched method is verified by using the public dataset. The experimental results show that the combined navigation algorithm realized in this paper has high accuracy, and its positioning accuracy is improved by 40% compared with visual positioning.

Taiwan developing offshore wind power to promote green energy and self-electricity production. In this study, a Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) was set up at Chang-Hua development zone one on the sea and 10km away from the seashore. At Lidar location, WRF (3.33km & 2km grid lengths) model and WAsP were used to simulate the wind speed at various elevations. Three days mean wind speed of simulated results were compared with Lidar data. From the four wind data sets, developed five different comparisons to find an error% and R-Squared values. Comparison between WAsP and Floating Lidar was shown good consistency. Lukang meteorological station 10 years wind observations at 5m height were used for wind farm energy predictions. The yearly variation of energy predictions of traditional and TGC wind farm layouts are compared under purely neutral and stable condition. The one-year cycle average surface heat flux over the Taiwan Strait is negative (-72.5 (W/m2) and 157.13 STD), which represents stable condition. At stable condition TGC (92.39%) and 600(92.44%), wind farms were shown higher efficiency. The Fuhai met mast wind data was used to estimate roughness length and power law exponent. The average roughness lengths are very small and unstable atmosphere.

Concrete is more stable than filler as a false roof in a downward approach type infill quarry, but the mechanical model of a concrete false roof is not clear. As a result, there has been limited application. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the mechanical model of a concrete artificial false roof to enhance the stability of the downward approach infill quarry. This paper combines theoretical analysis, model derivation, finite element analysis and field application methods. Firstly, the basic assumptions of thin plate theory and elasticity mechanics are used as the premise to establish the differential equations of the deflection curve of the concrete thin plate false roof. Then, the three types of bending moment generation of the concrete thin plate false roof are explored. Secondly, the relationship between the location of dangerous surface and dangerous point in hard-supported weak-slab structure and soft-supported weak-slab structure is analyzed, and the type of uniform load and calculation model of concrete thin-slab false roof are improved. Finally, according to the established mechanical model of thin slab false roof, finite element analysis and field application were carried out. The results show that there are three types of deflection curve differential equations in the concrete thin slab false roof perpendicular to the strike, and three extreme points exist in the middle section of the thin slab and on both sides of the surrounding rock. The hazardous surface of the hard-supported weak-slab structure is present at the intersection of the encircling rock and the thin-slab fake ceiling, with the perilous point situated on the top of this surface. The hazardous surface of the soft-supported weak-slab structure can be found in the centre section of the thin-slab fake ceiling, with the perilous point being located at the bottom of this surface. Moreover, the damage mode for both structures is that of maximum tensile stress damage. Upon conducting a finite element analysis, the results indicate that the concrete's maximum tensile stress is significantly high.

Ginkgolic acids (GA) have been reported to exhibit anticancer properties, however, the mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the mechanisms of GA C13:0 that was isolated from Ginkgo biloba exocarp (GBE) for anti-proliferation, pro-apoptosis and anti-migration effects in human MCF-7 and mouse 4T-1 breast cancer cells. The cytotoxic effect, apoptosis induction and migration inhibition were measured using MTT, TUNEL and Wound healing assays. The expression of mRNA and protein were determined using qPCR and Western blot. Our results showed that no cytotoxicity was found at concentrations of C13:0 below 100µM. The effects of GA C13:0 was further demonstrated by up-regulation of the Bax/Bcl-2 apoptosis pathway and the expression of Apaf-1 protein in the mitochondria. In addition, GA C13:0 also suppressed cell migration and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) with the increase of E-cadherin expression accompanied by the decrease of Snail, MMP-2, MMP-9 and Vimentin expression. Moreover, GA C13:0 induced cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1B1 expression in aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) pathway. Notably, the up-regulation of CYP1B1 also might play a pivotal regulatory role in mitochondrial and EMT pathways in MCF-7 and 4T-1 cells. Our results may have implications for the development of anticancer agents containing GA as functional additives.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

Currently, in some domestic and foreign mines, the backfill drilling pipeline experience a rupture phenomenon even when the wear degree is low. This results in a delay in production due to the filling becoming 'sick'. This paper presents, for the first time, the damage mechanism from a mechanical perspective and re-derives the anti-extrusion strength model of the backfill drilling pipeline. We investigate the influence of law on the anti-extrusion strength of pipelines from the perspective of stratum and cement ring. We then verify the theoretical and simulation results through engineering examples. The results demonstrate that the Mises stress criterion is a suitable modification principle for the anti-extrusion strength model of the backfill drilling pipeline. The anti-extrusion strength of the pipeline is related to the elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio of the stratum, and the thickness of the cement ring. It is negatively affected by the depth of the stratum. For hard strata, a cement ring with a smaller elastic modulus is suitable, while for soft stratum, a cement ring with a larger elastic modulus is recommended. When the missing angle of the cement ring is less than 60°, the stress concentration factor increases up to 2.2. The stress unloading capacity of the cement ring ranges from 32.7% to 37.8%, and optimal performance of the cement ring is achieved when it has high strength and low rigidity. The backfill filling pipeline of a copper mine abroad was destroyed due to external extrusion force exceeding its anti-extrusion strength value. The modified pipeline anti-extrusion strength model is 18.2% higher than the casing API strength value. This finding can inform the design of the backfill filling pipeline for China's kilometer-deep wells in the future.

To facilitate the computation of the uniaxial compressive strength value of the cemented paste backfill under the condition of high sand-cement ratio, and to analyze the size effect of the cemented paste backfill with high sand-cement ratio under varied aspect ratios, the cemented paste backfill specimens with sand-cement ratios of 8:1-24:1 and aspect ratios of 0.5, 1, and 2 were prepared. Through response surface experiments and finite element analysis, the influence of three aspect ratios on the cemented paste backfill strength was explored, and the failure characteristics and size effect mechanisms of cemented paste backfill with various aspect ratios were analyzed. The model of strength conversion between cemented paste backfill with different aspect ratios was established. The results show that the compressive strength of the cemented paste backfill decreases with the increase of the aspect ratio under the same mass concentration and sand-cement ratio. When the aspect ratio is 0.5 and 1, the splitting failure is the main factor; when the aspect ratio is 2, the shearing failure is the main factor. The three-dimensional stress caused by the end effect of the cemented paste backfill is the main reason for the high strength when the aspect ratio is 0.5. Due to the one-dimensional stress zone generated in the middle of the cemented paste backfill with an aspect ratio of 2 in the laboratory, its strength value is closer to the actual uniaxial compressive strength value of the cemented paste backfill. The strength values of the cemented paste backfill with aspect ratios of 0.5 and 1 were higher than the actual uniaxial compressive strength values in the laboratory. The rationality of the theoretical analysis was verified by the ABAQUS analysis results. According to the experimental results, a strength conversion model between different aspect ratios is established, which can provide a reference for the design of the uniaxial compressive strength of the cemented paste backfill.

On 17 October 1947, Niels Bohr was made a knight of the Order of the Elephant by the King of Denmark in view of his outstanding achievements and contributions to science. Bohr designed his own coat of arms that featured a pattern of Yin and Yang (Tai Chi symbol) to symbolize the wave-particle complementarity. However, Bohr’s Yin-Yang diagram (YYD) was neither drawn based on the principles of quantum mechanics, nor did it originate from the traditional Taoist YYD. Scientists still have doubts about the legitimacy of using YYD as the icon of the wave-particle complementarity, because the YYD belonging to quantum mechanics itself is unknown so far. This article reports the YYDs existing in quantum mechanics and justifies the role of YYD in the wave-particle duality by showing that any system, whether classical or quantum, has an ideal YYD as long as it satisfies Bohr’s principle of complementarity (BPC). The deviation of a deformed YYD from the ideal YYD indicates the extent to which a real system satisfies BPC. This article constructs the quantum YYD by the complex quantum trajectory of a particle tunneling via a step barrier, which displays the continuous transition between the wave behavior and the particle behavior. It appears that the YYD designed by Bohr in his coat of arms resembles the YYD generated by tunneling motion, not only in appearance but also in the governing equation.

The black hole (BH) phenomenon is an intraluminal restenotic lesion. It was identified by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) after intracoronary brachytherapy and drug-eluting stent implantation. Despite the similarity in the mode of action of brachytherapy and drug-eluting stent implantation, the BH phenomenon appears to be uncommon after drug-eluting stent implantation. Specifically, the BH phenomenon is better identified by OCT than by IVUS. Herein, we present a case of in-stent restenosis with suspected BH phenomenon on IVUS confirmed by OCT.

For underwater vehicles navigating in Arctic Sea ice-covered waters, fatigue damage is a crucial issue. Many scholars have conducted low-temperature fatigue analysis on low-temperature ma-terials and substrate platforms for ships, and the results show that low-temperature is beneficial for improving the mechanical properties of materials. However, they mainly focus on low-temperature performance experiments and simulation analysis of standard components of materials, and there are very few fatigue life experimental studies on underwater vehicle me-chanical structures. This paper conducts experimental investigations on a scaled model of an underwater vehicle rudder mechanism in a polar environment laboratory. Using a comparative analysis method involving simulations and experiments, the low-temperature fatigue test data of the scaled underwater vehicle rudder mechanism are analyzed, and the quantified analysis be-tween fatigue and different low-temperature loading cycles, as well as the influence of icing on the fatigue life, is explored. It is indicated that the arctic environment can decrease the fatigue life of the underwater vehicle rudder mechanism by deteriorating its material properties. The paper builds the foundation for the fatigue life of an underwater vehicle rudder mechanism in arctic low-temperature environments.

Coalbed Methane(CBM) production enhancement for single wells is a big problem to CBM industrialization. Low production is due to insufficient gas generation by thermogenic. Luckily, Biogenic gas was found in many areas and its supply is assumed to improve coalbed methane production. Therefore, microbial simulation experiment will demonstrate the effectiveness of the assumption. From microbial simulation experiment on different coal ranks, it is found that microbes can use coals to produce biogas under laboratory conditions. With different temperatures for different experiments, it turns out that the gas production at 35 ℃ is greater than that at 15℃,indicating that 35℃ is more suitable for microbes to produce gas. According to quantitative experiments, adding exogenous nutrients or exogenous bacteria can improve CBM production. Moreover, the production enhancement ratio can reach up to 115% under the condition of adding exogenous bacterial species, while the ratio for adding nutrients can be up to 144%.

In Taiwan, mountainous areas account for approximately two-thirds of the total area. The steep terrain and concentrated rainfall during typhoons cause landslides, which pose a considerable threat to mountain settlements. Therefore, models for analyzing rainfall-induced landslide hazards are urgently required to ensure adequate land use in mountainous areas. In this study, focusing on Pingtung County in southern Taiwan, we developed a landslide hazard index (IRL) to land use. Using FORMOSA-2 and SPOT-5 satellite images, data were collected before and after four typhoons (one in 2009 and three in 2013). The ArcGIS random tree classifier was used for interpreting satellite images to explore surface changes and disasters, which were used to analyze slope disturbances. The product of the maximum 3-h rolling rainfall intensity and effective accumulated rainfall was used as a rainfall trigger index (IRT). Considering environmental and slope disturbance factors, an index of slope environmental strength potential (ISESP) was developed through logistic regression (LR). Landslide hazard to land use was estimated using IRT and ISESP. The average coefficient of agreement (Kappa) was approximately 0.71 (medium to high accuracy); the overall accuracy of slope environmental strength potential analysis was approximately 80.4%. At a constant ISESP, IRT increased with the increasing hazard potential of rainfall-induced landslides. Furthermore, IRT and ISESP were positively correlated with landslide occurrence. When large ISESP values occur (e.g., fragile environment and high land development intensity), small IRT values may induce landslides.

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic element impacting on biological systems and ecosystems. Because the toxicity of Hg species is highly dependent on concentration levels and chemical forms, sensitive identification of chemical forms for Hg, i.e., Hg speciation, is of major significance in providing meaningful information about the source of Hg exposure. In this study, a microfluidic-based device made of high clarity poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was fabricated. Then titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO2) were attached to the treated channel interior with the aid of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC). After coupling the nano-TiO2-coated microfluidic-based photocatalyst-assisted reduction device (the nano-TiO2-coated microfluid-ic-based PCARD) with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), a selective and sensitive hyphenated system for Hg specia-tion was established. Validation procedures demonstrated that the method could be satisfactorily applied to the determination of mercuric ion (Hg2+) and methylmercury ion (CH3Hg+) in both human urine and water samples. Remarkably, the zeta potential measured clearly indicated the PDADMAC-capped nano-TiO2 with predominance of positive charges indeed provided steady force for firm attachment to the negatively charged device channel. The cause for the durability of the nano-TiO2-coated microfluidic-based PCARD was clarified thus.

Low-grade glioma (LGG) is a highly aggressive disease in the skull. On the other hand, anoikis, a specific form of cell death induced by the loss of cell contact with the extracellular matrix, plays a key role in cancer metastasis. In this study，anoikis-related genes (ANRGs) were used to identify LGG subtypes and to construct a prognostic model for LGG patients. In addition, we explored the immune microenvironment and enrichment pathways between different subtypes. We constructed an anoikis-related gene signature using the TCGA cohort and investigated the differences in clinical features, mutational landscape, immune cell infiltration, etc. between different risk groups. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the characteristics of ANRGs in the high-risk group were associated with poor prognosis in LGG patients. The risk score was identified as an independent prognostic factor. The high-risk group had higher immune cell infiltration, tumor mutation load, immune checkpoint gene expression, and ICB treatment response. Functional analysis showed that these high- and low-risk groups had different immune statuses and drug sensitivity. Risk scores were used together with LGG clinicopathological features to construct a nomogram, and DCA analysis showed that the model could enable patients to benefit from clinical treatment strategies.

This study utilises NaOH to treat composite cementitious materials containing aeolian sand and zeolite powders, which were used to replace 50% of the cement in aeolian-sand concrete (ASC). The mechanical properties of treated ASC considerably improved, especially when the NaOH dosage was 4% by mass. After curing this sample (denoted as AAZC-4) for 28 d, its compressive strength improved by 17.2% and its split tensile was increased by 16.3%. Potassium feldspar and montmorillonite in zeolite powder and SiO2 in the sand were decomposed by OH− and combined with other elements to generate various silicate gels and A-type potassium zeolite crystals inside the concrete. Microscopic examination showed that the gels and crystals intertwined to fill the pores, decreasing (increasing) the percentage of large (small) pores, thus optimising the pore structure. This substantially improved the mechanical properties of ASC. Freeze–thaw salt-intrusion tests showed that the extent of mass loss, degree of damage and loss of compressive strength of AAZC-4 were similar to those of ordinary concrete but were reduced by 36.8%, 19% and 52.1%, respectively, compared with those of ASC. Therefore, AAZC-4 has sustainable working performance in the chloride ion permeable environment in cold and arid areas.

Abstract: Research Highlights: This study is among the first to investigate ozone levels in urban forests in China. It establishes that urban forest air quality in Yuanshan Forest Park, Shenzhen, is suitable for recreational activities and identifies spatial, seasonal, and diurnal O3 patterns and relationships with micrometeorological parameters, suggesting the possibility of manipulating relevant forest characteristics to reduce O3 levels. Background and Objectives: An understanding of O3 levels of urban forest environments is needed to assess potential effects on human health and recreational activities. Such studies in China are scarce. This study investigated urban forest O3 levels to improve understanding and support residents engaging in forest recreational activities. Materials and Methods: We monitored O3 levels in 2015–2016 for three urban forests representing common habitats (foothill, valley, and ridge) in Yuanshan Forest Park, Shenzhen, and for an adjacent square. Results: The overall mean daily and daily maximum 8-h mean (MDA8) O3 concentrations were highest for the ridge forest and lowest for the valley forest. Each forest’s O3 concentrations were highest in summer. Diurnally, forest O3 concentrations peaked between 13:00 and 17:00 and reached a minimum between 03:00 and 09:00. The correlation between forest O3 concentrations and air temperature (AT) was strongly positive in summer and autumn but negative in spring. In each season, O3 concentration was negatively correlated with relative humidity (RH). No MDA8 or hourly O3 concentrations in the forests exceeded National Ambient Air Quality Standard Grade I thresholds (100 and 160 μg m−3, respectively). Conclusions: O3 accumulation is present in ridge urban forest in all seasons. Foothill and valley urban forests have better air quality than ridge forestation. Urban forest air quality is better in spring and autumn than in summer and is better from night-time to early morning than from noon to afternoon.

This study compared growth performance, serum biochemical indicators, rumen fermentation parameters, rumen bacterial structure, and fecal bacterial structure of cattle and yaks, fed for two months, given a feed containing concentrate to roughage ratio of 7: 3 on dry matter basis. Compared with cattle, yak showed better growth performance. The serum biochemical results showed that the albumin: globulin ratio in yaks serum was significantly higher than that in cattle. Aspartate aminotransferase, indirect bilirubin, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and total cholesterol were significantly lower in yaks than that in cattle. Rumen pH, acetate to propionate ratio, and acetate were lower in yaks than in cattle while the lactate in yaks was higher than in cattle. There were significant differences in the structure of ruminal as well as fecal bacteria between cattle and yaks. The prediction of rumen bacterial function showed that there was metabolic difference between cattle and yaks. In general, the metabolic pathway of cattle was mainly riched in de novo synthesis of nucleotides, while that of yaks was mainly riched in the metabolic utilization of nutrients. This study provides a basis for understanding the rumen ecology under the condition of high concentrate diet.

The Range–Doppler (R-D) model is extensively employed for the geometric processing of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. Refining the sensor motion state and imaging parameters is the most common method for achieving high-precision geometric processing using the R-D model, comprising a process that involves numerous parameters and complex computations. In this study, we introduce a novel approach to improve the positioning accuracy of the R-D model, implementing a low-order polynomial to compensate for the original imaging errors without altering the initial positioning parameters. We also design low-order polynomial compensation models with different parameters. The models are evaluated on various SAR images from different platforms and bands, including spaceborne TerraSAR-X and GF3-C images, manned airborne SAR-X images, and unmanned aerial vehicle-mounted miniSAR-Ku images. Furthermore, image positioning experiments involving the use of different polynomial compensation models and various numbers and distributions of Ground Control Points (GCPs) are conducted. The experimental results demonstrate that geometric processing accuracy comparable to that of the classical rigorous positioning method can be achieved even when applying only an affine transformation model to the images. Compared to classical refinement models, however, the proposed image-compensated R-D model is much simpler and easy to implement. Thus, this study provides a convenient, robust, and widely applicable method for the geometric positioning processing of SAR images, offering a potential approach for the joint-positioning processing of multi-source SAR images.

The increased focus on sustainability in response to climate changes has given rise to many new initiatives to meet the rise in building load demand. The concept of distributed energy resources (DER) and optimal control of supply to meet power demands in buildings have resulted in growing interest to adopt microgrids for a precinct or a university campus. In this paper, a model for an actual physical microgrid has been constructed in OPAL-RT for real-time simulation studies. The load demands for SIT@NYP campus and its weather data are collected to serve as input to run on the digital twin model of DERs of the microgrid. The dynamic response of the microgrid model in response to fluctuations in power generation due to intermittent solar PV generation and load demands are examined via real-time simulation studies and compared with the response of the physical assets. It is observed that the simulation results match closely to the performance of the actual physical asset. As such, the developed microgrid model offers plug-and-play capability which will allow power providers to better plan for on-site deployment of renewable energy sources and energy storage to match the expected building energy demand.

Food-grinding occurs in rodents and is influenced by multiple-factors. However, the factors affecting this behavior remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of food restriction on food grinding by Brandt’s voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii), as well as the potential role of the gut microbiota in this process, through a comparison of the variations between voles with different food supplies. Food restriction reduced the relative amount of ground food to a greater extent than it lowered the relative food consumption, and altered the abundance of Staphylococcus, Aerococcus, Jeotgalicoccus, and Un--s-Clostridiaceae bacterium GM1. Strong correlations between the ground-to-consumed food ratio and the abundance of fecal microbiota were found for Un--s-Clostridiaceae bacterium GM1 and Aerococcus. The content of fecal acetate and propionate for the 7.5 g-food supply group was lower than that for the 15 g-food supply group. Further, the relative amount of ground food and ground-to-consumed food ratio were both positively correlated with the acetate content. Our study indicated that food restriction can effectively inhibit food grinding. Further, Un--s-Clostridiaceae bacterium GM1 abundance, Aerococcus abundance, and acetate content were strongly related to food grinding. Variations in gut microbial abundance and metabolite short-chain fatty acid content induced by food restriction likely promote the inhibition of food grinding. These results could potentially provide guidance for reducing food waste during laboratory rodent maintenance.

Two-dimensional (2D) ice I is an atomic-level ice that is composed of two interlocked atom-ic layers saturated with hydrogen bonds. It has recently been experimentally observed but its properties have yet to be clarified. Accordingly, we theoretically studied the hydrophobic properties of 2D ice I. On the contrary, simulation of a hydrogen fluoride molecule on a 2D ice surface manifested that it destroyed the 2d ice structure and connected new hydrogen bonds with water molecules. Investigations of the interfacial effect between 2D and three-dimensional (3D) ice films indicated that the network structure of 2D ice was not de-stroyed by a 3D ice surface, as the former was saturated with hydrogen bonds. However, the surface of 3D ice reorganized to form as many hydrogen bonds as possible. Thus, the 2D ice film was hydrophobic and inhibited the growth of 3D ice. This shows that if 2D ice can be produced on an industrial scale, it could be used as an anti-3D-icing agent under low tem-perature.

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.

Introduction: Treating elbow fracture-dislocation is a challenge, especially in the situation of basal-coronoid trans-ulnar fracture. The study ams to explain whether or not the minimal invasive surgery (MIS) would be feasible in elbow dislocation with coronoid fracture. Materials & Methods: At Taipei Veterans General Hospital, patients who had elbow dislocations with coronoid process fractures underwent single one surgeon’s MIS techniques which included the fluoroscopy-guided ulnar anteromedial (FGUAM) approach in the stage of reducing coronoid process. When there is a proximal ulnar fracture, the posterior incision should be necessary, followed by the incision over the lateral or medial elbow in treating radial fractures or ligament injuries. Results: The Flow Diagram about approach recommendation was established in base of defining MIS as not to do cross-plane dissection. Anteriorly rigid fixation for the coronoid process was also emphasized. Conclusions: MIS can be achieved by multiple limited surgical incisions. However, if there is an unstable ulnar metaphysis or ligament avulsion fracture, the posterior approach has to be extended and the so-called MIS fails to be established.

Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs), a new category of contaminants in limelight, is a major issue of global concern. The pervasive nature of CECs and its harmful effects, such as cancer, reproductive disorders, neurotoxicity etc., make the situation alarming. The perilous nature of CECs lies in the fact that even very small concentration of CECs can cause great impacts on living beings. It also has a nature of bioaccumulation. Thus, it is the ultimate need to have efficient sensors for detection of CECs to ensure safe living environment. Electrochemical sensors are an efficient platform for CEC detection as they are highly selective, sensitive, stable, reproducible, and prompt, and can detect very low concentrations of analyte. Major classes of CECs are pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, personal care products, endocrine disruptors, newly registered pesticides, and disinfection by-products. This review focusses on CECs, including their sources and pathways, health effects caused by them, and electrochemical sensors as reported in literatures under each category for the detection of major CECs.

Scaffoldings play a critical role as temporary structures in supporting construction processes. Accidents at construction sites frequently stem from issues related to scaffoldings, including insufficient support caused by deviations from the construction design, insecure rod connections, or absence of cross bracing, which result in uneven loading and potential collapse, leading to casualties. In this study, we introduce a deep-learning-based, augmented reality (AR)-enabled system called scaffolding assembly deficiency detection system (SADDS) to assist field inspectors in identifying deficiencies in scaffolding assemblies. Inspectors have the flexibility to utilize SADDS through various devices, such as video cameras, mobile phones, or AR goggles (i.e., Microsoft HoloLens 2), for automated detection of deficiencies in scaffolding assemblies. The training test yielded satisfactory results, with a mean average precision of 0.89 and individual precision values of 0.96, 0.82, 0.90, and 0.89 for “qualified” frames and frames with the “missing cross-tie rod,” “missing lower-tie rod,” and “missing footboard” deficiencies, respectively. Field tests conducted at two construction sites demonstrated improved system performance compared to that in the training test. However, these field tests also revealed certain limitations of the SADDS system.

GaN ultraviolet photodetector with metal-semiconductor-metal structure is achieved by growing on a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Under 5-V reverse bias, the photodetector fabricated on such patterned sapphire substrate exhibits a lower dark current, a higher photocurrent, and a 476 % enhancement in the maximum responsivity as compare with those of the photodetector fabricated on conventional flat sapphire substrate. It is also found that the much larger UV-to-visible rejection ratio and the fact that responsivity drops in a smaller cut-off region are observed from photodetector fabricated by using a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate. These phenomena may all be attributed to the reduction of threading dislocation density and the improved quality of GaN film, as well as the internal reflection and/or scattering effect on the interface between GaN film and the periodic trapezoid column-shape pattern of the substrate.

This paper develops a two-layer optimization approach that provides energy-optimal control for vehicles and traffic signal controllers. The optimizer in the first layer computes the traffic signal timings to minimize the total energy consumption levels of approaching vehicles from upstream traffic. The traffic signal optimization can be easily implemented in real-time signal controllers, and it overcomes the issues in the traditional Webster’s method of overestimating the cycle length when the traffic volume-to-capacity ratio exceeds 50 percent. The second layer optimizer is the vehicle speed controller, which calculates the optimal vehicle brake and throttle levels to minimize the energy consumption of individual vehicles. The A-star dynamic programming is used to solve the formulated optimization problem in the second layer to expedite the computation speed so that the optimal vehicle trajectories can be computed in real-time and can be easily implemented in simulation software for testing. The proposed integrated controller is first tested on an isolated signalized intersection, and then an arterial network with multiple intersections to investigate the performance of the proposed controller under various traffic demand levels. The test results demonstrate that the proposed integrated controller can greatly improve energy efficiency with fuel savings up to 17.7%, at the same time enhancing traffic mobility by up to 47.18% reduction in traffic delay and up to 24.84% reduction in vehicle stops.

Applied talent is not only a builder of human civilization but also a promoter of economic development. They not only need systematic and solid engineering theoretical knowledge but also rich engineering practical experience. Applied undergraduate colleges are the cradle for cultivating applied talent and shoulder the important mission of cultivating various types of applied talent for society. With the rapid development of higher education, the number of applied undergraduate institutions has sharply increased, but the quality of applied talent cultivated by them has shown a significant decline, which greatly restricts the pace of industrial development in the world. This article proposes a new concept of promoting the "three certificates" (graduation certificate, degree certificate, and skill certificate) education model in applied undergraduate colleges, which is of great significance for the country to cultivate composite talents with the ability of "product design, production management, and product processing" at the same time.

To develop a lower-cost, excellent performance, and environmentally friendly phe-nol-formaldehyde (PF) resin, soybean meal was used to modify PF resin, and soybean meal-phenol-formaldehyde (SMPF) resins were prepared. Their physicochemical properties and curing performance were investigated, showing that SMPF resins have higher curing tempera-tures than PF resin. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results indicated that the cross-linking reaction occurred between the amino groups of soybean protein and the hy-droxymethyl phenol. Moreover, with the addition of soybean meal, the viscosity of SMPF in-creased while the gel time decreased. It is worth mentioning that SMPF-2 resin has favorable viscosity, short gel time, low curing temperature (135.78 °C), and high water resistance and bonding strength (1.01 MPa). Finally, all the plywoods bonded with SMPF resins have good water resistance and bonding strength, which could meet the Standard (GB/T 17657-2013, type I) for plywood. The optimized SMPF resins showed the potential application to replace part of PF resin in the wood industry.

With the increasingly stringent airworthiness standards, the noise generated during the rotorcraft flight is gradually attracting people’s attention. It widely operated helicopters at low altitudes because of their maneuverability. The way to reduce the noise caused by the complex airflow of the helicopter rotor system has progressively become a hot topic for researchers. Using a hybrid acoustic analysis method, this paper investigates the improvement of the noise and thrust of the helicopter’s tail rotor through the tail rotor structural parameters. For the basic model, the turbulence simulation is performed using an incompressible detached eddy simulation (DES) method, and the Lighthill acoustic analog equation is calculated using the finite element method (FEM). We verified the accuracy of the method through wind tunnel tests. We chose a series of structural parameters for sound simulation and fluid simulation calculations. The results indicate that the modified tail rotor noise reduced by 16.5 dBA and the total thrust increased by 19.9% from the prototype model. This work can enhance the duct tail rotor design to improve aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance.

Heavy metals contamination in groundwater often occurs in various industrial processes. Stud-ies have confirmed that polysulfide could reduce hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium, achieving the effect of in-situ stabilization. For other heavy metals contamination in groundwa-ter, whether polysulfide also had a stabilizing ability to achieve in-situ remediation. This re-search focused on heavy metals except for chromium that often contaminated in groundwater, including lead, nickel, zinc, copper, and cadmium to explore the feasibility of using calcium polysulfide (CaSx) as an in-situ stabilization technology for these heavy metals contamination groundwater. Results showed that CaSx had a great removal efficiency for heavy metals lead, nickel, zinc, copper, and cadmium. However, for nickel, zinc, copper and cadmium, when CaSx was added excessively, complexes would be formed, causing the result of re-dissolve and this would also reduce the removal efficiency. Since it is difficult to accurately control the dosage of agents for in-situ groundwater remediation, the concentration of re-dissolved nickel, zinc, cop-per, and cadmium may not be able to meet the groundwater control standards. CaSx had high lead removal efficiency, and it would not cause re-dissolution due to excessive CaSx dosing. CaSx can be used as an in-situ stabilization technique for lead contaminated groundwater.

Over the last ten years, the integrated pond aquaculture (IPA) has been developing rapidly as a new aquaculture mode, and mechanical power oxygenator is a common oxygenation device in this aquaculture mode. However, with the gradual expansion of the application range of this aquaculture mode, the problems of low efficiency, poor oxygenation uniformity, and low applicability of mechanical power oxygenators, which can produce water reflux and suction pollution accumulation, have gradually emerged. Therefore, we designed a new type of push-water aerator device (NPWAD) applicable to the integrated recirculating water aquaculture mode of ponds. Mainly, the specific parameters of the key components were clarified through the selection calculation and structural design, and the experiments were carried out in the self-constructed pond integrated aquaculture system at the experimental base. The experiments were carried out on the water in the tank for grass carp culture, and the oxygenation and water pushing effects of the type of push-water aerator device under 15 groups of different operating parameters were carried out by using multiple types of high-precision water quality monitoring sensors, with the rotational speed of the device, the operating time (0-30 min) and the height of the water (0.5-1.5 m) as the independent variables, and the oxygenation amount R, the oxygenation power efficiency E_s and the surface layer of the water as the evaluation indexes, average flow velocity V_f were used as its evaluation indexes of oxygenation and water pushing. The results show that the optimal parameters of the NPWAD are impeller water lifting component speed n_1=1000r/min, small-hole aeration component speed n_2=2280r/min. At this time, the average oxygen increase of this device is R=1.96mg/L, the average oxygenation power efficiency is E_s=3.8 kg·(h·kW)-1, the DO uniformity of the water M_1=95.3%, and the average flow velocity V_f=190.8mm/s, which can effectively promote the water directional flow and achieve the water circulation and layer exchange, and it is in line with the preferred swimming speed of grass carp at various growth stages. The new type of push-water aerator device is able to enhance the DO concentration of the water faster, but also to achieve the purpose of promoting the directional flow of the water and renewing the water in the tank, as well as in a short period of time to improve the uniformity of the DO of the water faster, for the improvement of the pond aquaculture production efficiency has practical significance.

The sustainable development of resource-based cities has long been a focal point for both governmental policies and academic research. A wealth of academic literature identifies the 'resource curse' as a critical barrier to sustainable development in these urban areas. Despite extensive studies, a consensus on effective strategies to circumvent or resolve this challenge remains elusive. Recent empirical data reveals a noticeable pattern of economic growth differentiation in China's resource-based cities. Why do some resource-based cities experience economic decline while others achieve sustainable economic growth? Therefore, this paper analyzes the reasons for the divergence of economic growth in resource cities from the perspective of heterogeneity. The results of the study show that the phenomenon of the resource curse is conditional, and the heterogeneity of demo-graphic changes, geographic location and institutional environment has a significant impact on the economic growth of resource cities. These factors are investigated to elucidate the observed diversification and heterogeneity in the economic growth of resource-based cities. Building upon this analysis, the paper proposes a framework for differentiated sustainable development pathways tailored to the unique contexts of these cities. This approach not only contributes to the current understanding of the 'resource curse' but also offers novel insights for future research aiming to adopt a more nuanced and context-specific perspective in examining sustainable urban development.

Current adaptive cruise control (ACC) systems adopt fixed desired time headway, which leads to an abrupt speed reduction after being cut-in by a lane changer in front or when changing lanes too close to the new leader. In contrast, human drivers behave differently and feature a variable spacing within 20 or 30 seconds right after a cut-in or lane change. Motivated by the smooth transition found in driver relaxation, the paper aims to incorporate relaxation into ACC systems. Based on the open-source ACC platform, Openpilot, Comma.ai, the paper proposes a feasible relaxation model compatible with current factory ACCs, which has also been tested using a market car with stock ACC hardware. The study further investigates the impact of relaxation ACC on traffic operation. Numerical simulation suggests that incorporating relaxation into ACC can help: i) reduce the magnitude of speed perturbations in both cut-in vehicles and followers; ii) stabilize the lane-changing traffic by reducing the speed variance and prevent the lateral propagation of congestion, and iii) increase the average vehicle speed and capacity in merging traffic.

There always exist steel cuttings, holes and cracks at the interfaces in the explosive composite plate. Multi-pass friction stir processing (M-FSP) is proposed in this research to optimize the interface microstructure and the interface connection for 1060Al/Q235 explosive composite plate. Results show that the microstructures of 1060Al after M-FSP are fine and uniform owing to the strong stirring effect and recrystallization. Micro-defects formed by the explosive welding can be repaired by the M-FSP. However, M-FSP can also form tunnel defects in the aluminum, especially when the passes are one and two. The melting block and the melting lump in the composite plates are easy to become source of crack. The shear strengths and the bending properties for the 1060Al/Q235 explosive composite plate after M-FSP are the best when the passes are three, with the tool rotation speed of 1200rpm and the forward speed of 60mm/min. The optimized interfaces for the explosive composite plate after M-FSP are mainly by the metallurgical bondings, with a certain thickness and are discontinuous. Therefore, the crack extension stress is the largest and the mechanical properties are the best.

This investigation delves into an examination of the growth dynamics observed in Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) and Silicon Glen in Scotland, with a specific focus on their energy, environmental, and economic management. The aim is to predict and evaluate the latest advancements and applications of technology. In terms of energy, CTSP focuses on Taiwan's supply security and green transformation challenges, while Silicon Glen emphasizes Scotland's wind energy generation technologies. Both regions are committed to the development of renewable energy and smart grids. Regarding environmental aspects, CTSP and Silicon Glen prioritize environmental protection and sustainable development by implementing measures for environmental monitoring. In terms of economic management, CTSP, and Silicon Glen serve as key technology industry hubs This investigation delves into an examination of the growth dynamics observed in Central Tai-wan Science Park (CTSP) and Silicon Glen in Scotland, with a specific focus on their energy, environmental, and economic management. The aim is to predict and evaluate the latest advancements and applications of technology. In terms of energy, CTSP focuses on Taiwan's supply security and green transformation challenges, while Silicon Glen emphasizes Scotland's wind energy generation technologies. Both regions are committed to the development of renewable energy and smart grids. Regarding environmental aspects, CTSP and Silicon Glen prioritize environmental protection and sustainable development by implementing measures for environmental monitoring. In terms of economic management, CTSP, and Silicon Glen serve as key technology industry hubs in Taiwan and Scotland, respectively, attracting numerous high-tech and startup enterprises. Various means facilitate the growth of industries and foster innovations in different industrial spheres. Important factors contributing to this growth include policy support, availability of research materials, and provision of infrastructure. This research paper compares the successful case studies of two industrial parks, along with their environmental and economic management strategies. It explores the management principles that ensure the sustainable development and economic growth of industrial parks, aiming to assist decision-makers and relevant stakeholders in evaluating the sustainable development planning of industrial parks.

Previous studies have quantified repolarization variability using time-domain, frequency-domain and non-linear analysis in mouse hearts. Here, we investigated the relationship between these parameters and ventricular arrhythmogenicity in a hypokalaemia model of acquired long QT syndrome. Methods: Left ventricular monophasic action potentials (MAPs) were recorded during right ventricular regular 8 Hz pacing during normokalaemia (5.2 mM [K+]), hypokalaemia modelling LQTS (3 mM [K+]) or hypokalaemia with 0.1 mM heptanol in Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts. Results: During normokalaemia, mean APD was 33.5±3.7 ms. Standard deviation (SD) of APDs was 0.63±0.33 ms, coefficient of variation was 1.9±1.0% and the root mean square (RMS) of successive differences in APDs was 0.3±0.1 ms. Low- and high-frequency peaks were 0.6±0.5 and 2.3±0.7 Hz, respectively, with percentage powers of 38±22 and 61±23%. Poincaré plots of APDn+1 against APDn revealed ellipsoid morphologies with SD along the line-of-identity (SD2) to SD perpendicular to the line-of-identity (SD1) ratio of 4.6±1.1. Approximate and sample entropy were 0.49±0.12 and 0.64±0.29, respectively. Detrended fluctuation analysis revealed short- and long-term fluctuation slopes of 1.62±0.27 and 0.60±0.18, respectively. Hypokalaemia provoked ventricular tachycardia in six of seven hearts, prolonged APDs (51.2±7.9 ms), decreased SD2/SD1 ratio (3.1±1.0), increased approximate and sample entropy (0.68±0.08 and 1.02±0.33) and decreased short-term fluctuation slope (1.23 ± 0.20) (ANOVA, P<0.05). Heptanol prevented VT in all hearts studied without further altering the above repolarization parameters observed during hypokalaemia. Conclusion: Reduced SD2/SD1, increased entropy and decreased short-term fluctuation slope are associated with ventricular arrhythmogenesis in hypokalaemia. Heptanol exerts anti-arrhythmic effects without affecting repolarization variability.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of genetic engineering, the advent of CRISPR-Cas technologies has catalyzed a paradigm shift, empowering scientists to manipulate the genetic code with unprece-dented accuracy and efficiency. Despite the remarkable capabilities inherent to CRISPR-Cas sys-tems, recent advancements have witnessed the integration of small molecule to augment their functionality, introducing new dimensions to the precision and versatility of gene editing applica-tions. This review delves into the synergy between CRISPR-Cas technologies and small molecule drugs, elucidating the pivotal role of chemicals in optimizing target specificity and editing efficiency. By examining a diverse array of applications, ranging from therapeutic interventions to agricultural advancements, we explore how the judicious use of chemicals enhances the precision of CRISPR-Cas-mediated genetic modifications. In this review we emphasize the significance of small molecule drugs in fine-tuning the CRISPR-Cas machinery, which allows researchers to exert meticulous con-trol over the editing process. We delve into the mechanisms through which these chemicals bolster target specificity, mitigate off-target effects, and contribute to the overall refinement of gene edit-ing outcomes. Additionally, we discuss the potential of chemical integration in expanding the scope of CRISPR-Cas technologies, enabling tailored solutions for diverse genetic manipulation challenges. As CRISPR-Cas technologies continue to evolve, the integration of small molecule drugs emerges as a crucial avenue for advancing the precision and applicability of gene editing techniques. This re-view not only synthesizes current knowledge but also highlights future prospects, paving the way for a deeper understanding of the synergistic interplay between CRISPR-Cas systems and chemical modulators in the pursuit of more controlled and efficient genetic modifications.

This paper develops a Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) system for buses (B-GLOSA). The proposed B-GLOSA system is implemented on diesel buses, and field tested to validate and quantify the potential real-world benefits. The developed system includes a simple and easy to calibrate fuel consumption model that computes instantaneous diesel bus fuel consumption rates. The bus fuel consumption model, a vehicle dynamics model, the traffic signal timings, and the re-lationship between vehicle speed and distance to the intersection are used to construct an optimi-zation problem. A moving-horizon dynamic programming problem solved using the A-star algo-rithm is used to compute the energy-optimized vehicle trajectory through signalized intersections. The Virginia Smart Road test facility was used to conduct the field test on 30 participants. Each participant drove three scenarios including a base case uninformed drive, an informed drive with signal timing information communicated to the driver, and an informed drive with the recom-mended speed computed by the B-GLOSA system. The field test investigated the performance of using the developed B-GLOSA system considering different impact factors, including road grades and red indication offsets, using a split-split-plot experimental design. The test results demonstrated that the proposed B-GLOSA system can produce smoother bus trajectories through signalized in-tersections producing fuel consumption and travel time savings. Specifically, compared to the uninformed drive, the B-GLOSA system produces fuel and travel time savings of 22.1% and 6.1% on average, respectively.

Iron tailings are solid waste generated after the mining of iron mines, which have caused serious damage to the surrounding ecology and environment and have attracted widespread attention. By analyzing the formation causes, main components, and environmental effect mechanisms of iron tailings, the article systematically elaborates on the degree and mechanism of the harm of iron tailings to water bodies, atmosphere, soil, and ecosystems, and evaluates its impact on human health and sustainable development of society. On this basis, specific prevention and control measures have been proposed to reduce iron tailings emissions, realize resource recycling, and restore ecosystems. Research shows that iron tailings containing heavy metals can widely pollute the environment through dissolution and migration, and have significant biological toxicity effects. The research results can provide a theoretical reference for decision-making departments to formulate scientific and reasonable iron tailings disposal and ecological protection policies. It is recommended to strengthen specific research on the infiltration of toxic and harmful components in tailings in the future, and develop efficient and stable solidification technology, and vegetation-microbial joint restoration models to further reduce the ecological and environmental risks of iron tailings.

AI advances integrate generative design tools in architecture, providing architects with sophisticated design options. It enables the creation of intricate, high-performing projects by exploring diverse design possibilities with AI and algorithms. Generative AI and generative design empower architects to create better-performing, sustainable, and efficient design solutions and explore diverse design possibilities. This paper leverages multimodal generative AI to enhance design creativity by combining textual and visual inputs. Blockchain technology converts design metadata into NFTs, ensuring secure, authentic, and traceable data storage. The framework addresses data ownership, legal adherence, and client-architect collaboration and is entirely scalable for digital design authentication. This research exemplifies the pragmatic fusion of Generative AI and blockchain technology applied in architectural design for more transparent, secure, and effective results. This study provides a strategy that uses generative AI technologies to achieve an efficient and creative workflow in the early stages of architectural design.

In the TANGO study, the long-term noninferior efficacy of switching to dolutegravir/lamivudine (DTG/3TC) compared to continuing tenofovir alafenamide–based regimens was demonstrated in treatment-experienced adults with HIV. However, there is limited real-world data comparing the effectiveness and safety of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (BIC/FTC/TAF) and DTG/3TC in Asia. This retrospective observational study, conducted at a designated HIV-care hospital from March 2019 to January 2023, aimed to address this gap. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data, including HIV viral loads and lipid profiles, were collected and analyzed. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with HIV RNA <50 copies/mL at week 48 in both groups, utilizing a snapshot, per-protocol–exposed population. A total of 1086 patients were included, with 511 in the DTG/3TC group and 575 in the BIC/FTC/TAF group. At week 48, 98% of patients in the DTG/3TC group and 94% in the BIC/FTC/TAF group achieved HIV RNA <50 copies/mL (p <0.01). Logistic regression analysis identified risk factors for detectable viral loads at week 48, including HIV RNA >100,000 copies/mL (AOR 5.13, 95% CI 1.42–18.53), low-level viremia (AOR 3.91, 95% CI 1.07–14.25), and record of virologic failure ≥2 times (AOR 4.21, 95% CI 1.64–10.85) before the switch. Furthermore, no significant difference was found between the DTG/3TC and BIC/FTC/TAF regimens (AOR: 1.51, 95% CI 0.70–3.24). In conclusion, the study demonstrates that the effectiveness and safety profiles of DTG/3TC and BIC/FTC/TAF were comparable in treatment-experienced adults with HIV, particularly among those with undetectable viral loads at baseline.

In recent years, cerium dioxide (CeO2) has attracted considerable attention owing to its remarkable performance in various applications, including photocatalysis, fuel cells, and catalysis. This study explores the effect of nickel (Ni) doping on the structural, thermal, and chemical properties of CeO2 nanorods, particularly focusing on oxygen vacancy-related phenomena. Utilizing X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), alterations in crystal structure and peak shifts were observed, indicating successful Ni doping and the formation of Ni2O3 at higher doping levels, likely due to non-equilibrium reactions. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed changes in oxygen release mechanisms, with increasing Ni doping resulting in the release of lattice oxygen at lower temperatures. Raman spectroscopy corroborated these findings by identifying characteristic peaks associated with oxygen vacancies, facilitating the assessment of Ni doping levels. Overall, this study underscores the substantial impact of Ni doping on CeO2 nanorods, shedding light on tailored catalytic applications through modulation of oxygen vacancies while preserving the nanorod morphology.

Session-based recommendations which aim to predict subsequent user-item interaction based on historical user behavior during anonymous sessions can be challenging tasks. Two main challenges need to be addressed and improved: (1) How to analyze these sessions to accurately and completely capture users’ preferences, and (2) how to identify and eliminate any interference caused by noisy behavior. Existing methods have not adequately addressed these issues since they either neglected the valuable insight that can be gained from analyzing consecutive groups of items or failed to take these noisy data in sessions seriously and handled them properly, which can jointly impede recommendation systems from capturing users’ real intentions. To address these two problems, we designed a multi-order semantic denoising (MSD) model for session-based recommendations. Specifically, we grouped items of different lengths as varying multi-order semantic units to mine the user’s primary intention from multiple dimensions. Meanwhile, a novel denoising network was designed to alleviate the interference of noisy behavior and provide a more precise session representation. The result of extensive experiments on three real-world datasets demonstrated that the proposed MSD model exhibited improved performance compared with existing state-of-the-art methods in session-based recommendation.

The rapid development of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has brought enormous opportunities to the industrial environment but has also posed significant challenges to network security, especially the physical layer security challenges,which is crucial for the reliable transmission of messages interconnected devices and sensors. Focus on the enhancing the physical layer security in the IIoT communication, this paper proposed a mechanism of Spatial Secrecy Outage Probability (SSOP) to ensure the secure transmission of data. The SSOP algorithm assumes that the location of legitimate device is known, while eavesdropper on the random distribution of device locations, forming the SSOP model related to device locations from the perspective of insecure regions (ISR) and secure regions (SR), and deduce the closed-form expression for its upper bound. Subsequently under the constraint of SSOP conditions, establish an optimization model with the objective of system throughput maximization based on Spatial Secrecy Outage Probability(SRM-SSOP). By optimizing the transmission rate of legitimate channels or controlling the transmission power, the maximization of system throughput can be achieved, thus reducing the consumption of communication resources. Through sophisticated modeling and simulation in the MATLAB, we verified the accuracy of the definition and derived upper bound of SSOP. The experimental results also show that SSOP algorithm gradually converges to a specific value as the number of antenna elements increases. In addition, we observed that when the receiver device is aligned with the normal direction of the transmit antenna array, the SSOP reaches a minimum value. These performance are crucial for understanding and optimizing the security performance of IIoT communication systems.

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) may convey high current and sustain high breakdown voltages; it may provide high power control. In a sense, how IGBT demonstrates the capability of power control was not specifically described, and the equivalent bipolar junction transistors (BJT) activated by an applied bias to the insulated gate is intriguing. As seen in Figure 1, IGBT shows an equivalent circuit structure containing two types of BJT, (NPN-type Bipolar transistor and PNP-type Bipolar transistor), which can be modeled as diode-associated transistor. Apparently, as a bias applies to the controlling gate, the channel beneath the gate oxide gets strongly inversed and turns out to be conductive just like what happens on metal-oxide-silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET), which provides necessary igniting currents to both BJTs and thus causes high current gain flowing through them-selves from the bottom. A proposed and renewed formula provides addressing the above scenario and successfully fitting the measured data that forms the characteristic curves. Some parameters in the proposed formula, which includes size and mobility associated constant, threshold voltage, and Early-Voltage-related lambda for MOSFET, explain and explore the underlying physics. IGBT thus enjoy high input impedance and high current gain due to MOSFET (Insulated Gate) and BJT, respectively. This formula combines both merits of MOSFET and BJT in order to fit the measured data. Indeed, the formula intimately fits IGBT electrical characteristic curves, and thus may be qualified and served as a model. The new model is then advisable for designing power integrated circuit to exactly achieve power saving, power control, and power efficiency.

In this paper, we introduce deboost, a Python library devoted to weighted distance ensembling of predictions for regression and classification tasks. Its backbone resides on the scikit-learn library for default models and data preprocessing functions. It offers flexible choices of models for the ensemble as long as they contain the predict method, like the models available from scikit-learn. deboost is released under the MIT open-source license and can be downloaded from the Python Package Index (PyPI) at https://pypi.org/project/deboost. The source scripts are also available on a GitHub repository at https://github.com/weihao94/DEBoost.

A highly efficient reduction process of Cr (VI) with biochar was conducted in this paper. The results showed that nearly 100% Cr (VI) was reduced at selected reaction conditions: the dosage of biochar at m (C)/m(Cr) = 3.0, reaction temperature of 90 ℃, reaction time at 60 min and concentration of H2SO4 of 20 g/L, respectively. The reduction kinetics analysis demonstrated that the reduction of Cr (VI) fitted well with the pseudo-first-order model and the apparent activation energy was calculated to 40.24 kJ/mol. Response surface methodology confirmed that all the experimental parameters had positive effect on the reduction of Cr (VI). The influence of each parameter on the reduction process followed the order: dosage of biochar> Concentration of H2SO4 > Reaction Temperature > Reaction Time. This paper provided a versatile strategy for treatment of wastewater containing Cr (VI) and showed a bright tomorrow for wastewater treatment.

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the application and optimization of automotive thermoelectric generators (ATEGs), focusing on the crucial role of heat exchangers in enhancing energy conversion efficiency. Recognizing the substantial waste of thermal energy in internal combustion engines, our research delves into the potential of TEGs to convert engine waste heat into electrical energy, thereby improving fuel efficiency and reducing environmental impact. We meticulously analyze various heat exchanger designs, assessing their influence on the TEG's output power under different exhaust gas flow rates and temperatures. Furthermore, we explore the impact of TEG material properties on the overall energy conversion effectiveness. Our findings reveal that specific heat exchanger designs significantly enhance the efficiency of waste gas heat exchange, leading to an improved performance of the TEG system. We also highlight the importance of thermal insulation in maximizing TEG output. This study not only contributes to the ongoing efforts to develop more sustainable and efficient vehicles but also provides valuable insights into the practical application of thermoelectric technology in automotive engineering. Through this research, we aim to pave the way for more environmentally friendly transportation solutions, aligning with global efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependence and mitigate environmental pollution.

Ganoderic Acid (GA), a major bioactive compound isolated from an oriental medicinal mushroom, i.e. Ganoderma tsugae, has traditionally been found to have significant medicinal properties. As a result of GA's poor solubility in water, formulation poses several challenges. Additionally, the traditional method of administering it via alcohol always results in unfavorable patient side effects. In order to overcome these problems, Ganoderma Tsugae extracts obtained by ethanol extraction were encapsulated in nanodispersions by ultrasonic cavitation and solvent evaporation to maximise bioavailability. Resultant nanodispersions contained Ganoderic acid in a hydrophobic core with a mean particle size of no more than 200 nm and a very narrow particle distribution. An analysis of the interactions between the control variables and the process optimisation was conducted using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Based on the results of the experiment, it was found that the particle size of nanodispersions was influenced by the Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) number and the evaporation temperature. Moreover, the physical stability of micellar systems is generally determined by the organic phase within them. Regarding formulation stability, the zeta average of the nanodispersions remained virtually unchanged in solutions with different pH levels and short-term storage (14 days) at room temperature. Overall, it has been demonstrated that Ganoderic acid nanodispersions can be efficiently generated by combining ultrasound cavitation and solvent evaporation.

The integration of robotic devices into healthcare settings for rehabilitation purposes represents a rapidly advancing field with significant benefits for both therapists and patients. However, standalone robot systems face limitations such as inefficient processing of patient data and logistical challenges for patients, such as travel time to rehabilitation centers. To address these shortcomings, this paper proposes the integration of cyber-physical systems into rehabilitation robotics. Cyber-physical systems leverage network connectivity and real-time data processing to enhance the efficiency and convenience of robot-based rehabilitation. By seamlessly integrating sensors, actuators, and computational algorithms, cyber-physical rehabilitation systems empower therapists to more effectively treat patients by providing actionable insights derived from comprehensive data analysis. This enables therapists to tailor treatment plans precisely to each patient’s unique needs, ultimately leading to improved outcomes. Additionally, cyber-physical rehabilitation systems facilitate remote monitoring and intervention, allowing therapists to oversee patient progress and make timely adjustments to treatment protocols without the need for in-person visits. This not only saves patients valuable time and resources but also ensures continuity of care, particularly for individuals residing in remote or underserved areas. Furthermore, cyber-physical rehabilitation systems enable collaborative decision-making by facilitating communication and information sharing among healthcare professionals, further enhancing the quality and efficacy of rehabilitation services. In summary, integrating cyber-physical systems into rehabilitation robotics represents a significant advancement in leveraging technology to optimize patient care and outcomes, promising to revolutionize rehabilitation therapy.

Due to the fact that abrasive media can deform flexibly in abrasive flow machining (AFM) making this method easily to polish the complex holes and the curved surface of the hard machining shapes. Although abrasive media dominate the polishing behavior in AFM process, the mechanism of the abrasive media are not easy to understand because of the high viscous gels, therefore, many finishing works need lots of time to design AFM process. Power laws of the abrasive gels is studied here to evaluate the non-Newtonian flow of abrasive gels in complex holes polishing firstly, at the mean time different abrasive gels are utilized to finish the complex holes to follow the results by non-Newtonian flow calculation. Moreover, traditional AFM has difficulty to achieve a uniform roughness of radial distribution in the complex holes polishing because of the non-uniform abrasive forces. So a helical passageway is proposed to create a multiple motion of abrasive medium and to obtain the even surface of the complex holes in AFM process.

Cymbidium faberi Rolfe is one of the traditional Chinese orchids with important ornamental value, and the cultivation of Cymbidium faberi Rolfe mutant strains with different appearances is essential to increase its economic value, but at present, the acquisition of Cymbidium faberi Rolfe mutant strains basically relies on natural mutation.The objectives of this research were to mutagenize Cymbidium faberi Rolfe protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) and shoots in vitro using sodium azide (NaN3), and to screen and evaluate mutants in mutagenized Cymbidium faberi Rolfe seedlings using morphological characteristics.Cymbidium faberi Rolfe PLBs and shoots were used as mutagenic materials, and co-cultivated in induced shoots growth medium with the addition of 0.0 (control), 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 mg/L and 0.0 (control), 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0 mg/L NaN3 to induce the mutations, and the mortality rates of the PLBs and shoots were increased with the increase of the NaN3 concentration.At 14 d of co-cultivation, PLBs and shoots were most efficiently mutagenized with 1.5 mg/L and 4.0 mg/L NaN3, respectively.After the explants were cultured for 3 months, changes in leaf and flower morphology were observed in some mutants: shorter and thicker leaves, shorter node length, reduced height, and mid-translucent leaves compared with controls; and some Cymbidium faberi Rolfe bloomed prematurely, with single flowers with large, thick petal sepals and small inflorescences, and colours include light green throughout, and a few with purple stamens.This suggests that NaN3 can effectively mutagenise Cymbidium faberi Rolfe PLBs and shoots to satisfy people's demand for Cymbidium faberi Rolfe's ornamental properties while increasing its economic value.

Cafestol, a bioactive compound found in coffee, has attracted considerable attention due to its potential impact on cardiovascular health. This review aims to comprehensively explore the association between cafestol and cardiovascular diseases. We delve into the mechanisms through which cafestol influences lipid metabolism, inflammation, and endothelial function, all of which are pivotal in cardiovascular pathophysiology. Moreover, we meticulously analyze epidemiological studies and clinical trials to elucidate the relationship between cafestol and cardiovascular outcomes. Through a critical examination of existing literature, we aim to provide insights into the potential benefits and risks associated with cafestol concerning cardiovascular health.

In history, theta function identities have been studied extensively and deeply. In this paper, applying the residue theorem of an elliptic function, we obtain a parameterized theta function identity. Then, by selecting the appropriate parameter, we derive some famous Jacobi identities, as well as other relatively simple theta function identities.

Sympatric distribution and temporal overlap of cryptic zooplankton species pose a challenge to the framework of the niche differentiation theory and the mechanisms allowing competitor coexistence. We applied the methods of phylogenetic analysis, DNA taxonomy and statistical analysis to study the temporal distribution patterns of cryptic B. calyciflorus species, an excellent model, in three lakes, and to explore the putative mechanisms for their seasonal succession and temporal overlap. The results showed that in the warm-temperate Lake Yunlong, B. fernandoi and B. calyciflorus s.s. underwent a seasonal succession, which was largely attributed to their differential adaptation to water temperature. In the subtropical Lake Jinghu, B. fernandoi, B. calyciflorus s.s. and B. dorcas exhibited both seasonal succession and temporal overlap. Seasonal successions were largely attributed to their differential adaptation to temperature, and temporal overlap resulted from their differential responses to algal food concentration. In the tropical Lake Jinniu, B. calyciflorus s.s. persisted throughout the year, and overlapped with B. dorcas for 5 months. Temporal overlap resulted from their differential responses to copepod predation. These results indicated that the temporal distribution pattern of cryptic B. calyciforus species and the mechanism allowing competitor coexistence vary with different climate zones.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from plants have been correlated with disease-status. Analysis of VOCs using GC-MS is time-consuming, laboratory-based, and requires specialist training. Electronic nose devices (E-nose) provide a portable alternative. Three different E-nose devices were compared to assess how accurately they could detect Mango Twig Tip Dieback and Panama disease in banana. The devices were initially trained on known volatiles, then pure cultures of Pantoea sp., Staphylococcus sp., and Fusarium odoratissimum, and finally, on infected and healthy mango leaves and field-collected, infected banana pseudo-stems. The experiments were repeated three times with six replicates for each host-pathogen pair. The variation between healthy and infected host materials was evaluated by principal component and linear discriminant analysis, cross-validation and chemometric data analysis. GC-MS analysis was conducted contemporaneously and identified an 80% similarity between healthy and infected plant material. The portable C 320 was 100% successful in discriminating known volatiles but had a low capability in differentiating healthy and infected plant substrates. The advanced devices (PEN 3 / MSEM 160) successfully detected healthy and diseased samples with a high variance. The results suggest that E-nose devices are more sensitive and accurate in detecting changes of VOCs between healthy and infected plants compared to headspace GC-MS.

Questions：SAP in mountainous cities of China serve as crucial carriers for species and wild food, constituting potential green infrastructure. These patches should be recognized as locally specific resources. This study investigates the transformation characteristics of the landscape patterns of SAP, along with their elements, across urban-rural gradients, providing foundational support for the planning of conservation and utilization strategies. Location: Yongchuan area of Chongqing in southwest China. Methods: The study investigated urban-rural gradient-based transformation of SAP. A four-direction transect space was selected and divided into uniform sample squares. Fragstats 4.3 calculated the landscape index of SAP, and Spearman correlation coefficients in SPSS were used to evaluate the influence of landform and artificial factors on agroforestry patch transformation. Results: 1) Patch area (PA), Plaque density (PD), and CLUMPY of SAP systematically transform, showing increased SAP areas and higher connectivity with greater distance from the city, resulting in reduced patch fragmentation. However, Edge density (ED) and Largest plaque index (LPI) exhibit irregular transformation patterns. 2) With increased distance from the city, woodland patch area and connectivity increase, leading to decreased fragmentation, dispersal, and lower fractal dimensions. Conversely, Cultivated land follows the opposite trend. garden land patch area, fractal dimension, fragmentation, and dispersal all increase, while connectivity decreases. 3) Landscape pattern transformations of SPA are significantly influenced by artificial factors. Woodland patches are influenced similarly by landform and artificial factors. In contrast, cultivated land and garden land patches are more significantly impacted by artificial factors. Conclusions: SAP exhibit differentiated conservation and utilization measures across urban-rural gradients. Small patches located far from urban centers may benefit from systematic conservation measures to prevent further fragmentation and erosion in peri-urban areas.

To decrease privacy risks, consumers may choose to misrepresent when they are asked to offer personal information. This paper examines the impact of consumer misrepresentation on a monopolistic firm and consumers with an economic model. The results show that consumer misrepresentation may benefit the firm but hurt consumers. In addition, consumers misrepresentation may encourage the firm to provide higher personalized service level in certain scenarios, such as, when the unit cost of personalized service is low. Thirdly, when consumers misrepresent, and the firm only covers part of the market, a greater unit value of consumer’s privacy information will reduce the firm’s profit, but a greater unit cost of personalized service increases the firm’s profit.

This paper addresses the input coupling problem for the shape memory alloy (SMA) actuated parallel platform with completely unknown nonlinear dynamics. The problem means that in a parallel platform with multiple SMA actuators acting together, the displacement of one of the actuators will simultaneously affect the remaining actuators to change. Due to the coupling problem and nonlinear characteristics of the SMA actuators, it is not easy to control the platform to achieve bi-directional swing with completely unknown nonlinear dynamics. Therefore, a model-free adaptive sliding mode control method is proposed to improve the control accuracy of the complex motion of the platform, avoiding the complex modeling process of the SMA actuated parallel platform. Based on the model-free adaptive control (MFAC) theory, a multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) dynamic linearized mathematical model of the parallel platform is established using the online input and output data of the system. Then, a sliding mode controller is designed based on the dynamic model. A rigorous theoretical analysis proves that the proposed model-free adaptive sliding mode controller is able to stably control the SMA actuated parallel platform, and its tracking error is uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). Finally, experiments are conducted on the established SMA actuated parallel platform. The results show that the proposed model-free controller is feasible and effective, and can control the system well to achieve the complex motion of bi-directional swing.

Oil-Gan, also known as emblica, is the fruit of the genus Phyllanthus emblica L. The fruits of these trees are high in nutrients and have excellent effects on health care and development values. There are many methods for the management of diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, there is a lack of effective drugs for treating DN from throughout the disease course. The primary aim of this study was to examine the protective effects (including urine analyses, the measurement of inflammatory cytokine levels, and histological examination) and mechanisms of action of an ethyl acetate extract of P. emblica (EPE) on db/db mice, an animal model of diabetic nephropathy, as well as a secondary aim of examining the expression levels of protein kinase Cα (PKCα) in the kidney and its downregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibrosis gene transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) by Western blot analyses. Eight db/m C57BLKS/J mice were used as the control group. Forty db/db mice were randomly divided into five groups. Treatments included vehicle, EPE1, EPE2, EPE3 (at doses of 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg EPE), or the comparative drug aminoguanidine for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks of treatment, blood samples were collected for analyses of blood glucose, insulin, and HbA1c levels, and pancreatic and kidney tissues were dissected for histological analyses. The present study indicated that the administration of EPE to db/db mice effectively controlled hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia by markedly lowering blood glucose, insulin, and glycosylated HbA1c levels. Administration of EPE to db/db mice decreased the levels of BUN and creatinine both in blood and urine and reduced urinary albumin excretion and the albumin creatine ratio (UACR) in urine. Moreover, EPE treatment decreased the blood levels of inflammatory cytokines, including kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), C-reactive protein (CRP), and NLR family pyrin domain containing (NLRP3). Our findings showed that EPE not only had antihyperglycemic effects but also improved renal function in db/db mice. Histological examination of the kidney by immunohistochemistry indicated that EPE can improve kidney function by ameliorating glomerular morphological damage following glomerular injury; alleviating proteinuria by upregulating the expression of nephrin, a biomarker of early glomerular damage; and inhibiting glomerular expansion and tubular fibrosis. Moreover, the administration of EPE to db/db mice increased the expression levels of p- PKCα/t-PKCα but decreased the expression levels of VEGF and renal fibrosis biomarkers (TGF-β1, collagen IV, p-Smad2, p-Smad3, and Smad4), as shown by Western blot analyses. These results implied that EPE as a supplement has a protective effect against renal dysfunction through the amelioration of insulin resistance as well as the suppression of nephritis and fibrosis in a DN model.

Galangin(Gal) is a natural active flavonoid compound separated from the roots and rhizomes of Alpinia ofcinarum Hance. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Gal has a variety of biological activities such as anti-tumor, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-ischemic stroke, suppressing vitiligo and Alzheimer’s disease, etc. The purpose of this research was to prepare a galangin self-microemulsion drug delivery system (Gal-SMEDDS) and compare its anti-oxidant activity and pharmacokinetics with free Gal.The average particle size of the prepared Gal-SMEDDS was approximately 21.33 nm, the polydispersity index was 0.096, the zeta potential was -4.09 mV, and the entrapment efficiency was 96.74%. Compared with free Gal, the release of Gal-SMEDDS was improved in vitro release experiment. Cell experiments showed that Gal had obvious anti-oxidation effect, and the effect of Gal-SMEDDS was better than that of free Gal. In vivo pharmacokinetic experiments showed that the pharmacokinetic parameters of Gal-SMEDDS were better than that of free Gal, which indicated that the self-microemulsion drug delivery system(SMEDDS) effectively increases the oral bioavailability of Gal and alters its pharmacokinetic parameters, such that it may be effective in the treatment of anti-oxidant.

Multimodal remote sensing data classification can enhance the model’s ability to distinguish land features through multimodal data fusion. In this context, how to help models understand the relationship between multimodal data and target tasks is the focus of researchers. Inspired by human feedback learning mechanisms, causal reasoning mechanisms, and knowledge induction mechanisms, this paper integrates causal learning, reinforcement learning, and meta learning into a unified remote sensing data classification framework and proposed the causal meta-reinforcement learning (CMRL). First, based on feedback learning mechanisms, we have overcome the limitations of traditional implicit optimization of fusion features and customized a reinforcement learning environment for multimodal remote sensing data classification tasks. Through feedback interactive learning between agents and the environment, we help them understand the complex relationships between multimodal data and labels, thereby achieving full mining of multimodal complementary information. Second, based on the causal inference mechanism we designed causal distribution prediction action, classification reward, and causal intervention reward, capturing pure causal factors in multimodal data and cutting off false statistical associations between non-causal factors and class labels. Finally, based on the knowledge induction mechanism, we designed a bi-layer optimization mechanism based on meta-learning. By constructing a meta training task and meta validation task simulation model in the generalization scenario of unseen data, we helped the model induce cross-task shared knowledge, thereby improving its generalization ability for unseen multimodal data. The experimental results on multiple sets of multimodal datasets show that the proposed method achieved state-of-the-art performance in multimodal remote sensing data classification tasks.

Endophytic bacteria, especially those participate in nitrogen fixation, play critical roles in supplying essential nutrients for legume plant growth. Compared to the numerous bacterial microbiome reports targeting legume roots and nodules, little is known about embryonic bacteria that facilitate plant nutrient utilization after seed germination. Here, we collected and investigated endophytic bacterial microbiomes in edible pea (Pisum sativum) embryos using five representative cultivars and a pea sprout control. Twenty-six nitrogen-fixing bacteria (NFBs) were isolated from pea embryos, with three strains found in fresh pea (FGP) and snow pea (SP) exhibiting the strongest nitrogenase activity. Some NFB isolates are also potassium-solubilizing bacteria (KSBs) or phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria (PSBs) utilizing inorganic and/or organic phosphorus. All 26 NFBs showed variable levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) secretion. The nutrient-solubilizing NFBs identified in our research are valuable resources for biofertilizer development. At the microbiome level, high-throughput 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing of 40 bacterial collections from pea embryos revealed similar community structures and species abundances and diversities in most samples. Our embryo-derived endophytic bacterial pool provides a microbiome platform for seed dormancy and germination research of edible peas.

Self-sustained learning (SSL) is considered a crucial factor in promoting students’ long-term learning and development in a sustainable society. To deepen the understanding of SSL, especially in the context of learning English as a second language, the current study examined the influence of intercultural communicative skills, language mindset, and positive L2 self on SSL in English learning among 1,238 college students in China. The results showed that students not only had a strong language mindset, positive L2 self, and intercultural communicative skills but also scored higher in long-term self-sustained English learning. Findings from the Structural Equation Modeling indicated that both language mindset and intercultural communicative skills positively predicted positive L2 self and self-sustained English learning. Furthermore, language mindset and intercultural communicative skills had an indirect impact on self-sustained English learning through positive L2 self. These findings suggest that to promote English learners’ SSL, instructors should help facilitate students’ intercultural communicative skills and foster a growth language mindset, as well as positive language learning beliefs.

The first appearance of viruses can date back to the late last century. As an effective form of malware, viruses reside in the permanent storage of target hosts. Before a virus can execute, that must load into memory from the persistent storage included in the associated file. Due to the reliable destructive power of viruses, many mechanisms have been developed to defend computer systems against these hazardous threats. Antivirus software is one of the most famous and popular among these mechanisms. Most antivirus software uses static analysis (signature-based) technology on files stored in permanent storage, such as hard disks or USB flashes, to detect viruses hidden in files. Fileless malware was developed to enhance the survivability of malware by circumventing detection. Fileless malware only exists in the target hosts’ memory, not files. Antivirus software cannot even access the fileless malware code, much less analyze it, since it may be performed in memory directly without needing to load it from a disk. As a result, it is difficult for an antivirus engine to defend a system against fileless malware attacks. This paper proposes a kernel-based solution called Check-on-Execution (CoE) to detect fileless malware on a Linux system. When a program is going to execute a piece of code in a writable and executable memory area of a process, CoE suspends the code execution first. Coe retrieves the code from memory, packs the code with an ELF header to create an ELF file, and uses VirusTotal to check the file to prevent a Linux system from executing fileless malware. Experimental results show that CoE noticeably enhances the ability of a Linux system to defend itself again fileless malware. CoE is also suitable for protecting a system from shell code injection attacks, such as buffer and heap overflow attacks. It is capable of handling even packed malware. But in this paper, we only focus on fileless malware.

Excretory-secretory products (ESPs) are the main research targets for investigating the hosts and helminths interaction. Parasitic worms can migrate to parasitic sites and avoid the host immune response by secreting this product. Angiostrongylus cantonensisis an important food-borne zoonotic parasite that causes severe neuropathological damage and symptoms, including eosinophilic meningitis or meningoencephalitis in humans. Benzaldehydes are organic compounds composed of a benzene ring and formyl substituents. This compound has anti-inflammatory and antioxidation properties. Previous studies showed that 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde (3-HBA) and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (4-HBA) can reduce apoptosis in A. cantonensis ESPs treated astrocytes. These results on the protective effect underlying benzaldehyde have primarily focused on cell survival. The study was designed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) and oxidative stress in astrocytes in A. cantonensis ESPs treated astrocytes and to evaluate the therapeutic consequent of 3-HBA and 4-HBA. First, we initially established the RNA-seq dataset in each group, including Normal, ESPs, ESPs+3-HBA, and ESPs+4-HBA. We also found that benzaldehyde (3-HBA and 4-HBA) can stimulate astrocytes to express ER stress-related molecules after ESP treatment. The level of oxidative stress could also be decreased in astrocytes by elevating antioxidant activity and reducing ROS generation. These results suggested that benzaldehyde may be a potential therapeutic compound for human angiostrongyliasis to support brain cell survival by inducing the expression levels of ER stress- and oxidative stress-related pathway.

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

In order to foster a more sustainable and eco-friendly trajectory for the construction industry, while concurrently mitigating environmental pollution and energy inefficiency, it is imperative to cultivate an environmentally conscious building and urban environment. Under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, green building evaluation system (GBRS) has become a research hotspot in the field of green building. This paper systematically summarizes the current research progress based on GBRS, focuses on the current weight and indicators setting, analyzes it with Cite Space software, and puts forward its future development direction. The results show that the weight setting method of green building evaluation system is determined by multidimensional and multi-method. From the perspective of environment, society and economy, the scope of indicators setting is expanding. The green building evaluation system will play a guiding role in green building design, and the evaluation process will continue to be optimized and developed in the direction of intelligence and automation.

In this work, optimal consumption and investment strategies are derived for risk-averse investors under the 4/2 stochastic volatility class of models. We work under an expected utility (EUT) framework and consider a Constant Relative Risk Aversion (CRRA) investor, who might also be ambiguity-averse. The corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) and HJB-Isaacs (HJBI) equations are solved in closed-form for a subset of the parametric space and under some restrictions on the portfolio setting, for complete markets. Conditions for proper changes of measure and well defined solutions are provided. These are the first analytical solutions for the 4/2 stochastic volatility model and the embedded 3/2 model for the type of excess returns established in .

Under the dual erosion conditions of the dry-wet cycle, which is caused by the high chloride salt concentrations in mine water and fluctuations in mine water level, cemented paste backfill (CPB) suffers serious damage and deterioration. To discuss the mechanical properties and permeability characteristics of CPB under erosion, this study designs an immersion experiment for CPB under chloride salt and dry-wet cycle conditions. Through a uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) test, the change law for the mechanical parameters of the CPB was explored, strength constitutive equation of the CPB was constructed, and the process of deterioration of the CPB was analyzed. Through the penetration test, the diffusion characteristics of packing under chloride salt and dry-wet cycle conditions were explored. The results demonstrated that the strength and elastic modulus of the CPB first increased and then decreased rapidly, with maximum decrease rates of 32.2% and 38.2%, respectively. The CPB structure presents an initial non-damage stage, initial damage stage, damage development stage, damage destruction, and residual damage stage. The chloride ion penetration depth gradually increased with an increase in the number of dry-wet cycles, with a maximum diffusion depth of 20.5 mm. The maximum apparent diffusion coefficient of chloride ion was 18.99×10-10m2/s, and the maximum concentration was 0.303 mol/L. Under the double erosion conditions due to chloride salt and dry-wet cycle, the CPB structure is seriously damaged.

In numerical simulations, achieving high accuracy without significantly increasing computational costs is often challenging. To address this, this paper presents an improved finite volume weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme tailored for applicability in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and implemented in the flow solver NUAA-Turbo for simulating turbomachinery flows using both RANS and RANS/LES coupling. Firstly, the new WENO scheme is validated against classic numerical test cases to assess its stability and reliability in handling discontinuities, the Double problem, and Raleigh-Taylor (RT) instability issues. Compared to the original format, this enhanced finite volume WENO scheme demonstrates superior stability near discontinuities and resolves flow features with the same grid resolution more effectively. Next, for engineering applications related to turbomachinery, such as compressor and turbine characteristics, computations are performed using RANS, and the results obtained using WENO-ZQ3 and WENO-JS3 are compared. Finally, the new fifth-order WENO scheme is applied to RANS/LES coupled simulations of turbine wakes and film cooling. The results show that the enhanced finite volume WENO scheme offers improved stability and accuracy in engineering applications, allowing for high-precision calculations with fewer grid points to capture more detailed flow physics, thereby reducing computational costs in aerodynamic applications.

To conduct high-precision and high-resolution numerical simulation of complex flow structures in turbomachinery, a high-order finite volume weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme for the large eddy simulation (LES) is improved and embedded into the three-dimensional viscous unsteady CFD solver NUAA-Turbo. Firstly, the spectral characteristics and unsteady convergence of the improved WENO scheme are studied. Compared with the classical WENO scheme, the improved WENO scheme has better dissipation and dispersion characteristics and faster convergence speed. Then, the coefficient CW of the Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity (WALE) model is calibrated by decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence (DHIT) test case. Finally, the scheme is applied to conduct high-precision LES calculations of turbulent boundary layer flow, supersonic compression corner flow, and low-pressure turbine cascade separation flow. The numerical simulation results show that this WENO scheme has excellent shock wave capture ability and turbulence resolution and can capture more flow field details with less mesh size, greatly reducing the computational cost and laying a foundation for large-scale engineering application of LES.

A challenge in building large-scale superconducting quantum processors is the precise control and manipulation of the qubit state. However, the crosstalk between the microwave control lines impedes the parallel execution of high-fidelity digital and analog quantum operations. Here, we propose and demonstrate a universal compensation protocol for calibrating the microwave signal crosstalk. We also introduce amplified error sequences to optimize the accuracy. Furthermore, we show a definitive improvement in parallel gate operations with crosstalk cancellation, demonstrating the technique's effectiveness. This work paves the way for superconducting hardware that features automated calibration of microwave crosstalk, leading to enhanced fidelities in multiqubit circuits.

This paper reviews the requirements for the production, quality, and quality assurance of solid recovered fuels (SRF) that are increasingly used for the substitution of fossil fuels in the indus-trial utilities. The economical, technological and environmental aspects should be considered before using SRF as an alternative fuel. In general, the most important factors determining the commercial production of SRF referred to the calorific values and their available amounts adopted in the starting materials. Furthermore, the low-melting impurities and undesired constituents/elements, including chlorine, sulfur, potassium and sodium, may pose negative impacts on air pollutant emission and slagging & fouling in the process utilities. In this regard, the vent emitted from the industrial utilities must comply with the effluent standards of station-ary sources like particulate, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, heavy metals (e.g., lead, cadmium, and mercury) and dioxins. For these reasons, this work will summarize the legal or regulatory requirements under development in Asian countries (i.e., Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) and European Union (EU). Finally, the outlook of solid recovered fuel (SRF) in the waste manage-ment and industrial sectors will be addressed to echo the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

A typhoon-induced storm surge is considered one of the most severe coastal disasters in Taiwan. However, the combination of the storm surge and the astronomical tide called the storm tide can actually cause extreme flooding in coastal areas. This study implemented a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to account for the interaction between tides and storm surges on the coast of Taiwan. The model was validated with observed water levels at Sauo Fish Port, Hualien Port, and Chenggong Fish Port under different historical typhoon events. The model results are in reasonable agreement with the measured data. The validated model was then used to evaluate the effects of the typhoon's intensity, bathymetric change, and the combination of the typhoon’s intensity and bathymetric change on the maximum storm tide and its distribution along the east coast of Taiwan. The results indicated that the maximum storm tide rises to 1.92 m under a typhoon with an intensity of a 100-year return period. The maximum storm tide increased from a baseline of 1.26 m to 2.63 m for a 90% bathymetric rise at Sauo Fish Port under the conditions of Typhoon Jangmi (2008). The combination of the intensity of a typhoon with a 100-year return period and a 90% bathymetric rise will result in a maximum storm tide exceeding 4 m, 2 m, and 3 m at Sauo Fish Port, Hualien Port, and Chenggong Fish Port, respectively. We also found that the distribution of the maximum storm tide on the east coast of Taiwan can expand significantly subject to the bathymetric rise.

An active power dispatch method for a microgrid (MG) with multi-type loads, renewable energy sources (RESs) and distributed energy storage devices (DESDs) is the focus of this paper. The MG operates in a grid-connected model, and distributed power sources contribute to the service for load demands. The outputs of multiple DESDs are controlled to optimize the active power dispatch. Our goal with optimization is to reduce the economic cost under time-of-use (TOU) price, and to adjust the excessively high or low load rate of distributed transformers (DTs) caused by the peak-valley demand and load uncertainties. To simulate a practical environment, the stochastic characteristics of multi-type loads are formulated. The transition matrix of system state is provided. Then, a finite-horizon Markov decision process (FHMDP) model is established to describe the dispatch optimization problem. A learning-based technique is adopted to search the optimal joint control policy of multiple DESDs. Finally, simulation experiments are performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, and the fuzzification analysis of the method is presented.