Objectives. Invasive fungal spondylodiscitis (IFSD) is rare and could be lethal in certain circumstances. Previous literature revealed limited data concerning the outcomes. This study aimed to establish a risk-scoring system. Methods. A total of 53 patients were included in the study from a multi-centered database in Taiwan. All the clinicopathological and laboratory data were retrospectively analyzed. Variables strongly related to 1-year mortality were identified using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to express the performance of our IFSD scoring model. Results. Five strong predictors were included in the IFSD score: predisposing immunocompromised state, the initial presentation of either radiculopathy or myelopathy, initial laboratory findings of WBC > 12.0 or < 0.4 103/uL, hemoglobin < 8 g/dL, and evidence of candidemia. 1-year mortality rates for patients with IFSD Scores of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 0%, 16.7%, 56.3%, 72.7%, and 100%, respectively. The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.823. Conclusions. We developed a practical scoring model with easily obtained demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters to predict the probability of 1-year mortality in patients with IFSD. However, more large-scale and international validations would be necessary before this scoring model is commonly used.

With the increase of global human activities, a large number of technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs) generated by industrial activities such as coal combustion, traffic and so on enter sediments on continental shelves. However, there is currently a lack of understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution of TMPs on continental shelves, as well as the sedimentary effects they cause. This review work comprehensively analyzes the source, morphology, composition, and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of TMPs. Then it elucidates their magnetic contribution to sedimentary environments in continental shelf seas, as well as the influence of heavy metals and active iron. At the same time, the existing problems and future development directions of TMPs on continental shelves are summarized.

Infectious keratitis (IK) represents a major cause of corneal blindness. This study aims to investigate the demographics, risk factors, microbiological characteristics and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of IK in Taiwan over the past 15 years. A retrospective population-based study was conducted using the Chang Gung Research Database. Patients with IK were identified by diagnostic codes for corneal ulcer from 2004 to 2019. Of 7807 included subjects, 45.2% of patients had positive corneal cultures. The proportion of contact lens-related IK declined, while that of IK related to systemic diseases grew. The percentage of isolated gram-positive bacteria surpassed that of gram-negative bacteria in the 15-year period. The prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed a decreasing trend (p = 0.004), whereas coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS) and Propionibacterium species were increasingly detected (p &lt; 0.001). Overall, the trend of antibiotic susceptibility of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria did not change throughout the study period. The susceptibility to the test antibiotics maintained over 90% in gram-negative isolates during 15 years. Vancomycin preserved 100% susceptibility to all gram-positive isolates. Since most tested antibiotics exhibited stable susceptibility over decades, this study reinforced that fluoroquinolones and fortified vancomycin continue to be good empiric therapies for treating bacterial keratitis in Taiwan.

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.

p53 is among the most frequently mutated tumor suppressor genes given its prevalence in >50% of all human cancers, including high grade serous endometrial cancers and ovarian cancers. In addition to loss of tumor suppression function, many mutated p53 (Mutp53) proteins acquire gain-of-function (GOF) activities as oncogenes to promote cancer progression, which manifest through aberrant expression of p53. As we have come to see, statins induce CHIP-mediated degradation of mutp53 by blocking the interaction between mutp53 and DNAJA1. Therefore, targeting critical downstream pathways of mutp53 provides an alternative strategy for treating cancers expressing mutp53. In this review, we summarize recent advances with Wee1 inhibitors and mevalonate pathway inhibitors, particularly statins, regarding their use in gynecological cancers with p53 mutations.

. The impedance change of an induction coil surrounding a metal tube adapter is investigated by the truncated region eigenfunction expansion (TREE) method. Conventional TREE method is inapplicable to this problem as a consequence of the numerical overflow of eigenfunctions of the air-metal multi-subdomain regions. The difficulty is surmounted by a normalization procedure for the numerical eigenfunctions obtained from the finite element method (FEM). Efficient algorithm is devised by the Clenshaw-Curtis quadrature rule for integrals involving the numerical eigenfunctions. Numerical results of the TREE and FEM simulation coincide very well in all cases, and the efficiency of the proposed method is also confirmed.

Bipolar disorder is a severe mood disorder and is one of the top 20 reasons of disability in the world. It causes a huge burden on society. In this study, the prediction models of bipolar disorder were constructed based on the concept of knowledge distillation. The input data consisted of patients of bipolar disorder and matched controls, all of which were selected from the open database MIMIC. The method of kernel density estimation (KDE) was exploited to generate probability density functions (PDF) which identify distributions of input data. The PDF values referred to as the soft labels were combined with the input data to construct the prediction models of bipolar disorder using decision tree and artificial neural network respectively. According to the evaluation results, indicators for identifying positive samples of bipolar disorder were improved. Meanwhile, the indicators for identifying negative samples have also been advanced. In addition, the branching attributes selected by the decision trees can be mapped back to specific disease diagnoses, which are all associated with bipolar disorder. In conclusion, using KDE to generate the soft label information of the input data can make knowledge distillation work and has improved the performances of prediction models for bipolar disorder.

The paper presents an innovative hexapod walking robot built with 3-UPU parallel mechanism. In the robot, the parallel mechanism is used as both an actuator to generate walking and also a connecting body to connect two groups of three legs, thus enables the robot to walk with simple gait by very few motors. In the paper, the forward and inverse kinematics solutions are obtained. The workspace of the parallel mechanism is analyzed using limit boundary search method. The walking stability of the robot is analyzed, which yields the robot’s maximum step length. The gait planning of the hexapod walking robot is studied for walking on both flat and uneven terrains. The new robot, combining the advantages of parallel robot and walking robot, has a large carrying capacity, strong passing ability, flexible turning ability, and simple gait control for its deployment for uneven terrain.

Abstract:The objects of fine-grained image categories(e.g., bird species) are various subclass under different categories. Because the differences between subclass are very subtle and most of them are concentrated in multiple local areas, the task of fine-grained image recognition is very challenging. At the same time, some fine-grained networks tend to focus on a certain region when judging the target category, resulting in the lack of other auxiliary regional features. To this end, Inception V3 is used as the backbone network, and an enhanced and complementary fine-grained image classification network is designed. While adopting the method of reinforcement learning to obtain more detailed fine grain image features, the complementary network can obtain the complementary discriminant area of the target through the method of attention erasure to increase the network's perception of the overall target. Finally, experiments are conducted on CUB-200-2011, FGVC Aircraft and Stanford dogs three open datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed model has better performance.

In order to reduce the silique shattering loss of rapeseed mechanical harvesting process, based on the state of force on the silique during rapeseed harvesting reel branch, Ningza 1810, Zhenyou 8 and Fengyou 306 were used as research objects, and the experimental research on the factors affecting rapeseed siliques shattering was carried out using the swing impact method. The experimental analysis showed that: rapeseed varieties, silique moisture content, silique growth position, collision material, impact speed, force position and other factors had significant effects on silique shattering. The impact velocity was less than 1.5m·s-1, the difference on the effect of each factor on pod-shattering was not significant, it was not easy to shatter when the moisture content of rapeseed silique was higher. The impact resistance of the front side of rapeseed was 2 to 4 times that of the bonding surface of rapeseed petals, the shattering rate of the top rapeseed silique was twice that of the bottom siliques, when siliques were supported, they were more likely to shatter under external forces than when they were unsupported. The experimental study of the mechanical properties of rapeseed siliques was carried out using the impending fracture method, the experimental analyses showed that the support position and force position of the silique, the loading speed and the growth position of the silique had a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the silique. The maximum cracking force was higher and bending strength was stronger when the body of the silique was supported, which the range of the maximum cracking force were 3.05N to 4.16N, and the bending strength range were 8.48 MPa to 11.57 MPa. The maximum cracking force and bending strength of the silique was stronger when the front side of the silique petal was pressurized than when the bonding surface of the petal was pressurized. Based on Pearson's correlation and grey correlation analysis, the morphological characteristics of rapeseed siliques were ranked in order of their influence on the performance of siliques in terms of the angle between silique and stalk, stalk diameter, petal thickness, beak length, silique thickness, silique width and silique length. This study can be used as a reference for the design and optimization of the rapeseed harvesting reel branch mechanism and the selection of machine harvestable rapeseed varieties.

Multi-wire saw machining (MWSM) used for slicing hard-brittle materials in semiconductor, is an important material removal process that uses free abrasives. Cutting model of single-wire saw machining (SWSM) is the basis of MWSM, and the material removal mechanism of SWSM can better understand than MWSM. Mathematical model (includes brittle fracture and plastic deformation) is presented in this paper for SWSM ceramic with abrasives. This paper determines the effect of various machining parameters on the removal of hard-brittle materials. For brittle fracture of SWSM ceramics, the minimum of the strain energy density is used as a fracture criterion. The material removed of SWSM ceramics due to plastic deformation is calculated using the equations of motion. Actual wire-sawing experiments are conducted to verify the results from the developed mathematical model. Theoretical results agree with experimental data and practical experience. The developed mathematical model shows that brittle fracture plays a major concern role in material removed of SWSM ceramics. Wire speed and working load have positively correlated with material removed of SWSM ceramics. The coefficient of friction is low, a lateral crack, which propagates almost parallel to the working surface, leads to more brittle fracture and material removed is increased on SWSM ceramics.

Like traditional single label learning, multi-label learning is also faced with the problem of dimensional disaster.Feature selection is an effective technique for dimensionality reduction and learning efficiency improvement of high-dimensional data. In this paper, Logistic regression, manifold learning and sparse regularization were combined to construct a joint framework for multi-label feature selection (LMFS). Firstly, the sparsity of the eigenweight matrix is constrained by the $L_{2,1}$-norm. Secondly, the feature manifold and label manifold can constrain the feature weight matrix to make it fit the data information and label information better. An iterative updating algorithm is designed and the convergence of the algorithm is proved.Finally, the LMFS algorithm is compared with DRMFS, SCLS and other algorithms on eight classical multi-label data sets. The experimental results show the effectiveness of LMFS algorithm.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) monolayers exhibit unique valleytronics properties due to the dependency of the coupled valley and spin state at the hexagonal corner of the first Brillouin zone. Precisely controlling valley spin-polarization via manipulating the electron population enables its application in valley-based memory or quantum technologies. This study uncovered the uncompensated spins of the antiferromagnetic oxide (NiO) serving as the ferromagnetic (FM) order to induce valley spin-polarization in molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) monolayers via the magnetic proximity effect (MPE). A spin-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy (SR-PL) was employed to observe MoS₂, where the spin-polarized trions appear to be responsible for the MPE, leading to a valley magnetism. Results indicate that local FM order from the uncompensated surface of NiO could successfully induce significant valley spin-polarization in MoS₂ with the depolarization temperature approximately at 100 K, which is relatively high compared to related literature. This study reveals new perspectives and potential of AFM materials in the field of exchange-coupled van der Waals heterostructures.

The use of spherical radial basis functions (SRBFs) in regional gravity field modeling has become popular in recent years. However, to our knowledge, their potential for combining gravity data from multiple sources, particularly data with different spectrum information in the frequency domain, has not been extensively explored. Therefore, band-limited SRBFs, which have good lo-calization characteristics in the frequency domain, are the main tool in this study. We propose a residual and a-prior accuracy comparative analysis method to determine the optimal degree of expansion of SRBFs for gravity data. Using this methodology, we constructed a high-resolution geoid model called ColSRBF2023 in Colorado. The degrees of expansion for terrestrial and airborne data were set to 5200 and 1840, respectively. Results indicate that ColSRBF2023 has a standard deviation (STD) value of 2.3 cm compared to the GSVS17 validate data. This value is 2-6 mm lower than models obtained using different degrees of expansion for gravity data and models from other institutions considered in this study. Additionally, at the 1'×1' grid in the entire target area, ColSRBF2023 has an STD value of 2.4 cm when compared to the validation model. This value is also the best among the options examined in this study. These findings highlight the importance of determining the optimal expansion degree of gravity data, particularly when constructing high-resolution gravity field models in rugged mountainous regions.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) severing as the relay is an effective technology method to extend the coverage. It can also alleviate the congestion and increase the throughput, especially applied in UAV networks. However, since the energy of UAVs is limited and the resources in UAV networks are scarce, how to optimize the network delay performance under these constraints should be well investigated. Besides, the relationship among different resources, e.g. power and bandwidth, is coupled which makes the optimization more complex. This article investigates the problem of joint power and bandwidth allocation in UAV backhaul networks, which considers both the delay performance and the resource utilization efficiency. Considering the heterogeneous locations characteristics of different UAVs, we formulate the optimization problem as a Stackelberg game. The relay UAV acts as the leader and extended UAVs act as followers. Their utility functions take both the delay durance and the resource consumption into account. To capture the competitive relationship among followers, the sub-game is proved to be an exact potential game and exists Nash equilibriums (NE). The Stackelberg Equilibrium (SE) is proved afterwards. We utilize a hierarchical learning algorithm (HLA) to find out the best resource allocation strategies, which also reduces the computational complexity. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Body composition measurement plays an important auxiliary role in the nutritional assessment of diseases, nutritional diagnosis and the evaluation of the effect of nutritional therapy. There are many techniques and methods available for the measurement of body composition. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA ) of body composition has been widely used and explored in many diseases in the past 30 years. Its main advantages are its non-invasiveness, non-radiation, economy, convenience and feasibility. With the development of bioelectrical impedance technology, bioelectrical impedance analysis has gradually developed from single-frequency BIA (SF-BIA) to dual-frequency BIA (DF-BIA). now devices are available that measure at multiple fixed frequencies (multi-frequency BIA, MF-BIA) and over a range of frequencies (bioimpedance spectroscopy, BIS). The clinical significance of nutrition management in chronic kidney disease has gradually become prominent. Bioelectrical impedance analysis of body composition is favored by nephrologists and nutritionists as an auxiliary method for nutrition diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. In the past 20 years, there have been many studies on body composition measurement by bioelectrical impedance analysis in the nutritional management of CKD patients. This article will summarize the recent research results of BIA of body composition method in the nutrition management of CKD patients in pre-dialysis, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and kidney transplantation, in order to provide reference for the application and research of BIA method in the nutrition management of chronic kidney disease in the future.

Molecular hydrogen (H2) has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities that may reduce the development and progression of many diseases. In this study, Hydrogen-rich water (HRW) was obtained by reacting hybrid magnesium-carbon hydrogen storage materials with water. Then the effects of intake of HRW on the activities of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes, membrane transporters, and oxidative stress in rats were investigated. Rats were given HRW ad libitum for 4 weeks. Results showed that intake of HRW had no significant effect on the activities of various cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes (CYP1A1, 1A2, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E1, 3A, 4A), glutathione-S-transferase and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase. Except for a slight lower plasma glucose concentration, intake of HRW had no effect on other plasma biochemical parameters in rats. P-Glycoprotein and multidrug resistance-associated protein (Mrp)2 protein expressions in liver were elevated after intake of HRW. However, HRW had no significant effects on glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, or lipid peroxidation in liver. Results from this study suggest that consumption of HRW may not affect xenobiotic metabolism or oxidative stress in liver. However, intake of HRW may increase the efflux of xenobiotics or toxic substances from the liver into bile by enhancing the expression of p-glycoprotein and Mrp2 protein.

A fluorescent probe, N'-((3-methyl-5-oxo-1-phenyl-4, 5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-yl) methylene)-2-oxo-2H-chromene-3-carbohydrazide (MPMC), was synthesized and characterized. Characterizations of the synthetic MPMC were conducted by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C NMR). The fluorescence emission behaviors of probe MPMC towards diverse metal ions were detected and the probe exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity towards Cu2+ over other metal ions via quenching of its fluorescence. Furthermore, the existence of other metal actions made no difference on the fluorescence intensity of the MPMC-Cu2+ system apparently, that is, MPMC displayed a good anti-interference ability. Job’s plot of MPMC and copper ions indicated the detection limit was 15.16 nM (R2=0.9612) for the assayed actions, with a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 for MPMC and Cu2+. Additionally, the color of MPMC probe solution changed from nearly colorless to yellow in the presence of Cu2+ in visible light, which the color change could be observed by the naked eye. Similarly, the color resolved bright yellow into blue in ultraviolet light. Also reusability studies indicated that MPMC probe was reusable. The pH effect of probe MPMC to Cu2+ had a broad range of pH detection 4.0 to 11.0. The response time of MPMC probe for determining Cu2+ was within 1 min. The recognition of Cu2+ by MPMC performed on pre-treated paper under sunlight and UV light both had a distinct colour change. Thus, the solid-state method for detecting Cu2+ with the naked-eye, was both economical and convenient.

With the development of artificial intelligence, the ability of capturing the background characteristics of hyperspectral imagery (HSI) is improved and promising performance in hyperspectral anomaly detection (HAD) tasks is yielded. However, existing methods proposed in recent years still suffer from certain limitations: 1) constraints are lacking in the deep feature learning process in terms of the issue for absence of prior background and anomaly information. 2) hyperspectral anomaly detectors with traditional self-supervised deep learning methods fail to ensure prioritized reconstruction of the background. 3) architectures of fully connected deep network in hyperspectral anomaly detectors lead to low utilization of spatial information and destruction for original spatial relationship of hyperspectral imagery, and disregard spectral correlation between adjacent pixels. 4) hypotheses or assumptions for background and anomaly distributions restrict the performance of many hyperspectral anomaly detectors because the distributions of background land covers are usually complex and not assumable in real-world hyperspectral imagery. With the consideration of above problems, in this paper, we propose a novel fully convolutional auto-encoder based on dual clustering and latent feature adversarial consistency (FCAE-DCAC) for HAD which is carried out in a self-supervised learning-based processing. Firstly, the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithm and connected component analysis are utilized for successive spectral and spatial clustering to obtain more precise prior background and anomaly information, which facilitates the separation between background and anomaly samples during the training of our method. Subsequently, a novel fully convolutional auto-encoder (FCAE) integrated with spatial-spectral joint attention (SSJA) is proposed to enhance the utilization of spatial information and augment feature expression. In addition, a latent feature adversarial consistency network is proposed to achieve pure background reconstruction with the ability of learning actual background distribution in hyperspectral imagery. Finally, a triplet loss is introduced to enhance the separability between background and anomaly, and the reconstruction residual serves as the anomaly detection result. We evaluate the proposed method on seven groups of real-world hyperspectral datasets, and the experimental results confirmed the effectiveness and superior performance of the proposed method versus nine state-of-the-art methods.

Layered 2D graphene oxide (GO) films are integrated with silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides to experimentally demonstrate an enhanced Kerr nonlinearity via four-wave mixing (FWM). Owing to the strong light–matter interaction between the SiN waveguides and the highly nonlinear GO films, the FWM performance of the hybrid waveguides is significantly improved. SiN waveguides with both uniformly coated and patterned GO films are fabricated based on a transfer-free, layer-by-layer GO coating method together with standard photolithography and lift-off processes, yielding precise control of the film thickness, placement and coating length. Detailed FWM measurements are carried out for the fabricated devices with different numbers of GO layers and at different pump powers. By optimizing the trade-off between the nonlinearity and loss, we obtain a significant improvement in the FWM conversion efficiency of ≈7.3 dB for a uniformly coated device with 1 layer of GO and ≈9.1 dB for a patterned device with 5 layers of GO. We also obtain a significant increase in FWM bandwidth for the patterned devices. A detailed analysis of the influence of pattern length and position on the FWM performance is performed. Based on the FWM measurements, the dependence of GO’s third-order nonlinearity on layer number and pump power is also extracted, revealing interesting physical insights about the 2D layered GO films. Finally, we obtain an enhancement in the effective nonlinear parameter of the hybrid waveguides by over a factor of 100. These results verify the enhanced nonlinear optical performance of SiN waveguides achievable by incorporating 2D layered GO films.

Abstract: With the continuous integration of various energy systems and the reform of energy trading marketization, the traditional power demand response can no longer meet the needs of multi-energy coupling. For the joint response problem of multi-energy, this paper proposes a comprehensive demand response optimization incentive model considering the user response characteristics, with the complete energy service providers and multiple users as the participants of the comprehensive demand response, to solve the response strategy for the optimal goal of all parties. The implementation architecture of integrated demand response and the electrothermal energy hub model is introduced first. Secondly, the integrated demand response collaborative optimization strategy of the integrated energy service providers and users is established, and the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution are proved. Finally, the example analysis demonstrates that the proposed strategy can reduce the integrated energy service providers' response cost and user dissatisfaction under multiple scenarios.

Sequential hypothesis test and change-point detection when the distribution parameters are unknown is a fundamental problem in statistics and machine learning. We show that for such problems, detection procedures based on sequential likelihood ratios with simple one-sample update estimates such as online mirror descent are nearly second-order optimal. This means that the upper bound for the algorithm performance meets the lower bound asymptotically up to a log-log factor in the false-alarm rate when it tends to zero. This is a blessing, since although the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) statistics are optimal theoretically, but they cannot be computed recursively, and their exact computation usually requires infinite memory of historical data. We prove the nearly second-order optimality by making a connection between sequential analysis and online convex optimization and leveraging the logarithmic regret bound property of online mirror descent algorithm. Numerical and real data examples validate our theory.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is an age-related disease. Mitochondria and telomere links have been considered to play important roles in AS. PinX1 is a potent and highly conserved endogenous telomerase inhibitor. However, the role of pinX1 in AS and its role in oxidative stress have not been reported. In order to investigate the role of pinX1 in AS, we established a classical AS mice model in the present work and increased pinX1 protein expression using pinX1 overexpression adeno-virus by tail vein injection. Then, red-oil O and HE staining were employed to evaluate the severity of AS. Serum lipid profile and oxidative stress were also detected by using its specific chemical testing kit. The results indicated that high-fat diet (HFD) markedly decreased pinX1 and increased p66shc protein expression, whereas overexpression of pinX1 protein expression in mice produced the opposite results. In addition, pinX1 significantly minimized plaque area and alleviated the abnormal serum lipid profile. By using Western blot and Biochemical assay kits, overexpression of pinX1 decreased p66shc and MMP-9 protein expression and reduced oxidative stress. This study showed pinX1 can inhibit p66shc, MMP-9, and related oxidative stress, pinX1 may be considered as a new candidate target for the treatment of AS.

With the advancement of next generation sequencing in past several years, a rising number of non-coding RNAs have been found as new actors to regulate gene expression. Non-coding RNAs not only play important roles in carcinogenesis, but also affect the clinical treatment strategies. They have been proved to be deeply correlated with chemoresistance in several cancers. Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death in gynecological malignancy, with low 5-year survival rate. Most patients are identified when they have late-stage disease. This review mainly makes a compilation of the most relevant research literature in this field with the purpose of shedding light on the relation between ncRNAs and chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.

Improper lifting measures of long-span spatial steel structures during construction process may delay the construction period and even cause safety accidents. Few studies on long-span spatial steel structures considered time-varying mechanical characteristic during construction process. In order to achieve safe and efficient installation in a long-span spatial steel structure, this research presents a time-varying mechanical analysis of the synchronous and asynchronous integral lifting and a single and interlaced point’s asynchronous integral lifting analysis method of a long-span spatial steel structure. The results showed that in the case of asynchronous lifting of single point, the displacement influence on other members is related to the distance. The closer the distance from the lifting point, the greater the influence. In asynchronous integral lifting, the lifting point with large lifting force is first installed to the specified position, and the lifting point with small lifting force is installed to the specified position.

With the gradual improvement of coal mining efficiency, the disturbance of groundwater system caused by the high-intensity mining mode also increases, which is a more severe challenge to the prevention of mine safety and the protection of water resources in mining areas. How to accurately describe the dynamic changes of the groundwater system under mining and quantitatively predict mine water inflow is a major problem in the current research. Based on the full analysis of the response characteristics of groundwater system to the extraction disturbance, this paper forms a kind of method to establish a mine hydrogeological conceptual model that can accurately represent the water inrush process, and uses the MODFLOW non-structural division grid to accurately characterize the formation structure, and finally make accurate water inflow prediction. Taking the Caojiatan Coal Mine in Shaanxi Province, China as an example, a numerical model of unstructured mine water inrush was established for the first time, and the changes of water inflow source and water inflow intensity were quantitatively evaluated. Compared with the traditional water inflow prediction method, it is found that the prediction accuracy is improved by 12%~17% by detailing the response characteristics of complex groundwater system under high-strength coal seam mining conditions. The method is of great significance and promotion value for the comprehensive understanding of the disturbance characteristics of human underground engineering activities, such as coal mining, on the groundwater system, and for accurately predicting water inflow.

We first review the literature on machine behavior which may contain the interaction between machines, and then discuss the methodology and the related case involving collaboration between robots to instantiate the concept with AI empowerment. The navigation case aims to a security application with autonomous control and roadside agent embedded in a mobile edge computing structure. In the studied navigation based on the artificial potential field method, robots need to use position information to calculate the moving direction frequently. In the case of high motion speed as well as GPS positioning error, the path trajectory may show a sharp change of direction. In order to mitigate the trajectory oscillation, this paper proposes a path planning design where training process and motion direction prediction are integrated by using artificial neural network. The auxiliary navigation agent near multiple obstacles can first extract the past movement information of the robot and then determines whether there is a serious path jitter event. Computer simulation analysis shows that the combination of autonomous control and cooperative behavior can effectively reduce the path jitter so as to achieve a fast and safe path planning.

High-rise building fires pose a serious threat to the lives and property safety of the people. The lack of reliable and accurate positioning means is one of the main difficulties faced by rescue. In the absence of prior knowledge of the high-rise building fire environment, the coverage deployment of mobile base stations is a challenging problem that has not received much attention in the literature. This paper studies the problem of autonomous optimal deployment of base stations in high-rise building fire environment based on UAV group. A novel problem formulation is proposed that solves the non line of sight (NLOS) positioning problem in complex unknown environment. The purpose of this paper is to realize the coverage and deployment of mobile base stations in complex and unknown fire environment. The NLOS positioning problem in the fire field environment is turned into the line of sight (LOS) positioning problem through the optimization algorithm. And there are more than three LOS base stations nearby any point in the fire field. A control law which is formulated in a mathematically precise problem statement is developed that guarantees to meet mobile base stations deployment goal and to avoid collision. Finally, positioning accuracy of our method and that of common method were compared. The simulation result showed that the positioning accuracy of simulated firefighter in the fire field environment was improved greatly.

Background The spread of COVID-19 continues, the mutation of SARS-COV-2 is still difficult to control, and the need for antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19 remains urgent. The use of arbidol in the treatment of COVID-19 is limited and controversial. Methods To clarify the efficacy of arbidol on COVID-19, we collected 25 cases and 178 related studies. We analyzed the treatment information of arbidol based on the obtained cases, expanded the scope of the study, and collected current studies on the treatment of COVID-19 in various databases for in-depth analysis. Results History analysis showed that arbidol was effective (76% cure rate) compared with other drugs. However, compared with other antiviral drugs or standard therapy, the arbidol group had no significant advantage in reducing the time to negative virus transformation, length of hospital stays, or improvement in CT (MD=0.22, 95%CI -0.29-0.73; MD = 0.61, 95% CI 1.46 to 2.67; RR=1.15, 95%CI 0.88-1.50); Analysis of adverse events showed no significant difference between the arbidol group and the other groups (RR=0.82, 95%CI 0.25-2.71). Conclusion Our study showed that arbidol had no significant effect on COVID-19, but showed a slight advantage in CT improvement and adverse events. Our study objectively evaluated the efficacy of arbidol in the treatment of COVID-19 and provided some guidance for arbidol in the treatment of COVID-19.

Recently, design of electric scooters (ESs) has commonly adopted brushless DC motors (BLDCMs) in place of brushed DC motors. This invention develops a new anti-lock braking system (ABS), based on a slip-ratio estimator, for ES utilizing the braking force generated by the BLDCM when electrical energy releases to the load yielding an analogous effect of ABS control in gas-engine vehicles. Comparing to mechanical ABS, the design possesses the advantages of rapid torque responses due to fast actuating response. The electrical ABS is realized by associating with kinematic and Short-circuit braking. A current controller is used to adjust the braking force, while the sliding mode control strategy is adopted to regulate the slip ratio for best road adhesion while braking. Real-world experiments have been conducted for functional and performance verification.

The Paeonia suffruticosa, called as 'Feng Dan', has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine. In our chemical investigation on the root bark of the plant, five new phenolic dimers, namely paeobenzofuranone A‒E (1‒5), have been characterized. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis including 1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS, UV, and IR, as well as ECD calculations. Compounds 2, 4, and 5 showed cytotoxicity against three human cancer cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 6.7 to 25.1 μM. Compounds 1 and 2 showed certain inhibitory activity on NO production. To the best of our knowledge, the benzofuranone dimers and their cytotoxicity of P. suffruticosa are reported for the first time.

Malaxidinae is one of the confusing groups with classification in Orchidaceae. Previous phylogenetic analysis reveals that the relationships among the taxa in Malaxidinae have not yet been reliably established using a few plastome regions or nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS). In the present study, the complete plastomes of Oberonia integerrima and Crepidium purpureum were assembled using high-throughput sequencing. Combined with publicly available complete plastome data, this resulted in a data set of 19 plastomes, including 17 species of Malaxidinae. The plastome feature and phylogenetic relationship were compared and analyzed. The results showed that: (1) The plastomes of Malaxidinae species possessed the quadripartite structure of typical angiosperms, with sizes ranging from 142,996 bp to 158,787 bp and encoding from 125 to 133 genes. The ndh genes were lost or pseudogenized with varying degrees in six species. An unusal inversion was detected in the Large Single-Copy region (LSC) of Oberonioides microtatantha. (2) A total of 8 regions, including ycf1, matK, rps16, rpl32, ccsA-ndhD, clpP-psbB, trn-FGAA-ndhJ, and trnSGCU-trnGUCC, were identified as mutational hotspots. (3) Based on complete plastomes, 68 protein-coding genes and 51 intergenic regions, respectively, the phylogenetic analyses resolved genera-level relationships in this subtribe with strong support. The Liparis was supported as polyphyletic.

A variable speed anti-tangling reel mechanism was designed to address the problems of tangling, hanging and rewinding of the tassel wheel and the high paddling loss in the current Chinese rape combine harvester cutting table. The kinematic equations of the reel mechanism were developed, and the analysis showed that the speed in the entry stage is low and the speed in the exit stage is high, and the attitude of the reel teeth change with the rape plant movement during the whole paddling process. A single-factor test and a multi-factor regression orthogonal combination test were carried out using the cutting table loss rate of rape harvesting as the evaluation index. The main and secondary factors affecting the cutting table loss of the variable speed reel were obtained as the reel speed, the machine travel speed and the ground angle of the frame. A mathematical model of regression of cutter loss and the main influencing factors was established, with the coefficient of determination R2 = 0.9918. The optimal combination of parameters for the variable speed reel was obtained with the lowest cutting table loss rate in rape harvesting as the optimization target: reel speed 25r/min, frame parallel to the ground and implement travel speed 0.7m/s. Field validation tests and comparative tests of cutting table loss of the two reels were carried out. The test results show that the regression mathematical model of the cutting table loss is more accurate, and the cutting table loss is reduced by 13.9% with the variable speed reel compared to the cam-action reel, and there are no problems with the paddle teeth hanging and tangling during the paddling process.

In the first part of this talk we review some prerequisites for and essential arguments involved in the construction of the thermal-ground-state estimate for the deconfining phase in the thermodynamics of SU(2) Quantum Yang-Mills theory and how this structure supports its distinct excitations. The second part applies deconfining SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics to the Cosmic Microwave Background in view of (i) a modified temperature-redshift relation with an interesting link to correlation-length criticality in the 3D Ising model, (ii) the implied minimal changes in the dark sector of the cosmological model, and (iii) best-fit parameter values of this model when confronted with the spectra of the angular two-point functions TT, TE, and EE, excluding the low-$l$ physics. The latter, which is treated in an incomplete way because of the omission of radiative effects, is addressed in passing towards future work.

EGFR mutations are heterogenous but all carry the same weighting in the Lung-molGPA. The aim of this study was to elucidate the different prognostic implications of molecular subtypes and frontline TKIs in EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma with synchronous brain metastases (BM) using the Lung-molGPA. Medical records were searched in hospital databases from 2011 to 2015. Patients with EGFR-mutated adenocarcinoma and brain metastases who received TKIs were included. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival, and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 256 patients were included with a median overall survival (OS) of 17.2 months. In multivariate analysis of OS, only age (70 versus &lt;70 years, HR:1.71, 95% CI:1.25-2.35, p&lt;0.001), KPS (&lt;70 versus 70, HR:1.71, 95% CI:1.26-2.31, p&lt;0.001), and rare mutations (other versus exon 19 deletions, HR:1.78, 95% CI:1.04-3.05, p=0.037) remained statistically significant. In patients with a Lung-molGPA score 2.5, EGFR molecular subtypes had different median OS (exon 19 deletions versus Leu858Arg versus other, 18.8 vs 12.4 vs 12.1 months, p=0.021). In conclusion, different molecular subtypes treated with frontline TKIs have different prognostic implications in the Lung-molGPA. Further prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings.

To understand the molecular mechanism underlying yellowing in pineapples during ripening, coupled with alterations in fruit quality, comprehensive metabolome and transcriptome investigations were carried out. These investigations were conducted using the pulp samples collected at three distinct stages of maturity: young fruit (YF), mature fruit (MF), and fully mature fruit (FMF). This study revealed a noteworthy increase in the levels of total phenols and flavones, coupled with a concurrent decline in lignin and total acid content, as the fruit transitioned from YF to FMF. Furthermore, the analysis yielded 167 differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) and 2194 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis based on DAMs and DEGs revealed that the biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites, particularly the flavonol, flavonoid, and phenypropanoid pathways, plays a pivotal role in fruit yellowing. Additionally, a comprehensive regulatory network encompassing genes that contribute to metabolisms of flavones, flavonols, lignin, and organic acids was proposed. This network sheds light on the intricate processes that underlies fruit yellowing and quality alterations. These findings enhance our understanding of the regulatory pathways governing pineapple ripening and offer valuable scientific insight into the molecular breeding of pineapples.

We present set-theoretical solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation in BCK–algebras. Some solutions in BCK−algebras are not solutions in other structures (such as MV −algebras). Related to our investigations we also consider some new structures: Boolean coalgebras and a unified braid condition – quantum Yang-Baxter equation. Finally, we will see how poetry has accompanied the development / history of the Yang–Baxter equation.

Quinoa, known as the "golden grain" for its high nutritional value, is a significant source of essential nutrients, including proteins, minerals, vitamins, polyphenols, phytosterols, and flavonoids. However, the biological functions of quinoa polysaccharides remain understudied. In this research, two crude quinoa polysaccharides extracts (Q-40 and Q-60) were obtained extracting by 40% and 60% alcohol. The purity of Q-40 and Q-60 was 58.29% and 62.15%, with protein contents of 8.27% and 9.60%, respectively. Monosaccharide analysis revealed that Q-40 contained glucose (Glc), galacturonic acid (GalA), and arabinose (Ara) in a molar ratio of 0.967:0.027:0.006. Q-60 was composed of xylose (xyl), arabinose (Ara), galactose, and galacturonic acid (GalA) with a molar ratio of 0.889:0.036:0.034:0.020. The average molecular weight of Q-40 ranged from 47484 to 626488 Da, while Q-60 showed a range of 10025 to 47990 Da. Rheological experiments showed that Q-40 exhibited higher viscosity, while Q-60 demonstrated more elastic properties. Remarkably, Q-60 showed potent antioxidant abilities, with scavenging rates of 98.49% for DPPH and 57.5% for ABTS. Antibacterial experiments using the microdilution method revealed that Q-40 inhibited the growth of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and E. coli, while Q-60 specifically inhibited MRSA. At lower concentrations, both polysaccharides inhibited MDA cell proliferation, but at higher concentrations, they promoted proliferation. Similar proliferation-promoting effects were observed in HepG2 cells. The research provides important information in application of quinoa in food and functional food industries.

Patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD) undergoing liver transplantation are prone to thromboses both while on the waiting list or in the perioperative period. This hypercoagulability is associated with significant endothelial dysfunction (ED) due to nitric oxide dysregulation. ED in combination with increased thrombin generation are the main factors responsible for this hypercoagulability. Sepsis itself can significantly change the coagulation profile, but in combination with ESLD, sepsis, and septic shock is responsible for very complex changes in the patients coagulation making both assessment and management of coagulation in patients with ESLD very challenging. Viscoelastic testing (VET) is a preferred method of coagulation management in patients with cirrhosis because, as with standard laboratory testing, VET can assess the entire coagulation system including the interaction between both pro- and anticoagulants and platelets.

The rank-3 antisymmetric tensors which are the magnetic monopoles of SU(N) Yang-Mills gauge theory dynamics, unlike their counterparts in Maxwell’s U(1) electrodynamics, are non-vanishing, and do permit a net flux of Yang-Mills analogs to the magnetic field through closed spatial surfaces. When electric source currents of the same Yang-Mills dynamics are inverted and their fermions inserted into these Yang-Mills monopoles to create a system, this system in its unperturbed state contains exactly 3 fermions due to the monopole rank-3 and its 3 additive field strength gradient terms in covariant form. So to ensure that every fermion in this system occupies an exclusive quantum state, the Exclusion Principle is used to place each of the 3 fermions into the fundamental representation of the simple gauge group with an SU(3) symmetry. After the symmetry of the monopole is broken to make this system indivisible, the gauge bosons inside the monopole become massless, the SU(3) color symmetry of the fermions becomes exact, and a propagator is established for each fermion. The monopoles then have the same antisymmetric color singlet wavefunction as a baryon, and the field quanta of the magnetic fields fluxing through the monopole surface have the same symmetric color singlet wavefunction as a meson. Consequently, we are able to identify these fermions with colored quarks, the gauge bosons with gluons, the magnetic monopoles with baryons, and the fluxing entities with mesons, while establishing that the quarks and gluons remain confined and identifying the symmetry breaking with hadronization. Analytic tools developed along the way are then used to fill the Yang-Mills mass gap.

Bulbophyllum is one of the largest genera and presents some of the most intricate taxonomic problems in the family Orchidaceae, including species of ornamental and medical importance. The lack of knowledge regarding the characterization of Bulbophyllum chloroplast (cp) genomes has imposed current limitations on our study. Here, we reported the complete cp genomes of seven Bulbophyllum species, including B. ambrosia, B. crassipes, B. farreri, B. hamatum, B. shanicum, B. triste and B. violaceolabellum, and compared with related taxa to provide a better understanding of their genomic information on taxonomy and phylogeny. A total of 28 Bulbophyllum cp genomes exhibit typical quadripartite structures with lengths ranging from 145,092 bp to 165,812 bp and GC content of 36.60% to 38.04%. Each genome contained 125–132 genes, encompassing 74–86 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The genome arrangements, gene contents and length were similar with differences observed in ndh gene composition. A total of 18–49 long repeats and 38–80 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected and the single-nucleotide (A/T) was dominant in Bulbophyllum cp genomes, with an obvious A/T preference. An analysis of relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) revealed Leucine (Leu) was the most frequently used codon, while cysteine (Cys) was the least used. Six highly variable regions including ndhF-trnLUAG, trnTUGU-trnLUAA, trnFGAA-ndhJ, rps15-trnNGUU, rbcL-accD and psbI-trnSGCU were identified based on the ranking of the Pi values, had the potential to serve as DNA markers for species identification and phylogeny of the genus Bulbophyllum. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete cp genome sequences and 68 protein-coding genes strongly supported 28 Bulbophyllum species can be divided into four branches and sects. Brachyantha, Cirrhopetalum, Leopardinae defined by morphology were non-monophyly. Our results enriched the genetic resources of Bulbophyllum species, providing valuable information to illustrate the complicated taxonomy, phylogeny and evolution process of the genus.

Recently, a high internal surface of the titanium alloy pipe is required due to the increment of various applications of the pipe such as aerospace. However, the traditional machining process is unable to effectively polish the internal surface of the slender pipe. Thus, a vertical magnetorheological polishing (VMRP) apparatus is carried out in this work to implement high polishing performance on the internal surface of the titanium alloy pipe. The polishing process is realized by the combination of the rotating motion of the pipe and the reciprocating linear motion of the polishing head. Moreover, a series of comparative experiments are conducted to investigate the polishing mechanism of magnetorheological (MR) fluid and enhance the polishing performance. It is shown from the experimental results that proposed VMRP approach exhibits the better polishing performance than the conventional horizontal MR polishing method under same testing conditions. This is because the proposed VMRP method well eliminates the traces of polishing particles owing to the combination of polishing particles with different sizes. In addition, it is identified from the experimental test that the polishing time of the VMRP required to achieve the same polishing effect as the conventional method is shortened under the combination of different rotation speeds. It is identified from the above benefits of the VMRP that the final surface roughness after polishing is below 0.05 μm.

Multicellular organisms organize themselves according to two principles; first, the equilibrium between the driving force of unstable state cells and apoptosis or senescence; and second, the mutual equilibrium between the functional requirements of different types of cells. For the first principle, we deduce that stem cells at different levels have their own growth limits, which are determined by two factors: the ability of the stem cells to enter an unstable state (specifically, the ability of cells to divide and differentiate); and the rate of cellular senescence, loss of function, and finally, apoptosis. The superposition of stem cell limits at different levels over each other can amplify small differences at the genetic level. Moreover, the growth limits of different organs are different, which lead to different individuals having completely different appearances. The second principle is that the sum of the specific output functions of an organ must be equal to the overall demand for the function to be provided by the organ. If negative entropy input can meet this equilibrium, defects in certain genes will cause these defective individuals to become larger or develop other morphology.

The ANFC/ABPE-10 composite film was prepared by ABPE-10 impregnating into ANFC films under negative pressure. And the composite film had meted high performance FOLED substrate requirement even when ANFC dosage was high for approximately 70%, which was consistent with for low cost efficiency, recyclability, and environmentally friendly. The enhanced properties of ANFC films were mainly because of the nature of ABPE-10 itself and the IPN structure formed between ABPE-10 and ANFC film. The transparency of composite films with different ANFC dosage was significantly increased from 67% to 88% by UV-Vis analysis. The composite film inherited the properties of AFNC, obtaining low CTE characteristics and ductile compact structure. The contact angles of ANFC films increased by 102% from 49.2° to 102.9°after dipping ABPE-10. Additionally, the composite films had outstanding mechanical properties such as tensile strength 173.72 MPa, Young’s modulus 4.06 GPa, and elongation at break 5.81%.

Saline soil from the coast is a valuable resource that is readily available. It is also a valuable resource for reserving arable land. It has been demonstrated that adding organic fertilizers to salinized soils can effectively enhance them. However, since the improvement of saline soils cannot be achieved by a single measure, the effects of compound measures of organic fertilizers combined with mineral elements, humic acid, are significant and might be examined in depth. In order to explore the effects of various measures on the features of pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and nutrient changes in coastal salinized soils in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, a ryegrass-alfalfa rotation with organic fertilizer as well as compound measures was designed. The findings indicated that the total nitrogen (TN) content of the soil increased and that all organic fertilizer composites decreased the electrical conductivity of the surface soil. However, the organic fertilizer with microbial fertilizer and humic acid was especially effective at regulating the pH and electrical conductivity of the surface soil during the time when salts were prone to accumulating. In conclusion, our findings point to new approaches to lowering salinity and boosting fertility in coastal saline soils: organic fertilizer with microbial fertilizers and humic acid, as well as organic fertilizer with Attapulgite clay.

Utilizing ecological engineering to manage pests by enhancing the biological control function of natural predators through the selection of high-efficiency bank plants and the establishment of bank plant systems within agricultural ecosystems is an optimal strategy. While bank plant systems have found widespread use in greenhouse crop cultivation, their application in rice fields remains limited. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of Leersia sayanuka as a bank plant for controlling planthoppers and to explore the potential of sesame as a complementary plant to enhance the effectiveness of the bank plant system through field trials. The findings revealed that planting a strip of L. sayanuka, at least 50 cm wide and extending over 1 m in length, had a notable impact on planthopper control in paddy fields. Moreover, the incorporation of Sesamum indicum, a nectar plant, into the bank plant system consisting of L. sayanuka, Nilaparvata muiri, and Anagrus nilaparvatae, led to a significant increase in the population of Anagrus spp. in rice fields. This increase was accompanied by a rise in the egg parasitism rate targeting rice planthoppers, resulting in a marked improvement in overall rice planthopper control in paddy fields. Thus, the combined system demonstrated efficiency as an effective bank plant system for managing rice planthoppers.

To elucidate the chemical compositions of the sugar fall maple leaves, the methanol extracts were firstly fractionated by ethyl acetate and n-butanol respectively. The phenolic acids-rich fractions (ethyl acetate extracts) were further purified by various chromatographic columns including XAD macroporous resin, Sephadex LH-20, ODS and semi-preparative HPLC to yield the compounds. The isolated compounds were characterized by ¹H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (¹H-NMR), ¹³C-NMR, and high resolution electrospray ionisation mass spectral (HR-ESI-MS) spectroscopy. Twenty eight phenolics including fourteen flavonoids (1-14), five quinic acid derivatives (15-19), five galloyl tannins (20-24) and four other phenolic acids (25-28) were isolated and their structures were identified. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. All of the phenolics constituents showed DPPH scavenging antioxidant activities. While, glycosides of quercetin and myricetin, galloyl tannins were showed promising α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. All of the compounds except 4, 11, 12 and 28 were isolated from sugar maple for the first time. Moreover, Compounds 9, 10, 14, 20, 21, 23, 25 and 26 were isolated from the Acer species for the first time.

COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, and acute lung injury (ALI) is the major cause of COVID-19. The challenge in studying SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity is the limited availability of animal models. Therefore, it is necessary to establish animal models that can reproduce multiple characteristics of ALI to study therapeutic applications. The present study established a mouse model that has features of ALI that are similar to COVID-19 syndrome to investigate the role of ACE2 and the administration of the Chinese herbal prescription NRICM101 in ALI. Mice with genetic modifications, including overexpression of human ACE2 (K18-hACE2 TG) and absence of ACE2 (mACE2 KO), were intratracheally instillated with hydrochloric acid. The acid intratracheal instillation induced severe immune cell infiltration, cytokine storms, and pulmonary disease in mice. Compared with K18-hACE2 TG mice, mACE2 KO mice exhibited dramatically increased levels of multiple inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β1) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, histological evidence of lung injury, and dysregulation of MAPK and MMP activation. In mACE2 KO mice, NRICM101 could ameliorate the disease progression of acid-induced ALI. In conclusion, the established mouse model provided an effective platform for researchers to investigate pathological mechanisms and develop therapeutic strategies for ALI, including COVID-19-related ALI.

This paper presents a novel high-power rotary waveguide phase shifter based on circular polarizers specifically engineered for high-power microwave (HPM) applications. The phase shifter is capable of performing a precise 360° linear phase shift through rotation and consists of three parts: a linear polarized to left-handed circular polarized (LP-LHCP) mode converter, a left-handed to right-handed circular polarized (LH-RHCP) mode converter, and a linear polarized to right-handed circular polarized (LP-RHCP) mode converter. The paper analyzes the phase shifting principle, optimizes the three parts of the X-band rotary waveguide phase shifter, and conducts simulation studies on the entire phase shifter made of aluminum. The results show that the reflection is less than -20dB and the transmission efficiency is over 95% within 9.5GHz to 10.2GHz. The phase shift has a linear relationship with the rotation angle by a factor of two within this frequency range. Specifically, the phase shifter can achieve a linear phase shift of 360° when rotated from 0° to 180°, with a maximum deviation of less than 1.2°. Moreover, the power-handling capacity of the phase shifter in vacuum exceeds 242mW.

The prefabricated ECC/RC combined shear wall structure is an innovative prefabricated composite structure with better seismic performance by using ECC materials with better ductility in the main force and energy consumption regions of the prefabricated reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall structure. The key factors controlling the seismic energy dissipation capacity of this kind of structure are the use regions of ECC in composite coupling beams, use regions of ECC in shear walls, strength of ECC, stirrup ratio of coupling beams, strength of longitudinal reinforcement and so on. The parameters affecting seismic energy consumption are quantified by the finite element analysis method. By comparing and analyzing the load-displacement curves, hysteresis curves, energy dissipation capacity and stiffness degradation of the prefabricated ECC/RC combined shear wall structure specimen under these parameters, it is proposed that the best use regions of ECC is the cast-in-situ zone of the coupling beams with the scope of no more than400 mm at the shear walls’ bottom. The strength grade, the strength grade of longitudinal reinforcement, and the stirrup ratio of coupling beams are suggested design as E40, HRB400 and 0.5%, respectively.

Gram-negative bacterial infections pose a significant threat to public health. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) recognizes bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and induces innate immune responses, autophagy and cell death, which have major impacts on the body physiological homeostasis. However, the role of TLR4 in bacterial LPS-induced autophagy and apoptosis in large mammals remains unknown, which are closer to humans than rodents in many physiological characteristics. So far, few reports focus on the relationship between TLR, autophagy and apoptosis in large mammal levels. We urgently need more tools to further explore their crosstalk. Here, we generated a TLR4-enriched mammal model (sheep) and found that a high-dose LPS treatment blocked autophagic degradation and caused strong innate immune responses and severe apoptosis in PBMCs of transgenic offspring. Excessive accumulation of autophagosomes/autolysosomes might contribute to LPS-induced apoptosis in PBMCs of transgenic animals. Further study demonstrated that inhibiting TLR4 downstream NF-κB or p38 MAPK signaling pathways reversed the LPS-induced autophagy activity and apoptosis. These results indicate that the elevated TLR4 aggravates LPS-induced PBMCs apoptosis by leading to lysosomal dysfunction and impaired autophagic flux, which is associated with TLR4 downstream NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. This study provides a novel TLR4-enriched mammal model to study its potential effects on autophagy activity, inflammation, oxidative stress and cell death. These findings also enriched the biological functions of TLR4 and provided powerful evidence for bacterial infection.

Mutations in the “guardian of the genome” TP53 predominate in solid tumors. In addition to loss of tumor suppressor activity, a specific subset of missense mutations confers additional oncogenic properties. These “gain-of-function” (GOF) mutations portend poor prognosis across cancer types regardless of treatment. Our objective in this study was to identify novel therapeutic opportunities to overcome the deleterious effects of GOF TP53 mutants. Using gynecologic cancer cell lines with known TP53 mutational status, we established that treatment with a proteasome inhibitor induced cell death in cells with two recurrent GOF TP53 mutations (R175H and R248Q), and addition of a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) enhanced this effect. By contrast, p53-null cancer cells were relatively resistant to the combination. Towards understanding the mechanism, we found that proteasome inhibition promotes apoptosis of cells with TP53 GOF mutations, potentially through induction of the unfolded protein response. In line with the reported hyperstabilization of GOF p53 protein, cells treated with HDACi exhibited reduced levels of p53 protein. Together, these data form the basis for future clinical studies examining therapeutic efficacy in a preselected patient population with GOF TP53 mutations.

Cultivated Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oil and cash crop in worldwide. Hundred pod and seed weight are important components for peanut yield. In order to dissect the genetic control of hundred pod weight (HPW) and hundred seed weight (HSW), a RIL population containing 188 individuals was developed from a cross between Jihua 5 (JH5, large pod and seed size) and M130 (small pod and seed size). An integrated genetic linkage map was constructed by using SSR, AhTE, SRAP, TRAP and SNP markers. The map contained 3,130 genetic markers which were assigned to 20 chromosomes and covered 1,998.95 cM with an average distance 0.64 cM. Based on the genetic map, a total of 31 QTLs for HPW and HSW were identified on 7 chromosomes, explaining 3.7-10.8% of the phenotypic variation by each QTL. Among these, seven QTLs were detected under more than two environments, two major QTLs were found on B04 and B08, respectively. A QTL hotspot containing seven QTLs was detected on chromosome A08 spanning a 2.74 cM genetic interval with 0.36 Mb physical map which included 18 candidate genes. Among these, Arahy.D52S1Z, Arahy.IBM9RL, Arahy.W18Y25, Arahy.CPLC2W and Arahy.14EF4H may be involved in regulating peanut pod and seed weight. These results may help further analysis of genetic mechanisms for pod and seed size in cultivated peanut.

Physical inactivity is a well-known risk factor for various non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Sufficient physical activity (PA) is essential for the prevention of NCDs and thus it is imperative to study the current status of PA and its influencing factors among rural residents in China. A population-based survey was conducted in rural areas of Shandong, Shanxi and Yunnan Provinces using a stratified random sampling method. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-S) was used to collect the data on PA. A total of 3780 rural residents participated in the survey. The result showed that 22.2% of rural residents were physical inactivity. The proportion of rural residents reporting practice of physical exercise was 54.4%. The most frequently performed physical exercise was walking/brisk walking(78.3%).Binary logistic regression analyses showed that being female, people at age between 15 to 34 years or 60 years old and above, employees of governmental departments/retirees, school students, the unemployed, people with NCDs were risk factors of PA and ethnic minority groups,smoking and alcohol consumption were risk factors of physical exercise. Health promotion programme aiming at increasing people’s PA in rural China is needed and it should focus on the populations groups of the female, people at age 60 years and above ,school students, the unemployed, and people with NCDs.

System-of-systems (SoS) evolution is a complex and unpredictable process. Although various principles to facilitate collaborative SoS evolution have been proposed, there is a lack of experimental data validating their effectiveness. To address these issues, we present an Agent-Based Model (ABM) for SoS evolution in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) , serving as a quantitative analysis tool for SoS research. By integrating multiple complex and rational behaviors of individuals, we aim to simulate real-world scenarios as accurately as possible. To simulate the SoS evolution process, our model employs multiple agents with autonomous interactions and incorporates external environmental variables. Furthermore, we propose three evaluation metrics: evolutionary time, degree of variation, and evolutionary cost, to assess the performance of SoS evolution. Our study demonstrates that enhanced information transparency significantly improves the evolutionary performance of distributed SoS. Conversely, the adoption of uniform standards only brings limited performance enhancement to distributed SoSs. Although our proposed model has limitations, it stands out from other approaches that utilize Agent-Based Modeling to analyze SoS theories. Our model focuses on realistic problem contexts and simulates realistic interaction behaviors. This study enhances the comprehension of SoS evolution processes and provides valuable insights for the formulation of effective evolutionary strategies.

Xaa-Pro dipeptidase (XPD, EC 3.4.13.9; also known as prolidase) catalyzes the hydrolysis of iminopeptide bond in the trans Xaa-Pro dipeptides (Xaa represents any amino acid except proline), which makes it find wide applications in food, medical and environmental protection fields. In the present study, a novel Xaa-Pro dipeptidase from Aspergillus phoenicis ATCC 14332 (ApXPD) was molecularly and biochemically characterized. Reclassification based on phylogenetic analysis and version 12.5 MEROPS database showed that this enzyme was the only fungal XPD in the unassigned subfamily which shared the highest sequence similarity with Xanthomonas campestris prolidase but not with that from the more related fungal species A. niudulans. As compared with other prolidases, ApXPD also contained an N-terminal tail (residues 81-89) and an additional region (PAPARLREKL), and used a different arginine residue for dipeptide selectivity. After heterologous expression and partial purification, recombinant ApXPD was highly active and stable over the alkaline range from 8.5 to 10.0, with a maximum activity at pH 9.0 and more than 80% activity retained after 1-h incubation at pHs of 8.5-10.0 (55oC). It also had an apparent optimum temperature of 55oC and remained stable at 20-30oC. Moreover, this enzyme was a cobalt dependent prolidase that only cleaved dipeptides Lys-Pro, Gly-Pro and Ala-Pro rather than other dipeptides, tripeptides and tetrapeptides. All these distinct features make A. phoenicis ATCC 14332 XPD unique among currently known prolidases, thus defining a novel Xaa-Pro dipeptidase subfamily.

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

This research uses ARM-based FPGA to implement the computation of a virtual-real fusion hardware system. It also evaluates the acceleration effect of virtual-real fusion execution speed after connecting related hardware acceleration and provides a reference for real-time information fusion system design. The hardware uses Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZCU102 Evaluation Kit. It also obtains color and depth images with Intel® RealsenseTM D435i depth cameras. This system receives image data through the Linux system built on the ARM and fed to the FPGA for object detection using CNN models. In addition, it develops a module for rapidly performing registration between the color images and the depth images. It can calculate the size and position of the display information on the transparent display according to the pixel coordinates and depth values of the human eye and the object. The fusion took about 47ms on a personal computer with a GPU RTX2060 and 25ms on the ZCU102. The acceleration is nearly 168%. Finally, the results were successfully transplanted into the retail display system for demonstration.

(1) Background: Bacterial reinfection and root fracture are the main culprits related to root canal treatment failure. This study aimed to assess the utility of quercetin solution as an adjunctive endodontic irrigant that strengthen root canal dentin with commitment anti-biofilm activity and bio-safety. (2) Methods: Based on a noninvasive dentin infection model, dentin tubules infected with Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) were irrigated with sterile water (control group), and 0, 1, 2, 4 wt% quercetin-containing ethanol solutions. The live and dead bacteria proportions within E. fae-calis biofilms were analyzed using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Elastic modulus and hydroxyproline release and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization was tested on irrigant-treated demineralized dentin to evaluate irrigants’ biostability. The cytotoxicity of irrigants was tested by CCK-8 assay. (3) Results: Quercetin increased the proportion of dead bacteria volumes within E. faecalis, and improved the flexural strength of dentin collagen com-pared to control group. The XPS characterization revealed an increase in C-O peak area under both C1s and O1s narrow-scan spectra. The CCK-8 assay confirmed no cytotoxicity of quercetin solutions. (4) Conclusions: Quercetin exhibited anti-biofilm activity, collagen-stabilizing effect as well as cytocompatibility, supporting quercetin as a potential candidate for endodontic irrigant.

Background: Estrogen homeostasis is crucial for bladder function, and estrogen deprivation resulting from ovarian removal or ovarian dysfunction may lead to various bladder dysfunctions. However, the specific mechanisms are not fully understood. Methods: We simulated estrogen deprivation using a rat ovariectomy model and supplemented estrogen through subcutaneous injections. The metabolic characteristics of bladder tissue were analyzed using non-targeted metabolomics, followed by bioinformatics analysis to preliminarily reveal the association between estrogen deprivation and bladder function. Results: We successfully established a rat model with estrogen deprivation and, through multivariate analysis and validation, identified several promising biomarkers represented by 3, 5-tetradecadiencarnitine, lysoPC (15:0), and cortisol. Furthermore, we explored estrogen deprivation-related metabolic changes in the bladder primarily characterized by amino acid metabolism imbalance. Conclusions: This study, for the first time, depicted the metabolic profile of bladder resulting from estrogen deprivation, providing an important experimental basis for future research on bladder dysfunctions caused by estrogen deprivation.

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

Blocking the interaction of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with the human angiotensin-converting enzyme II (hACE2) protein serves as a therapeutic strategy for treating COVID-19. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments containing bioactive products could alleviate the symptoms of severe COVID-19. However, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has complicated the process of developing broad-spectrum drugs. As such, the aim in this study was to explore the efficacy of TCM treatments for SARS-CoV-2 variants through targeting the interaction of the viral spike protein with the hACE2 receptor. The antiviral activity was systematically evaluated using a pseudovirus system. Scutellaria baicalensis was found to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection through affecting the interaction of viral spike protein with the hACE2 protein. The active molecules of S. baicalensis were identified and analyzed. Baicalein and baicalin, a flavone and a flavone glycoside, respectively, found in S. baicalensis, exhibited strong inhibitory activities, targeting the viral spike protein or hACE2 protein, respectively. Under optimized conditions, virus infection was inhibited by 98% via baicalein-treated pseudovirus and baicalin-treated hACE2. In summary, we identified the potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors of the interaction of the Omicron spike protein and hACE2 receptor from S. baicalensis. Future studies on the therapeutic application of baicalein and baicalin against SARS-CoV-2 variants are needed.

Wearing gloves while operating machinery in workshops is an essential precaution to prevent mechanical injuries and burns from high temperatures, among other potential hazards. Ensuring workers are properly equipped with gloves, which is a crucial measure in accident prevention. Glove images often occupy a minimal proportion of the frame and are easily obscured by cluttered backgrounds, especially with limited edge computing resources. Consequently, this study proposes a glove detection algorithm called YOLOv8-AFPN-M-C2f based on YOLOv8, offering swifter detection speeds, lower computational demands, and enhanced accuracy for workshop scenarios. This research innovates by substituting the head of YOLOv8 with the AFPN-M-C2f network, amplifying the pathways for feature vector propagation, and mitigating semantic discrepancies between non-adjacent feature layers. Additionally, the introduction of a superficial feature layer enriches surface feature information, augmenting the model's sensitivity to smaller objects. To assess the performance of the YOLOv8-AFPN-M-C2f model, we conducted multiple experiments using a factory glove detection dataset compiled for this study. The results indicate that the enhanced YOLOv8 model surpasses other network models. Compared to the baseline YOLOv8 model, the refined version shows a 2.6% increase in mAP@50%, a 90.1% rise in FPS, and a 13% reduction in the number of parameters. This research contributes an effective solution for the detection of glove adherence.

Polymers' controlled pyrolysis is an economical and environmentally friendly solution to prepare activated carbon. However, due to the experimental difficulty in measuring the dependence between tissues and pyrolysis parameters at high temperatures, the unknown pyrolysis mechanism hinders access to the target products with desirable morphologies and performances. In this study, we investigate the pyrolysis process of polystyrene under different heating rates and temperatures employing reactive molecular dynamics (ReaxFF-MD) simulations. A clear profile of the generation of pyrolysis products determined by the temperature and heating rate is constructed. It is found that the heating rate affects the type and amount of pyrolysis intermediates and their timing, and low-rate heating helps yield more diverse pyrolysis intermediates. While the temperature affects the pyrolytic tissues of the final equilibrium products, either too low or too high a target temperature is detrimental to generating large areas of graphitized tissue. The established theoretical evolution process matches experiments well, thus contributing to preparing target activated carbons by referring to the regulatory mechanism of pyrolytic tissues.

Compounds with tyrosinase inhibitory efficacy could be effective as depigmenting agents. Although a large number of natural and synthetic tyrosinase inhibitors have been reported, few of them are used as skin-whitening agents due to poor activity and safety concerns. 3-(2,4-Dihydroxyphenyl)propionic acid (DPPA), a naturally occurring compound isolated from Ficus carica, was previously discovered as a moderate tyrosinase inhibitor. In this study, the structure-activity relationship study of DPPA was conducted. Compound 3g, with the 2,4-resorcinol subunit and terminal hydrophobic di-butylamino group, was identified with low nanomolar enzymatic IC₅₀ value. Additionally, compound 3g could effectively reduce melanin levels in B16-F10 melanoma cells treated with α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) without affecting cell viability and proliferation. All these results indicated that compound 3g could be considered as a promising candidate for the treatment of diseases associated with hyperpigmentation.

Regeneration of biological tissues in medicine is challenging, and 3D bioprinting offers an innovative way to create functional multicellular tissues. One common way in bioprinting is bioink which is one type of the cell-loaded hydrogel. For clinical application, however, the bioprinting still suffers from satisfactory performance, e.g. in vascularization, effective antibacterial, immunomodulation and regulation of collagen deposition. Many studies have incorporated different bioactive materials into the 3D printed scaffolds to optimize the bioprinting. Here, we review a variety of additives added to the 3D bioprinting hydrogel. The underlying mechanisms and methodology for biological regeneration are important and will provide useful basis for future research.

Plant endophytic fungi and rhizosphere soil fungi are often reported as biocontrol agents against plant pathogens or with plant growth promotion potential. Four treatments were performed in field and greenhouse experiments where cucumber plants were inoculated with Trichoderma harzianum and Fusarium oxysporum in 2022. The roots, stems and leaves of cucumber plants and their rhizosphere soil were collected twice individually from the field and greenhouse for isolation of cucumber endophytic and rhizosphere soil fungi. All 74 genera and 1275 fungal strains were sequenced by rDNA ITS. The PDA media yielded the highest number of genera isolated from cucumber plants, rhizosphere soil and both compared to other media. There were no significant differences among the 4 media for the isolation of cucumber endophytic fungi. The best media for isolating fungi from roots and stems were MRBA and PDA, respectively. PDA and CZA had higher isolation efficiency for the rhizosphere soil fungi than MRBA. The 28 fungal genera had high isolation efficiency, and the endophytic Trichoderma strains were best isolated by MEA. It is suggested that PDA can be used as a basic medium, and different media can be considered for specific fungal genera.

This paper investigates the impact of sediment deposition and inflow conditions on horizontal impact pressure and frequency analysis of bridge deck vibrations during flooding. Flooding-induced pressure and vibrations contribute to bridge collapse, and sediment deposition influences water flow and impact pressure. The study explores the relationship between sediment deposition height and impact pressure, revealing a significant increase as sediment approaches 50% of bridge deck clearance. Sediment amplifies impact pressure response to flow velocity changes. The dimensionless sediment deposition height has a greater influence on impact pressure compared to the inflow Froude number. Two distinct frequencies, dominant and secondary, are identified for impact pressure and water level fluctuations. Dominant frequencies positively correlate with sediment deposition height and Froude number, indicating an increasing trend. Secondary frequencies remain stable (0.31-0.58 Hz). These findings enhance understanding of flow dynamics and bridge-flow interaction in sediment-deposited channels, providing theoretical support for evaluating and managing disasters related to bridges in such environments. Overall, this research contributes to the field of bridge engineering and supports improved design and maintenance practices for bridges exposed to sediment-deposited channels.

This paper proposes a novel symmetrical active-switched coupled-inductor high-step-up DC/DC converter. A new active-switched coupled inductor is used to allow much higher voltage gain of the proposed converter. The symmetrical circuit structure of the proposed converter evenly divides large input currents and reduce input current ripple by operating in interleaved mode so power density is increased. The switches also have low voltage stress. The operating principle and design considerations for the converter topology are described. The proposed converter with an input voltage of 40 V, an output voltage of 400 V and an output of 1000 W at a switching frequency of 50 kHz is implemented. The simulations and experimental results are thus depicted to verify the theoretical analysis. The highest efficiency is 95.5% at 200 W measured by using a HIOKI 3390. Consequently, the proposed converter is suitable for renewable energy generation systems that require high power, high voltage gain and high efficiency.

This study chose the indoor soil column test as the main method and the field test as the validation test to investigate the effects of various straw mulching techniques (surface, deep and straw mulching + deep burial) on evaporation and salt dynamics in saline soils. The results showed that straw mulching treatment could effectively reduce soil water evaporation, promote desalination in the stage of leaching infiltration and alleviate salt return in the stage of water evaporation, and the effect of straw mulching + deep burial treatment was better than that of single-layer straw mulching treatment. The indoor soil column test showed that S2D1 treatment (a 2:1 ratio of soil surface cover to the amount of straw buried 40cm below the soil surface) had the best effect on the suppression of soil moisture evaporation, and the cumulative evaporation of soil moisture was reduced by 65.85% compared with that of the CK, and the rate of salinity return in the evaporation stage was effectively reduced by 92.04% compared with that of the CK. In addition, there is a significant positive correlation between cumulative evaporation of soil moisture and cumulative soil salinity, which implies that cumulative soil salinity increases with cu-mulative evaporation of soil moisture. The results of the field experiment were consistent with the soil column test, and the S2D1 treatment was able to maintain high soil moisture content in all soil layers in all periods of the experiment and kept soil salinity in the 0-40 cm soil layer at a low level. However, in the 40-80 cm soil layer, the soil salinity suppression effect of DB treatment (straw buried at 40 cm below soil surface) was the best. So in summary, the S2D1 treatment had the best salinity and evapo-transpiration suppression effect in saline soils. This study is of great significance for the resource uti-lization of straw waste, improvement of water utilization and efficiency, and soil salinization manage-ment.

Xinjiang, as a climate-sensitive region in northwest China, holds significant importance in studying extreme weather events for agricultural production and socioeconomic development. Based on data from 52 meteorological stations and 23 extreme climate indicators in Xinjiang from 1960 to 2021, the 5a moving average, linear trend estimation, climate tendency rate, and GIS spatial analysis methods are used to analyze the distribution and change characteristics of extreme climate. The results revealed that from 1960 to 2021, TXx, TNx, TXn, TNn, FD, ID, TN10p, TX10p, and WSDI showed a significant upward trend, while SU, TR, TN90p, TX90p, and CSDI showed a significant downward trend. What is more, the range of changes in the extreme temperature indexes from 1990 to 2021 is higher than that of 1960 to 1989. The high-value areas of extreme indexes are primarily concentrated in the northern part, while the high-value areas of cold event indexes are mainly distributed in the southern part. The upward/downward trends all accounting for over 80.00% of the entire region. The Rx1day, Rx5day, PRCPTOT, R95p, R99p, R10, R20, and R25 showed a significant growth trend from 1960 to 2021, and the range of change in the extreme precipitation indexes from 1990 to 2021 was lower than that from 1960 to 1989. Moreover, their high-value areas and high climate tendency areas are mainly concentrated in the northern and western parts of Xinjiang, with upward trends all accounting for over 71.00% of the entire region. The research results provide theoretical foundations for formulating climate risk strategies in the northwest region of China.

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

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

With the burgeoning growth of online retail, the issue of counterfeit products has become a significant threat to both consumer trust and brand integrity, posing challenges to sustainable market practices. Online retail platforms are promoted to redesign their channel structures and enhance brand traceability to tackle counterfeits using blockchain technology. To investigate the interactions between blockchain technology and the channel structures of online retail platforms, we design a game theory model incorporating a manufacturer with(out) blockchain participation selling products via an online retail platform that operates an agency channel and/or a reselling channel. We show that the critical trade-off of blockchain participation comprises the brand assurance effect of the blockchain, the channel competition intensification effect, and the blockchain adoption cost. The platform is capable of strategically designing the channel structure to encourage (while discouraging) blockchain participation by the manufacturer. Our analysis highlights the complementarity between blockchain participation and the channel structure. Furthermore, the effect of the consumer’s belief in the reselling channel, the commission fee in the agency channel, and the substitutability between channels are investigated in depth. The research provides valuable insights for online retail platforms and policymakers seeking to foster a sustainable and trustworthy e-commerce ecosystem.

The power generation structure and load characteristics in different provinces are quite different in China, and the distribution of peak regulating resources and demands is extremely unbalanced. Due to many factors such as low power marketization degree, shortage of peak regulating resources and block of transmission channels, the consumption of new energy is facing greater pressure. In order to improve the mutual aids in regional power grid, this paper proposes a two-layer optimization dispatching model considering the mutual aids of peak regulation resources between each province, and determines the optimal units startup mode and power output in each provinces, thus obtaining all the power supply output arrangements and the technical and economic indicators. Finally, take the actual regional power grid in China as an example, the simulation results show that the proposed model can significantly improve the new energy utilization rate, which verified the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model and methods in this paper.

As the embedded device and internet of things (IoTs) concept prevalent in today's world, there is an increasing demand for the security and performance requirements on deploying these devices to private and public sectors. The crucial part of it is to protect privacy, confidentiality and integrity, meanwhile, maintain an adequate level of performance during transmission, storage and access of critical information. While the conventional cryptography methods, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), SHA$-$2 hashing method and RSA and Diffie Hellman for message authentication and identification, work well on systems which have reasonable processing power and memory capabilities. These do not scale well into a world with embedded systems and sensor networks, in conjunction with their nature of smaller size and lower cost. Thus, in the context of resource constrained device, lightweight cryptography methods are proposed to overcome many of the problems of conventional cryptography possessed. This includes constraints related to physical size, processing requirement, memory limitation, energy drain and production cost. This paper provides a survey of the architectures that are defined as replacements for conventional ciphers within an IoTs space and discuss some trends in the design of future lightweight algorithms. The performance metrics are carefully chosen to reflect and assess the suitability for embedded devices. The aim of this research is to identify the various performance metrics applied on different types of symmetric block ciphers especially lightweight ciphers and compare the results on versatile platforms with stream ciphers and public key methods. The comparative analysis on efficient LW cipher will be tested against other similar block ciphers on both MacBook Pro with Intel core and resource constrained device Raspberry Pi with ARM processor.

We present the generation and nonlinear frequency conversion of nanosecond cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) in two-mode fiber (TMF). Based on the polarized dependence vector mode coupling characteristic and the precise wavelength tunability of an acoustically-induced fiber grating (AIFG), the nanosecond cylindrical vector beams (CVBs, 1064 nm, 10 ns) is directly generated in a TMF with convenient switching characteristics between the radial and azimuthal vector beams. Furthermore, the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is produced based on the transmission of the nanosecond CVBs in the 100-meters long TMF, and the spatial intensity and polarization distributions characteristics the 1st-order Stokes shifted component is consistent with the nanosecond CVBs pump pulse. This work provides a method for achieving wavelength conversion of the CVBs in optical fiber.

Breast cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease that displays diverse molecular subtypes and clinical outcomes. Although it is known that the location of tumors can affect their biological behavior, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. In our previous study, we found a differential methylation profile and membrane potential between left (L) and right (R)-sided breast tumors. In this current study, we aimed to identify the ion channels responsible for this phenomenon and determine any associated phenotypic features. To achieve this, experiments were conducted in mammary tumors in mice, human patient samples, and with data from public datasets. The results revealed that L-sided tumors have a more depolarized state than R-ones. We identified a 6-ion channel-gene signature (CACNA1C, CACNA2D2, CACNB2, KCNJ11, SCN3A, and SCN3B) associated with side: L-tumors exhibit lower expression levels than R-ones. Additionally, in silico analyses show that the signature correlates inversely with DNA methylation writers and with key biological processes involved in cancer progression, such as proliferation and stemness. The signature also correlates inversely with patients’ survival rates. In an in vivo mouse model, we confirmed that KI67 and CD44 markers were increased in L-sided tumors and similar tendency for KI67 was found in patient L-tumors. Overall, this study provides new insights into the potential impact of anatomical location on breast cancer biology and highlights the need for further investigation into possible differential treatment options.

Compared with precious metal catalysts, non-platinum catalysts have the advantages of low cost and high performance. Among them, the activated carbon (AC) with a large specific surface area (SSA) can be used as a carrier or as a carbon source of nonprecious metal/carbon system catalyst at the same time. Therefore, this paper uses cheap pine peel bio-based materials to prepare large surface area activated carbon and then compound with cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) to obtain a high-performance cobalt/nitrogen/carbon catalyst. The merits include AC@CoPc composite catalysts are prepared by precisely controlling the composite proportion of AC and CoPc, the atomically dispersed Co nanoparticles form and synergistically with N promote the exposure of CoNx active sites, and the Eonset of the catalyst treated with a composite proportion of AC and CoPc of 1 to 2 at 800 °C (AC@CoPc-800-1-2) is 1.01 V, which is higher than Pt/C (20 wt%) catalyst. Apart from this, the stability is 87.8% in 0.1 M KOH after 20000 s testing in compared with other AC@CoPc series catalysts and Pt/C (20 wt%) catalyst. Considering from the performance and price of the catalyst in practical application, these composite catalysts combine biomass carbon materials with phthalocyanine series, which will be widely used in the area of nonprecious metal catalysts.

Excessive CO₂ emissions and alternative energy fuels are two major difficult issues. The utilization of CO₂ into fine chemicals is an optimal route. Diethyl carbonate (DEC) is an extremely versatile chemical intermediate. DEC is used in gasoline, pharmaceutical, chemical and other fields. DEC synthesis from CO₂ and ethanol is a typical green synthetic route. Ni-Cu@Na₃PW₁₂O₄₀ catalysts were synthesized by two novel methods of supported and mixed. The catalyst prepared by mixed method showed nice catalytic performance. It was confirmed that water removal was the key to improving conversion efficiency. In the presence of dehydrating agent of ethylene, ethanol conversion increased from ca. 3% to ca. 40%. Propylene oxide (PO) was participated in the reaction and ethanol conversion continued to reach to ca.90% while DEC selectivity dropped by half. Under optimal conditions, our Ni-Cu@Na₃PW₁₂O₄₀ catalyst effectively solved the two major issues above.

Sperm gain fertilization ability and forward movement characteristics during epididymal transport. Sperm maturation is inseparable from the processing of the epididymis. Compared with other reproductive organs, relatively little is known about the epididymis. However, with the development of molecular biology and the improvement of single-cell sequence technology, we gradually realized that we should re-examine the importance of the epididymis for sperm mat-uration and for the entire male reproductive system. Recently, epididymis related reports have tended to be more regionalized and more refined. We can understand cell distribution and gene expression from the perspective of a single cell. It has been reported that different regions of the epididymis have different functions and different cell compositions, which may be determined by gene expression. Here, we comprehensively reviewed the epididymal studies. From the ana-tomical structure of the epididymis to the division of its regions, we focused on the cell compo-sition and region-specific genes differentially expressed in the epididymis. The gene expression of the epididymis extends to a series of biological processes of sperm in the epididymal cavity, and the serious effects of epididymal diseases on reproduction are discussed. Therefore, the importance of the epididymis in male reproduction is emphasized. With the maturity of single-cell spatial transcriptomics, it is hoped that the technology can be applied to epididymal research and bring about the spatiotemporal landscape of the epididymis at the single-cell level.

The recognition of coal-rock interface is very crucial for the research in the intelligent production of coal mine. This study investigates the application of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy in the recognition of coal-rock interface, including the identification of coal-rock and coal-rock mixtures, as well as the accurate characterization of coal seam thickness. Terahertz detection was used to obtain the optical parameter information of the pressed pellets prepared by mixing two different kinds of coal and two kinds of rock. Based on the experiment results, the database was established for the identification of coal-rock interfaces in coal mining machines. The terahertz detection was performed on 10 different kinds of sheet anthracite with different thickness, and the terahertz spectra of coal seams with different thickness were simulated and calculated by using simulation software, which can accurately obtain the thickness of coal seams and provide effective mining thickness parameters for coal seam mining. Through the experiment and simulation, the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy technology has a promising application prospect in the identification of coal-rock interface.

In this study, we analyzed the optical observations of a subluminous Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2017fzw, which exhibited high photospheric velocity (HV) at B-band maximum light. The absolute B-band peak magnitude was determined to be M^B_max = -17.77  0.10 mag, similar to 91bg-like SNe Ia. The decline rate of the B-band light curve was estimated to be Dm15(B) = 1.60  0.06 mag. The spectra of SN 2017fzw were similar to those of 91bg-like SNe Ia, with prominent Ti II and Si II l5972 features at early phases, gradually transitioning to spectra resembling normal (mainly HV subclass) SNe Ia at later phases, with a stronger Ca II NIR feature. Notably, SN 2017fzw exhibited spectral evolution features similar to those of HV SNe Ia at all phases, with a maximum-light Si II l6355 velocity of 13, 786  414 km s

According to the structural features, sedimentary evolution, types of sedimentary facies, source rocks features, diagenesis evolution, reservoir features and hydrocarbon formation mechanism, exploration status and hydrocargon resource potential, this article analyzed the major control fac-tors and hydrocarbon distribution rules of the lithologic reservoirs in continental fault basin. The research shows that three major control factors and one coupled factor (fractures act as a tie) in-fluence hydrocarbon formation of lithologic traps in Nantun Formation of Tanan Sag, which in-clude sand body types, effective source rocks and effective reservoirs. With the increase in depth, enough hydrocarbon generate in source rock under thermal evolution. Hydrocarbon generation and expulsion are more intensive when it comes to the depth threshold and critical conditions of hydrocarbon supplying are met. Traps that surrounded or contacted by source rock, or communi-cated by fault are qualified to form reservoirs. As buried depth increases, hydrocarbon genera-tion-expulsion intensity grows and the trap is more petroliferous. Hydrocarbon accumulation and reservoir formation are also controlled by sandbody accumulation conditions. When it meets the critical conditions of hydrocarbon generation and concrete oil and gas are charged in, better phys-ical properties of sandbody always indicate more hydrocarbon accumulation in the trap. Alloca-tion of sand type, effective source rock and effective reservoir is optimized under the effect of fractures, and coupled hydrocarbon reservoir with these three elements.

The performance of recycled aggregate concrete deteriorates due to the defects of adhesive mortar, pores and cracks on the surface of recycled aggregate. It is of great engineering significance to modify the reclaimed aggregate to improve its performance and adaptability. In this paper, the physical and chemical properties of waste concrete recycled aggregate are reviewed. Then, the existing modification methods and technologies of recycled aggregate, including physical, chemical and biological methods, are reviewed. Finally, the existing problems of the current modification technology are summarized, and the future research direction is proposed. It is expected to provide a new idea and method for the modification of waste concrete recycled aggregate.

In this paper, the effects on the rheological properties, particle size distribution, and fluorescence properties of red wine were investigated under microwave irradiation, and the mechanism of the effects of microwave irradiation on the sensory properties of red wine was discussed. The results showed that the effect of microwave on the rheological properties in red wine could be fitted by the Power-law model and Carson model, through the analysis of the rheological constants, yield stress, and viscosity coefficient of wine, it was found that microwave treatment could improve leg phenomenon and thickening effect by the change of rheological properties; the particle size distribution in wine indicated that microwave irradiation did change the particle size distribution through friction effect and oxidative polymerization, resulting in the wine’s visual effect and mouthfeel; the wine quality could be improved by enhancing the fluorescence intensity under different microwave conditions, which meant that microwave technology could speed up the formation of fluorescent substances, such as the polymerization of flavan-3-ols. In conclusion, microwave treatment could modify the sensory characteristics of wine, and further provide the theoretical basis for the application of microwave in winemaking.

The MLL gene is a site of frequent rearrangement in acute leukemia with multiple fusion partners, but MLL-SEPT6 rearrangement is rare in clinical leukemia practice, and only 13 cases have been reported. We describe the case of an acute myelogenous leukemia child with MLL-SEPT6 rearrangement whose age of onset and accompanying gene mutations differs from previous reports. Considering the poor prognosis of leukemia children with MLL-SEPT6 rearrangement and the unsatisfactory results of existing treatments, the study of this case may provide new theories for diagnosis and treatment of MLL-SEPT6-associated childhood acute leukemia.

In light of advancing technology, the conventional clock network architecture has become inadequate for addressing the intricacies inherent in modern System-on-Chip (SoC) designs. While clock mesh topology offers resilience against On-Chip Variation (OCV) fluctuations, it still necessitates manual intervention. Therefore, substantial scope exists for methodological enhancements and the refinement of rapid analytical techniques. This paper introduces a novel clock mesh synthesis approach, underpinned by dynamic programming algorithms, that guarantees latency constraints. Our experimental findings demonstrate that our algorithm achieves an additional 26.6% reduction in power consumption compared to the baseline methodology. Furthermore, it substantially reduces runtime by an average of 78.0% when contrasted with traditional simulation methods. These results highlight the potential of our methodology for enhancing the efficiency and power management of clock mesh.

The concept and policies of multiple early cancer detection (MCED) have gained significant attention from governments worldwide in recent years. In the era of burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the integration of MCED with AI has become a prevailing trend, giving rise to a plethora of MCED AI products. However, due to the heterogeneity of both the detection targets and the AI technologies, the overall diversity of MCED AI products remains considerable. The types of detection targets encompass protein biomarkers, cell-free DNA, or combinations of these biomarkers. In the development of AI models, different model training approaches are employed, including datasets of case-control researches or real-world cancer screening datasets. Various validation techniques, such as cross-validation, location-wise validation, and time-wise validation are used. All of the factors show significant impacts on the predictive efficacy of MCED AIs. After the completion of AI model development, deploying the MCED AIs in clinical practice presents numerous challenges, including presenting the predictive reports, identifying the potential locations and types of tumor, and addressing cancer-related information such as clinical follow-up and treatment. This study reviews several mature MCED AI products currently available in the market, detecting their composing factors from serum biomarkers detection, MCED AIs training/validation, and the clinical application. The review illuminates the challenges encountered by existing MCED AI products across these stages, offering insights into the continued development and obstacles within the field of MCED AI.

(1) Background: in the context of sustainable development goals (SDGs), this work explores the repair direction of future cultivated land protection policies based on the Smith policy implementation model from the historical evolution to ensure that the cultivated land protection policy does not deviate during the implementation process. (2) Methods: this paper uses literature research and inductive deduction methods to sort out the evolution process of Chinese cultivated land protection policy, summarize the successful experience of transferring the focus of cultivated land protection in chronological order, and conclude the repair direction of Chinese cultivated land protection. (3) Results: although the Chinese cultivated land protection policy in the historical evolution has through three significant phases, there are still certain issues in the development trend of Chinese cultivated land protection policy based on regional division of labor for grain transportation and sales. (4) Conclusion: directly utilizing feedback from farmers as stakeholders will contribute to the maturity and improvement of cultivated land protection policies in the specific implementation of cultivated land protection policies.

This study investigates the spatial and temporal dynamics of Paomo restaurants in Xi'an's central urban area from 2012 to 2023, leveraging Point of Interest (POI) data through a series of sophisticated analytical techniques. Methods including nearest neighbor distance, kernel density estimation, and band set statistical analysis were employed to thoroughly examine the evolutionary patterns and key drivers influencing the spatial distribution of these eateries. Our results highlight a notable trend of expansion from the central city to the periphery, characterized by significant spatial agglomeration. Initially concentrated in the city center, the distribution of Paomo restaurants has progressively shifted towards multiple distinct cores, reflecting the dual influence of urban policy initiatives and the dynamics of market competition. Furthermore, the research identifies several pivotal factors shaping this spatial distribution, particularly transportation access, residential quality of life, and the availability of commercial services. These findings demonstrate the profound effects of urban spatial reconfiguration and socioeconomic development on the specialized catering industry. The insights gleaned from this analysis offer valuable guidance for urban planners and policymakers, providing strategic recommendations for the spatial planning of specialty catering services to optimize urban layouts and foster sustainable economic progress.

: Background: The polysaccharides are one of the main active ingredients of Polygonum sibiricum (PSP), which is a traditional food and medicine homologues in China. The antidepressant-like effects of PSP and its underlying mechanisms remain to be studied in depth, especially the regulation of microglial polarization. Methods: The chemical composition and structural characteristics of PSP was determined firstly. The CUMS procedure was carried out to the zebrafish for 5 weeks and PSP were immersed administration for 9 days (1 h/d). The body weight of zebrafish was monitored and the behavioral tests, including the novel tank test and light and dark tank test, were performed to evaluate the antidepressant-like effects of PSP. Then the function of HPI axis, the levels of peripheral inflammation, neuronal and blood-brain barrier damage in mesencephalon and telencephalon and the mRNA expression of M1/M2 phenotype genes in brain were examined. Results: PSP samples had the typical structure characteristics of polysaccharide, consisting of glucose, mannose and galactose with the average Mw 20.48 kDa, which owned a porous and agglomerated morphology. Compared with untreated zebrafish, the depression-like behaviors of CUMS-induced zebrafish were significantly attenuated. PSP significantly decreased the levels of cortisol and the pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased the levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokines in the body of CUMS-induced depressive zebrafish. Furthermore, neuronal and blood-brain barrier damage in mesencephalon and telencephalon and the mRNA expression of M1/M2 phenotype genes in brain were remarkably reversed by PSP. Conclusion: These findings indicated that the antidepressant-like effects of PSP were related to alter the HPI axis hyperactivation, suppress peripheral inflammation, inhibit neuroinflammation induced by microglia hyperactivation, and modulate microglial M1/M2 polarization. The current study provides foundation to the future exploitation of PSP in the functional foods of emotional regulation.

Remote sensing has been used as an important tool for disaster monitoring and disaster scope extraction, especially for the analysis of spatial and temporal disaster patterns of large-scale and long-duration series. Based on the Google Earth Engine cloud platform, this study used MODIS vegetation index products with 250-m spatial resolution synthesized over 16 days from the period 2005–2019 to develop a rapid and effective method for monitoring disasters across a wide spatiotemporal range. Three types of disaster monitoring and scope extraction models are proposed: the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) median time standardization model (R_{NDVI_TM(i)}), the NDVI median phenology standardization model (R_{NDVI_AM(i)(j)}), and the NDVI median spatiotemporal standardization model (R_{NDVI_ZM(i)(j)}). The optimal disaster extraction threshold for each model in different time phases was determined using Otsu’s method, and the extraction results were verified by medium-resolution images and ground-measured data of the same or quasi-same period. Finally, the disaster scope of cultivated land in Heilongjiang Province from 2010–2019 was extracted, and the spatial and temporal patterns of the disasters were analyzed based on meteorological data. This analysis revealed that the three aforementioned models exhibited high disaster monitoring and range extraction capabilities, with verification accuracies of 97.46%, 96.90%, and 96.67% for R_{NDVI_TM(i)}, R_{NDVI_AM(i)}, and _(j)R_{NDVI_ZM(i)(j)}, respectively. The spatial and temporal disaster distributions were found to be consistent with the disasters of the insured plots and the meteorological data across the entire province. Moreover, different monitoring and extraction methods were used for different disasters, among which wind hazard and insect disasters often required a delay of 16 days prior to observation. Each model also displayed various sensitivities and were applicable to different disasters. Compared with other techniques, the proposed method is fast and easy to implement. This new approach can be applied to numerous types of disaster monitoring as well as large-scale agricultural disaster monitoring and can easily be applied to other research areas. This study presents a novel method for large-scale agricultural disaster monitoring.

We theoretically investigate and optimize four-wave mixing (FWM) in silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides integrated with two-dimensional (2D) layered graphene oxide (GO) films. Based on extensive previous measurements of the material parameters of the GO films, we perform detailed analysis for the influence of device parameters including waveguide geometry, GO film thickness, length, and coating position on the FWM conversion efficiency (CE) and conversion bandwidth (CB). The influence of dispersion and photo-thermal changes in the GO films is also discussed. Owing to the strong mode overlap between the SiN waveguides and the highly nonlinear GO films, FWM in the hybrid waveguides can be significantly enhanced. We obtain good agreement with previous experimental results and show that by optimizing the device parameters to balance the trade-off between Kerr nonlinearity and loss, the FWM CE can be improved by as much as ~20.7 dB and the FWM CB can be increased by ~4.4 folds, relative to the uncoated waveguides. These results highlight the significantly enhanced FWM performance that can be achieved in SiN waveguides by integrating 2D layered GO films.

Researches on flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials usually focus on conducting polymers (CPs) and CP-based composites; however, it is a great challenge to obtain high TE properties comparable to inorganic counterparts. Here, we report an n-type Ag₂Se film on flexible nylon membrane with an ultrahigh power factor ~987.4 ± 104.1 μWm⁻¹K⁻² at 300 K and an excellent flexibility (93% of the original electrical conductivity retention after 1000 bending cycles around a 8-mm diameter rod). The flexibility is attributed to a synergetic effect of the nylon membrane and the Ag₂Se film intertwined with numerous high-aspect-ratio Ag₂Se grains. A TE prototype composed of 4-leg of the hybrid film generates a voltage and a maximum power of 19 mV and 460 nW, respectively, at a temperature difference of 30 K. This work opens opportunities of searching for high performance TE film for flexible TE devices.

Plant protein phosphatase 2Cs (PP2Cs) serve as negative regulators of protein kinase cascades activated in different processes and play important roles in plant development and abiotic-stress-mediated signaling pathways. In this study, a genome-wide study was conducted on the CqPP2C gene family. A total of putative 117 CqPP2C genes were identified. Comprehensive analyses of physical and chemical feature, chromosome localization and subcellular localization were conducted. According to phylogenetic analysis, CqPP2Cs were divided into 13 subfamilies. CqPP2Cs in the same subfamily had similar gene structure, conserved motif and all the CqPP2C proteins had the type 2C phosphatase domains. Gene duplication revealed that segmental duplication was the major driving force for CqPP2Cs expansion and all duplicated CqPP2Cs evolved from purifying selection. The expression of CqPP2Cs in various tissues under different abiotic stresses was analyzed using RNA-seq data. The results revealed that CqPP2C genes were involved in regulating development and stress responses of quinoa. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis of six CqPP2C genes in subfamily A revealed that they were up-regulated or down-regulated under salt and drought treatments. Furthermore, the results of yeast two-hybrid assays revealed that subfamily A CqPP2Cs interacted not only with subclass III CqSnRK2s, but also with subclass II CqSnRK2s. Subfamily A CqPP2Cs could interact with CqSnRK2s in different combinations and intensities to respond to various biological processes and stresses. Overall, our results will be useful for understanding the functions of CqPP2C in regulating ABA signals and responding to abiotic stress.

Relapsed leukemia following initial therapeutic response and remission is difficult to treat and causes high patient mortality. Leukemia relapse is due to residual quiescent leukemia cells that escape conventional therapies and later reemerge. Eliminating not only growing but quiescent leukemia cells is critical to effectively treating leukemia and preventing its recurrence. Such therapeutic agents, however, are lacking in the clinic. Here we report that a 4-arylmethyl derivative of the natural anticancer compound curcumin demonstrates a dual effect in eliminating both growing and quiescent leukemia cells. This curcumin derivative, C212, on the one hand, inhibits growing leukemia cells at a higher efficacy than curcumin by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest; it, on the other hand, kills quiescent leukemia cells that are resistant to conventional chemotherapy drugs. Furthermore, C212 drives leukemia cells into and kills them at deep quiescence, avoiding the potential risk associated with awaking therapy-resistant subpopulation of quiescent leukemia cells. Lastly, we show that C212 induces apoptosis and drives cells into deep dormancy at least partially by binding to and inhibiting Hsp90, leading to client protein degradation and protein aggregation. Further elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the dual function of C212 in eliminating both growing and quiescent leukemia cells will aid the development of novel therapies against leukemia relapse.

The exceptional performance of graphene has driven the advancement of its preparation technique and application. Laser-induced graphene (LIG), as a novel graphene preparation technique, has been applied in various fields. Graphene periodic structures created by LIG technique exhibit superhydrophobic characteristics and can be used for deicing and anti-icing applications, which are significantly influenced by the laser parameters. The laser surface treatment process was simulated by a finite element software analysis (COMSOL Multiphysics) to optimize the scanning parameter range, and the linear array surface structure were subsequently fabricated by the LIG technique. The generation of graphene was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The periodic linear array structure were observed by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser imaging (CLSM). In addition, CLSM testings, contact angle measurements, and delayed icing experiments were systematically performed to investigate the effect of scanning speed on surface hydrophobicity. The results show that the high quality and uniform graphene can be achieved using the laser scanning speed of 125 mm/s. The periodic linear array structures can obviously increase the contact angle and suppress delayed icing. Furthermore, these structures have the enhanced ability of the electric heating deicing, which can reach 100°C and 240°C within 15 s and within 60 s under the DC voltage power supply ranging from 3 to 7 V, respectively. These results indicate that the LIG technique can be developed to provide an efficient, economical, and convenient approach for preparing graphene and the hydrophobic surface array structure based on LIG has considerable potential for deicing and anti-icing applications.

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) with unique structures from marine animals show intriguing pharmacological activities and negligible biological risks, providing more options for us to explore safer agents. Swim bladder is a tonic food and folk medicine, and its GAGs show good anticoag-ulant activity. In this study, two GAGs SJG-1.0 and GMG-1.0 have been extracted and isolated from the swim bladder of Sphyraena jello and Gadus morhua. The physicochemical properties, pre-cise structural characteristics, and anticoagulant activities of these GAGs were determined. The analysis results of the SJG-1.0 and GMG-1.0 showed that they were chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate (DS) hybrid chains with molecular weights of 109.32 kDa and 123.13 kDa, respectively. They were mainly composed of the repeating disaccharide unit of -{IdoA-α1,3-GalNAc4S-β1,4-}- (DS-A). The DS-B disaccharide unit of -{IdoA2S-α1,3-GalNAc4S-β1,4-}- also existed in both SJG-1.0 and GMG-1.0. SJG-1.0 had a higher proportion of CS-O disaccharide unit -{-GlcA-β1,3-GalNAc-β1,4-}-, while GMG-1.0 contained higher proportion of CS-E disaccha-ride unit -{-GlcA-β1,3-GalNAc4S6S-β1,4-}-. The disaccharide compositions of the GAGs varied in a species-specific manner. Anticoagulant activity assay revealed that both SJG-1.0 and GMG-1.0 had potent anticoagulant activity, which can significantly prolong activated partial thrombosis time. GMG-1.0 also can prolong the thrombin time. SJG-1.0 showed no intrinsic tenase inhibition ac-tivity, while GMG-1.0 can obviously inhibit intrinsic tenase with EC50 of 58 nM. Their significantly different anticoagulant activities may be due to their different disaccharide structural units and proportions. These findings suggested that the swim bladder CS/DS hybrid chains with well-defined structure may be safer anticoagulants with low bleeding risk.

This paper reviews the multiple roles of machine learning in improving the resilience of power grids, especially in applying new energy storage technologies. Energy storage technologies, such as compressed air energy storage, flywheel energy storage, and superconducting coil energy storage, significantly improve the power grid's ability to respond to load fluctuations and emergencies through intelligent control and optimisation of machine learning algorithms. This not only helps to optimise energy dispatch and improve the operational efficiency and flexibility of the grid but also significantly improves the stability and reliability of the grid so that it is better able to meet future challenges and needs.