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.

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.

Objective: To use the ancient and modern medical record cloud platform (V2.3.5) to organize and explore the medication patterns of the "Three Causes, Extremity, and One Disease Syndrome Formula" by Chen Wuxuan, and to summarize its therapeutic ideas. Method: Collect and organize the "San Yin Si Tian Fang" in the "San Yin Ji Yi Zheng Fang Lun", and use the modern medical record cloud platform (V2.3.5) to conduct medication frequency statistical analysis, cluster analysis, and complex network analysis. As a result, a total of 16 Chinese herbal medicines were collected in the "Three Causes, Extreme and One Disease Syndrome Formula", involving 75 traditional Chinese medicines. Statistical analysis showed that roasted licorice was the most commonly used, followed by Pinellia ternata, papaya, ginger, and Poria cocos; Medications mainly include warm drugs, sweet and pungent flavors, as well as drugs that promote lung and spleen meridians. Cluster analysis can divide the above-mentioned traditional Chinese medicine into two groups, with specific grouping as follows. Group 1: ginger, white peony, aconite, papaya, and achyranthes bidentata; Group 2: roasted licorice, poria cocos, dried ginger, pinellia ternata, and green peel. Conclusion: The characteristics of the 16 prescriptions are biased towards Xin Gan Wen, emphasizing the regulation of the spleen and stomach, which may be related to the common use of prescription by doctors in the Song Dynasty and the tendency towards warm and dry medication.

In the 21st century, museums have come to realize that the human skeletons they display might have problematic origins. The older anthropological skeletal collections typically originate from anatomical dissection of the executed and the very poor, or from scavenged graves of indigenous people. Such collections are currently being re-evaluated in many countries, and reburying or repatriating museum skeletons have become viable options. A particularly difficult question is what to do with human remains of unknown origins. Here, we present and discuss one such case, where a human skeleton of unclear origin in the 1930’s was brought to a local museum in Bollnäs, Sweden, under likely unethical circumstances. Most of the bones have now been lost, except for the skull, the sacrum and one lumbar vertebra, which in 2007 were transferred to the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm. The skull was there put on display as the “Bollnäs skull”, and was presented to the public to illustrate the dilemmas involved in handling human remains in the post-colonial era. The original gift letter from 1934 stated that the skeleton came from San Nicolas Island outside the California coast, but this letter contained numerous instances of incorrect information and was therefore deemed not trustworthy. However, our critical examination of the skull and its background information indicates that San Nicolas Island is a plausible origin, and we suggest that a bioarchaeological comparison should be made between the skull and living descendants of the San Nicolas Island population, and/or with archaeological human skeletons excavated from the island.

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.

It is extremely fascinating and astonishing that the gravitational field on the surface of a neutron star is with a relativistic mass density of 2.65*10¹⁶~5.87*10¹⁸kgm^-3 which can be larger than the mass density of the neutron star (~10¹⁷kgm^-3).Therefore, it is the author’s first intuitional imagining that this field could directly convert into mass. In so strong a gravitational field, electron and proton could be produced directly from graviton–photon collision. The gravitational field exists in everywhere in our universe. No vacuum that the region of a space is “empty” does exist. A particle is clearly always being acted on by the gravitational field. The quantum vacuum fluctuation and vacuum polarization need be re-understood with the interaction between photon and gravitational field. Therefore, the gravitational field is naturally one of the foundations of modern physics.

Excitation of the acoustic field leading to the Blaha effect affects the plasticity of the material significantly in ultrasonic vibration-assisted forming. In a micro-forming field, the effects are more significant in the deformation in surface of materials [1]-[3], in which reduction of the surface roughness based on the increasing of plastic deformation of surface asperity was effective [4]. On the other hand, the effect on deformation behavior of the bulk region indicted reduction in the yield stress of materials, and not only acoustic effect [5], but also impact effect is found to generate a large amount of dislocation and produce plastic deformation [6][7]. However, the effect on the bulk is more significant as that on the surface. Differences in the effect on the surface and the bulk are not clarified. In this study, the mechanism of the deformation in the surface of the material with ultrasonic vibration assistance is investigated and compared with that in the bulk. Forging tests using a newly developed ultrasonic vibrator were carried out on pure Cu foils with various process conditions. The longitudinal vibration frequency of the ultrasonic transducer is 60∓2kHz, and the vibration amplitude is in an adjustable range of 0~10μm. Forging test was carried out at different initial stress, specimen size and amplitude. The difference in acoustic softening and impact effects on the surface and the bulk was discussed.

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

There are gravitational field and baryonic matter (star, planet, gases etc.) in our world; gravitational field is much more fundamental for that the relativistic mass of the gravitational field of a neutron star is almost 10²¹ times the mass of the neutron star. And, it is astonishing that the relativistic mass density of the gravitational field on the surface of a neutron star can be larger than the mass density of the neutron star. It is well known that, in the weak gravitational field a light line appears a straight line while in the strong field it is a curved line. It is stressed that the result measured in the strong field is more fundamental for that in a galaxy the measurable object is generally with strong field. It results in that the way that the result measured on the Earth with weak field is used as the universal standard need be revised as gravity is studied in the scale of a galaxy. It seems that a new theory of gravity need be developed for the new observations.

Appling the controlling relative permittivity and permeability in the equations for the gravitational-magnetic-electric field interaction, a very large variation of the gravitational acceleration of the Earth by electric/magnetic field could be arrived at. This conclusion may be supported by some of the experiments for the gravitational effect of superconductivity.

Studying the two famous old problems that why the moon can move around the Sun and why the orbit of the Moon around the Earth cannot be broken off by the Sun under the condition that calculating with F=GMm/R^2, the attractive force of the Sun on the Moon is almost 2.2 times that of the Earth. We found that the planet and moon are unified as one single gravitational unit which results in that the Sun cannot have the force of F=GMm/R^2 on the moon. The moon is moved by the gravitational unit orbiting around the Sun. It could indicate that the gravitational field of the moon is limited inside the unit and the gravitational fields of both the planet and moon is unified as one single field interacting with the Sun. The findings are further clarified by reestablishing Newton’s repulsive gravity.

Mathematics first is a logical system. But, the Mathematics Crisis showed that we cannot have a logical self-consistent mathematics system. Physics is a kind of applied science. It first need be valid to invent new production and understand new observation. In one theory of physics, the studied object is usually defined as an abstract concept. For example, the Sun is defined as a point particle in the Newtonian theory of gravity. In different theories of physics, the abstract concept for a same object is different. It determines that logical self-consistent is not needed for different theories of physics. Physics only can be developed from observation and experiment. But, in the past a century, physicists’ main attempt is to have a standard model, such as the Grand Unification or the Theory for Everything, from mathematics derivation. Therefore, the current attempt to develop new physics is questioned. In recent, the strong gravitational field was studied. It is found that the fundamental physical constants which are measured in the weak field shall be varied in a super strong field. For the two reasons, modern physics need be advanced greatly.

Dynamic time history analysis is a powerful and effective method to study the seismic response of tunnels, the dynamic time history to analyze the seismic response of the tunnel in the typical subway in this paper. The analysis results show that the overall levelling of the tunnel will not affect the tunnel too much, and the seismic response of the tunnel is mainly related to the relative displacement of the ground around the tunnel. The analysis results show that the internal force of the tunnel and the tunnel inclination have a good linear relationship, and the tunnel inclination can be used to measure the magnitude of the seismic response of the tunnel.

Background: This study examines the relationship between energy usage, health issues, and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) in Kyrgyzstan, amidst the country's commitment to transition from coal-based energy to renewable sources in line with the Paris Agreement. The purpose is to investigate citizens' attitudes towards PEB and their intentions to engage in environmentally friendly actions, focusing on gas, electricity, and coal. Methods: Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework, a survey was conducted among 1,455 respondents to explore attitudes towards PEB and energy sources' impact on health issues. Results: Decarbonization efforts in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia are in their early stages, with coal remaining a primary energy source. The study emphasizes the importance of governmental policies and citizen action in achieving decarbonization goals. Rising electricity costs outweigh the increase in indirect energy costs for food, posing challenges for households in adapting to changing energy dynamics. Conclusions: Targeted interventions and communication strategies are crucial to promote pro-environmental behavior and facilitate the transition to sustainable energy sources. Understanding the relationships between health concerns, air pollution awareness, PEB, and energy source choices can inform policymakers and organizations in their efforts to ensure a sustainable and healthy future for Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries.

RNA-seq faces persistent challenges due to the ongoing expanding array of data processing workflows, none of which have yet achieved standardization to date. It is imperative to determine which method most effectively preserves biological facts. Shannon entropy serves as a tool for depicting the biological status of a system. Thus, we assessed the measurement of Shannon entropy by several RNA-seq workflow approaches, employing RPKM and median normalization on paired samples of 475 TCGA RNA-seq datasets spanning eight different cancer types with 5-year overall survival rates ranging from 30% to 98%. Our analysis revealed that the RPKM normalization coupled with a threshold of log2 fold change ≥1 for indentifying differentially expressed genes, yielded the best results with a correlation coefficient of 0.91. We propose that Shannon entropy can serve as an objective metric for refining the optimization of RNA-seq workflows.

The classical human satellite DNAs, also referred to as human satellites 1, 2 and 3 (HSat1, HSat2, HSat3, collectively HSat1-3) constitute the largest individual arrays of tandemly repeated DNA sequences in the genome. Even though they were among the first human DNA sequences to be isolated and characterized at the dawn of molecular biology, HSat1-3 have been left behind in the genomics era and remain among the most enigmatic sequences in the human genome. Although HSat1-3 total roughly 3% of the genome on average, they were almost entirely missing from the human genome reference assembly for 20 years. Recently, the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium produced the first truly complete assembly of a human genome, including the enormous HSat1-3 arrays, opening them up for a new wave of discovery. Towards this end, here, I provide an account of the history and current understanding of HSat1-3 genomics, evolution, and roles in disease.

Môle Saint-Nicolas, like all other communes in the Republic of Haiti, faces increasing climate variability, impacting agricultural production and water resources. Consequently, there is a pressing need for adaptation to these climatic changes. This research aims to showcase the adaptation strategies deployed by farmers to cope with the increasing climate variability. Surveys were conducted through group and individual discussions with a randomly selected cohort of 150 farmers. Two types of analysis were performed: quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data analysis was conducted using SPSS software. The findings reveal that farmers have perceived changes in rainfall patterns, temperature, wind, and their environment. These changes manifest as irregular rainfall, higher temperatures, prolonged drought periods, violent winds accompanied by rain, premature cessation of rains, and reduced flow from water sources. In response, the most common adaptation strategies developed include selecting new cultivars, early-maturing varieties, crop rotation and diversification, canal dredging, new soil preparation methods, upstream water source protection, and micro-watershed management. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to enhancing farmers' adaptive capacities by alerting stakeholders in the irrigated perimeters about the consequences of climate change, thereby incorporating the real needs of farmers in future projects.

Indigo leaves form various plant species are sources of dyes/pigments, not fully exploited for making sustainable textiles. Blue indigo vat dye extracted from indigo leaves, yields high wash colorfastness but fades slowly with light, and is not easily used for direct printing. Indigo leaves can be used to produce textiles of various color shades, while light resistant Mayan-inspired hybrid pigments have not yet been used for textile coloring. Using blue indigo dyes from 3 plant species, with exhaustion dyeing, intense wash resistant blue colored textiles are produced, and in the case of Indigofera Persicaria tinctoria, textiles have antibacterial activity against S. Epidermis and E. Coli.100% Natural Mayan-inspired blue indigo pigment, made from Sepiolite clay and indigo dye, was used both in powdered and paste forms to perform pigment textile dyeing by pad cure process, and direct screen printing on textiles. A water-based bio-binder (40%) was used efficiently for both padding and printing. Bio-based Na Alginate thickener allowed color fast printing on both polyester and cotton fabrics, while bio-based glycerin allowed good print color fastness on polyester only, yielding prints with excellent color fastness to wash (5/5), to dry and wet rubbing (5/5) and light (7/7).

The new observations, including the fastest star, the circular velocity curve of the Milky Way and the fast galaxy bar, should imply that the mass of the center of the Milky Way is almost 10¹¹ times the mass of the Sun.

While numerous studies have explored the correlation between the built environment and ride-hailing demand, few have assessed their nonlinear interplay. Utilizing ride-hailing order data and multi-source built environment data from Nanjing, China, this paper uses the machine learning method, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), combined with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and Partial Dependence Plots (PDP) to investigate the impact of built environment factors on ride-hailing travel demand, including their non-linear and threshold effects. The findings reveal that dining facilities have the most significant impact, with a contribution rate of 30.75%, on predicting ride-hailing travel demand. Additionally, financial, corporate, and medical facilities also exert considerable influence. The built environment factors need to reach a certain threshold or within a certain range to maximize the impact of ride-hailing travel demand. population density, land use mix and distance to the subway station collectively influence ride-hailing demand. The results are helpful for TNCs to allocate network ride-hailing resources reasonably and effectively.

The article describes the rational for inhibition of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) pathways as specific targets in patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 in order to prevent the establishment of positive feedback loops triggered by COVID-19 in some predisposed subjects. Making use of a large quantity of published reports in which human/rodent ACE2 pathway inhibitors were administered in vivo, it is hypothesized a possible therapeutic pharmacological intervention through an inhibition strategy of the zinc metalloprotease ACE2 and its downstream pathway for SARS-CoV-2 patients. Of even more interest, metal (zinc) chelators and renin inhibitors (both FDA approved drugs) may also work alone or in combination in inhibiting the positive feedback loops, initially triggered by COVID-19 and subsequently sustained by hypoxia independently on viral trigger, when both arms of renin-angiotensin system (ACE2 and ACE) are upregulated, leading to critical, advanced and untreatable stages of the disease.

With the daily increasing demands for higher-quality services, mobile Internet of Things (MIoT) are facing various challenges, such as communication security, availability, scalability, etc. Its changing topology features bring a lot of trouble when solving the above problems. Though the evolved cellular network is expected to bring promising solutions, some inherent problems in traditional MIoTs may keep hindering its development. Thus, to overcome above problems, we propose a software-defined MIoTs-based model providing communication security and privacy protection under emergencies. In our scheme, the control plane is responsible to compute routes for online learning devices (OLDs), and forward entries for switches. Taking use of information that OLDs and facilities collect, controller is able to coordinate the overall situation. To ensure the authenticity and reliability of messages sent by OLDs, signature and authentication should be provided. We also introduce an emergency-dealing system. It transplants the multicast technology into software-defined MIoTs to generate a Steiner Tree among impacted nodes, so that OLDs will be informed as soon as emergency happening. The security analysis proves that our scheme is able to ensure the communication security in software-defined MIoTs. The evaluation of performance indicates that our scheme outperforms other existing schemes.

The high-quality development of urban-rural integration is a vital component of China's economy, serving as a strategic response to the in-depth deployment of new urbanization and rural revitalization strategies. This integration is underscored by the promotion of entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers, which acts as a driver for fostering high-quality development in urban-rural areas through market competition. The resulting influx of resources and commodities with similar characteristics plays a crucial role in bridging the urban-rural divide. To maintain objectivity, it is important to adopt a balanced approach and refrain from using biased language. This study delves into the connotation and internal mechanism of the high-quality development of urban-rural integration, centering on the principle of 'quality'. Specifically, it examines the role of entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers, and evaluates its direct impact and transmission mechanism. The research employs balanced panel data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region spanning from 2003 to 2021. The findings reveal that entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers serves as a catalyst for promoting high-quality urban-rural development through the construction of a virtuous cycle, whereby resource factors and commodity services are exchanged. Moreover, this deep integration yields diverse effects across economic, spatial, demographic, social, and ecological domains, underscoring the necessity of continued support for entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers to facilitate a seamless urban-rural economic cycle and fully realize the benefits of high-quality development.

Body weight support (BWS) and incline running (IR) are commonly used either during rehabilitation or during training separately, with many positive effects on athletes’ performance and rehabilitation. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of BWS and IR. In eighteen healthy men (age: 20.3 ± 1.2 yr, body weight: 70.2 ± 4.8 kg, body height: 179.6 ± 5.4 cm), the changes in electromyographic activity (EMGA) during a 10-min run with BWS (15% or 30% of body weight; in different occasions) and IR at 7%, as well as jumping performance and gait spatiotemporal parameters were evaluated. Lower Rating of Perceived Exertion and a significant decrease in VL (33,4%), SOL (17%), and GL EMGA (28.5%, p < 0.05) but not in GM (10.5%, p > 0.05), were observed during BWS30% at 7% slope compared to flat running. Also, low-frequency fatigue of the quadriceps was induced only after running without BWS at 7% slope (P = 0.011). No changes were found in jumping performance (p = 0.246) and gait spatiotemporal parameters (p > 0.05) except for flight time (p < 0.006). In conclusion, compared to normal flat running, BWS reduces electromyographic activity and fatigue during slope running.

In the development of automatic control, PID control is the oldest of the basic control mode, the control algorithm is the most widely used in engineering, especially the applied research of robustness has extensive engineering practical value. In this paper, based on the principle of the internal model PID parameter setting method was studied, through different approximate processing method, derived the three different formula of PID internal model setting and simulation verify the effectiveness of the algorithm. At the same time, the robustness of the controlled process under different parameter perturbation is theoretically analyzed and simulated.Finally, the paper summarizes the whole paper and looks forward to the future development trend.

Chronic inflammation may have a detrimental impact on human health as it tends to result in cancer. In addition, it is often linked to different steps that participate in tumorigenesis, including cellular transformation, survival, promotion, invasion, proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Hence, inflammation predisposes cancer development and plays a vital role in promoting all tumorigenesis stages. Inflammation is caused by many factors, such as bacterial and viral infections, tobacco smoking, autoimmune diseases, obesity, asbestos exposure, and many others, increasing cancer risk. Moreover, cancer can be enhanced by mutations that proceed to cancer progression. Consequently, it leads to immunosuppression and provides a favorable background for tumor development. Although many studies address the question of relationships between inflammation and cancer development, little attention is paid to the link between inflammation and blood cancer. Therefore, the current study reviews the role of inflammation in cancer development, particularly in blood cancer. A meta-analysis research approach meets the research objective and answers the research question. The review results indicate that chronic inflammation directly relates to the development of many cancer types, blood cancer in particular.

In recent, Chae found that, at weak gravitational acceleration g_N≲10⁻⁹ms⁻², the observed orbit of the wide binary stars is not accordant with current theory of binary star. Here, we present, this finding should be an observational evidence for that Newtonian theory of orbit perturbation is still valid in galactic scale.

In any region of a space, the gravitational field cannot be eliminated. The speed of light in a vacuum has never been observed and cannot be observed with current technology. Till now, only the speed of light in a gravitational field has been observed. It results in that all the observed speed of light are always being varied by the gravity. Here, it is presented that light could be dispersion in a gravitational field analogous to the dispersion of light in the Newtonian prism experiment. The relativistic mass density on the surface of a neutron star is on the level of 10¹⁷kg/m³ while on the surface of the Earth is only 10^-7kg/m³, the effect of the gravitational field acting on the speed of light by a neutron star is much larger than that by the Earth. Therefore, the dispersion of light in strong gravitational field could be generally observed from the image of a star and it should have been observed through the double-image gravitational lensing and the spectroscopic binary system. And, it should affect the observed numbers, spectrogram, size and distance of the celestial objects.

It is discovered that the gravitational field on the surface of a neutron star is with a relativistic mass density of 2.65*10¹⁶~5.87*10¹⁸kgm^-3 which can be larger than the mass density of the neutron star (~10¹⁷kgm^-3). And, the total relativistic mass of the gravitational field of the Sun is ~10⁷ times the mass of the Sun. For different stars, the relativistic mass of the gravitational field is larger as the mass density of the star is larger. In the Milky Way, the total relativistic mass of the gravitational fields is much larger than the total mass of the stars, planets and gas. And, the relativistic mass density of the observed strongest magnetic field is 2.17*10⁸kgm^-3. This discovery should be a new frame to understand the fundamental problem of physics.

Carbohydrate and menthol mouth-swilling have been used to enhance exercise performance in the heat. However, these strategies differ in mechanism and subjective experience. Participants (n=12) sat for 60 min in hot conditions (35°C; 15±2%), following a 15 min control period, participants undertook three 15 min testing blocks. A randomised swill (Carbohydrate; Menthol; Water) was administered per testing block (one swill every three minutes within each block). Heart rate, tympanic temperature, thermal comfort, thermal sensation and thirst were recorded every three minutes. Data were analysed by ANOVA, with carbohydrate intake controlled for via ANCOVA. Small elevations in heart rate were observed after carbohydrate (ES: 0.22 ± 90% CI: -0.09 to 0.52) and water swilling (0.26; -0.04 to 0.54). Menthol showed small improvements in thermal comfort relative to carbohydrate (-0.33; -0.63 to 0.03) and water (-0.40; -0.70 to -0.10), and induced moderate reductions in thermal sensation (-0.71; -1.01 to -0.40 and -0.66; -0.97 to -0.35, respectively). Menthol reduced thirst by a small to moderate extent. These effects persisted when controlling for dietary carbohydrate intake. Carbohydrate and water may elevate heart rate, whereas menthol elicits small improvements in thermal comfort, moderately improves thermal sensation and may mitigate thirst; these effects persist when dietary carbohydrate intake is controlled for.

(1) Background: AI technology has been deeply applied to online shopping platform to provide more accurate and personalized services for consumers. It is of great significance to study the different functional experience of AI for consumers to improve the current application status of AI technology.(2)Method: Based on the "S-O-R" model, this study divided the AI technology expe-rienced by the consumers of online shopping platform into accuracy, insight and interaction experience. Takes the perceived value as the mediating variable from the prospect of perceived utility value and perceived hedonic value. This article use empirical research method to analyze the effect of three dimensions of online shopping AI experience to research the internal influence mechanism of consumers purchase intention. (3) Results:① The accuracy, insight and interaction experience of AI marketing technology have a significant positive impact on consumers' per-ceived utility value and hedonic value respectively; ②Both of the perceived utility value and perceived hedonic value obtained by AI technology experience can promote the formation of consumers' purchase intention; ③ The perceived hedonic value was better than perceived utility value to promote the consumers' purchase intention; ④The results of multi group analysis show that some younger and less experiences consumers groups prefer the pleasure experience such as shopping desire stimulation, shopping process relaxation and pleasure that AI marketing brought. However, utilitarian value cannot promote this kind of consumers' purchase intention. (4) Con-clusions: Perceived utility value and perceived hedonic value can be the intermediary between AI technology and consumers' purchase intention.

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

Background: The uptake of COVID-19 booster vaccines has been significantly low. Therefore, it is questionable whether combining the COVID-19 booster vaccines with Influenza vaccines can increase the population's interest in taking such vaccines and manage the health pandemic effectively. Methodology: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a synthesis of the findings and summary of a total of 30 research articles based on the topic, ‘combining influenza and COVID-19 booster vaccination strategy’ was undertaken. The research articles were identified from three databases, namely, PubMed, Cochran Library, and Google Scholar using specific keywords and inclusion criteria. However, research articles that were not peer-reviewed and not published in English were excluded from the systematic review and meta-analysis. The average risk ratio of the included articles was 0.78% based on a 95% CI. On the other hand, the heterogeneity between such studies was I² = 35%, while the statistical significance of their findings occurred at p < 0.05. The average p-value of the included research studies was p = 0.62, implying that the null hypothesis was not rejected in almost all the studies. Results: A synthesis of the chosen research articles revealed that when influenza and COVID-19 booster vaccines are combined, there is potential for an increase in the uptake of the latter, mainly because many populations have already been accustomed to taking influenza vaccines on an annual basis. Conclusions: In this way, through such findings, medical health experts can make informed decisions to increase the population's willingness to receive the COVID-19 booster vaccines.

Efficiency serves as a crucial metric in assessing the advancement of scientific research for universities. Reasonable inputs of human resources, finances, materials, and other resources, along with high-quality research output, are important guarantees for the research efficiency of Chinese universities. This study delves into the patterns of changes of research efficiency among universities across the 31 provinces and municipalities of China from 2012 to 2022. By scrutinizing input-output perspectives and utilizing data sourced from the China Statistical Yearbook, the analysis unveils prevailing scenarios of input redundancy and output insufficiency in research efficiency across universities. The static and dynamic trends in research efficiency were further investigated by employing a static non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-BCC model and a dynamic Malmquist index. Key findings from the analysis from 2012 to 2022 include: (1) notable growth in investments in teaching, research equipment assets, and research and development funds among nationwide universities; (2) a steady increase in the mean value of technical efficiency (TE) from 0.97 to 0.99, indicating continuous enhancement in overall efficiency in research input resource allocation across the provinces; (3) the mean Malmquist productivity index of 1.285, with an average annual increase of 28.5%, signifying a consistent improvement in university research efficiency throughout the study period; and (4) the provinces experiencing varying degrees of input redundancy or output insufficiency were selected to suggest the need for tailored strategies in resource allocation. The study underscores the importance of a holistic evaluation system involving stakeholders from government, universities, and society to optimize research efficiency and promote scientific innovation and social development.

Background of the Study: We investigated the link between hypertension and cancer since it has been suggested that hypertension may raise the long-term risk of cancer. Previous large observational cohort studies found that greater blood pressure (BP) was related to a higher risk of cancer. Mendelian randomization (MR) was utilized to produce less confounded blood pressure estimates (BP) on overall and site-specific malignancies. The study aims to draw conclusions on the relationship between high blood pressure and cancer. Methods: Studies on high blood pressure and various malignancies are inconclusive, except for renal cell carcinoma. However, given that most meta-analyses only contained a limited number of trials, some relative risks had small to moderate magnitudes, and several may have been impacted by residual confounding, careful interpretation is necessary. The study was conducted using the meta-analysis technique. Cochran's Q test and I2 test were used to assess statistical heterogeneity between studies in the current investigation for research involving two or more cause and outcome combinations. Results: Positive correlations were also reported between high blood pressure and esophageal adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, liver, and squamous cell carcinoma. However, most studies lacked multivariable adjustments. Physical and numerical risk of cardiovascular disease is linked to bowel cancer but no other cancers. According to a meta-analysis, hypertensive persons could also be at increased danger of gastrointestinal and breast cancer. Most meta-analyses comprised several trials with moderate or mild hazard ratios.ConclusionDifferent types of cancers have been noted to be directly caused by hypertension. In addition, some treatments have also been associated with the side effects of cancer treatments to cause hypertension. Women facing hypertension have an increased risk of getting breast cancer. Although some cancers showed a real relationship with hypertension, others had no connection at all.

In winter 2008-2009, Lake Occhito, a strategic multiple-uses reservoir in South Italy, was affected by an extraordinary Planktothrix rubescens bloom. P. rubescens is a filamentous potentially toxic cyanobacterium which has recently colonized many environments in Europe. A number of studies is currently available on the use of remote sensing techniques to monitor different fresh water cyanobacteria species. By contrast no specific applications are available on the remote sensing monitoring of P. rubescens. In this paper we present a specific algorithm, based on Water Leaving Reflectances (WLR) from MERIS data, atmospherically corrected using the Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) retrieved by MODIS data, to detect P. rubescens blooms. The high accuracy in AOT data, provided by MOD09 surface reflectance product, at 1km spatial resolution, allowed obtaining a good correlation between the WLR and the P. rubescens chlorophyll-a concentrations measured in the field, through multiple stations fluorometric profiles. A modified Normalized Difference Chlorophyll index (NDCI) algorithm is presented. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been successfully compared with other specific algorithms for turbid productive waters. We demonstrated how important is to verify the spectral behaviour of bio-optical parameters in order to develop an ad hoc algorithm that better performs with respect to standard algorithms.

Splines and quasi-interpolation operators are important both in approximation theory and applications. In this paper, we construct a family of quasi-interpolation operators for the bivariate quintic spline spaces S₅³ (∆_mn⁽²⁾). Moreover, the properties of the proposed quasi-interpolation operators are studied, as well as its applications for solving two-dimensional Burgers’ equation and image reconstruction. Some numerical examples show that these methods, which are easy to implement, provide accurate results.

A significant number of research studies have focused on determining whether BMI influences various types of cancer. The findings of these studies showed that people have to manage their BMIs to decrease their risk of developing various types of cancer, one of which is ovarian cancer. A PRISMA guideline for systematic review and meta-analysis was used to identify 20 research studies related to the topic to establish the truth or falsity of the findings. Later, their findings were synthesized. The synthesis of the findings of such research articles suggests that overweight and obesity increase an individual’s risk of developing ovarian cancer and experiencing severe symptoms of the disease. In such a manner, the current research study can conclude that effective management of BMI is necessary for decreasing the prevalence and mortality rates associated with ovarian cancer.

Objective: The aim of this study is to explore what inside the lipid lump obtained from skin. Try to understand the reasons for these physiological functions. In this paper, the lipid droplets or lumps was aimed to shed light on, figuring out what kind of cracks from metabolism were embedded inside. Results: A novel method was introduced for the detection of pathogens within lipid droplets extracted from acne or inflamed pores, as well as normal pores, using microscopic analysis. Through this technique, the presence of cracks from our body within these lipid droplets were identified. Methods: Observations were conducted using a microscope, with samples placed on slides and grind like blood smear. To enhance the transparency of the samples, tween-20 was utilized. This reagent was first time to be used for observing such big lipid lump of skin secretion. The evidences were recorded using the DMi8 camera from Leica.

We investigate the possible laboratory origins of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b genotype B3.13, currently affecting various animal species and causing sporadic human infections. The first detection of HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in the Netherlands in 2020 raises concerns about earlier gain-of-function research. The proximal origins of HPAI H5N1 Clade 2.3.4.4b may be the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) in Athens, Georgia and the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Genetic analysis indicates that genotype B3.13 emerged in 2024 and exhibits genetic links to genotype B1.2, which was identified to have originated in Georgia in January 2022 after the start of serial passage research with H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4 in mallard ducks at the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) in Athens, Georgia in April 2021. Genotype B1.2 was found in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in March 2022 in Florida, indicating sudden new adaptations to different animal species. The NP gene of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b (genotype B3.13), which is causing outbreaks in cattle, was reported to have likely originated from an avian influenza A virus derived from mallard ducks. Significant mutations found in recent human cases, including PB2 E627K and PB2 M631L, also suggest links to serial passage experiments. However, further investigation is urgently needed to confirm these findings and to identify all H5N1 laboratory leaks that may have occurred with a focus on mallard ducks and other migratory waterfowl, which have the potential to infect a large number of poultry and livestock facilities around the world. A moratorium on gain-of-function research including serial passage of H5N1 is indicated to prevent a man-made influenza pandemic affecting animals and humans.

This study aimed to apply different complexity-based methods to surface electromyography (EMG) in order to detect neuromuscular changes after realistic warm-up and stretching procedures. Sixteen volunteers conducted two experimental sessions. They were tested before, after a standardized warm-up, and after a stretching exercise (static or neuromuscular nerve gliding technique). Tests included measurements of the knee flexion torque and EMG of biceps femoris (BF) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles. EMG was analyzed using the root mean square (RMS), sample entropy (SampEn), percentage of recurrence and determinism following a recurrence quantification analysis (%Rec and %Det) and a scaling parameter from a detrended fluctuation analysis. Torque was significantly greater after warm-up as compared to baseline and after stretching. RMS was not affected by the experimental procedure. In contrast, SampEn was significantly greater after warm-up and stretching as compared to baseline values. %Rec was not modified but %Det for BF muscle was significantly greater after stretching as compared to baseline. The a scaling parameter was significantly lower after warm-up as compared to baseline for ST muscle. From the present results, complexity-based methods applied to the EMG give additional information than linear-based methods. They appeared sensitive to detect EMG complexity increases following warm-up.

This research presents a comprehensive framework for efficiently generating forest fire datasets from Google Earth Engine data sources. The primary contribution of this work lies in providing a methodology to swiftly extract forest fire factors without the need for permissions or access to private datasets, rendering the dataset openly accessible and shared without barriers. Furthermore, given that the remote sensing data used is a global dataset, it can be applied in any region without restrictions. In this study, Peninsular Malaysia is chosen as a case study to demonstrate the framework's effectiveness. The generated dataset includes essential variables including the climate and environment, landcover, topography, and anthropogenic factors facilitating the analysis of fire occurrences. The methodology empowers data scientists, enabling them to leverage their analytical skills on the extracted dataset without requiring specialized remote sensing knowledge. Additionally, this study also showcases the adoption of large language models, specifically GPT-4 with the Noteable plugin, as a tool for conducting preliminary analyses on the generated dataset. Sample analyses reveal that several key features, including the KBDI, LST, PDSI, climate water deficit, and precipitation, significantly impact forest fire occurrences in Peninsular Malaysia. Despite the successful application of the GPT-4 with Noteable plugin, certain limitations and challenges are identified, highlighting the necessity for further validation of the tool's applicability and limitations. This study encourages future research to (1) adopt the proposed framework in other regions, (2) explore more detailed analyses encompassing all variables, and (3) leverage machine learning for advanced forecasting.

Various theoretical studies have shown that highly diluted plutonium solutions could have a positive temperature effect, but up to now, no experimental program has confirmed this effect. The French Plutonium Temperature Effect Experimental Program (or PU+ in short) aims to effectively show that such a positive temperature effect exists for diluted plutonium solutions. The PU+ experiments were conducted in the “Apparatus B” facility at the CEA VALDUC research center in France. It involved several sub-critical approach type experiments using plutonium nitrate solutions with concentrations of 14.3, 15, and 20 g/l at temperatures ranging from 20 to 40 °C. Fourteen (five at 20 g/l, four at 15 g/l, and five at 14.3 g/l) phase-I experiments (consisting in independent subcritical approaches) were performed between 2006 and 2007. The impact of the uncertainties on solution acidity and plutonium concentration made it difficult to demonstrate the positive temperature effect, requiring an additional phase-II experiment (with a unique plutonium solution) from 22 to 28 °C, that were performed in July 2007. This phase-II experiment has shown the existence of a positive temperature effect of ~ +2.2 pcm/°C (from 22 to 28 °C for a plutonium concentration of 14.3 g/l). It has been recently possible to confirm the results of this program with MORET 5 calculations by generating thermal scattering data S(α,β) at the correct experimental temperatures.

Off-grid electrification planning increasingly recognizes the importance of productive use of electricity (PUE) to promote community value creation and (financial) project sustainability. To ensure a sustainable and efficient integration in the community and energy system, PUE assets must carefully be evaluated to match both the community needs and the residential electricity demand patterns. We propose a novel methodology interlinking qualitative interviews, statistical analysis, and energy system modelling to optimize decision-making for PUE integration in off-grid energy systems in rural Madagascar by aligning relevant PUE effectively with anticipated residential electricity demand patterns based on socio-economic determinants of the community. We find that a possible contribution of the PUE to reducing the electricity costs depends signifi-cantly on three factors: 1. the residential electricity consumption patterns that are influenced by the socio-economic composition of the community, 2. the degree of flexibility of i) PUE assets and ii) operational preferences of the PUE user, and 3. the capacity of community members to finance and operate PUE assets. Our study demonstrates that significant cost reductions for PUE-integrated off-grid energy systems can be achieved by applying our proposed methodology. When matching PUE and residential consumption patterns, the integration of PUE assets in residential community energy system can reduce the financial risk of operators, provided the PUE enterprise operates reliably and sustainably. We highlight that the consideration of local value chains and co-creation approaches are essential to ensure the energy system is addressing the community’s needs, creates value for the community, enhances the project´s financial sustainability, and is achieving the overall objectives of decentralized energy system planning.

There exists a great potential for application in soil mechanics with the use of mechanistic models such as the finite element model, and other non-local models, such as the peridynamic model, since the soil mass can be modelled as a group of particles that interact with each other. In this work, we determine the bearing capacity of deep foundations where stresses are transmitted to deep deposits, which generally present better characteristics in terms of compressibility and shear strength. One of the main elements are driven piles, which must be previously designed, made and tested before their final use. In this work, a comparison with different methods is presented. The finite element method and the peridynamic model are used. Because the effect of consolidation was not taken into account, in these examples, the assumption is made that the structures are cemented in inert soil. Likewise, it is assumed that the water table has no influence on the simulations. Failure envelopes were observed where bonds between particles present high gradients of deformation and fracture. Bearing capacities were estimated and compared with those obtained from the Terzaghi and Meyerhof methods.

The research aims to examine the extent to which the perceived organizational support (POS) predicted career related self and environmental exploration via the mediation effect of career adaptability. Multi-group comparisons based on the gender, majors and places of origin were also performed to evaluate the differences among these variables. An internet survey was conducted to collect empirical data from 611 Chinese undergraduates. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to demonstrate the proposed relations in the model and multiple group analysis. Clearly supported was the direct relations between POS and career related self and environmental exploration and the mediation effect of career adaptability. The results also showed that gender and major are the moderating variables for the proposed model, and no significance difference among the rural and urban subgroups was found. POS could be effectively delivered to students in general, marginalized social groups, such as females and those majored in the humanities and social sciences in particular. Four dimensions of career adaptability (concern, control, curiosity and confidence) could also be targeted at in order to promote students’ sustainable employment. The findings provide a better understanding of the career construction model by incorporating the contextual factor in a collective cultural environment.

Traumatic cardiac arrest has a high mortality. We report the case of a 65 years old women who presented a cardiac arrest following traffic accident. Examinations concluded to a tension gastro thorax with a delayed diagnosis. Naso gastric tube insertion was for many authors a temporary care while waiting for surgery. We report on the diagnostic difficulties found in the literature and a recent review of published cases.

Manual review of the extensive literature covering nutrition-based lifestyle interventions to promote healthy cognitive ageing has proved educative, however, data-driven techniques can better account for the large size of the literature (tens of thousands of potentially relevant publications to date) and interdisciplinary nature of where relevant publications may be found. In this study we present a new way to map the literature landscape focusing on nutrition-based lifestyle interventions to promote healthy cognitive ageing. We applied a combination of citation network analysis and text mining to map out the existing literature on nutritional interventions and cognitive health. Results indicated five overarching clusters of publications, which could be further deconstructed into a total of 35 clusters. These could be broadly distinguished by focus on lifespan stages (e.g. infancy versus older age), and specificity regarding nutrition (e.g. narrow focus on iodine deficiency versus broad focus on weight gain). Rather than concentrating into a single cluster, interventions were present throughout the majority of the research. We conclude that a data-driven map of the nutritional intervention literature can benefit the design of future interventions, by highlighting topics and themes that could be synthesized across currently disconnected clusters of publications.

In proteomics, it is essential to quantify proteins in absolute terms if we wish compare results among studies and integrate high-throughput biological data into genome-scale metabolic models. While labeling target peptides with stable isotopes allows protein abundance to be accurately quantified, the utility of this technique is constrained by the low number of quantifiable proteins that it yields. Recently, label-free shotgun proteomics has become the “gold standard” for carrying out global assessments of biological samples containing thousands of proteins. However, this tool must be further improved if we wish to accurately quantify absolute levels of proteins. Here, we used different label-free quantification techniques to estimate absolute protein abundance in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. More specifically, we evaluated the performance of seven different quantification methods, based either on spectral counting (SC) or extracted-ion chromatogram (XIC), which were applied to samples from five different proteome backgrounds. We also compared the accuracy and reproducibility of two strategies for transforming relative abundance into absolute abundance: a UPS2-based strategy and the total protein approach (TPA). This study mentions technical challenges related to UPS2 use and proposes ways of addressing them, including utilizing a smaller, more highly optimized amount of UPS2. Overall, three SC-based methods (PAI, SAF, and NSAF) yielded the best results because they struck a good balance between experimental performance and protein quantification.

3D printing is described as the third industrial revolution: its impact is global in industry and progresses every day in society. It presents a huge potential for ecology and evolution, sciences with a long tradition of inventing and creating objects for research, education and outreach. Its general principle as an additive manufacturing technique is relatively easy to understand: objects are created by adding material layers on top of each other. Although this may seem very straightforward on paper, it is much harder in the real world. Specific knowledge is indeed needed to successfully turn an idea into a real object, because of technical choices and limitations at each step of the implementation. This article aims at helping scientists to jump in the 3D printing revolution, by offering a hands-on guide to current 3D printing technology. We first give a brief overview of uses of 3D printing in ecology and evolution, then review the whole process of object creation, split into three steps: (1) obtaining the digital 3D model of the object of interest, (2) choosing the 3D printing technology and material best adapted to the requirements of its intended use, (3) pre- and post-processing the 3D object. We compare the main technologies available and their pros and cons according to the features and the use of the object to be printed. We give specific and key details in appendices, based on examples in ecology and evolution.

The purpose of feature selection is to find important features from the original high-dimensional space. As atypical feature selection algorithm, Locally linear embedding(LLE)-based feature selection algorithm, which applies the idea of LLE to the graph-preserving feature selection framework, has been received wide attention. However, LLE-based feature selection framework is sensitive to noise and K-nearest neighbors. To address these problems, an improved LLE-based feature selection algorithm, robust LLE (RLLE) vote, is proposed. In this algorithm, $l_1$ and $l_2$ regularization are introduced into the high-dimensional reconstruction model of LLE. Furthermore, RLLE vote also proposes a criterion to measure the difference between the reconstruction features and the original features, and then the importance features can be selected by this criteria. Extensive experiments are carried out on a benchmark fault data set and the bearing data set collected from our own laboratory, and the experimental results demonstrate that RLLE vote achieves the most significant performance compared existing state-of-art methods.

Academic and corporate research has been focusing on analyzing stock performances, financial markets, and investment strategies for decades. According to Lynch and Rothchild (1989), certain investments can be described as plays. In this work, the authors use the term for investments in value stocks, spin-offs, and turnarounds to analyze the long-term stock performance and risk-adjusted excess returns of up to five years for those stocks. Additionally, stocks with a supe-rior return performance are identified within an investment play based on low P/E and P/B mul-tiples. The study finds that value stocks, spin-offs, and turnarounds outperform the S&P 500 on average on a one-, three- and five-year investment horizon. The analysis of the three investment plays confirms earlier studies that investment plays constitute a profitable investment opportunity. Moreover, the research exemplifies that private investors could achieve an excess return (alpha) through a passive buy-and-hold investment strategy. Overall, the analysis provides a deeper in-sight into the long-term performance of value stocks, spin-offs, and turnarounds.

Molecule radiation can be used as a tool to study colder regions in switching arc plasmas like arc fringes in contact to walls and ranges around current zero (CZ). This is demonstrated in the present study for the first time for the case of ablation-dominated high–current arcs as key elements of self–blast circuit breakers. The arc in a model circuit breaker (MCB) in CO2 with and an arc in a long nozzle under ambient conditions with peak currents between 5 and 10 kA were studied by emission and absorption spectroscopy in the visible spectral range. The nozzle material was polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in both cases. Imaging spectroscopy was carried out either with high-speed cameras or with intensified CCD cameras. A pulsed high-intensity Xe lamp was applied as background radiator for the broad-band absorption spectroscopy. Emission of Swan bands from carbon dimers was observed at the edge of nozzles only or across the whole nozzle radius with highest intensity in the arc center, depending on current and nozzle geometry. Furthermore, absorption of C2 Swan bands and CuF bands were found with the arc plasma serving as background radiator. After CZ, only CuF was detected in absorption experiments.

This paper studies the flexural behavior of the bridge deck link slabs made with the Polyvinyl Alcohol-Strain Hardening Cementitious Composites (PVA-SHCC). Tensile and flexural properties of the PVA-SHCC with four volume fractions, i.e., 0%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2%, were evaluated first. Next, using the similarity theory, composite models with a geometric similarity ratio of 1: 5 were designed to represent the bridge deck with the link slabs. The models considered three materials for link slabs, including concrete, cement mortar and self-compacting PVA-SHCC; and two different curing ages at 7 and 56 days. Bending tests were performed to investigate the flexural behavior of the models. Based on the fractal theory, cracking characteristics of the models with different types of link slabs were compared, and the relationship between Df and the flexural behavior of the models were studied. Numerical models were built to correlate with the results from the bending tests. It is illustrated that the flexural behavior of the self-compacting PVA-SHCC link slab is better than that of concrete and cement mortar link slabs, where the crack initiation and propagation can be postponed.

The economic, social and environmental benefits generated by the use of urban public transportation infrastructure constitute a complex dynamic urban public transportation infrastructure utilization benefit system. This paper evaluates the coupling coordination among these three benefits taking four Chinese autonomous municipalities as an example. These four cities have large-scale urban public transportation infrastructures but their utilization has many serious problems. The basic function of urban public transportation infrastructure has not been fully played in these cities. Whether the different benefits of urban public transportation infrastructure have been developed in harmony or not is unclear. We analyzed the coordinated development among three benefits by constructing coupling coordination degree model and used Gini coefficient to study the difference of coordinated development among three benefits of four cities. The result shows that the levels of coordinated development among three benefits of urban public transportation infrastructure were lower in these four cities and have positive correlation with it of urban public transportation infrastructure utilization benefit. Raising the level of urban public transportation infrastructure utilization benefit is the most crucial solution of promoting the coordinated development among three benefits.

The rapid growth of equipment tasks in 5G large-scale machine-type communication scenarios presents challenges due to user equipment’s (UE) limited computing power and power constraints. To address these limitations, task offloading to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has gained attention. However, traditional cloud computing centres far from the UE fail to meet latency requirements. Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) emerges as a solution by deploying computing servers at the edge of the cellular network to enhance service responsiveness. However, traditional MEC solutions need more flexibility. This paper explores the advantages of UAVs, including flexibility and rapid deployment, and considers UAV power constraints. It proposes a joint optimization approach for user offloading strategies and UAV trajectories to minimize the overall energy consumption of UE. By leveraging the benefits of UAVs and MEC, the proposed method aims to improve task execution efficiency in energy-constrained 5G machine-type communication scenarios.

A real-time monitoring system for the operational status of fishing vessels is an essential element for the modernization of the fishing industry. The operational status of fishing vessels can be identified by using onboard cameras to detect the deck crew and the use of fishing nets. Due to the typically limited processing capacity of shipboard equipment and the significant memory consumption of detection models, however, general target detection models are unable to perform real-time image detection to identify the operational status of fishing vessels. In this paper, we propose a lightweight real-time deck crew and the use of fishing nets detection method, YOLOv5s-SGC. It is based on the YOLOv5s model, which uses surveillance cameras to obtain video of fishing vessels operating at sea and enhances the dataset. YOLOv5s-SGC replaces YOLOv5s’s backbone and the ordinary convolutional blocks in the feature fusion network with ShufflNetV2 and Ghost module.

Large-scale crowd phenomena are complex to model because the behaviour of pedestrians needs to be described at both strategic, tactical, and operational levels and is impacted by the density of the crowd. Microscopic models manage to mimic the dynamics at low densities, whereas mesoscopic models achieve better performances in dense situations. This paper proposes and evaluates a novel agent-based architecture to enable agents to dynamically change their operational model based on local density. The ability to combine microscopic and mesoscopic models for multi-scale simulation is studied through a use case of pedestrians at the Festival of Lights, Lyon, France. Pedestrian outflow data is extracted from video recordings of exiting crowds at the festival. The hybrid model is calibrated and validated using a genetic algorithm that optimizes the match between simulated and observed outflow data. Additionally, a local sensitivity analysis is then conducted to identify the most sensitive parameters in the model. Finally, the performance of the hybrid model is compared to different models in terms of density map and computation time. The results demonstrate that the hybrid model has the capacity to effectively simulate pedestrians across varied density scenarios while optimizing computational performance compared to other models.

We present a case of a 47-year-old male who died unexpectedly from acute pulmonary hemorrhage 555 days after completing the BNT162b2 (Pfizer) COVID-19 vaccination primary series. Before death, he exhibited symptoms of a mild respiratory infection. Despite a healthy medical history and no medication use, the patient’s condition rapidly deteriorated and he experienced severe respiratory distress, followed by cardiopulmonary arrest with evidence of profuse pulmonary bleeding. Autopsy findings revealed massive lung congestion without embolism, normal heart size, moderate coronary atherosclerosis without myocardial infarction, and no evidence of other hemorrhagic events. The patient tested negative for COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens at autopsy. Despite these findings, the medical examiner determined the cause of death was attributed to atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, without considering the recent pulmonary hemorrhage and unremarkable medical history. Investigation into the vaccine batch indicated a higher-than-average number of serious adverse events, including fatalities. The patient's BNT162b2 batch was among the top 2.8% for reported deaths. Moreover, the autopsy failed to investigate potential contributions from the vaccine, such as the presence of the Spike protein or related antibodies. The evidence suggests that the pulmonary hemorrhage, exacerbated by a viral infection, was the immediate cause of death, with the COVID-19 vaccine potentially playing a role in the development of cardiopulmonary pathology and hemorrhage. We propose autopsy protocols for COVID-19 vaccine recipients to better investigate vaccine-related pathologies among those with one or more prior injections.

Background and Objectives: The relevance of red flags in serious spinal pathology (SSP) evolved throughout the last years. Recently, new considerations have been proposed to expand the consideration of red flags. The purpose of this study was to determine, approve and test a model for the triage and manage-ment process of SSP based on the latest data available in the literature. Materials and Methods: The SSP model was initially built on the basis of a literature re-view. The model was further determined and approved by an expert panel us-ing a Delphi process. Finally, clinical scenario were used to test the applicabil-ity of the model. Results: After three rounds of Delphi process, panellists reached a consensus on a final version of the model. The use of clinical scenari-os by experts bring about reflexive elements both on the determined model and on the evocative SSP of the clinical cases. Conclusions: The validation of the model and its implementation in the clinical field could help assess the skills of first-line practitioners managing spinal painful patients. To this end, the devel-opment of additional clinical scenarios fitting with the determined model should be further considered.

Abstract: The population issue has been increasingly urgent in China in recent years. Fertility desire is an essential component of fertility research. Studies on fertility desire mainly contain two aspects: socio-economic structure and individual family[1]. The psychological structure of individuals in individual families is the primary factor of fertility desire. Based on the parasocial relationship theory, this study analyzed the changes in real behavioral intention achieved by players through the identification and attachment to avatars while constructing parasocial relationships[2]. The results indicate that character attachment can significantly enhance the variables of game concentration and player self-identity, actively mediates parasocial emotions and parasocial cognition, and ultimately increases fertility desire. As a theoretical contribution, this study provides a comprehensive interpretation of the psychology of Chinese players in a Simulation Game and explores the theoretical connections among role attachment, role identity, and parasocial relationships in virtual game players.

In the paper, the authors discover several series identities involving the Catalan numbers, the Catalan function, the Riemanian zeta function, and the alternative Hurwitz zeta function.

Tumor cells evolve in a complex and heterogeneous environment composed of different cell types and an extracellular matrix. Current 2D culture methods are very limited in their ability to mimic the cancer cell environment. In recent years, various 3D models of cancer cells have been developed, notably in the form of spheroids/organoids, using scaffold or cancer-on-chip devices. However, these models have the disadvantage of not being able to precisely control the organization of multiple cell types in complex architecture and are sometimes not very reproducible in their production, and this is especially true for spheroids. Three-dimensional bioprinting can produce complex, multi-cellular, and reproducible constructs in which the matrix composition and rigidity can be adapted locally or globally to the tumor model studied. For these reasons, 3D bioprinting seems to be the technique of choice to mimic the tumor microenvironment in vivo as closely as possible. In this review, we discuss different 3D-bioprinting technologies, including bioinks and crosslinkers that can be used for in vitro cancer models, and the techniques used to study cells grown in hydrogels; finally, we provide some applications of bioprinted cancer models.

This paper introduces a novel framework for zero-shot learning (ZSL), i.e., to recognize new categories that are unseen during training, by distilling knowledge from foundation models. Specifically, we first employ ChatGPT and DALL-E to synthesize reference images of unseen categories from text prompts. Then, the test image is aligned with text and reference images using CLIP and DINO. Finally, the predicted logits are aggregated according to their confidence to produce the final prediction.Experiments are conducted on multiple datasets, including CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and TinyImageNet. The results demonstrate that our model can significantly improve classification accuracy compared to previous approaches, achieving AUROC scores above 96\% across all test datasets. Our code is available at https://github.com/1134112149/MICW-ZIC.

In this paper, we introduce ResNetMF, a groundbreaking approach that harnesses the power of residual network matrix factorization to revolutionize recommendation systems. ResNetMF integrates residual networks, renowned for their ability to capture intricate patterns and features, with matrix factorization techniques that excel in modelling user-item interactions. This fusion presents a novel solution that surpasses the limitations of traditional recommendation systems. Through comprehensive experimentation and evaluation of diverse datasets, ResNetMF demonstrates remarkable enhancements in recommendation accuracy and efficiency. By effectively capturing both linear and nonlinear relationships in user-item interactions, ResNetMF provides superior recommendation quality. The outcomes from experiments unequivocally highlight the superiority of ResNetMF over existing state-of-the-art recommendation approaches, thereby validating its innovative nature and underscoring its potential to shape the future of recommendation systems. Through the integration of the deep residual network, ResNetMF approach facilitates the training of neural networks, enabling them to explore the underlying data layers more comprehensively. Extensive experimentation and evaluation across various datasets provide compelling evidence for the superiority of ResNetMF. Moreover, the proposed method utilized natural language processing (NLP) techniques for targeted information dissemination in recommendation systems, emphasizing the importance of personalized and relevant recommendations for user satisfaction and engagement.

Soil extracellular enzyme activity (EEAs) and enzymatic stoichiometry (ES) can provide a crucial indication of changes in soil ecosystem's nutrient availability and the microbial resource limitations. However, the changing characteristics of soil EEAs and ES at different stages of the native succession process and their key drivers are unclear. In order to investigate the soil EEAs, ES and driving factors of soil under vegetation at different succession stages, we adopted the "spatio-temporal substitution" method to collect the surface soil of bryophyte community, herbaceous community, shrub community and tree community in the new volcanic lava platform of Wudalianchi Volcanic Nature Reserve. We measured seven soil EEA, including carbon(C)-acquiring enzyme (β-1,4-glucosidase (BG)), N-acquiring enzymes (β-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG) and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP)) and phosphorus (P)-acquiring enzyme (acid phosphatase (AP)) activities. The length and angle of vectors defined by ratios of enzyme activities (BG/(NAG + LAP) vs. BG/AP) were used to indicate relative microbial investments in C- (length), and N- and P- (angle) acquiring enzymes. Our results showed that the contents of TC, TN, TP, MBC, DOC and NO3-N in shrub community soil were significantly higher than those in bryophyte, herb and tree communities, and increased by 441%, 246%, 137%, 5570%, 12% and 484%, respectively. The highest soil EEA of C-, N- and P-acquiring were found in shrub community, and the soil EEAs/MBC of C-, N- and P-acquiring were the highest in bryophyte community. Enzyme C:N, C:P and N:P ratios increased progressively in the order of bryophyte, herb and shrub community, but the enzyme C:N, C:P and N:P ratios of tree community were both far less than shrub community. Vector lengths increased progressively in the order of bryophyte (1.16), herb (1.27), tree (1.29) and shrub (1.40), and Vector angles decreased progressively in the order of bryophyte (49.15°), herb (45.65°), Tree (45.31°) and shurb (44.54°), suggested that as succession progresses, soil microbial nutrients transforms from P limitation (angle＞45°) to N limitation (angle＜45°). Redundancy analysis showed that TC, TN, EC and C:N were important drivers of variation in soil EEAs and ES in vegetation at different succession stages. Our findings highlight that the primary succession process cause nutrient limitation transformation. Soil ES might be a sensitive indicator mediated by soil microorganisms to the relative resource limitation at different stages of the primary succession process.

Machine learning plays a key role in present day crime detection, analysis and prediction. The goal of this work is to propose methods for predicting crimes classified into different categories of severity. We implemented visualization and analysis of crime data statistics in recent years in the city of Boston. We then carried out a comparative study between two supervised learning algorithms, which are decision tree and random forest based on the accuracy and processing time of the models to make predictions using geographical and temporal information provided by splitting the data into training and test sets. The result shows that random forest as expected gives a better result by 1.54% more accuracy in comparison to decision tree, although this comes at a cost of at least 4.37 times the time consumed in processing. The study opens doors to application of similar supervised methods in crime data analytics and other fields of data science

Many applications in the context of Industry 4.0 require precise localization. However, indoor localization remains an open problem, especially in complex environments such as industrial environments. In recent years, we have seen the emergence of Ultra WideBand (UWB) localization systems. The aim of this article is to evaluate the performance of a UWB system to estimate the position of a person moving in an indoor environment. To do so, we implemented an experimental protocol to evaluate the accuracy of the UWB system both statically and dynamically. The UWB system is compared to a ground truth obtained by a motion capture system with a millimetric accuracy.

(1) Background: Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is when fertilized ovum implanted outside of uterine cavity. The incidence was 1.5% to 2.0% of all pregnancies [1, 2]. EP decreases fertility ability [3]. This study focused on the pregnancy rate after EP and various parameters influencing pregnancy. (2) Methods: The data was extracted from National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) during 2000-2013. The study group enrolled women with one EP history. Those who did not have EP was put into the control group. Chi-square/Fisher exact test was performed on category variable and t-test was used on continue variables. (3) Results: The EP group had a higher cumulative rate of conceive, 41.55% than control group, 37.14% and 1.16 times higher risk in developing pregnancy (P&lt;0.001). The conceiving rate was lower than the control group in the first 5 years, but higher than the control group in the 10th to 14th years. (4) Conclusions: The fecundability after EP is lower at the beginning, but regained after long term follow.

In recent decades, the Variational AutoEncoder (VAE) model has shown good potential and capabilities in image generation and dimensionality reduction. The combination of VAE and various machine learning frameworks has also worked effectively in different daily life applications, however its possibility and effectiveness in modern game design has seldom been explored nor assessed. The use of its feature extractor for data clustering was minimally discussed in literature neither. This paper first attempts to explore different mathematical properties of the VAE model, in particular, the theoretical framework of the encoding and decoding processes, the possible achievable lower bound and loss functions of different applications; then applies the established VAE model into generating new game levels within two well-known game settings; as well as validating the effectiveness of its data clustering mechanism with the aid of the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) database. Respective statistical metrics and assessments were also utilized for evaluating the performance of the proposed VAE model in aforementioned case studies. Based on the statistical and spatial results, several potential drawbacks and future enhancement of the established model were outlined, with the aim of maximizing the strengths and advantages of VAE for future game design tasks and relevant industrial missions.

Hemicellulose is one of the most important natural polysaccharides in nature. Hemicellulose from different sources varies in chemical composition and structure, which in turn affects the modification effects and industrial applications. Grain and oil by-products (GOBP) are important raw materials for hemicellulose. This article reviews the modification methods of hemicellulose in GOBP. The effects of chemical and physical modification methods on the properties of hemicellulose biomaterials were evaluated. The potential applications of GOBP hemicellulose in films, hydrogel, Three-dimensional (3D) printing and adsorbent are discussed. Future research directions and recommendations are also proposed to provide theoretical foundations and technical support for the efficient utilization of these by-products.

Geospatial knowledge in massive academic papers can provide knowledge services such as location-based research hotspot analysis, spatio-temporal data aggregation, research results recommendation, etc. However, geospatial knowledge often exists implicitly in literature resources in unstructured form, which is difficult to be directly accessed and mined and utilized for rapid production of massive thematic maps. In this paper, we take the geospatial knowledge of the area studied as an example and introduce its extraction method in detail. An integrated feature template matching and random forest classification algorithm is proposed for accurately identifying research areas from the abstract texts of academic papers and producing thematic maps. Firstly, the precise recognition of geographical names is achieved step by step based on BiLSTM-CRF algorithm and improved heuristic disambiguation method; then, the area studied is extracted by the designed integrated feature recognition template of area studied using random forest classification algorithm, and a fast thematic map is designed for the knowledge of area studied, topic and literature. The experimental results show that the area studied recognition accuracy can reach 97%, the F-value is 96%, and the recall rate reaches 96%, achieving high accuracy and high efficiency of area studied extraction in text. Based on the geospatial knowledge, the thematic map can achieve the effect of fast map formation and accurate expression.

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.

The influence of instrumental variables on farmers ‘perceptions using rotation fallow as sustainable agriculture practices had been the aim of our research. By using simultaneous equations models, this study tried to understand the relationship between green manure farmer’s perceptions on using rotation-fallow and planting green manure in Guangxi Province, south of China. The results showed that subsidizing green manure farmers based on standard subsidy by the unit of green manure sown area; the training on the green manure planting technology or the demonstration preaching; the green manure farmers preference for the kinds of subsidy (funds, seeds, and mechanical services) were the mostly great drivers of the program of restoring planting green manure in the study area. These incentives measures must be enhanced as priority to restore definitely green manure planting. However, the findings of the study showed that the total income of the 2017 year, the area of an agricultural field of household and the household members (16–65 years old), providing labor in the agricultural field, have some influences on planting green manure and on farmer’s perceptions on using rotation-fallow as sustainable agriculture practices. Brief, the unobserved factors which influenced the endogenous factors play an important role to enhance widely the impact of farmers’ perceptions on planting green manure.

In this paper, we proposed a high accurate and stable Legendre transform algorithm which can reduce the potential instability for very high order at a very small increase in the computational time. The error analysis of interpolative decomposition for Legendre transform is presented. By employing block partitioning of Legendre-Vandermonde matrix and butterfly algorithm, a new Legendre transform algorithm with computational complexity O(N(logN)^2/loglogN) in theory and less than O(N(logN)^4) in practical application is obtained. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate the efficiency and numerical stability of the new algorithm.

Excessive nitrogen application has become a hidden danger threatening the sustainable development of agriculture. Exploring the potential genes will help to improve the nitrogen availability of wheat through molecular breeding. We therefore conducted wheat transcriptomics and proteomics researches under complete culture medium without nitrogen (N0) and complete culture medium with nitrogen (N1). The results showed that, the nitrogen deficit decreased the fresh weight, N content and net photosynthetic rate of winter wheat. 3949 and 2675 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the shoot and root, respectively, while 164 and 129 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified in the shoot and root respectively. 9 genes in shoot and 26 genes in root showed the same trends in RNA and protein levels. 5 genes in shoot and 4 genes in root showed the opposite trends in RNA and protein levels. Pathway enrichment of wheat transcriptome and proteome under nitrogen deficit proposed 3 candidate genes related to photosynthesis in shoot, 4 candidate genes related to carbon metabolism in shoot, and 12 candidate genes related to carbon metabolism in root. Meanwhile, the chromosomal and subcellular localization of these genes were listed, which will provide reference for improving nitrogen availability through molecular breeding.

Herein, the mechanical properties and carbonation durability of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) were studied. For cost-efficient utilization of ECC materials, polypropylene (PP) and hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers were employed to cast different types of specimens. The compressive strength, Poisson’s ratio, strength-deflection curves, cracking/post-cracking strength, impact index, and tensile strain-stress curves of the two types of ECC materials, with different fiber contents of 0 vol%, 1 vol%, 1.5 vol% and 2 vol%, were investigated by conducting compressive tests, four-point bending tests, drop weight tests, and uniaxial tensile tests. In addition, the matrix microstructure and failure morphology of the fiber in the ECC materials were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Furthermore, carbonation test and steel corrosion after carbonization were employed to study durability resistance. The results indicated that for both PP fiber- and hydrophilic PVA fiber-reinforced ECCs, the compressive strength first increases and then decreases as fiber content increases from 0 vol% to 2 vol% and reaches the maximum at 1 vol% fiber content. The bending strength, deformation capacity, and impact resistance show significant improvement with increasing fiber contents. The ECC material reinforced with 2 vol% PP fiber shows superior carbonized durability with maximum carbonation depth of only 0.8 mm.

Image segmentation is the process of partitioning an image into multiple segments where the goal is to simplify the representation of the image and make the image more meaningful and easier to analyze. In particular, semantic segmentation is an approach of detecting the classes of objects, based on each pixel. In the past, most semantic segmentation models were for only one single style, such as urban street views, medical images, or even Manga. In this paper, we proposed a semantic segmentation model called Dual-Pyramid Wide Residual Network (DPWRN) to solve the segmentation for cross-style datasets, which is suitable for diverse segmentation applications. The DPWRN integrated the Pyramid of Kernel paralleled with Dilation (PKD) and Multi-Feature Fusion (MFF) to improve the accuracy of segmentation. To evaluate the generalization of the DPWRN and its superiority over most state-of-the-art models, three datasets with completely different styles are tested in the experiments. Finally, the DPWRN verified its generalization and also showed its superiority over most state-of-the-art models.

Background: Since the onset of widespread COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, there have been concerns about serious cardiovascular adverse events, including myocarditis, myocardial infarction, and venous thromboembolisms, all of which can lead to cardiopulmonary arrest. This study aimed to estimate excess cardiopulmonary arrest mortality in King County, WA, and investigate any association with COVID-19 vaccination rates. Methods: Data was obtained from the annual King County, WA, EMS reports, the U.S. Census Bureau, and The Tennessean COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker. An exploratory data analysis was performed. Excess deaths were calculated using the 2015-2020 cardiopulmonary arrest mortality trend line. The relationship between excess cardiopulmonary arrest mortality and vaccination rates was analyzed using polynomial regression analysis. A quadratic regression model was used to generate expected population growth trends. The excess mortality model for King County was used to calculate yearly estimates for excess cardiopulmonary arrest fatalities in the USA. Results: Approximately 98% of the King County population received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by 2023. Our analysis revealed a 25.7% increase in total cardiopulmonary arrests and a 25.4% increase in cardiopulmonary arrest mortality from 2020 to 2023 in King County, WA. Excess cardiopulmonary arrest deaths were estimated to have increased by 1,236% from 2020 to 2023, rising from 11 excess deaths (95% CI: -12, 34) in 2020 to 147 excess deaths (95% CI: 123, 170) in 2023. A quadratic increase in excess cardiopulmonary arrest mortality was observed with higher COVID-19 vaccination rates. The general population of King County sharply declined by 0.94% (21,300) in 2021, deviating from the expected population size. Applying our model from these data to the entire United States yielded 49,240 excess fatal cardiopulmonary arrests from 2021-2023. Conclusions: We identified a very strong ecological and temporal association between excess cardiopulmonary arrest mortality and the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which resulted in high vaccination rates. The biological plausibility of death from acute cardiac and pulmonary causes after COVID-19 vaccination has been previously demonstrated and is concerning given these real-world observations. Urgent further research is needed to determine if similar trends are observed in other regions with attention to risk mitigation for incident events and improved survival with resuscitation.

Targeted radionuclide therapy is become increasingly prominent as a nuclear medicine subspe-cialty. For many decades, treatment with radionuclides has been mainly restricted to the use of iodine-131 in thyroid disorders. Currently, radiopharmaceuticals, consisting of a radionuclide coupled to a vector that binds to a desired biological target with high specificity, are being de-veloped. The objective is to be as selective as possible at the tumor level, while limiting the dose received at the healthy tissue level. In recent years, a better understanding of molecular mecha-nisms of cancer, as well as the appearance of innovative targeting agents (antibodies, peptides, small molecules) and the availability of new radioisotopes, have enabled considerable advances in the field of vectorized internal radiotherapy with a better therapeutic efficacy, radiation safety and personalized treatments. For instance, targeting the tumor microenvironment, instead of the cancer cells, now appears as particularly attractive. Several radiopharmaceuticals for therapeutic targeting have shown clinical value in severals types of tumors and have been or will soon be approved and authorized for clinical use.

Prolonged application (&gt; 20 minutes) of LV on muscles or tendons is known to reduce maximal isometric strength. However, the effect of short vibration durations (&lt; 6 minutes) is still unknown. In fourteen participants, the changes in maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) were measured after 1, 3, and 6 minutes of rest (CONT) or local vibration (LV) over the quadricipital tendon (frequency: 100 Hz; amplitude: 0.5mm). Before and after each condition, the amplitude of the twitch induced by a 100 Hz potentiated electrical doublet (PDPOT), relative electromyographic activity of the vastus medialis and rectus femoris muscle during the MVIC (RMSMVIC.M-1), the torque developed 50 ms after the onset of contraction (T50) and the voluntary activation level (VAL) were evaluated. None of the three LV durations significantly changed MVIC compared with the control condition (p = .379). Indices of central (i.e., VAL, T50, RMSMVIC.M-1) and peripheral (PDPOT) fatigue were unaffected (p &gt; .147). In conclusion, a short duration of LV (&lt;6min) on a voluminous muscle group, does not impair maximal force production nor induce any central or peripherical fatigue.

Background: Chronic lower limb ulcers (CLLU) have an important burden to the individual and the healthcare system. However, there is a lack of information about the cost of CLLU in Argentina.Objective: To determinate the number and cost of consultation and hospitalization associated to CLLU in a public hospital in Argentina. Methods: Retrospective observational study. Cost estimation were calculated based on days of stay, treatments and laboratory tests in a inpatient population and the number of consultations, treatments and laboratory tests, in a outpatient population. Results: In 2013 and 2014, the overall number of consultation with ICD-10 codes was 7,224 and the number of inpatient was 359. The mean age for male and female outpatient consultations was 59.53(±13.06) years and 59.04(±10.93), respectively. For CLLU male and female inpatient, the mean age was 63.9(±10.4) years and 54.5(±8.6) years, respectively. The length of stay was 22.88 days. There was a mean of 0.41 surgeries per patient where 25% were amputations. The mean annual cost in a single public hospital was US$4,053.65 per inpatient and US$3,589.24 per outpatient. Conclusion: Cost information allows new public health policies to reduce socioeconomic burden due to CLLU.

Reticulate evolution through the interchanging of genetic components across organisms can impact significantly on the fitness and adaptation of species. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum subsp. aestivum) is one of the most important crops in the world. Allopolyploid speciation, frequent hybridization, extensive introgression, and occasional horizontal gene transfer (HGT) have been shaping a typical paradigm of reticulate evolution in bread wheat and its wild relatives, which is likely to have a substantial influence on phenotypic traits and environmental adaptability of bread wheat. In this review, we outlined the evolutionary history of bread wheat and its wild relatives with a highlight on the interspecific hybridization events, demonstrating the reticulate relationship between species/subspecies in the genera Triticum and Aegilops. Furthermore, we discussed the genetic mechanisms and evolutionary significance underlying the introgression of bread wheat and its wild relatives. An in-depth understanding of the evolutionary process of Triticum species should be beneficial to future genetic study and breeding of bread wheat.

The impact of large atmospheric attenuation events on data quality and availability is a critical aspect for future altimetry missions based on Ka-band altimetry. The SARAL/AltiKa mission and its Ka-band nadir altimeter offer a unique opportunity to assess this impact. Previous publications (Tournadre et al. 2009, 2015) already analyzed the impact of rain on the waveforms at Ka-band and proposed a definition of an elaborate rain flag. This notion tends to give a simpler black and white view of the atmospheric attenuation when the effect on the altimeter measurement is intense. But in practice, there is continuum of measurements that may be partially distorted or corrupted by rain events. The present study proposes a wider point of view , the ACECAL approach providing statistics on rain cells occurrences as well as their amplitude and their size, as guidelines for future Ka-band missions concerning the impact of the atmosphere. At global scale, 1 % of the measurements are affected by an attenuation larger than 23 dB and 10 % of the atmospheric attenuation events have a size larger than 40 km. This study demonstrates that the data quality and availability over some regions of particular interest for oceanography as Gulf Stream, North Pacific and Brazil currents could be affected compared to global statistics. It also opens some perspectives on the benefits that the community could be drawn from the systematic distribution of the rain cells parameters as secondary products of altimetry missions.

Leasing and recycling are important issues to achieve low-carbon sustainable development of construction machinery industry, however there are some dilemmas bothering which is caused by excessive restriction of product service life. Focusing on the problem of pricing and coordination, a two-stage model of leasing closed-loop supply chain based on the Industrial Internet platform practical application was proposed. Under the centralized and decentralized decision-making scenarios, the price of leasing and selling, maintenance effort and recovery rate are calculated respectively. By using the Shapley value method to optimize the selling price, and the two-part pricing contract to calculate the compensation fee, the global profit is reasonably distributed, while the supply chain achieving Pareto optimality. The performance of different contracts on the improvement of supply chain profit was investigated. And the correlation among parameters was also explored through sensitivity analysis and numerical simulation. The findings showed that maintenance and recycling of construction machinery can be improved with the advantage of the Industrial Internet platform, while achieving the supply chain coordination by contracts. The enhancement of maintenance effort can decrease the remanufacturing cost which is positively correlated to the selling price and leasing price of product, furthermore promoting the recovery rate of used products. In the future, reasonable control of platform cost can help improve the recycling of construction machinery.

To explore the relevant factors that affect the efficacy of consciousness-regaining therapy (CRT)for prolonged disorder of consciousness(pDOC),a retrospective analysis was conducted on the case data of 114 patients with pDOC admitted to department of functional neurosurgery of Tianjin Huanhu Hospital from January 2019 to January 2022. Basic information on the cases,data on pDOC disease assessment, consciousness-regaining therapy methods, and efficacy evaluation were collected. A total of 114 patients were grouped and compared based on the efficacy at the end of treatment. Among them, there were 61 cases in the ineffective group and 53 cases in the effective group. There was no statistically significant difference (P&gt;0.05) between the two groups in terms of gender, age, etiology, acute cerebral herniation, emergency craniotomy surgery, emergency decompressive craniectomy, time from onset to start of consciousness-regaining therapy , and duration of consciousness-regaining therapy(P&gt;0.05). However, there were statistically significant differences (P&lt;0.05) in terms of secondary hydrocephalus, , consciousness-regaining therapy methods, CRS-R grading before treatment, and GOSE score at 6 months after treatment. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the type of therapy (OR=0.169, 95% CI: 0.057-0.508) was a related factor affecting the efficacy of consciousness-regaining therapy (P&lt;0.05).Compared with non-invasive therapy, personalized awakening therapy using various invasive consciousness-regaining therapy methods can help improve the efficacy of therapy for pDOC.

The dynamics of surface and sub-surface water events can lead to slope instability resulting in anomalies such as slough slides on earthen levees. Early detection of these anomalies by a remote sensing approach could save time versus direct assessment. We have implemented a supervised Mahalanobis distance classification algorithm for the detection of slough slides on levees using complex polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (polSAR) data. The classifier output was followed by a spatial majority filter post-processing step which improved the accuracy. The effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated using fully quad-polarimetric L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL’s) Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR). The study area is a section of the lower Mississippi River valley in the southern USA. Slide detection accuracy of up to 98 percent was achieved, although the number of available slides examples was small.

The introduction of ChatGPT in academia has raised significant concerns, particularly regarding issues like plagiarism and the ethical use of generative text for academic purposes. Existing literature has predominantly focused on ChatGPT adoption, leaving a notable gap in addressing the strategies users employ to mitigate these emerging challenges. To bridge this gap, this research utilizes the Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) to formulate user strategies for reducing uncertainty. These strategies include both interactive and passive approaches. Concurrently, the study identifies key sources of uncertainty, which include concerns related to transparency, information accuracy, and privacy. Additionally, it introduces the concepts of seeking clarification and consulting peer feedback as mediating roles to facilitate reduced uncertainty. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of Indonesian users (N = 566) using structural equation modeling via Smart-PLS 4.0 software. The results confirm that interactive Uncertainty Reduction Strategies (URS) are more effective in reducing uncertainty when using ChatGPT compared to passive URS. Transparency concerns, information accuracy, and privacy concerns are identified as factors that increase the level of uncertainty. In contrast, consulting peer feedback is the most effective strategy for reducing uncertainty compared to seeking clarification at the individual-system level. Insights from the mediating effects confirm that consulting peer feedback significantly mediates uncertainty sources to reduce uncertainty. The study discusses various strategies for the ethical use of ChatGPT by users in the educational context and contributes significantly to theoretical development.

Attracting and retaining international students has been widely discussed in higher education settings. Increasing the number of international students has become an indispensable strategy for national and global competition. This study focuses on effective strategies and international students' issues regarding satisfaction in the most popular STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. We designed a structural equation modeling (SEM) method to determine the effect of institutional mediation between push factors and satisfaction factors for the development of better strategies by which to attract and retain international students. Taking Taiwan as an example, this study employed a self-designed questionnaire to collect data: 485 degree-seeking international students in STEM programs were invited and successfully participated in this study during spring 2021. IBM SPSS 26 and AMOS 26 (Analysis of Moment Structure) were used to carry out the data analysis. We employed reliability, factor, and SEM analyses. This study assumed that the impact of push factors can be modified by institutional situations and result in international students’ satisfaction with their learning and environment and regarding migration policy. The results revealed that the predictors, mediation, and criteria were significant at the 0.05 or 0.01 levels. The findings suggest that push factors impact international students’ satisfaction when using institutional leadership and international strategy. The results of the bootstrap with a generalized least square method showed that the SEM model fit in 2000 bootstrap samples. The effect of institutional mediation can provide useful information for STEM programs to boost their future recruitment and retention strategies. This study provides an innovative approach to the detection of issues among international students in specific programs. These findings can enrich our knowledge regarding attracting and retaining global students in higher education settings.

(1) Background: Loss of weight is one of the practices which have been identified as key in reducing the risk of various forms of cancer. Therefore, this study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies related to the topic of loss of weight and risk of cancer and addresses the question, ‘does losing weight reduce the risk of cancer?’ Its purpose is to identify current high-quality evidence on such a question and synthesize such evidence before summarizing it given specific data attributes to improve decision-making processes on cancer management. (2) Methods: Research studies were identified from four main databases: PubMed, Science Direct, Google scholar, and Medline. A systematic review and meta-analysis of such studies were then conducted to reveal the most current evidence on the research topic. (3) Results: The studies showed that losing weight reduces cancer risk. Nonetheless, such intervention is not necessarily effective, especially in cases where patients may be at risk of developing cancer due to other risk factors. (4) Conclusions: The current study concludes that there is a need to implement effective interventions such as physical exercise, dietary restrictions, or both that can be effective in reducing weight to reduce the risk of cancer.

Bacterial biofilms can cause widespread infection. In addition to causing urinary tract infections and pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis, biofilms can help microorganisms adhere to the surfaces of various medical devices, causing biofilm-associated infections on the surfaces of biomaterials such as venous ducts, joint prostheses, mechanical heart valves, and catheters. Biofilms provide a protective barrier for bacteria and provide resistance to antimicrobial agents, which increases the morbidity and mortality of patients. This review introduces the formation process and drug resistance mechanism of biofilms in detail, and further summarizes the main characteristics of clinical persistent infection caused by biofilms and the many methods of treating biomaterial-related biofilm. This provides ideas and directions for the development of new biofilm infection strategies related to therapeutic materials.

Water pollution is the main cause of global ecological degradation and seriously affects people's water supply. In order to respond to the water environmental protection policy and provide management departments with a basis for refining water quality, this paper used the environmental Gini coefficient (EGC) method based on four indicators such as water environmental capacity, population, land area, and gross domestic production (GDP) to represent social factors, economic factors, and environmental factors, respectively. After the optimization, for COD, the EGC based on the land area was 0.30, EGC based on population was 0.21, EGC based on environment capacity was 0.02, and the EGC based on GDP was 0.45, and the sum of EGC was 0.962. From this result, we observed that the change in the Gini coefficient of each indicator was not very big. Hence, the most significant change in the Gini coefficient was that of GDP, with a higher rate than other criteria. Then, the COD, AND, and TP discharge allocation model was constructed to obtain the total allocated discharge permit in Lushui Basin. The results found that the total discharge permit allocation of COD, AN, and TP to the Lushui basin were 51483.304 tons/year, 843.119 tons/year, and 340.926 tons/year, respectively. Based on the GIS spatial analysis technology, the distribution of unfair factors that cause pollution inequity was investigated. Finally, the reduction measures were proposed to implement environmental supervision and strengthen water environment management strictly.

In the United States, obesity is prevalent, and it could be described as a pandemic. Obesity is excessive fat accumulation, leading to a BMI ≥ 30 (Fruh, 2017). Surveys conducted by the CDC show that the obesity prevalence in the US is on the rise, as several obese people rose from 30.5% to 41.9% between 1999 and 2020 (Bryan et al., 2021). During the same time, several people suffering from severe obesity rose from 4.7% to 9.2% (Bryan et al., 2021). Additionally, childhood obesity is on the rise. Statistics indicate that between 2017-2020 over 19.7% of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years had obesity. During the same period, obesity prevalence in children aged 2-5 years, 6-11 years, and 12-19 years olds was 12.7%, 20.7%, and 22.2%, respectively (Bryan et al., 2021). With so many people suffering from obesity, the WHO declared it a public health crisis (WHO, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the prevalence of obesity in the US. According to the surveys, there was a 4.4% increase in obesity between 2019 to March 2020 due to lifestyle changes that were put on people during the COVID-19 pandemic (Akter et al., 2022). Many comorbidities are associated with obesity. Without adequate health interventions, millions of people could suffer severe health disorders like respiratory problems, type II diabetes, psychological issues, gastrointestinal disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. It is also essential to develop health interventions to mitigate obesity due to its strain on the healthcare system. Research shows that people suffering from obesity spend $2,505 more than people with average weight on healthcare (Cawley et al., 2021). Obesity has financial ramifications in every healthcare category: inpatient, outpatient, and prescription drugs (Cawley et al., 2021). One essential action toward the efforts to mitigate the soaring obesity rates is understanding the demographic inequities across populations and how they can be resolved.

Oncological patients need the proper doses of medications to facilitate their recovery. The two basic approaches used in dosing Monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs) are fixed-dose combination and variable dosing. In Fixed-Dose Combination Drugs (FDCs), two or more active components are combined in a single formulation at a predetermined dose. Variable dosage, which has long been the industry standard, is the polar opposite of this approach. The body changes over time; the Body Surface Area (BSA) in square meters is often used as a Measure (m2). This study uses a systematic review. Most mAbs used in oncology are predominantly given as cytotoxic anticancer drugs using body-size-based (variable) regimens. Despite the benefits of fixed-dose, variable dosing has become the industry standard, despite being criticized for ineffectiveness. While variable dosing has some advantages, the prevalent view is that continuous dosing has significant advantages based on the balance of probabilities. After assessing each alternative, including its benefits and drawbacks, history of use, and suitability in the current context, fixed dosing emerges as a viable option.

A plant’s early response to pathogen stress is a vital indicator of its disease resistance. In order to study the response mechanism of resistant and susceptible flax cultivars to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lini (Foln), we applied RNA-sequencing to analyze transcriptomes of flax with Foln 0.5, 2 and 8 hours post inoculation (hpi). We found a significant difference in the number of differential expression genes (DEGs) between resistant and susceptible flax clutivars. The number of DEGs in the Fusarium-resistant cultivar increased dramatically at 2 hpi, and a large number of DEGs participated in the Fusarium-susceptible cultivar response to Foln infection 0.5 hpi. GO enrichment analysis determined that the up-regulated DEGs of both flax cultivars were enriched such as oxidoreductase activity and oxidation-reduction process. At the same time, the genes involved in diterpenoid synthesis were up-regulated in resistant cultivar, while those involved in extracellular region, cell wall and organophosphate ester transport were down-regulated in susceptible cultivar. KEGG enrichment analysis showed the genes encoded WRKY 22 and WRKY33 which involved in MAPK signaling pathway were up-regulated expressed in S-29 and down-regulated expressed in R-7, negatively regulated the disease resistance of flax; The genes encoded Hsp 90 family which in involved in plant pathogen interaction pathway were up-regulated in R-7 and down-regulated in S-29, which positively regulated the disease resistance of flax; The genes encoded MYC2 transcription factor and TIFY proteins which involved in plant hormone signaling pathway were up-regulated in R-7, and regulated the jasmonic acid metabolism of flax and the signal transduction of plant hormones. Meanwhile seven regulatory genes with the most correlation were screened out, Among Lus10025000.g and Lus10026447.g regulated other genes expressed both in plant hormone signal transduction pathway and MAPK signal pathway. In conclusion, these findings will facilitate further studies on the function of these candidate genes in flax of response to Fusarium stress, and the breeding of disease-resistant flax cultivar.

Crop disease classification has always been a critical and persistent problem in the field of agricultural and forestry sciences, where often we do not have access to a sufficient number of samples to know the distribution of real-world samples. How to make full use of the existing data is the starting point of our thinking. To address this problem, this paper proposes a supervised image augmentation method Negative Contrast, which uses the contrast images of existing disease samples after removing disease areas as negative samples for image augmentation when samples are relatively scarce. Numerous experiments have shown that several classical models using this augmentation method have improved in disease classification of four crops, rice, wheat, corn, and soybean, with a maximum accuracy improvement of 30.8%. In addition, the comparative analysis of attentional heat map shows that the model using Negative Contrast is more accurate and intense on the area of interest of diseases, and thus reflects better generalization ability in real-world disease classification. Our dataset and codes can be found in https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/w970704112/corn-wheat-rice-soybean and https://github.com/hiter0/contrastaug .

China combines green energy and industrial policy in its power market reform with various policy initiatives, including price support scheme for electricity from renewable sources and subsidies in the push for broader use of greener energy. This study focuses on the impacts of power market reform on the stock price volatility of listed power companies: 1) we use the Iterative Cumulative Sums of Squares (ICSS) algorithm to identify structural break points in stock prices; 2) we analyze the characteristics of stock price volatility based on the GARCH model; 3) we report the impact of power regulation on stock price fluctuations based on the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The result suggests three structural breaks in China’s power stock price volatility were related to the promulgation of power market reform policies. We find that industrial policies promote the reduction of power stock price fluctuations and its impact on power stock price volatility is consistent in the long run. However, our study also indicates the recent policies related to renewable energy do not have a very significant impact on the power stock market.

While the two primary risk factors for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are alcohol and tobacco, viruses account for an important and significant upward trend in HNSCC incidence. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the causative agent for a subset of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC)—a cancer that is impacting a rapidly growing group of typically middle-aged non-smoking white males. While HPV is a ubiquitously present virus (with about 7% of the population having oral HPV infection at any one time), only 1% of those infected develop OPSCC— suggesting that additional cofactors or coinfections may be required. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a similarly ubiquitous virus that is strongly linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Both of these viruses cause cellular transformation and chronic inflammation. While dysbiosis of the human microbiome has been associated with similar chronic inflammation and the pathogenesis of mucosal diseases (including OPSCC and NPC), a significant knowledge gap remains in understanding the role of bacterial-viral interactions in the initiation, development, and progression of head and neck cancers. In this review, we utilize the known associations of HPV with OPSCC and EBV with NPC to investigate these interactions. We thoroughly review the literature and highlight how perturbations of the pharyngeal microbiome may impact host-microbiome-tumor-viral interactions—leading to tumor growth.

Container crane has been widely used for port operation. However, the structure of port container crane is large, which always lead to crane damage under the vibration and strong wind. Therefore, a method for vibration reduction of container crane structure based on particle damping technology is proposed. In this investigation, the scale 1:80 crane model is built, the equivalent mechanical model is also established to preliminary verify the effect of vibration suppression. Furthermore, the dependence of vibration suppression effect on the key parameters of the damper, i.e., filling material, filling rate, particle size, and installation position of dampers are analyzed through experiments. The results indicate that the vibration peak of the crane structure displayed in Simulink oscilloscope is weakened and lags behind, the installation of the damper brings the effect of vibration suppression for the crane, the vibration suppression effect reaches 25%; the crane mode obtains the best vibration suppression effect under the condition that the material filled in the damper has a large density and elastic modulus, sufficient collision space and high collision frequency, and the dampers are installed far away from the crane center of gravity. The optimum parameters of the damper obtained from experiments, 12 mm lead beads, filling rate of 60%, installed in the distal ends within the strength range of the forearm of the crane. It is thus concluded that the particle damping technology has provided an effective way in wind and vibration reduction for container crane.

Celtis sinensis is an adaptable species that is widely grown in southern China. In June 2022, a leaf blotch disease of C. sinensis was observed in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Based on morphological characterization, three isolates were identified as Alternaria species. Phylogenetic analysis of combined ITS, GAPDH, TEF1-α, RPB2 and Alt a 1 sequences identified the three isolates we obtained as Alternaria alternata and Alternaria koreana. Koch’s postulates were fulfilled in the greenhouse, and the pathogenicity of A. alternata and A. koreana was determined by leaf inoculation tests on C. sinensis seedlings. The symptoms of indoor inoculation were consistent with those in the field. A. alternata and A. koreana can grow at 15-35 °C, with an optimal growth temperature of 25 °C. The results of fungicide sensitivity experiments indicated that A. alternata and A. koreana were the most sensitive to prochloraz, which may be a useful strategy for the future prevention and control management of A. alternata and A. koreana. This study provides the first step for further research on A. alternata and A. koreana as pathogens of C. sinensis and provides a theoretical basis for future control strategies.