Abstract. Natural Thermoluminescence (TL) from the core of MD81349 marine calcareous biological ooze samples in the ninetyeast ridge of the equatorial northeast Indian Ocean and samples from the core of IODP306-U1312B in the high latitudes of the North Atlantic Ocean was studied. The spurious TL intensity of 395 °C peak is dose independent when the heating rate is 6 °C/s in a nitrogen atmosphere . TL signals exhibit a significant correlation on the marine isotope stages (MIS) at the two oceans since the mid-Pleistocene. High TL intensity corresponds to a negative δ18O in the interglacial stages, and low TL intensity corresponds to a positive δ18O in the glacial stages. TL of both cores at the two oceans reveal that the global climate has experienced eight cold and warm cycles since the mid-Pleistocene. Single-frequency spectrum analysis of MD81349 and U1312 TL in the last 300 ka was performed.Near the equator of the Northeast Indian Ocean，it is more significant that the short cycle of 38 ka and 5 ka while it is more significant that the cycle of 8 ka at the North Atlantic.In addition, correlation analysis shows that the TL has a significant positive correlation with trace elements 135Ba, a significant negative correlation with 47Ti. The impurity ions (e.g. Ba2+, Mn2+ and Ti2+) doped in carbonate are acting as activators and suppressants respectively.Time series of the TL of calcareous biological ooze tests provide an important record of climate change. The source of TL signal is also discussed.

: To improve the efficiency of rhizobial inoculation operations and address the current situation of rhizobial inoculation being labor-intensive, a spraying and control system for variable rate application (VRA) of liquid rhizobia was developed. The system can accurately regulate the spraying rate of liquid rhizobia according to the desired rate of rhizobia by incremental Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) closed-loop control algorithm, making it particularly suitable for precise spraying with small amounts. In the laboratory experiment of precise flow control, variation coefficient of spraying nozzle from 0.10 MP to 0.20 MP pressure were no more than 1.2%. A clear linear relationship was observed between the spraying rate and pressure. The maximum response time was 1.93 seconds, while the average response time was 1.62 seconds when controlling the spraying system for small amounts. Field trial was conducted in Heilongjiang Agricultural Xianghe Farm of China. Average seeds number and 100-seed weight of soybean plant with rhizobia inoculation treatment were better than control group, and average yield of spraying liquid rhizobia agent with full base fertilizer increased by 232.5 kg/hm2, representing a significant 7.4% improvement over the control group. The results of these trails clearly showed the positive effect of the spraying and control system for liquid rhizobial inoculation, which has superior to existing inoculation manners, and provides an important technical support for the widespread adoption of rhizobia technology.

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

In Hawaiʻi, the transition from customary subsistence flooded taro agroecosystems, which regulate stream discharge rate trapping sediment and nutrients, to a plantation-style economy (c. the 1840s) led to nearshore sediment deposition - smothering coral reefs and destroying adjacent coastal fisheries and customary fishpond mariculture. To mitigate sediment transport, Rhizophora mangle was introduced in estuaries across Hawai’i (c. 1902) further altering fishpond ecosystems. Here, we examine the impact of cultural restoration between 2012-2018 at Heʻeia Fishpond, a 600-800-year-old walled fishpond. Fishpond water quality was assessed by calculating water exchange rates, residence times, salinity distribution, and abundance of microbial indicators prior to and after restoration. We hypothesized that R. mangle removal and concomitant reconstruction of sluice gates would increase mixing and decrease bacterial indicator abundance in the fishpond. We find that Heʻeia Fishpond’s physical environment is primarily tidally driven; wind forcing and river flux are secondary drivers. Post-restoration, two gates in the northeastern region account for >80% of relative flux in the fishpond. Increase in exchange rates during spring and neap tide and shorter minimum water residence time corresponded with the reconstruction of a partially obstructed 56 m gap together with the installation of an additional sluice gate in the fishpond wall. Lower mean salinities post-restoration suggests increased freshwater influx due to R. mangle removal. Spatial distribution of microbial bio-indicator species inversely correlated with salinity. Average abundance of Enterococcus and Bacteroidales did not significantly change after restoration efforts, however, average abundance of a biomarker specific to birds nesting in the mangroves decreased significantly after restoration. This study demonstrates the positive impact of biocultural restoration regimes on water flushing and water quality parameters, encouraging the prospect of revitalizing this and other culturally and economically significant sites for sustainable aquaculture in the future.

This study aims to verify the time-variant feature of American ginseng (AG) continuous cropping obstacles and to explore the factors impeding continuous cropping. We verified the feature with a plant-soil feedback pot experiment and then investigated the factors by comparing the properties of control soils that had not been previously used for growing ginseng (CS) with those of soils with a 10-year-crop-rotation cycle following the growth of AG (RS). It’s found that the survival rate of AG in RS was lower than that in CS. The RS had lower pH, available potassium content, and urease activity. Additionally, p-coumaric, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, caffeic, and cinnamic acid levels were lower in RS than in CS, but salicylic acid levels showed the opposite pattern. RS had higher Rhodanobacter and lower Acidothermus, Sphingomonas relative abundances in bacterial community. It’s also found that many bacteria were substantially correlated with phenolic acids and soil physiochemical properties. Results indicate that even after 10-year crop rotation, the negative effects of prior continuous cropping of AG has not been eliminated. The growth of AG can be affected negatively with deterioration of soil physicochemical properties and with lower levels of phenolic acids which promote pathogen reproduction. Probiotics reduction also weighs. Moreover, biotic factors are interrelated with abiotic ones. Therefore, it can be inferred that the comprehensive change of soil properties is the main obstacle for continuous cropping.

In the post-PARP inhibitor era, potential changes in tumor biology after maintenance therapy have not been well investigated in recurrent ovarian cancer. We reported a case with alterations in the clinical and histological features of multiple relapsed disease associated with PARP inhibitor maintenance therapy. The patient with high-grade serous carcinoma exhibited BRCA wildtype and homologous recombination proficiency status, and suffered from three recurrences and surgeries accordingly. Olaparib maintenance had been used during the second-line therapy. We compared the differences in clinics and pathology among three recurrences and relapsed lesions. Disease-free survivals were dramatically decreased after the exposure to olaparib. At exploration of quaternary cytoreduction, the relapsed tumor was characterized by a carcinomatosis-like metastasis pattern and an easy tendency of bleeding. Tumor cytopathological changes and alterations were observed in both the tumoral and non-tumoral stroma, among relapsed tumor tissues derived from secondary, tertiary and quaternary cytoreduction. Histopathology indicated hemorrhage, necrosis, atypical tumor cells, massive angiogenesis, and decreased CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, particularly in the third relapsed disease. To our knowledge, this is the first report to show a unique metastatic pattern of angiogenic burst after PARP inhibitor maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer, which seemed to trigger invasive tumor growth and immune suppression. Further prospective studies and translational research focusing cytoreductive surgery after PARP inhibitor could progressively lead to an understanding of the biological behavior and metastatic patterns.

Amid escalating urbanization, devising rational commercial space layouts is a critical challenge. Leveraging machine learning, this study uses a Back-propagation (BP) neural network to optimize commercial spaces in Weinan City's central urban area. The results indicate an increased number of commercial facilities with a trend of multi-centered agglomeration and outward expansion. Based on these findings, we propose a strategic framework for rational commercial space development emphasizing aggregation centers, development axes, and spatial guidelines. This strategy provides valuable insights for urban planners in small and medium-sized cities in the Yellow River Basin and metropolitan areas, ultimately showcasing the power of machine learning in enhancing urban planning.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, autoimmune disease that mainly affects the central nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerve. This disease can cause clinical symptoms such as cognitive decline, muscle weakness, spasms, and fatigue in patients, and the onset tends to be younger. Current medication can only prevent or alleviate symptoms, so early diagnosis of this disease can increase patients' chances of treatment. Although the use of nuclear magnetic resonance detection can improve the efficiency of early auxiliary diagnosis, it still requires experienced doctors to spend too much time and energy on comprehensive judgment. To reduce the time cost and improve the efficiency of multiple sclerosis diagnosis, this article proposes a detection and recognition algorithm for multiple sclerosis based on wavelet entropy and self-adaptive particle swarm optimization. Firstly, a triple discrete wavelet transform is performed on the brain image of multiple sclerosis, and then 10 wavelet entropies are extracted from the decomposed wavelet subbands, which can reduce the feature dimensions of the image; Then, the algorithm of self-adaptive particle swarm optimization is used to optimize the feedforward neural network, in order to obtain the optimal connection weights and thresholds during the training process. The result of the model is with an average sensitivity of 92.29±1.89, specificity of 92.54±0.67, precision of 92.48±0.59, accuracy of 92.42±0.88, and F1 score of 84.85±1.74, Matthews correlation coefficient of 92.37±0.96, and Fowlkes223 Mallows Index of 92.38±0.96. The experimental results indicate that this algorithm has a very important data support role in detecting multiple sclerosis.

A plenty of theories on the origin of genetic codes have been proposed so far, yet all ignored the energetic driving force, its relation to the biochemical system, and most importantly, the missing “matchmaker” between proteins and nucleic acids. Here, a new hypothesis is proposed, according to which ATP is at the origin of the primordial genetic code by driving the coevolution of the genetic code with the pristine biochemical system. This hypothesis aims to show how the genetic code was produced e.g. by photochemical reactions in a protocell that derived from a lipid vesicle enclosing various life’s building blocks (e.g. nucleotides and peptides). At extant cell, ATP is the only energetic product of photosynthesis, and is at the energetic heart of the biochemical systems. ATP could energetically form and elongate chains of both polynucleotides and polypeptides, thus acting a “matchmaker” between these two bio-polymers and eventually mediating precellular biochemical innovation from energy transformation to informatization. ATP was not the only one that could drive the formation of polynucleotides and polypeptides, but favored by precellular selection. The protocell innovated a photosynthesis system to produce ATP efficiently and regularly with the aids of proteins and RNA/DNA. The completion of permanently recording the genetic information by DNA marked the dawn of cellular life operated by Darwinian evolution. The ATP hypothesis assumes or supports the photochemical origin of life, shedding light on the origins of both photosynthetic and biochemical systems, which remains largely unknown thus far. Based on ATP hypothesis, virus (like the new coronavirus) could not be the earliest life on Earth, as it has neither biochemical systems nor lipid bilayer membrane that provided relatively isolated environment for the development of protobiochemical reactions, although it owns the genetic code of a cellular life. Virus could not be a bridge between life and non-life, but is an anti-life substance, as it depletes cellular material for its own replication, and then spreads by destroying the host cells. It can be imagined that if cellular life are completely wiped out by the virus, the complete destruction of life on Earth would be inevitable.

3,4-Dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-ones represent a class of valuable bioactive compounds with six-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic structures. The development of simple, mild and efficient synthetic methods has been widely concerned by synthetic chemists. In this review, we have summarized a series of different synthetic strategies for the synthesis of dihydroquinoline-2(1H)-ones via catalytic annulation of α,β-unsaturated N-arylamides in the past decade, including covering electrophilic cyclization, radical initiated cyclization and photochemical cyclization reactions. Besides, the substrate scope and mechanistic details are also discussed. This paper will provide a useful reference for the development of diverse synthesis methodologies of 3,4-dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-ones.

The ketogenic diet and walking exercise training activity are two key public health lifestyle factors. The potential of combined lifestyle factors interventions focused on getting to compliance in forced exercise. A balanced ketogenic diet and regular exercise activity is a key modifiable factor to the prevention and management of chronic diseases. Influence health across the lifespan and reduction of the risk of premature death through several biological mechanisms. Community older group’s lifestyle factors interventions contribute identity in their natural living environment. While the older health benefits of walking exercise training strategies are commonly to study, combined ketogenic diet and walking exercise interventions have induced greater benefits in community older groups.

This article obtains data through questionnaire survey, and then uses the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) Model to establish the Taoyuan City’s quality of life quantifying framework in a city-level community context. Statistical test results show that the reliability of overall model is high and is suitable for policy analysis. There are thirteen variables in the structural model that significantly affect the quality of life as well as eleven indicators in the measurement model that can significantly measure the quality of life. Then, half of the observations are substituted back to calculate the quality of life. Via ArcGis operation, it finds that the quality of life of Longtan District is the best as well as Dayuan District is the worst one. LISA cluster of quality of life illustrates hot spots areas are distributed in Longtan, Daxi, and Pingzhen Districts.

Cloud-induced atmospheric extinction and occlusion have a major effect on the effectiveness and quality of telescope observations. Real-time cloud cover distribution and long-term statistical data are essential for astronomical siting and telescope operations. At ground-based astronomical telescope sites, cloud cover distribution is currently analyzed using manual observation methods. However, the main disadvantages of manual observation methods are human subjective, heavy workloads and poor real-time performance. Therefore, a real-time automatic cloud images classification method is desperately needed. This paper presents a new cloud identification method, which is named PSO+XGBoost model by combining eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The entire cloud image is divided into 37 sub-regions in order to more precisely identify the distribution of the clouds. 19 features are then extracted, including the sky background, star density, lighting conditions, and subregion grayscale values. The experimental results have shown that the overall classification accuracy of 96.91% and our model is able to outperform several state-of-the-art baseline methods. Our approach achieves high accuracy in comparison with the manual observation methods. Moreover, this method meets telescope real-time scheduling requirements.

To understand lung damage caused by COVID-19, we deduced two-phase lung damage mechanisms. After the lungs are infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus, the affected lung tissue swells and surface properties of pulmonary capillaries change, resulting in an increased flow resistance of affected capillaries. If a sufficient number of capillaries are affected by the infection, the swelling and increased cell wall adhesion collectively raise pulmonary vascular resistance. The increased vascular resistance further increases the dwell times of WBCs in affected capillaries and nearly capillaries. When pulmonary pressure is sufficiently higher, WBCs are forced to squeeze into interstitial spaces or alveolar spaces when local pressures are higher than what the capillaries can withstand. When more and more WBCs are dynamically retained, the flow resistance of more capillaries rises, pulmonary vascular resistance rises, and pulmonary pressure rises. The rise in the pulmonary pressure in turn results in elevated capillary pressures. When capillary pressures around the alveoli are sufficiently high, they cause interstitial pressures to change from normally negative values to positive values. The positive pressures cause fluid leakage to the alveolar space and thus degrade lung function. Tissue swelling, and occupation of WBCs in interstitial spaces and alveolar spaces further reduce compressible volume, and thus cause further rise in the pulmonary vascular resistance and pulmonary pressure. When the pulmonary pressure has reached a critical point as in the second phase, the blood breaks capillary walls and squeezes through interstitial spaces to reach alveolar spaces, resulting in irreversible lung damages. The available free volume in the thorax cage, organ usable capacities, temperature and humid are expected to have great impacts on degree of lung damages. The free volume in the thorax cage, lung usable surplus capacity, and other organ usable capacities determine the arrival time of last-phase irreversible damage. The mechanisms imply that the top priority for protecting lungs is maintaining pulmonary micro-circulation and preserving organ functions in the entire disease course while controlling viral reproduction should be stressed in the earliest time possible. The mechanisms also explain leukecytes are recruited and migrated into inflamed tissues by increasing their dwell times caused by increased local flow resistance.

After reviewing cancer theories, cancer treatment development histories, randomized clinical trial's performance, cancer treatment strategy, trial follow-up times, and conducting numerous simulations using existing data, the authors found: (1) medical treatments come with three to four lethal factors: treatment side-effects, emotional distress and chronic dress, lack of exercises or physical inactivity, and excessive nutrition in some cases; (2) clinical trial exaggerates the benefits of fast-acting treatments and underestimates the slow-delivering adverse side effects as a result of statistical averaging, interfering effects of personal lifestyle factors, and insufficient follow-up times; (3) the benefits of medical treatments are limited by chain comparison, where surgery sets up a negative standard relative to the best way for resolving cancer; (4) the strategy of destroying the tumor is unworkable; (5) medical treatments can turn natural cancer growth curve into approximately doubly exponential curve; (6) multiple factor non-medical measures are much more powerful than medical treatments in controlling cancer growth and metastasis rates; and (7) cancer early diagnosis and over treatments are bad strategies that have great adverse impacts on cancer patients. Based on huge increases in cancer growth rate constants, substantial of loss of organ functional capacity, and severe systemic aging-like cellular damages, the authors concluded that medical treatments promote cancer growth and metastasis rates and shorten patient lives in most cases, and the claimed benefits are caused by triple biases of clinical trials. The authors believe that the better strategy for ending the global cancer epidemic is abandoning clinical trails as the research model, changing caner treatment strategy from killing cancer cells to slowing down cancer growth rates by using multiple factors optimization approach in personalized medicine.

We conducted many model simulations to understand the causes of the damages of coronavirus (COVID-19) to lung tissue and constructed a diagram showing apparent viral reproduction, immune response and damage accumulation curves. We found that lung damages include virus-caused damage, tissue damage caused by immune responses and tissue damage caused by accumulated wastes. The virus-caused damage is proportional to the phase lag between the viral reproduction curve and the delayed adaptive immune response curve, while waste-induced damage is attributed to imbalance in removing viral, cellular and metabolic by-products. We found that treatment strategies should slow down viral reproduction and speed up immune response, and improve blood micro-circulation in the lungs. Consistent with the strategies, measures are taken to void direct lung infection, strengthen innate responses, promote immune responses, dilute viral concentration in lung tissue, maintain waste removal balance, protect heart and kidneys, control other infections, avoid allergic reactions and other inflammation, etc. We show that medical, dietary, emotional, lifestyle, environmental, mechanical factors, etc. may be simultaneously used to mitigate lung damages and prove that multiple factor health optimization method is magnitudes more powerful than a single factor treatment. Such a method does not depend on molecular specificity and can be used in parallel to antiviral drugs.

To understand great disparities in disease outcomes between CIVID-19 patients, we explore infection and host responses in kinetics. From existing data, we deduced a model that the lungs are damaged by rapidly rising flow resistance as a result of retaining white blood cells in lung tissues. The retention of white blood cells is initially triggered by viral infection but aggravated by injuries caused by low temperature. Lungs are initially damaged by fluid leakage, rapidly followed by extruding blood into alveolar spaces. The step of blood extruding is predicted to take place in a very short time. Our simulations show that as little as 0.1% retention of white blood cells in the lungs can lead to their failure in 5 to 10 days. The small degrees of imbalance implies that this imbalance could be corrected by a large number of factors that are known to reduce flow resistance. The model implies that the top priority is maintaining blood micro-circulation and preserving organ functions in the entire disease course, especially after the virus has spread the whole lungs. From exploring a large number of hypothetical infection modes, we propose preventive, mitigating and treatment strategies for ultimately ending the pandemic. The first strategy is avoiding exposures that could result in widespread damages to lungs and taking post exposure mitigating measures that would reduce disease severity. The second strategy is reducing death rate and disability rate from the current levels to one tenth for infected patients by using multiple factors health optimization method. The double reduction strategies are expected to generate a series of chain reactions that favor mitigating or ending the pandemic. Some reactions include a big reduction of the amount of viral discharges from infected patients into the air, the avoidance of panic, chronic stress and emotional distress, and cross-infections which are expected in quarantines. The double reductions would have a final effect of ending the pandemic.

Modern medicine adopted four presumptions when it evolved from ancient experienced-based mind-body medicine. To understand its failure in finding cures for chronic diseases, we examined four presumptions, and found that statistical population of health properties does not exist for most research purposes, mathematical models are misused to model intensive properties, synthetic drugs are inherently more dangerous than nature-made medicines under their respective application conditions, and reductionist treatments are inferior and inherently dangerous. We found that clinical trials are valid only for research where treatment effect is much stronger than the total effects of all interfering or co-causal factors or errors introduced by misused mathematical models can be tolerated. In all other situations, clinical trials introduce excessive errors and fail to detect treatment effects, or produce biased, incorrect or wrong results. We further found that chronic diseases are manifestation of small departures in multiple process attributes in distinctive personal biological pathways networks, that modern medicine lacks required accuracy for accurately characterizing chronic diseases, and that reductionist treatments are good at controlling symptoms and safe for short term uses. For all stated reasons, as long as modern medicine continues relying on the flawed presumptions, it can never find predictable cures for chronic diseases. By implication, predictable cures to chronic diseases are adjustments to lifestyle, dietary, emotional, and environmental factors to slowly correct departures in process attributes responsible for chronic diseases.

In the war against the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is experiencing severe resource constraints. Although transmission routes are well understood, we suspect that they cause different disease consequences. We evaluate them in different forms to understand how they affect infection rates and disease severity. In determining how they affect disease outcome, we evaluated target tissue vulnerability, functional role, defense mechanisms, viral concentration, infection vicinity to target vital tissue, and host factors. We found that direct lung infection is the most lethal transmission route followed by bronchi infection. Transmissions by physical contacts, foods, and blood by low viral concentration (as expected in normal human activities) pose lower or much lower risks unless the infection is followed by subsequent lung exposures. After adding transmission route, treatment timings, and improper treatments into the list of known risk factors, we found that death rate and disability rate for young or healthy persons are nearly zero. We show that population based medical model improperly shifts nominal death rate from few vulnerable people to the population resulting in unnecessary population panic, and such panic is responsible for shutting down human activities and the world economy. Finally, we examined limitations in population-based mitigating measures and proposed for governmental and private adoption community guidelines, which are mainly to enable vulnerable people avoid exposures, prevent non-vulnerable people from serving as viral transmitters, get rid of high-risk exposure modes in working environment, improve safety for people in buses, ships and planes, and reduce death and disability rates for infected people.

Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) training is critical in clinical practice of occupational therapy (OT) for stroke patients. In the conventional approaches, the therapists simulate various occupational tasks in their healthcare settings or reach their nearby real circumstances for the training. As an alternative technology, immersive virtual reality (IVR) has been used widely in stroke rehabilitation for years; however, limited research has compared occupational performances between virtual and real environments. Our team has established a novel IVR shopping training system for stroke rehabilitation. We recruited 10 stroke patients from our department to test the system. All patients attempted to implement shopping tasks in the virtual and real environments respectively. The Wilcoxon test showed no significant differences between virtual and real environments in memory capacity and time-consuming for implementing tasks, and memory capacities in virtual and real environments presented excellent correlations with the IADL assessment. This study suggests that IVR shopping tasks can be used as an alternative approach in rehabilitation when there is limited resource for implementing shopping training in a real environment, while the psychometric property, clinical effect and the effect transferred to the real environment induced by virtual training require further study.

In this paper, the synthesis of two novel luminescent Eu3+ ion complexes [Eu(TFT)3(phen) (1) and Eu(TFT)3(bpy)•Hex (2)] based on the combination of 2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)-1-tetralone (TFT), containing n-donor ligands (1,10-phenanthroline or 2,2'-Bipyridine) and Eu3+ ion is reported herein, and their structural features are discussed on the basis of X-ray crystallographic and thermal analyses. We observed that the ligands transfer energy effectively to the metal center by fluorescence, IR and UV spectrograms studies. The structures and properties of complexes 1-2 were optimized by the DFT theoretical calculation, and the calculation results were consistent with the experimental X-ray structure data and spectral analysis.

Aiming at the problem of UAV cluster configuration reconstruction, in order to obtain the cluster reconstruction method, the theory and simulation of cluster reconstruction control strategy is studied by simplifying the model，deducing the theoretical formula and analyzing the example. Taking 10 UAVs cluster as an example, the distribution of UAVs in different configurations was analyzed. According to the change of cluster configuration, the principle of formation reconstruction and the execution ability of configuration, the cluster capability was analyzed. The group behavior is modeled by group behavior rules, reconfiguration topology analysis and reconfiguration cost measurement. Based on the cluster parameters and configuration characteristics, simulation experiments were carried out to obtain the change curve of the reconstruction cost and time and the trajectory movement diagram of the UAV in different configurations.

Chronic diseases are still known as incurable diseases, and we suspect that the medical research model is unfit for characterizing chronic diseases. In this study, we examined accuracy and reliability required for characterizing chronic diseases, reviewed implied presumptions in clinical trials and assumptions used in statistical analysis, examined sources of variances normally encountered in clinical trials, and conducted numeric simulations by using hypothetical data for several theoretical and hypothetical models. We found that the sources of variances attributable to personal differences in clinical trials can distort hypothesis test outcomes, that clinical trials introduce too many errors and too much inaccuracies that tend to hide weak and slow effects of treatments, and that the means of treatments used in statistical analysis have little or no relevance to specific patients. We further found that a large number of uncontrolled co-causal or interfering factors normally seen in human subjects can greatly enlarge the means and the variances of the experimental errors, and the use of high rejection criteria (e.g., low p values) further raises the chances of failing to find treatment effects. As a whole, we concluded that the research model using clinical trials is wrong on multiple grounds, under any of our realistic theoretical and hypothetical models, and that misuse of statistical analysis is most probably responsible for failure to identify treatment effects for chronic diseases and to detect harmful effects of toxic substances in the environment. We proposed alternative experimental models involving the use of single-person or mini optimization trials for studying low-risk weak treatments.

In this work, the Ni/Ti/Nb multilayer composite was successfully manufactured by accumulative pack-roll bonding. The microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the composite during the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process were investigated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), micro-hardness and tensile tests. The results showed that after 5 passes of the ARB process, the deformations of layers were relatively uniform, and no large number of interlayer fractures occurred. The microstructures of Ni and Ti were both equiaxed grains with a grain size of 200 nm and 150 nm, respectively, and finer equiaxed grains of the Ni layer were observed at the interface. The laminar structure of Nb layer was observed. The tensile strength and micro-hardness increased significantly as the number of ARB increased. After 5 passes of the ARB process, the tensile strength of the composite reached 792.3 MPa, and the micro-hardness of Ni, Ti, and Nb were increased to 270.2, 307.4, and 243.4 HV, respectively.

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.

Ecological ternary cements (ECP) were perpared with powders of phosphogypsum (PG), fly ash (FA) and portland cement (PC). The evolution mechanism of the hydration product structure was characterized through macro and micro experiments.The thermodynamic characteristics of solid phase, solid solution phase and aqueous solution in process of hydration about phosphogypsum-fly ash-cement ternary cementitious system were studied based on the Gibbs-free-energy C-S-H thermodynamic model and GEM-Selektor software, and compared with experimental results. The results show that in the hydration reaction the thermodynamic interaction between mineral single-phase and hydration products plays an important role in the spatio-temporal distribution of ions in the cementitious system. The values of CaO、SiO2Hand H2Ohyd gradually increased with the increase of Ca/Si ratio, while the values of CaOext and H2OOH showed a positive proportional relationship, and the values of SiO2H and SiO2 showed an inverse proportional relationship. GEM-Selektor is accurate in the simulation calculation of the total amount of AFt and AFm mineral phases which quantitatively analysis the correlation between C-S-H gels formation and C3S with complex decomposition ion groups.

Nicotine exposure may affect NSCLC is associated with lung cancer in humans. Whether nicotine exhibits carcinogenesis promoted activities in tumor growth still unknown. Nicotine is known to have dichotomous effects on cancer biology, acting like a pro- or anti-carcinogenesis agent. There are different functions between adenocarcinoma and squamous NSCLC cancer cells. Excess generation of nicotine may inhibit mitochondrial metabolism, protein modification, and DNA cleavage. Materials and Methods: We used the H520 NSCLC line obtained from human lung epithelial cells to detected nicotine growth and toxicity using MTT assay and western blotting. The concentration of nicotine stimulated cell growth to correspond to low concentration, while high concentration was cytotoxic. Results: According to MTT assay results, at 1.0 μM nicotine has significantly enhanced the H520 cell viability (%). Nicotine induced lung cancer carcinogenesis through mechanisms of α7nAchR, EGFR, HDAC2/4/5, Cyclin D/Cyclin E, Bcl-2, p-Akt, and inflammatory proteins of NF-KappaB and COX2 increases at 1.0 μM. Apoptosis proteins were decreases at 1.0 μM nicotine by p21, p27, c-jun, and p38α using western blotting. Nicotine stimulates tumor growth is mediated through α7nicotinic-acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChR), possibly involving inflammation. On the other hand, at high nicotine concentrations (> 1.0 μM) with consistent cytotoxic effects and appeared to be due to direct cell kill. Nicotine can prevent apoptosis induced by NSCLC. Conclusion: Therefore, the effects on chemotherapeutics by NSCLC malignant cell lines, nicotine in concentrations as low as 1.0 μM decreased. These mechanisms are responsible for the genotoxic effects caused by nicotine. This leads to downstream effects on decreased apoptosis, increased cell proliferation and transformation. The malignant NSCLC cells respond to the treatment with nicotine in lung cancer, the nicotine-mediated induction of growth may provide one of its links to α7nAchR or EGFR.

The conceptualisation of happiness varies across different cultures. In Chinese culture, happiness is not only inclusive of oneself, but also hinges on the people is related to and society. Chinese social development have influenced psychological traditionality and modernity and individual's happiness. In Experienment1, 450 participants were recruited and surveyed to examine the levels of happiness amongst Chinese undergraduates with diverse cultural values. The results showed that individuals with both traditional and modern psychological orientations had high levels of happiness. Those with higher psychological traditionality showed more satisfaction with family relationships and social happiness, while those with higher psychological modernity demonstrated a higher level of relational happiness. In Experienment2, 280 participants were recruited, and a "happiness token distribution" and "happiness importance survey" were employed to draw a 'happiness circle' for Chinese undergraduates. The results revealed that those with a higher degree of psychological traditionality assigned a greater proportion of their happiness to ascribed relationships. In contrast, those with a higher degree of psychological modernity allocated a larger share of their happiness to interactive relationships and social relationships. Individuals with lower values of both traditionality and modernity perceived themselves as the most important component in their happiness circle.

Arabidopsis contains eight different h-type thioredoxins (Trx) being distributed in different cell organelles. Although Trx h2 is deemed to be localized in mitochondria, its subcellular localization and function remains a matter of debate. Here, Trx h2 localization and function were investigated using cell fractionation studies and reverse genetics. Differential centrifugation and immunodetection showed the Trx h2 protein to be distributed to the microsomal fraction rather than to mitochondrial preparations. To analyze whether Trx h2 has different roles than mitochondrial Trxs, Arabidopsis mutants lacking Trx h2 were compared with mutants deficient in mitochondrial Trx o1 and double mutants with joint deficiencies in both Trxs. Under constant medium light, trxh2 grew as the wild type, while trxo1 and trxo1h2 mutants showed impaired growth. This was accompanied by differences in the metabolite profiles. The trxo1 and trxo1h2 mutants clustered differently from the wild type during the night, revealing a decrease in ascorbate and glutathione redox states. In fluctuating light intensities, genotypic differences in growth rates were attenuated. Compared to the wild type, the fluctuating-light induced decrease in the NADPH/NADP ratio was diminished in the mutants, with the trxo1h2 double mutant showing the strongest effect. This was accompanied by an increase in the photosynthetic efficiency of the trxo1h2 mutant, specifically in the high light phases of fluctuating light. Conclusively, these results support the view that Trxs o1 and h2 are localized in different subcellular compartments, and have different effects on ascorbate and glutathione redox states and growth in medium light, but cooperatively affect NADP(H) redox state and photosynthetic efficiency in fluctuating light.

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.

The last-mile logistics in cities have become an indispensable part of the urban logistics system. This study aims to explore the effective selection of last-mile logistics nodes to enhance the efficiency of logistics distribution, strengthen the corporate distribution image, and further reduce corporate operating costs and alleviate urban traffic congestion. This paper proposes a clustering-based approach to identify urban logistics nodes from the perspective of geographic information fusion. This method comprehensively considers several key indicators, including the coverage, balance, and urban traffic conditions of logistics distribution. Additionally, we employed a greedy algorithm to identify secondary nodes around primary nodes, thus constructing an effective nodal network. To verify the practicality of this model, we conducted an empirical simulation study using the logistics demand and traffic conditions in the Xianlin District of Nanjing. This research not only identified the locations of primary and secondary logistics nodes but also provided a new perspective for constructing the urban last-mile logistics system, enriching the academic research related to logistics node construction. The results of this study are of significant theoretical and practical importance for optimizing urban logistics networks, enhancing logistics efficiency, and promoting the improvement of urban traffic conditions.

The sample data are used from Shaanxi Statistical Yearbook （1999-2018）and poverty population in X County of Southern Shaanxi in 2018. By using Eviews and Excel, this report focuses on analyzing the relationship between education investment and economic growth, education for poverty population, per capita income and poverty caused by education in X county, which can explain reasons for the phenomenon of poverty caused by education. The countermeasures are proposed to solve the phenomenon of poverty caused by education, including establishing scientific education view, correctly understanding education investment and benefit, and improving the aid mechanism for poor students to realize the effective connect among poverty alleviation through education, accurate poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.

The aim of this study was to investigate the physicochemical characterization and biological activities of chitosan (CH) based composite films with the incorporation of chestnut flower essential oil (CFEO). The composite films were prepared by casting method and characterized in terms of structural, morphological and mechanical properties via FT-IR, XRD, UV, SEM and TGA. The results proved the significantly increased water vapor permeability (WVP), heat resistance, antibacterial and antioxidant capabilities of CH-CFEO films. The incorporation of CH and CFEO enhanced the UV blocking, which made the film shield almost all UV light. Films with the tensile strength of 6.37 ± 0.41 MPa and elongation at break of 22.57 ± 0.35% were got with 6 mg mL-1 CFEO. Subsequently, the fruit preservation experiments also confirmed that the composite films could effectively extend the shelf life of bananas through their excellent water vapor and oxygen barrier. These desirable performances enable our newly developed composite films to be a remarkable packaging material to solve the fresh fruit preservation dilemma.

In the ground-based infrared optical remote sensing system, the target signal is very weak due to the dynamic strong light background and the movement of small and small targets. In order to improve the limit detection capability, the background suppression and target enhancement methods are required to be more suitable for this scene. To solve this problem, we first analyze the image features in the current scene, and propose a more perfect point target and noise model. Then, we propose a new WY distribution function based on the Fermi Dirac distribution function, and propose an anisotropic filtering method based on this function, and further suppress the back-ground through the difference results of two steps. Then, based on the distribution function, we further designed an energy concentration accumulation strategy in 9 scale directions, through which the SNR of the target is effectively improved and the suppression ability of the background is enhanced. Through quantitative and qualitative experimental analysis, compared with the same type of algorithms, the proposed method has better robustness against extremely weak targets and dynamic backgrounds.

It is of merit to study the appropriate amount of fiber to add to free-range chickens feed to improve the microbial diversity and gut health in times of plant fiber deprivation. OptiCell is a useful source of fiber as a type of eubiotic lignocellulose, and its positive effects on the growth performance and laying performance of chickens has already been proven. However, few researchers have researched the effects of adding OptiCell on the gut microbiota of chickens. In this research we added three different levels of OptiCell (0%, 2% and 4%) to the feed of caged and free-range Bian chickens from September to November, aiming to observe the effects of adding OptiCell and different feeding modes on the gut microbial diversity and gut health of chickens, and aiming to determine an appropriate amount of OptiCell. The results showed that adding OptiCell could increase the thickness of the cecum mucus layer and the abundance of Akkermansia and Faecalibacterium in caged chickens, and 4% OptiCell was optimum. In addition, adding OptiCell increased the microbial diversity and the abundance of the butyrate-producing bacteria Faecalibacterium and Roseburia of fee-range chickens. The α-diversity and the length of the small intestine with 2% OptiCell in free-range chickens were better than with 2% OptiCell in caged chickens. In addition, compared with caged chickens, the free-range chickens had longer small intestine and lower GLP-1. Taken together, an appropriate amount of OptiCell benefitted the microbial diversity and health of chickens; it was necessary to add dietary fiber to the feed of free-range chickens when plant fibers was lacking, and 2% OptiCell was found to be optimum.

With the rapid development of the economy and the transformation of social contradictions, the economic development model in China has also changed, and a high-quality economic development model has been proposed. This paper uses the entropy method to measure the level of innovation and high-quality economic development in nine prefecture-level cities in Fujian Province from 2011 to 2020, and finds that the overall level shows an increasing trend year by year, but there are obvious regional differences. By constructing a grey correlation degree model, it is found that the innovation subsystem and the high-quality economic development are strongly correlated, the development level of innovation and the subsystem of high-quality economic development are both strongly correlated, the grey correlation degree from high to low is green, coordinated, shared, and livelihood, indicating that innovation has a significant impact on high-quality economic development. Based on the research results, countermeasures and suggestions are proposed to promote the coordinated development of innovation and high-quality economy.

Comprehensively understanding the spatial ecology and habitat preferences of endangered species is essential for population restoration and conservation. We investigated the home range and movement of the endangered Amur soft-shell turtle (Pelodiscus maackii) in the Ussuri River, Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China. The study involved tracking 19 Amur soft-shell turtles from late June to mid-October, 2022, resulting in complete and partial home range size data for eight subadults and two adults, respectively. The primary analysis focused on eight subadults, and the models that best described daily movement were identified. We also explored the potential factors influencing home range size. Mean movement rate ranged from 39.18 ± 20.04 m to 72.45 ± 29.36 m and was positively correlated with the linear home range and water temperature. The most insightful home range estimate was a 95% kernel density estimate, employing likelihood cross-validation smoothing with constraints set to the river boundaries. The mean home range size was 1.02 ha and was not correlated with body size. Subadults tended to establish well-defined home ranges over time; whereas, defining home ranges for adults proved challenging. This research addresses a gap regarding the ecology of the Amur soft-shell turtle and provides a foundation for future conservation plans.

Val-Phe-Val-Arg-Asn (VFVRN) has been identified and screened from lipid-lowering chickpea peptides (ChPs) by using a pharmacokinetic model in our previous experiment. The present study was conducted to investigate its effects and mechanisms on lipid metabolism. A high-fat diet C57BL/6J mice model and 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cell model were used. VFVRN was found to significantly decrease the levels of some blood lipids. The expressions of LDL receptor (LDLR), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR)α, liver X receptor (LXR)α, cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) and AMP-activated protein kinase (p-AMPK) in liver were up-regulated by VFVRN treatment. The expressions of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGR), fatty acid synthetase (FAS), 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthetase (ACC), sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1c and SREBP-2 in liver were significantly (P<0.05) down-regulated. Additionally, the expressions of PPARα and PPARγ in adipose tissues were up-regulated by VFVRN significantly (P<0.05). VFVRN might also contribute to transintestinal cholesterol efflux (TICE) by up-regulating the expressions of LXRα and ATP binding cassette G5/8 transporters (ABGC5/8). Moreover, VFVRN promoted 3T3-L1 preadipocyte apoptosis by up-regulating the expressions of BaX, cleaved Caspase-3 and down-regulating Bcl-2. VFVRN had potent effects in reversing metabolic disorders of blood and liver in a high-fat diet mice model, as well as to promote the apoptosis of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes.

Increasing numbers of researchers are interested in the importance of dietary fiber for the gut microbiota, microbiotal metabolite SCFA, energy metabolism and gut health of the host. However, studies have demonstrated that long-term and longitudinal observation may be needed to evaluate the effect of dietary fiber better, and few such works have been made in chickens. Therefore, we successively fed low-fiber, high--fiber and low-fiber diets to two breeds of chickens during different growth periods (1—8, 9—20 and 21—50 weeks), aiming to longitudinally observe the long-term effect of altered dietary fiber on the gut microbiota, SCFA and development of cecum of chickens with age. The results showed that the composition and function of the gut microbiota, SCFA and the development of the cecum were different during different periods, which was largly affected by dietary fiber. However, the causes of some effects were different during the different periods. For example, compared with that in low-fiber chickens at 8 weeks, dominant fiber-degradation bacteria such as Bacteroidetes, Alloprevotella and SCFA-producing bacteria such as Faecalibacterium increased due to a high-fiber diet at 20 weeks, while due to a high feed intake in 50 weeks. Moreover, the concentration of SCFA in 20 weeks was significantly higher than in 8 weeks and 50 weeks, but the causes of this difference were also distinct. It was proposed that a long-term observation was needed to evaluate the effect of dietary fiber better on chickens. The metabolite pathways of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters encoded by Firmicutes were enriched in 8 weeks, while a two-component system and β–glucosidase encoded by Bacteroidetes were enriched in 20 and 50 weeks. The trend was the same in two breeds of chickens except for Alloprevotella. In addition, the total content of SCFA in the contents of cecum was also affected by the size of the cecum. Surprisingly, the length of the cecum shortened from 20—50 weeks, maybe due to reduced dietary fiber.

The construction of sustainable urban forests follows the principle that well-being in people is promoted when exposed to tree population. Facial expression is the direct representation of inner emotion that can be used to assess real-time perception in urban forests. The emergence and change of facial expressions for forest visitors are in an implicit process. The reserved character of oriental races strengthens the requirement for the accuracy to recognize expressions through instrument rating. In this study, a dataset was established with 2,886 randomly photographed faces from visitors in a constructed urban forest park and a promenade at summertime in Shenyang City at Northeast China. Six experts were invited to choose 160 photos in total with 20 images representing one of eight typical expressions as angry, contempt, disgusted, happy, neutral, sad, scared, and surprised emotions. The FireFACE ver. 3.0 software was used to test hit-ratio validation as the accuracy (ac.) to match machine-recognized photos with those identified by experts. According to Kruskal-Wallis test on the difference from averaged scores in 20 recently published papers, contempt (ac.=0.40%, P=0.0038) and scared (ac.=25.23%, P=0.0018) expressions cannot pass the validation test. Therefore, the FireFACE can be used as an instrument to analyze facial expression from oriental people in urban forests but contempt and scared expressions cannot be identified.

To predict how the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, we developed a systematic method for predicting disease outcomes. In the method, we evaluate how personal disease outcomes are mainly affected by viral concentration and exposure time and four defense mechanisms: human innate immunity/host response, acquired immune response, inflammation resolution and micro circulation, and the available space in the thorax cage. By considering how pandemic measures affect viral exposure and those mechanisms, we found many pandemic measures are misused or abused to deliver long-term adverse impacts. We noted that lifestyles have been changed as a result of movement restriction measures. By using the method, we found that altered lifestyles are predicted to raise infection rate, disability and death risks in the future. We show that a person can use personal, environmental, emotional factors to reduce infection rate and death risk. To prove the validity of this finding, we extensively examined medical research models, holistic and reductionist models, epidemiological models, disease risk factors, etc, and found that population methods are unfit for studying holistic health, statistical population does not exist in most clinical trials, mathematical models were misused for studying disease properties for a population, mathematical equations for modeling personal diseases are beyond human ability to solve, statistical models are misused, population-derived treatments are inherently dangerous to patients, vaccines have limited benefits due to unique lung structure and rapid RNA mutation, and immune system damage is caused by fast viral replication rate. We found that altering biological properties to improve the defense mechanisms could prevent a super majority of deaths and prevent the virus from reaching a point to damage the immune system. For vulnerable persons, such measure is a viable strategy for surviving from the pandemic. As a whole, holistic personalized medicine is more powerful than population-based reductionist treatment by one to several orders of magnitudes. We urge people do their parts to force the medical establishment to abandon population treatment models that are responsible for failure of medicine and dissemination of misleading and factually wrong information on the effectiveness of medical treatments.

We previously proposed a public intervention framework concept that would allow people to resume personal and economic activities. We showed that intervention measures are used in a quantitative scale to reduce transmission probabilities and disease severity. In this article, we systematically examine the origin, assumptions, performance and limitations of epidemiological models from different views used in past review. We found that nearly all model assumptions fail to hold or are remote from reality; R0 does not exit or has no utility in guiding treatment options; personalized intervention measures are vitally important to COVID-19 due to its transmission characteristic; and current epidemiological models are unable to accurately assess the true benefits of personalized intervention measures. We suggest that poor performance of the models are attributed to flawed assumption that health/disease properties can be treated as transferable properties. The flaw creates a fiction that disease properties such as infection probabilities and death risks can be transferred from any vulnerable persons to anyone in the population and thus severely limit societal ability to fight the pandemic. We finally show that the benefits of personalized mitigation measures could be determined directly by using variable Ri values for infected persons (or nodes) together assessment of death rate and disability rate; the attempt of avoiding the disease by defeating all potential transmission probabilities is unrealistic; but mitigating disease severity for specific persons is more feasible and reliable. A most reliable strategy for reviving economy is using personalized protective measures and improving person health before effective vaccine is available.

The COVID-19 pandemic has great adverse impacts on personal life, the U.S. economy, and the world economy. Freezing all human activities is not a sustainable measure. Thus we want to develop a public intervention framework that allows people to resume personal and economic activities. In this article, we examined transmission routes, disease severity, personal vulnerability, available treatments, and person-person interactions to establish a general public intervention framework. We divide people into risk groups, non-risk group and group that may serve as viral transmitters, explore interactions between individual persons within each group and between different groups, and propose interaction behavior modifications to mitigate viral exposures. For the non-risk groups, we identified preventive measures that can help them avoid the most serious exposures and infections that pose higher death risks. The invention measures for the vulnerable groups include prior-exposure measures, heightened protective measures, interaction behavior changes, post-exposure remedial measures, and multiple factors treatments to reduce death and disability risks. The multiple interventions and two-ways defensive behavior modifications are expected to result in reduced rate of detectable infections and lowered disease severity for the vulnerable groups. In this framework, most human activities and economic activities can continue as normal. With time passing, the population acquires population immunity against the COVID-19 virus. Implementation of this intervention framework requires considerable resources and governmental effects while the multiple factors treatment protocol requires the support of health care professionals.

We examined special roles of the Central Nervous System (CNS) in an attempt to resolve the puzzle that chronic diseases cannot be cured by medicine. By exploring a skill-learning model, we found that the CNS is able to remember certain information reflecting biochemical and cellular (B&C) processes in the body. From the skill using ability, we found that the CNS is able to control basic B&C processes that drive and power the skill. From the ability to adjust forces and force direction of a physical act, we found that the CNS is able to adjust B&C processes that drive the physical act. From this adjustment capability, we further inferred that the CNS must also store information on the baseline B&C processes. As a whole, we found that the CNS can maintain information on baseline B&C processes, up-regulate or down-regulate the processes, and make comparisons in performing its regulatory functions. We found that chronic diseases are the results of deviated baseline B&C processes. Per the proved hypothesis, the CNS maintains deviated baseline B&C processes, and thus protects the body states of fully developed diseases. We then used the three CNS roles to explain that cancer progresses with increasing malignancy, cancer quickly returns after a surgery, cancer cells repopulate after chemotherapy and radiotherapy, cancer develops drug resistance inevitably, immune cells rebound after suppression, generally poor benefits of cancer drugs such as beta-blockers, etc. We further showed that long-term exercises generally push most, if not all, baseline B&C processes in diametrical opposing directions against the diseased B&C processes, implying that exercises play unique roles in reversing chronic diseases. Finally, we proposed several strategical approaches to resetting the CNS’ state memory as the essential condition for curing chronic diseases.

Lignin fibers typically influence the mixture performance of stone matrix asphalt (SMA), such as strength, stability, durability, noise level, rutting resistance, fatigue life, and water sensitivity. However, limited studies were conducted to analyze the influence of fibers on the percent voids in mineral aggregate in bituminous mixture (VMA) during the mixture design. This study analyzed the effect of different fibers and fiber contents on the VMA in SMA mixture design. A surface-dry condition method test and Marshall Stability test were applied on the SMA mixture with four different fibers (i.e., flocculent lignin fiber, mineral fiber, polyester fiber, blended fiber). The test results indicated that the bulk specific gravity of SMA mixtures and asphalt saturation decreased with the increasing fiber content, whilst the percent air voids in bituminous mixtures (VV), Marshall Stability and VMA increased. Mineral fiber had the most obvious impact on the bulk specific gravity of bituminous mixtures, while flocculent lignin fiber had a minimal impact. The mixture with mineral fiber and polyester fiber had significant effects on the volumetric properties, and, consequently, exhibited better VMA over the conventional SMA mixture with lignin fiber. Modified fiber content range was also provided, which will widen the utilization of mineral fiber and polyester fiber in the applications of SMA mixtures. The mixture evaluation suggested no statistically significant difference between lignin fiber and polyester fiber on the stability. The mineral fiber required a much larger fiber content to improve the mixture performance than other fibers. Overall, the results can be a reference to guide SMA mixture design.

Managing epidemics need to unite each individual of the nations. Lockdown is an essential strategy to fatal and threatening epidemic. All of the citizens should realize that each of people has a responsibility to support the public health crisis. How to organize individual to fight against the epidemic plaque depends each of them. This essay discussed the COVID-19 pandemic relevant self-governance of community from a historical perspective in China. Self-governance of neighborhood committee and community residential office in urban and rural helped to control the COVID-19 pandemic in the communities in China. Co-operation and collective responsibility of citizens and community support is a critical condition to prevent epidemic. The community self-governance can track back Qin Dynasty in China history. It established baojia system to maintain social control for thousand years. Now, the community-based system, baojia system is becoming more autonomous for local citizenship and socialized governance in China. We reviewed a historical pneumonia plaque in North China in 1911. Chinese doctor, Wu Lien-teh (伍連德) confronted the epidemic crisis with many measures such as lockdown, quarantine, the wearing of mask, setup mobile hospitals, travel restriction, the cremation of victims, and border control. Dr. Wu made effort to establish the modern public health service in China. We think that the combination of culture background of China community with modern public healthcare system determinedly played important role to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

A systematic investigation of the dynamic clustering behavior of active particles under confinement, including the effects of both particle density and active driving force is presented based on a hybrid coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. First, a series of scaling laws were derived with power relationships for the dynamic clustering time as a function of both particle density and active driving force. Notably, the average number of clusters N ̅ assembled from active particles in the simulation system exhibits a scaling relationship with clustering time t described by N ̅∝t^(-m). Simultaneously, the scaling behavior of the average cluster size S ̅ is characterized by S ̅∝t^m. Our findings reveals the presence of up to four distinct dynamic regions concerning clustering over time, with transitions contingent upon the particle density within the system. Furthermore, as the active driving force increases, the aggregation behavior also accelerates, while an increase in density of active particles induce alterations in the dynamic procession of the system.

Drafting formations have been long recognized as highly effective for reducing drag and enhancing athletic performance, particularly in race walking events. The precise spacing and positioning of the race walkers are critical to optimizing the effectiveness of drafting. In this study, the drag reduction of 15 drafting formations is investigated using wind-tunnel experiments and CFD numerical simulations. The results show excellent consistency in drag reduction rate between the two methods, with differences being within 10%. This can be attributed to spacing replacing body shape differences as the primary factor influencing drag reduction. Optimal double, triple, and quadruple drafting formations produce the same results in both wind-tunnel experiments and CFD simulation, resulting in drag reductions of 67%, 66%, and 81% (wind-tunnel) and 65%, 72%, and 85% (CFD). The sources of drag differences in the two methods are discussed from various aspects. The flow field obtained through CFD analysis is used to examine the mechanism of drag reduction, revealing that drafting formations have a significant shielding effect on incoming air, which reduces the number and speed of airflow impacting the core race walker. This shielding effect is identified as the primary cause of drag reduction. Using an empirical model for mechanical power output, optimal double, triple, and quadruple drafting formations enhance sport economy (4.4-5.7%), speed (3.61-4.67%), and performance (173.8-223.3s) compared to race walking alone. The findings can serve as a reference for race walkers' positioning strategy and provide insights for considering drafting formations in various running events.

This paper shows that the empirical distribution of cross-sectional analyst coverage in China's stock markets follows an exponential law in a given month from 2011 to 2020. The findings hold in both the emerging (Shanghai) and the developed market (Hong Kong). Moreover, the unique distribution parameter (i.e., mean) is directly related to the amount of market-wide information. Average analyst coverage exhibits a significant negative predictive power for stock-market uncertainty, highlighting the role of security analysts in diminishing the total uncertainty. The exponential law can be derived from the maximum entropy principle (MEP). When analysts, who are constrained by average ability in generating information (i.e., the first-order moment), strive to maximize the amount of market-wide information, this objective yields the exponential distribution. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that security analysts specialize in the generation of firm-specific information, empirical findings suggest that analysts primarily produce market-wide information for 25 countries. Nevertheless, it remains unclear why cross-sectional analyst coverage reflects market-wide information, this paper provides an entropy-based explanation.

Abstract. Graphene family (GF)-Calcium phosphate (CaP) composites, holds great potential as components of bone regeneration materials. GF nanomaterials can be modified physically as well as chemically, which are to be biomimetic, mechanically to be hard due to their capability to support exceptional mechanical, thermal and electronic properties. These biocompatible GF composites coated on the calcium phosphate can enhance and tolerate stem cell growth and differentiation, proliferation into various lineages or interact with bioorganisms. The development in CF-CaP materials and their physicochemical/biointeractions and strategies towards osteoblasts is a great concern to promote faster healing and reconstructions of large bone imperfections or defects. In this review, we explain the influence of the CF-CaP and summarize recent developments on designing CF-CaP architectures as multifunctional bone regeneration platforms. We have also explored the typical biological applications concerning these CF-CaP based bioactive nanocomposites. Furthermore, the future viewpoints and evolving challenges will also be emphasized. Due to the shortage of full-length reviews in this emerging research field, this review would be caught great attention and encourage various new chances across a wider range of disciplines.

A multispectral superconducting nanowire single photon detector sensitive to different incident photon wavelength bands, is proposed. The SNSPD consists of a Distributed Bragg Reflector, a gold mirror, and two regions employing four NbN nanowires. Using the DBR both as a filter and a reflector, two distinct detection bands are created. The first detection band has a peak absorbance of > 0.75 at a wavelength of 1143 nm, while the second band has an absorbance of > 0.70 in the wavelength range 1440 to 2000 nm. The design of the device can be tuned to provide sensitivity in different wavelength bands. While SNSPDs do not typically provide photon wavelength sensitivity, the band-selection design proposed in this work opens up potential applications for future quantum communication technology.

Tulou dwellings in Southeast China have captivated global interest due to their distinctive appearance, sustainable construction materials and technologies, and their defensive and collective housing functions. Despite several recognized as World Cultural Heritage sites, the vast majority of tulou buildings are undergoing irreversible decline and destruction, necessitating a comprehensive and systematic study. Taking 83 Tulou buildings in Raoping County, Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province as the research object, this study reconstructs the historical scenes and systematically reveals the emergence, popularity, and consolidation process of tulou dwellings as integrated defensive and residential buildings for ordinary people by conducting a comprehensive analysis of historical documents and local chronicles. Based on an extensive field investigation, the study systematically analyzes the geospatial distribution and the spatial characteristics of Raoping tulou and its residential unit. The results demonstrate the adaptability and flexibility of tulou dwellings, showcasing their developmental process and revealing the inclusive nature of these traditional residences, as well as the initiative of those who reside within them. The research findings contribute to a more dynamic, comprehensive, and authentic understanding of tulou and Chinese traditional residences, providing valuable references for the preservation and sustainable development of tulou architectural heritage.

Herpesviridae is a family of enveloped double-stranded DNA viruses that cause a wide range of diseases in hosts. Among the various components of herpesvirus particles, tegument proteins residing between the envelop and nucleocapsid play crucial roles in viral replication, immune evasion, and modulation of host cellular pathways. Understanding the three-dimensional structure of herpesvirus tegument proteins help to reveal the molecular mechanism underlying the crosstalk with other viral and cellular components, and thus is crucial for the investigation of their biological and pathological functions. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the structural features of herpesvirus tegument proteins, highlighting the structure-based functional implications, including the potential as targets for antiviral drug development.

The open communication is an exigent need for future power system where the time delay is unavoidable. In order to secure the stability of the grid, the frequency must remain within its limited range which is achieved through the load frequency control. The load frequency control signals are transmitted through communication networks which induces time delay that could destabilize the power systems. So, in order to guarantee the stability the delay margin should be computed. In this paper, we present a new method for calculating the delay margin in load frequency control systems. The transcendental time delay characteristics equation is transformed to frequency dependant equation. The spectral radius is used to find the frequencies at which the roots crosses the imaginary axis. The crossing frequencies are determined through the sweeping test and the binary iteration algorithm. A one-area load frequency control system is chosen as case study. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been proved through comparing with the most recent published methods. The method shows its merit with less conservativeness and less computations. The PI controller gains are preferable to be chosen large to reduce the damping, however, the delay margin decreases with increasing the PI controller gains.

The article delves into the intricate phase transitions of 1-Octadecanol and n-Nonadecane within a binary system, unveiling dynamic structural changes under varying conditions. Through Fouri-er-transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, specific molecular vibrations were identified, shedding light on the molecular composition and interactions. The study highlights the challenges in detecting subtle phase transitions and emphasizes the individuality of molecular behaviours in closely related compounds. The findings underscore the complexity of phase transitions in binary systems and advocate for a nuanced approach to studying molecular structures and behaviours. Addi-tionally, the research contributes valuable insights into the molecular dynamics of Organic Polymer Functional Adsorption Materials, offering implications for synthetic waxy layers in plant epidermis.

Environmental responsibility and economic benefits have promoted the development of closed-loop supply chain (CLSC), and shortages and channels are considered to be two important issues in CLSC. This paper explores ordering and channel decisions in CLSC with new and differentiated remanufactured products, and considers the price and sales effort-dependent demands, as well as the proportion of emergency orders determined by emergency order costs and backorder losses, and establishes an integrated and decentralized CLSC game models. We introduce a stochastic sales effort, which affects two types of products. Numerical results show that sales effort and the order quantity of new and remanufactured products exhibit concave and convex functions, respectively. Wherein, the upper limit of sales effort has a greater impact on supply chain decisions. High sales efforts can serve as a means of coordinating dispersed supply chains. Moreover, in different cases, decisions of integrated channel are better than those of decentralized channel. Finally, whether the supply chain adopts an emergency order strategy depends on the relative cost of emergency orders and out of stock costs. According to the research in this article, some management insights are also provided.

Virus-infected Flu is a common disease. To date, no specific drugs are available to manage the symptoms of cough, headache and sputum production. An alternative Chinese herb medicine is introduced for virus-infected Flu or similar infection. Before hospitalization, some of patients may scare for cross-infection with mild symptoms or hardly go to hospital if encountered a temporary lockdown or quarantine. Some Chinese practice self-treatment of cough, headache and sputum production by inhalation of volatile chemicals from onion and garlic. Author used to take the same alternative approach of inhalation of onion, garlic or scallions for self-treatment when suffered virus caused flu with cough, headache and sputum production at onset disease. In this article, the biomedical effects of onion and garlic are reviewed. To help patients with mild symptoms of virus infected Flu, a simple home-based treatment was suggested to self-treatment because of temporary isolation and hardly going to hospitalization. The alternative approach may also suggest for some mild virus infected respiratory diseases caused by virus at onset disease.

COX II containing a dual core CuA active site is one of the three core subunits of mitochondrial Cco, which plays a significant role in the physiological process. In this report, the full-length cDNA of COXⅡ gene was cloned from Sitophilus zeamais, which had an ORF of 684 bp encoding 227 amino acids residues. The predicted COXⅡ protein had a molecular mass of 26.2 kDa with pI value of 6.37, and multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis indicated that Sitophilus zeamais COXⅡ had high sequence identity 78.51% with the COXⅡ of other insect species, especially similarity to sitophilus oryzae. This gene was subcloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a, and induced by IPTG in E.coli Transetta (DE3) expression system. Finally the COXⅡ with 6-His tag was purified using affinity chromatography with Ni²⁺-NTA agarose. WB showed the recombinant COXⅡ was about 44 kD, and the concentration of fusion protein was 50μg/mL. UV-spectrophotometer and infrared spectrometer analysis showed that recombinant COXⅡ could catalyze the oxidation of substrate Cytc, and influenced by AITC. It was found that AITC could form a hydrophobic region with COXⅡ protein via molecular docking, besides, a sulfur atom of AITC structure could form a length of 2.9 Å hydrogen bond with Leu-31. These results will provide valuable information for elucidating the role of COXⅡ in Sitophilus zeamais responses to AITC, meanwhile, it will helpful to carry out a point mutation in AITC binding sites for the future research.

This paper presents a critical review and comparison of the results of recently published studies in the fields of human-machine interface and the use of sonomyography (SMG) for the control of upper limb prothesis. For this review paper, a combination of the keywords "Human Machine Interface", "Sonomyography", "Ultrasound", "Upper Limb Prosthesis", "Artificial Intelligence" and "Non-Invasive Sensors" was used to search for articles on Google Scholar and PubMed. Sixty-one articles were found, of which 59 were used in this review. For a comparison of the different ultrasound modes, feature extraction methods, and machine learning algorithms, 16 articles were used. It was found that various modes of ultrasound devices for prosthetic control, various machine learning algorithms for classifying different hand gestures, as well as various feature extraction methods for increasing the accuracy of artificial intelligence used in their controlling systems are reviewed in this article. The results of the review article show that ultrasound sensing has the potential to be used as a viable human-machine interface in order to control bionic hands with multiple degrees of freedom. Moreover, different hand gestures can be classified by different machine learning algorithms trained with extracted features from collected data with an accuracy of around 95%.

Promoting the use of solar energy resources has always faced the challenges of instability and supply-demand mismatch. The key to solving these issues is to efficiently store and utilize solar energy resources using high-performance heat storage devices. This study designed a high-performance shell-and-tube phase change thermal storage device and established a numerical model using ANSYS software to summarize the device's dynamic melting law. To verify the accuracy of the numerical simulation, a performance testing platform for the phase change thermal storage device was built to investigate the impact of factors such as inlet water temperature, inlet water flow rate, type of heat storage, and initial temperature of the device, and to reveal the change law of the device's performance. The results show that the inlet water temperature has the most significant impact on the device's heat storage and release performance. When the device's heat storage or release is used for heating, changing the inlet water flow rate has a weak and limited effect on the device's performance. However, when the device's heat release is used to provide domestic hot water, increasing the makeup water temperature and reducing the inlet water flow rate can significantly improve the device's effective heat release. Furthermore, based on the experimental validation of the model's correctness, this study further simulated and studied the impact of different factors on the device's heat storage process to optimize its structural design and provide technical references for the device's actual operation and installation. The results show that the placement of fins has a negligible effect on the performance of the heat storage device while reducing the fin spacing and increasing the fin thickness can significantly improve the melting efficiency of the phase change material (PCM). Additionally, the heat storage characteristics of the device are significantly better in the vertical installation mode than in the horizontal installation mode. This study provides theoretical guidance and technical references for the design and use of phase change thermal storage devices.

Street view images can help us better understand the city environment and potential characteristics. With the development of computer vision and deep learning, the technology of semantic segmentation algorithms has become more mature. However, DeeplabV3+, which is commonly used in semantic segmentation, has shortcomings such as a large number of parameters, high requirements for computing resources, and easy loss of detailed information. Therefore, this paper proposes LM-DeeplabV3+, which aims to greatly reduce parameters and computations of the model while ensuring the segmentation accuracy. Firstly, the lightweight network MobileNetV2 is selected as the backbone network, and the ECA attention mechanism is introduced after MobileNetV2 extracts shallow features to improve the ability of feature representation; secondly, the ASPP module is improved, and on its basis, the EPSA attention mechanism is introduced to achieve cross-dimensional channel attention and important feature interaction; thirdly, a loss function named CL loss is designed to balance the training offset of multiple categories and better indicate the segmentation quality. This paper conducted experimental verification on the Cityspaces dataset, and the results showed that the mIoU reached 74.9%, which was an improvement of 3.56% compared to DeeplabV3+; the mPA reached 83.01%, which was an improvement of 2.53% compared to DeeplabV3+.

Object detection is important in many applications, such as autonomous driving. While 2D images are lack of depth information and are sensitive to environmental conditions, 3D point cloud can provide accurate depth information and a more descriptive environment. However, sparsity is always a challenge in single-frame point cloud object detection. This paper introduces a two-stage proposal-based feature fusion method for object detection using multiple frames. The proposed method, called proposal features fusion (PFF), utilizes a cosine-similarity approach to associate proposals from multiple frames and employs an attention weighted fusion module to merge features from these proposals. It allows for feature fusion specific to individual objects and offers lower computational complexity while achieving higher precision. The experimental results on the nuScenes dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, achieving a mAP of 46.7%, which is 1.3% higher than the state-of-the-art 3D object detection method.

The shear factor of ore drawing is one of the important factors affecting the formation of underground debris flow, and it has an important contribution to the formation of underground debris flow. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of mining shear factor on underground debris flow in natural caving method. Based on the research background of the underground debris flow in Plan copper mine, this paper analyzes the characteristics of the slurry material structure of the underground debris flow, the influence of drawing shear factor on formation mechanism of underground debris flow is analyzed. The results show that the slurry of the underground debris flow in Plan mine is not only a pseudoplastic fluid but also a thixotropic fluid. It is indicated that once there is shearing force in drawing, it will deform, and its viscosity will decrease with the increase of shear rate and time. It is considered that the shear force produced by the flow of ore particles first produces shear action on the paste in the shear boundary region of ore drawing, it is reduced in viscosity and increased in fluidity, so that its “Activation” and then become a flowable paste, along with the bulk ore flow through the mouth. The continuous ore drawing process will continuously shear the new moraine slurry in the ore drawing channel and continuously “Activate” the moraine slurry in the ore drawing channel, finally, a certain scale and destructive down-hole debris flow accident. This paper is the first to study the effect of ore drawing shear factor on the formation mechanism of underground debris flow. It not only broadens the research field of debris flow, but also fills up the deficiency of systematic research on underground debris flow, and provides theoretical guidance for the prevention and control of underground debris flow.

The Simplified Spherical Harmonic (SPN) approximation was first introduced as a three-dimensional (3-D) extension of the plane-geometry Spherical Harmonic (PN) equations. A third order SPN (SP3) solver, recently implemented in the Nodal Expansion Method (NEM), has shown promising performance in the reactor core neutronics simulations. This work is focused on the development and implementation of the transport corrected interface and boundary conditions in NEM SP3 solver, following recent published work on the rigorous SPN theory for piecewise homogeneous regions. A streamlined procedure has been developed to generate the flux zero and second order/moment discontinuity factors (DFs) of the generalized equivalence theory to eliminate the error introduced by pin-wise homogenization. Moreover, several color set models with varying size and configuration are later explored for their capability of generating DFs that can produce results equivalent to that using the whole-core homogenization model for more practical implementations. The new developments are tested and demonstrated on the C5G7 benchmark. The results show that the transport corrected SP3 solver shows general improvements to power distribution prediction compared to the basic SP3 solver with no DFs or only zero order/moment DFs. The complete equivalent calculations using the DFs can almost reproduce transport solutions with high accuracy. The use of equivalent parameters from larger size color set models show better prediction in the whole-core calculations. By coupling different color set models DFs can offer the best accuracy at both eigenvalues and power distributions.

Neuronal lesion or injury is a traditional approach to investigate neural circuit. Is any new neural pathway or new neurodegeneration related central nerve system injury? Spinal disc herniation can cause the spinal cord injury. However, the histological examination is still lack. It happened that a case of spinal disc herniation of a 10-year old dog was examined with NADPH diaphorase (N-d) histology. We did not find the N-d neurodegenerative aberrant in the tissue of the mid-rostral lumber segment besides the metamorphoses by the compression of the disc herniation. However, the severe neuropathological changes majorly occurred in the lumbosacral spinal cord. We found more diverse neurodegenerative alterations: the aging-related N-d body (ANB), megaloneurite and N-d homogeneous formazan globule in the lumbosacral spinal cord. We also found that a new circuit pathway (intermedial collateral pathway) showed by a megaloneurite between the lateral collateral pathway and the medial collateral pathway. The enormous notch caused by spinal disc herniation located at the mid-rostral lumber segments. The aging-related neurodegeneration occurred the specific lumbosacral segments. The homogeneous formazan globule was round or oval homogeneous N-d positivity which distributed in the gray matter and dorsal column. In the medulla oblongata, ANBs were revealed in the gracile nucleus, nucleus reticularis lateralis (ventrolateral spinal trigeminal nucleus) and middle of the spinal trigeminal nucleus.

In this study, divalent Yb2+-doped silica fiber was fabricated using rod-in-tube technology. The fiber core of Yb2+-doped silica glass was prepared by high-temperature melting technology under vacuum conditions. The spectroscopic properties of the Yb2+-doped glass and fiber were studied. The experiments indicate that divalent Yb2+-doped glass has a high quantum efficiency and superbroadband fluorescence in the visible region with an excitation wavelength of 405 nm. In additionally, the results suggest that Yb2+-doped fiber has a potential for application in visible fiber laser and fiber amplification.

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the development trend of hazardous chemical packaging towards low carbon economy from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Four types of relatively small volume packaging with volume/weight less than 450L/400kg, respectively, and three intermediate bulk containers (IBCs), which are widely used for hazardous chemicals were studied to calculate the carbon footprint (CF) from cradle to grave using life cycle assessment (LCA) method and to predict the future carbon emission of hazardous chemical packaging in the next five years (2016-2020), based on the export data of Tianjin Port in China. Grey model (GM) was adopted in the prediction. The results showed that majority of IBCs have lower carbon footprint than other types when the packaging contained same amount of same hazardous chemical. With the development of international trading, the demand of hazardous chemicals will increase as well. As the result, carbon emission generated by hazardous chemical packaging will increase accordingly. However, based on GM simulation result, increasing the amount of IBC use will effectively reduce the relative amount of carbon emission.

To overcome the difficulty of separating bastnaesite from fluorite through the flota-tion technique, the present study examined the suitability of sodium alginate (SA) as a depressant in the flotation process. The effect of SA on the flotation separation of bastnaesite and fluorite was evaluated using micro-flotation tests, zeta potential meas-urements, adsorption density measurements, Fourier infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The micro-flotation results showed that SA exerted a strongly detrimental effect on fluorite flotation, while slightly affecting bastnaesite flotation. The surface chemistry results revealed that the -COO- and HO- functional groups in SA coordinated with Ca2+ on the fluorite surface, which induced hydro-philicity and hindered the adsorption in the subsequent collector. However, the inter-action of SA with the bastnaesite surface was marginal and did not affect the anchor-ing of the collector on the surface of bastnaesite. Based on these results, the present study proposes a possible model for the interaction of SA on the surfaces of the two minerals, laying a foundation for the flotation separation of bastnaesite from fluorite with SA as an environmentally benign depressant.

From the existing millions of fungal species only a few cause disease. In this study, we investigated invasive fungal infections in the head and neck over a 19-year period (2005 to 2024) at a large academic healthcare system. Among 413 cases, 336 were noninvasive, and 77 were invasive. The highest incidence of invasive infections occurred in the sinonasal cavities, with a 15-fold difference compared to other sites. Most infections affected adults over 40 years old. The most common organisms were Mucorales (51%), hyaline molds (29%), and Candida (11%). Risk factors included malignancy, transplant, diabetes, and illicit drug use. Mortality was high in patients with malignancy and/or transplant. Infections affecting the mandible were usually a complication of osteoradionecrosis and were associated with coinfection of Candida and Actinomyces. At other sites, infections were rare and were usually the result of penetrating injuries or immunosuppression. Treatment typically involved a combination of antifungals and surgical procedures.

This paper provides the numerical investigation of two-dimensional stochastic Navier-Stokes equation driven by additive white noises. The vorticity-stream function method is presented to calculate the incompressible fluid flow. In order to solve the formulation of steam function equation, we propose a Crank-Nicolson Fourier pseudo-spectral method. Numerical results obviously show that the presence of stochastic forcing can have an impact upon the shapes of vortex in fluid flow. To a certain extent, the phenomenon of eddy shedding and the formation of some new vortex in a random medium can be observed, which make it possible for us to conduct optimal control experiments in the development of vortex structures.

Moral observer-licensing happens when people condone others’ morally questionable conducts due to their history of moral behaviors. We investigated in four studies (N = 808) this phenomenon in the context of cyberspace and its contributing factors and boundary conditions. Study 1 determined what participants perceived as typically moral and immoral behaviors in cyberspace. Then in Study 2, participants condemned less a story character’s online immoral behavior when they were informed of the character’s prior online moral behavior than when they were not, which indicates moral observer-licensing in cyberspace. Study 3 confirmed the presence of moral observer-licensing in cyberspace and further demonstrated that a character’s prior moral or immoral behavior online respectively reduces or intensifies the negativity of the character’s subsequent immoral behavior. Finally, Study 4 showed that participants who identified with the victim in a hypothetical scenario showed less forgiveness and more condemnation of a character’s immoral behavior than those who identified with the perpetrator or the bystander. These findings are of theoretical and practical significance for our understanding of cyber ethics.

Over the past four decades, China has experienced a nutritional transition and has developed the largest population of internet users. In this study, we evaluated the impacts of internet access on the nutritional intake in Chinese rural residents. An IV-Probit-based propensity score matching method was used to determine the impact of internet access on nutritional intake. The data were collected from 10042 rural households in six Chinese provinces. The results reveal that rural residents with internet access have significantly higher energy, protein, and fat intake than those without. Chinese rural residents with internet access consumed 1.35% (28.62 kcal), 5.02% (2.61 g), and 4.33% (3.30 g) more energy, protein, and fat, respectively. There was heterogeneity as regards the intake of energy, protein, and fat among those in different income groups. Moreover, non-staple food consumption is the main channel through which internet access affects nutritional intake. The results demonstrate that the local population should use the internet to improve their nutritional status. Further studies are required to investigate the impact of internet use on food consumed away from home and micronutrients intake.

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

We explored the trends and the diversity of the mortality and risk factors of age-standardized cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cerebrovascular disease (CBD) from 2000 to 2020 in five advanced Asian countries, including China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Data were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report. Overall, the CVD mortality rates decreased gradually in all five Asian countries. Singapore had the highest rates before 2011, but Taiwan replaced Singapore as the nation of the highest mortality rates after 2012. Additionally, South Korea had the highest CBD mortality rates before 2016, while Taiwan experienced a peak in 2011 and remained high thereafter. The absolute difference (AD) and relative difference (RD) for CVD mortality rates showed clear declining trends in all five countries, with South Korea and China displaying the highest reductions, respectively. It is noteworthy that overweight and obesity exhibited an increasing trend in all these five Asian countries, with China demonstrating the highest AD and RD. Except for Taiwan, where a negative association of r=-0.732 was observed, CVD mortality was positively associated with CBD, hypertension, and DM mortality in all other four countries, therefore, further investigation into these relationships are needed.

Under the double pressure of climate change and human activities, the restrictions of conservation policies and the increasing area of overlap between wildlife conservation areas and community living areas have led to increase conflicts and contradictions between nature reserves and neighboring communities. Effective management of such conflicts is particularly important in order to achieve reconciliation of conservation and development. In this study, we take the Mikumi-Selous region in Tanzania, Africa as an example, and through questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews, we sort out the current situation of conflicts between nature reserves and communities in the region, as well as summarize the means of conflict governance. In addition, we focus on identifying the various factors affecting community residents' protection willingness and protection action, and further verify the relationships among residents' family characteristics, protection costs and revenue, protection cognition, willingness and action through empirical analysis methods. The results show that residents' protection cognition has a significant positive effect on their willingness to protect and their actions, meanwhile willingness to protect also positively affects residents' protection action. In addition, it was found that the protection cost inhibits residents' willingness and action. Our study focuses on the willingness to participate and action of core stakeholders towards conflict governance from the perspective of community governance, emphasizing the key role of community participation in achieving coordinated development of biodiversity conservation and community. It provides a new perspective for mitigating conservation and development issues.

This study provides an in-depth examination of the binary system of n-Nonadecane and 1-Octadecanol, representative of plant cuticular waxes. It emphasizes the crystallization and phase transitions in this hydrocarbon mixture. Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, the research uncovers detailed thermal properties and phase behaviors. The findings reveal the distinct phase transitions and enthalpy changes of each component in the binary system. This research is significant for its implications in under-standing the structural properties of plant waxes. Such insights are crucial for enhancing the effi-ciency of fertilizer and pesticide absorption in plant leaves, with broad applications in bionics and materials science. This study not only furthers the understanding of identifying specific phase transitions for each compound, facing challenges in detecting subtle changes using DSC. The re-search enhances understanding of plant cuticle waxes through FTIR analysis, revealing intricate molecular interactions and structural complexities. but also opens avenues for improved agri-cultural practices and material engineering, potentially influencing future innovations in these fields.

The decline in Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica in the introduction area has had a high profile in recent years. For the ecological restoration, management and silvicultural design of Mongolian pines in the introduction area, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth study on the ecological adaptation mechanism of Mongolian pines in provenances. The ecological process of water and nutrient accumulation as well as the influence of environmental factors on the photosynthetic physiology are the key to revealing the ecological adaptation mechanism of Mongolian pines. According to the differences of climate in the distribution area of Mongolian pines, sampling sites were set up, the effects of environmental factors on leaf δ13C and the relationship between leaf δ13C and nutrient content were analyzed. The results showed that leaf δ13C values were ranging from - 29.7 ‰ to - 23.76 ‰. The ecological stoichiometry, including LC (522.81 mg·g-1), LN (16.04 mg·g-1), LP (1.19 mg·g-1) and L-N:P (13.56), indicated that leaf photosynthesis and water use efficiency is greatly affected by environmental conditions, Mongolian pines had strong ability of carbon fixation, and its growth was obviously restricted by nitrogen. Although there was no significant correlation between δ13C with stoichiometric parameters in leaf, photosynthesis was the key link in the process of carbon fixation. It also showed that Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica was a stomatal limited plant. Leaf δ13C had significant correlation with climatic factors. VPD is the dynamic factor affecting the photosynthetic physiological process in leaves. Air and soil moisture are the dominate factors affecting the leaf stomatal conductance and determines leaf δ13C value, while other factors indirectly affect leaf δ13C by its impact on relative humidity or soil water content. Soil phosphorus content affected by clay is a key factor affecting soil water availability and soil nutrient cycling. Photosynthetic process in leaf is the dynamic process affecting the nutrient accumulation.

Advances in reconfigurable liquid-based reconfigurable antennas are enabling new possibilities to fulfil the requirements of more advanced wireless communication systems. In this review, a comparative analysis of various state-of-the-art concepts and techniques for designing reconfigurable antennas using liquid is presented. First, the electrical properties of different liquids at room temperature commonly used in reconfigurable antennas are identified. This is followed by a discussion of various liquid actuation techniques in enabling high frequency reconfigurability. Next, liquid-based reconfigurable antennas in literature used to achieve the different types of reconfiguration will be critically reviewed. These include frequency-, polarization-, radiation pattern- and compound reconfigurability. The current concepts of liquid-based reconfigurable antennas can be classified broadly into three basic approaches: altering the physical (and electrical) dimensions of antennas using liquid, applying liquid-based sections as reactive loads; and implementation of liquids as dielectric resonators. Each concept and their design approaches will be examined, outlining their benefits, limitations, and possible future improvements.

In urban areas like Chicago, daily life extends above ground level due to prevalence of high-rise buildings where residents and commuters live and work. This study examines the variation in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations across building stories. PM2.5 levels were measured using PurpleAir sensors, installed between April 8 and May 7, 2023, on floors one, four, six, and nine of an office building in Chicago. Additionally, data were collected from a public outdoor PurpleAir sensor on the fourteenth floor of a condominium located 800 meters away. Results show that outdoor PM2.5 concentrations peak at 14 meters height, then decline by 0.11 μg/m3 per meter elevation, especially noticeable from midnight to 8 AM under stable atmospheric conditions. Indoor PM2.5 concentrations increase steadily by 0.02 μg/m3 per meter elevation, particularly during peak work hours, likely caused by greater infiltration rates at higher floors. Both outdoor and indoor concentrations peak around noon. We find that indoor and outdoor PM2.5 are positively correlated, with indoor levels consistently remaining lower than outside levels. These findings align with previous research suggesting decreasing outdoor air pollution concentrations with increasing height. The study informs decision-making by community members and policymakers regarding air pollution exposure in urban settings.

Transposable elements (TEs), also known as mobile elements (MEs), are interspersed repeats that constitute a major fraction of the genomes of higher organisms. As one of their important functional impacts on gene function and genome evolution, TEs participate in regulating the expression of genes nearby and even far away at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. There are two known principal ways by which TEs regulate expression of genes. First, TEs provide cis-regulatory sequences in the genome with their intrinsic regulatory properties for their own expression making them potential factors for regulating the expression of the host genes. TE-derived cis-regulatory sites are found in promoter and enhancer elements, providing binding sites for a wide range of trans-acting factors. Second, TEs encode for regulatory RNAs with their sequences showed to be present in a substantial fraction of miRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), indicating the TE origin of these RNAs. Furthermore, TEs sequences were found to be critical for regulatory functions of these RNAs including binding to the target mRNA. TEs thus provide crucial regulatory roles by being part of cis-regulatory and regulatory RNA sequences. Moreover, both TE-derived cis-regulatory sequences and TE-derived regulatory RNAs, have been implicated to provide evolutionary novelty to gene regulation. These TE-derived regulatory mechanisms also tend to function in tissue-specific fashion. In this review, we aim to comprehensively cover the studies regarding these two aspects of TE-mediated gene regulation, mainly focusing on the mechanisms, contribution of different types of TEs, differential roles among tissue types, and lineage specificity, based on data mostly in humans.

Refractive index measurements have been an important task for a long time because that index plays an essential role in describing the optical properties of a material. Many methods have been developed to perform that task. Some of them use interferometry to achieve high precision, however these configurations are complicated. Some measure the critical angle using simple structures, but the accuracy is not satisfactory because it is difficult to judge the exact critical angle with intensity variations. Here we propose several new schemes based on measuring the polarization change in the total internal reflection. The proposed method has the merits of simple structure and easy incident angle determination that gives the maximum phase change. Additionally, it is possible to find the material dispersion by measuring the wavelength dependence of the polarization ellipticity. Some useful formulas relating the refractive index with the maximum phase change are obtained. This work can provide valuable alternatives for index measurement.

Imidacloprid is the first-generation neonicotinoid insecticide. But, the long-term use of im-idacloprid as a pesticide has caused severe water pollution. Recently, the toxicity of imidacloprid to aquatic organisms has received increasing attention. This study aimed to investigate the ab-sorption and distribution of imidacloprid in various tissues (gills, intestine, liver, muscle, brain, and gonads) of goldfish through short-term and continuous exposure tests for 28 days. The re-sults of short-term exposure indicated that the concentration of imidacloprid and its metabolites in tissues at the transfer stage decreased steadily after 1 day of 40 mg/l imidacloprid water treatment and was below the detection limit after 3 days. Continuous exposure for 28 days at various treatment concentrations showed that the concentrations of imidacloprid and its metab-olites differed significantly among the different tissues of the goldfish. In the 20 mg/l treatment group (S1), the highest concentration of imidacloprid was found in the liver (12.04 μg /gtissue), followed by the intestine (9.91 μg /gtissue), muscle (6.20 μg /gtissue), gill (6.11 μg /gtissue), gonads (5.22 μg /gtissue), and brain (2.87 μg /gtissue). In the 40 mg/l treatment group (S2), the order of tissue concentrations was similar to that of the S1 group, with the highest concentration observed in the liver (12.04 μg/gtissue), followed by the intestine (9.91 μg/gtissue), muscle (6.20 μg/gtissue), gill (6.11 μg/gtissue), gonads (5.22 μg/gtissue), and brain (2.87 μg/gtissue). Fur-thermore, the study detected 5-hydroxyimidacloprid, imidacloprid urea, and 6-chloronicotinic acid in imidacloprid metabolites in all tissues, while imidacloprid was detected only in the intes-tine and liver. Overall, the results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the met-abolic behavior of imidacloprid in organisms and provide new data to support the assessment of imidacloprid toxicity in fish.

Globally,coastal regions are vital areas of human activities and, as such, are centres of population growth and urban and economic development. Long-term human development has had a major impact on the ecological environment of coastal zones. Therefore, exploring the distribution and provenance of marine sediment types in coastal areas heavily influenced by human activities can provide scientific evidence and references for the current and future ecological management of these sensitive environments. For this reason, we have conducted an analysis on the sediment grain size, Endmember, organic matter content and geochemical elements in the Lu’erhuan River‒Malan Island‒Sandun Island area in the eastern part of Qinzhou Bay, a region heavily influenced by human activities. Sediment grain size clearly differs throughout the study site and the material provenances and hydrodynamic conditions are also varied, likely due to the local environmental conditions and the significant impact human activities have had on the area. The finest-grained sediment is imported from either inland or coastal areas via rivers and weak tidal currents, the next finest component is input from coastal areas through weak tidal currents, and the moderately coarse component mainly originates from nearby beaches. The two coarsest-grained sediment components are influenced by the combination of human activities, tidal currents and waves and enter the water via erosion. Organic matter provenance resembles that of the sediment components, exhibiting varied characteristics. This is due to the combination of natural and human activities in the bay. The organic matter in the upper reaches of the Lu’erhuan River originates from the river and coastal paddy fields, with obvious terrigenous characteristics; the organic matter in northern Malan Island mainly comes from external sources related to oyster farming; while organic matter in eastern Sandun Island is mainly produced endogenously by marine plankton. Al, Ti, Fe, Mg, K, Ga and other elements indicate that terrestrial sediments are significantly disturbed by human activities. However，Mn reflects the marine distribution of terrestrial sediments from the Lu’erhuan River to Jishuimen. Ca and Sr, indicators of marine sediments, are distributed in the eastern offshore area of Sandun Island, which is connected to the open waters. Due to the influence of human activities, As and Cd are highly enriched in the study area, while Cu is less affected by human activities.

The world is currently experiencing COVID-19, one of the worst pandemics that have happened in this century, affecting 10.7 million people worldwide. It has caused massive growth in the number of employees working from home. However, employees have minimal cybersecurity resources unlike organizations with security teams protecting them against attacks. Hence, cybersecurity plays an important role as users can be easily targeted by cybercriminals. This paper examines how cyberattacks have increased during this pandemic and shows how greatly they have affected health organizations, individuals and social networking applications. Results of the attacks include data breaches, false announcements and operations being disrupted. Attacks occurring during this pandemic and how they were handled are also critically discussed. The existing contributions do touch on related attacks but do not provide in-depth solutions regarding the issues. Even though there are many works and findings that were done previously, technology is ever evolving. Therefore, we need to be well versed with current and future issues and provide the latest mechanisms to prevent cybersecurity threats from occurring. On our share, we intend to present our findings on the challenges being faced by the population and its increasing threats as well as presenting unique solutions that can help organizations or related persons understand or spread awareness on the importance of cybersecurity. Through the research performed in this paper, it is found that there are many ways these issues can be alleviated. However, the issue is that there is significant lack of action and investment in terms of actual implementation and application of the available solutions.

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

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

Based on the 5.7-magnitude earthquake that stroke Songyuan (China) and 172 groups of liquefaction data collected in mainland China, the hyperbolic liquefaction discriminant formula originally proposed by Sun Rui was revised, and a new formula for the liquefaction of sand was put forward. Groups of data derived from the Bachu earthquake in Xinjiang and an earthquake that occurred in New Zealand (47 and 195 groups, respectively) were used to carry out a back-judgment test, then, the results were compared with those of the existing standard method. Overall, the results showed that the new formula for hyperbolic liquefaction discrimination compensates for the conservative liquefaction discrimination of the older formula; moreover, it has a good applicability to different intensities, groundwater levels, and the deep sand layer of the Songyuan site, reflected by a more balanced success rate. Therefore, combining the existing liquefaction discrimination methods and the research results of discrimination, it is necessary to establish a suitable regional identification method through the continuous accumulation of liquefaction data and expanding database.

Acute ischemic strokes are the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of neurological disability worldwide. The oxygen and glucose deprivation associated with ischemic strokes not only leads to neuronal cell death, but also increases the inflammatory response and decreases functional output of the brain. The only intervention approved by US Federal Drug and Food Administration for treatment of ischemic strokes is tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), however, such treatment can only be given within 4.5 hours of the onset of stroke-like symptoms. This narrow time-range limits its application, and it also might induce detrimental rather than beneficial effects to stroke patients by treatment of the tPA. In order to reduce the infarct volume of an acute ischemic stroke while increasing the time period for treatment, emerging therapies reveal great potential by targeting inflammation, growth factors, ion channels, and neurotransmitter receptors with monoclonal antibody (MAB). With successfully application in the treatment of cancer patient by MAB, in this review, we will focus on recent advances on stroke therapy by using MAB on the treatment of stroke by targeting inflammation, growth factors, ion channels, and neurotransmitter receptors. Therefore, developing specific MAB targeting the signaling pathway of stroke will contribute to stroke therapy.

The concept of transit-oriented development (TOD) has been widely recognized in recent years for its role in reducing car traffic, improving public transportation, and enhancing traffic sustainability. This paper conducts empirical research on a developed rail transit network, using Shanghai as a case study. In addition to traditional TOD features, other factors based on urban rail transit are introduced, including multi-level modeling (MLM), which is used to analyze the possible factors influencing rail patronage. To avoid the bias of research results led by the correlation between independent variables, factors are divided into two levels. The first level includes three groups of variables: the built environment, station characteristics, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. The second level includes a set of variables which are regional characteristics. Results show that the most significant impact on train patronage is station location in the business district area. Other factors that have a positive effect on promoting rail transit travel include the number of service facilities around the station, degree of employment around the station, economic level, intensity of residential development, if the station is a transfer station, the operating period of the station, and the size of the large transportation hub around the station.

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have a promising tribological application in green precision manufacturing, but their toughness represents a serious issue in the way of their application perspective. The film thickness is on the micrometer scale and makes conventional methods unsuitable for its toughness characterization. The absence of an accepted method for characterizing the DLC toughness has hindered the related research on the development of toughening methods and understanding the mechanism. This work intends to explore a relatively simple and acceptable characterization method to measure the film toughness. Moreover, toughening mechanisms of DLC films are proposed during the characterization to reveal the toughening mechanism. The toughness can be fully characterized through combining impact toughness and scratch toughness. The impact toughness can be obtained by observing the size of the indentation and the crack state around the indentation in the impact experiment. The scratch toughness could be assessed by combining the scratch morphology and Crack Propagation Resistance (CPRS). The improvement of film toughness should be carried out from two aspects: preventing microcrack initiation and suppressing crack propagation. Appropriate doping of non-carbide metal particles can effectively improve the toughness of the film, and there are seven main factors affecting the toughening of the film. Five toughening mechanisms of non-carbide metals from film preparation to test stage are revealed during the investigation of the change patterns.

The phycobilisome (PBS) is the major light-harvesting apparatus in cyanobacteria and red algae, a large multi-subunit protein complex of several megadaltons that is found on the stromal side of thylakoid membranes in orderly arrays. Chromophore lyases catalyse the thioether bond between apoproteins and phycobilins of PBSs. Depending on the species, composition, spatial assembly and, especially, the functional tuning of different phycobiliproteins mediated by linker proteins, PBSs can absorb light between 450 and 650 nm, making them efficient and versatile light-harvesting systems. However, basic research and technological innovations are needed, not only to understand their role in photosynthesis but also to realise the potential applications of PBSs. Synthetic biology provides an innovative approach to expand our understanding of the distinctive properties that make the PBS such an efficient light-harvesting system and to explore its heterologous synthesis, photosynthetic functions and potential medical applications. Focusing on these topics, this review describes the essential components needed for PBS assembly, the functional basis of PBS photosynthesis and the applications of phycobiliproteins. Moreover, key technical challenges for heterologous biosynthesis of phycobiliproteins in chassis cells are discussed.

As development progresses, when the bottom hole flowing pressure or formation pressure is less than the saturation pressure of crude oil in the reservoir, oil and gas two-phase seepage occurs in the reservoir. Due to the characteristics of oil and gas two-phase seepage, after the oil and gas two-phase seepage occurs in the reservoir, the well production will be reduced, or even greatly reduced. Therefore, how to predict the horizontal well capacity better in this case is an important problem that needs to be solved urgently. In this paper, the method and process of establishing the transient calculation model of two-phase flow in horizontal wells are introduced in detail from three aspects: fluid physical properties, reservoir oil-gas two-phase seepage, and the coupling model of Inflow Performance and Flow in Wellbore. The model is more reliable through the verification of production data from five wells in two oilfields.

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

Two new dimacrolide sesquiterpene pyridine alkaloids (DMSPAs), dimacroregelines A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the stems of Tripterygium regelii. The structures of both compounds were characterized by extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analyses, as well as HRESIMS data. Compounds 1 and 2 are two rare DMSPAs possessing unique 2-(3′-carboxybutyl)-3-furanoic acid units forming the second macrocyclic ring, representing the first example of DMSPAs bearing an extra furan ring in their second macrocyclic ring system. Compound 2 showed inhibitory effects on the proliferation of human rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblast cell (MH7A) at a concentration of 20 μM.

This study used Dutch potatoes at the end of dormancy as the material to explore the impact of menthol (0.2 and 0.5 g/kg based on potato mass) treatment on sprouting inhibition and potato quality. The findings revealed that a menthol concentration of 0.5 g/kg effectively inhibited potato tuber sprouting and significantly reduced glucoside alkaloids production. After a storage period of 15 days, the sprouting percentage and glucoside alkaloids content of potatoes treated with 0.5 g/kg menthol were observed to be significantly lower at 4.17% and 68.63 mg/kg, respectively, compared to the control group which exhibited values of 100% and 282.01 mg/kg, respectively (P < 0.05). Throughout the storage period, 0.5 g/kg of menthol promoted respiration, reduced malondialdehyde production in potatoes, inhibited polyphenol oxidase activity, and slowed down tissue browning. Additionally, it mitigated the decline in starch and soluble protein content, inhibiting the accumulation of reducing sugars.

The structure characterization of two new polysaccharides from Agrocybe aegerita (AA-P) and Hygrophorus olivaceoalbus (HO-P) by HPGPC, GC-MS, NMR and FT-IR indicated that AA-P was composed of Galactose, Glucose and Arabinose, in the ratio of 3:2:1. Its skeleton structure was consisted of (1→4)-Arap, (1→4,6)-Glup and (1→6)-Galp with one branched chain. The HO-P was consisted of mannose, galactose and glucose in a ratio of 1:1:2. Its skeleton structure was consisted of (1→6)-Galactose residues, (→1)-glucose residues, (1→4)-glucose residues and (1→4,6)-D-mannose residues. There were two branched chains connected to the main chain. AA-P and HO-P had the best stimulation effect on B cells and RAW264.7 cells, respectively, and could both mainly by impacting and reducing G0/G1 phase which lead to a significant proliferation of B cells, T cells and RAW264.7 cells. In addition, AA-P and HO-P could significantly promote the secretion of TNF-α from T cells, the secretion of IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM from B cells, and the secretion of TNF-α from RAW264.7 cells, but neither of them could impact the secretion of IL-1β from RAW264.7 cells.

Some peptide-based drugs including oxytocin, vasopressin, ziconotide, pramlintide, nesiritide, and octreotide, contain one intramolecular disulfide bonds. A novel and reusable monodispersed silica nanosphere-supported Pt(IV) complex (SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV)) was synthesized via a four-step procedure and used for formation of intramolecular disulfide bonds in peptides. TEM and chemical mapping results for the Pt(II) intermediates and for SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) show that the silica nanospheres possess a monodisperse spherical structure and contain uniformly distributed Si, O, C, N, Cl, and Pt. The valence state of Pt on the silica nanospheres was characterized by XPS. The Pt(IV) loaded on SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) was 0.15 mmol/g, as determined by UV-vis spectrometry. Formation of intramolecular disulfides in six dithiol-containing peptides of variable lengths by use of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) was investigated and the relative oxidation yields were determined by HPLC. In addition, peptide 1 (Ac-CPFC-NH2) was utilized to study the reusability of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV). No significant decrease in the relative oxidation yield was observed after ten reaction cycles. Moreover, the structure of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) after being used ten cycles was determined to be similar to its initial one, demonstrating the cycling stability of the complex.

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

SOC stock (SOCS) changes caused by land use changes are still unclear, and understanding this response is essential for many environmental policies and land management practices. In this study, we investigated the temporal-spatial and vertical distribution characteristics of SOCS on the Western Sichuan Plateau (WSP) using the sparrow search algorithm-random forest regression (SSA-RFR) models with excellent model applicability and accuracy. The temporal-spatial varia-tions in the SOCS were modeled using 1080 soil samples and a set of nine environmental covariates. We analyzed the effect of land use changes on the SOCS on the WSP. The total SOCS increased by 18.03 Tg C from 1990 to 2020. The results of this study confirmed that the SOCS in the study area has increased significantly since 2010, with an increase of 27.88 Tg C compared to the total SOCS in 2010. We found that the spatial distribution of the SOCS increased from southeast to northwest, and the vertical distribution of the SOCS in the study area decreased with increasing soil depth. Forest and grassland are the main sources of SOCS, the total SOCS in the forest and grassland accounted for 37.53 and 59.39% of the total SOC pool in 2020, respectively. Expansion of the wetlands, forest, and grassland areas could increase SOCS in the study area.