Pancreatitis and alcoholic pancreatitis are serious health concerns, and there is an urgent need for effective treatment strategies. Alcohol is a known etiological factor for pancreatitis, including acute pancreatitis (AP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP). Excessive alcohol consumption induces many pathological stress responses; of particular note is endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and adaptive unfolded protein response (UPR). ER stress results from the accumulation of unfolded/misfolded protein in the ER and is implicated in the pathogenesis of alcoholic pancreatitis. Here we summarize the possible mechanisms by which ER stress contributes to alcoholic pancreatitis. We also discuss potential approaches targeting ER stress and UPR for developing novel therapeutic strategies for the disease.

High-resolution (2 km) high-frequency (hourly) SST data from 2015-2020 provided by the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard the Japanese Himawari-8 geostationary satellite positioned over 140.7°E were used to study spatial and temporal variability of the China Coastal Front (CCF) in the East China Sea. The hourly SST data were processed with the Belkin and O’Reilly (2009) algorithm to generate long-term mean monthly maps of SST gradient magnitude (GM) and frontal frequency (FM) using a GM threshold of 0.1°C/km. Horizontal structure of SST field in the vicinity of the CCF was investigated from cross-frontal distributions of SST along 8 parallels from 31°N to 24°N. The high resolution (2 km) monthly distributions of SST along these 8 parallels were used to determine inshore and offshore boundaries of the CCF and calculate the CCF strength defined as the total cross-frontal SST step dSST=Offshore SST – Inshore SST. The CCF emerges in November, fully develops in December and peaks in strength in January-February. The front’s fragmentation and shrinking/weakening begins in February and March, respectively. In winter (December-February), the front’s strength dSST exceeds 5°C offshore the Zhejiang-Fujian coast and could be as high as 7.5°C when nearshore waters cool down to 7°C. In winter, the front’s strength decreases downstream from 31°N to 24°N. The CCF changes its physical nature as the seasons progress. In winter, the CCF is a water mass front between cold and fresh water coming from the north and warm and salty water coming from the south. In summer, the CCF becomes a coastal upwelling front maintained largely by southerly winds. In winter, the CCF’s cross-frontal structure in the SST field is ramp-shaped, with SST increasing monotonously in the offshore direction. In summer, the CCF’s cross-frontal structure in the SST field is V-shaped or U-shaped, featuring a minimum SST formed by cold upwelled water at some distance from the shore. Thus, the summer SST structure effectively consists of two fronts, a nearshore and offshore, with a minimum SST in-between. Across the inshore/offshore front, the SST decreases/increases in the offshore direction. The local bathymetry, especially the relatively steep shelf slope between 20-m and 50-m isobath, steers the front, which does not meander in winter offshore the Zhejiang-Fujian coast. As the cold season progresses, the front’s axis gradually shifts into deeper waters, from ~20 m to ~50 m.

Urbanization is considered as a main indicator of regional economic development due to its positive effect on promoting industrial development; however, many regions, especially developing countries, are troubled by its negative effect — the aggravating environmental pollution. Many researchers have indicated that rapid urbanization stimulated the expansion of industrial production scale and increased industrial pollutant emissions. However, this judgement contains a grave deficiency in that urbanization not only expands industrial production scales but can also increase industrial labour productivity and change the industrial structure. To modify this deficiency, we first decompose the influence which urbanization impacts on industrial pollutant emissions into the scale effect, the intensive effect and the structure effect by using the Kaya Identity and the LMDI Method; second, we perform an empirical study of the three effects’ impacts by applying the spatial panel model with data from 282 Chinese cities between 2003 and 2013. Our results indicate that (1) there are significant reverse U-shapes between Chinese urbanization rate and its industrial pollutant emissions; (2) the scale effect and the structure effect have aggravated Chinese industrial waste water discharge, sulphur dioxide emissions and soot (dust) emissions, while the intensive effect has generated a decreasing and ameliorative impact on that aggravated trend. The definite relationship between urbanization and industrial pollutant emissions depends on the combined influence of the scale effect, the intensive effect and the structure effect; (3) there are significant spatial autocorrelations of industrial pollutant emissions between Chinese cities, but the spatial spillover effect from other cities does not aggravate local urban industrial pollutant emissions, we offer an explanation to this contradiction that the vast rural areas surrounding Chinese cities have served as sponge belts and have absorbed the spatial spillover of cities’ industrial pollutant emissions. According to the results, we argue that this type of decomposition of the influence into three effects is necessary and meaningful, it establishes a solid foundation for understanding the relationship between urbanization and industrial pollutant emissions, and effectively helps to meet relative policy making.

This article is about a framework for determining the degree of realism of any given 1 passenger ride motion discomfort measurement formula. After providing some context and reviewing 2 evidence of deficiency in currently popular ride motion discomfort measurement formulas, the article 3 outlines the research program that needs to be carried out in order to establish such a framework. 4 The research begins with gathering recordings of uncomfortable ride motion episodes encountered in 5 a chosen type of passenger transport service. It then has test subjects compare the episodes via a ride 6 motion simulator and adjust their amplitudes pair wise until they cause equal discomfort. It explains 7 how to take the pair wise amplitude adjustments and determine amplitude adjustments that bring all 8 of the motion episode recordings to a common level of discomfort so that they form a normalized set. 9 Then, the lower the scatter of the scores assigned by any given discomfort measurement formula to 10 the members of that set, the more realistic that formula will be for the chosen service.

The adaptive identification method developed to evaluate the parameters of the Bouc-Wen hysteresis (BWH). The adaptive approach based on the use of adaptive observers. We synthesize adaptive identification algorithms using the second Lyapunov method. The boundedness of adaptive system processes shown in coordinate and parametric spaces. We prove exponential dissipativity of processes in an adaptive system. Estimating method proposed for signaling uncertainty in the system.

Cloud computing has become a widespread technology due to ICT advancements. It allows businesses to move and take advantage of the pay-as-you-go price model. Enterprises pay for what they use and don't have to buy, setup, or maintain resources. However, outsourcing core resources such as storage, servers, operating systems, and software applications from a third party needs careful decisions to take advantage of cloud facilities. Choice of appropriate service provider, deployment and service model must be aligned with business needs and goals. In this paper, we will present cloud computing benefits, cloud deployment methods, services, state-of-the-art migration methods, tools and techniques and will conclude with the role of SDN in cloud computing.

High-resolution (2 km) high-frequency (hourly) SST data from 2015-2021 provided by the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard the Japanese Himawari-8 geostationary satellite were used to study spatial and temporal variability of the China Coastal Front (CCF) in the South China Sea. The hourly SST data were processed with the Belkin and O’Reilly (2009) algorithm to generate long-term mean monthly maps of SST gradient magnitude (GM) and frontal frequency (FM). The horizontal structure of CCF was investigated from cross-frontal distributions of SST along 11 fixed lines that allowed to determine inshore and offshore boundaries of the CCF and calculate the CCF strength defined as the total cross-frontal step dSST = Offshore SST – Inshore SST. Combined with the results of Part1 of this study (Belkin, Lou, Yin, 2023), where the CCF was documented in the East China Sea, the new results reported in this paper allowed the CCF to be reliably traced from the East China Sea via Taiwan Strait into the northern South China Sea and farther west up to the east coast of Hainan Island.

Due to the rapid development and popularity of the Internet, cloud computing has become an indispensable application service. However, how to assign various tasks to the appropriate service nodes is an important issue. Based on the reason above, an efficient scheduling algorithm is necessary to enhance the performance of system. Therefore, a Three-Layer Cloud Dispatching (TLCD) architecture is proposed to enhance the performance of task scheduling. In first layer, the tasks need to be distinguished to different types by their characters. Subsequently, the Cluster Selection Algorithm is proposed to dispatch the task to appropriately service cluster in the secondly layer. Besides, a new scheduling algorithm is proposed to dispatch the task to a suitable server in a server cluster to improve the dispatching efficiency in the thirdly layer. Basically, the TLCD architecture can obtain better task completion time than previous works. Besides, our algorithm and can achieve load-balancing and reliability in cloud computing network.

Due to the particular structure of the beveloid gear, it can’t be hobbed directly by an ordinary gear hobbing machine. The existing processing method is complex and high-cost. Therefore, the mass production and industrialization of beveloid gears are limited. To improve the machining efficiency and accuracy of processing beveloid gears, we proposed a hobbing method via the modification of ordinary hobbing machines. At first, we completed the derivation and calculation of the relevant processing parameters of the beveloid gear based on the study of the structural characteristics of the beveloid gear and the principle of hobbing machining. Then, we proposed and designed a beveloid gear hobbing method, and the modification of the ordinary hobbing machine was completed by using a hanging wheel mechanism in synchronous belt type. Finally, we completed the actual hobbing of the beveloid gear, and the feasibility of the proposed method was verified. After that, we analyzed the machining error of the trial-produced beveloid gear, the results showed that the accuracy of the trial-produced beveloid gear met the 6-level standard, which also verified the accuracy of the proposed method.

Density functional theory (DFT) and coupled cluster theory (CCSD(T)) calculations are performed to investigate the geometric, electronic structures and chemical bonding of a series of Cu-doped zinc oxide clusters, CunZn3O3 (n = 1-4). The structural evolution of CunZn3O3 (n = 1-4) clusters are elaborated in our work. The planar seven-membered ring of CuZn3O3 cluster plays an important role in the structural evolution, that is, the Cu atom, Cu dimer (Cu2) and Cu trimer (Cu3) anchor on the CuZn3O3 cluster. The aggregate behavior of Cu atoms on Zn3O3 may offer insight into the study of Cu/ZnO-based catalysts. Additionally, it is found that the CunZn3O3 clusters become more stable as the Cu content (n) increases. Bader charge analysis points out that as the Cu atoms doping, the reducibility of Cu aggregation (Cun-1) on the CuZn3O3 cluster increases. Combined with the d-band centers and the surface electrostatic potential (ESP), the reactivity and the possible reaction sites of CunZn3O3 (n = 1-4) clusters are also illustrated.

Malaria, as a major global health problem, continues to affect a large number of people each year, especially those in the developing countries. Effective drug discovery is still one of the main efforts to control malaria. As natural products are still considered as a key source for discovery and development of therapeutic agents, we have evaluated more than 2000 plant extracts against Plasmodium falciparum. As a result, we discovered dozens of plant leads that displayed antimalarial activity. Our phytochemical study of some of these plant extracts led to identification of several potent antimalarial compounds. The prior comprehensive review article entitled “Antimalarial activity of plant metabolites” by Schwikkard and Van Heerden (2002) reported structures of plant-derived compounds with antiplasmodial activity and covered literature up to the year 2000. As a continuation of this effort, the present review covers the antimalarial compounds isolated from plants, including marine plants, reported in the literatures from 2001 to the end of 2017. During the span of the last 17 years, 175 antiplasmodial compounds were discovered from plants. These active compounds are organized in our review article according to their plant families. In addition, we also include ethnobotanical information of the antimalarial plants discussed.

The integration of nature-based solutions into land use optimization has emerged as a focal point of current research, primarily due to its efficacy in mitigating flooding impacts and fostering sus-tainable development in both urban and rural areas. Utilizing Shanghai Pujiang Country Park as a case study, this paper conducts a simulation analysis to assess the flood mitigation effectiveness of three distinct land use patterns (Natural scenario, Scenario N; Complete urbanization scenario, Scenario U; Country Park Planning scenario, Scenario P) under five stormwater scenarios with re-turn periods of 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 years. The findings reveal that Scenario P exhibits superior flood mitigation performance, particularly under stormwater scenarios with a return period of less than 50 years. Building upon these results, the paper proposes recommendations for optimizing land use with a focus on mitigating the impact of flooding. This study is crucial for comprehending the mechanisms involved in urban stormwater logging mitigation through land use methods and holds significance for decision-making in land use and planning at the micro level.

In order to realize the sustainable utilization of water resources and the sustainable development of economy, the evaluation index system of water use efficiency system and economic development system was constructed. Entropy weight method and comprehensive evaluation method were adopted to determine the index weights and conduct comprehensive evaluation for the two systems. The coupling coordination model was used to calculate the coupling degree, coordination degree and coupling coordination degree of the two systems. The annual coupling stage and coupling coordination intensity of the two systems were analyzed and determined. The results showed that the comprehensive evaluation values of both water use efficiency system and economic development system in Jinan City increased greatly from 2008 to 2017, and showed a changing trend of ups and downs. The two systems were in the antagonistic stage, and were gradually approaching the running-in stage, indicating that they were in the state of common development. The coupling coordination degree of the two systems gradually increased in waves, progressed from the moderately to the highly coordinated coupling. In the future, if the water control path appropriate to Jinan City can be explored actively, the water-saving kinetic energy of economic development can be increased constantly, and the linkage effect between economic development and water resources utilization can be given full play to, the two systems will be in the orbit with the benign interaction and healthy harmonious development.

(1) Background: The elderly who have chewing difficulty (CD) are prone to malnutrition, frail-ty, and sarcopenia, and those with insufficient physical activity (IPA) are also prone to frailty, overweight, and high blood cholesterol. There is an urgent need to prepare functional foods and to promote healthy physical activity for the elderly over 70 years of age to prevent poor nutri-tion and frailty. (2) Methods: This study prepared functional foods (FF) with softened chicken moose and milkfish without fin for the elderly and compared the different effects of FF from those of music aerobic exercise (MAE) on the complete blood counts, blood biochemistry, in-cluding nutrition index of albumin, and cholesterol levels, and frailty scores before and after in-stitution of FF and MAE among residents of long-term care institutes. (3) Results: The FF signif-icantly increased the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and albumin levels. In contrast, MAE significantly increased red blood cells (RBC), and decreased the rates of frailty items on fatigue feeling and low physical activity. In comparison between FF and MAE groups, we found that the FF for 5 weeks significantly improved better on HDL-C and MCV while the MAE for 10 weeks improved significantly better on hematopoiesis as increases in red blood cells and platelets. (4) Conclusions: Results from this study suggest that FF and MAE for the elderly have different ef-fects on nutrition status, blood biochemistry and frailty. A combination of both FF and MAE might provide better benefits of nutrition status, physical function, and frailty for the elderly.

Alkali-activated materials, sometimes called geopolymers, can be used as alternative cementitious materials to conventional Portland cement. There is a significant current interest in these materials due to their low CO2 footprint. Typical applications of alkali-activated materials are within civil engineering, however, potential applications as well cementing material within oil & gas are also being studied with emerging interest. This paper presents a systematic study of compressive strength development from 1 to 28 days for metakaolin-based alkali-activated cement. The results show that compressive strength is highly dependent upon the initial Si/Al ratio in the mix design, as well as the concentration of the activator solution. Furthermore, due to the relatively low initial reactivity of the used metakaolin material, different types of co-binders were included in the slurry composition to improve early strength development. The two different co-binders tested were another, more reactive metakaolin material and Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS). It was found that both these co-binders performed as intended, by ensuring early strength development via precipitation of K-A-S-H and C-A-S-H gels, respectively, and also by enabling subsequent strength development due to improved dissolution of the low-reactive metakaolin.

Photocatalytic degradation plays a crucial role in wastewater treatment, and the key to achieving high efficiency is to develop photocatalytic systems that possess excellent light absorption, carrier separation efficiency, and surface-active sites. Among various photocatalytic systems, S-type heterojunctions have shown remarkable potential for efficient degradation. This work delves into construction of S-type heterojunctions of ternary indium metal sulfide and bismuth ferrite nanofibers with introduction of sulfur vacancy defects and morphology modifications to enhance the photocatalytic degradation performance. Through the impregnation method, BiFeO₃/Zn₂S₄ heterojunction materials were synthesized and optimized30% BiFeO₃/Zn₂S₄ heterojunction exhibited superior photocatalytic performance with higher sulfur vacancy concentration than Zn₂S₄. The in-situ XPS results demonstrate that the electrons between Zn₂S₄ and BFO are transferred via S-Scheme, and after modification, Zn₂S₄ has a more favorable surface morphology for electron transport, and its flower-like structure interacts with the nanofibers of BFO, which has a further enhancement of the reaction efficiency for degrading pollutants. This exceptional material demonstrated a remarkable 99% degradation of Evans blue within 45 min and a significant 68% degradation of ciprofloxacin within 90 min. This work provides a feasible idea for developing photocatalysts to deal with the problem of polluted water resources under practical conditions.

The land flatworm Platydemus manokwari (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) is recorded for the first time from the island of Guadeloupe (French West Indies) in the Caribbean arc. Photographs and records were obtained from citizen science and ranged from the end of 2018 to 2020; specimens were deposited in the collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. This is the first record in Guadeloupe and the second for an island in the Caribbean, after Porto Rico.

Cost-efficient catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and methanol oxidization reaction (MOR) is of great importance for industrial application. The alloying of platinum with cheap transition metal offers a great opportunity to reduce cost and enhance the electro-catalytic performance. Herein, we report a simple and green route to synthesize porous Pt-Cu catalysts, where Pt-Cu solid particles were first produced by using cuprous chloride (CuCl) nanoparticles as the template, followed by a dealloying treatment to obtain final porous product. The porous alloy nanoparticles show higher catalytic activity and superior stability for HER and methanol oxidation reaction, which is beneficial from the porous structure and synergetic effect between Pt and Cu.

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

The root extracts of Symphytum officinale (comfrey) are commonly used in traditional medicine to treat muscle, joint, skin and bone disorders. However, little information is available on the biomedical functions of comfrey leaves. In this study, sequencing results of Internal Transcribed Spacer and trnL-trnF genes showed that plants purchased from the local market were comfrey and named as S. officinale WL (WL). The optimal extraction conditions of WL leave with the highest extract yield and contents of total phenols and flavonoids by microwave-assisted extraction were identified. The antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities and possible molecular mechanism(s) of the WL leaf extract (WLE) were evaluated. Furthermore, the major component of WLE was identified as rosmarinic acid by HPLC. Results showed that the optimal extract condition was obtained with 750W microwave power, 50℃, 75% methanol, the solid-to-solvent ratio of 1:10, and 15 minutes. Results of all DPPH, ABTS and superoxide radical scavenging activities, reducing power, ferrous ion chelating activity, and ferric reducing antioxidant power showed high antioxidative capacities of WLE. Furthermore, WLE showed obvious DNA protecting activity. WLE attenuated lipopolysaccharides-stimulated inflammation by suppressing iNOS, COX-2, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α expressions in RAW264.7 macrophages. These attenuations involved in inactivations of lipopolysaccharides-induced NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways.

In order to meet the military requirements of the fuze, such as precision strike, efficient mutilates ability and low collateral damages, the microminiaturization is an inevitable trend of secure system. Based on the silicon-based MEMS S&A device designed by our term, the design principles of each module and fabrication process are introduced. The average fracture strength and Young's modulus of the silicon are 726 MPa and 175 GPa from the tensile test, respectively. From Hopkinson impact experiment, we can get the threshold-value judging mechanism being safety under the impact overload of 20526 g, and this value is much more than the standard of the drop overload 12000g; the arming value under the centrifugal overload obtained from theory, simulation and experiment is at the range of 28200 g and 32000 g, it shows that the threshold-value judging mechanism can be arming compared with the value 35951g of design principle. Therefore, the threshold-value judging mechanism can meet the design requirements of overload. Furthermore, the relationship of fracture threshold-values obtained by different theories is found out through parametric design method, as shown in Figure 14, it provides the theory evidence to the follow parametric design.

A typical vibrational spectrum in the ice phase has four separate bands: translation, libration, bending and stretching. Ice X, the final ice phase under high pressure, shows an exotic vibrational spectrum. Theoretically, an ideal crystal of ice X only has one peak at 998 cm-1 for Raman scattering and two peaks at 450 cm-1 and 1507 cm-1 for infrared absorption in this work. These three characteristic peaks are indicators of the phase transition between ice VII/VIII and ice X. Despite much experimental and theoretical work on ice X, only this study has clearly indicated these characteristic peaks in the region of the IR band. The phonon density of states shows quite different features than ice VIII, which could be verified by inelastic neutron scattering in the future. The dynamic processes of 15 vibrational normal modes are discussed and the typical hydrogen bonds are missing.

It is well established that the reaction cycles involving some halogenated alkanes (so-called ozone-depleting substances, ODS) contribute to the depletion of ozone in the stratosphere, thus causing the Montreal Protocol (initially signed in 1987) and later amendments. The Protocol called for the scheduled phase-out of ODS, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), hydrochloro-fluorocarbons (HCFC), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), halon, methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3), me-thyl chloride (CH3Cl), and even hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). In view of the urgent importance of ozone layer protection to the globally ecological environment, the Taiwan government took regulatory actions on reducing ODS consumption since 1993 by the joint-venture of the central competent authorities. Under the regulatory requirements and the industry’s efforts by adopt-ing the alternatives to ODS and abatement technologies, the phase-out of some ODS (i.e., CFC, CCl4, halon, and CH3CCl3) have been achieved prior to 2010. The consumptions of HCFCs and methyl chloride have been significantly declined over the past three decades (1993-2022). However, HFC emission indicated a V-type variation during the period. Due to the local pro-duction and extensive use of HFC in Taiwan, its emissions increased from 663 kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq) in 1993 to 2,330 kilotons of CO2eq in 2001, and then decreased to 373 kilotons of CO2eq in 2011. Since then, the emissions of HFC largely used as the alternatives to ODS showed an upward trend, increasing to 1,555 kilotons of CO2eq in 2022. To be in compliance with the Kigali Amendment (KA-2015) to the Montreal Protocol for mitigating global warming, the Taiwan government has taken regulatory actions in reducing the consumption of some HFC substances with high global warming potential (GWP) under the authorization of the Climate Change Response Act in 2023, aiming at the baseline consumption in 2024 by 80 % reduction by 2045.

Previously, pseudomyogenic hemangioendothelioma (PMHE) is regarded as epithelioid sarcoma-like hemangioendothelioma due to significant histologic overlapping and diffuse cytokeratin expression since the first description in 1992. After considerable controversy and long-term debating, it is currently defined as a distinct intermediate malignant, rarely metastasizing neoplasm with vascular/endothelial differentiation in nature. PMHE is characterized by young age (typically < 40 years old) and extremity location (approximately ~80%) with t(7:19) SERPINE1-FOSB fusion as the most common molecular alteration. Here we reported a 59-year-old male presenting with multifocal lesions, including right temporalis muscle, right frontoparietal calvarium, right pterygoid muscles, and right mandibular condyle. Histologic examination of the lesion from right temporal mass revealed a multinodular biphasic lesion composed of sheets and fascicles of elongated spindle cells, and epithelioid small round to ovoid cells infiltrating into the adjacent skeletal muscle admixed with abundant neutrophilic infiltration. No rhabdomyoblast-like cells, prominent nuclear pleomorphism and mitosis were identified. IHC staining showed that the tumor cells were diffusely and strongly positive for FOSB, pan-cytokerain (AE1/AE3), CD31, ERG, and molecular testing further demonstrated a t(9:19) EGFL7::FOSB fusion mRNA. This constellation of morphological, IHC and molecular findings was consistent with the diagnosis of PMHE. This is the first reported case of multiple PMHEs with EGFL7::FOSB fusion in a patient aged more than 50 years old in the head and neck area. Since the vast majority of the differential diagnoses of PMHE are high-grade malignancies with aggressive clinical behavior and PMHE is rarely reported in the head and neck region, awareness of this tumor will avoid misdiagnosis and over-treatments of this entity.

MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems) becomes important increasingly due to the smarter and smaller fuze used in OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon). MEMS Safety and Arming (S&A) device is employed in different platforms and regions for small caliber projectile. Therefore, it is necessary to make a parametric study of the MEMS S&A device in different apply environments and explore the main sensitive factors of the MEMS S&A device to provide reference for designs. In this paper, based on the MEMS S&A device designed by our term, theory and finite element models are established, and the centrifugal insurance mechanism of the MEMS S&A device is parametric studied under the different speeds, temperature and thickness of the model by nonlinear dynamic method. By comparing the experimental and predicted results, the established FEM model is verified, and the conclusion is that the temperature and the centrifugal force are the main sensitive factors in the centrifugal insurance mechanism. In summary, we can suggest that the application environment, which the MEMS S&A device is suitable for, is the temperature equal to or slightly greater than normal temperature and the rotating speed higher than35000r/min of small caliber projectile.

The degree of ore rock fragmentation of mine blasting is an important index for evaluating the effect of engineering blasting. In order to study the effect of millisecond delayed blasting on the internal fragmentation of the ore rock, LS-DYNA numerical simulation software was used to obtain the damage characteristics of the ore rock in the blasting area using the RHT model. The Mohr-Coulomb strength damage criterion was applied to analyze the internal stress state of the ore rock, and the effects of 25ms, 50ms and 75ms delay time conditions on ore rock fragmentation were studied. The results show that, within a certain range of delay time, the degree of rock fragmentation increases with the increase of delay time. The stress state in the ore rock due to blasting is strengthened with the increase of delay time in the direction of the blast hole, which shows that the stress concentration is strengthened from the excavation face to the interior of the ore rock. The damage and the degree of fragmentation show a characteristic relationship of 25ms＜50ms＜75ms, which is verified by carrying out blasting experiments on site.

Previous study demonstrated the reconstituted type I collagen matrix extracted from rabbit tendons enabled to regenerate the TMJ disc in the rabbit. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and mechanisms of regeneration in TMJ disc. In 36 New Zealand rabbits that underwent a partial discectomy, discs were replaced with reconstituted collagen templates for 3 months. A histological analysis showed that moderate to severe degeneration appeared in partially discectomized joints without implantation. In contrast, discs that received the reconstituted collagen template regenerated, and returned to normal to protect the joint. Cells in the regenerative tissue expressed ECM, and fibers became regular and compact due to tissue remodeling over time. Reparative cells differentiated into chondroblasts, and showed highly dense pericellular fibers. The morphology and collagen composition of the disc and condyle in the 3-month experimental group were similar to those of normal tissues. In conclusion, the reconstituted collagen template facilitated the regeneration of surgically discectomized discs. Type I and type II collagens play a crucial role in the regeneration of articular discs.

Thought runs through the mind like blood runs through our body to keep us alive. Like the mind, the body does not stay inert and is in constant motion. Not a single cell in our body is left inert unless cell is under stress or dying. These scenarios are reflected upon when a person is sick, the person lies in bed with less movement; however, is active when the person is healthy. The topic of mechanical stimulation has emerged due to the increasing understanding of the physical stimulations we face each day. Further understanding of the mechanically-regulated mechanism can help us explore the pathological events in a disease. Here, we reviewed the role of sensory proteins in pathological events that are observed in cardiomyopathy, cancer, respiratory, renal, obesity, genetics, physical injury and bacterial infection. Taken together, sensory proteins are mechanically-activated which assist reception of external physical stimulation and convert into biochemical to trigger intracellular signaling cascade.

Lung cancer is almost the most common cause of cancer death in the world. Clinically, the conventional therapy to eradicate the cancer cells is chemotherapy but a better drug remains required. In this study, the effects of three bufadienolides, kalantuboside B, kalantuboside A and bryotoxin C, isolated from Kalanchoe tubiflora (Harvey) were evaluated and characterized in CL1-5 highly metastatic human lung cancer cells. Contrary to the apoptosis-promoting activity in other cancer cells, these three bufadienolides did not induce apoptosis in CL1-5 cancer cells. Instead, they activated an autophagy pathway, as indicated by the increase of autophagosomes formation. The induction of autophagy by these three bufadienolides was demonstrated to link to down-regulation of p-mTOR as well as up-regulation of LC3-II, ATG5, ATG7, Beclin-1. Moreover, among these three compounds, kalantuboside B in which a monosaccharide is attached at the bufadienolide aglycon, exhibited a better autophagy induction. Our findings revealed an alternative mechanism of drug action by bufadienolides in lung cancer cells and provided evidence for the possibility of treating highly metastatic human lung cancer through an autophagy pathway.

Semi-continuous data are very common in the social science and economics. In this paper, a Bayesian variable selection procedure is developed to assess the influence of exogenous factors including observed and unobserved on the semi-continuous data. Our formulation is based on the two-part latent variable model with polytomous response. We consider two schemes for the penalties of regression coefficients and factor loadings: the Bayesian spike and slab bimodal prior and the Bayesian lasso prior. Within the Bayesian framework, we implement Markov Chains Monte Carlo sampling method to conduct posterior inference. To facilitate posterior sampling, we recast the logistic model in part one as the norm-like mixture model. Gibbs sampler is designed to draw observations from the posterior. Our empirical results show that with suitable hyper-parameters, the spike and slab bimodal method slightly outperforms the Bayesian lasso in the current analysis. Finally, a real example related to the China household finance survey is analyzed to illustrate the application of the methodology.. .

Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD) is a rare immune-mediated relapsing-remitting disease of the central nervous system. The usage of rituximab, to prevent NMOSD relapses, is common in Sweden, but the knowledge on long-term efficacy and risk for severe infections are limited. We performed a retrospective cohort study with medical chart review of rituximab-treated NMOSD patients at the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, to assess the occurrence of relapses and severe infectious events (SIE). Furthermore, we collected data on CD19+ lymphocyte, and IgG levels during therapy. A total of 42 NMOSD patients; 24 with aquaporin -4 antibodies (AQP4+), eight with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies (MOG+) and 10 with absence of antibodies (double-seronegative) were included. During a mean treatment time of 4.4 years, 37% AQP4+, 75% MOG+, and 60% double-seronegative patients experienced 1 relapse. SIEs were common with 46% of AQP4+, 25% of MOG+, and 40% of double-seronegative patients affected. Incomplete CD19+ lymphocyte suppression did not predict a relapse and there was no correlation between IgG levels and SIEs. In conclusion, our data demonstrated a high risk for both relapses and SIEs in rituximab-treated NMOSD patients highlighting the need for close clinical vigilance of disease activity and infections during treatment.

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.

Symbolic semantic understanding of staff images is an important part in music information retrieval. Due to the complex composition of staff symbols and the strong semantic correlation between symbol spaces, it is difficult to understand the pitch and duration of each note during performances. In this paper, we design a semantic understanding system for optical staff symbols. The system uses the YOLOv5 to implement optical staff’s low-level semantic understanding stage, which understands the pitch and duration in natural scales and other symbols that affect the pitch and duration. The proposed note encoding reconstruction algorithm is used to implement high-level semantic understanding stage. Such algorithm understands the logical, spatial, and temporal relationships between natural scales and other symbols based on music theory, and outputs digital codes for the pitch and duration of main notes during performances. The model is trained with a self-constructed SUSN dataset. Experimental results of YOLOv5 show that the precision is 0.989 and the recall is 0.972. For the system, the error rate is 0.031 and the omission rate is 0.021. The paper concludes by analysing the causes of semantic understanding errors and offers recommendations for further research. The results of this paper provide a method for multimodal music artificial intelligence applications such as notation recognition through listening, intelligent score flipping and automatic performance.

The newly emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people and caused tremendous morbidity and mortality worldwide. Effective treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to SARS-CoV-2 infection is lacking and different therapeutic strategies are under testing. Host humoral and cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection is a critical determinant for patients’ outcome. SARS-CoV-2 infection results in seroconversion and production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The antibodies may suppress viral replication through neutralization but also might also participate in COVID-19 pathogenesis through a process termed antibody-dependent enhancement. Rapid progress has been made in the research of antibody response and therapy in COVID-19 patients including characterization of the clinical features of antibody responses in different populations infected by SARS-CoV-2, treatment of COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma and intravenous immunoglobin products, isolation and characterization of a large panel of monoclonal neutralizing antibodies, as well as preliminary clinical results from several COVID-19 vaccine candidates. In this review, we summarize the recent progress and discuss the implications of these findings in vaccine development.

Mangroves play an important role as a carbon sink and in mitigation of climate change. This study aimed to assess the anthropogenic activities, water and soil quality, mangrove diversity, and carbon sequestration potential of mangrove trees in the Kaingen River, Kawit, Cavite. The sampling period was conducted from November 2022 to March 2023 with the established three sampling sites. The DENR Administrative Order (DAO)- 2016-08 was used as a standard for water quality parameters, except for phosphates which used DAO-2021-19. The soil parameters were identified using the soil test kit from the Bureau of Soil and Water Management (BSWM) and at the BSWM laboratory. Mangrove species were identified using The Field Guide for Philippine Mangroves and were verified by experts. The carbon sequestration potential was obtained using an allometric equation for Southeast Asian mangroves. There are three mangrove species found in Kaingen Riverine such as Rhizophora mucronata, Avicennia alba, and Xylocarpus granatum. Based on species importance value Rhizophora mucronata is the dominant mangrove species. The result for carbon sequestration of each mangrove species showed that Rhizophora mucronata yielded the highest carbon stored (35.16 tC/ha) and carbon sequestered (128.92 tCO₂/ha). Among all the sampling sites, site 3 yielded the highest carbon stored (30.76 tC/ha) and carbon sequestered (112.81 tCO₂/ha) in Kaingen River. Overall, the results of the study showed that Kaingen River can potentially store carbon at 71.89 tC/ha and CO2 sequestered at 263.62 tCO₂/ha. This urges to practice conservation and protection measures for the mangroves forest of Kaingen River.

High density of buildings and the large traffic volume of cities give rise to narrow spaces and high passenger flows in most subway stations. When evacuation is required during an emergency, these problems may trigger issues in operational safety. Therefore, it is imperative to comprehensively assess subway station emergency evacuation times and capacities during the operating process to ensure the design is safe, science-based, and rational. To further enhance safe evacuation capacity, this paper proposes an overall evacuation time model that considers the multielement charac-teristics of subway stations in multiple segments. The evacuation route is decomposed into five stages according to the critical nodes in the evacuation process. An overall emergency evacuation time model is established based on the diversity of bottlenecks in the five stages, integrating elements such as the horizontal movement velocity of passengers, subway equipment parameters, and human density. Taking Xi’an Wulukou Subway Station as an example, this paper verifies the outcomes of the theoretical model against the Pathfinder software and conducts additional anal-yses of the evacuation conditions of stairs and exits. The results show that the error between the theoretical emergency evacuation time and simulation evacuation time was 5.4%, The emergency evacuation model established in this study boasts strong robustness and stability.

Panax notoginseng is a traditional Chinese medicine, and saponins are its main active ingredients. The content of saponins in flower of P. notoginseng is the highest in the whole plant. Minor ginsenosides have stronger pharmacological activity than main ginsenosides, but its content in nature is very low. We can use extracted total saponins from P. notoginseng flower as the substrate to produce minor ginsenosides by biotransformation method. In this study, we used the fungus Talaromyces flavus and its crude enzymes to transform the extracted total saponins of P. notoginseng flower. Through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the transformation substrates and products, it was found that minor ginsenosides Gyp-XVII, ginsenosides C-Mc1, C-Mx1, F2, Rg3, 20(R)-Rg3, Rk1 and Rg5 were found in the products and the conversion rate of the major saponins in P. notoginseng flower ranged from 44.16 to 55.22%, the yields of the minor ginsenosides ranged from 0.05 to 3.24%. This study provided a good experimental idea, greatly increased the utilization rate of total saponins in P. notoginseng flower, and laid a foundation for promoting the wide application of minor saponins.

In this study, we evaluated how gut microbes associated with hepatopancreatic and gonadal expression genes impact on growth traits in different sex of M. rosenbergii. By comparing the relative abundance of gut microbes between the male (high weight gain, HiWG) and female (low weight gain, LoWG) animals, we have shown that at the phyla, family and genera level, the abundance of microbes existed significantly difference between both group. At the genera level, the abundance of Candidatus Hepatoplasma and unidentified Chloroplast lower in the LoWG animals than in the HiWG animals, and Lactobacillus and Ligilactobacillus have opposed trend. The abundance of Candidatus Hepatoplasma and unclassfied Chloroplast was associated with the growth traits in the HiWG group. The Lolium perenne microbial species belong to unclassfied Chloroplast genera have tight association with Ralstonia pickettii, both might association on Geobacter anodirecteducens abundance, which correlation with the expression of glutathione peroxidase and collagen, which were highly expressed in the hepatopancreas and gonads of HiWG group animals of M. rosenbergii and might promote growth and development. These associations were not detected in the female LoWG group.

Process safety plays a vital role in the modern process industry. To prevent undesired accidents caused by malfunctions or other disturbances in complex industrial processes, considerable attention has been paid to data-driven fault detection techniques. To explore the underlying manifold structure, manifold learning methods including Laplacian eigenmaps, locally linear embedding, and Hessian eigenmaps have been utilized in data-driven fault detection. However, only the partial local structure information is extracted from the aforementioned methods. In this paper, these typical manifold learning methods are synthesized to find the underlying manifold structure from different angles. A more comprehensive local structure is discovered under a unified framework by constructing an objection optimization function for dimension reduction of the process data. The proposed method takes advantage of different manifold learning methods. Based on the proposed dimension reduction method, a new data-driven fault detection method is developed. Hotelling’s T2 and Q statistics are established for the purpose of fault detection. Experiments on an industrial benchmark Tennessee Eastman process and a real blast furnace ironmaking process are carried out to demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed method.

To evaluate the impact of a new Substance Use Disorder (SUD) education program on medical students' representations, we selected the Substance Abuse Attitude Survey (SAAS) questionnaire, which we adapted to our curriculum and cultural context. To validate this adapted version, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis following the administration of our 29-items bSAAS questionnaire to 657 medical students in Belgium (response rate: 71,1%). 23 items correlated to 3 factors namely "Stereotypes and moralism", "Treatment optimism" and "Specialised treatment" were retained (70% of total variance explained, Cronbach's alpha= 0.80) and constituted the new questionnaire called beSAAS. The factor "Specialised treatment", stood out from previous studies which could be explained by our target population and the impact of the formal, informal, and hidden curriculum in medical education. This study highlighted certain factors influencing stereotypical representations such as age, gender, origin, and personal or professional experience with substance use. Our study allowed us to retain the beSAAS as a good questionnaire to evaluate SUD stigma and highlighted interesting findings to improve SUD training in medicine. Further studies are needed to complete its validity and reliability.

An on-site, ultra-sensitive, and quantitative sensing method was developed based on quantum dot nanobeads (QDNBs) and test strip for the determination of total aflatoxins (AFTs) in rice and peanut. The monoclonal antibody against AFT (mAbAFT) was home-made and labeled with QDNB. After the pre-coating of the AFT antigen on the test line (T line), the competitive immunoreactions were conducted between AFT and AFT antigen on the T line with QDNBs-mAbAFT. Under optimal conditions, this approach allowed a rapid response towards AFT with a considerable sensitivity of 1.4 pg/mL and 2.9 pg/mL in rice and peanut matrices, respectively. The put-in and put-out duration were within 10 min. The recoveries for AFT in rice and peanut samples matrices were recorded from 86.25–118.0% with the relative deviations (RSD) below 12%. The assay was further validated via the comparison between this QDNB strip and the conventional HPLC method using spiked samples. Thus, the design provided a potential alternative for on-site, ultra-sensitive, and quantitative sensing of AFT that could also be expanded to other chemical contaminants for food safety.

The group delay response of chirped fiber Bragg gratings (CFBG) written in polarization-maintaining fiber can be measured using the beat spectrum of the reflections from the two polarization axis, with a resolution and reproducibility better than 50 fs. The method is theoretically described, and we analyze the effect of group delay ripples (GDR) on the performance of a stretcher-compressor pair used in chirped pulse amplification systems. Ripples with a spectral period of the order of the pulse bandwidth are the most deleterious. Those are readily captured with our method, despite the limit on resolution due to the fiber polarization beat length. As a rule of thumb, the GDR should not exceed half the pulse duration. The reconstructed phase of the CFBG is also used to predict the pulse compression performance for a given device. Measurement of GDR as low as 161 fs is experimentally demonstrated.

Typhoons bring great damages to transmission line systems located in coastal areas. Strong wind and extreme precipitation are the main sources of damaging effects. Transmission lines suffered from wind-driven rain exhibit more susceptibility to damage due to the coupled effect of wind and rain water. This paper presents an integrated numerical simulation framework based on mesoscale WRF model, multiphase CFD model and FEM model to analyze the motions of a transmission line subjected to coupled wind and rain loads during typhoon events. A full-scale transmission line in Zhoushan island is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework by simulating typhoon evolution in terms of wind fields and rainfall, solving the coupled wind and rain fields around the conductor and predicting the dynamic responses of the transmission line during Super Typhoon Lekima (2019). The results show that the horizontal displacements of the transmission line under the joint actions of wind and rain increases approximately 17%~18% compared to those of wind loads only. It is important to consider the coupled effects of wind-driven rain on conductors in the design of transmission lines under typhoon conditions.

Music therapy has served as complementary and alternative medicine for various neurological disorders. Five Phases Music Therapy (FPMT) employs the theory of five phases and five music scales or tones (宫Gong (do), 商Shang (ri), 角Jue (mi), 徵Zhi (so) and 羽Yu (la)) to analyze and treat mind-body illness. In Chinese Medicine (CM), the five music scales are used to connect the human body and the universe, interpret personalities and constitution and analyze the influences of climatic changes on health. FPMT has a self-contained theory and routine of practice application. Large amounts of clinical and fundamental reports have been available and clinical benefits have been obtained. However more systemic clinic research esp. evidence-based and random controlled trials must be performed to validate and optimize its routines and biological and neurological mechanism must be further explored. It’s reasonable to believe that the effective music therapy will attract more attention from the world outside China with the introduction of FPMT.

This study reports multivariate statistical techniques applied including cluster analysis to evaluate and classify the river pollution level in Taiwan, and principal component analysis-multiple linear regression (PCA-MLR) to identify the possible pollution source. Water quality and heavy metal monitoring data from Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) was evaluated for 14 rivers in the four regions of Taiwan. The Erren River was classified as the most polluted River in Taiwan. Biochemical oxygen demand, ammonia, and total phosphate concentration in this river were the highest of the 14 rivers evaluated. In addition, heavy metal levels of the following rivers exceeded the Taiwan EPA standard limit: lead - in the Dongshan, Jhuoshuei, and Xinhuwei Rivers; copper - in the Dahan, Laojie, and Erren Rivers; and manganese - in all rivers. Water pollution in the Erren River was estimated to originate 72% from industrial sources, 16% from domestic black water, and 12% from natural sources and runoff from other tributaries. Our research showed that PCA-MLR and the cluster analysis model accomplished our study objectives and will be helpful tools to evaluate water quality in rivers and we suggest that the continuous monitoring should be conducted to monitor water pollution from anthropogenic activities.

The continuous casting process of helical fiber reinforced metal matrix composites was proposed, and the experimental equipment was designed and manufactured. The relationship model be-tween the process parameters and the helical shape of the fibers in the metal matrix is analyzed by differential geometry. Helical carbon fiber reinforced lead matrix composites were prepared under different conditions. When the melting temperature and cooling intensity were increased, the helical radius of helical carbon fiber in lead matrix was increased. When the fiber rotation speed was increased, the helical radius was decreased, and the helical pitch was de-creased proportionally. The experimental results are consistent with the process model. Carbon fiber rein-forced aluminum composites were prepared. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the infiltration between the aluminum matrix and the carbon fiber was not complete. As the volume fraction of carbon fiber which was added in composites is too small, the mechanical properties of the composites have not been significantly improved.

This proposal describes the design and development of an interoperable application that supports green open access with long-term sustainability and improved user experience of article deposit. Introduction: The lack of library resources and unfriendly repository user interface are two significant barriers that hinder green open access. Tasked to implement the open access mandate, librarians at an American research university developed a comprehensive system called Easy Deposit 2 to automate the support workflow of green open access. Implementation: Easy Deposit 2 is a web application that is able to harvest newly publications, outreach for manuscript on behalf of the library, and facilitate self-archiving to IR. It is developed and maintained by the library and integrated with the IR. Results and Discussion: The article deposit rate is about 25% with Easy Deposit 2, which increases significantly comparing to the previous period. It also serves as a local database for faculty publications with open access status. The lesson learned is that library cannot rely on a single commercial provider for publication data due to mismatched priorities. Conclusion: Recent IT developments provides new opportunities of innovation like Easy Deposit 2 in supporting open access. Academic librarians are vital in promoting "openness" in scholarly communication such as transparency and diversity in the sharing of publication data.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has resulted in tremendous morbidity and mortality worldwide. A major underlying cause of COVID-19 mortality is a hyperinflammatory cytokine storm in severe/critically ill patients. Although many clinical trials are testing the efficacy of targeting inflammatory cytokines/chemokines in COVID-19 patients, the critical inflammatory mediator initiating COVID-19 patient death is undefined. Here we suggest that the immunopathological pathway leading to COVID-19 mortality can be divided into three stages with distinct clinical features that can be used to guide therapeutic strategies. Our interpretation of the recently published clinical trials from COVID-19 patients suggests that the clinical efficacy in preventing COVID-19 mortality using IL-1 blockade is subjected to notable caveats, while that for IL-6 blockade is suboptimal. We discuss critical factors in determining appropriate inflammatory cytokine/chemokine targets, timing, and combination of treatments to prevent COVID-19 mortality.

In fuzzy decision problems, the ordering of fuzzy numbers is the basic problem. Among which, the fuzzy preference relation is the reasonable one to represent preference relation by a fuzzy membership function. This paper studies the Nakamura’s and Kołodziejczyk’s preference relations. Eight cases of representing different level of overlapping between two triangular fuzzy numbers are considered. We analyze the ranking behaviors of all possible combinations of decomposition and intersection of two fuzzy numbers for the Nakamura’s and Kołodziejczyk’s preference relations of these test cases. The results indicate that the decomposition and intersection can affect the fuzzy preference relations, thereby the final total order relation of fuzzy numbers.

Copper-based nanoparticles were synthesized using the glycine–nitrate process (GNP) by using copper nitrate trihydrate [Cu(NO₃)₂‧3H₂O] as the main starting material and glycine [C₂H₅NO₂] as the complexing and incendiary agent. The as-prepared powders were characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Using Cu(NO₃)₂.3H₂O as the oxidizer (N) and glycine as fuel (G), we obtained CuO, mixed-valence copper oxides (CuO + Cu₂O, G/N = 0.3–0.5), and metallic Cu (G/N = 0.7). The XRD and BET results indicated that increasing the glycine concentration (G/N = 0.7) and reducing particle surface area increased the yield of metallic Cu. The effects of varying reaction parameters such as catalyst activity, catalyst dose, and H₂O₂ concentration on nonylphenol-9-polyethoxylate (NP9EO) degradation were assessed. With a copper‐based catalyst in a heterogeneous system, the NP9EO and total organic carbon removal efficiencies were 83.1% and 70.6%, respectively, under optimum operating conditions (pH, 6.0; catalyst dose, 0.3 g/L; H₂O₂ concentration, 0.05 mM). The results suggested that removal efficiency increased with an increase in H₂O₂ concentration but decreased when the H₂O₂ concentration exceeded 0.0.5 mM. Furthermore, the trend of photocatalytic activity was as follows: G/N = 0.5 > G/N = 0.7 > G/N = 0.3. The G/N = 0.5 catalysts showed the highest photocatalytic activity and resulted in 94.6% NP9EO degradation in 600 min.

It is proved that there exist two odd prime numbers, p_i and p_j , such that p_i + p_j = 2r + 2(r ⩾ 2), where p_n denote the n-th odd prime number, 1 ⩽ i, j ⩽ n. By the theory of generating functions, we prove that there exist two positive integers, h_i and h_j , such that h_i + h_j = r(r ⩾ 2), where h_n = (p_n − 1)/2，(p_n ⩾ 3).Then we complete the proof.

Dry eye syndrome (DES) has become increasingly prevalent due to the prolonged use of digital devices in modern society. Individual supplementation with lutein or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) demonstrated potential benefits for eye health. This study aimed to investigate the effects of lutein plus DHA complex supplementation on DES, visual function, and memory in healthy individuals. Thirty-four participants, aged 40~60 years, received lutein/DHA complex supplements (containing 10 mg free-form lutein, 200 mg DHA, 30 mg red algae extract (astaxanthin), phosphatidylserine, and vitamin A) for 12 weeks. Ophthalmological examinations and memory tests were carried out, and a questionnaire was administered at weeks 0, 6, and 12 of the study. After 12 weeks of the intervention, the tear break-up time had significantly increased, and intraocular pressure (IOP) had significantly decreased. This suggests that lutein/DHA complex supplementation may reduce the IOP and offer potential benefits for DES, as indicated by improved tear stability.

Early stable deep molecular response (DMR) of nilotinib is associated with goal of treatment-free remission (TFR) for patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP). It is significant to early distinguish patients who can obtain DMR and fit for TFR. We performed a multicenter study to explore early cumulative MR4.5 rate by 18 months with nilotinib in patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP (ND-CML-CP) in China. From 29 institutes, 106 ND-CML-CP patients received nilotinib (300mg BID). The cumulative MR4.5 rate of nilotinib by 18 months was 69.8% (74/106). The cumulative MMR and MR4.0 rates of nilotinib by 18 months were 94.3% (100/106) and 84.9% (90/106), respectively. Patients with ultra-early molecular response (u-EMR) at 6 weeks were not significantly different to obtain DMR or MMR by 24 months compared to those without u-EMR (P=0.7584, P=0.9543, respectively). Our study demonstrated that treatment with nilotinib in patients with ND-CML-CP contributed to obtain high early MR4.5.

Concrete cracks and local damage can affect the bond performance between concrete and steel bars, thereby reducing the durability of reinforced concrete structures. Compared with general concrete crack repair methods, biomineralization repair not only has effective bonding capabilities but is also particularly environmentally friendly. In view of this, this study aimed to apply biomineralization technology to repair damaged fiber-reinforced lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC). Two groups of LWAC specimens were prepared. The control group used lightweight aggregates (LWAs) without bacterial spores and nutrient sources, and the experimental group used LWAs containing bacterial spores and nutrient sources. These specimens were first subjected to compression tests and pull-out tests, respectively, and thus were damaged. After the damaged specimen healed itself in different ways for 28 days, secondary compression and pull-out tests were conducted. The self-healing method of the control group involved placing the specimens in an incubator. The experimental group was further divided into experimental group I and experimental group II. The self-healing method of experimental group I was the same as that of the control group. The self-healing method of experimental group II involved soaking the specimen in a mixed solution of urea and calcium acetate for two days, and then taking it out and placing it in an incubator for two days, with a cycle of four days. The test results showed that, compared with the control group specimens, the relative bond strength ratio of the experimental group II specimens increased by 17.9%. Moreover, the EDS and XRD analysis results confirmed that the precipitate formed at the crack was calcium carbonate, which improved the compressive strength and bond strength after self-healing. This indicates that the biomineralization maintenance method used in experimental group II is more effective.

Several treatment guidelines for sporadic, nonmetastatic nonfunctioning neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas (NF-pNETs) have recommended resection, however, tumors ≤ 2 cm do not necessarily need surgery. This study aimed to establish a surgical treatment plan for NF-pNETs ≤ 2 cm. From 2000 to 2017, 483 patients who underwent resection for NF-pNETs ≤ 2cm in 18 institutions from Korea and China were enrolled and their medical records were reviewed. Median age was 56 (range 16- 80) years. The 10-year overall survival rate (10Y-OS) and recurrence-free survival rate (10Y-RFS) were 89.8 and 93.1%, respectively. In multivariable analysis, tumor size (> 1.5cm; p = 0.001) and nodal metastasis (p = 0.013) were independent adverse prognostic factors for OS. Perineural invasion (p = 0.008) and high Ki-67 index (≥3%; p < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors for poor RFS. NF-pNETs ≤ 2 cm showed unfavorable prognosis after resection when the tumor was larger than 1.5cm, Ki-67 index ≥ 3%, or nodal metastasis was present. NF-pNET patients with tumors ≤ 1.5cm can be observed if the preoperative Ki-67 index is under 3%, and if nodal metastasis is not suspected in preoperative radiologic studies. These findings support the clinical use to make decision about small NF-pNETs.

The research fills the policy research gap for the women entrepreneurship and sustainability performance for examining key successful factors. Previous women entrepreneurship research fails to offer policy recommendations. The research purpose is to investigate these factors affect women entrepreneurship capabilities and sustainability performance by using SEM analysis and making policy recommendation. This research employs online and mail survey and obtains 175 women entrepreneur sample. The study finds that family support and motivation have positive effect on women entrepreneurship capabilities and sustainability performance. Barriers have no effect on performance. Hopefully, the research can provide the guidance to contribute to women’s entrepreneurship opportunities for achieving SDGs. Policy recommendation and managerial implication are discussed in the article.

The application of Virtual Reality in a driving simulation is not novel, yet little is known about the use of this technology by senior populations. The effects of age, sex, control device (joystick or handlebar), and task type on wayfinding proficiency using a virtual reality (VR) driving simulation were explored. The driving experimental model involved 96 randomly recruited participants, including 48 young people and 48 seniors (split evenly by gender in each group). The experimental results and statistical analyses indicate that in a VR driving scenario task type significantly affected VR driving performance. Navigational scores were significantly higher for the straight (easy) task than for the curved (difficult) task. The aging effect was the main reason for significant and interacting effects of sex and control device. It was found that interactions between age and sex difference indicated that the young group exhibited better wayfinding performance than the senior group, and in the young group males had better performance than females. Similarly, interactions between age and control device indicated that the handlebar control device type resulted in better performance than the joystick device in the young group, but no difference was found in the senior group due to age or learning effects. Findings provide an understanding of the evaluation of the interface designs of navigational support systems, taking into consideration any effects of age, sex, control device, and task type within three-dimensional VR games and driving systems. With a VR driving simulator, seniors can test drive inaccessible products, such as electric bicycles or cars, using a computer at home.

Metasurface constitutes one of the most promising technologies for holographic imaging; however, the work for terahertz (THz) metasurface holographic imaging is relatively limited. Here, we propose a THz dielectric geometric-propagation phase metasurface, which can operate dual-mode (reflection and transmission) and reconfigurable multifunctional holographic imaging. The dual-mode is realized by controlling the Fermi energy level (Ef) of the graphene integrated into the metasurface unit, and the reconfigurable three-channel holographic imaging in reflection or transmission mode are achieved by switching the feed polarization among left-handed circular polarization (LCP), right-handed circular polarization (RCP) and linear polarization (LP). The metasurface is designed based on the transmission mode, and a physical model for switching to the reflection mode is established. For the first time to the best of our knowledge, a reflection-transmission dynamic modulation THz holographic imaging metasurface has been developed. The holographic metasurface operates in transmission mode at Ef = 0.1 eV, and in reflection mode at Ef = 0.9 eV. Compared with recently published holographic imaging metasurfaces, the proposed metasurface offers the following advantages: high holographic efficiencies (42.5% to 49%), more holographic imaging channels, dynamic modulation dual-mode operations, and reconfigurability.

Enveloped viruses represent a significant category of pathogens that cause serious diseases in animals. These viruses express envelope glycoproteins that are singularly important during infection of host cells by mediating fusion between the viral envelope and host cell membranes. Despite low homology at protein levels, three classes of viral fusion proteins have, as of yet, been identified based on structural similarities. Their incorporation into viral particles is dependent upon their proper sub-cellular localization after being expressed and folded properly in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, viral protein expression can cause stress in the ER, and host cells respond to alleviate the ER stress in the form of the unfolded protein response (UPR); the effects of which have been observed potentiating or inhibiting viral infection. One important arm of UPR is to elevate the capacity of the ER-associated protein degradation (ERAD) pathway, which is comprised of host quality control machinery that ensures proper protein folding. In this review, we provide relevant details regarding viral envelope glycoproteins, UPR, ERAD, and their interactions in host cells.

Autophagy is a highly conserved self-degradation process involving the degradation and recycling of cellular components and organelles. Although the involvement of autophagy in metabolic changes during fruit ripening has been preliminarily demonstrated, the variations in autophagic flux and specific functional roles in fruit ripening remain to be elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the occurrence of autophagy during tomato fruit ripening. The results revealed differential expression of SlATG8 family member during tomato fruit ripening. Transmission electron microscopy observations and dansylcadaverine (MDC) staining confirmed the presence of autophagy at the cellular level in tomato fruits. Furthermore, the overexpression of SlATG8f induced the formation of autophagosomes, increased autophagic flux within tomato fruits, effectively enhanced the expression of ATG8 proteins during the color transition phase of fruit ripening, thereby promoting tomato fruit maturation. This overexpression also led to the accumulation of vitamin C (VC) and soluble solids while reducing acidity in the fruit. Collectively, our findings highlight the pivotal role of SlATG8f in enhancing tomato fruit ripening, providing insights into the mechanistic involvement of autophagy in this process. This research contributes to a better understanding of key factors regulating tomato fruit quality and offers a theoretical basis for tomato variety improvement.

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, has become one of the most important pests on corn in China since it invaded in 2019. Although FAW has not been reported to cause widespread damage to rice plants in China, it has been sporadically found feeding in the field. If FAW infests rice in China, the fitness of other insect pests on rice may be influenced. However, how FAW and other insect pests on rice interact remains unknown. In this study, we found that the infestation of FAW larvae on rice plants prolonged the developmental duration of the brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål)) eggs, and plants damaged by gravid BPH females did not induce defenses that influenced the growth of FAW larvae. Moreover, co-infestation by FAW larvae on rice plants did not influence the attractiveness of volatiles emitted from BPH-infested plants to Anagrus nilaparvatae, an egg parasitoid of rice planthoppers. FAW larvae were able to prey on BPH eggs laid on rice plants and grew faster compared to those larvae that lacked available eggs. Studies revealed that the delay in development of BPH eggs on FAW-infested plants was probably related to the increase in levels of jasmonoyl-isoleucine, abscisic acid and the defensive compounds in the rice leaf sheaths on which BPH eggs were laid. These findings indicate that if FAW invades rice plants in China, the population density of BPH may be decreased by intraguild predation and induced plant defenses, whereas the population density of FAW may be increased.

Technology can be seen everywhere and has been integrated into our lives.We are always using technology and enjoying the convenience brought by technology. However, physical retailers and e-commerce companies are also gradually adopting advanced technologies. Technology improves the purchasing environment and purchasing experience. Virtual reality and augmented reality have been hotly discussed in recent years. Technology, although virtual reality and augmented reality technology have not yet matured, it can be said that they will in the future It has great development potential. Virtual reality and augmented reality are also beginning to sprout in the retail industry. However, research on the acceptance of the use of virtual reality and augmented reality in the apparel shopping process is still lacking because This study explores how usefulness, ease of use, hedonicity, customer experience, customer engagement and satisfaction. To influence customer loyalty, this study adopted questionnaire survey and convenience sampling methods, and collected a total of 308 valid questionnaires. The analysis method used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model to verify the research hypothesis relationship. The results of this study found. Hedonic has a significant impact on customer loyalty, while usefulness, ease of use, customer experience, customer engagement and satisfaction Satisfaction does not have a significant impact on customer loyalty. This study explains the academic contribution of the research results. The practical implications in marketing are put forward, and specific suggestions and directions for future research are given.

Plant-based protein sources derived from microalgae offer promise as low-carbon emission and nutrient-dense sources for human consumption. The current management of microalgae cultivation relies heavily on manual microscopic examination in order to identify desired and competing species, as well as predators. In this study, we trained and tested a transfer learning model modified from EfficientNetV2 B3 on 434 and 161 prospectively acquired images of the preferred Nannochloropsis sp microalgae and competitor Spirulina, respectively, and achieved &gt;98% classification for both species on tenfold cross-validation. The model was further enhanced with gradient-weighted class activation mapping, which allowed visualization of regions of the input images that were relevant to the classification, thereby improving its explainability. In this paper, we demonstrate that a simple deep transfer learning model can be used to identify microalgae species. The application addresses the practical need for robust automated monitoring of microalgae populations on industrial microalgae farms.

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

Construction using earth materials demonstrates ecological sustainability using locally sourced natural materials and environmentally friendly demolition methods. In this study, the environmental impact of adding cement to soil materials for rammed-earth farmhouse construction in rural China was investigated and comparatively simulated using the One Click LCA database, focusing on the conflict between sustainability objectives and the practical aspects of cement addition. By analyzing how the addition of cement aligns with local construction practices and by addressing the debate surrounding the inclusion of cement in rammed earth construction, our objective is to provide insights into achieving a balance between the environmental impact and the pragmatic considerations of using cement in earthen building practices. Three local structure scenarios are evaluated via simulations: a cement-stabilized rammed earth wall, a fired brick wall, and a localized reinforced concrete frame structure. The quantitative environmental impacts are assessed, and the qualitative differences in adaptation, economic sustainability, and other factors are examined in the context of present-day development in rural China. The results show that the use of cement-stabilized rammed earth wall-supported structures is associated with higher embodied carbon emissions compared to structures supported by reinforced concrete frames and enclosed by brick walls; however, these emissions are lower than those for brick wall-supported structures, while effectively meeting the structural requirements. In addition, the use of cement-stabilized earth for perimeter walls simplifies material management and disposal throughout the building's life cycle, and the cost-effectiveness of cement has been found to be substantially greater than that of reinforced concrete frames and brick structures, improving economic viability and social acceptability, especially among low-income communities in rural areas.

Reducing the hardness of hard water is of great concern nowadays due to some adverse effects on water pipes, boilers and soap consumption. Using the method of biomineralization to precipitate calcium and magnesium ions to become carbonate minerals was one of the most important innovations for reducing the hardness of hard water. The present study sought to explore the physical and chemical conditions of carbonates bio-precipitation and the potential use of Bacillus licheniformis SRB2 strain (GenBank: KM884945.1) isolated from sludge sample of Moshui River (Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China) in reducing the hardness of hard waters by the induction of carbonate minerals. In this study, B. licheniformis SRB2 strain was identified based on the morphological, biochemical and 16S rDNA gene sequence homology analysis. The carbonate minerals induced by B. licheniformis bacteria in the liquid culture medium with 3% NaCl and Mg/Ca molar ratio of 0, 6, 8, 10 and 12 were investigated. The culture medium was inoculated with the bacterial liquid seed was set as the experimental group and the other culture medium was inoculated with the same volume of distilled water was set as the control group. The mineral phases, micromorphologies, and crystal structures were analyzed using X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray detector, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The bacterial concentrations and pH values of the solution were measured by a spectrophotometer and a pH meter, respectively. The urease secreted by B. licheniformis SRB2 was found to greatly increase the pH values of the liquid medium, which favored the formation of calcium carbonate.As a result, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ ion concentrations decreased greatly due to the biomineralization of calcium carbonate and nesquehonite minerals in the presence of B. licheniformis SRB2 bacterium. There were only few calcium carbonates and no nesquehonite minerals in the control groups. It was also found that the minerals of nesquehonite induced by B. licheniformis SRB2 had a phenomenon of preferred orientation. What was more, even though Mg²⁺ ions inhibited the precipitation of Ca²⁺ ions, but under the action of B. licheniformis SRB2 bacteria, the inhibition effect was significantly declined. The bio-precipitation of calcium carbonate and nesquehonite minerals may represent a new method of pretreatment for the hardness reduction of hard water. The accomplished study is of certain interest for interpretation of the carbonates biomineralization in natural environment, and maybe also has a certain application value in the former processing of hard water

According to many research groups, high glucose induces over production of superoxide anions, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in general is the link between high glucose levels and the toxicities seen at cellular levels. Respiratory complex anomalies could lead to the production of ROS. Calcium [Ca2+], at physiological levels serves as a second messenger in many physiological functions. Accordingly, mitochondrial calcium [Ca2+]m overload leads to ROS production which could be lethal to the mitochondria through various mechanisms. The F1F0-ATPase (ATP syn-thase or complex V) is the enzyme that is responsible for catalyzing the final step of oxidative phosphorylation. It does so by coupling the translocation of protons in the mitochondrial in-termembrane space and shuttling them to the mitochondrial matrix for ATP synthesis to take place. Mitochondrial complex V T8993G mutation specifically blocks the translocation of protons across the intermembrane space thereby blocking ATP synthesis leading to Neuropathy, Ataxia and Retinitis Pigmentosa Syndromes (NARP). This study seeks to explore the possibility of [Ca2+]m overload mediating the pathological roles of high glucose in defective respiratory chain mediated mitochondrial stress. The NARP cybrids are the in vitro experimental models for the cells with F1FO-ATPase defects, these cells harbor 98% of mtDNA T8993G mutation. Their coun-terparts 143B osteosarcoma cell lines are the parental cell lines used for comparisons. We uncov-ered that, NARP cells mediated and enhanced the death of the cells (apoptosis) when incubated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and high glucose respectively as depicted by the MTT assay of cell viability. Furthermore, using the fluorescence probe-coupled laser scanning confocal imag-ing microscopy, NARP cells significantly enabled mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) formation and enhanced the depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). Elucidating the mechanisms of sugar enhanced toxicity on mitochondria would help in the fu-ture to alleviate the symptoms of patients associated with (NARP) syndromes.

Dams have made great contributions to human society, facilitating flood control, power generation, shipping, agriculture and industry. However, the construction of dams greatly impacts downstream ecological environments and nearby marine areas. To summarize these impacts, this review used recent research to comprehensively analyze how dam construction has affected river hydrology, geomorphology, and ecosystem of downstream reaches globally. Effects of dams on ecosystems occur through reduced river flow, reduced sediment flux, altered water temperature, changed estuary delta, altered composition and distribution of nutrients, altered structure and distribution of phytoplankton populations, caused habitat fragmentation, and blocked migration routes in river sections and adjacent seas. Besides, exploring new reservoir management strategies (including targeted control of dam storage and flushing sediment operations), banning fishing activities, and removing unnecessary dams (obsolete or small dams) are becoming crucial tools for ecosystem restoration.

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been identified as one of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Due to its massive production (over 700,000 tons per year) and the extensive use of BPA-based plastics (i.e., polycarbonate and epoxy resin) in Taiwan, it was thus included into a toxic substance by the Ministry of Environment. This work surveyed the updated information about the production of BPA and its environmental distributions in Taiwan over the past decade. Furthermore, the regulatory strategies and countermeasures for managing the environmental risks of BPA by the Taiwan government were summarized to show the cross-ministerial efforts under the relevant acts, including the Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act (TCCSCA), the Food Sanitation Management Act (FSMA) and the Commodity Inspection Act (CIA). The findings showed that most of the monitoring data showed far below the acceptable risks. However, the people may pose an adverse threat to the aquatic environment and human health via ecological and food chains. In addition, some countermeasures were further recommended to echo the international actions on environmental endocrine disruptors in recent years.

The study aims to explore gender differences in smoking and drinking in three Asian cities—Hanoi, Shanghai and Taipei, and assesses the magnitude of these gender differences across cities. A total of 17,016 adolescents and young adults, aged 15 to 24 years, residing in both urban and rural area of Hanoi, Shanghai and Taipei were selected by multistage sampling methods and surveyed by face to face interview. The gender differences are significant for smoking-only, drinking-only, and both behaviors in each city. With respect to smoking-only, males are more than 30.66 times as likely to report it compared with females in Hanoi, followed by Shanghai and Taipei. The above trend holds true when further examining drinking-only and both smoking and drinking. The magnitude of gender differences in smoking-only, drinking-only, and both behaviors widely vary across the three cities. Future research is needed to further examine the mechanisms behind these gender differences and how these differences may be utilized to prevent and reduce smoking and drinking in the adolescent and young adult population.

We study a two-echelon supply chain made up of a supplier and a manufacturer, both of which can reduce their component/product carbon emissions. With the vertical technology spillovers, we explore the optimal decisions of centralized and decentralized supply chains with price dependent demand and propose coordination strategy for the decentralized supply chain. Considering the cost contraction effectiveness of the technology spillovers, the centralized and decentralized game theoretic models of a two-echelon supply chain are developed to investigate optimal decisions of pricing and carbon emissions reduction. Through a systematic comparison and numerical analysis, we show that the profits of both players and the entire supply chain improve with the effect of technology spillovers increasing. Carbon emissions reduction will be taken by various protective measures so that the supplier and the manufacturer who do not innovate can hardly share the results of innovating via the “free-riding” methods when the technology spillover is relatively small. We also propose a revenue-cost sharing contract through bargaining to enhance the performance of the decentralized supply chain.

Sodium-potassium (NaK) liquid alloy is a promising candidate for use as anode material in sodium batteries because of its fluidity, which effectively suppresses the growth of sodium or potassium dendrites. However, the poor wettability of the NaK liquid alloy on conventional metal substrates is unfavorable for cell fabrication due to its strong surface tension. In this paper, low-density and low-cost fluorinated aluminum foam is used as a substrate support material for NaK liquid alloy. By combining low surface tension NaK@C with fluorinated aluminum foam, we obtain a uniformly distributed and structurally stable electrode material. The composite electrode has a cycling stability of more than 3000 hours in a symmetrical cell. Furthermore, when coupled with a sulfurized polyacrylonitrile cathode in carbonate electrolyte, it maintains excellent stability even after 800 cycles, with 72% of capacity retention.

Background: The hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway is a key regulator of embryonic patterning, tissue regeneration, stem cell renewal, and cancer growth. The smoothened (SMO) protein regulates the HH signaling pathway and has demonstrated oncogenic activity. Methods: To clarify the role of the HH signaling pathway in tumorigenesis, the expression profile of key HH signaling molecules, including SMO, PTCH1, GLI1, GLI2, and GLI3, were determined in thirty-three cancer cell lines. We performed a computational analysis of the upstream region of the SMO gene to identify the regulatory elements. Results: Three potential CpG islands and several putative SMO promoter elements were identified. Luciferase reporter assays mapped key SMO promoter elements, and functional binding sites for SP1, AP1, CREB, and AP-2a transcription factors in the core SMO promoter region were confirmed. A hypermethylated SMO promoter was identified in several cancer cell lines suggesting an important role for epigenetic silencing of SMO expression in certain cancer cells. Discussion: These results have important implications for our understanding of regulatory mechanisms controlling HH pathway activity and the molecular basis of SMO gene function. Moreover, this study may prove valuable for future research aimed at producing therapeutic downregulation of SMO expression in cancer cells.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system is an emerging therapeutic tool with the potential to correct diverse ge-netic disorders. However, for gene therapy applications an efficient delivery vehicle is required, capable of delivering the CRISPR-Cas9 components into the cytosol of the intended target cell population. Once there, the ribonucleoprotein complex (RNP) can be transported into the nucleus. Lipid nanoparticles (LNP) serve as promising candidates for delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 RNP. These delivery vehicles have been optimized for the delivery of nucleic acids, such as mRNA. Co-delivery of Cas9 encoding mRNA with the accompanying sgRNA leads to translation of the Cas9 protein and formation of the Cas9 RNP inside the cell. Only recently, direct delivery of the CRISPR-Cas9 RNP complexes has been explored, which requires adjustments to the LNP formulation. In this study, the importance of buffer composition and cationic charge during RNP and ssDNA en-trapment in LNP are demonstrated. After optimizing several formulation parameters, LNP were prepared that were colloidally stable in human plasma and efficiently deliver the SpCas9 RNP and ssDNA for HDR-correction in reporter cells. Under optimal formulation conditions, gene knock-out and gene correction efficiencies as high as 80% and 20%, respectively were achieved at nanomolar CRISPR-Cas9 RNP concentrations.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now ongoing for close to a year, people all over the world are still waiting for a vaccine to become available. The initial focus of accelerated global research and development efforts to bring a vaccine to market as soon as possible was on novel platform technologies that promised speed but had limited history in the clinic. In contrast, recombinant protein vaccines, with numerous examples in the clinic for many years, missed out on the early wave of investments from government and industry. Emerging data are now surfacing suggesting that recombinant protein vaccines indeed might offer an advantage or complement to the nucleic acid or viral vector vaccines that will likely reach the clinic faster. Here, we summarize the current public information on the nature and on the development status of recombinant subunit antigens and adjuvants targeting SARS-CoV-2 infections.

This paper analyzes and compares models for predicting average magnet losses in interior permanent-magnet motors with fractional-slot concentrated windings due to harmonics in the armature reaction (assuming sinusoidal phase currents). Particularly, loss models adopting different formulations and solutions to the Helmholtz equation to solve for the eddy currents are compared to a simpler model relying on an assumed eddy-current distribution. Boundaries in terms of magnet dimensions and angular frequency are identified (numerically and using an identified approximate analytical expression) to aid the machine designer whether the more simple loss model is applicable or not. The assumption of a uniform flux-density variation (used in the loss models) is also investigated for the case of V-shaped and straight interior permanent magnets. Finally, predicted volumetric loss densities are exemplified for combinations of slot and pole numbers common in automotive applications.

Milk MIR spectra have been shown to provide valuable information on a wide range of traits to be used in dairy cattle breeding programs. Selecting the most informative variables from complex data can improve prediction accuracy and model robustness and, consequently, the interpretability of MIR spectra. Thus, we aimed to investigate the prediction performance of feature selection methods based on MIR spectra data, using the milk fatty acid (FA) profile as an example to illustrate the evaluated procedure. Data of MIR spectra, milk test-day records, and reference FA concentrations of 155 first-parity Holstein cows were used in the analyses. Four models comprising different explanatory variables and five feature selection methods were evaluated. The results indicated that the Competitive Adaptive Reweighted Sampling (CARS) method can effectively select the most informative variables from the MIR spectra, resulting in higher prediction accuracies than other variable selection approaches. The model including selected MIR spectra and cow information variables [days in milk at the test day, age at the test day, pregnancy stage (in days), number of days open, number of inseminations, and somatic cell count] yielded the best FA profile predictions based on Partial Least Square regression. In particular, ten FAs (C8:0, C10:0, C14:1, C17:0 isomers, C18:1, C18:1 isomer, medium-chain FA, unsaturation FA, monounsaturated FA, and polyunsaturated FA) presented accuracies based on the determination coefficient (R2cv) ranging from 0.66 to 0.85 in internal validation and from 0.65 to 0.84 in external validation. By running CARS 1,000 times in internal validations, we obtained the frequency of selected milk MIR wavenumber for 35 FAs. The most related wavenumbers to FAs were found within 1,003 to 1,145 cm-1, while other discrete areas were between 1,651 to 1,797 and 2,834 to 2,954 cm-1. These biomarkers may give insights into the relationship between MIR spectra and FA phenotypes. In conclusion, using CARS and cow information improved predictions of FAs based on MIR spectra in Chinese Holstein dairy cows. Additional validation studies should be conducted as larger datasets become available.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) dysregulation contribute the cancer pathogenesis. However, the miRNA profile of canine oral melanoma (COM), one of the frequent malignant melanoma in dog is still unrevealed. The aim of this study is to reveal the miRNA profile in canine oral melanoma. MicroRNAs profile of oral tissues from normal healthy dogs and COM patients were compared by next-generation sequencing. Along with tumour suppressor microRNAs (miRNAs), we report 30 oncogenic miRNAs in COM. Expression of miRNAs were further confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Pathway analysis showed that deregulated miRNAs impact on cancer and signalling pathways. Three oncogenic miRNAs targets (miR-450b, 301a, and 223) from human study also were down-regulated in COM and had significant negative co-relation with their respective miRNA. Furthermore, we found that miR-450b expression is higher in metastatic cells and regulated MMP9 expression through a PAX9-BMP4-MMP9 axis. In silico analysis indicated that miR-126, miR-20b, and miR-106a regulated the highest numbers of differentially expressed transcription factors in respect to human melanoma. Chromosomal enrichment analysis revealed the X chromosome was enriched with oncogenic miRNAs. We comprehensively analyzed the miRNA’s profile in COM which will be a useful resource for developing therapeutic interventions in both species.

This paper examines the relationship between the ratio of independent board member to the financial performance of the company under the mediation of the three pillars of environment, society, and governance (ESG) in Taiwan. The study addresses a research gap between independent directors and corporate financial performance, an issue that is rarely discussed today. The author develops the hypotheses and tests them by applying panel data regression to the data tables taken from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database to analyze data on 173 Taiwanese companies that reported ESG from 2009 to 2021. The results show that the relationship between the ratio of independent directors and financial performance has a positive relationship. At the same time, the 3 pillars of ESG also clearly show the intermediary role in this relationship. Finally, this study provides additional insights into the relationship between the ratio of independent directors and financial performance in the Taiwan context.

Digital wellbeing concerns the balance and health we may experience in digital use, and the existing studies have focused on adolescents and adults. However, young children are more vulnerable to digital overuse and addiction than adults; thus, their digital wellbeing deserves empirical exploration. This scoping review synthesized and evaluated 35 collected studies on young children’s digital use and their wellbeing that were published until October of 2022 to understand the definitions, measurements, contributors, and interventions. The synthesis of evidence revealed that: (1) there was no consensus about its definition; (2) there were no effective measurements of young children’s digital wellbeing; (3) both child factors (duration and place of digital use, child demographic characteristics) and parent factors (digital use, parental perception, and mediation) contribute to young children’s wellbeing; and (4) there were some effective applications and interventions. This review contributes to the theoretical development by mapping the existing work on young children's digital wellbeing, proposing a model, and identifying the research gaps for future studies.

The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between physical activity (PA) level and inhibitory control performance and then determine whether this association was mediated by multiple sleep parameters (i.e., subjective sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance). Methods. 180 healthy university students (age: 20.15 ± 1.92 years) from the East China Normal University were recruited in the present study. PA level, sleep parameters, and inhibitory control performance were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scale (PSQI), and a Stroop test, respectively. Data were analyzed using structual equation modeling. Results. A higher level of PA was linked to better cognitive performance. Furthermore, higher subjective sleep quality and sleep efficiency were associated with better inhibitory control performance. The mediation analysis revealed that subjective sleep quality and sleep efficiency mediated the relationship between PA level and inhibitory control performance. Conclusion. Our results are in accordance with the literature and buttress the idea that a healthy lifestyle that involves a relatively high level of regular PA and adequate sleep patterns is beneficial for cognition (e.g., inhibitory control performance). Furthermore, our study adds to the literature that sleep quality and sleep efficiency mediates the relationship of PA and inhibitory control performance expanding our knowledge in the field of exercise-cognition.

The electronic structural evolution of LLM-105 crystal and the (101) plane of LLM-105 crystal under different pressures is investigated by the density functional theory (DFT) calculations and the surface properties of seven low-Miller-index planes of LLM-105 crystal were investigated in this study. The result demonstrates that the surface energy of (101) plane of LLM-105 is much smaller when compared with other low-Miller-index planes of LLM-105.In order to further investigate the stability of crystal structure and (101) plane of LLM-105 under different pressures, a series of pressures ranged from 0 GPa to 55 GPa were applied during the DFT calculation, and the result shows that the electronic structures of LLM-105 crystal and the (101) plane changed with the increase of external pressure and the evolution process of (101) plane is different from that of LLM-105 crystal structure.

Model selection and model averaging have been the popular approaches in handling modelling uncertainties. Fan and Li(2006) laid out a unified frame work for variable selection via penalized likelihood. The tuning parameter selection is vital in the optimization problem for the penalized estimators in achieving consistent selection and optimal estimation. Since the OLSpost-LASSO estimator by Belloni and Chernozhukov (2013), few studies have focused on the finite sample performances of the class of OLS post-penalty estimators with the tuning parameter choice determined by different tuning parameter selection approaches. We aim to supplement the existing model selection literature by studying such a class of OLS post-selection estimators. Inspired by the Shrinkage Averaging Estimator (SAE) by Schomaker(2012) and the Mallows Model Averaging (MMA) criterion by Hansen (2007), we further propose a Shrinkage Mallows Model Averaging (SMMA) estimator for averaging high dimensional sparse models. Based on the Monte Carlo design by Wang et al. (2009) which features an expanding sparse parameter space as the sample size increases, our Monte Carlo design further considers the effect of the effective sample size and the degree of model sparsity on the finite sample performances of model selection and model averaging estimators. From our data examples, we find that the OLS post-SCAD(BIC) estimator in finite sample outperforms most of the current penalized least squares estimators as long as the number of parameters does not exceed the sample size. In addition, the SMMA performs better given sparser models. This supports the use of the SMMA estimator when averaging high dimensional sparse models.

A SARS-CoV receptor-binding domain (RBD) recombinant protein was developed and manufactured under current good manufacturing practices in 2016. The protein known as RBD219-N1 when formulated on Alhydrogel®, induced high-level neutralizing antibodies and protective immunity with minimal immunopathology in mice after a homologous virus challenge with SARS-CoV (MA15 strain). In this report, we examined published evidence in support of whether the SARS-CoV RBD219-N1 could be repurposed as a heterologous vaccine against Coronavirus Infectious Disease (COVID)-19. Our findings include evidence that convalescent serum from SARS-CoV patients can neutralize SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, a review of published studies using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) raised against SARS-CoV RBD and that neutralize the SARS-CoV virus in vitro, finds that some of these mAbs bind to the receptor-binding motif (RBM) within the RBD, while others bind to domains outside this region within RBD. This information is relevant and supports the possibility of developing a heterologous SARS-CoV RBD vaccine against COVID-19, especially due to the finding that the overall high amino acid similarity (82%) between SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 spike and RBD domains is not reflected in RBM region (59%). However, the high similarity (94%) in the region outside of RBM offers the potential of conserved neutralizing epitopes between both viruses.

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

3D Zernike moments based on 3D Zernike polynomials have been successfully applied to the field of voxelized 3D shape retrieval and have attracted more attention in biomedical image processing. As the order of 3D Zernike moments increases, both computational efficiency and numerical accuracy decrease. Due to this phenomenon, a more efficient and stable method for computing high-order 3D Zernike moments was proposed in this study. The proposed recursive formula for computing 3D Zernike radial polynomials combines the recursive calculation of spherical harmonics to develop a voxel-based algorithm for the calculation of 3D Zernike moments. The algorithm was applied to the 3D shape Michelangelo's David with a size of 150×150×150 voxels. As compared to the method without additional acceleration, the proposed method uses a group action of order sixteen orthogonal group and saving unnecessary iterations, the factor of speed-up is 56.783±3.999 when the order of Zernike moments is between 10 and 450. The proposed method also obtained an accurate reconstructed shape with the error rate (normalized mean square error) of 0.00 (4.17×10^-3) when the reconstruction was computed for all moments up to order 450.

This study, based on the AISAS model, explores the impact of the interaction effect between visual and auditory signals on consumer purchase behavior. Using experimental methods, 120 participants were randomly assigned to four different visual and auditory signal combinations, and their purchase intentions and actual purchase behavior were measured. The results show that the interaction effect between visual and auditory signals has a significant impact on both purchase intentions and actual purchase behavior, and there is a significant positive relationship. Specifically, when visual and auditory signals are mutually consistent, consumers have the highest purchase intentions and actual purchase behavior; when both visual and auditory signals are absent, consumers have the lowest purchase intentions and actual purchase behavior; when either the visual or auditory signal is missing, consumers' purchase intentions and actual purchase behavior are in between the two extremes. This study provides a new perspective for understanding consumers' decision-making processes in multi-sensory environments and offers valuable insights for the development of marketing strategies.

Earth observation satellites can capture images of specific areas in Earth's orbit based on user requirements. Despite the high demand for satellite imagery, satellites remain a scarce resource. When there are many observation tasks that are large and dense, they may interfere with each other due to satellite mobility. To address this issue, a multi-satellite scheduling algorithm based on a task merging mechanism has been proposed. This paper proposes a two-stage approach to the problem: task merging phase and merging task scheduling phase. The task merging phase introduces two methods based on Mean Shift and Complete Graph to generate the merging task set. In the merging task scheduling phase, a multi-satellite scheduling algorithm based on merging tasks is employed to solve the problem. Finally, certain measurement experiments suggest the effectiveness of the algorithm.

This paper studied the dynamic characteristics of the deployment process of the replaceable interface mast and the vibration generated at the end of the mast. The interface is discretized by the absolute nodal coordinate thin shell element with gradient reduction, and the three-dimensional motion of the reconfigurable rigid body module is described by the natural coordinate method. The dynamic equations of the interface and the reconfigurable module without external constraints are established by the principle of virtual work. Finally, the dynamic models of each part are assembled into the dynamic model of the mast system deployment process through the system constraint equation. According to the established dynamic model of the mast system deployment process, the dynamic behavior changes of the replaceable interface mast are analyzed. At the same time, the differences in the deployment behavior of the replaceable interface mast under different system configuration schemes, flexible interface geometric parameters, and different driving laws are studied and compared. It provides guidance for the scheme configuration of the mast system, the structural design of the interface, and the deployment motion planning of the mast. According to the physical prototype and the assembly of the mast system model, the deployment process of the replaceable interface mast is experimentally analyzed. It shows that the established dynamic model of the mast system can correctly analyze the dynamic characteristics of the deployment behavior of the replaceable interface mast, which provides a reference for the design and behavior analysis of the mast system.

Purinergic signaling is that nucleotides (especially ATP) and adenosine are utilized as transmitter molecules, which play an important role in the immune system. In the extracellular ventricle, ATP plays a significant role of pro-inflammatory molecules mainly through activating P2 receptors, while adenosine plays the role as anti-inflammatory molecule mainly through activating P1 receptors. As we know，neutrophils are the most abundant immune cells in our circulation and have become an essential part of coordinating a series of complex events during inflammatory diseases. However, due to the destruction of inflammatory substances from neutrophils, the activation of neutrophils is fine-tuned, and purinergic signaling is associated with this process. As a matter of fact, altering the balance between P2 and P1 signals is of great importance for neutrophils to exert immune activities properly. Here, we review the role of purinergic signaling in regulatory function of neutrophils during inflammatory disease, and then discuss the potential contribution of targeted purinergic signals in the treatment of the neutrophil during inflammatory diseases.

With the advancement of the economy and society, policymakers acknowledge the significance of improving rural households' well-being as a crucial factor in promoting sustainable economic and social development. Based on the matching data of China Household Finance Survey and Digital Rural County Index, this study empirically examines the effect and mechanisms of digital village construction on subjective well-being of rural households. The results revealed that digital village construction has a significant improvement in their subjective well-being. The impact of digital village construction is particularly significant in rural areas located in the western regions of China, as well as among households possessing higher levels of human capital. The process through which digital village construction enhances the subjective well-being of rural households involves the augmentation of household income, the promotion of non-farm employment opportunities, and the enhancement of rural governance. This study provides robust micro-empirical evidence highlighting the positive welfare effects of digital rural construction. This study provides insights into the digital village construction within the happiness economy framework, offering a new perspective. The imperative to strengthen rural digital infrastructure and improve farmers' proficiency in modern information skills is a strategic policy aimed at enhancing well-being of rural households.

The speech-to-song illusion is a type of auditory illusion that the repetition of a part of a sentence would change people’s perception tendency from speech-like to song-like. The study aims to examine how pace, emotion, and language tonality affect people’s experience of the speech-to-song illusion. It uses a between-subject (Pace: fast, normal, vs. slow) and within-subject (Emotion: positive, negative, vs. neutral; language tonality: tonal language vs. non-tonal language) design. Sixty Hong Kong college students were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions characterized by pace. They listened to 12 audio stimuli, each with repetitions of a short excerpt, and rated their subjective perception of the presented phrase, whether it sounded like a speech or a song, on a five-point Likert-scale. Paired-sample t-tests and repeated measures ANOVAs were used to analyze the data. The findings reveal that a faster speech pace could strengthen the tendency of the speech-to-song illusion. Neither emotion nor language tonality show a statistically significant influence on the speech-to-song illusion. This study suggests that the perception of sound should be in a continuum and facilitates the understanding of song production in which speech can turn into music by having repetitive phrases and to be played in a relatively fast pace.

Microbiota-based strategies are a novel auxiliary therapeutic and preventative way of moderating chronic kidney disease. Lactobacillus mixture (Lm) was previously demonstrated to exert a renal-protective function in the CKD mice model. The efficacy of probiotics in pet foods is a relatively new area of study, and thus verifying the potential health benefits is necessary. This study evaluated the efficacy of Lm treats in feline CKD and elucidated the mechanisms underlying host-microbe interactions. CKD cats (2 and 3 stages) were administrated probiotic pet treats daily (10 g) for 8 weeks. The results demonstrated that during the eight weeks of Lm administration, creatinine was reduced or maintained in all cats with CKD. Similarly, gut-derived uremic toxins (GDUT), IS, and TMAO were significantly downregulated in the serum (confidence intervals = 90%). The life quality of the cats also improved. Feline gut microbiome data, KEGG pathway, and renal function indicator analyses revealed the possible mechanisms involved in modulating CKD feline microbial composition. Further regulation of the microbial functions in amino acid metabolism after Lm administration contributed to downregulating deleterious IS, PCS, and TMAO. The current study provides potential adjuvant therapeutic insights into probiotic pet foods or treats for pets with CKD.

This study uses a mass-spring-damping system to simulate the repeated strain of liquefaction cyclic triaxial tests. The two results are compared in this paper to understand the feasibility of the mass-spring-damping system developed in this paper and the feasibility of future research on this related topic and development potential. The main factors affecting this mode's repeated strain are the spring coefficient k and the external force Q0. The spring coefficient has an inverse relationship but does not increase in multiples. The external force has a direct proportional relationship but does not increase the result- a non-multiple increase. When the pore water pressure of the liquefied cyclic triaxial test specimen rises, it will cause the specimen to liquefy, decreasing effective stress, shear modulus G, and damping ratio D, causing an increase in strain. The shear modulus and damping ratio are related to the spring coefficients k and c. Both are variables that change with time. This article takes an original thin-tube specimen at point A in the Yunlin area in Taiwan as a testing example. Through Mathematica software, it can be obtained that the mass m=1kg, the spring coefficient k=244e-0.1t kgf/cm, and the damping coefficient c=0.739e-0.257t kgf-s/cm and external force Q0=10.1sin2πt kg; Finally, this study selected the original thin-tube specimens from four locations in the Yunlin area, and simulated the repeated strain amount of the cyclic triaxial test specimens through a spring-damping system. The results show that the spring-damping system is feasible for simulated cyclic triaxial tests because the model is simple and the parameters are easy to understand and obtain, which also shows the extensibility of this model. Preliminary results of the research show that this model can further simulate the repeated strain obtained by cyclic triaxial tests without considering the increased trend in pore water pressure and the decrease in effective stress during cyclic loading.

This paper examines certain implications from the literature on Tiebout’s model of local gov-ernment service provision, particularly Hamilton’s extension of the model to include local control of land use and property taxation. Our empirical analysis focuses on the use of fiscal zoning to lower property tax rates, a topic that has not been addressed in the extensive Tiebout literature. Using data for over 100 municipalities in the Miami, Florida, metropolitan area, we specify property tax rates as a function of fiscal zoning measures, other municipal characteristics, and tax mimicking. We conclude that single-family zoning is by far the most important variable ex-plaining municipal property tax rates.

Shallow landslides pose serious threats to human existence and economic development, especially in the Himalayan areas. Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is a proven way for minimizing the hazard and risk of landslides. Modeling as an essential step, various algorithms have been applied to LSM. In this study, information value (IV) and logistic regression (LR) were selected as representatives of the conventional algorithms, categorical boosting (CatBoost) and conventional neural networks (CNN) as the advanced algorithms, for LSM in Yadong county, and their performance was compared. To begin with, 496 historical landslide events were compiled into a landslide inventory map, followed by a list of 11 conditioning factors, forming a data set. Secondly, the data set was randomly divided into two parts, 80% of which was used for modeling and 20% for validation. Finally, the area under the curve (AUC) and statistical metrics were applied to validate and compare the performance of the models. The results showed that the CNN model performed the best (AUC 0.974 and accuracy=93.3%), while the LR model performed the worst (AUC 0.974 and accuracy=93.3%) and CatBoost model performed better (AUC 0.974 and accuracy=93.3%). Besides, the LSM constructed by the CNN model did a more reasonable prediction of the distribution of susceptible areas. As for feature selection, did a more detailed analysis of conditioning factors but the results were uncertain. The result analyzed by GI may be more reliable but fluctuates with the amount of data. The conclusion reveals that the accuracy of LSM can be further improved with the advancement of algorithms, by determining more representative features, which serve as a more effective guide for land use planning in the study area or other highlands where landslides are frequent.

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) were suggested for treating degenerative osteoarthritis, suppressing inflammatory responses, and repairing damaged soft tissues. Moreover, the ADSCs have the potential to undergo self-renewal and differentiate into bone, tendon, cartilage, and ligament. Recently, investigation of the self-renewal and differentiation of the ADSCs becomes an attractive area. In this work, a pneumatic microdevice has been developed to study the gene expression of the ADSCs after the stimulation of multi-axial tensile strain. The ADSCs were cultured on the microdevice and experienced multi-axial tensile strain during a 3-day culture course. Self-renewal and differentiation abilities were investigated by mRNA expressions of NANOG, SOX2, OCT4, SOX9, PPAR-γ, and RUNX2. The result showed that the genes related self-renewal were significantly up-regulated after the tensile stimulation. Higher proliferation ratio of the ADSCs was also shown by cell viability assay. The microdevice provides a promising platform for cell-based study under mechanical tensile stimulation.

In recent years, the rapid development of computer-aided planning and design technology has provided a new perspective for the study of complex problems such as the generation of architectural complex forms. This study focuses on how to apply parameterization technology to analyze and articulate traditional spatial form composition rules, aiming to minimize reliance on subjective human judgment in the protection and renewal design of the historical style of traditional villages. It aims to establish digital generative design tools to address the challenges of accurately inheriting and innovatively utilizing historical and cultural information in traditional settlements. It introduces how to rely on parameterization technology to analyze the spatial form composition rules, parameter extraction rules, and spatial reconstruction rules of traditional villages, facilitating the complete process from spatial features to parameterization rules, and then to the application of computational methods to deduce spatial features. It also includes case studies demonstrating the application of parameterization technology tools for village protection and explores the role of generative design tools in preserving the spatial style of these settlements.

The time-dependent behavior and long-term stability of deep-buried tunnels in soft rocks have received lots of considerations in tunnel engineering and allied sciences. To better explore and deepen the engineering application of rock creep, extensive research studies are still needed, although fruitful outcomes have already obtained in many related investigations. In this article, the Weilai Tunnel in China’s Guangxi province is studied taking its host rocks as the main research object. In fact, aiming at forecasting the time-varying deformation of this tunnel, a novel elasto-visco-plastic creep constitutive model with two variants is proposed, by exploiting the typical complex load-unload process of rock excavation. The model is well validated and good agreements are found with the relevant experimental data. Moreover, the time-dependent de-formation rules are properly established for the surrounding rocks, by designing two new closed-form solutions based on the proposed creep model and the Hoek-Brown criterion. The convergence deformations calculated from the closed-form solutions conform well to the on-site monitoring data. In only 27 days after excavation, the creep deformation of the Weilai tunnel overtakes 400 mm, which is enormous. To guarantee the long-term stability of this tunnel, a ro-bust support scheme and its long-term monitoring with appropriate remote sensors are strongly suggested.

We present three reduced integrable hierarchies of nonlocal integrable NLS type equations from a vector integrable hierarchy associated with a matrix Lie algebra, not being A type. Three similarity transformations are taken to keep the invariance of the transformed zero curvature equations. The key step is to formulate a solution to a reduced stationary zero curvature equation so that the zero curvature formulation works for a reduced case.