Wild Chinese prickly ash with elevated antioxidants is a valuable genetic resource for Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim improvement. There are rich wild germplasm resources in the Qinling Mountains. In a study with wild germplasm resources from different altitudes and six cultivated varieties, the phenolic and flavonoid compounds were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The chromatograms of them were basically the same, although their chemical composition content was greatly different. The thirty samples were divided into three categories through the hierarchical clustering analysis. And catechin, hyperoside and quercitrin were considered to be key compound for the quality evaluation, by contrast, the wild samples with an altitude of 2300±50 m (Ⅳ group) had the highest content of key compounds, and showed stronger antioxidant activity and antibacterial ability, indicating that these wild samples could be used as an excellent breeding resource. This is the first time to evaluate the quality of wild Chinese prickly ash in different altitude areas of Qinling Mountains. These excellent wild germplasm resources provided substantial potential accessions for use directly in Chinese prickly ash breeding programs.

Immobilized metal ion affinity adsorbents have been widely used in separation technique to purify proteins. Due to the leakage of metal ion from the adsorbents, there is no metal ion affinity adsorbent for hemoperfusion has been applied to clinical trial. In this study, in order to prevent the leakage of Zn²⁺ loaded from cellulose beads based adsorbent, improve its stability and adsorption capacity for testosterone, Freeze-drying method was used to enhance the porosity of cellulose beads, improve the surface area of the cellulose beads and adsorption capacity for testosterone. Chitosan was used to coat the adsorbents for preventing the leakage of Zn²⁺ loaded and improve the adsorbent’s stability. Moreover, the factors affecting adsorption ability and some components in plasma were also investigated. The results indicate the adsorption ability of the adsorbent can be significantly improved by freeze-drying. After the adsorbent was coated with 0.02% chitosan solution, the highest adsorption percentage reached 48%. During adsorption, the Zn²⁺ concentration in plasma did not rise. In addition, the adsorption percentage for total proteins was below 15%. The results may be caused by the pore size and surface area of the adsorbent enlarged via freeze-drying, and the chitosan solution went into the pores and coated the outer and inner surface of the adsorbent. The adsorbent has a potential clinical application to remove testosterone in patients with recurrent and metastatic prostate cancer.

Inclusive education in Indonesia has evolved in recent years, in line with the government's commitment to provide equal education for all children, including those with special needs. This article reviews the philosophy of inclusive education and its implementation in Indonesian education. Through literature and policy analysis, it is found that although there is increasing awareness and support for inclusive education, there are still barriers that need to be overcome. These include the lack of accessibility and adequate facilities, limited teaching staff for children with special needs, and social stigma towards children with special needs. This review also identifies the characteristics of inclusive education and its implementation. In conclusion, inclusive education in Indonesia requires a holistic and collaborative approach between the government, communities, and educational institutions to create a truly inclusive and equal learning environment for all learners

This paper outlines our effort on optimizing Pulsed Magneto-Oscillation (PMO) design in order to improve the efficiency of ingot manufacturing under PMO. Our calculation and experiment provided optimized PMO coil design and special configuration. Our optimized PMO design offered us a device that enabled the operator to examine and operate the melt without losing the efficiency. In one of the designs, the equipment even refined the grain sizes. Our work also showed an optimized distance range between the coil and the melt surface that maximized the refinement effects.

Synthetic cannabinoids are a series of synthetic substances that mimic the effects of natural cannabinoids and produce a much stronger toxicity than natural cannabinoids, which have become the most abused family of new psychoactive substances. A solid-phase extractive-liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole/linear ion trap mass spectrometry method was developed to determine 11 synthetic cannabinoids in rat urine. The factors affecting recovery were optimized, and Oasis HLB was selected to extract synthetic cannabinoids simultaneously. The results showed that the linear correlation coefficients of the synthetic cannabinoids ranged from 0.993 to 0.999, and the limit of quantitation ranged from 0.01 to 0.1 ng/mL, and the spiked recoveries ranged from 69.90% to 118.39%. This method has the advantages of good purification ability, simple operation, and good reproducibility, and can be used for the high sensitivity analysis of various synthetic cannabinoids in urine.

Analyzing horse behavior is crucial for assessing training quality, particularly in accurately identifying actions like standing, walking, and running. Research has been conducted both domestically and internationally in this regard; however, challenges persist, including reliance on single sensors, poor real-time performance, and low identification accuracy. In view of these challenges, this study investigated real-time identification of horse behavior based on wearable devices. The system, centered around a microcontroller and utilizing a 4G network as a carrier, employs multi-axis IMU sensors as input sources to perceive horse posture. The study proposed a behavior classification method based on analysis of acceleration thresholds. The method consists primarily of two sequential stages: first, the resultant acceleration interval counting method, which employs a nonlinear segmentation approach for initial behavior classification; and second, the statistical analysis of variance parameters between segments, which when coupled with multi-level threshold processing, achieves a refined classification. Experimental results indicated that the interval counting method alone achieved an accuracy of 87.55%, while for the variance analysis method alone the accuracy was 90.87%. The proposed method, comprising the two stages, reached a classification accuracy of 91.57%, underpinning its usefulness in supporting future equine research.

The increasing prevalence of obesity and sedentary lifestyles has led to an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) worldwide. In Taiwan, middle-aged women are at a greater risk of MetS, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease than men are because they have more subcutaneous fat and larger waist circumferences compared to men with equal visceral fat levels. This study investigated the effects of calorie restriction supplemented with fish oil (CRF) in middle-aged women with MetS. For 12 weeks, 75 eligible participants were randomly assigned either calorie restriction (CR) or CRF. Both dietary intervention groups were further divided into two age groups: ≤45 and >45 years. The changes in MetS severity, inflammatory status, iron status, and red blood cell fatty acid profile were evaluated. Seventy-one participants completed the trial. Both dietary interventions significantly ameliorated MetS and improved the participants’ inflammatory status. CR significantly increased total iron binding capacity, whereas CRF increased hepcidin levels. Furthermore, CRF significantly increased the n-6/n-3 and arachidonic acid/docosahexaenoic acid ratios. In conclusion, CR and CRF improved the anthropometric and MetS characteristics of early-middle aged women, including body weight, blood glucose levels, triglyceride levels, as well as the scores for the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and quantitative insulin sensitivity cheque index. Dietary intervention was more effective in >45-year-old women than ≤45-year-old women.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. Despite advancements in treatment, the prognosis for patients with GBM remains poor due to its aggressive nature and resistance to therapy. CRISPR-based genetic screening has emerged as a powerful tool for identifying genes crucial for tumor progression and treatment resistance, offering promising targets for tumor therapy. In this review, we provide an overview of the recent advancements in CRISPR-based genetic screening approaches and their applications in GBM. We highlight how these approaches have been used to uncover genetic determinants of GBM progression and susceptibility to various therapies. Furthermore, we discuss ongoing challenges and future directions of CRISPR-based screening methods in advancing GBM research.

This paper focuses on robust multi-criteria traffic network equilibrium problems with path capacity constraints. The concepts of robust vector equilibrium and robust vector equilibrium with respect to worst case are introduced, respectively. To generate a subset of robust vector equilibrium, an equivalent min-max optimization problem is constructed. In addition, a direct search algorithm, in which the step size without derivatives and redundant parameters, for solving this min-max problem is proposed. To find a subset of robust vector equilibrium with respect to worst case, an equivalent smoothing optimization problem based on a variant version of ReLU activation function is established. Numerical experiments are also presented to expound the advantages of the algorithms.

In this paper, the distributed formation tracking control problem of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is considered. Adaptive backstepping technology is used to design flight control schemes for quadrotor UAVs. For the position subsystem, a distributed robust formation tracking control scheme is developed to achieve formation flight of quadrotor UAVs and track the desired flight trajectory. For the attitude subsystem, an adaptive disturbance rejection control scheme is proposed to achieve attitude stabilization during UAV flight under uncertain disturbances. Compared with the existing results, the novelty of this paper is that the proposed formation control scheme does not require the use of the quadrotor model parameters. Finally, a quadrotor UAV swarm system is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Poverty alleviation is a hallmark of post-revolution Chinese policymaking. Since 1978, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has implemented successive waves of poverty alleviation policies whose effects have become the focus of an ever-increasing body of academic literature. This paper reviews this diverse but limited literature that evaluates the impact of the CPC’s poverty reduction programs through four major channels, namely fiscal investment programs, social safety nets, rural governance on the village-, county- and provincial level, and the relocation of rural populations from destitute regions. This paper aims to synthesize results and evaluate whether and how the abovementioned poverty alleviation programs have had distinct positive or negative impacts on regional development outcomes. Furthermore, I highlight contradictions in empirical findings to motivate the discussion about contextual importance when designing and implementing future poverty alleviation programs. Finally, I suggest that an exhaustive and critical appraisal of the empirical strategies used in this literature would further the development and application of more accurate and informative methodologies.

Abstract-Digital Phase Plane is presented in this paper. For constant input second order digital systems with arbitrary initial conditions for arbitrary quantizaters, this digital phase plane shows, in plot form, the state trajectory and the asymptotic stability, including the existence and the position of arbitrary period limit cycles.

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

In order to better realize rural revitalization, this paper analyzes the spatial and temporal char-acteristics and influencing factors of agricultural surface source pollution in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the three perspectives of government, enterprise and agriculture by using the spatial Durbin model and the dynamic GMM method in the period of 2006-2021, and further re-searches the threshold characteristics of the distortion of the factor market on the agricultural surface source pollution under the different strengths of environmental regulation. The results show that there is a positive spatial correlation between agricultural surface pollution in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and government environmental regulation, input factor market distortion and labor force transfer all have a significant impact on agricultural surface pollution. Among them, factor market distortion has a significant spatial spillover effect on agricultural surface pollution in the Yangtze River Economic Zone, and has a significant single-threshold ef-fect on environmental regulation. Accordingly, the government should strengthen environmental regulation, continuously improve the agricultural factor market mechanism, and pay attention to the construction of talents to provide support for rural revitalization.

The stability and optimal control for an SIS epidemic model with demographics and heterogeneous control strategies (immunization and quarantine) on complex networks are investigated. The epidemic threshold, disease-free and endemic equilibria are derived. Then, global asymptotical stability about the two equilibria are studied based on different methods. Furthermore, the optimal control issue about the system is also considered. We obtain the existence and uniqueness of the optimal control and optimal control tactics. Some numerical simulations were conducted to illustrate and supplement the theoretical results. Meanwhile, the effects of the combination of various immunization and quarantine schemes are studied and also compared with the optimal control strategies.

The popularity and development of social media has made it more and more convenient to spread rumors, and it has become especially important to detect rumor information from massive amounts of information. Most of the traditional rumor detection methods use content characteristics or propagation structure to mine rumor characteristics, ignoring the fusion characteristics of content and structure and their interaction characteristics. Therefore, a novel rumor detection method based on heterogeneous convolutional networks is proposed. Firstly, this paper constructs a heterogeneous map of joint rumor content and propagation structure to explore the interaction between content and propagation structure during rumor propagation and obtain rumor representation. On that basis, this paper uses the deep residual graph convolutional neural network to construct the content and structure interaction information of the current network propagation model. Finally, this paper uses the two datasets of Twitter15 and Twitter16 to verify the proposed method. Experimental results show that the proposed method has higher detection accuracy than the traditional rumor detection method.

The ever deepening population aging has brought opportunities and challenges to the continued expansion of tourism consumption in China. In this article, the impact of population aging on household tourism consumption was studied from both theoretical and empirical aspects. First, the micro mechanisms of the impact of population aging on household tourism consumption were analyzed, which include economic condition mechanism, intergenerational care mechanism, health status mechanism and Internet use mechanism. Subsequently, the impact of population aging on household tourism consumption and its impact mechanisms were tested, and the heterogeneity analysis was conducted, by using the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014, 2016 and 2018. The main conclusions of the article are as follows: (1) Population aging has a significant negative impact on household tourism consumption, and a series of robustness test results such as endogenous treatment support this finding. (2) The results of the impact mechanism test show that population aging has a negative mediating effect on household tourism consumption by reducing household economic conditions. The moderating effect of intergenerational care on the effect of population aging on household tourism consumption is insignificant. Health status of the elderly and Internet use have a significant positive moderating effect on the impact of population aging on household tourism consumption. (3) The results of the heterogeneity analysis show that the negative impact of population aging on household tourism consumption in urban areas is greater than that in rural areas, and the negative impact of population aging on household tourism consumption of families with the old-old elderly is greater than that of falimies with the young-old elderly. The conclusions of this article provide important references for activating tourism consumption in China in the context of population aging.

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

Carbon dots are carbon based nanoparticles, which have the characteristics of simple preparation process, photoluminescence, biocompatibility, adjustable surface function, water solubility, and low toxicity. They are widely used in biological applications such as imaging, biosensing, photocatalysis, and molecular transfer. It has also aroused great interest among researchers in agriculture and has made significant progress in improving crop growth and production. This review presents the physiological functions of carbon dots for crop growth and development, photosynthesis, water and nutrient absorption, and abiotic stress resistance and their applications in improving ecological environment and agriculture as biosensors, and the future application prospects and research directions of carbon dots in agriculture were prospected.

Magnesium alloy stents have been extensively studied in the field of biodegradable metal stents due to their exceptional biocompatibility, biodegradability and excellent biomechanical properties. Nevertheless, the specific in vivo service environment causes magnesium alloy stents to degrade rapidly and fail to provide sufficient support for certain time. This paper presents an overview of the development history and protection strategies for magnesium alloy stents. Alloying, optimizing stent structure and preparing protective coating have improved the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy stents. Based on the corrosion mechanism of magnesium alloy stents, as well as their deformation during use and environmental characteristics, we present some novel solution strategies aiming at reducing the corrosion rate of magnesium alloys and enhancing the comprehensive performance of magnesium alloy stents. These strategies include adapting protective coatings for the deformation of the stents, preparing rapid endothelialization coatings to enhance the service environment of the stent, and constructing coatings with self-healing functions. It is hoped that this review can help to understand the development of magnesium alloy cardiovascular stents and solve the problems related to magnesium alloy stents in clinical applications at the early implantation stage.

Thin-film lithium niobate has gained significant attention in photonics due to its broad optical transparency, high refractive index, nonlinear coefficient, and substantial electro-optic coefficient. It holds great promise for developing electro-optic modulators with low loss, a compact size, and wide bandwidth. This study focuses on a meticulous investigation utilizing microwave photonics to establish a high-performance electro-optic modulator. Specifically, we analyze the optical mode field distribution and traveling wave electrode structure of lithium niobate thin-film materials. The proposed modulator achieves an impressive half-wave voltage-length product of 1.69 V·cm, a negligible metal loss of 0.01 dB/cm, and a substantial 3dB electro-optic bandwidth of 50 GHz. This research successfully realizes low-loss, high-efficiency LNOI electro-optical modulators, providing a strong foundation for large-scale integrated optoelectronic systems.

The three-pronged sliding universal coupling is a new kind of three-pronged coupling. To study its kinematic and dynamic characteristics, directional cosine matrices are utilized as tools to analyze the coordinate systems by establishing simplified geometric models and corresponding motions. Through the analysis of the motions of the input and output shafts and employing the method of single-force element, a set of equilibrium equations for the forces acting on the output shaft and the input shaft are formulated for solution analysis. The research indicates that during the rotation process, there exists a small angular difference between the input shaft and the intermediate shaft, demonstrating the quasi-constant angular velocity characteristics of the new tripod sliding universal coupling. The curves of the forces and torques acting on each component of the coupling approximate sinusoidal curves. The optimal operating angle range for the new tripod universal coupling is at angle , during which the system exhibits good transmission and mechanical performance.

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.

After sperm enter the female reproductive tract, the physicochemical and biochemical microenvironment undergoes significant changes. Thus, the response of sperm to environmental factors is vital for successful fertilization. The cation channel of sperm (CatSper) is a sperm-specific, pH-sensitive, and Ca2+-permeable ion channel. It is responsible for the predominant Ca2+ entry in mammalian sperm and is involved in nearly every event of sperm to acquire fertilizing capability. CatSper also serves as a pivotal polymodal chemosensor in mammalian sperm by responding to multiple chemical cues. Physiological ligands (such as progesterone, prostaglandins, β-defensins, and odorants) provoke Ca2+ entry into sperm by activating CatSper and thus triggering sperm functions including hyperactivation, capacitation, the acrosome reaction, and chemotaxis. Additionally, synthetic and natural chemicals (such as medicines, endocrine disrupting chemicals, drugs of abuse, and antioxidants) affect sperm functions by regulating CatSper-dependent Ca2+ signaling. Therefore, understanding the interactions between CatSper and extracellular ligands sheds light on the mechanisms underlying male infertility and offers innovative diagnostic and treatment approaches. This underscores the importance of CatSper as a crucial regulatory target in male reproduction, linking sperm function with the extracellular environment. This review comprehensively summarizes the relevant studies describing the environmental factors that affect CatSper in humans and rodents.

Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) overestimates wind shear in some atmospheric stable conditions, i.e. Richardson number $R_f<0.25$. The overestimated wind shear that leads to an under-predicted friction wind speed and a lower ambient turbulence intensity for a given hub-height reference wind speed and a given roughness length, could influence wake modeling of a wind turbine. This work investigates the side effects of the breakdown of MOST on wake modeling under stable conditions and makes some modifications to the flow similarity functions to eliminate these side effects. Based on a field measurement in a wind farm, we firstly show that MOST predicts a larger wind shear for the atmospheric stability parameter $\zeta>0.1$ and proposes new flow similarity functions without constraining $R_f$ to limit the overestimated wind shear by MOST. Next, different turbulence models based on MOST and a modified one based on the new similarity functions are investigated through numerical simulations. These turbulence models are combined with the actuator disk model (AD) and Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS) to model wind turbine wakes under stable conditions. As compared to measurements, numerical results show that turbulence models based on MOST result in larger wake deficits and slower wake recovery rate with a square root of the mean-squared-error (RSME) of wake deficit in the range of 0.07-0.18. This overestimated wake effect is improved by applying the new similarity functions and the RSME of wake deficit is averagely reduced by 0.05. Finally, we check the role of the under-predicted turbulence intensity playing in the larger wake deficit predicted by models based MOST. Additional numerical simulations using the modified turbulence model are carried out, in which the roughness length is reduced to impose a hub-height ambient turbulence intensity equivalent to the MOST case. Simulation results show that reducing turbulence intensity enhances wake effects, however, it cannot reproduce the large wake deficit predicted by models based on MOST, which suggests that the overestimated wake effect by MOST could be also related to the overestimated wind shear.

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

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

Excessive production, consumption and indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste cause an increasing plastic pollution with detrimental impacts on environment and human health. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) towards plastic pollution among Malaysians and evaluate the variation of plastic pollution related KAP among various socio-demographics. An online survey was conducted, and 294 valid responses was obtained. Descriptive statistics, KAP scoring and cross tabulation of responses were estimated. One-way analysis of variance, paired t-test and binary logistic regressions were carried out. Results showed that respondents had poor knowledge (mean 7.41 ± 1.80) and practice score (3.81 ± 1.39) across all socio-demographics. Compared to younger (18-30 years) respondents, older ones (>46 years) had higher knowledge (odds ratio, OR 4.304; p<0.01). However, middle aged (31-45 years) respondents reported significantly (p<0.01) higher attitude (OR 4.019) and practice (OR 4.056; p <0.05). Respondents with environmental related university education had showed higher odds about plastic pollution related knowledge (OR 10.343; p<0.01). Suggestions are made to undertake interventions such as environmental awareness creation, incorporating plastic pollution topics in formal and informal education, and providing recycling facilities nearby the localities for encouraging good practices towards minimizing plastic uses and pollution.

The benefits of cycling as a sustainable transportation mode are widely recognized. Cycling to work offers numerous advantages for individuals, employers, the environment, and society, ranging from improved physical health, wellbeing, and productivity to enhanced public health and reduced carbon emissions. Many governments around the world have implemented various policy measures, interventions, and initiatives to promote cycling. Some cities and towns have encouraged workplaces to provide bike-friendly amenities, such as secure bike parking/storage and shower and changing facility (referred to as end-of-trip facilities), to accommodate cyclists and motivate more employees to embrace sustainable transportation options. However, the presence or absence of such amenities has been found to both positively influence cycling behavior or deter some individuals from cycling to work. Despite the desirability of these amenities, the number of office buildings equipped with bike storage and shower/changing facility remains small, and their economic value is not well understood. In this paper, we aim to investigate whether the presence of cycling-supportive facilities could add value to office buildings. Specifically, we conduct a study using data from office buildings across England as of the end of 2021. We employ hedonic techniques to examine whether office buildings with bike storage and/or shower facility command a rent premium and whether the existence of a rent premium for bike storage and/or shower facility vary by location and across regions in England, independently from any premium associated with BREEM certification. We find that the buildings with bike storage and shower facility secure rent premiums respectively. The level of rent premiums varies with location and regions. The variations of premium are driven by the shortage of the supply of these facilities.

Glycosidic linkage analysis was conducted on the unfractionated polysaccharides in the alcohol-insoluble residues (AIRs) prepared from six red seaweeds (Gracilariopsis sp., Prionitis sp., Mastocarpus papillatus, Callophyllis sp., Mazzaella splendens, and Palmaria palmata) using GC-MS/FID analysis of partially methylated alditol acetates (PMAAs). The cell walls of P. palmata primarily contained mixed-linkage xylans and small amounts of sulfated galactans and cellulose. In contrast, the unfractionated polysaccharides of the other five species were rich in galactans displaying diverse 3,6-anhydro-galactose and galactose linkages with varied sulfation patterns. Different levels of cellulose were also observed. This glycosidic linkage method offers advantages for cellulose analysis over traditional monosaccharide analysis that is known for underrepresenting glucose in crystalline cellulose. Relative linkage compositions calculated from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements showed that anhydro sugar linkages generated more response in the latter detection method. This improved linkage workflow presents a useful tool for studying polysaccharide structural variations across red seaweed species. Furthermore, for the first time, relative linkage compositions from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements, along with normalized FID and total ion current (TIC) chromatograms without peak assignments, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the technique's potential to differentiate various red seaweed species.

Co-integration and Causality was built to conduct studies on causality relation between carbon intensity and coal consumption leading to providing important basis for the transition to a low carbon economy. The EG two-step method was performed to study the relation between carbon intensity and coal consumption of China during 1990-2015 and the co-integration and Granger test was constructed to build up the co-integration and error correction models for analysis of the interaction between carbon intensity and coal consumption. The results showed that in long term there is a stable co-integration relation and a positive correlation between carbon intensity and coal consumption; whereas fluctuations exist in short term and there is a one-way Granger causality of carbon intensity with respect to coal consumption.

Revealing the spatial distribution mechanism of the coupling effect between soil water and salt is essential for managing saline-alkali farmland. This study utilized the multifractal method to analyze soil water and salt under varying water content levels in arid saline-alkali farmland. Soil samples were collected on the second (S1), fifth (S2), eighth (S3), eleventh (S4), and fourteenth (S5) days after a rainfall event. The findings showed that a significant decrease in soil water content, contrasting with an increase in soil salt content throughout the soil layers post-rainfall. As water content decreased, the spatial variability of soil water initially increased from S1-3 and then decreased, while the spatial variability of soil salt decreased. The spatial distribution between soil water and salt exhibited a high correlation at S3-4 (with relative water content of soil ranging from 0.52 to 0.75) due to their coupling effect. However, soil salt was unevenly leached by rainfall at high water content levels (S1-2) and precipitated at low water content levels (S5), resulting in low spatial variability correlations between soil water and salt. This study elucidated the coupling process of soil water and salt, identifying their spatiotemporal distribution mechanism in dryland agricultural areas.

Dry eye disease (DED) is one of the most common eye diseases. There is at least one DED patient in almost every five people. AI-based research methods increasingly become the focus of DED diagnosis research. This study utilizes a systematic review method on DED AI-based diagnosis. 2112 unduplicated records are extracted from Google Scholar, Web of Science (WOS), PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Scopus databases. The most contributed countries, institutions, authors, journals, references, and disciplines are recognized. Keyword distribution and hot topics are identified. Popular databases of ophthalmic images, videos, and electronic demographic medical records are discussed. The DED diagnosis, classification, and grading criteria are identified. The major diagnosing methods are clustered, compared, and investigated. Findings show that diagnosing method research could be classified into three categories based on the relationship between AI techniques, which are (1) ground truth and/or comparable standards for AI DED diagnosis (TBUT, S Ⅰ T, TMH, and OSDI), (2) potential methods for AI-based methods have a great advantage(DED detection based on meibometry Images, CASPs, IVCM Images, OCT Images, blink videos and ultrasonic imaging), (3) and the potential direction and supplemented methods for AI-based DED detection (DED detections based on tear osmolarity, proteomic analysis, TCM and demographic information). AI-based approaches based on digital ophthalmologic images play an important role in early screening. Challenges and future perspectives are discussed at the end of this article, academically and practically.

The fusion of "innovation theory" and "ecology" gave birth to a large number of studies on "innovation ecology", which mainly studies how to build an industrial ecological chain at the regional level, focusing on self-evolution, achieving ecological balance, and enabling the regional economy to take the path of sustainable innovation. This type of research borrows a lot of concepts from ecology, and very vividly describes the competition and cooperation relationships formed by various agents in the innovation system, laying a good foundation for qualitative analysis of the inherent dynamics of innovation development. However, many studies focus on the analogous description of ecosystems and economic systems, lacking scientifically and rigorously quantitative empirical research as a support. This paper uses network-based indicators such as degree, cluster coefficient, and betweenness centrality to measure the function and position of high-tech enterprises in the Z-Park in a business environment, so as to clarify the socio-economic meaning of the topological structure of the regional innovation system. On this basis, it provides theoretical references for regional innovation development and sustainable development policy formulation.

Various sudden shifts in financial market conditions over the past decades have demonstrated the significant impact of market structural breaks on firms' credit behavior. To characterize such effect quantitatively, we develop a continuous-time modulated Markov model for firms' credit rating transitions with the possibility of market structural breaks. The model takes a semi-parametric multiplicative regression form, in which the effects of firms' observable covariates and macroeconomic variables are represented parametrically and nonparametrically, respectively, and the frailty effects of unobserved firm-specific and market-wide variables are incorporated via the integration form of the model assumption. We further develop a mixtured-estimating-equation approach to make inference on the effect of market variations, baseline intensities of all firms' credit rating transitions, and rating transition intensities for each individual firm. We then use the developed model and inference procedure to analyze the monthly credit rating of U.S. firms from January 1986 to December 2012, and study the effect of market structural breaks on firms' credit rating transitions.

In order to solve the problem of feature extraction of underwater acoustic signals in complex ocean environment, a new method for feature extraction from ship radiated noise is presented based on empirical mode decomposition theory and permutation entropy. It analyzes the separability for permutation entropies of the intrinsic mode functions of three types of ship radiated noise signals, and discusses the permutation entropy of the intrinsic mode function with the highest energy. In this study, ship radiated noise signals measured from three types of ships are decomposed into a set of intrinsic mode functions with empirical mode decomposition method. Then, the permutation entropies of all intrinsic mode functions are calculated with appropriate parameters. The permutation entropies are obviously different in the intrinsic mode functions with the highest energy, thus, the permutation entropy of the intrinsic mode function with the highest energy is regarded as a new characteristic parameter to extract the feature of ship radiated noise. After that, the characteristic parameters, namely, the energy difference between high and low frequency, permutation entropy, and multi-scale permutation entropy, are compared with the permutation entropy of the intrinsic mode function with the highest energy. It is discovered that the four characteristic parameters are at the same level for similar ships, however, there are differences in the parameters for different types of ships. The results demonstrate that the permutation entropy of the intrinsic mode function with the highest energy is better in separability as the characteristic parameter than the other three parameters by comparing their fluctuation ranges and the average values of the four characteristic parameters. Hence, the feature of ship radiated noise can be extracted efficiently with the method.

Focused microwave breast hyperthermia (FMBH) employs a phased antenna array to perform beamforming that can focus microwave energy at targeted breast tumors. Selective heating of the tumor endows the hyperthermia treatment with high accuracy and low side effects. The effect of FMBH is highly dependent on the applied phased antenna array. This work investigates the effect of polarizations of antenna elements on the microwave focusing results by simulations. We explore two kinds of antenna arrays with the same number of elements using different digital realistic human breast phantoms. The first array has all the elements’ polarization in the vertical plane of the breast while the second array has half elements’ polarization in the vertical plane and the other half in the transverse plane, i.e., cross polarization. In total 96 sets of different simulations are performed, and the results show that the second array leads to a better focusing effect in dense breasts than the first array. This work is very meaningful for the potential improvement of the antenna array for FMBH, which is of great significance for the future clinical applications of FMBH. The antenna array with cross polarization can also be applied in micro-wave imaging and sensing for biomedical applications.

Sinojackia Hu. comprises five to eight Chinese endemic species with high ornamental and medicinal value. However, the generic limits, interspecific relationships and evolutionary history of the genus remain unresolved. In this study, we newly sequenced and assembled three plastomes of S. oblongicarpa and compared them with those of the other congeneric species to explore the taxonomic delimitation of the species and the evolutionary history of the genus. Plastomes structure of Sinojackia species were extremely conserved in terms of number of genes, sequence length and GC content. Codon usage patterns revealed that natural selection may be the main factor shaping codon usage bias. Our phylogenetic tree shows that Sinojackia is monophyletic and can be divided into two clades. Sinojackia oblongicarpa as a distinct species is supported for it is distantly related to S. sarcocarpa. The evolutionary analysis of morphological features indicates that woody mesocarp is an ancestral feature, while mesocarp undeveloped, spongy and fleshy are the later derived. Sinojackia originated in Central-Southeast China during the early Miocene. In this period, it experienced elevated diversification and migrated from the Central-Southeast China to Hunan Province and Sichuan Province with the development of the Asian monsoon and East Asian flora. Sinojackia experienced elevated diversification at intraspecies levels that mainly occurred in the Quaternary. Glacial-interglacial interactions with the monsoon climate may provide favorable expansion conditions for Sinojackia on a small-scale.

Based on the 2013–2017 Chinese Family Database and China Household Finance Survey, the study examines the impact of farmland transfer on the income structure of agricultural households. We observe a significant rise in the income of transferred-out households, while that of transferred-in households is unchanged. A further empirical decomposition of income shows a significant increase in both the wage and asset generated incomes of transferred-out households. Although the income generated by transferred-in households through agricultural production and management increases significantly, the decrease in wage income is larger. The study’s empirical designs are robustly tested with propensity score matching and instrumental variables. Moreover, we conduct a comparative analysis of the external constraints faced by the two groups to explore the reasons for the divergence of the income effect. The results show that transferred-in households face highly pronounced external constraints in terms of capital, technology, and farmland size, while transferred-out households face relatively fewer impediments to non-agricultural employment. Our empirical results imply that external constraints can limit the social welfare improvements of agricultural land reform, suggesting that other complementary measures would be required for future policy improvements to work better.

The spread of viral pathogens both between and within hosts is inherently a spatial process. While the spatial aspects of viral spread at the epidemiological level have been increasingly well characterized, the spatial aspects of viral spread within infected hosts are still understudied. Recent experimental studies, however, have started to shed more light on the mechanisms and spatial dynamics of viral spread within hosts. Here, we review these experimental studies as well as the limited number of computational modeling efforts that have begun to integrate spatial considerations for understanding within-host viral spread. We limit our review to influenza virus to highlight key mechanisms affecting spatial aspects of viral spread for pathogens of the respiratory tract. There is considerable empirical evidence for highly spatial within-host spread of influenza virus, yet few computational modeling studies that shed light on possible factors that structure the dynamics of this spatial spread. In existing modeling studies, there is also a striking absence of theoretical expectations of how spatial dynamics may impact the dynamics of viral populations. To mitigate this, we turn to the extensive ecological and evolutionary literature to provide informed theoretical expectations for what viral and host factors may impact the spatial patterns of within-host viral dynamics and for how spatial spread will affect the genetic composition of within-host viral populations. We end by discussing current knowledge gaps related to the spatial component of within-host influenza virus spread and the potential for within-host spatial considerations to inform the development of disease control strategies.

This paper focuses on the integrated guidance and autopilot design with control input saturation in the end-game phase of hypersonic flight. Firstly, uncertain nonlinear integrated guidance and autopilot model is developed with third actuator dynamics, where the control surface deflection has magnitude constraint. Secondly, neural network is implemented in extended state observer (ESO) design, which is used to estimate the complex model uncertainty, nonlinearity and state coupling. Thirdly, a command filtered back-stepping controller is designed with hybrid sliding surfaces to improve the terminal performance. In the process, different command filters are implemented to avoid the influences of disturbances and repetitive derivation, meanwhile solve the problem of unknown control direction caused by saturation. The stability of closed-loop system is proved by Lyapunov theory, and the principles abided by the controller parameters are concluded through the proof. Finally, series of 6-DOF numerical simulations are presented to show the feasibility and validity of the proposed controller.

This article puts forward the bi-matrix games with crisp parametric payoffs based on interval value function approach. We conclude that the equilibrium solution of the game model can converted into optimal solutions of the pair of the non-linear optimization problem. Finally, experiment results show the efficiency of the model.

To evaluate the relative importance of IGF-I expression in various cell types for endochon-dral ossification, we quantified the trabecular bone at the secondary spongiosa and epiphysis of the distal femur in 8-12-week-old male mice with a global knockout of the Igf-I gene as well as conditional deletion of the Igf-I gene in osteoblasts, chondrocytes, osteo-blasts/chondrocytes, and their corresponding control wild type littermates. The osteoblast-, chondrocyte- and osteoblast/chondrocyte-specific Igf-I conditional knockout mice were generated by crossing Igf-I floxed mice with Cre transgenic mice in which Cre expression is under the control of Col1α2 or Col2α1 promoter. We found that global disruption of Igf-I resulted in 80% and 70% reduction in bone size, which is defined as total volume, at the secondary spongiosa and epiphysis of the distal femur, respectively. Abrogation of Igf-I in Col1α2-producing osteoblasts, but not Col2α1-producing chondrocytes, decreased bone size by 25% at both the secondary spongiosa and epiphysis while deletion of the Igf-I globally or specifically in osteoblasts or chondrocytes reduced trabecular bone mass by 25%. By contrast, global Igf-I knockout but not conditional knockout of Igf-I in osteoblasts and/or chondrocytes reduced trabecular bone mass in the epiphysis. The reduced trabecu-lar bone mass at the secondary spongiosa in osteoblast- and/or chondrocyte-specific Igf-I conditional knockout mice is caused by reduced trabecular number and increased trabec-ular separation. Immunohistochemistry studies revealed that expression levels of chon-drocyte (COL10, MMP13) and osteoblast (BSP) markers were reduced in the secondary spongiosa and the epiphyses in the global Igf-I knockout mice. Our data indicate that local and endocrine IGF-I actions in bone are pleiotropic and dependent on cell type as well as the bone compartment where IGF-I acts.

Human visual system (HVM) can quickly localize the most salient object in scenes, which has been widely applied on natural image segmentation [15]-[19]. In ultrasound (US) breast images, compared with background areas, tumor is more salient because of its higher contrast. In this paper, we develop a novel automatic localization method based on HVM for automatic segmentation of ultrasound (US) breast tumors. First, the input image is smoothed by convolution with a linearly separable Gaussian filter and then subsampled into a 9-layer Gaussian pyramid. Then intensity, blackness ratio, and superpixel contrast features are combined to compute saliency map, in which Winner Take All algorithm is used to localize the most salient region, presenting with a circle on the localized target. Finally the circle is taken as the initial contour of CV level set to finish the extraction of breast tumor. The localization method has been tested on 400 US beast images, among which 378 images have higher saliency than background areas and succeed in localization, with high accuracy 92.00%. The HVM localization method can be used to localize the tumors, combined with this method, CV level set can achieve the fully automatic segmentation of US breast tumors. By combing intensity, blackness ratio and superpixel contrast features, the proposed localization method can successfully avoid the interference caused by background areas with low echo and high intensity. Moreover, multi-object localization of US breast images can be considered in future employment.

Atmospheric stability affects wind turbine wakes significantly. High-fidelity approaches such as large eddy simulations (LES) with the actuator line (AL) model which predicts detailed wake structures, fail to be applied in wind farm engineering applications due to its expensive cost. In order to make wind farm simulations computationally affordable, this paper proposes a new actuator disk model (AD) based on the blade element method (BEM) and combined with Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS) to model turbine wakes under different atmospheric stability conditions. In the proposed model, the upstream reference velocity is firstly estimated from the disk averaged velocity based on the one-dimensional momentum theory, and then is used to evaluate the rotor speed to calculate blade element forces. Flow similarity functions based on field measurement are applied to limit wind shear under strongly stable conditions, and turbulence source terms are added to take the buoyant-driven effects into consideration. Results from the new AD model are compared with field measurements and results from the AD model based on the thrust coefficient, the BEM-AD model with classical similarity functions and a high-fidelity LES approach. The results show that the proposed method is better in simulating wakes under various atmospheric stability conditions than the other AD models and has a similar performance to the high-fidelity LES approach however in much lower computational cost.

A scientific carbon accounting system can help enterprises reduce carbon emissions. This study took the enterprise in the Yangtze River basin as a case study. The accounting classification of carbon emissions in the life cycle of lime production was assessed, and the composition of the sources of carbon emission was analyzed, covering mining explosives, fuel (diesel, coal), electricity and high temperature limestone decomposition. Using the IPCC emission factor method, a carbon life cycle emission accounting model for lime production was established. We determined that a total of 354,200 tons of carbon emissions were generated from producing 321,000 tons of lime in a year. The decomposition of limestone at a high temperature was the largest carbon emission source, accounting for 62.34% of the total carbon emission. Coal combustion was also an important source of carbon emissions, accounting for 32.66% of total carbon emissions. The carbon emission for one ton of activated lime was 1.46kg, 1.49kg, 1100kg and 1102.95kg respectively for the open-pit, mining stage, crushing stage, and the calcination stage. Based upon the main sources of carbon emission for lime production, carbon emission reduction should focus on CO2 capture technology, fuel optimization and energy control. Using our analysis of carbon emissions, the carbon emission factor of producing unit quicklime of the lime enterprise in the Yangtze River basin was determined. Furthermore, the research into carbon emission reduction for lime production can provide a point of reference for the promotion of carbon neutrality in the same industry.

A number of challenging combinatorial optimization problems in logistics, transportations, aeronautics, and astronautics can be modeled as orienteering problems (OPs). To address the classic OP and its real-world variants, a parallel adaptive local-search algorithm based on competition and evolution (Palace) is proposed in this paper. In this algorithm, the parallelism runs proper local-search metaheuristics and operators to obtain the population per generation; then the competition grades those metaheuristics and operators to highlight the outperforming and eliminate the underperforming; also, the evolution explores large solution space and reproduces the best solutions for next generation. In this manner, the parallelism, competition, and evolution are organized in an easy-to-use algorithm and enable the expansibility, adaptivity, and exploration abilities, respectively. The Palace is examined on the classic and real-world Benchmarks about the OP, the time-dependent/independent OP with time windows, and the unmanned aerial vehicle and agile earth observation satellite planning. As a result, the Palace shows good performance in applicability and effectiveness in comparison with the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Pyrethroid pesticides (PYRs) as the third most widely used pesticides, following organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides, which are of significant importance in the analysis and detection of vegetables. However, the current pretreatment technology for PYRs confronts challenges of difficult separation and low enrichment efficiency, resulting in a cumbersome and time-consuming pretreatment process with poor selectivity. Here, a simple and efficient magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) strategy was developed to simultaneously purify and enrich five PYRs in vegetables, with the magnetic covalent organic framework nanomaterial COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 as an adsorbent. The COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 was prepared by a simple solvothermal conditions method, using Fe3O4 as magnetic core, benzidine and 3,3,5,5-tetraaldehyde biphenyl as two building units. COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 could effectively capture the targeted PYRs by virtue of its abundant π-electron system and hydroxyl groups. The impact of various experimental parameters on extraction efficiency was investigated to optimize the MSPE conditions, including adsorbent amount, extraction time, elution solvent type and elution time. Subsequently, method validation was conducted under the optimal conditions in conjunction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Within the range of 5.00–100 μg·kg-1 (1.00–100 μg·kg-1 for bifenthrin and 2.5–100 μg·kg-1 for fenpropathrin), the five PYRs exhibited a strong linear relationship, with determination coefficients ranging from 0.9990 to 0.9997. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.3–1.5 μg·kg-1, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.9–4.5 μg·kg-1. The recoveries were 80.2–116.7% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 7.0%. Finally, COF-SiO2@Fe3O4, NH2-SiO2@Fe3O4 and Fe3O4 were compared as MSPE adsorbents for PYRs. The results indicated that COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 was an efficient and rapid selective adsorbent for PYRs. This method holds promising prospects for the determination of PYRs in real samples.

Mint is considered to have a greater number of phenolic acids, flavonoids, antioxidants and other bioactive components, and is widely used as food, medicine, spices, and flavoring agents. Thus, chemical composition is an important parameter for assessing the quality of mint. In this study, two mint cultivars were sampled, purple mint and green mint. The purple mint had much higher anthocyanin and total flavone content compared with green mint. Transcriptome and metabolome technique were employed to elucidate the regulation network of mint pigment and flavone. A total of 167,901 unigenes were obtained by high-throughput RNA-Seq and 34,608 genes were differentially expressed. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were mainly involved in lignin metabolic process and flavonoid biosynthetic process. A total of 143 differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) were enriched in isoflavonoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, and anthocyanin biosynthesis pathways. The co-analysis results of DEGs and DEMs showed that the flavone and flavonol biosynthesis pathway (ko00944) contained the most DEMs, followed by flavonoid biosynthesis pathway (ko00941) and anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway (ko00942). Furthermore, the most important nine genes and metabolites were screened using O2PLS model. The results will provide a theoretical basis for revealing pigment and flavone biosynthesis network of mint.

In this paper, we presented a method of retrieving sea surface wind speed from Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) horizontal-horizontal (HH) polarization data in extra-wide mode, which have been extensively acquired over the Arctic for sea ice monitoring. In contrast to the conventional algorithm, i.e., using a geophysical model function (GMF) to retrieve sea surface wind by spaceborne SAR, we introduced an alternative method based on physical model guided neural network. Parameters of SAR normalized radar cross section, incidence angle, and wind direction are used as the inputs of the backward propagation (BP) neural network, and the output is the sea surface wind speed. The network is developed based on more than 11,000 HH-polarized EW images acquired in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Arctic and their collocations with scatterometer measurements. Verification of the neural network based on the testing dataset yields a bias of 0.23 m/s and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.25 m/s compared to the scatterometer wind speed. Further comparison of the SAR retrieved sea surface wind speed with independent buoy measurements shows a bias and RMSE of 0.12 m/s and 1.42 m/s, respectively. We also analyzed the uncertainty of retrieval when the wind direction data of a reanalysis model are used as inputs to the neural network. By combining the detected sea ice cover information based on the EW data, one can expect to derive simultaneously sea ice and marine-meteorological parameters by spaceborne SAR in a high spatial resolution in the Arctic.

The present paper investigates numerically the resistance at full-scale of a zero-emission, high-speed catamaran in both deep and shallow water, with the Froude number ranging from 0.2 to 0.8. The numerical methods are validated by two means: a) comparison with available model tests; b) a blind validation using two different flow solvers. The resistance, sinkage and trim of the catamaran, as well as the wave pattern, longitudinal wave cuts and cross-flow fields, are examined. The total resistance curve in deep water shows a continuous increase with the Froude number while in shallow water, a hump is witnessed near the critical speed. This difference is mainly caused by the pressure component of total resistance, which is significantly affected by the interaction between the wave systems created by the demihulls. The pressure resistance in deep water is maximised at a Froude number around 0.58, whereas the peak in shallow water is achieved near the critical speed (Froude number ≈ 0.3). Insight into the underlying physics is obtained by analysing the wave creation between the demihulls. Profoundly different wave patterns within the inner region are observed in deep and shallow water. Specifically, in deep water, both crests and troughs are generated and moved astern as the increase of the Froude number. The maximum pressure resistance is accomplished when the secondary trough is created at the stern, leading to the largest trim angle. In contrast, the catamaran generates a critical wave normal to the advance direction in shallow water, which significantly elevates the bow and creates the highest trim angle as well as pressure resistance. Moreover, significant wave elevations are observed between the demihulls at supercritical speeds in shallow water which may affect the decision for the location of the wet deck.

This study aims to assess the operational capabilities of disaster and emergency management re-sources (DEMRs), which are pivotal in mitigating risks and minimizing losses amid the increas-ing frequency of disasters. The research constructs an effective operational capability evaluation system for DEMRs, encompassing four key aspects: resource planning, organizational manage-ment capability, resource support capability, and information processing capability. It focuses on identifying the factors that influence the effective operational capability of DEMRs in China and Korea, comparing and analyzing the relative importance and priority of each evaluation domain and indicator within these countries to enhance DEMRs' operational effectiveness. The method-ology involves calculating and ranking the weight of the four domains, with findings indicating that organizational management capability is most significant in China, whereas resource sup-port capability is prioritized in Korea. A comparative analysis of the local weight of indicators within each domain revealed the largest discrepancy between China and Korea in the infor-mation processing capability domain. The study concludes by calculating global weights, identi-fying fast response capability and resource allocation capability as the most impactful factors on DEMRs' operational capability, highlighting their critical role in disaster and emergency man-agement.

The multi-modal data fusion method based on IA-net and CHMM technical proposed is designed to solve the problem that the incompleteness of target behavior information in complex family environment leads to the low accuracy of human behavior recognition.The two improved neural networks(STA-ResNet50、STA-GoogleNet)are combined with LSTM to form two IA-Nets respectively to extract RGB and skeleton modal behavior features in video. The two modal feature sequences are input CHMM to construct the probability fusion model of multi-modal behavior recognition.The experimental results show that the human behavior recognition model proposed in this paper has higher accuracy than the previous fusion methods on HMDB51 and UCF101 datasets. New contributions: attention mechanism is introduced to improve the efficiency of video target feature extraction and utilization. A skeleton based feature extraction framework is proposed, which can be used for human behavior recognition in complex environment. In the field of human behavior recognition, probability theory and neural network are cleverly combined and applied, which provides a new method for multi-modal information fusion.

Due to the special characteristics of the shooting distance and angle of remote sensing satellites, the pixel area ratio of ship targets is small and the feature expression is insufficient, which leads to unsatisfactory ship detection performance and even situations such as missed detection and false detection. In this study, we propose an improved-YOLOv5 algorithm. The improvement strategies mainly include: (1) Add the Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) into the Backbone to enhance the extraction of target-adaptive optimal features; (2) Introduce cross-layer connection channel and lightweight GSConv structure into the Neck to achieve higher-level multi-scale feature fusion and reduce the number of model parameters; (3) The Wise-IoU loss function is used to cal-culate the localization loss in the Output, and assign reasonable gradient gains to cope with dif-ferences in image quality. In addition, during the preprocessing stage of experimental data, a me-dian and bilateral filter method is used for noise reduction to reduce interference from ripples and waves and highlight the information of ship features. The experimental results show that Im-proved-YOLOv5 has a significant improvement in recognition accuracy compared to various mainstream target detection algorithms; Compared to the original YOLOv5s, the mean Average Precision (mAP) has improved by 3.2% and the Frames Per Second (FPN) has accelerated by 8.7%.

Zearalenone is one of the most prevalent estrogenic mycotoxins produced mainly by Fusarium family fungi, and harmed the heath of animals. Zearalenone hydrolase is an important enzyme capable of degrading zearalenone into a non-toxic compound. Although previous research has investigated the catalytic mechanism of zearalenone hydrolase, information on its dynamic interaction with zearalenone remains unknown. This study aimed to develop a pipeline for identifying the allosteric pathway of zearalenone hydrolase. Using an identity analysis, we identified hub genes whose sequences can generalize a set of sequences in a protein family. We then utilized a neural relational inference (NRI) model to identify the allosteric pathway of the protein throughout the entire molecular dynamics simulation. The production run lasted 1 microsecond, and we analyzed residues 139-222 for the allosteric pathway using the NRI model. We found that the cap domain of the protein opened up during catalysis, resembling a hemostatic tape. We used umbrella sampling to simulate the dynamic docking phase of the ligand-protein complex and found that the protein took on a square sandwich shape. Our energy analysis using both MMPBSA and PMF analysis showed discrepancies, with scores of -8.45 kcal/mol and -1.95 kcal/mol, respectively. MMPBSA, however, obtained a similar score to that of a previous report.

Controlling surface-protein interaction during wastewater treatment is the key motivation for developing functionally modified membranes. A new biocatalytic thermo-responsive poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF)/nylon-6,6/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)(PNIPAAm) ultrafiltration membrane was fabricated to achieve dual functionality of protein-digestion and thermo-responsive self-cleaning. The PVDF/nylon-6,6/PNIPAAm composite membranes were constructed by integrating a hydrophobic PVDF cast layer and hydrophilic nylon-6,6/PNIPAAm nanofiber layer where trypsin enzymes were covalently immobilized. The immobilization density of enzymes on the membrane surface decreased with increasing PNIPAAm concentration, due to the decreased number of amine functional sites. Through a ultrafiltration study using a model solution containing BSA/NaCl/CaCl₂, the PNIPAAm containing biocatalytic membranes demonstrated a combined effect of enzymatic and thermo-switchable self-cleaning. The membrane without PNIPAAm revealed superior fouling resistance and self-cleaning with an R_PD of 22%, compared to membranes with 2 and 4 wt% PNIPAAm with 26% and 33% R_PD, respectively, after an intermediate temperature cleaning at 50°C, indicating that higher enzyme density offers more efficient self-cleaning than the combined effect of enzyme and PNIPAAm at low concentration. The conformational volume phase transition of PNIPAAm did not affect the stability of immobilized trypsin on membrane surface. Such novel surface engineering design offer a promising route to severe surface-protein contamination remediation in food and wastewater applications.

The greenhouse gases and air pollution generated by extensive energy use have exacerbated climate change. An electric-bus (e-bus) transportation system favors reducing pollution and carbon emissions. This study analyzed the minimization of construction costs for an all battery-swapping public e-bus transportation system. A simulation was conducted according to existing timetables and routes. Daytime charging was incorporated during the hours of operation; the two parameters of the daytime charging scheme were the residual battery capacity and battery-charging energy during various intervals of daytime peak electricity hours. The parameters were optimized using three algorithms: particle swarm optimization (PSO), a genetic algorithm (GA), and a PSO–GA. This study observed the effects of optimization on cost changes (e.g., number of e-buses, on-board battery capacity, number of extra batteries, charging facilities, and energy consumption) and compared the plug-in and battery-swapping e-bus systems. The results revealed that daytime charging can reduce the construction costs of both systems. In contrast to the other two algorithms, the PSO–GA yielded the most favorable optimization results for the charging scheme. Finally, according to the cases investigated and the parameters of this study, the construction cost of the plug-in e-bus system was lower than that of the battery-swapping e-bus system.

The composition, structure and functionalities of prolamins from highland barley was investigated. These parameters of was compared with the widely applied prolamins (zein). There are more charged and hydrophilic amino acids in prolamins from highland barley than zein. The molecu-lar weight of prolamins from highland barley were between 30 to 63 kDa, which was larger than zein (20 to 24 kDa). β-turn helices is the main secondary structure in prolamins from highland barley, while α-helical structure is the main secondary structure in zein. The water holding capacity, thermal stability, emulsifying capacity and stability of prolamins from highland barley is quite lager than zein, while opposite results can be observed for oil absorption capacity. The diameter of fibers prepared with prolamins from highland barley was almost 6 times that of zein, while ribbon structures rather than fibers were formed by prolamins from highland barley. The results would provide the guidance for application of prolamins from highland barley.

Parental phubbing behavior is a significant factor in predicting adolescent smartphone dependence, but prior research has predominantly focused on a unidirectional perspective from the child's viewpoint, overlooking potential perceptual differences between parents and their children regarding parental phubbing. Therefore, are there differences in the perceptions of parental phubbing between parents and their children? Based on the "Discrepancy-Maladaptive" hypothesis, the presence of perceptual discrepancies in family factors can lead to adverse developmental outcomes in children. Does the parent-child perceptual discrepancy in parental phubbing influence adolescent smartphone dependence? And what role does parent-child relationship play in this context? This study selected 728 families from a middle school in Wuhan, and surveys were administered to both children and parents. The findings reveal: (1) There exist significant parent-child perceptual discrepancies in parental phubbing. (2) Parent-child perceptual discrepancies in parental phubbing significantly positively predict adolescent smartphone dependence and negatively predict parent-child relationships, while parent-child relationships significantly negatively predict adolescent smartphone dependence. (3) The parent-child relationship plays a mediating role between parent-child perceptual differences in parental phubbing behavior and adolescent smartphone dependence.

This paper proposes a crack recognition method based on high-resolution line array cameras and adaptive lifting algorithm. By defining the crack rate, this algorithm calculates the ratio of the crack area to the area of the entire collected image to characterize the damage extent of the current section. The algorithm first uses image preprocessing to reduce the image noise, then uses histogram equalization to enhance the feature of the crack region, divides the whole image into multiple sub-blocks, and extracts region features in the sub-block. At the same time, this algorithm defines related feature descriptors, and constructs weak classifiers according to each feature descriptor, and converts the weak classifiers into strong classifiers by using an adaptive lifting algorithm. Finally, this algorithm realizes the division of the crack regions. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can meet the actual needs and is better than other classical algorithms.

Randomized block Kaczmarz Method and randomized extended block Kaczmarz Method are proposed for solving matrix equation AXB=C, where the matrix A and B may be full rank or rank deficient. These methods are iterative methods without matrix multiplication, and are especially suitable for solving large-scale matrix equations. It is theoretically proved these methods converge to the solution or least square solution of the matrix equation. The numerical results show that these methods are more efficient than the existing algorithms for high-dimensional matrix equations.

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.

Slow and controlled release systems for drugs, have attracted increasing interest recently. A highly efficient metal-organic gels (MOGs) drug delivery carrier, i.e., MIL-100(Al) gels, has been fabricated by a facile, low cost and environment friendly one-pot process. The unique structure of MIL-100(Al) gels leads to a high loading efficiency (620 mg/g) towards doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) as a kind of anticancer drugs. DOX-loaded MOGs exhibited high stability under physiological conditions and sustained release capacity of DOX for up to 3 days (under acidic environments). They further showed sustained drug release behavior and excellent antitumor effects in in vitro experiments on HeLa cells, in contrast with the extremely low biotoxicity of MOGs. Our work provides a promising way for the anticancer therapy, by utilizing this MOGs-based drug delivery system, as an efficient and safe vehicle.

Lithium batteries are widely used due to their advantages such as high energy density, stable performance, low pollution, and long recyclable life. Accurate SOC estimation is important for the use of lithium batteries. To address the problem of low accuracy of SOC estimation by traditional methods, this paper proposes a joint method of fractional order robust unscented Kalman filter (FORUKF) and robust unscented Kalman filter (RUKF) to estimate SOC. The method is based on a fractional order model (FOM) that combines the unscented transformation (UT) technique, the H∞ observer and the joint estimator. Specifically, an adaptive genetic algorithm (AGA) was first used to identify the parameters of the FOM for lithium batteries and to verify the accuracy of the model. Estimation and updating of the ohmic resistance R0 and the capacity QN in the model in real-time by RUKF and then estimation of the SOC by FORUKF. Finally, the accuracy of FORUKF-RUKF was verified under the Federal Urban Driving Schedule (FUDS), US06 Highway Driving Schedule and Beijing Dynamic Stress Test (BJDST). According to the results, the FORUKF-RUKF estimated SOC was found to have better accuracy and robustness than the RUKF, FOUKF and EKF.

Taking a certain type of test centrifuge as the research object, the finite element model of the test centrifuge is established, the vibration characteristics and aerodynamic performance of the test centrifuge are analyzed, and the structural optimization design of the test centrifuge is carried out. In this paper, the load is applied according to the actual working condition of a certain type of test centrifuge. The vibration of the mounting seat of the test centrifuge is analyzed and the structure of the mounting seat is optimized. After optimization, the vibration of the mounting seat is 77.38 % lower than that of the original mounting seat. Then, the aerodynamic analysis of the test centrifuge is carried out. The analysis results show that the test centrifuge moves more smoothly under the whole package shell and the steady flow shell, and the resistance decreases and the shaft load decreases. Finally, the steady flow shell of the test centrifuge is optimized. The analysis shows that the increase of the width of the steady flow shell can reduce the resistance coefficient, which is helpful to the stability of the test centrifuge during operation and reduces the unbalanced response of the system caused by air resistance.

The prediction of stock prices holds significant implications for researchers and investors in evaluating stock value and risk. In recent years, researchers have increasingly replaced traditional machine learning methods with deep learning approaches in this domain. However, the application of deep learning in forecasting stock prices is confronted with the challenge of overfitting. To address the issue of overfitting and enhance predictive accuracy, this study proposes a stock prediction model based on GRU (Gated Recurrent Unit) with reconstructed datasets. This model integrates data from other stocks within the same industry, thereby enriching the extracted features and mitigating the risk of overfitting. Additionally, an auxiliary module is employed to augment the volume of data through dataset reconstruction, thereby enhancing the model’s training comprehensiveness and generalization capabilities. Experimental results demonstrate a substantial improvement in prediction accuracy across various industries.

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

The spatiotemporal variations of rainfall erosivity in the Hengduan Mountains, charac-terized by rugged terrain and high potential soil erosion risks, over the past 30 years was exam-ined. The changing trends of rainfall erosivity for 2025-2040 was also be investigated under the comprehensive scenario of moderate socio-economic development (SSP2-4.5) combined with me-dium-low radiative forcing, using four global climate models (GCMs) based on CMIP6. The results indicated that: (1) The annual distribution of rainfall erosivity in the Hengduan Mountains exhib-ited significant seasonal variations, with the order of erosivity being summer > autumn > spring > winter on a seasonal scale. (2) Over the past 30 years, there has been a slight decrease in annual precipitation and a slight increase in rainfall erosivity, with periodic extreme values occurring every 6-8 years. (3) Rainfall erosivity showed a decreasing gradient from southeast to northwest in terms of spatial distribution. There was a significant positive correlation between rainfall ero-sivity and precipitation, while a significant negative correlation existed with elevation in the ver-tical direction. Moreover, there was an increasing trend of rainfall erosivity in the northeastern part of the Hengduan Mountains and a decreasing trend in the southern region. (4) Under the joint driving forces of increased precipitation and erosive rainfall events, rainfall erosivity in the future is expected to significantly increase, posing a more severe risk of soil erosion in the Heng-duan Mountains.

As the most commonly used hydrogel material in contact lenses, the amount of water in a lens affects its optical properties and comfort for the wearer. Therefore, an important challenge is to determine the safety and efficacy of contact lenses by accurately and non-destructively measuring the water content in real time. In this study, we demonstrate the accurate detection of water content in hydrogel contact lenses using a high-precision ATR format in a portable terahertz time-domain spectroscopy system. The technique can resolve small variations in the dielectric constant in solution, which is difficult to achieve with traditional transmission and reflection measurement modes. Information is obtained from the interaction between the sample and the swift waves propagating along the prism surface. The swift waves can excite longitudinal modes that are not directly accessible by conventional techniques. It is worth noting that the reference wave can be measured by removing the sample without disturbing the optical path. We also enhance the plasma effect at the interface with the hydrogel by using PVDF dielectric films of different polarities. We observed that the water content and refractive index changes in the ATR mode show different response patterns for nonpoled PVDF and poled PVDF membranes. This suggests that reflection and relative phase can be accurately evaluated in the THz-ATR technique, resulting in an accurate method for determining complex dielectric constants in the reflection geometry. This will allow accurate measurement of both surface and in vivo water content in hydrogels in the future and is a potential technical route for application in bioaqueous tissue measurements.

To improve the tangerine crop yield, the work of recognizing and then disposing of specific pests is becoming increasingly important. The task of recognition is based on the features extracted from the images that have been collected from websites and outdoors. Traditional recognition and deep learning methods, such as KNN (k-nearest neighbors) and AlexNet, are not preferred by knowledgeable researchers, who have proven them inaccurate. In this paper, we exploit four kinds of structures of advanced deep learning to classify 10 citrus pests. The experimental results show that Inception-ResNet-V3 obtains the minimum classification error.

Due to the influence of background conditions, lighting conditions, occlusion issues and the image resolution, how to extract robust person features is one of the difficulties in ReID research. Vision in Transformers (ViT) has achieved significant results in the field of computer vision. However, the existing problems still limit its application in ReID due to slow extraction of person features and difficulty in utilizing local features of people. To solve the mentioned problems, we utilize Pyramid Vision Transformer (PVT) as the backbone of feature extraction and propose a PVT-based ReID method in conjunction with other studies. Firstly, some improvements suitable for ReID are used on the PVT backbone, and we establish a basic model by using powerful methods verified on CNN-based ReID. Secondly, in an effort to further promote the robustness of the person features extracted by the PVT backbone, two new modules are designed. (1) The local feature clustering (LFC) is recommend to enhance the robustness of person features by calculating the distance between local features and global feature to select the most discrete local features and clustering them. (2) The side information embeddings (SIE) are used to encode non-visual information and send it into the network for training to reduce its impact on person features. Finally, the experiments show that PVTReID has achieved excellent results in ReID datasets and are 20% faster on average than CNN-based ReID methods.

In recent years, the consumption of over-the-counter probiotics used to promote health has grown rapidly worldwide and become an industry. In medicine, various studies have proven that probiotics can help improve the immune system and intestinal health. They are usually safe, but in some rare cases, they may cause concerning adverse reactions. Although the use of probiotics has been widely popularized in the public, the results of many probiotics clinical trials are contradictory. Especially for the cancer patients, the feasibility of probiotics management to provide benefits by targeting cancer and lessening anti-cancer side effects requires further investigations. And this review summarizes the interactions between probiotics and the host and current pros and cons of applying probiotics in the cancer patients.

We used the Bootstrap ARDL method to test the relationship between the export trades, FDI and CO₂ emissions of the BRICS countries. We found that China's foreign direct investment and the lag one period of CO₂ emissions have a cointegration on exports. South Africa's foreign direct investment and CO₂ emissions have a cointegration relationship with the lag one period of exports, and South Africa's the lag one period of exports and foreign direct investment have a cointegration relationship with the lag one period of CO₂ emissions. But whether it is China or South Africa, these three variables have no causal relationship in the long-term. Among the variables of other BRICS countries, Russia is the only country showed degenerate case #1 in McNown et al. mentioned in their paper. When we examined short-term causality, we found that CO₂ emissions and export trade showed a reverse causal relationship, while FDI and carbon emissions were not so obvious. Export trade has a positive causal relationship with FDI. Those variables are different from different situations and different countries.

Electric heating and solid thermal storage system (EHSTSS) is widely used in district clean heating and the flexibility adjustment of combined heat and power (CHP) unit. It has been an effective way to absorb renewable energy. Aiming at the thermal design calculation and experimental verification of EHSTSS, the thermal calculation and the heat transfer characteristics of the EHSTSS are investigated in this paper. Firstly, a thermal calculation method for the EHSTSS is proposed in the paper. The calculation flow and calculation method for key parameters of heating system, heat storage system, heat exchange system and fan-circulating system in the EHSTSS are studied. Then, the instantaneous heat transfer characteristics of the thermal storage system (TSS) in the EHSTSS are analyzed, and the heat transfer process of ESS is simulated by FLUENT software. The uniform temperature distribution in the heat storage and release process of the TSS verifies the good heat transfer characteristics of the EHSTSS. Finally, EHSTSS test verification platform is built, and the historical operation data of the EHSTSS is analyzed. During the heating and release thermal process, the maximum temperature standard deviation of each temperature measurement point is 28.3℃ and 59℃respectively. The correctness of the thermal calculation of the EHSTSS is verified.

To further explore the bearing capacity and sustainable construction of vacuum drainage pipe (VDP) piles, field tests were carried out to compare and analyze the ultimate single pile bearing capacity, pile side friction and pile end resistance of ordinary piles and vacuum drainage pipe piles. The effect of the VDP pile on energy conservation and emission reduction in practical projects is discussed. The results shows that the VDP pile basically eliminated the soil squeeze and did not cause excessive relative displacement of pile and soil after vacuum consolidation. The VDP pile enhances pile side friction resistance, resulting in a 17.6% increase in ultimate bearing capacity compared to traditional piles. The VDP pile method can reduce carbon emissions by 31.4% compared to traditional methods. This study provides guidance for the production and design of VDP piles in the future and demonstrates their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction benefits compared to traditional methods.

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

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by an expansion of a CAG repeat in the gene that encodes the huntingtin protein (HTT). The exact function of HTT is still not fully understood, and previous studies have mainly focused on identifying proteins that interact with HTT to gain insights into its function. Numerous HTT-interacting proteins have been discovered, shedding light on the functions and structure of HTT. Most of these proteins interact with the N-terminal region of HTT. Among the various HTT-interacting proteins, huntingtin-associated protein 1 (HAP1) and HTT-interacting protein 1 (HIP1) have been extensively studied. Recent research has uncovered differences in the distribution of HAP1 in monkey and human brains compared to mice. This finding suggests that there may be species-specific variations in the regulation and function of HTT-interacting proteins. Understanding these differences could provide crucial insights into the development of HD. In this review, we will focus on the recent advancements in the study of HTT-interacting proteins, with particular attention to the differential distributions of HTT and HAP1 in larger animal models.

In this paper, the mechanism of combined process of ion beam sputtering (IBS) and HF acid etching on the chemical structure defects of fused silica and its laser damage resistance perfor-mance were investigated. During the removal process of surface material, the sputtering effect causes lattice atoms to detach from their original positions, forming a large number of unsaturated structures on silica surface, which improves the chemical activity of Si and O atoms, accelerates the chemical reaction process between surface atoms and water molecules, increases the content of hydroxyl (OH-) groups in the shallow layer, and enhances the photothermal weak absorption intensity. However, the presence of OH- groups reduces the bonding strength of Si-O, destroys the spatial network structure of silica bulk, and reduces the mechanical strength of silica surface, resulting in a decrease in its laser damage resistance performance. The paper reveals for the first time the mechanism of IBS to change the structure characteristics of silica material, accelerate the surface hydroxylation process, and thereby reduces the laser damage resistance performance. This work provides technical guidance for effectively suppressing chemical structure defects on silica surface and improving laser damage resistance performance of optical components under high-flux laser irradiation.

The objective of this investigation was to enhance the sensory appeal of Cerasus humilis (C. humilis) juice and ascertain potential interactions among bioactive compounds within a functional juice matrix. Sensory attributes, color, antioxidant potential, polyphenol and vitamin C (VC) concentrations, and sugar levels were assessed. Diverse dosage combinations were examined to determine their impact on the quality of both C. humilis and Green grape juices. Among the formulations, CG5 exhibited elevated antioxidant activit y and polyphenol content (455.02 mg TE/100 ml and 173.1 mg/100 ml, respectively), coupled with favorable consumer preference. Notable variations in compound content were observed across the seven analyzed juices. In the blended juices (CG1–CG5), interactions between distinct juices influenced VC and sugar levels, with other bioactives contributing to beneficial modifications, displaying a progressive rise. This study innovatively crafted delectable and convenient C. humilis juice, upholding its intrinsic high antioxidant activity, thereby presenting a novel avenue for marketable functional juice offerings.

Baculovirus is a type of virus with a double stranded, circular, and super helical DNA structure, whose transcription, replication and assembly of offspring virus occur in the nucleus of the cell. However, due to the natural barrier of the cellular nuclear membrane, macromolecular substances larger than 40-60 kDa cannot directly penetrate the nuclear membrane. Therefore, baculovirus have evolved various strategies to achieve transmembrane transport of viral proteins. This article attempts to review the recent literature on mechanisms by which the DNA baculoviruses of insects transport proteins into the infected host cell nucleus. In this article, we summarise the studies of nuclear localisation signals(NLSs) in baculovirus, which are involved in the classical nuclear import pathways and review the non-classical nuclear transport pathways independent on NLS derived from baculovirus. Moreover, during the protein nuclear transport process, viruses will regulate the nuclear pathway through protein modifications. Host structure changes and other methods will create a favorable environment for the nuclear transport of viral proteins.

The orthogonal matrix with cube be symmetric is a common class of matrices with important properties. We pay attention to this kind of matrices. By using the close relationship between the eigenvalues of a matrix and the trace of its power, we obtain the algorithm for its all possible different eigenvalues and multiplicities. The calculation formula is expressed only by the trace of a matrix and its power, avoiding solving the characteristic polynomial. The method is simple and practical. Furthermore, a new essential characterization for the sum of orthogonal matrix pairs being orthogonal is given as well.

To improve the effect of multi-point stretch forming of sheet metal, it is proposed in this paper to replace fixed ball head with swinging ball head. According to the multi-point dies with different arrangements, this research establishes the finite element models of the following stretch forming, i.e. fixed ball heads with conventional arrangement, swinging ball heads with conventional arrangement, swinging ball heads with declining staggered arrangement, and swinging ball heads with parallel staggered arrangement and then numerical simulation is performed. The simulation results show that by replacing fixed ball head with swinging ball head, the surface indentation of the formed part was effectively suppressed, the stress and tension strain distribution of the formed part was improved and the forming quality was improved; that the thickness of the elastic pad was reduced, the springback was reduced and the forming accuracy was improved; and that when the ball head was applied to multi-point die with staggered arrangement, better forming result was achieved, where the best forming result was achieved in combining the swinging ball heads with the multi-point die with parallel staggered arrangement. The forming experiments were carried out, and the experimental results were consistent with the trend of numerical simulation results, which verified the correctness of the numerical simulation.

In order to apply visible light communication systems in different scenarios, this article utilizes an excellent temperature adjustable light source mixed with RGB LEDs, and applies it in a visible light communication system. It utilizes color division multiplexing technology to achieve three-channel communication, thereby improving the communication bandwidth of the system. The communication system adopts three constant current driving circuits to control the duty cycle of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) of each channel, thereby changing the proportion of RGB LEDs, and obtaining different color temperatures to achieve the purpose of color control for mixed color LEDs. The experimental results show that when adjusting the color temperature, the change in luminous flux is very small, with fluctuations of less than 2.24%; When adjusting the brightness, the color temperature fluctuation is within 40K, which is less than the 50K color temperature limit that the human eye can distinguish, and the average color temperature error is 0.609%; Color tolerance less than 5.5×10-3 indicates good dimming effect, and the communication performance of the system is better in the high color temperature range, which is significantly superior to the low color temperature range. When the error rate is below 3.8×10-3, the total modulation bandwidth of the three channels reaches 11.7 MHz.

Based on the Graph Model of Conflict Resolution (GMCR), a two-stage decision framework is developed to reveal the essence of brownfield incidents and facilitate the resolution of brownfield conflicts caused by the incidents. More particularly, the forward GMCR is utilized in Stage I, the negotiation stage, to simulate the evolution of a brownfield conflict (BC) and predict its potential resolution via stability analysis. If no acceptable equilibrium can be obtained, the BC progresses into Stage II, the third-party-intervention stage, where the inverse GMCR is used to assist a third party in intervening the conflict to achieve a desirable outcome. To illustrate the practicality of this framework, a recent BC occurred in Changzhou, China, is taken as a case study. Invaluable insights are provided through the computation and investigation of the corresponding preference relationships.

Calcineurin plays a key role in cardiovascular pathogenesis by exerting pro-apoptotic effects in cardiomyocytes; however, its involvement in the regulation of cardiomyocyte autophagy under chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) remains largely unknown. Here we showed that CIH induced calcineurin activity in H9C2 cells, resulting in the attenuation of adenosine monophos-phate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling and inhibition of H9C2 cell autophagy. Au-tophagy, LC3-II levels, and AMPK phosphorylation were significantly elevated in response to CIH in H9C2 cells by day 3; however, these effects were reversed, and calcineurin activity and apoptosis were significantly increased by day 5. The calcineurin inhibitor, FK506, restored AMPK activation and LC3 protein levels, and reduced CIH-induced H9C2 cell apoptosis, while calcineurin overexpression significantly attenuated the increase in LC3 levels and enhanced H9C2 cell apop-tosis. Calcineurin inhibition failed to induce autophagy or alleviate apoptosis in H9C2 cells ex-pressing a dominant negative K45R AMPK mutant. Autophagy downregulation abrogated the protective effects of FK506-mediated calcineurin inhibition. These results indicated that calcineurin suppressed adaptive autophagy during CIH by downregulating AMPK activation. Our findings showed the underlying mechanisms of calcineurin and autophagy regulation during H9C2 cell survival in response to CIH, and suggested a new strategy for preventing CIH-induced cardiomyocyte damage.

Helicosporous hyphomycetes is a class of filamentous fungi that shows promising application prospects in metabolizing bioactive natural compounds. During a study of helicosporous fungi in China, six new helicosporous taxa were collected and isolated from decaying wood in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Morphological comparisons with multi-gene phylogenetic analyses revealed that these six taxa belong to Helicosporium (Tubeufiaceae, Tubeufiales), and they can be recognized as three novel species, named Helicosporium liuzhouense, H. multidentatum and H. nanningense. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of the newly discovered taxa and comparisons with similar fungi are provided. In addition, a list and a key to accepted Helicosporium species are provided.

Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) are becoming more common on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as permafrost thaws, but the hydraulic characteristics of these slumps have not been extensively studied. To fill this knowledge gap, we used the ''space-for-time substitution method'' to differentiate three stages of RTSs: original grassland, collapsing, and collapsed. Our study included on-site investigations, measurements, and simulated analyses of soil water characteristics, environmental factors, and hydrological properties. Our findings show that the measurements and simulated analyses of soil water characteristics were highly consistent across RTSs, indicating the accuracy of the V-G model in reproducing soil hydraulic parameters for different stages of RTSs. The original grassland stage had the highest soil water retention and content due to its high SOM content and fine-textured micropores. In contrast, the collapsed stage had higher soil water retention and content compared to the collapsing stage, primarily due to increased proportions of soil micropores, SOM content, and lower bulk density (BD). Freeze-thaw cycles had a significant impact on the soil texture and structure of RTSs, resulting in a decrease in SOM content and an increase in BD. However, the absence of soil structure and compaction led to the subsequent accumulation of organic matter, increasing SOM content. Changes in field capacity (FC), permanent wilting point (PWP), and soil micropore distribution aligned with variations in SOM content and water content.These findings highlight the importance of managing SOM content and water content to mitigate the adverse effects of freeze-thaw cycles on soil structure and stability at different stages of RTSs. Effective management strategies may include incorporating organic matter, reducing soil compaction, and maintaining optimal water content. Further research is needed to determine the most suitable management practices for different soil types and environmental conditions.

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

The composite post insulator composed of a large diameter mandrel and flange pressed by one-time integral pultrusion has high strength and good toughness, widely used in the existing flexible converter valve. For constructing the finite element model of the crimped post insulator, most of the flange surface and the mandrel surface are directly connected, making the simulation model's stiffness deviate from the actual model and the model distortion. Based on this, this study proposes a new finite element simplified model of crimped composite post insulator based on Multi-Point Constraints (MPC), which accurately simulates the crimping area of man-drel and flange in engineering practice. It verifies the model's reliability through static tests and characteristic vibration tests. The results show that the difference between the finite element simulation and test results is within 5 %. The finite element modeling method based on MPC local constraints is very reliable in applying crimped composite post insulators. Based on the proposed model, the influence of flange height and thickness on the mechanical properties of composite post-insulators is further explored. The results show that the influence of flange height on mechanical properties can be ignored when the height of the insulator stiff-ener ( non-press common area ) is constant. Within the allowable thickness range of the flange crimping process, the increase in flange thickness will significantly reduce the maximum bend-ing stress of the insulator and increase its safety margin. It provides a good design idea for the design of crimping composite insulators.

Post-harvest handling and ripening techniques have an impact on peach quality and shelf life, which has a big impact on consumer satisfaction and market competitiveness. This review paper examines recent advancements in ripening techniques and post-harvest technologies with the goal of improving peach fruit quality and sustainability. The factors impacting fruit quality after harvest and the physiological changes that occur throughout peach ripening are fully explained. For maintaining peach freshness and reducing losses, novel handling methods like modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and controlled atmosphere storage (CAS) have been investigated. The study explores the possibilities of nanotechnology applications and low-temperature storage for prolonging shelf life while maintaining texture, flavor, and aroma. Examining the effectiveness and waste reduction potential of automation and mechanization in post-harvest activities. The paper also discusses ethylene-based and non-ethylene-based ripening agents, as well as innovative techniques including gene editing and RNAi technology for controlled and delayed ripening. Analyses are done on how these technologies affect the sensory qualities and nutrient profiles of peaches. The study emphasizes the significance of sustainable practices in the peach industry by focusing on waste reduction, resource efficiency, and circular economy integration. Post-harvest technologies' potential environmental consequences have been taken into consideration and the paper encourages more study and cooperation to increase sustainability.

Theories of reading comprehension emphasize decoding and listening comprehension as two essential components. The current study aimed to investigate how Chinese character decoding and context-driven auditory semantic integration contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese middle school students. Seventy-five middle school students were tested. Context-driven auditory semantic integration was assessed with speech-in-noise tests in which the fundamental frequency (F0) contours of spoken sentences were either kept natural or acoustically flattened with the latter requiring a higher degree of contextual information. Statistical modelling with hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the contributions of Chinese character decoding and context-driven auditory semantic integration to reading comprehension. Performance on Chinese character decoding and auditory semantic integration scores with the flattened (but not natural) F0 sentences significantly predicted reading comprehension. Furthermore, the contributions of these two factors to reading comprehension were better fitted with an additive model instead of a multiplicative model. These findings indicate that reading comprehension in middle schoolers is associated with not only character decoding but also the listening ability to make better use of the sentential context for semantic integration in a severely degraded speech-in-noise condition. The results add to our better understanding of the multi-faceted reading comprehension in children. Future research could further address the age-dependent development and maturation of reading skills by examining and controlling other important cognitive variables, and apply neuroimaging techniques such as functional magmatic resonance imaging to reveal the neural substrates for the contribution of auditory semantic integration and the observed additive model to reading comprehension.

This study used the sol–gel method to synthesize a non-halogenated hyperbranched flame retardant containing nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon, HBNPSi, which was then added to a polyurethane (PU) matrix to form an organic–inorganic hybrid material. Using 29Si nuclear magnetic resonance, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of P- and Si-mapping, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, this study determined the organic and inorganic dispersity, morphology, and flame retardance mechanism of the hybrid material. The condensation density of the hybrid material PU/HBNPSi was found to be 74.4%. High condensation density indicates a dense network structure of the material. The P- and Si-mapping showed that adding inorganic additives in quantities of either 20% or 40% results in homogeneous dispersion of the inorganic fillers in the polymer matrix without agglomeration, indicating that the organic and inorganic phases had excellent compatibility. In the burning test, adding HBNPSi to PU resulted in the material passing the UL-94 standard at the V2 level, unlike the pristine PU, which did not meet the standard. The results demonstrated that after non-halogenated flame retardant was added to PU, the material’s flammability and dripping were lower, thereby proving that flame retardants containing elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and silicon exert an excellent flame retardant synergistic effect.

Classical laws of friction suggest that friction force is proportional to the normal load and independent of the nominal contact area. As a great improvement in this subject, it is now widely accepted that friction force is proportional to the real area in contact, and much work has been conducted based on this hypothesis. In present study, this hypothesis will be carefully revisited by measuring the friction force and real contact area in-site and real-time at both normal loading and unloading stages. Our experiments reveal that the linear relation always holds between friction force and normal load. However, for the relation between friction force and real contact area, the linearity holds only at the loading stage while fails at the unloading stage. This study may improve our understanding of the origin of friction.

The frequency synthesizer is a critical component in Cs beam clock technology. In this paper, we present a demonstration of a direct microwave frequency-synthesis chain for a cesium-beam atomic clock, which utilizes frequency multiplication and a dual-phase-locked loop mode. A detailed analysis of the frequency-synthesis chain is conducted, and a mathematical model is established. The phase settling time and system stability are simulated, measured, and verified. The experimental results for the phase settling time align with the simulation outcomes. The phase settling time can be adjusted within the range of 644.5 µs to 1.5 ms, and the absolute phase noise values are -63.7 dBc/Hz, -75.7 dBc/Hz, -107.1 dBc/Hz, and -122.5 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz offset frequencies, respectively. Additionally, the Ramsey fringes are detected, and the Allan deviations of the 10 MHz output from the cesium-beam atomic clock are measured to be 2.99×10−12 at 1s and 8.02×10−14 at 10,000 s.

This paper considers a two-way relay network, where two source nodes exchange messages through several relays in the presence of an eavesdropper, and the channel state information (CSI) of the eavesdropper is imperfectly known. The amplify-and-forward relay protocol is used and the relay beamforming weights are designed. The model is built up to minimize the total relay transmit power while guaranteeing the quality of service at users and preventing the eavesdropper from decoding the signals. Due to the imperfect CSI, a semi-infinite programming problem is obtained. An algorithm is proposed to solve the problem, and the iterative points are updated through the linesearch technique, where the feasibility are preserved during iterations. The optimality property is analyzed. The obtained subproblems are quadratic constrained quadratic programming problems, either with less than $4$ constraints or with only one variable, which are solved optimally. Simulation results demonstrate the importance of the proposed model, and imply that the proposed algorithm is efficient and converges very fast, where more than 85% of the problems are solved optimally.

In patients with heart failure, the evaluation of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function is vital, offering crucial insights into hemodynamic impact and prognostic accuracy. Echocardiography stands as the primary imaging modality for diastolic function assessment, and using it effectively requires a profound understanding of the underlying pathology. This review covers four main topics: first, the fundamental driving forces behind each phase of normal diastolic dynamics, along with the physiological basis of two widely used echocardiographic assessment parameters, E/e' and mitral annulus early diastolic velocity (e'); second, the intricate functional relationship between the left atrium and LV in patients with varying degrees of LV diastolic dysfunction (LVDD); third, the role of stress echocardiography in diagnosing LVDD and the significance of parameter changes in this context; and fourth, the clinical utility of evaluating diastolic function from echocardiography images across diverse cardiovascular care areas.

Globally, public acceptance of waste-to-energy (WtE) incinerators is a crucial factor in implementing national waste-to-energy policies. This study adds to the literature on anti-incinerator sentiment by drawing upon an extended psychological-emotional model that integrates place-, trust-, and fairness-based pathways. A total of 338 residents in the Asuwei area in North Beijing completed a survey on a proposal to construct a WtE incinerator in the vicinity. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that place attachment positively enhances anti-incinerator sentiment through direct effects, as well as through moderation and mediation effects between risk perception and opposing willingness. Further, institutional trust negatively moderates the impact of perceived risk on anti-incinerator sentiment, in addition to directly reducing perceived risk. Trust also influences anti-incinerator sentiment via risk perception, attesting to the effectiveness of a casual model of trust. Likewise, fairness perception acts as another determinant of opposing sentiment, similar to trust. We further reveal that procedural fairness plays a more significant role in predicting anti-incinerator sentiment than does distributional fairness. These findings demonstrate the importance of using a range of instrumental and more affective strategies to promote social acceptance of renewable energy infrastructure.

The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to connect all objects and facilitate data interchange, with data accuracy being paramount. While IoT has seen extensive adoption in conventional sectors, its application in the petroleum industry, especially with downhole equipment, poses challenges due to the extreme high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, making accurate measurements elusive. This Paper we aim to enhance the accuracy of downhole pressure measurements in slim-hole drilling parameter monitoring, mitigate the temperature influences on strain gauges, and surmount the intrinsic limitations of the traditional BP neural network, such as sluggish convergence speeds, high sensitivity to initial weights and biases, unstable learning rates, and a tendency to fall into local minima. This study introduces a temperature compensation model using a chaotic-initiated adaptive whale optimization algorithm (C-I-WOA) to optimize a BP neural network, which is henceforth referred to as the C-I-WOA-BP model. Initially, we harnessed chaotic mapping techniques to refine the initialization process of the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) population, thereby bolstering the heterogeneity of the algorithm. Subsequently, we integrated an adaptive weight recalibration mechanism, refined the encompassing methodology of the WOA, and bolstered its capabilities for expansive global scouting and meticulous local refinement in the solution arena. Subsequently, the WOA was used to optimize the weight coefficients of the BP neural network. Finally, we conducted a detailed comparative analysis by juxtaposing the performance metrics of the BP, C-WOA-BP, I-WOA-BP, and C-I-WOA-BP networks. The experimental results indicate that the C-I-WOA-BP model demonstrates faster convergence speed, superior global search capabilities, and enhanced local exploitation potential compared to the other models. Additionally, it provides a more stable and accurate reduction in temperature-induced errors in drilling pressure parameter measurements.

Many studies have focused on the impacts of rainfall duration and intensity while overlooking the role of rainfall patterns on intensive tillage erosion in hilly agricultural landscapes. The objective of this study was to determine the combined effects of rainfall patterns and intensive tillage erosion on surface runoff and soil loss on sloping farmland in the purple-soil area of China. Five simulated rainfall patterns (constant, rising, falling, rising-falling, and falling-rising) with the same total precipitation were designed, and the intensive tillage erosion treatment (IT) and no-tillage treatment (NT) were subjected to simulated rainfall using rectangular steel tanks (2 m × 5 m) with a slope of 15°. To analyse the differences in the hydrodynamic characteristics induced by tillage erosion, we calculated the flow velocity (V), Reynolds number (Re), Froude number (Fr), and Darcy-Weisbach resistance coefficient (f). The results indicate that significant differences in surface runoff and soil loss were found among different rainfall patterns and stages (P < 0.05). The falling pattern and falling-rising pattern had faster runoff-initiating times and larger sediment yields than those of the other rainfall patterns. f varied from 0.30 to 9.05 for the IT and 0.48 to 11.57 for the NT and exhibited an approximately inverse trend to V and Fr over the course of the rainfall events. Compared with the NT, the mean sediment yield rates from the IT increased the dynamic range of 8.34%–16.21% among different rainfall patterns. The net contributions of the IT ranged from 2.77% to 46.39% on surface runoff and 10.14%–78.95% on soil loss on sloping farmland. Surface runoff and soil loss were positively correlated with rainfall intensity, V, and Fr but negatively correlated with f irrespective of tillage intensive (P < 0.05). For varying-intensity rainfall patterns, soil and water loss fluctuated during rainfall events, suggesting that the changes in rainfall intensity and tillage intensity would result in drastic variations in soil hydrological characteristics and sediment transport mechanisms. The time sequences of rainfall intensity in each rainfall pattern significantly affected surface runoff, soil erosion, and their contribution rates to total soil and water loss. Moreover, tillage erosion effects on soil and water loss were closely related to rainfall patterns in hilly agricultural landscapes. Our study not only sheds light on the mechanism of tillage erosion and rainfall erosion but also provides useful insights for developing tillage-water erosion prediction models to evaluate soil and water loss on cultivated hillslopes.

The purposes of this study are based upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the impact of past experiences of contract farming on selecting a specific type of contract farming in the future and then compare different psychological factors in the TPB for different potential contract farmer statuses. These statuses include homesteaders, farmers from cooperative farms, farmers from production and sales teams, professional farmers, and brokers. The impact of factors in the TPB for a particular contract type on potential contract farmers is further to compute. To this end, data are collected in three major sweet potato production areas in Taiwan. The results show that the farmers’ past contract farming experience does not influence the selection of the contract in the future. As for the selection of contract type, strengthening the perception and motivating the behavioral intention of contract farming for cooperative farms will increase the probability of selecting an unclassified sweet potato size contract. On the other hand, enhancing perceived behavioral control factors and behavioral intention factors for professional farmers and brokers is apt to have a relatively high probability of selecting those types involving the highest amount or the best price to obtain the best deal.