Potato tubers are susceptible to wounding during post-harvest processes, leading to quality decline, perishability and large economic losses. In this study, the potato cultivar, ‘Longshu No.7’, was foliar-sprayed with 3% chitosan (w/v) three times during the pre-harvest period after flowering to evaluate the effect of foliar spraying with chitosan on suberization processing at wounds of harvested potato tubers. Our results demonstrate that foliar-sprayed with chitosan significantly reduced wound-induced fresh weight loss and dry rot disease index by 37.34% and 41.60% on the 28 day after wounding, respectively. Foliar-sprayed with chitosan accelerated the deposition of suberin polyphenolics and lignin at the wound sites of potato tubers with the formation of thicker cell layers. This occurred with increased localized activities of key enzymes in the suberin polyphenolics and lignin pathways, including phenylalanine ammonia lyase, 4-coumaryl-coenzyme A ligase, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase and peroxidase (33.90–64.32%), as well as the contents of cinnamic acid, sinapic acid, flavonoids, lignins and total phenolics (19.70–23.46%) at wound sites of potato tubers on the 7 day after wounding. Our results indicated that foliar application of chitosan accelerated wound-induced suberization of potato tubers and could mitigate post-harvest product damages.

To date, viral RNA detection is almost the only way to confirm SARS-CoV-2infectionin practice.However, variousreasons can cause low sensitivity for RNA detection, and thisposes aserious challenge to disease control. We tested the performance of detecting total antibody(Ab) and IgM levels in serum by the methods of chemiluminescence, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and colloidal golddetection. The datashowed that the sensitivity and specificity for detecting total Ab and IgM levels were high by all three methods, and the sensitivity was higher for detecting total Ab than for detecting IgM. Evidence from studieshas shown thatviral RNA testingcombinedwith serological testing could increase the diagnostic sensitivity while maintaining a high specificity. Specific serology testsfor SARS-CoV-2 havegreat value for clinical practice and public health.

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

The Shitouping pluton in Jiangxi Province, southern China, hosts an ion-adsorption heave rare earth element (HREE) deposit identified by recently geological survey. This study reveals the HREE pre-enrichment mechanism during the magma-hydrothermal process of granitic bedrock based on the comprehensive study of zircon structure and composition. Zircon from the Shitouping pluton, composed of syenogranite and monzogranite, can be categorized into three types based on structure and compositions. The Type-1 zircons, the predominate type in monzogranite granite, are early magmatic zircons with prismatic crystals and bright oscillatory zoning. In contrast, the late magmatic-hydrothermal zircons (Type-2 and Type-3) are mainly occurred in the syenogranite. The Type-2 zircons occur as murky euhedral crystals crystallized in the late magmatic stage. The Type-3 zircons with irregular zoning and abundant mineral inclu-sions in BSE images are closely associated with Type-2 zircons, possibly formed via intense hy-drothermal alteration during the hydrothermal stage. The increase in Y/Ho ratios from Type-1 to Type-3 zircon indicates that the Shitouping syenogranites underwent magmatic to hydrothermal evolution. Compared with Type-1 and Type-2 zircons, Type-3 zircons exhibit the highest con-centrations of F and HREEs. The significant increase of HREE concentrations both in zircons and bulk-rock composition of syenogranite can be attributed to the introduction of HREE-rich fluids during magma evolution. Under this condition, the HREEs mainly hosted in fluorocarbonates, which can easily release HREE3+ to generate ion-adsorption deposits during the weathering process. Therefore, we propose that increase of HREE contents in zircon reflect the exsolution of HREE-rich fluids during the magma evolution, which is important factor controlling HREE en-richment in Shitouping syenogranites and further generation of ion-adsorption HREE deposits.

To keep the global navigation satellite system functional during extreme conditions, it is a trend to employ autonomous navigation technology with inter-satellite link. As in the newly built BeiDou system (BDS-3) equipped with Ka-band inter-satellite links, every individual satellite has the ability of communicating and measuring distances among each other. The system also has less dependence on the ground stations and improved navigation performance. Because of the huge amount of measurement data, centralized data processing algorithm for orbit determination is suggested to be replaced by a distributed one in which each satellite in the constellation is required to finish a partial computation task. In current paper, the balanced extended Kalman filter algorithm for distributed orbit determination is proposed and compared with whole-constellation centralized extended Kalman filter, iterative cascade extended Kalman filter, and increasing measurement covariance extended Kalman filter. The proposed method demands a lower computation power however yields results with a relatively good accuracy.

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

Side-scan sonar (SSS) detection is a key method in applications such as underwater environmental security and subsea resource development. The use of acoustic images for seabed target detection has gradually become a mainstream underwater detection method. However, many existing detection approaches primarily concentrate on tracking the evolution path of optical image object detection tasks, resulting in complex structures and limited versatility. To tackle this issue, we introduce a pioneering Dual-Domain Multi-Frequency Network (D2MFNet) meticulously crafted to harness the distinct characteristics of SSS image detection. In D2MFNet, aiming at the underwater detection requirements of small scenes, we introduce a novel method for optimize and improve the detection sensitivity of different frequency ranges and propose a Multi-Frequency Combined Attention Mechanism (MFCAM). This mechanism amplifies the relevance of dual-domain features across different channels and space. Moreover, recognizing that SSS images can provide richer insights after frequency domain conversion, we introduce a Dual-Domain Feature Pyramid Network (D2FPN). By incorporating frequency domain information representation, D2FPN significantly augments the depth and breadth of feature information in underwater small datasets. Our methods are seamlessly designed for integration into existing networks, offering plug-and-play functionality with substantial performance enhancements. We have conducted extensive experiments to validate the efficacy of our proposed techniques, and the results showcase their state-of-the-art performance. MFCAM improves the mAP by 16.9% in the KLSG dataset and 15.5% in the SCTD dataset. The mAP of D2FPN was improved by 8.4% in the KLSG dataset and by 9.8% in the SCTD dataset. We will make our code and models publicly available at https://dagshub.com/estrellaww00/D2MFNet.

All countries are facing decisions about which groups to prioritise for COVID-19 vaccination after the first vaccine product has been licensed, at which time supply shortages are inevitable. Here we define the key target populations and their size in China for a phased introduction of COVID-19 vaccination with evolving goals, accounting for the risk of illness and transmission. Essential workers (47.2 million) like healthcare workers could be prioritized for vaccination to maintain essential services. Subsequently, older adults, individuals with underlying health conditions and pregnant women (616.0 million) could be targeted to reduce severe COVID-19 outcomes. Then it could be further extended to target adults without underlying health conditions and children (738.7 million) to reduce symptomatic infections and/or to stop virus transmission. The proposed framework could assist Chinese policy-makers in the design of a vaccination program, and could be generalized to inform other national and regional COVID-19 vaccination strategies.

Photoacoustic technology is a promising tool to provide morphological and functional information in biomedical research. To enhance the imaging efficiency, the reported photoacoustic probes have been designed coaxially involving complicated optical/acoustic prisms to bypass the opaque piezoelectric layer of ultrasound transducers, but leading to bulky probes and hindering the applications in limited space. Though the emergence of transparent piezoelectric materials helps to save the effort on the coaxial design, the reported transparent ultrasound transducers were still bulky. In this work, a miniature photoacoustic probe with an outer diameter of 4 mm was developed, in which an acoustic stack was made of the combination of transparent piezoelectric material and gradient-index lens as a backing layer. The transparent ultrasound transducer exhibited a high center frequency of ~47 MHz and a -6 dB bandwidth of 29.4%, which could be easily assembled with a pigtailed ferrule of a single-mode fiber. The multi-functional capability of the probe was successfully validated through the experiments of fluid flow sensing and photoacoustic imaging.

Porous MnO/C microspheres have been successfully fabricated by a fast co-precipitation method in a T-shaped microchannel reactor. The structures, compositions and electrochemical performances of the obtained MnO/C microspheres are characterized by X-ray diffraction, emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, charge-discharge testing, cyclic voltammograms, and electrochemical impedance spectra. Experimental results reveal that the as-prepared MnO/C, with a specific surface area of 96.66 m²·g^–1 and average pore size of 24.37 nm, exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, with a discharge capacity of 655.4 mAh·g^–1 after cycling 50 times at 1 C and capacities of 808.3, 743.7, 642.6, 450.1, and 803.1 mAh·g^–1 at 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 0.2 C, respectively. Moreover, the controlled method of using a micro-channel reactor, which can produce larger specific surface area porous MnO/C with improved cycling performance by shortening lithium-ion diffusion distances, can be easily applied in real production on a large-scale.

As the Universe is dominated by of baryons, there must have been a process in early Universe creating such a asymmetry via baryon number violation. However, until recently all the confirmed experimental data indicate that lepton and baryon number are conserved in agreement with Standard Model of quarks and leptons. This paper proposes an alternative path of baryogenesis. Once the over abundant magnetic monopoles predicted by grand unification emerged at universe temperature of $10^{16}$ GeV, then their annihilation should first give rise to photons driving the expansion of the early universe. As the universe temperature dropped to the desert scale of around 10 EeV, departure from thermal equilibrium occurred. Thus the annihilation produced photons give rise to electron-positron pairs, which collide with remnant magnetic monopoles and antimonopoles. The resultant unstable intermediate X and antiX particle become asymmetric, and thereby leading to baryon asymmetry. The excess of antimonopoles corresponding to ten times of mass comparing with that of baryons provides a natural candidate for dark matter. The physics of such a desert regime baryogenesis can be simply characterized by three parameters. The collision predicts a ratio of particle and anti-particle equivalent to that of ultra-high-energy neutrino to their anti-particle, which can be tested by future observations, e.g., the constructing IceCube-Gen2.

Over abundance of magnetic monopoles predicted by the Grand Unification Theories is inconsistence with current astronomical observation. The inflationary hypotheses with a vacuum energy deriving the exponential expansion can explain the two long-standing problems, flatness and horizon of the universe; and somehow suppress the abundance of monopoles. However, the dynamical scalar field has considerable uncertainties, which even leads to inflationary models separating from particle physics. This paper makes a small change, the early universe undergoes free expansion rather than an adiabatic one widely adopted, In such a case, the annihilation of abundant magnetic monopoles is just required in driving the inflation, so that the three long-term problems are automatically solved. On the other hand, the relic mass of failed annihilation of monopoles is responsible for the dark matter at present epoch. And ongoing annihilation on stars and compact objects corresponds to the dark energy. As monopole relics may exist in the form of monopole anti-monopole pairs, a new strategy of direct search is proposed.

The research aims to resolve water pollution generated by dye wastewater. In this paper, the aminated sodium lignosulfonate (AELS) was prepared through the Mannich reaction, and the synthesis conditions were optimized using orthogonal experiments to determine the best amination conditions. The successful preparation of AELS was demonstrated through the use of FT-IR, XRD, TG, SEM and XPS characterization techniques. Then, the adsorption capacity of Methyl blue (MB) by AELS was compared in a range of different circumstances, like pH, adsorbent dose, initial concentration, time, and temperature. Additionally, the kinetics, isotherms, and thermodynamic properties of the AELS adsorption for MB were studied and discussed. The results indicated that the fitting results were consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model, in accordance with the mechanism of single-molecular-layer chemisorption. And the adsorption of MB by AELS was a spontaneous and endothermic process. Upon completion of five adsorption experiments, the adsorption capacity of MB by AELS was determined to be 107.95 mg g-1, which was 5.3% lower than the first experiment. This research promotes the effective use of natural resources and allows for the sustainable use of lignin and the advancement of new applications for it.

Cellulose-based carbon (CBC) has been widely concerned with its porous structure, high specific surface area, and is liable to adsorb gas molecules and macromolecular pollutants. However, the application of CBC in gas sensing has been little studied. In this paper, ZnO/CBC heterojunction was formed by means of simple co-precipitation and high temperature carbonization. As a new ammonia sensor, the prepared ZnO/CBC sensor can detect ammonia compared with that of the previous pure ZnO ammonia sensor can not at room temperature. It has great gas sensing response, stability and selectivity to ammonia concentration at 200 ppm. This study provides a new idea for the design and synthesis of biomass carbon-metal oxide composites.

The anthropogenic deterioration of aquatic ecosystems affects water resources due to agricultural malpractices, pollution from domestic septic tanks, recreational activities, and poor watershed management, among others. This study examines the management of Las Curias Reservoir (176,974 m2), San Juan, Puerto Rico, post the 2016 arrival of the invasive aquatic fern Salvinia molesta. In December 2019, a community-led initiative introduced the Cyrtobagous salviniae weevil, an effective biological control agent for S. molesta, and commenced a mechanical removal campaign using an aquatic harvester. Limnological sampling (September 2019 to March 2022) and drone flights were employed to measure physicochemical and floating plant cover changes, respectively, in the reservoir. Monitoring of weevils in the reservoir demonstrated a rapid establishment and dispersal, which resulted in visible damage including browning of plants and eventually sinking of entire mats. By January 29, 2021, 71% (125,652 m2) of the reservoir surface was covered by salvinia. In 2022, the reservoir recorded an average dissolved oxygen concentration of 2.38 mg/L -1 (± 0.021, n = 144), the highest in the study period and indicative of ecosystem recovery. After three years of control efforts, dissolved oxygen, pH, and specific conductance returned to levels recorded prior to Salvinia molesta introduction. This ecosystem recovery, a first in Puerto Rico, could be attributed to an early use of mechanical control and a long-term impact of biological control.

Root crops grow in the soil deeply and bond with soil closely, which results in that the process of the separation between soil and root becomes the most difficult during the harvesting processes. In order to harvest root crops efficiently, the mechanical harvesting has become the main developing trend. However, high power and high damage rate are still occurred when mechanical harvester gets in touch with the roots. In this paper, we review the research of the development and evaluation of the mechanical harvesting of root crops and its performance optimization on the past years. The process of soil separation mainly consists in the initial separation between root and the ground and further separation between root and adhered soil. In general, the soil-cutting operation in the initial separation and the sieving mechanism in the further separation require high draught and power. And the dramatic friction, impact, pressure and so on, which happen in the components and soil-roots, are the key reasons to lead to root damage. The optimization of harvesting methods and parameters, including the digging shovel shape, working conditions, vibration, and screening way, is more significant in improving the harvesting performance. But there are still some limitations in the research and application of the mechanical harvester for root crops. Future research is suggested to focus on the development of the soil break-up when the digging shovel cutting soil, the insight into the interaction between soil and roots by different external compression loads, and the long-term studies to verify the high-efficiency and low-damage performances of mechanical harvester in practical application.

Inflationary model provides a conceptual explanation of the horizon problem, the flatness problem and may also suppress the over abundant magnetic monopoles predicted by Grand Unified Theories. Although various inflationary models have been proposed since 1981, difficulties like fine tuning is not only unsolved but also becomes severer in confrontation with data of Planck Satellite. This paper proposes an alternative model of inflation: the spontaneous symmetry breaking phase transition at early universe is only responsible for the production of magnetic monopoles expected by Grand Unified Theories; it is the subsequent energy release of monopole annihilation that drives the inflation. As a result, the early universe underwent a free expansion with a heat source originating in the annihilation, which expects a smooth, plateau-like potential consistent with the observational data. Beside interpreting a number of long standing inflationary problems, the new scenario predicts a significant increase of entropy during the inflation, and tends to produce large scale structures exceed scale of 300 million light-years correlated with a CMB smoothen and flatten by a simple dynamical mechanism.

In 1935 Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) studied general entangled states in the two photon experiment and pointed out the contradiction between local realism and the completeness of quantum mechanism. Most of the EPR experiments in recent years are based on the detection of polarization correlations of optical photons between spatially separated photon channels, some of which are split and directed to two spatially separated Michelson interferometers. Later, the two arms of Michelson interferometers are replaced by dual-channel Fabry-Perot (F-P) interferometry enabling precise analysis of the energy-time entanglement between a pair of photons. On the other hand, F-P type detectors on gravitational radiation have caught dozens of gravitational wave (GW) events successfully. This paper proposes a combined experiment of EPR and GW, exhibiting whether the coincident rate of EPR is modulated by GW induced change of cavity length or not. Such an experiment could test the coupling of quantum mechanics and general relativity for the first time, and be a useful tool to explore the nature of quantum gravity.

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

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

The diffusion coefficient--a measure of dissipation, and the entropy--a measure of fluctuation are found to be intimately correlated in many physical systems. Unlike the fluctuation dissipation theorem in linear response theory, the correlation is often strongly non-linear. To understand this complex dependence, we consider the classical Brownian diffusion in this work. Under certain rational assumption, i.e. in the bi-component fluid mixture, the mass of the Brownian particle $M$ is far greater than that of the bath molecule $m$, we can adopt the weakly couple limit. Only considering the first-order approximation of the mass ratio $m/M$, we obtain a linear motion equation in the reference frame of the observer as a Brownian particle. Based on this equivalent equation, we get the Hamiltonian at equilibrium. Finally, using canonical ensemble method, we define a new entropy that is similar to the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy. Further, we present an analytic expression of the relationship between the diffusion coefficient $D$ and the entropy $S$ in the thermal equilibrium, that is to say, $D =\frac{\hbar}{eM} \exp{[S/(k_Bd)]}$, where $d$ is the dimension of the space, $k_B$ the Boltzmann constant, $\hbar $ the reduced Planck constant and $e$ the Euler number. This kind of scaling relation has been well-known and well-tested since the similar one for single component is firstly derived by Rosenfeld with the expansion of volume ratio.

In order to achieve its carbon peak and neutrality targets, a high proportion of distributed power sources are connected to the distribution network in China, which greatly increases the risk of distribution network operation. Aiming at the above problems, this paper proposes an active distribution network risk planning model based on multi-source data from carbon capture and power internet of things, and conducts exceeding testing of distribution network based on the stochastic load flow algorithm with semi-invariant and level expansion, calculates the semi-invariant of each order of node state vectors and branch current vectors, and then utilizes the Gram-Charlier level expansion to obtain the exceeding probability density function and probability distribution function of the node voltages and line powers of the distribution network. The probability density function and probability distribution function of the exceeding are obtained using the Gram-Charlier series expansion. Combined with multi-source data, the active distribution network with integrated energy system considering carbon capture is modeled. According to the risk scenario of the distribution network, the nonconvex constraints in the model are simplified by the second-order cone relaxation, and the optimal planning scheme of the distribution network is solved by combining the gurobi solver with the risk index as the first-level objective and the economic benefit as the second-level objective. The simulation results of a coupled network consisting of a 39-node distribution network and an 11-node transportation network verify the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Background: Atopic dermatitis is a chronic condition that significantly affects the daily life of those who suffer from it, requiring complex and personalized management with active participation of the patient in the management of their disease. Objective: to describe the design and development process of a mobile application, using the Design Thinking method, for the follow-up of patients with atopic dermatitis. Methods: User-centered design and prototype creation method, differentiating the phases of the empathize, define, idea, prototype, and test. A purposive snowball sampling was used to recruit patients with atopic dermatitis, family members, and health professionals. Three two-hour workshops were held, attended by 25 people. Results: the parameters to be monitored will include objective data (physical, behavioral, treatments, environmental, integration of daily routines) and subjective data (user experience). On the other hand, it will figure out behavior patterns, set up rewards, foster a feeling of community, and use notifications and a chatbot. Conclusion: The active integration of all stakeholders at each stage of the design and development of the digital solution has improved its relevance and acceptance, resulting in a tool that is expected to significantly improve the management of atopic dermatitis.

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

Soybean is one of the world’s most economically significant crops and is widely utilized as an essential source of vegetable protein and edible oil. Cultivated soybean is domesticated from its annual counterpart, wild soybean, which is considered valuable germplasm for soybean breeding. However, wild soybean accessions generally produce seeds with impermeable coats, a trait known as hard seededness (HS), which is beneficial for long-term seed survival but is undesirable for the uniform water absorption and germination of seeds, thus limiting the utilization of wild soybeans in breeding. However, moderate HS can isolate the embryo from the surrounding environment and is thus beneficial for long-term seed storage and germplasm preservation. The HS trait is primarily associated with the structure and chemical composition of the seed coat. However, its development is also influenced by various environmental conditions, such as water and temperature. Genetic analysis has revealed that HS of soybean is a complex quantitative trait controlled by multiple genes or minor quantitative trait loci (QTL), with many QTLs and several causal genes currently identified. Investigating the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying this trait is crucial for soybean breeding, production, and food processing. For this article, the literature was reviewed and condensed to create a well-rounded picture of the current understanding of internal and external factors, QTLs, causal genes, and the regulatory mechanisms related to the HS of soybean, with the aim of providing reference for future research and utilization of this trait.

Common prosperity is the core goal of rural revitalization, and sustainable growth of farmers' income is an inevitable requirement. This study uses CLDS2016-2020 village and family level questionnaire data to reveal how the degree of village organization affects the sustainable growth of farmers' income, thus providing reference and decision-making for the local government to promote the increase of farmers' income and narrow the gap from the village level. The results show that the degree of village organization can significantly affect farmers' income, and the analysis results of the degree of formal organization are consistent with them. Specifically, for every 1% increase in the degree of village organization, the per capita household income will increase by 32.4%, among which the wage income will increase by 22.6%, the operational income will increase by 5%, the property income will increase by 0.8%, and the transfer income will increase by 4.2%. The estimation results through instrumental variables are consistent, and the results are robust. At the same time, improving the degree of village organization can also significantly increase the proportion of farmers' non-agricultural income and narrow the income gap among farmers. On the impact of heterogeneity, it is found that the geographical distance between villages and county and township governments, as well as the political identity and education level of farmers will affect the role of the degree of organization. The results of mechanism analysis show that improving the degree of village organization is mainly through promoting the circulation of agricultural land, socialized service of agricultural machinery and industrial and commercial capital to the countryside to increase farmers' income. The research revealed that the modernization of rural governance should be accelerated, and the degree of village organization should be improved, especially the degree of formal organization, so as to build a benign trust and cooperation relationship between the two village committees and the villagers, and implement policies and measures to improve the income of farmers according to local conditions. At the same time, strengthen the publicity and education in party member to improve the proportion of rural party member and the education level of farmers.

FV (finger vein) identification is a biometric identification technology that extracts the features of FV images for identity authentication. To address the limitations of CNN-based FV identification, particularly the challenge of small receptive fields and difficulty in capturing long-range dependencies, an FV identification method Let-Net(Large kernel and attention mechanism Network) was introduced, which combines local and global information. Firstly, Let-Net employs large kernels to broaden the receptive field and incorporates depthwise convolution with residual connections to reduce parameter count. Secondly, Let-Net integrates an attention mechanism to enhance the information flows in channels and spaces for more comprehensive and distinctive FV feature extraction. The experimental results on nine public datasets show that Let-Net has excellent identification performance, and the EER and accuracy rate on the FV_USM dataset can reach 0.04% and 99.77%. The parameter number and FLOPs of Let-Net are only 0.89M and 0.25G, which means that the time cost of training and reasoning of the model is low, and it is easier to deploy and integrate into various applications.

With the rapidly increasing of people’s purchasing power, the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry is supposed to grow dramatically. In order to gain more market access and profile, it is important for the FMCG manufacturers and retailers to find the preferences and provincial characteristics of consumers, to develop more suitable goods distribution strategy. Based on retails marketing data with geographic characteristics, this paper proposes a new combination of geography methods to solve the problems in distribution of FMCG. Via multiple K-means clustering and cross validation of KNN half off, the mesoscopic sales features are extracted through the classification of retails, which can indirectly grasp the consumer behavior characteristics. Based on space division and Moran’ I spatial autocorrelation arithmetic, two strategies are developed to satisfy consumer’s needs and promote sales, including conservative and positive strategies. According to our analysis, the total sales volume of the regions will increase by 5.1% and 10.3%. This study can be applied to the provide purchase strategies for FMCG retails according to their locations. The research can explore the consumption potential of different areas, thus improving the profile of retails and the development of economy in more mesoscopic scale.

This paper considers the direction of arrival (DOA) estimation problem of phase ambiguity for unfolded coprime linear array (UCLA). The existing most common stacking subarray-based method can tackle the phase ambiguity problem. However, the method is not always true. For a given DOA, it has its corresponding steering vector, but if there are two DOAs which have the same steering vectors with the given DOA for different subarrays, the phase ambiguity problem still arises. A modified method, which defines a decision variable and uses the classic beamforming technique to estimate the DOAs is proposed. However, this method needs additional algorithm to distinguish the true DOAs besides multiple signal classification (MUSIC) spectrum. And sometimes this method is not reliable if the decision variable is not chosen appropriately. Therefore, based on the UCLA, we reconstruct the array to design an improved UCLA called IUCLA. With moving the reference element, the linear relationship among the directional vectors can be broken. In this way, we can directly utilize the MUSIC algorithm to estimate with no additional algorithm. The proposed method can solve the phase ambiguity problem and it does not demand other technique to decrease the complexity. Moreover, the Cramer-Rao Bound (CRB), as the lower bound of the unbiased estimation, is provided and numerical simulations are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

Since the discovery of graphene, due to its excellent optical, thermal, mechanical and electrical properties, it has a broad application prospect in energy, materials, biomedicine, electromagnetism and other fields. A great quantity of researches on the physical mechanism of graphene has been applied to engineering in electromagnetism and optics. To study the properties of graphene, different kinds of numerical methods have been developed for simulating the electromagnetic field effects of graphene, and equivalent boundary conditions have been employed to replace graphene in the computational domain. In this work, the numerical methods with equivalent boundary conditions are reviewed, and some examples are provided to illustrate their applicability.

Land use is an embodiment of human socioeconomic activities and represents a bridge between these activities and natural systems. Through social activities, humans transform land use to promote social and economic development and improve production, living conditions, and eco-logical functions of land. Rural residential land represents a space for rural residents to reside in and exhibits spatial characteristics that evolve over time, which is proof of rural socioeconomic development. This paper observes rural residential land in 21 cities on the Grand Canal and analyses its spatial differentiation. Then, it explores the driving factors of this land using spatial grid analysis and the geographic detector model. Lastly, it proposes three different forms of rural residential land based on the results. The study found that: (1) the change of rural residential land in the northern part of the Grand Canal was more volatile than that in the southern part. The change of rural residential land from 1990 to 2020 conformed to the pattern of cultivated land - rural residential land - urban construction land; (2) Based on the driving factors of rural residen-tial land, the land is divided into one-dimensional cities, two-dimensional cities and three-dimensional cities. Circular, linear, and scattered cities of different sizes were affected by socioeconomic factors, transportation accessibility, and the natural environment, respectively; and (3) Finally, according to the spatial differentiation characteristics and the driving factors of rural residential land, the study proposes the construction of three types of villages through the strate-gies of constructing large-scale villages, relocating and reconstructing new villages, and con-structing high-quality villages, respectively. Enhancing the scientific planning of rural residential land and its efficiency can offer the protection of agricultural land and the integration of urban and rural areas in the new era.

Automatic recognition methods for non-stationary EEG data collected from EEG sensors play an essential role in neurological detection. The integrative approaches proposed in this study consists of Symlet wavelet processing, a gradient boosting machine, and a grid search optimizer for a three-level classification scheme for normal subjects, intermittent epilepsy, and continuous epilepsy. Fourth-order Symlet wavelets were adopted to decompose the EEG data into five time-frequency sub-bands, whose statistical features were computed and used as classification features. The grid search optimizer was used to automatically find the optimal parameters for training the classifier. The classification accuracy of the gradient boosting machine was compared with that of a support vector machine and a random forest classifier constructed according to previous descriptions. Multiple-index were used to evaluate the Symlet wavelet transform-gradient boosting machine-grid search optimizer classification scheme, which provided better classification accuracy and detection effectiveness than has recently reported in other work on three-level classification of EEG data.

Background: Participation is low (43%) in Australia’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Program which provides a biennial Fecal Immunochemical Test kit mailed to the home of Australians aged 50-74 years. While several factors for non-participation have been identified, the role of mental and physical health on screening behaviour has not been assessed. Methods: Participants of the Australasian Colorectal Cancer Family Registry Cohort were asked to complete a questionnaire on their colorectal cancer screening in the past five years and a validated measure of mental and physical health. The association between mental and physical health and screening was determined for Australian participants aged 45-75 years who had never been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for measured potential confounders. Results: Of the 1130 eligible participants, 819 reported colorectal cancer screening in the past five years (72%). After adjusting for potential confounders, there was no evidence that overall mental or physical health was associated with colorectal cancer screening. However, one specific scale, general health, was positively associated with colorectal cancer screening (p=0.014) with those reporting higher levels of general health undergoing screening.Conclusion: We found limited evidence that mental and physical health, as measured by a short questionnaire, are associated with colorectal cancer screening. A potential limitation is reverse causation where previous screening may have impacted mental or physical health. A more detailed study of physical and mental health as barriers or enablers of screening is needed.

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

The morphological and compositional complexities of keratinized components make feathers ingenious skin appendages adapted to diverse ecological needs. Frizzling feathers, characterized by their distinct curling phenotypes, offer a unique model to explore the intricate morphogenesis in developing a keratin-based bioarchitecture over a wide range of morphospace. Here, we investigated the heterogeneous allocation of α- and β-keratins in flight feather shafts of homozygous and heterozygous frizzle chickens by analyzing the medulla-cortex integrations using quantitative morphology characterizations across scales. Our results reveal intriguing construction of frizzling feather shaft through modified medulla development, leading to a perturbed balance of the internal biomechanics and, therefore, introducing the inherent natural frizzling compared to those from wild-type chickens. We elucidate how the localized developmental suppression of the α-keratin in the medulla interferes with the growth of the hierarchical keratin organization by changing the internal stress in the frizzling feather shaft. This research not only offers insights into the morphogenetic origin of the inherent bending of frizzling feathers but also facilitates our in-depth understanding of the developmental strategies toward the diverse integuments adapted for ecological needs.

This paper presents a complete control strategy of the active return-to-center (RTC) control for electric power steering (EPS) systems. We first establish the mathematical model of the EPS system and analyze the source and influence of the self-aligning torque (SAT). Second, based on the feedback signals of steering column torque and steering wheel angle, we give the trigger conditions of a state switch between the steering assist state and the RTC state. In order to avoid the sudden change of the output torque for the driving motor when the state switches frequently between the steering assist state and the RTC state, we design an undisturbed state switching logic algorithm. This state switching logic algorithm ensures that the output value of the RTC controller is set to an initial value and increases in given steps up to a maximum value after entering the RTC state, and the output value of the RTC controller will reduce in given steps down to zero when exiting the RTC state. This therefore ensures smooth switch control between the two states and improves the driver’s steering feeling. Third, we design the RTC controller, which depends upon the feedback signals of the steering wheel angle and the angular velocity. In addition, the controller increases the auxiliary control function of the RTC torque based on vehicle speed. The experimental results show that the active RTC control method does not affect the basic assist characteristics, which effectively reduces the residual angle of the steering wheel at low vehicle speed and improves the RTC performance of the vehicle.

Solid polymer electrolytes and composite polymer electrolytes serve as crucial components in all-solid-state energy storage devices. Structural batteries and supercapacitors present a promising alternative for electric vehicles, integrating structural functionality with energy storage capability. However, despite their potential, these applications are hampered by various challenges, particularly in the realm of developing new solid polymer electrolytes that require more investigations. In this study, novel solid polymer electrolytes and composite polymer electrolytes were synthesized using epoxy resin blends, ionic liquid, lithium salt, and alumina nanoparticles, and subsequently characterized. Among the formulations tested, the optimal system, designated as L70P30ILE40Li1MAl2 and containing 40 wt.% of ionic liquid and 5.7 wt.% of lithium salt, exhibited exceptional mechanical properties. It displayed a remarkable storage modulus of 1.2 GPa and reached ionic conductivities of 0.085 mS/cm at 60°C. Furthermore, a proof-of-concept supercapacitor was fabricated, demonstrating the practical application of the developed electrolyte system.

In polymer-based dental composites, wear is a three-body wear system mainly abrasive, because of the food particles and wear products suspended in the oral cavity, which are transferred to the microcavities of the surface of the replacements. Due to this fact, the incorporation of nanodiamond as reinforcement in these polymer matrix composites, which promotes the creation of a solid lubricant tribofilm surface could be advantageous. When nanodiamond is added in contents of 0.8, 1.6 and 3.2 wt %, an increase in microhardness from 95 up to 420 %, compared to the one of neat BisGMA/TEGDMA, is observed. Additionally, the incorporation of a content of 1.6 wt % is enough to cause a diminution of ~78 % in the friction coefficient and a reduction of the specific wear rate and Archard’s coefficient of ~50 %. Nevertheless, the addition of relatively high contents reduces the effectiveness of photoinitiation and UV-curing, which is related to the scattering and absorption of UV radiation by ND.

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

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

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

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

The aim of this work was to classify the business incubators in Spain according to the four phases of the startup’s incubation process. Considering that the graduation rate implies greater survival and business success of the incubated companies, they have been identified at each stage of the incubation (spread of entrepreneurship, pre-incubation, advanced incubation, and graduation). The activities that present higher impacts on the success of the incubated companies and the activities carried out by the business incubator that have a greater relevance on the graduation of the companies have concretely been considered. Principal component (PC) cluster analysis has been applied. All the incubation variables were used simultaneously, reducing their number, and grouping them into factors. Finally, the cases were grouped according to these latent variables. Principal components analysis reduced dimensionality to 8 factors with a 74 % of explained variance. Factor 1 was positively related to pre-incubation variables, factor 2 was linked to training and collaboration variables within the entrepreneurship diffusion phase. Factor 3, named activity monitoring and control, was related to phase 3 or basic incubation variables. Cluster analysis facilitates the grouping of business incubators into three clusters: Group 1 (16 % of the total), incubators with strong deficits in incubation phases 1, 2 and 3. They are small sized business incubators, often located in rural areas or cities and low graduation rate. Group 2 (30 %), business incubators with very high graduation rate, and strongly positive values in factors 1 and 2. Factor 3, although positive, it is susceptible to improvement. They are the largest group of business incubators and usually located in industrial and technological parks. Group 3 (54 %) is the majority, with values close to cluster 2 and 3.

The aim of this work was to classify the business incubators in Spain according to the four phases of startups incubation. Taking into account that the graduation rate implies greater survival and business success of the incubated companies, they have been identified at each stage of the incubation (spread of entrepreneurship, pre-incubation, advanced incubation, and graduation). The activities that present higher impacts on the success of the incubated companies and the activities carried out by the incubator that have a greater relevance on the graduation of the companies have concretely been considered. Principal component (PC) cluster analysis have been applied. All the incubation variables were used simultaneously, reducing their number, and grouping them into factors, finally the cases were grouped according to these latent variables. Principal components analysis reduced dimensionality to 8 factors with a 74 % of explained variance. Factor 1 was positively related to pre-incubation variables, factor 2 was linked to training and collaboration variables within the entrepreneurship diffusion phase. Factor 3 called activity monitoring and control and was related to phase 3 or basic incubation variables. Clusters analysis facilitates the grouping of incubators into three clusters: Group 1 (16 % of the total), incubators with strong deficits in incubation phases 1, 2 and 3. They are small Business Incubators, often located in rural areas or cities and low graduation rate. Group 2 (30 %), business incubators with very high graduation rate, and strongly positive values in factor 1 and 2. Factor 3 although positive is susceptible to improvement. They are the largest incubators and usually located in industrial and technological parks. Group 3 (54 %) is the majority, with values close to cluster 2 and 3.

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

Global wind observations are fundamental for studying weather and climate dynamics. Most wind measurements come from atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) by tracking the displacement of cloud or water vapor features. These AMVs generally rely on thermal infrared (IR) techniques for their height assignments, which are subject to large uncertainties in the presence of weak or reversed vertical temperature gradients around the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and with tropopause folding. Stereo imaging can overcome the height assignment problem using geometric parallax for feature height determination. In this study we develop a stereo 3D-Wind algorithm to simultaneously retrieve AMV and height from geostationary (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite imagery and apply it to collocated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) imagery. The new algorithm improves AMV and height relative to products from GOES or MISR alone, with an estimated accuracy of <0.5 m/s in AMV and <200 m in height with 2.2 km sampling. The algorithm can be generalized to other LEO-GEO or GEO-GEO combinations for greater spatiotemporal coverage. The technique demonstrated with MISR and GOES has important implications for future high-quality AMV observations, for which a low-cost constellation of CubeSats can play a vital role.

In mesoscale eddies, chemical properties and biological composition are different from those in surrounding water, due to their unique physical processes. It is unclear how physical-biological coupling occurs in warm-core eddies, particularly since no study has examined the relationship between bacteria and viruses. The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of anticyclonic warm eddy on the relationship between bacterial and viral abundances as well as viral activity (viral production) in different depths. In the core of warm eddy, bacterial abundance (0.48 to 2.82 ×105 cells mL−1) fluctuated less than that of the outside eddy (1.12 to 7.03×105 cells mL−1). In particular, there was four-folds higher of viral-bacterial abundance ratio (VBR) estimated within the eddy below DCM than the outside eddy. We suggest that prevailing physical forces with downwelling at the center of the anticyclonic warm eddy, viruses can also be transmitted into the deep ocean directly through adsorption on particulate organic matter during sinking. Overall, our findings provide valuable insights into the interaction between bacterial and viral communities and their ecological mechanism within the warm eddy.

In this paper, a land utilization efficiency evaluation model, which takes environmental loss into consideration, has been structured via taking advantage of the slack-based measure (SBM) model. Meanwhile, based on the panel data from 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2013, the paper thoroughly probed into, and discussed, the effect imposed by industry clustering and specialization on the utilization efficiency of urban land. Research results indicate several conclusions, as follows: (1) Taking environmental loss into account, the land utilization efficiency of prefecture-level cities in China is generally low. During the research period, the average value of the land utilization efficiency of prefecture-level cities in China is only 0.349, with, first, a declining trend, and then a rise. Geographically speaking, the land utilization efficiency presents a “depression in the center” phenomenon which means the land utilization efficiency of prefecture-level cities in the central China are relatively lower than in the east and west. Now, the difference among the urban land utilization efficiency in China significantly reflects the distinctions among Eastern, Western, and Central China. Moreover, the contribution degree of the difference of the land utilization efficiency among cities of central China to the aggregation difference shows an ascending momentum. Additionally, the relation between the population scale and land utilization efficiency in cities manifests as a U shape; (2) theoretically speaking, the relation between industry clustering and urban land utilization efficiency presents an inverted-U shape. However, this kind of relation is not significant in Western and Central China and medium-sized cities. Moreover, most of cities are still relatively far away from the inflection point or the critical value; and (3) the industry professional level has imposed a positive influence on urban land utilization efficiency. However, that influence is not significant in Eastern China and large cities. Consequently, strengthening the industry professional development of Western and Central China and small and medium-sized cities, facilitating diversified development of industries in Eastern China and large cities, and accelerating industrial clustering, all of these measures above will be conducive to improving urban land utilization efficiency in China.

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

Increased attention has been paid to the influence of coal mining subsidence on ecological environment. Restoration of ecosystem in damaged mining area is critical for restoring disturbed environment. The comparing of plant communities and microbial communities in the artificial restoration and natural restoration areas provides an effective method for evaluating the restoration effects. However, such studies are limited in coal mining subsidence restoration areas. Subsidence area in Shendong mining area, located in the semi-arid region of Western China, was restored from 2003 with 5 ecological restoration plant species. In July 2017, the comparison and analysis of plant and microbial communities were conducted at the artificial restoration areas (AR) and the natural remediation areas (NR). The results showed that the artificial ecological restoration in Shendong mining area has achieved some success, but it has not recovered to a similar ecosystem before the destruction. A higher plant species, coverage and bacterial community diversity were observed in AR. However, these features have lower similarity compared with those in NR sites. Potential soil factors, such as pH, moisture content, total carbon content, organic matter, nitrogen and bulk density, have a greater impact on soil bacterial community structure and diversity. In the ecological restoration of the mining area, attention should be paid to the restoration of soil properties in the mining area. This study can provide theoretical guidance for more scientific ecological restoration in the damaged mining area.

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

To handle the problem of solving the results of aircraft’s visual navigation with scene matching, this paper take the measure of the spherical EPnP positioning posture solving by measuring the central angle threshold value and approaches for constructing a measuring model. The detailed steps are as follows: firstly, this approach needs to construct a positioning coordinate model for the earth surface, makes sure the expression for the 3-dimensional coordinate of the earth surface and solves the positioning of constructing data model with EPnP positioning posture solving algo-rithm. Secondly, by contrasting and analyzing the positioning posture value of approximate plane coordinates, the critical value is acquired, which can be recognized as plane calculation. Lastly, this method should construct a theoretical model of measurement for the visual height and central angle with the decided central angle threshold value. The simulation experiment shows that the average positioning precision of taking the spherical coordinates as input is 16.42 percent way higher than taking the plane coordinates as input. When the central angle is less than 0.05 degrees and the surface district is less than 5585 square meters, the positioning precision of the plane co-ordinates is pretty much equal to the spherical coordinates. At this moment, the sphere can be seen as flat. The conclusion of this essay can theoretically guide the further study of positioning posture solving of the scene matching, which is also of vital significance for theory research and engineering application.

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

The prediction of system degradation is very important as it serves as an important basis for the formulation of condition-based maintenance strategies. An effective health indicator (HI) plays a key role in the prediction of system degradation as it enables vital information for critical tasks ranging from fault diagnosis to remaining useful life prediction. To address this issue, a method for monitoring data fusion and health indicator construction based on autoencoder (AE) and long short-term memory (LSTM) network is proposed to improve the predictability and effectiveness of health indicator in this study. Firstly, an unsupervised method and overall framework for HI construction is built based on deep autoencoder and LSTM neural network. The neural network is trained fully based on the normal operating monitoring data and then the construction error of the AE model is adopted as the health indicator of the system. Secondly, we propose related machine learning techniques for monitoring data processing to overcome the issue of data fusion, like mutual information for sensor selection and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (T-SNE) for operating condition identification, etc. Thirdly, in order to verify the performance of the proposed method, experiments are conducted based on CMAPSS dataset and results are compared with algorithms of principal component analysis (PCA) and vanilla autoencoder model. Result shows that LSTM-AE model outperforms the PCA and Vanilla-AE model in metrics of monotonicity, trendability, prognosability and fitness. Fourthly, in order to analyze the impact of the time step of the LSMT-AE model on HI construction, we construct and analyze the system HI curve under different time steps of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 cycles. Finally, the results demonstrate that the proposed method for HI construction can effectively characterize the health state of system, which is helpful for further failure prognostics and converting the scheduled maintenance into condition-based maintenance.

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

This manuscript investigates the dispersion of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) treated cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in polypropylene (PP) by melt mixing. FTIR spectra of CTAB-modified CNCs and unmodified CNCs in a PP matrix were used to evaluate the surface treatments. The surface energies and morphologies of CTAB surface modified CNCs in polypropylene (PP) were used to interpret the effects of nanoparticle dispersion on the crystallization and rheological and mechanical properties of the PP matrix.

Locomotor impairment is a high-prevalent and significant source of disability and significantly impacts a large population’s quality of life. Despite decades of research in human locomotion, the challenges of simulating human movement to study the features of musculoskeletal drivers and clinical conditions remain. Most recent efforts in utilizing reinforcement learning (RL) techniques are promising to simulate human locomotion and reveal musculoskeletal drives. However, these simulations often failed to mimic natural human locomotion because most reinforcement strategies have yet to consider any reference data regarding human movement. To address these challenges, in this study, we designed a reward function based on the trajectory optimization rewards (TOR), and bio-inspired rewards, which includes the rewards obtained from reference motion data captured by a single Intertial Moment Unit (IMU) sensor. The sensor was equipped on the participants’ pelvis to capture reference motion data. Also, we adapted the reward function by leveraging previous research in walking simulation for TOR. The experimental results showed that the simulated agents with the modified reward function performed better in mimicking the collected IMU data from participants, which means the simulated human locomotion was more realistic. Also, as this bio-inspired defined cost, IMU data enhanced the agent’s capacity to converge during the training process. As a result, the models’ convergence is faster than those developed without reference motion data. Consequently, human locomotion can be simulated more quicker and in a broader range of environments with a better simulation performance.

The work safety standardization of enterprises based on the traditional work safety theory has played a significant role in reducing the number of accidents and improving work safety to some extent in China. However, some problems are coming with the work safety standardization of enterprises developing constantly in China. On the one hand, it is not combined with the actual situation of the enterprise, lacking pertinence and specificity, these defects resulted that it is not integrated with original safety production management system of enterprise and make it difficult to carry out. On the other hand, there is a lack of systematic management methods for the work safety management system of enterprise, most of enterprises only pay attention to the inspection result rather than the process control. This means after the check of the government, many enterprises will relax to carry out the system. This paper puts forward a new method for optimizing the standardization management mode of work safety based on the Viable System Model(VSM), which can solve the defects of work safety standardization of enterprises management system. An optimization model of work safety standardization based on VSM was construct for explaining the process optimization and control of work safety standardization management. It can improve the connectivity between the enterprise and the government. The conclusion of this paper can provide reference for achieving the development and optimization of work safety standardization of enterprises in China.

The damage evolution rules of coal under true triaxial combined static-dynamic loads are important to understand and reveal the mechanism of rockburst in coal mines. The numerical simulation was carried out using FLAC3D to explore the coupling effect of static and dynamic stress, especially the influence of dynamic load parameters. The results show that the increase of dynamic load amplitude not only makes the plastic zone grow exponentially and shorten the damage development time, but also decreases the residual strength of the coal sample, which leads to a much more violent of the dynamic failure. The stress wave can propagate more stable in the coal sample with the increase of dynamic load frequency and the development time of the plastic zone also show synchronous fluctuating features, and when the frequency is like the intrinsic frequency of the coal sample, the dynamic load has a significant stimulate effect. The static and dynamic loads have different damage effect to the coal sample under true triaxial stress path, the weight decreases in order of the minimum principal stress, the maximum principal, the amplitude of the dynamic load and at last the dynamic stress frequency by the entropy weight method analysis.

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.

In this paper, we synthesized MC(BeA-co-MMA) copolymer microcapsules through suspension polymerization. The pendent n-behenyl group of BeA is highly crystalline, and it acts as the side-chain in the structure of BeA-co-MMA copolymer. The highly crystalline n-behenyl side-chain provides BeA-co-MMA copolymer thermal-energy-storage capacity. In order to investigate the correlation between thermal properties and crystal structure of BeA-co-MMA copolymer, the effects of monomer ratio, temperature changing and changing rate, as well as synthesis method were discussed. The monomer ratio influenced crystal transition behavior and thermal properties greatly. The DSC results proved that when the monomer ratio of BeA and MMA was 3:1, MC(BeA-co-MMA)3 showed the highest average phase change enthalpy ΔH (105.1 J·g–1). It indicated that the n-behenyl side-chain formed relatively perfect crystal region, which ensured a high energy storage capacity of copolymer. All the DSC and SAXS results proved that the amount of BeA had a strong effect on the thermal-energy-storage capacity of copolymer and the long spacing of crystals, but barely on the crystal lamella. It was found that MMA units worked like defects in the n-behenyl side-chain crystal structure of BeA-co-MMA copolymer. Therefore, a lower fraction of MMA, that is, a higher fraction of BeA contributed to a higher crystallinity of BeA-co-MMA copolymer for providing a better energy storage capacity and thermoregulation property. ST(BeA-co-MMA) copolymer sheets with the same ingredients as microcapsules were also prepared through light-induced polymerization aiming at clarifying the effect of synthesis method. The results proved that synthesis method mainly influenced the copolymer chemical component, but lightly on the crystal packing of n-behenyl side-chain.

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

This research examines how rainfall and mining affect the slope damage resulting from the transition from open-pit mining to underground mining. Using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the Huangniu slope of Dexing Copper Mine was fully characterized, and experiments were conducted on rock samples from appropriate sites. First, the mechanical properties of the samples were measured. Then, the parameters of the similarity simulation experiments were derived based on the similarity theory. Subsequently, the rainfall, rock slope, data acquisition and monitoring systems were designed. Finally, the rock mass failure with different slope angles was analyzed, and the deformation and damage patterns under the coupling effect were obtained. The results show that rainfall increases pore water pressure and moisture content. Rainfall and slope-slip water have more impact on the open-pit platform. The pore water pressure values on the upper rock mass rise faster than inside. In the open-pit mining stage, the rock mass shifts slightly to the upper left. In the room mining stage, vertical fractures and goaf sinking occur. The fractures above the mine room form a semi-ellipse. In the pillar mining stage, the overlying rock displacement is evident, and fractures persist. In the continuous pillar mining stage, the overlying rock collapses massively. The 65° slope model is the most damaged, while the 55° slope model is the least damaged. The results also suggest that the UAV guides sample selection.

This study investigated the phenolic compounds of 15 Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat cv. ‘Hangbaiju’, including 6 ‘Duoju’ and 9 ‘Taiju’ using high performance liquid chromatography. The antioxidant activities of these ‘Hangbaiju’ were estimated by DPPH, ABTS and FPAR assays. Results showed that a total of 14 phenolic compounds were detected in these flowers, including 3 mono-caffeoylquinic acids, 3 di-caffeoylquinic acids, 1 phenolic acid and 7 flavonoids. ‘Duoju’ and ‘Taiju’ possessed different concentration of phenolic compounds, and ‘Taiju’ exhibited higher caffeoylquinic acids and stronger antioxidant activities than ‘Duoju’. Caffeoylquinic acids showed a strong correlation with the antioxidant activities of the samples. Principal component analysis revealed an obvious separation between ‘Duoju’ and ‘Taiju’ using phenolic compounds as variables. Apigenin-7-O-glucoside, 3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, luteolin and acacetin were found to be the key phenolic compounds to differentiate ‘Duoju’ from ‘Taiju’.

Inclusive and sustainable development has become an important part of China's sustainable development agenda, the self-recovery and stability of China's economy cannot be achieved without the macro-governance of the government. Figuring out the internal logic of digital finance and economic resilience is an important part of effective government governance. Based on the panel data of 193 counties in five provinces in northwest China from 2014 to 2021, the paper tested digital finance and county-level economic resilience by using two-way fixed-effect model, intermediary-effect model and threshold-effect model, to test whether financial development promotes government governance in underdeveloped regions. The results prove that digital inclusive finance significantly enhances the resilience of county economies by improving capital allocation efficiency, stimulating entrepreneurship and employment, and reducing pollution emissions. In addition, there are dual threshold effects between capital allocation efficiency and employment vitality, in which capital allocation efficiency has a gradually increasing threshold effect, and entrepreneurship and employment vitality have a fluctuating increasing threshold effect. Therefore, "Digital inclusive finance" in underdeveloped regions is an indispensable part of financial globalization；promoting the healthy development of digital finance is the basis and premise for providing a good financial environment for government management; deepening the reform in the financial field and promoting the green and sustainable development of finance are the future trend and direction of efforts.

With the rapid development of Internet of Vehicles (IoV), particularly the introduction of mobile edge computing (MEC), vehicles can efficiently share data with one another. However, edge computing nodes are vulnerable to various network attacks, posing security risks to data storage and sharing. Moreover, the presence of abnormal vehicles during the sharing process poses significant security threats to the entire network. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel reputation management scheme, which proposes an improved multi-source multi-weight subjective logic algorithm. This algorithm fuses direct and indirect opinion feedback of nodes through the subjective logic trust model while considering factors such as event validity, familiarity, timeliness, and trajectory similarity. Vehicle reputation values are periodically updated, and abnormal vehicles are identified through reputation thresholds. Finally, blockchain technology is employed to ensure the security of data storage and sharing. By analyzing real vehicle trajectory datasets, the algorithm is proven to effectively improve the differentiation and detection rate of abnormal vehicles.

The tailoring of the surface properties of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) to meet various requirements in environmental, food, and material areas has always been of great interest. In this study, the surface chemistry of CNCs was noncovalently modified by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), followed by characterizations and an application as a coating material for interfacial interaction investigation over various substrates. Due to the CTAB modification, the surface charge of the CNCs was neutralized, resulting in an increased size of each nanocrystal at the aqueous status and the aggregated microfibers when dried up. The CTAB modification not only decreased the crystallinity of the samples from 48.57% to 9.12% but also hydrophobized the CNCs and decreased their total surface energy. Finally, the adsorption behavior of the CNCs and CTAB-CNCs over nonionic, anionic, and cationic polymers was investigated by ellipsometry. Based on the thickness of the CNC and CTAB-CNC layers over 2-Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and polyethyleneimine (PEI), we proposed that the adsorption behavior was overall influenced by electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding, and van der Waals forces and the thickness of the adsorbed layers could be impacted by both the surface charge and the size of the crystals.

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

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

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

Background: Lung cancer is still the most lethal malignancy in the world from the report of Cancer Statistics in 2021. Platinum-based chemotherapy combined immunotherapy is the first-line treatment in lung cancer patients. However, the 5-year survival rate always affected by the adverse reaction and drug resistance caused by platinum-based chemotherapy. DNA damage and repair system is one of the important mechanisms which can affect the response to chemotherapy and clinical outcome in lung cancer patients. Objective: The objective of this study is to find the relationship between the polymorphisms of DNA repair genes with the prognosis in platinum-based chemotherapy in lung cancer patients. Patients and Methods: We performed genotyping in 17 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Excision Repair Cross-Complementation group (ERCC) genes and X-ray Repair Cross-Complementing (XRCC) genes of 345 lung cancer patients by Sequenom MassARRAY. We used Cox proportional hazard models, state and plink to analyze the associations between SNPs and the prognosis of lung cancer patients. Results: We found that the ERCC5 rs873601 was associated with the overall survival time in lung cancer patients treat by platinum-based chemotherapy (p=0.031*). We also discovered that the polymorphisms in rs873601 was significantly associated with the prognosis in age more than 55 years, Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) and smoking patients, Long Intergenic Non-protein Coding RNA (PNKY) rs2444933 in age less than 55 years, SCLC, metastasis and stage III/IV/ED patients, Short Tau Inversion Recovery (STIR1) rs3740051 in SCLC and metastasis patients, PNKY rs1869641 in SCLC patients, XRCC5 rs1051685 in non-metastasis patients, respectively. Conclusion: The ERCC5 rs873601(G>A) maybe a valuable biomarker for predicting the prognosis in lung cancer patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy. Statements and Declarations: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by uncontrolled cellular proliferation driven by aberrant signal transduction. Cells respond to potential carcinogenic signals by inducing cellular senescence (CS) as a defense mechanism. However, assessing CS levels in various tumors is challenging due to heterogeneity and the lack of universal CS markers. This study integrates single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and bulk RNA-seq data from HCC samples to analyze gene expression profiles. HCC-specific senescence-related pathways are identified, and genes from these pathways distinguish molecular subtypes associated with senescence in HCC. These subtypes exhibit significant variations in biological and clinical attributes. A specific CS risk model is developed, revealing associations between CS scores and prognosis, clinical staging, immune infiltration, immunotherapy response, and drug sensitivity. The key gene G6PD is identified as a potential senescence-related target in liver cancer. Molecular experiments confirm the effective suppression of HepG2 cell proliferation, invasion, and migration upon G6PD knockdown. In summary, this analysis enhances our understanding of HCC-specific senescence molecular features and introduces a novel senescence-related biomarker, offering promising implications for future research.

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

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

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

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

This article focuses on generating an alternative in order to identify traffic officers during driving. This research employed the latest You Only Look Once (YOLO) model, using a six-phase methodology: data collection, data preparation involving resizing and labeling, implementation of various filters to avoid overfitting, model training, prediction evaluation, and result interpretation. The YOLO model was applied across three iterations using a dataset of 1862 images. To enhance training efficiency and detection speed, the graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration was utilized, further enhancing the experimental process. The results of this study revealed that the YOLOv8x variant produced the most promising results. This proposed model attained a remarkable F1 score of 0.95, bolstered by a confidence score of 0.631, with the potential for an increase to 0.80 in confidence without significantly compromising the F1-score. These findings are poised to make a substantial contribution to the broader research landscape, particularly in advancing the effectiveness of detection models for traffic officers.

Dolomite is a common type of natural soluble rock. The strength of rock decreases under the action of corrosion, which has a significant impact on the self-stability and long-term safety of the tunnel surrounding the rock. To reveal the microscopic structure evolution and strength-damage law of carbonate rock caused by corrosion, chemical corrosion, rock uniaxial compression, and electron microscope scanning tests are conducted at different pH values on the dolomite of the Doushantuo Formation. The rock dissolution at different pH values exhibits four typical stages: the initial dissolution stage, secondary dissolution acceleration stage, stable dissolution rate stage, and dissolution attenuation stage. During the dissolution process, the initial dissolution rate is 25.91 times that of the stable stage, and the maximum strength attenuation is 76.2% after 21 days of dissolution. For macroscopic failure, the rock is developed from 1 to 2 external fractures to multiple internal and external fractures and penetrated, and the specimen transforms from brittle to flexible. For microstructure, the sample exhibits corrosion characteristics along the joint surface, intensified corrosion at the edge, etc. The porosity increase rate is 0.6%/d; however, the length–width ratio of the pores is maintained at 1.7–1.85, indicating that the development rate of pores in different directions is similar. The results of this study have enriched the study of the dolomite dissolution mechanism and have important reference value for the stability evaluation of tunnel surrounding rock in karst environments.

Background: Although confirmed cases of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been declining since late 2020 due to general vaccination, little research has been done regarding the impact of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in Spain in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. Objective: Our aim was to identify the reduction in severity and mortality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at a nationwide level due to vaccination. Methods: We designed a retrospective, population-based study to define waves of infection and to describe the characteristics of the hospitalized population. We also studied the rollout of vaccination and its relationship with the decline in hospitalizations and deaths. Finally, we developed two mathematical models to estimate non-vaccination scenarios using machine learning modeling (with the ElasticNet and RandomForest algorithms). The vaccination and non-vaccination scenarios were eventually compared to estimate the number of averted hospitalizations and deaths. Results: In total, 498,789 patients were included, with a global mortality of 14.3%. We identified six waves or epidemic outbreaks during the observed period. We established a strong relationship between the beginning of vaccination and the decline in both hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 in all age groups. We also estimated that vaccination prevented 170,959 hospitalizations (CI 95% 77,844–264,075) and 24,546 deaths (CI 95% 2,548–46,543) in Spain between March 2021 and December 2021. We estimated a global reduction of 9.19% in total deaths during the first year of COVID-19 vaccination. Conclusions: Demographic and clinical profiles changed over the first months of the pandemic. Patients over 80 years old and other age groups obtained clinical benefit from early vaccination. The severity of COVID-19, in terms of hospitalizations and deaths, decreased due to vaccination.

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

Objective. To test the hypothesis that a session of unilateral tSMS over the dominant primary motor cortex (M1) in healthy subjects produces a transient decrease in manual dexterity. Methods. A triple-blinded randomized control trial was conducted in 40 healthy participants who were allocated to real- or sham-tSMS group. Each participant underwent one session of tSMS and were assessed before, immediately after, 15 minutes, and 40 minutes after stimulation. Outcome measures were Finger Tapping Test (FTT), 5-seconds FTT, nine Hole Peg Test, and the hand grip assessment. Results: Significant differences were found between groups 15 minutes after stimulation in favor of the tSMS group in the FTT (2.2 ± 0.99; CI= .18-4.22; d= .84p=.034), and 5-second FTT (4.2 ± 1.98; CI= .199-8.2, d= .68; p=.04). In the intragroup analysis, a significantly lower number of taps 15 minutes after stimulation was observed in sham group (3.3 ± 1.01; CI= .47-6.13; d= .42; p=.015), but not in the real stimulation group. Conclusion: A unilateral session of tSMS in the M1 of the dominant hemisphere of healthy individuals does not reduce manual dexterity or grip strength. This technique could have benefits on the motor performance of the arm contralateral to the stimulated motor cortex

Technology has transformed aeroponics, providing numerous advantages over traditional soil-based agriculture. However, there remains a need for comprehensive information on the types of technology employed in aeroponics and their impact on the growing process. This paper presents a literature review of 47 studies published between 2012 and 2023 in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. As a result, it identifies the status and tendencies in the usage of technology in aeroponics as well as the main opportunities and challenges. Furthermore, this paper introduces the Technology Adoption and Integration in Sustainable Agriculture (TAISA) model. TAISA is a model that identifies the degree of technology integration in any sustainable agriculture system to determine how technology affects production and quality. Overall, the systematic review suggests that technology can play a vital role in improving the efficiency and sustainability of aeroponic farming. However, careful consideration must be given to the costs and technical requirements associated with using these technologies. Moreover, the TAISA model reveals that technology has primarily been employed in creating new processes that are not possible to implement without the help of technology. Therefore, we conclude that technology use has taken root in aeroponics and can be promoted to improve sustainable agriculture.

Construction productivity entails a wide range of work combinations. When human resources are scarce, it is critical to replace manpower with machinery, and calculating machinery productivity is crucial. Traditional labor productivity methods, however, cannot address dredging complex multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) problems. Aiming to address the limitations of the traditional labor productivity method, this paper extends the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and proposes a new dredging productivity evaluation method. The proposed method can solve the problem of evaluating various combinations of factors (single-input, multiple-input, sin-gle-output, and multiple-output) and the problem suggesting that the efficiency of the DEA method'scalculation results is equal to 1. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified using reservoir dredging examples. The simulation results show that the proposed method has broad applicability, can accurately evaluate the related dredging performance issues, and provide directions for construction managers to improve labor productivity.

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

Repair mortar is commonly used to rehabilitate reinforced concrete structures or components that exhibit a relatively high level of distresses. Yet, this repair mortar can be contaminated by salt from its service environment. This work employs a two-dimensional finite element model to investigate the transport behavior of ionic species in salt-contaminated and water-saturated repair mortar under an externally applied electric field. The model was experimentally validated and then utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of electrochemical chloride extraction (ECE) with or without electrical injection of corrosion inhibitor (EICI). In the case study, both the ECE alone and the ECE+EICI treatment was found effective in decontaminating the zone in front of the steel rebar. In both techniques, the magnitude of current density has a significant effect on removing chloride out of the mortar and increasing the pH of the pore solution near the rebar, whereas the treatment time any not have a significant effect under some scenarios. The injection of the organic corrosion inhibitor significantly slowed down the removal of chloride. Changes in the ionic distribution in the mortar were generally beneficial in reducing the corrosion risk of the steel rebar and thus extending the service life of the repair mortar.

Video editing is a high-required job, for it requires skilled artists or workers equipped with plentiful physical strength and multidisciplinary knowledge, such as cinematography, aesthetics. Thus gradually, more and more researches focus on proposing semi-automatical and even fully automatical solutions to reduce workloads. Since those conventional methods are usually designed to follow some simple guidelines, they lack flexibility and capability to learn complex ones. Fortunately, the advances of computer vision and machine learning make up the shortages of traditional approaches and make AI editing feasible. There is no survey to conclude those emerging researches yet. This paper summaries the development history of automatic video editing, and especially the applications of AI in partial and full workflows. We emphasizes video editing and discuss related works from multiple aspects: modality, type of input videos, methology, optimization, dataset, and evaluation metric. Besides, we also summarize the progresses in image editing domain, i.e., style transferring, retargeting, and colorization, and seek for the possibility to transfer those techniques to video domain. Finally, we give a brief conclusion about this survey and explore some open problems.

Continuous research into the availability of phosphorus (P) in forest soil is critical for sustainable management of forest ecosystems. In this study, we used sequential chemical extraction and 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-NMR) to evaluate the form and distribution of inorganic P (Pi) and organic P (Po) in Casuarina forest soils of a subtropical coastal sand dune at Houlong in Taiwan. The soil samples were collected from humic (+2-0 cm) and mineral layers (mineral-I: 0-10, mineral-II: 10-20 cm) at two topographic locations (upland and lowland) by elevation. Sequential chemical extraction revealed that the NaOH-Po fraction, as moderately recalcitrant P, was the dominant form in humic and mineral-I layers in both upland and lowland soils, whereas the cHCl-Pi fraction was the dominant form in the mineral-II layer. Resistant P content, including NaOH-Pi, HCl-Pi, cHCl-Pi, and cHCl-Po fractions, was higher in the upland than lowland in the corresponding layers; however, labile P content, NaHCO3-Po, showed the opposite pattern. Content of resistant Pi (NaOH-Pi, HCl-Pi, and cHCl-Pi) increased significantly with depth, but that of labile Pi (resin-Pi and NaHCO3-Pi) and recalcitrant Po (NaHCO3-Po, NaOH-Po, and cHCl-Po) decreased significantly with depth at both locations. 31P-NMR spectroscopy revealed inorganic orthophosphate and monoesters-P as the major forms in this area. The proportions of Pi and Po evaluated by sequential chemical extraction and 31P-NMR spectroscopy were basically consistent. The results indicated that the soils were in weathered conditions. Furthermore, the P distribution and forms significantly differed between the upland and lowland by variation in elevation and eolian aggradation effects in this coastal sand dune landscape.

The purpose of this study was to arrange a green roof on a sheet metal house to achieve winter heat preservation and summer thermal insulation using different plants and soil media, and to maintain the advantage of cost-saving and quick installation of sheet metal houses. In terms of the research method, the roof insulation, heat preservation and plant growth index were tested. Plants were grown in 10 container-type green roofs on the sheet metal house roof, and the physical environment of the building was monitored for one year. Five containers of commercially-available culture soil and five containers of sustainable composite were used as the media for growing five kinds of plants, respectively. The control group only had a sheet metal house roof. There were 11 experimental modules for testing whether the green roofs had thermal insulation, heat preservation and plant growth effects on a general sheet metal house. The results showed that, regarding the thermal insulation benefit assessment, the Sedum acre cv. robustum of green roof Groups B to D caused the temperature to be 38.29°C lower than the surface of the simple sheet metal house roof in August, showing a temperature difference of 54%.

Drought negatively affects the growth and development of barley. To explore the genetic variation in barley under drought stress, ten breeding genotypes were tested using polyethylene glycol-6000 to simulate drought conditions. We observed that drought stress adversely affected germination-related traits across all barley genotypes and this impact varied between genotypes, suggesting genotype-specific drought tolerance. The drought tolerance index was an ideal criterion for selecting drought-tolerant genotypes as it well characterized the gradient responses of barely genotypes to drought stress. Based on this indicator, genotype OB1878-ON-50 is recommended as a significant germplasm resource for breeding programs under lower precipitation conditions due to its superior tolerance to drought stress.

The traffic light detection and recognition are crucial for enhancing the security of unmanned systems. This study proposes a YOLOv5-based traffic light detection algorithm to tackle the challenges posed by small targets and complex urban backgrounds. Initially, the mosaic-9 method is employed to enhance the training dataset, thereby boosting the network’s ability to generalize and adapt to real-world scenarios. Furthermore, the network incorporates the Squeezed-and-Excitation (SE) attention mechanism to improve. Moreover, the YOLOv5 algorithm’s loss function has been optimized by substituting it with EIoU_loss, which addresses issues like missed detection and false alarms. Experimental results demonstrate that the model , trained with this enhanced network, achieves a 99.4% mAP on a custom dataset, which is 6.3% higher than the original YOLOv5, while maintaining a detection speed of 74 f/s. Therefore, this algorithm offers higher detection accuracy and effectively meets real-time operational requirements.

the intermittency and variability of these permeated Distributed Generators (DGs) could critically cause many security and economy risks to distribution systems. This paper applied a certain mathematical distribution to imitate the output variability and uncertainty of DGs. And then, four risk indices EENS, PLC, EFLC and SI were established to reflect the system risk level of distribution system. For the certain mathematical distribution of the DGs' output power, a developed PEM (point estimate method)-based method was proposed to calculate these four system risk indices. In this developed PEM-based method, enumeration method was used to list the states of distribution systems, an improved PEM was presented to deal with the uncertainties of DGs and the value of load curtailment in distribution systems was calculated by an optimal power flow algorithm. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of this proposed PEM-based method for distribution system assessment were verified by the tests of a modified IEEE 30-bus system. Simulation results have shown that this proposed PEM-based method has a high computational accuracy and highly reduced computational costs compared with other risk assessment methods and is very effective for risk assessments.

Embryo stage of oxidation of an epi Ge(001)-2×1 by atomic oxygen and molecular O₂ is studied via synchrotron radiation photoemission. The topmost surface buckled with the up- and down-dimer atoms and the first subsurface layer behave distinctly from the bulk by exhibiting surface core-level shifts in the Ge 3d core-level spectrum. The O₂ molecules become dissociated upon reaching the epi Ge(001)-2×1 surface. One of the O atom removes off the up-dimer atom, and the other bonds with the underneath Ge atom in the subsurface layer. Atomic oxygen adsorbed on the epi Ge(001)-2×1 preferentially in between the up-dimer atoms and the underneath subsurface atoms without affecting the down-dimer atoms. The electronic environment of the O-affiliated Ge up-dimer atoms becomes similar to that of the down-dimer atoms. Both exhibit an enrichment in charge, where the subsurface of the Ge layer is maintained in a charge-deficient state. The dipole moment originally generated in the buckled reconstruction no longer exists, thereby resulting in a decrease in the ionization potential. The down-dimer Ge atoms and the back-bonded subsurface atoms remain inert to atomic O and molecular O₂, a possible cause of low reliability in Ge-related metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices.

In response to the growing need for efficient energy conversion technologies, this pa-per introduces an innovative Tubular Thermoelectric Generator (TTEG), specifically de-signed for high-efficiency conversion of waste heat into electrical energy. Unlike conven-tional flat plate thermoelectric generators (FTEGs), the TTEG incorporates full-ring ther-moelectric elements within a tubular layout, offering a novel approach to thermal energy recovery from fluid-based systems. This design significantly enhances the heat transfer capabilities, thereby improving the efficiency of energy conversion. Comprehensive simulations and analyses form the core of this study, where the per-formance of the TTEG is rigorously compared with traditional FTEGs. These comparisons highlight the advantages of the tubular design in terms of energy conversion efficiency and practical applicability in various scenarios. The findings reveal that the TTEG not only outperforms its flat plate counterparts but also presents a scalable and adaptable so-lution for waste heat recovery in a wide range of industrial and automotive applications. This research contributes to the field of energy science and technology by presenting a detailed experimental setup, complete with reproducible procedures and results. It opens new pathways for the development of more sustainable and efficient energy conversion systems, aligning with the goal of harnessing renewable and sustainable energy sources. The potential applications of this technology in enhancing energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact are vast, making it a significant step forward in the quest for clean and sustainable energy solutions.

Due to their excellent physicochemical properties, fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases), including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), are used in a variety of applications, but they are potent greenhouse gases. Therefore, they have been blanketed into the list of phase-out under the international protocols or treaties. In this work, the updated statistics of the Taiwan’s national inventory report (NIR) were used to analyze the trends of F-gases (i.e., HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3) emissions during the period of 2000-2020. Furthermore, the regulatory strategies and measures for reducing the emissions of the four F-gases will be summarized to be in accordance with the national and international regulations. With the progressive efforts by the regulatory requirements and the industry’s voluntary reduction, the total F-gases emissions indicated a significant increase from 2,462 kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq) in 2000 to the peak value (i.e., 12,643 kilotons) of CO2eq in 2004, but sharply decreased from 10,284 kilotons of CO2eq in 2005 to 3,906 kilotons of CO2eq in 2020. It was also found that the most commonly used method for controlling the emissions of F-gases from the semiconductor and optoelectronic industries was based on the thermal destruction-local scrubbing technology.

Estimates of extreme water level return periods in river systems are crucial for hydraulic engineering design and planning. Recorded historical water level data of Taiwan’s rivers are not long enough for traditional frequency analyses when predicting extreme water levels for different return periods. In this study, the integration of a one-dimensional flash flood routing hydrodynamic model with the Monte Carlo simulation was developed to predict extreme water levels in the Danshuei River system of northern Taiwan. The numerical model was calibrated and verified with observed water levels using four typhoon events. The results indicated a reasonable agreement between the model simulation and observation data. Seven parameters, including the astronomical tide and surge height at the mouth of the Danshuei River and the river discharge at five gauge stations, were adopted to calculate the joint probability and generate stochastic scenarios via the Monte Carlo simulation. The validated hydrodynamic model driven by the stochastic scenarios was then used to simulate extreme water levels for further frequency analysis. The design water level was estimated using different probability distributions in the frequency analysis at five stations. The design high-water levels for a 200-year return period at Guandu Bridge, Taipei Bridge, Hsin-Hai Bridge, Da-Zhi Bridge, and Chung-Cheng Bridge were 2.90 m, 5.13 m, 6.38 m, 6.05 m, and 9.94 m, respectively. The estimated design water levels plus the freeboard are proposed and recommended for further engineering design and planning.

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

This study presents an innovative analytical method for the detection and quantification of 14 β-agonists in pork using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The method involves the use of a solid phase microextraction (SPME) probe, consisting of a wooden tip coated with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). This probe has been integrated into an automated extraction device, designed in our laboratory to extract the target analytes prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. Compared to the traditional solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure, the proposed approach significantly reduces the costs related to adsorbent ma-terial and solvent consumption, and shortens purification time, thereby reducing both the tech-nical workload and associated expenses. The methodology has been carefully validated in ac-cordance with the National Standard of the People's Republic of China (GB/T 22286-2008), evalu-ating key parameters including the limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), matrix effects, linearity, and both intra-day and inter-day precision. The average recovery rates for all β-agonists were observed to lie between 71.6% and 82.2%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) consistently below 15% for both types of precision. The LOD and LOQ values were found to range from 0.09 to 0.39 μg/kg and 0.27 to 0.99 μg/kg, respectively. In terms of accurate detection of positive samples, the developed method demonstrated a closer approximation to the true value of the sample compared to the National Standard method GB/T 31658.22-2022. Overall, the proposed method exhibits substantial promise for the routine assessment of β-agonists in pork and presents a practical alternative for compliance monitoring in regulatory settings.

A lot of previous research have proposed various frameworks and algorithms to optimize routes to reduce the total transportation cost, which accounts for over 70% of overall logistics cost. However, it is very hard to find the cases applied the mathematical models or algorithms to the practical business environment cases, especially daily operating logistics services like convenient stores. Most of previous research have considered the developing an optimal algorithm which can solve the mathematical problem within the practical time while satisfying all constraints such as the capacity of delivery and pick-up, and time windows. For the daily pick-up and delivery service like supporting several convenient stores, it is required to consider the unit transporting container as well as the demand, capacity of trucks, traveling distance and traffic congestion. Especially, the reusable transporting container, trays, should be regarded as the important asset of logistics center. However, if the mathematical model focuses on only satisfying constraints related delivery and not considering the cost of trays, it is often to leave the empty trays on the pick-up points when there is not enough space in the track. In this research, it has been proposed to build the mathematical model for optimizing pick-up and delivery plans by extending the general vehicle routing problem of simultaneous delivery and pickup with time windows while considering left-over cost. With the numerical experiments, it has been proved that the proposed model may reduce the total delivery cost. It may be possible to apply the proposed approach to the various logistics business which uses the reusable transporting container like shipping containers, refrigerating containers, trays, and pallets.

This paper presents a deep learning-based multi-guidance line detection approach, enabling an autonomous four-wheeled agricultural robot to navigate strip farmland. The integration of Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) and Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) systems optimizes the velocity and heading angle of robot, facilitating smooth navigation along identified guidance line. Enhance cornering maneuverability with real-time kinematics (RTK)-assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) (RTK-GNSS) positioning. Additionally, the spraying system combined with deep learning can effectively identify weeds and crop nutrient deficiencies to achieve precise spraying. The guidance system prioritizes irrigation lines for navigation, with additional guidance from crop and furrow lines. Trigonometric analysis determines the angular deviation between the identified guidance line and the vertical line of the top view image. Experiments under diverse weather conditions demonstrate the stable navigation of robot at 12.5 cm/s, achieving up to 90% accuracy in weed and nutrient deficiency identification. The spraying accuracy for weeds and deficiencies averages 87% and 73%, respectively, underscoring the system's contribution to sustainable and precision horticulture practices.

To reveal the influence of variables such as entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial inspiration, and incubation resources on students' entrepreneurial intentions in vocational colleges, this study took vocational colleges in Zhejiang Province, a province with a strong entrepreneurial climate in China, as an example. The study used a questionnaire to obtain data, and 614 valid questionnaires were collected from seven vocational colleges. The study divided entrepreneurship education into three dimensions: entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial inspiration, and incubation resources, and used structural equation modeling to investigate the influence of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intentions while introducing entrepreneurial efficacy as a mediating variable to examine the influence mechanism of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intentions of higher education students. The results showed that entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial inspiration, incubation resources, and entrepreneurial efficacy were all significantly and positively correlated with entrepreneurial intentions and that entrepreneurial efficacy mediated between the two dimensions of entrepreneurship education (entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurial inspiration) and entrepreneurial intentions. Therefore, to enhance the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in vocational institutions, we should stimulate students' sense of entrepreneurial efficacy, strengthen their entrepreneurial learning and inspire them to start their businesses. In turn, university incubation resources can be developed and utilized to enhance students' entrepreneurial confidence and intentions.