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A high-power fiber laser was used to cut AZ31B magnesium alloy. The effects of laser cutting speed, assisted air pressure, and defocus on cutting quality were studied systematically. Scanning electron microscope and ultra-depth-of-field three-dimensional microscope were used to observe the morphology of kerf and the cutting surface. The results show that the kerf width at the straight line and the kerf width at the sharp corner always keep the synchronous change law. The cutting surface can usually be divided into three areas: top area, scour area, and stripe area. The change of the area of the three regions has an important influence on the roughness value of the cutting surface. Studying the variation of roughness by studying the variation of three areas is applicable to laser cutting speed and assisted air pressure, but not to defocus. The slag height decreases from 75.87 to 46.83 μm with the increase of laser cutting speed. The slag height decreases rapidly to 52.88 μm and then increases slowly to 61.74 μm with the change of defocus. The slag height decreases rapidly from 58.37 to 24.81 μm with the increase of assisted air pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a malignant tumor originating from the renal tubular epithelium. Although the microRNAs (miRNAs) transcriptome of ccRCC has been extensively studied, the role of miRNAs editing in ccRCC is largely unknown. By analyzing small RNA sequencing profiles of renal tissues of 154 ccRCC patients and 22 normal controls, we identified 1025 miRNA editing sites from 246 pre-miRNAs. There were 122 editing events with significantly different editing levels in ccRCC compared to normal samples, which include two A-to-I editing events in the seed regions of hsa-mir-376a-3p and hsa-mir-376c-3p, respectively, and one C-to-U editing event in the seed region of hsa-mir-29c-3p. After comparing the targets of the original and edited miRNAs, we found that hsa-mir-376a-1_49g, hsa-mir-376c_48g and hsa-mir-29c_59u had many new targets, respectively. Many of these new targets were deregulated in ccRCC, which might be related to the different editing levels of hsa-mir-376a-3p, hsa-mir-376c-3p, hsa-mir-29c-3p in ccRCC compared to normal controls. Our study sheds new light on miRNA editing events and their potential biological functions in ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a malignant tumor originating from the renal tubular epithelium. Although the microRNAs (miRNAs) transcriptome of ccRCC has been extensively studied, the role of miRNAs editing in ccRCC is largely unknown. By analyzing small RNA sequencing profiles of renal tissues of 154 ccRCC patients and 22 normal controls, we identified 1025 miRNA editing sites from 246 pre-miRNAs. There were 122 editing events with significantly different editing levels in ccRCC compared to normal samples, which include two A-to-I editing events in the seed regions of hsa-mir-376a-3p and hsa-mir-376c-3p, respectively, and one C-to-U editing event in the seed region of hsa-mir-29c-3p. After comparing the targets of the original and edited miRNAs, we found that hsa-mir-376a-1_49g, hsa-mir-376c_48g and hsa-mir-29c_59u had many new targets, respectively. Many of these new targets were deregulated in ccRCC, which might be related to the different editing levels of hsa-mir-376a-3p, hsa-mir-376c-3p, hsa-mir-29c-3p in ccRCC compared to normal controls. Our study sheds new light on miRNA editing events and their potential biological functions in ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roll stability loss of heavy vehicle is a severe road safety problem and modern intelligent heavy vehicle (IHV) raises new requirement for advanced roll stability control technology. Two novel roll stability control frameworks, namely active steering-active anti-roll (AS-AAR) interactive control and worst-case optimized robust control, which have potential application to guaranteeing roll stability of IHV are proposed and investigated in this paper. The first control framework is implemented based on Nash dynamic game theory in which AS-AAR shared control is investigated as a dynamic difference game so that its two players, namely AS and AAR system, can interact with each other to provide satisfactory control performance. This interactive control scheme can be applied to vehicle automated driving scenario to improve vehicle tracking performance and roll stability. Based on zero-sum game theory, the second worst-case optimized robust control scheme is also developed to guarantee vehicle roll stability. This control method provides a suitable design framework to guarantee roll stability in scenario of vehicle-to-driver handover for IHV in which the steering input from human driver is regarded as uncertain disturbance. Simulation results show that both control frameworks can effectively improve roll stability as well as lateral stability while ensuing satisfied tracking performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honeydew from Hemipteran insects serves as carbohydrate source to beneficial insects but also to various microorganisms. Microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) may play diverse roles in herbivore–microbe–natural enemy interactions. However, the functional significance of mVOCs from aphid honeydew remains largely unclear. In this study, a total of seven cultivable bacteria from Sitobion miscanthi honeydew have been isolated and identified based on 16S rRNA technique, which included Lysinibacillus fusiformis, Erwinia aphidicola, E. tasmaniensis, Acinetobacter bereziniae, Klebsiella quasipneumoniae subsp. Similipneumoniae, Staphylococcus capitis and Bacillus safensis subsp. safensis. One bacterial strain, L. fusiformis MH1, was found to be most attractive to Aphidius gifuensis parasitic wasp in Y-tube olfactometer. Two compounds, namely 1-ethyl-2-methylbenzene and 2-butyl-1-octanol, were emitted from L. fusiformis MH1 and were attractive to A. gifuensis and identified by using coupled gas chromatography–electroantennography and coupled gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Application of bacterial and mVOCs formulations in crop field resulted in significant aphid abundance decrease associated with higher parasitism rates compared with control. Our results indicated that some microbes in aphid honeydew could manipulate the herbivore–natural enemy interactions and could be developed as a novel alternative for environmentally friendly biological control of aphids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nanoscaled immobilized enzyme catalyst with increased stability was prepared by encapsulating lipase in a polyacrylamide nanogel. The methanolysis of soybean oil in a biphasic system catalyzed by the lipase nanogel gave a twofold increase in the biodiesel yield compared to that of using native enzyme. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six pyrite samples from the giant Bayan Obo REE-Nb-Fe deposit are dated by Re-Os technique. Pyrite studied is associated with barite and separated from a vein cutting REE mineralization. Pyrites analyzed contain 16–30 ng Re and 0.10–0.16 ng Os, and yield a Caledonian isochron age of 439 ± 86 Ma. High Re/Os ratio, low Os concentration and highly radiogenic Os isotopic ratios of these samples suggest that they are of crustal origin. The northern margin of the North China Block was a passive continental margin, but not a subduction zone with enormous volcanic activities in the Early Paleozoic Era. Our Re-Os result provides new evidences, showing that Bayan Obo deposit experienced a thermal disturbance of crustal origin in the Caledonian time and some isotopic systems recorded only the time of the disturbance, not the mineralization age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuronal studies have shown that selectively attending to a common object in one sensory modality results in facilitated processing of that object's representations in the ignored sensory modality. Thus, the audiovisual (AV) integration of common objects can be observed under modality-specific selective attention. However, little is known about whether this AV integration can also occur under increased attentional load conditions. Additionally, whether semantic associations between multisensory features of common objects modulate the influence of increased attentional loads on this cross-modal integration remains unknown. In the present study, participants completed an AV integration task (ignored auditory stimuli) under various attentional load conditions: no load, low load, and high load. The semantic associations between AV stimuli were composed of animal pictures presented concurrently with semantically congruent, semantically incongruent, or semantically unrelated auditory stimuli. Our results demonstrated that attentional loads did not disrupt the integration of semantically congruent AV stimuli but suppressed the potential alertness effects induced by incongruent or unrelated auditory stimuli under the condition of modality-specific selective attention. These findings highlight the critical role of semantic association between AV stimuli in modulating the effect of attentional loads on the AV integration of modality-specific selective attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium montmorillonite (MMT) was modified by octadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (OTAC) via cation exchange to obtain organo-montmorillonite (OMMT), Al2O3 was treated by KH-550 (3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane) to get KH-Al2O3. The polyurethane elastomer (PUE) was synthesized with 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), polypropylene glycol (PPG) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) as the raw materials. And then, OMMT/KH-Al2O3/PUE composite was prepared by the prepolymer method; PUE was the matrix, OMMT and KH-Al2O3 were reinforcements. The micro-morphology and mechanical properties of OMMT/KH-Al2O3/PUE composites were measured and analyzed. The results of FT-IR and XRD showed that OTAC had been introduced into MMT layer and the layer spacing of OMMT had increased. The KH-550 had successfully grafted to the surface of Al2O3 to obtain KH-Al2O3. The TEM results demonstrated the interaction between OMMT and KH-Al2O3, weakening the interaction between the same molecules and the OMMT sheet was further peeled off. The SEM images displayed that a specific ratio of OMMT and KH-Al2O3 had excellent dispersion in the PUE matrix. The mechanical properties of OMMT/KH-Al2O3/PUE composites were significantly better than those of OMMT/PUE and KH-Al2O3/PUE composite. The maximum tensile strength, elongation at break and tensile strength at break are 21.82 MPa, 668% and 19.98 MPa, respectively, which were 43.8%, 29.2% and 36.8% higher than that of PUE matrix, when the content of inorganic components was 3 wt% and the mass rate of OMMT to KH-Al2O3 was 1:1. This composite material is a kind of excellent polyurethane elastomer and widely is maybe used in mechanical accessories, pipe, mining and metallurgy industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the removal performance and degradation mechanisms of fluoranthene (FLT) in sodium percarbonate (SPC) activated by Fe(II) system were investigated, in which 97.5% removal of FLT could be achieved within 15 min when the concentrations of SPC and Fe(II) were 0.03 and 0.2 mM, respectively. The presence of HO·, O2−· and 1O2 was demonstrated by probe tests and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) detections, and scavenging experiments further proved that the leading reactive oxygen species (ROSs) contributed to FLT removal in SPC/Fe(II) system was HO·. The p-hydroxybenzoic acid analytical result (the reaction product between benzoic acid and HO·) found that 66.5% of HO· in the system was produced in the first 5 min of the reaction. Several intermediates of FLT were detected by GC–MS and three probable FLT degradation pathways were proposed. The effect of SPC dosage, Fe(II) concentration, initial solution pH and inorganic anions (Cl− and HCO3−) on FLT degradation were assessed. 90.3% FLT was removed in actual groundwater when the dosages of SPC and Fe(II) were 0.15 and 1.0 mM, respectively. This result indicated that FLT removal could be improved by elevating the dosages of SPC and Fe(II) and adjusting the initial solution pH to 5.0, confirming the effective removal of FLT in actual groundwater in SPC/Fe(II) system. Overall, this study demonstrated that SPC/Fe(II) system has broad prospective in the remediation of FLT-contaminated groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In vitro models that mimic in vivo host-pathogen interactions are needed to evaluate candidate drugs that inhibit bacterial virulence traits. We established a new approach to study Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm susceptibility on biotic surfaces, using a three-dimensional (3-D) lung epithelial cell model. P. aeruginosa formed antibiotic resistant biofilms on 3-D cells without affecting cell viability. The biofilm-inhibitory activity of antibiotics and/or the anti-biofilm peptide DJK-5 were evaluated on 3-D cells compared to a plastic surface, in medium with and without fetal bovine serum (FBS). In both media, aminoglycosides were more efficacious in the 3-D cell model. In serum-free medium, most antibiotics (except polymyxins) showed enhanced efficacy when 3-D cells were present. In medium with FBS, colistin was less efficacious in the 3-D cell model. DJK-5 exerted potent inhibition of P. aeruginosa association with both substrates, only in serum-free medium. DJK-5 showed stronger inhibitory activity against P. aeruginosa associated with plastic compared to 3-D cells. The combined addition of tobramycin and DJK-5 exhibited more potent ability to inhibit P. aeruginosa association with both substrates. In conclusion, lung epithelial cells influence the efficacy of most antimicrobials against P. aeruginosa biofilm formation, which in turn depends on the presence or absence of FBS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in ocean heat content (OHC), salinity, and stratification provide critical indicators for changes in Earth's energy and water cycles. These cycles have been profoundly altered due to the emission of greenhouse gasses and other anthropogenic substances by human activities, driving pervasive changes in Earth's climate system. In 2022, the world's oceans, as given by OHC, were again the hottest in the historical record and exceeded the previous 2021 record maximum. According to IAP/CAS data, the 0–2000 m OHC in 2022 exceeded that of 2021 by 10.9 ± 8.3 ZJ (1 Zetta Joules = 1021 Joules); and according to NCEI/NOAA data, by 9.1 ± 8.7 ZJ. Among seven regions, four basins (the North Pacific, North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and southern oceans) recorded their highest OHC since the 1950s. The salinity-contrast index, a quantification of the "salty gets saltier—fresh gets fresher" pattern, also reached its highest level on record in 2022, implying continued amplification of the global hydrological cycle. Regional OHC and salinity changes in 2022 were dominated by a strong La Niña event. Global upper-ocean stratification continued its increasing trend and was among the top seven in 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accuracy level of short-term load forecasting (STLF) affects the power department's arrangements for unit start-up, shutdown, overhaul, and load dispatching. However, the existing algorithms do not fully consider load volatility and difficulty in setting the algorithm parameters. In this regard, this paper proposes a hybrid model which combines complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN), gated recurrent unit (GRU) with improved gray wolf optimizer (IGWO), namely CEEMDAN–IGWO–GRU (CIG) hybrid algorithm. Firstly, the details and trend information of the load signal are separated by the CEEMDAN algorithm to suppress the interference of load fluctuation. Then, the GRU network optimized by IGWO parameters is used to predict each component, separately. Finally, the complete load forecasting results are obtained by reconstructing the forecasting result of each component. The power load data of a certain area under study is used to verify the CIG model, and the experimental results are compared with other existing algorithms. The experimental results show that the load forecasting results of the CIG model get the high-precision evaluation of 0.6997%, 52.4685, and 38.1891 MW in MAPE, RMSE, and MAE, respectively. Therefore, the parameter optimization ability of the IGWO algorithm can effectively improve the prediction accuracy, and the CIG method can availably suppress the impact of load fluctuation on prediction and has a powerful nonlinear fitting ability. In conclusion, CIG has great potential in establishing a power load forecasting model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first system controlled anomeric isomerism of glucopyranoside-functionalized N-heterocyclic carbenes based pyridine enhanced precatalyst preparation, stabilization and initiation type palladium(II) complexes (Glu-NHCs-Pd(II)-PEPPSI, 2a–d) were prepared and fully characterized. It is interesting to note that pure β–anomer PEPPSI complex 2d was obtained, in which the Glu-substituent connects to the imidazole heterocycle ring N through ethoxy bridged anomeric carbon. In addition, the catalytic activities revealed that Glu-NHCs-Pd(II)-PEPPSI complexes 2a-d are efficient catalysts for the aqueous Suzuki reaction. Under optimized conditions, a series of fluorene-cored functional materials with different aryl-substituents were synthesized through the Suzuki reaction with excellent yields. The Glu-NHCs-Pd(II)-PEPPSI complex containing bulky and rigid 2,5-dimethylphenyl group played an important role in maintaining the β conformation and improving the catalytic activity significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have paid special attention to the relationship between local features (e.g., raised dots) and human roughness perception. However, the relationship between global features (e.g., curved surface) and haptic roughness perception is still unclear. In the present study, a series of roughness estimation experiments was performed to investigate how global features affect human roughness perception. In each experiment, participants were asked to estimate the roughness of a series of haptic stimuli that combined local features (raised dots) and global features (sinusoidal-like curves). Experiments were designed to reveal whether global features changed their haptic roughness estimation. Furthermore, the present study tested whether the exploration method (direct, indirect, and static) changed haptic roughness estimations and examined the contribution of global features to roughness estimations. The results showed that sinusoidal-like curved surfaces with small periods were perceived to be rougher than those with large periods, while the direction of finger movement and indirect exploration did not change this phenomenon. Furthermore, the influence of global features on roughness was modulated by local features, regardless of whether raised-dot surfaces or smooth surfaces were used. Taken together, these findings suggested that an object's global features contribute to haptic roughness perceptions, while local features change the weight of the contribution that global features make to haptic roughness perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activities traps heat within the climate system and increases ocean heat content (OHC). Here, we provide the first analysis of recent OHC changes through 2021 from two international groups. The world ocean, in 2021, was the hottest ever recorded by humans, and the 2021 annual OHC value is even higher than last year's record value by 14 ± 11 ZJ (1 zetta J = 1021 J) using the IAP/CAS dataset and by 16 ± 10 ZJ using NCEI/NOAA dataset. The long-term ocean warming is larger in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans than in other regions and is mainly attributed, via climate model simulations, to an increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. The year-to-year variation of OHC is primarily tied to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the seven maritime domains of the Indian, Tropical Atlantic, North Atlantic, Northwest Pacific, North Pacific, Southern oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea, robust warming is observed but with distinct inter-annual to decadal variability. Four out of seven domains showed record-high heat content in 2021. The anomalous global and regional ocean warming established in this study should be incorporated into climate risk assessments, adaptation, and mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that mediate post-transcriptional regulation of target genes. Although miRNAs are extensively edited in human brains, the editome of miRNAs in brains of HD patients is largely unknown. By analyzing the small RNA sequencing profiles of brain tissues of 28 HD patients and 83 normal controls, 1182 miRNA editing sites with significant editing levels were identified. In addition to 27 A-to-I editing sites, we identified 3 conserved C-to-U editing sites in miRNAs of HD patients. 30 SNPs in the miRNAs of HD patients were also identified. Furthermore, 129 miRNA editing events demonstrated significantly different editing levels in prefrontal cortex samples of HD patients (HD-PC) when compared to those of healthy controls. We found that hsa-mir-10b-5p was edited to have an additional cytosine at 5'-end in HD-PC, and the edited hsa-mir-10b repressed GTPBP10 that was often downregulated in HD. The down-regulation of GTPBP10 might contribute to the progression of HD by causing gradual loss of function of mitochondrial. These results provide the first endeavor to characterize the miRNA editing events in HD and their potential functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean heat budget from 1960 to 2020 based on IAP analysis data from 0 to 2000 m, and from Purkey and Johnson (2010) for deep ocean change below 2000 m (units: ZJ). The stronger ocean warming within upper layers versus deep water has caused an increase of ocean stratification in the past half century (Li et al., 2020) (Fig. Units: ZJ. 524 RECORD OCEAN WARMING IN 2020 VOLUME 38 ate a continued warming of the ocean, even though a year marked by a prominent La Niña event. [Extracted from the article]

A pH-, temperature- and salinity responsive hydrogel with enhanced mechanical performance was developed based on semi interpenetrating network that was formed as a result of concurrent free radical polymerization of acrylic acid (AA), oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (OEGMA) and 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethyl methacrylate (MEO2MA) along with chitosan (CS) for controlled drug delivery. The mechanical behaviors and swelling properties of these hydrogels were systematically investigated, and the results indicated that they were strongly affected by the content of AA and MEO2MA and exhibited strong pH-, temperature and salinity sensitivity. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) were used as the model drugs to evaluate the sustained release of the hydrogel. The result indicated that the amount of both drugs released was relatively low in acidic condition (pH 1.2) but high in neutral environment (pH 7.4), and the release rate of the drugs was slower at 37 °C than that at 25 °C. Cytotoxicity results suggested that the blank hydrogels had negligible toxicity to normal cells, whereas the 5-Fu-loaded hydrogels remained high in cytotoxicity for LO2 and HepG2 cancer cells. These results suggest that the synthesized hydrogels have the potential to be used as an effective pH/temperature sustainable site-specific oral drug delivery in intestine and colon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to evaluate the distribution and partitioning characteristics of heavy metals in the large anthropogenically impacted Pearl River Basin, the contents of "anthropophile" elements (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb, which are clearly influenced by human activities) were determined, and their partitioning coefficients (Kd) between water and sediments and enrichment factors (EF) were calculated for samples collected at different locations along the Pearl River main stream. The modified BCR sequential extraction procedure (proposed by the European Community Bureau of Reference in 1993), which involves the successive extraction of metals in a decreasing order of reactivity, was applied. Sediment samples from the upper, middle, and lower reaches were included in this study. The results showed that the content of most metals in water and sediment samples gradually increases from upstream to downstream, suggesting a possible input from human activities as shown by their increasing high EF, ranged from 1.4 to 3.9 for Cu, from 1.4 to 6.7 for Zn, from 2.5 to 59.1 for Cd, and from 1.7 to 8.9 for Pb, respectively. The higher partition coefficients (Kd) for Cr, Zn, and Pb (105-106) indicated that they were mainly transported in solid phase, while parts of Ni, Cu, and Cd were transported in dissolved phase as they display relatively lower Kd in the range of 104-105. According to the results of the BCR leaching, the percentage of non-residual fraction of heavy metals in the sediments showed a decreasing order of Cd > Pb > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cr, implying that Cd and Pb were more active and bioavailable compared to the other four metals, and thus would be potentially more harmful to the watershed ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel polyfluorene derivatives P1/4, P2/4, and P3/4, containing phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazole group on backbone are designed, synthesized, and well characterized. They all show high-molecular weights, good solubilities, and excellent thermal stabilities. The CV results of all three compounds show the lower LUMO levels and higher HOMO levels than PF. Among them, P3/4 exhibits deep blue emission both in solution and in solid state. The PLED based on P3/4 shows higher device performance and locates in the deep blue region with a CIE coordinate of (0.17, 0.08). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]