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Background: The effects of intravenous glucocorticoids on postoperative delirium (POD) in adult patients undergoing major surgery remain controversial. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to assess whether intravenous glucocorticoids can decrease POD incidence in the entire adult population undergoing major surgery and its association with patients age, type of surgery, and type of glucocorticoid. Methods: We searched the relevant literature published before November 3, 2023, through Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. The primary outcome was POD incidence. The risk ratio for the primary outcome was calculated using the Mantel–Haenszel method. The secondary outcomes included 30-day mortality, length of hospital stay, ICU duration, mechanical ventilation duration, and occurrence of glucocorticoid-related adverse effects (e.g., infection and hyperglycemia). This meta-analysis was registered in PROSPERO: CRD42022345997. Results: We included eight randomized controlled studies involving 8972 patients. For the entire adult population undergoing major surgery, intravenous glucocorticoids reduced the POD incidence (risk ratio = 0.704, 95% confidence interval, 0.519–0.955; P = 0.024). However, subgroups defined by type of surgery showed differential effects of glucocorticoids on POD. Intravenous glucocorticoids can not reduce POD incidence in adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery (risk ratio = 0.961, 95% confidence interval, 0.769–1.202; P = 0.728), with firm evidence from trial sequential analysis. However, in major non-cardiac surgery, perioperative intravenous glucocorticoid reduced the incidence of POD (risk ratio = 0.491, 95% confidence interval, 0.338–0.714; P < 0.001), which warrants further studies due to inconclusive evidence by trial sequence analysis. In addition, the use of glucocorticoids may reduce the mechanical ventilation time (weighted mean difference, -1.350; 95% confidence interval, -1.846 to -0.854; P < 0.001) and ICU duration (weighted mean difference = -7.866; 95% confidence interval, -15.620 to -0.112; P = 0.047). Conclusions: For the entire adult population undergoing major surgery, glucocorticoids reduced the POD incidence. However, the effects of glucocorticoids on POD appear to vary according to the type of surgery. In patients receiving major non-cardiac surgery, glucocorticoid may be an attractive drug in the prevention of POD, and further studies are needed to draw a definitive conclusion. In cardiac surgery, intravenous glucocorticoids have no such effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate preoperative assessment of the efficacy of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation for uterine fibroids is essential for good treatment results. The aim of this study was to develop robust radiomics models for predicting the prognosis of HIFU-treated uterine fibroids and to explain the internal predictive process of the model using Shapley additive explanations (SHAP). Methods: This retrospective study included 300 patients with uterine fibroids who received HIFU and were classified as having a favorable or unfavorable prognosis based on the postoperative nonperfusion volume ratio. Patients were divided into a training set (N = 240) and a test set (N = 60). The 1295 radiomics features were extracted from T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (CE-T1WI) scans. After data preprocessing and feature filtering, radiomics models were constructed by extreme gradient boosting and light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), and the optimal performance was obtained by Bayesian optimization. Finally, the SHAP approach was used to explain the internal prediction process. Results: The models constructed using LightGBM had the best performance, and the AUCs of the T2WI and CE-T1WI models were 87.2 (95% CI = 87.1–87.5) and 84.8 (95% CI = 84.6–85.7), respectively. The use of SHAP technology can help physicians understand the impact of radiomic features on the predicted outcomes of the model from a global and individual perspective. Conclusion: Multiparametric radiomic models have shown their robustness in predicting HIFU prognosis. Radiomic features can be a potential source of biomarkers to support preoperative assessment of HIFU treatment and improve the understanding of uterine fibroid heterogeneity. Clinical relevance statement: An interpretable radiomics model can help clinicians to effectively predict the prognosis of HIFU treatment for uterine fibroids. The heterogeneity of fibroids can be characterized by various radiomics features and the application of SHAP can be used to visually explain the prediction process of radiomics models. Key points: Radiomics models can be used to effectively predict the prognosis of fibroids treated with HIFU. The heterogeneity of fibroids can be characterized by various radiomics features. The application of SHAP can be used to visually explain the prediction process of radiomics models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the development of more cropping systems in response to global warming and food security concerns. A two-year field experiment (2017–2018) was conducted to investigate the effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs), soil environmental factors and yield on traditional double-cropping rice (DR), maize rice (MR) and ratooning rice (Rr). The results showed a significant annual effect of temperature and rainfall on GHG emissions under different cropping systems. Annual CH4 emissions under MR and Rr were significantly lower than under DR. Compared to DR, the highest cumulative N2O emissions were observed in MR (14.9 kg·ha−1) with a reduction of 23.7% in Rr. In addition, the upland crops significantly reduced CH4 emissions for late rice, while N2O emissions increased by 20.6%. Compared with DR and Rr, global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) were significantly lower for MR (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the annual yield of MR (16.40 t·ha−1) was 8.1% and 2.4% higher than that of DR and Rr, respectively. This study further found that soil temperature and NH4+-N content were positively correlated with CH4 and N2O emissions, and soil moisture was positively correlated with N2O emission. Thus, we concluded that MR has the greatest potential to improve crop yield and mitigate GHG emissions in central China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flexible and stretchable electrode based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-Ag nanosheet composite with low resistance and stable properties has been investigated. Under the synergistic effect of the excellent flexibility and stretchability of PDMS and the excellent electrical conductivity of Ag nanosheets, the electrode possesses a resistivity as low as 4.28 Ωm, a low resistance variation in the 0–50% strain range, a stable electrical conductivity over 1000 cycles, and a rapid recovery ability after failure caused by destructive large stretching. Moreover, the conductive mechanism of the flexible electrode during stretching is explained by combining experimental tests, theoretical models of contact point-tunneling effect, and finite element simulation. This research provides a simple and effective solution for the structure design and material selection of flexible electrodes, and an analytical method for the conductive mechanism of stretchable electrodes, which has potential for applications in flexible electronic devices, smart sensing, wearable devices, and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of residual aluminum, aluminum species distribution, sludge activity, and microbial community structure was investigated. The pollutant removal property was not affected significantly at a dose of 20 mg/L poly-aluminum chloride (PAC), but the disturbance occurred at 60 mg/L PAC. The settleability and inorganic matter of sludge increased with PAC addition. This might be related to the increase of toxic oligomeric aluminum with the PAC dosage. Meanwhile, the sludge activity and microbial diversity were limited, especially for the microflora related to nitrogen removal, with the suppression of nitrifiers being higher compared with denitrifiers. Furthermore, aluminum species with lower toxicity was the major component at 20 mg/L. Therefore, the microbial physiological functions could be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To resolve the issues of color distortion and detail blurring, this study proposes a multi-path parallel enhancement of low-light images (LLIs) based on multiscale spatially aware Retinex decomposition (MUSRetinex-Net). MUSRetinex-Net consists of three subnetworks. Firstly, MUSRetinex-Net inputs LLIs into an illumination level estimation image guided multiscale spatial perception decomposition network (MSPD-Net) which completes Retinex decomposition to retain richer color information and detail structure; then reflectance maps from LLIs are inputted into a three-pass parallel reflectance maps recovery network (TPR-Net) for more desirable noise removal and color recovery; illumination maps from LLIs are inputted into a multi-branch attention illumination maps adjustment network (MAA-Net) for adjustment to obtain a more accurate estimation of illumination levels. In this study, six publicly accessible datasets are utilized for experiments, two referenced evaluation metrics, and four non-referenced evaluation metrics are utilized for assessment and analysis. The experimental results show that the low-light image enhancement (LLIE) effects obtained by this study method are more consistent with the recognition level of the human eye and the structure of the natural environment. The method achieves the optimal referenced evaluation metrics score and the most comprehensive non-referenced evaluation metrics score on all six public datasets, with extremely high enhancement performance and generalization ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visceral white nodules disease (VWND) caused by Pseudomonas plecoglossicida is a common disease in cage‐farmed large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) in China. VWND usually occurred at water temperature of 16–19℃, resulting in high mortality in farmed large yellow croaker. Now, P. plecoglossicida as its pathogen has been considered nonpathogenic at 7–12℃. During February 2019, an infectious disease outbreak was observed in cage‐farmed large yellow croaker at a water temperature of 12℃ in Ningde, China. This disease is characterized by white granulomatous lesions in internal organs of the diseased fish, which was similar with the symptoms of the VWND in large yellow croaker. Then, we isolated a bacterial strain named PQLYC4 from visceral lesions of the diseased fish. The experimental infection studies demonstrated that the strain PQLYC4 was the pathogen of the disease, which was further identified as P. plecoglossicida by the analysis of morphology, 16s rRNA gene homology and average nucleotide identity based on the whole genome sequence. Our results revealed that P. plecoglossicida strain PQLYC4 could cause the outbreak of the VWND at 12℃, a water temperature lower than that reported previously, thus providing new knowledges of prevalence and prevention of the VWND in large yellow croaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For channel and spatial feature map C×W×H in object detection task, its information fusion usually relies on attention mechanism, that is, all C channels and the entire space W×H are all compressed respectively via average/max pooling, and then their attention weight masks are obtained based on correlation calculation. This coarse-grained global operation ignores the differences among multiple channels and diverse spatial regions, resulting in inaccurate attention weights. In addition, how to mine the contextual information in the space W×H is also a challenge for object recognition and localization. To this end, we propose a Fine-Grained Dual Level Attention Mechanism joint Spacial Context Information Fusion module for object detection (FGDLAM&SCIF). It is a cascaded structure, firstly, we subdivide the feature space W×H into n (optimized as n = 4 in experiments) subspaces and construct a global adaptive pooling and one-dimensional convolution algorithm to effectively extract the feature channel weights on each subspace respectively. Secondly, the C feature channels are divided into n (n = 4) sub-channels, and then a multi-scale module is constructed in the feature space W×H to mine context information. Finally, row and column coding is used to fuse them orthogonally to obtain enhanced features. This module is embeddable, which can be transplanted into any object detection network, such as YOLOv4/v5, PPYOLOE, YOLOX and MobileNet, ResNet as well. Experiments are conducted on the MS COCO 2017 and Pascal VOC 2007 datasets to verify its effectiveness and good portability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In order to reconstruct the micro-vibration quickly and easily, a novel phase unwrapping algorithm based on multiple Hilbert transform is proposed. Hilbert transform is performed once and three times for self-mixing fringes on different inclined directions, then the unwrapped phase is obtained and the micro-vibration can be reconstructed under weak or even moderate feedback. In this paper, the validity of the proposed algorithm is confirmed by means of simulated signals and demonstrated by several experimental measurements for both harmonic and aleatory target vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied various soil characteristics associated with Scirpus mariqueter growth and spatial heterogeneity in the Shanghai Nanhui Dongtan wetlands. In September and October 2015, 12 soil characteristics (soil organic carbon, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, orthophosphate, pH, moisture content, particle size, salinity, and tidal elevation) were analyzed from 101 soil samples. The key factors affecting S. mariqueter spatial distribution were determined using canonical correspondence analysis and curve-fitting analysis. Results showed that vegetation indices of height, cover, density, and biomass were positively correlated (P < 0.05) with tidal flat elevation. S. mariqueter was mainly distributed at tidal flat elevations of 2.0-3.4 m. Plant coverage and density were positively correlated (P < 0.05) with total nitrogen and soil salinity. Based on the curve-fitting and independent samples t-test analyses, thresholds of total nitrogen, conductivity, and tidal flat elevation of soil were 0.5475 g/kg, 0.8368 μS/cm, and 2.75 m, respectively. This study provides critical data for future coastal wetland remediation worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Much rounder ball mill fluorite particles with more exposure of {1 1 1} surface. • More elongated rod mill particles with more {1 1 0} and {3 1 0} surfaces exposed. • A higher monolayer coverage degree of oleate on rod mill particles. • Exposure degree of crystal surfaces affects the shape factors of fluorite particle. Abstract Grinding for mineral liberation is a prerequisite for a successful flotation separation and different grinding media produce mineral particles with different morphologies and surface properties. In this paper, a systematic investigation was carried out on surface physicochemical properties of fluorite particles produced by ball and rod mills through such methods as single mineral flotation experiment, wettability measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD) test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations. XRD and SEM observations indicate that the predominant surfaces exposed for both mill particles follow the order of {1 1 1} > {1 1 0} > {3 1 0} > {1 0 0} surfaces. The difference lies in that the rod mill particles possess a higher exposure of more reactive {1 1 0} and {3 1 0} surfaces of higher calcium-atom reactivity, which show a stronger interaction with the collector and hence a higher monolayer coverage degree. This difference also leads to a higher elongation and lower roundness values of rod mill particles that are beneficial to the particle-bubble attachment by shortening the induction time. The results of wettability and flotation show that when treated with the collector solution, the particles produced by rod mill possess a lower critical surface tension and greater hydrophobicity, hence exhibiting a higher flotation recovery. This study signifies the importance of the exposure of crystal surfaces in determining the shape factors and reactivity of mineral particles, which will help to guide the optimization of flotation separation and particle surface modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circadian clock orchestrates gene expression rhythms. Regulation at the level of gene transcription is essential for molecular and cellular rhythms. Pol II pause release is a critical step of transcription regulation. However, whether and how Pol II pause release is regulated during daily transcription have not been characterized. In this study, we performed Pol II ChIP-seq across the day in the mouse liver and quantitatively analyzed binding signals within the transcription start site (TSS) region and the gene body. We frequently found discordant changes between Pol II near the TSS ([Pol II]TSS, paused Pol II) and that within the gene body ([Pol II]GB, transcribing Pol II) across the genome, with only [Pol II]GB always reflecting transcription of clock and clock-controlled genes. Accordingly, Pol II traveling ratios of more than 7000 genes showed significant daily changes (>1.5-fold). Therefore, there is widespread regulation of Pol II pausing in the mouse liver. Interestingly, gene transcription rhythms exhibited a bimodal phase distribution. The transcription of ~400 genes peaked near ZT0, coincident with a genome-wide increase in [Pol II]TSS and traveling ratio (TR). The transcription of ~300 other genes peaked ~12 h later, when there was a global decrease in [Pol II]TSS and TR. ChIP-seq against TATA-binding protein (Tbp), a preinitiation complex (PIC) component, revealed that Pol II recruitment mainly played an indirect role in transcriptional output, with transcriptional termination and pause release functioning prominently in determining the fate of initiated Pol II and its pausing status. Taken together, our results revealed a critical, albeit complex role of Pol II pausing control in regulating the temporal output of gene transcription. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of magnetic Ag/BiOI/ZnFe 2 O 4 hybrids synthesized via hydrothermal process, subsequent deposition-precipitation and photoreduction method were employed to remove elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) under fluorescent light irradiation. The effects of Ag content, fluorescent light irradiation, reaction temperature, pH value, flue gas composition, anions and photocatalyst dosage on Hg 0 removal were investigated in detail. The as-synthesized photocatalysts were characterized using N 2 adsorption-desorption, XRD, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, VSM, DRS, ESR, PL and photocurrent response. The results showed that the ternary Ag/BiOI/ZnFe 2 O 4 hybrids possessed enhanced visible-light-responsive photocatalytic performances for Hg 0 removal. Ag/BiOI/ZnFe 2 O 4 photocatalyst could be easily recovered from the reaction solution by an extra magnet and was stable in the process of Hg 0 removal. Lower content of Ag was highly dispersed on the surface of BiOI/ZnFe 2 O 4 , while higher content of Ag would result in some aggregations and/or the blockages of micropore. In comparison to BiOI/ZnFe 2 O 4 , Ag deposited BiOI/ZnFe 2 O 4 material showed lower recombination rate of electron–hole pairs. The superior Hg 0 oxidation removal could correspond to good match of BiOI and ZnFe 2 O 4 , excellent fluidity and surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag 0 nanoparticles, which led to higher separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes, thereby enhancing the hybrids’ photocatalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A AgCl/Ag composite was synthesized via a facile precipitation method and applied to the photocatalytic oxidation removal of elemental mercury (Hg0) in a wet bubbling reactor under fluorescent light irradiation. The fresh photocatalyst and the used materials were characterized by N2 physisorption, X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron spin resonance. The results showed that the AgCl/Ag photocatalyst and fluorescent light have a great synergistic effect on Hg0 removal. A higher solution temperature was not favorable for Hg0 removal. The presence of lower concentrations of SO2 or NO showed little effect on Hg0 removal, whereas the inhibition of SO2 or NO on Hg0 removal became more serious with the SO2 or NO concentration increasing. Some amounts of Ag0 were produced onto the AgCl/Ag surface during the process of Hg0 removal in the absence and presence of SO2 or NO. The trapping experiments confirmed that •O2− was the primary reactive species in the photocatalytic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grinding for mineral liberation is a prerequisite for a successful flotation separation. Different grinding media produce mineral particles with different surface properties and flotability. In this study, the surface properties and flotation behavior of scheelite particles having a size of − 74 + 38 μm produced by ball and rod mills were studied through single mineral flotation experiment, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation, wettability measurement, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) test. The wettability and flotation results showed that, compared to the ball mill particles, the rod mill ones have a lower critical surface tension and thus a greater hydrophobicity when treated with the collector solution, and accordingly perform a better flotation recovery using oleate as the collector. In addition, the rod mill particles have a smaller specific surface area, so the full monolayer adsorption of the collector on their surfaces is achieved at a lower oleate concentration. The SEM analysis further confirmed that mineral grains obtained from the rod mill possess larger elongation and flatness values, which are essentially required for their attachment with air bubbles. The XRD observations revealed that mineral particles from both mills (i.e. ball and rod) have similar exposure intensity of abundant {112} surface. However, the rod mill particles have more {101} surface exposed, while the ball mill particles have more {001} surface exposed, leading to a stronger interaction of the collector with the rod mill particles. Keeping in view the stronger interaction with the collector and the easier attachment to air bubbles, the rod mill scheelite particles are deemed to be more hydrophobic and have a higher flotation recovery. These details studied will help establish the relation between the particle surface properties and the grinding media, and provide guidance for optimizing flotation separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L-phenylalanine is an important aromatic amino acid that is widely used in the area of feed, food additives, and pharmaceuticals. Among the different strategies of L-phenylalanine synthesis, direct microbial fermentation from raw substrates has attracted more and more attention due to its environment friendly process and low-cost raw materials. In this study, a rational designed recombinant Escherichia coli was constructed for L-phenylalanine production. Based on wild type E. coli MG1655, multilevel engineering strategies were carried out, such as directing more carbon flux into the L-phenylalanine synthetic pathway, increasing intracellular level of precursors, blocking by-product synthesis pathways and facilitating the secretion of L-phenylalanine. During 5 L fed batch fermentation, recombinant E. coli MPH-3 could produce 19.24 g/L of L-phenylalanine with a yield of 0.279 g/g glucose. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the highest yields of L-phenylalanine producing E. coli using glucose as the sole carbon source in fed-batch fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anisotropic physicochemical properties of calcite, including cleavage nature, surface (free) energy, surface relaxation degree, wettability and adsorption behaviour, were revisited in this paper based on the surface structures and surface broken bonds reported previously. The relationships between these surface properties were also discussed. The analysis indicated that the positive relationship between the density of surface broken bonds and the surface energy of calcite was established, and the former could be used to predict the cleavage nature, commonly exposed surfaces and the degree of surface relaxation. The distribution characteristic and the number of broken (or unsaturated) bonds of surface Ca atoms can be used to explain the anisotropic surface wetting and adsorption behaviour of calcite. This review demonstrated that surface broken bonds could be a fast way to study the surface properties of minerals and materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel algorithm based on a phase modulation and demodulation technique for multiple self-mixing interferometry was proposed in this paper. This algorithm can measure nanoscale vibration in real time and enhance the measurement resolution of a multiple self-mixing interferometer twofold compared with that of a self-mixing interferometer. In this paper, the principles of the method were described in detail, and a phase equation for multiple self-mixing interferometry was derived. Experiments were confirmed by conducting a series of experiments with different amplitudes, different signal-to-noise ratios, and different vibration waveforms. The experimental results showed that the algorithm can rapidly demodulate vibration in real time and indicated good agreement between theory and experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and anthropogenic activities are increasingly threatening estuarine and coastal zones. These effects lead to complex positive and negative feedback among sustainable development pillars of human, society, economy and environment according to the integrated sustainability perspective. Only limited studies have calculated comprehensive impact assessments of land conversions between land and sea, invasive species expansion, and inundation impacts on natural wetlands under future scenarios. To fill-in this research gap, this study aims to conduct a long-term temporal analysis (1960–2015) of land use and land cover change (LULC), and future ecosystem service value (ESV) loss for intertidal wetlands predicted in the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE). The results show that, over recent decades, impervious constructed areas and Spartina alterniflora-covered saltmarsh have increased to 10.7% and 2.61%, respectively, whereas native species saltmarshes and tidal flats have decreased to 0.04% and 1.1%, respectively. The total ESV increased significantly during 1960–2000 but significantly declined during 2000–2015. The highest total ESV was US$ 3.8 billion in 2010, considering the approximate contributions of natural and artificial wetlands. Similarly, the ESV of the S. alterniflora saltmarshes reached US$ 0.7 billion in 2015. The total intertidal wetlands area could decrease to 8071–8248/ha by 2100. The total ESV of intertidal wetland ecosystems would decrease by approximately one billion dollars between 2015 and 2050. An enhanced understanding of the economic impacts regarding coastal management, restoration, and conservation is of profound importance for improving coastal resilience, sustainable development, and adaptation of coastal societies to climate change in the Yangtze River Estuary. • The total ESV increased significantly during 1960–2000 but significantly declined during 2000–2015. • The highest ESV in total was US$ 3.8 billion in 2010. • The ESV of the S. alterniflora saltmarshes reached US$ 0.7 billion in 2015. • Under the SRES A2 scenario, the intertidal wetlands area maximally decrease to 8071–8248/ha in 2100. • The total ESV of natural wetland ecosystems decreased by approximately US$ 1 billion in 2015–2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes is a serious threat to human health. Thus, research on noninvasive blood glucose detection has become crucial locally and abroad. Near-infrared transmission spectroscopy has important applications in noninvasive glucose detection. Extracting useful information and selecting appropriate modeling methods can improve the robustness and accuracy of models for predicting blood glucose concentrations. Therefore, an improved signal reconstruction and calibration modeling method is proposed in this study. On the basis of improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) and correlative coefficient, the sensitive intrinsic mode functions are selected to reconstruct spectroscopy signals for developing the calibration model using the support vector regression (SVR) method. The radial basis function kernel is selected for SVR, and three parameters, namely, insensitive loss coefficient ε, penalty parameter C, and width coefficient γ, are identified beforehand for the corresponding model. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to optimize the simultaneous selection of the three parameters. Results of the comparison experiments using PSO-SVR and partial least squares show that the proposed signal reconstitution method is feasible and can eliminate noise in spectroscopy signals. The prediction accuracy of model using PSO-SVR method is also found to be better than that of other methods for near-infrared noninvasive glucose detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • SUHI in different time and different global climate zones have significant differences. • The top three most important drivers of SUHI for daytime are PREC, POP, and PRES. • The top three most important drivers of SUHI for nighttime are PREC, POP, and AHE. • Natural-anthropogenic drivers interactively affect SUHI in multiple urban grids. • Greening is more effective to mitigate SUHI in arid climate zones when EVI > 0.38. The inconstant climate change and rapid urbanization substantially disturb the global thermal balance and induce severe urban heat island (UHI) effect, adversely impacting human development and health. Existing literature has revealed the UHI characteristics and driving factors at an urban scale, but interactions between the main factors of a global grid scale assessment on the context of climate zones remain unclear. Therefore, based on the multidimensional climatic and socio-economic statistical datasets, the multi-time scale of surface urban heat island intensity (SUHI) characteristics was investigated in this study to analyze how natural-anthropogenic drivers affect the variance of SUHI and vary in their importance for the changes of other interaction factors. The results show that the mean value of SUHI in summer is higher than in winter, and in daytime is higher than in nighttime on a seasonal and daily scale. SUHIs in different global climate zones have significant differences. When analyzing drivers' contributions and interactions with LightGBM model and SHAP algorithm, we know that monthly precipitation (PREC), the estimated population (POP) and surface pressure (PRES) are the three major drivers of daytime SUHI. The nighttime SUHI is mainly PREC, POP and anthropogenic heat emission (AHE), the influence rules of the natural drivers are mostly opposite to that of daytime. This study highlights the fundamental role of background climate for designing strategies. Irrigation or artificial rainfall will be effective to mitigate SUHI in low rainfall areas, while it is more effective to reduce AHE in high rainfall areas. In where greening can be difficult in the most developed cities, reducing AHE, increasing per capita GDP and controlling the population scale may also contribute to alleviating the SUHI. This study provides ideas for developing responsive urban heat island mitigation policies in a more realistic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic redox-active materials are investigation hotspots for lithium ion storage due to their structural diversity and tunability. A large number of researches have focused on the organic materials of benzene para-substitution type. There are little investigations on benzene ortho-substitution type organic materials. Benzene ortho-substitution redox molecules are generally considered to be too close to the functional group to fully react, and conjugated structure is not as stable as that of para-substitution. However, we reported dilithium phthalate (Li 2 PA) anode active material for lithium ion battery. Interestingly, Li 2 PA anode has an excess capacity and reaches four-electrons reaction, and the lithium ions storage mechanism is explored: not only the two adjacent conjugated carbonyls can fully react, but also the rearranged benzene ring can accept two Li + ions. Li 2 PA anode has a high specific capacity of 674 mA h g−1 at 60 mA g−1, with 91.7% capacity retention after 125 cycles (cycled for 4 months). Furthermore, it achieves high-rate capability, holding the specific capacity of 110 mA h g−1 at 4000 mA g−1. This research shows that Li 2 PA can be used as organic active material for anode, opening up new possibility for organic anode development. • Dilithium phthalate is first used in lithium ion battery. • Dilithium phthalate anode performances exceed reported dilithium terephthalate. • Crystalline state of dilithium phthalate changes to amorphous state during cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved transition detection algorithm for a self-mixing interference (SMI) laser sensor is presented in this study. The proposed algorithm can correctly identify extreme points of SMI and can quickly and accurately locate determination thresholds, thus it can effectively reduce positioning deviation. The SMI laser sensor enables accurate reconstruction of the displacement information from a SMI signal. Displacement reconstructions performed by improved transition detection algorithm have been validated through simulations and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circadian clock regulates many cellular processes, notably including the cell cycle, metabolism and aging. Mitochondria play essential roles in metabolism and are the major sites of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the cell. The clock regulates mitochondrial functions by driving daily changes in NAD+levels and Sirt3 activity. In addition to this central route, in the present study, we find that the expression of some mitochondrial genes is also rhythmic in the liver, and that there rhythms are disrupted by theClockΔ19mutation in young mice, suggesting that they are regulated by the core circadian oscillator. Related to this observation, we also find that the regulation of oxidative stress is rhythmic in the liver. Since mitochondria and ROS play important roles in aging, and mitochondrial functions are also disturbed by aging, these related observations prompt the compelling hypothesis that circadian oscillators influence aging by regulating ROS in mitochondria. During aging, the expression rhythms of some mitochondrial genes were altered in the liver and the temporal regulation over the dynamics of mitochondrial oxidative stress was disrupted. However, the expression of clock genes was not affected. Our results suggested that mitochondrial functions are combinatorially regulated by the clock and other age-dependent mechanism(s), and that aging disrupts mitochondrial rhythms through mechanisms downstream of the clock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated closed-loop insulin infusion therapy has been studied for many years. In closed-loop system, the control algorithm is the key technique of precise insulin infusion. The control algorithm needs to be designed and validated. In this paper, an improved PID algorithm based on insulin-on-board estimate is proposed and computer simulations are done using a combinational mathematical model of the dynamics of blood glucose-insulin regulation in the blood system. The simulation results demonstrate that the improved PID algorithm can perform well in different carbohydrate ingestion and different insulin sensitivity situations. Compared with the traditional PID algorithm, the control performance is improved obviously and hypoglycemia can be avoided. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm, in silico testing is done using the UVa/Padova virtual patient software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the powerful ability of EEMD algorithm in noising, it is usually applied to feature extraction of fault signal of rolling bearing. But the selective correctness of sensitive IMF after decomposition can directly influence the correctness of feature extraction of fault signal. In order to solve the problem, the paper firstly proposes a new method on selecting sensitive IMF based on Cloud Similarity Measurement. By comparing this method in simulation experiment with the traditional mutual information method, it is obvious that the proposed method has overcome the misjudgment in the traditional method and it has higher accuracy, by factually collecting the normal, damage, and fracture fault AE signal of the inner ring of rolling bearing as samples, which will be decomposed by EEMD algorithm in the experiments. It uses Cloud Similarity Measurement to select sensitive IMF which can reflect the fault features. Finally, it sets the Multivariate Multiscale Entropy (MME) of sensitive IMF as the eigenvalue of original signal; then it is classified by the SVM to determine the fault types exactly. The results of the experiments show that the selected sensitive IMF based on Cloud Similarity Measurement is effective; it can help to improve the accuracy of the fault diagnosis and feature extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• POSS could hinder large anions transport and improve Li+ ions conduction. • High Li+ ion transference number. • Electrochemical stability window (4.74 V, vs. Li+/Li). High Li+ ion transference number gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) comprised of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) matrix with adding hybrid nanoparticle polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) are presented. POSS is a cage-type inorganic–organic nanoparticle which could hinder large anions transport and improve Li+ ions conduction. An optimized GPE membrane is prepared by adding 10% POSS into HPMC. It achieves the best electrochemical performance, including high Li+ ion transference number (0.81), remarkable ionic conductivity (9.05 × 10−3 S cm−1, 25 ℃) and electrochemical stability window (4.78 V, vs. Li+/Li). In addition, this system has the special ability to regulate lithium deposition/dissolution and exhibits overpotential stability for more than 460 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slip is one of the most common forms of failure in aviation bearings, and it can pose a great threat to the stable operation of aviation bearings. Bearing cage speed monitoring methods based on weak magnetic detection can achieve nondestructive measurements. However, the method suffers from solid signal background noise due to the high sensitivity of the sensor. Therefore, in this paper, an adaptive stochastic resonance algorithm was proposed in response to the characteristics of the weak magnetic detection signal and the problem of solid noise. In addition, by adaptively adjusting the coefficients of the stochastic resonance system—by an improved moth flame optimization algorithm—the drawback in which the stochastic resonance method required artificially set parameters for extracting the feature frequencies of the weak magnetic signals was solved. In this process, we used parameters, such as general refined composite multi-scale sample entropy, as the adaptation function of the optimization algorithm. In the end, simulation and experimental outcomes verified the efficacy of the approach put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sliding motion of sliding mode control system is studied in this paper. Using the measure concept, two new quantities about the sliding motion are introduced, and a new relationship about the sliding motion is derived with the new quantities. According to this relationship, an adaptive law of the magnitude of the controller's switching part is proposed, which can minimize the chattering phenomenon according to the predefined robust margin. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme, it is applied to Rössler system with uncertain disturbances. Simulation results show that the proposed control method can stabilize Rössler system with the magnitude of the controller's switching part adjusted adaptively with the disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave (MW) technology has gained increasing interest in wastewater treatment due to its unique properties, such as fast and uniform heating, hot spots effect, and non-thermal effect. MW enhances the production of active radicals (e.g., OH , SO 4 −), which exerts a stronger integrated treatment effect in combination with advanced oxidation processes. Over the years, microwave-assisted advanced oxidation processes (MW-AOPs) have developed rapidly to degrade pollutants as innovative treatment approaches. This paper provides a detailed classification and a comprehensive review of MW-AOPs. The latest applications of MW in different advanced oxidation systems (oxidation systems, catalytic oxidation systems, and photochemical, electrochemical and sonochemical systems) are reviewed. The reaction parameters and performance of MW-AOPs in wastewater treatment are discussed, and the enhancement of pollutant degradation by MW is highlighted. In addition, the operating costs of MW-AOPs are evaluated. Some recommendations on MW-AOPs are made for future research. This review provides meaningful information on the potential development and evolution of MW-AOPs. [Display omitted] • The mechanisms of MW in various AOPs are summarized. • Three types of MW-AOPs based on different oxidation systems are described. • The synergistic effect in the MW catalytic oxidation system is discussed. • The advantages of MW-assisted photochemical, electrochemical, and sonochemical AOPs are demonstrated. • The economic costs of MW-AOPs are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multisource information fusion technique is currently one of the common methods for rolling bearing fault diagnosis. However, the current research rarely fuses information from the data of different sensors. At the same time, the dispersion itself in the VAE method has asymmetric characteristics, which can enhance the robustness of the system. Therefore, in this paper, the information fusion method of the variational autoencoder (VAE) and random forest (RF) methods are targeted for subsequent lifetime evolution analysis. This fusion method achieves, for the first time, the simultaneous monitoring of acceleration signals, weak magnetic signals and temperature signals of rolling bearings, thus improving the fault diagnosis capability and laying the foundation for subsequent life evolution analysis and the study of the fault–slip correlation. Drawing on the experimental procedure of the CWRU's rolling bearing dataset, the proposed VAERF technique was evaluated by conducting inner ring fault diagnosis experiments on the experimental platform of the self-research project. The proposed method exhibits the best performance compared to other point-to-point algorithms, achieving a classification rate of 98.19%. The comparison results further demonstrate that the deep learning fusion of weak magnetic and vibration signals can improve the fault diagnosis of rolling bearings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flexible and multi-functional sensor based on all-carbon sensing medium for ultrahigh-performance strain, temperature and humidity sensing has been investigated via an easy and low-cost method. The sensor can detect different external stimuli simultaneously with high sensitivity, broad detection range, fast response, high signal–to-noise ratio and low coupling, indicating great potential in multi-functional sensing devices. [Display omitted] An ultrahigh-performance multi-functional sensor integrating strain, temperature and humidity sensing has been investigated. The sensing medium is only composed of carbon nanocoils (CNCs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). For strain sensing, due to the high elasticity provided by CNC skeleton and the recoverable conductive cracks with a width of hundreds of microns generated by the dense CNT film, the sensor delivers excellent sensing properties, including the advantages of ultrahigh gauge factor (up to 352085), wide strain range (up to 100%), high strain resolution (0.01%), fast response time (16 ms) and robust cycle stability (10000 cycles). In addition, this all–carbon sensing medium can also be used for temperature and humidity sensing in an ultrawide temperature range of 7 to 400 K and humidity sensing over a relative humidity range of 10% to 80% with a high signal-to-noise ratios. It is worth noting that the integrated multi-functional sensor can simultaneously detect the stimuli of strain, temperature and humidity with low coupling. Multiple applications can be detected accurately, such as human motions, breathing behavior, pulse wave, different vibration modes and so on. Therefore, the all-carbon-based sensor provides a promising strategy in developing multi-functional integration for smart wearable devices, electronic skins, and other multi-functional sensing devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Synthesis of 6-deoxycyclopropavir (10), a prodrug of cyclopropavir (1) and its in vitro and in vivo antiviral activity is described. 2-Amino-6-chloropurine methylenecyclopropane 13 was transformed to its 6-iodo derivative 14 which was reduced to prodrug 10. It is converted to cyclopropavir (1) by the action of xanthine oxidase and this reaction can also occur in vivo. Compound 10 lacked significant in vitro activity against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpes virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), human hepatitis B virus (HBV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), vaccinia virus and cowpox virus. In contrast, prodrug 10 given orally was as active as cyclopropavir (1) reported previously [Kern, E. R.; Bidanset, D. J.; Hartline, C. B.; Yan, Z.; Zemlicka, J.; Quenelle, D. C. et al. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2004, 48, 4745] against murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection in mice and against HCMV in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

SUMMARY Extensive research in the area of plant innate immunity has increased considerably our understanding of the molecular mechanisms associated with resistance controlled by a dominant resistance gene. In contrast, little is known about the molecular basis underlying the resistance conferred by quantitative trait loci (QTLs). In this study, using the interaction of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum) with Oidium neolycopersici, we compared the cytological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved in both monogenic and polygenic resistances conferred by a dominant gene ( Ol-1) and three QTLs ( Ol-qtls), respectively. Our results showed that the three Ol-qtls jointly confer a very high level of broad-spectrum resistance and that the resistance is associated with both the hypersensitive response and papillae formation, with the hypersensitive response being prevalent. Both H2O2 and callose accumulation, which are coupled with Ol-1-mediated resistance, are also associated with the resistance conferred by Ol-qtls. Further, we analysed the pathogen-induced transcript profiles of near-isogenic lines carrying the three Ol-qtls and the Ol-1 gene. Transcript profiles obtained by cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis showed that, on fungal challenge, about 70% of the transcript-derived fragments are up-regulated in both susceptible and resistant genotypes. Most of the sequenced transcript-derived fragments showed homology to genes with functions in defence responses, suggesting that defence-responsive genes responsible for basal defence are involved in both monogenic and polygenic resistances conferred by Ol-1 and Ol-qtls, respectively. Although about 18% of the identified transcript-derived fragments are specific for either monogenic or polygenic resistance, their expression patterns need to be further verified by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enantiomeric cyclopropavir phosphates (+)-9 and (-)-9 were synthesized and investigated as substrates for GMP kinase. N2-Isobutyryl-di-O-acetylcyclopropavir (11) was converted to (+)-monoacetate 12 using hydrolysis catalyzed by porcine liver esterase. Phosphorylation via phosphite 13 gave after deacylation, phosphate (+)-9. Acid-catalyzed tetrahydropyranylation of (+)-monoacetate 12 gave, after deacylation, tetrahydropyranyl derivative 14. Phosphorylation via phosphite 15 furnished, after deprotection, enantiomeric phosphate (-)-9. Racemic diphosphate 16 was also synthesized. The phosphate (+)-9 is a relatively good substrate for GMP kinase with a KM value of 57 μM that is similar to that of the natural substrates GMP (61 μM) and dGMP (82 μM). In contrast, the enantiomer (-)-9 is not a good substrate (KM 1200 μM) indicating a significant enantioselectivity for the GMP kinase catalyzed reaction of monophosphate to diphosphate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Synthesis and antiviral activity of the title fluoromethylenecyclopropane analogues 15a, 15b, 16a, and 16b is described. Methylenecyclopropane carboxylate was first transformed to 2,2-bis-hydroxymethylmethylenecyclopropane. Selective monoacetylation followed by introduction of fluorine gave 2-acetoxymethyl-2-fluoromethylmethylenecyclopropane as the key intermediate. The synthesis of analogues 15a, 15b, 16a, and 16b then followed alkylation–elimination procedure as described previously for other methylenecyclopropane analogues. The adenine Z-isomer 15a was found to be a potent inhibitor of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in vitro with EC50/CC50 (μM) 0.5/55.7. Compounds 15b, 16a, and 16b were also active but at higher concentrations, EC50/CC50 (μM) 3.2–7.5/53.6–64.1. Analogue 15a inhibited hepatitis C virus by virtue of its cytotoxicity and it moderately inhibited replication of the Towne strain of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). The E-isomer 16a was a substrate for adenosine deaminase, whereas the Z-isomer 15a was not deaminated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Synthesis of “reversed” methylenecyclopropane analogues of nucleoside phosphonates 6a,7a, 6b, and 7b is described. 1-Bromo-1-bromomethylcyclopropane 8 was converted to the bromocyclopropyl phosphonate 9 by Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction with triisopropyl phosphite. Base-catalyzed β-elimination and deacetylation gave the key Z- and E-hydroxymethylcyclopropyl phosphonates 10 and 11 separated by chromatography. The Mitsunobu type of alkylation of 10 or 11 with adenine or 2-amino-6-chloropurine afforded phosphonates 12a, 12b, 13a, and 13b. Acid hydrolysis furnished the adenine and guanine analogues 6a, 7a, 6b, and 7b. The E and Z configuration was assigned on the basis of NOE experiments with phosphonates 6b and 7b. All Z- and E-isomers were also distinguished by different chemical shifts of CH2O or CH2N (H4 or H4′). Significant differences of the chemical shifts of the cyclopropane C3(3’) carbons and coupling constants 3JP,C2(2’) or 3JP,C3(3’) selective for the Z- or E-isomers were also noted. Phosphonates 6a, 7a, 6b, and 7b are devoid of significant antiviral activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring spatial-temporal interactions among group members is crucial for group activity recognition. However, most existing approaches cannot jointly consider it from multi-level cross-relations, which results in an incomplete representation. To address this issue, we propose a relational complementary module that comprehensively learns the interactions among members from both time-space and space-time perspectives. To suppress the information redundancy caused by this all-view interaction description, we introduce NH-Softmax to impose sparsity on the few relevant attention weights to generate robust and differentiated feature representations. In addition, to fully explore individual contextual interaction information, relaxed attention (RAT) is designed to enhance the feature information of each individual in a relaxed manner. It fleshes out individual representations by highlighting the most salient features and eases the computational burden. Our experiments on Volleyball dataset and Collective Activity dataset show significant improvements over previous state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A near-zero TCR of Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene is achieved by a simple sandwich structure. • A Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene-based temperature-independent pressure sensor is formed. • A Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene-based pressure-independent temperature sensor is constructed. • Dual-mode sensing units are flexibly expandable to suit various application. All-resistive pressure and temperature dual-mode sensors are always a focus of attention in the field of flexible tactile sensing due to the lack of need for complex readout systems. However, the intrinsic temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of the active material greatly limits crosstalk-free detection of pressure. Herein, a near-zero TCR of −2.1 × 10−3% °C−1 has been achieved from a simple sandwich structure with a Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene film printed on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate and encapsulated by a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. The mechanism is explained by the combination of PDMS thermal expansion and the negative TCR of MXene, which is certified by the simulations of their mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. In addition, a silver film is printed on the PDMS surface in contact with MXene film to form a temperature-independent pressure sensor based on two-phase contact mechanism with different conductivities. Moreover, a pressure-independent temperature sensor is constructed by opening a square hole in the PDMS encapsulated above another MXene film. Given their independent structures, the dual-mode sensing units are flexibly expandable on the same substrate to suit various application scenarios. For example, they are integrated into a glove to detect pressure and temperature without crosstalk in multiple states. Owing to the exceptional crosstalk-free detection and expandability, the sensor developed in this work hold immense promise for multifunctional tactile sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a novel design of a flexible, wear-resistant de-icing brush to address the issues of significant road damage and the rapid wear caused by traditional de-icing machinery. The technique utilizes semi-rigid steel wire rope as a high-speed cutting brush, leveraging the mechanism of brittle-ductile deformation fracture. Using epoxy resin materials and optimizing the brush head's tilt angle enhances its wear resistance and milling performance, thus reducing road damage. The de-icing performance of the flexible brush head was evaluated through tensile and wear-resistant tests. Experimental results indicated a sample displacement of approximately 3.86 mm, with the steel wire rope beginning to slip from the brush head when the tensile force reached 1018 N. A 20-minute coating and soaking process with the epoxy resin material resulted in a 2.7-fold increase in the wear resistance of the brush head compared to a conventional one. Moreover, operating the de-icing brush at 600 r/min reduced the brush head's wear rate. The novel flexible, wear-resistant de-icing brush designed in this study offers a promising solution to the severe road damage and rapid wear induced by conventional de-icing machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber‐based flexible thermoelectric (TE) generators are highly desirable due to their capability to convert thermal energy into electricity and their potential applications in wearable electronics. High‐performance poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/Tellurium (Te) composite TE fibers have been successfully developed via a continuous wet‐spinning approach followed by sulphuric acid treatment. With a simple pre‐modification to Te nanowires, the inorganic Te fillers form uniform distribution in PEDOT:PSS. At the optimal condition, the composite fibers exhibit a power factor of 233.5 µW m−1 K−2 and mechanical strength of 205 MPa, which are among the highest values reported so far for the PEDOT:PSS‐based TE fibers. From the viewpoint of TE property enhancement mechanism, understanding the morphology and carrier transport behavior in the 1D organic/inorganic composite fibers remains still challenging. On basis of a series of PEDOT:PSS/Te composite fibers with varying Te fractions, orientations of both the inorganic and organic constituents are quantitatively evaluated. Their electrical conductivities and Seebeck coefficients are also analyzed with modified series‐parallel models and energy filtering theory. This work may not only provide a universal approach to produce high‐performance organic/inorganic composite TE fibers for various wearable applications, but also help to understand the morphology and charge transport between heterogeneous phases in a 1D composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bainong sterility (BNS) is a thermo‐sensitive genic male sterile wheat line, characterised by anther fertility transformation in response to low temperature (LT) stress during meiosis, the failure of vacuole decomposition and the absence of starch accumulation in sterile bicellular pollen. Our study demonstrates that the late microspore (LM) stage marks the transition from the anther growth to anther maturation phase, characterised by the changes in anther structure, carbohydrate metabolism and the main transport pathway of sucrose (Suc). Fructan is a main storage polysaccharide in wheat anther, and its synthesis and remobilisation are crucial for anther development. Moreover, the process of pollen amylogenesis and the fate of the large vacuole in pollen are closely intertwined with fructan synthesis and remobilisation. LT disrupts the normal physiological metabolism of BNS anthers during meiosis, particularly affecting carbohydrate metabolism, thus determining the fate of male gametophytes and pollen abortion. Disruption of fructan synthesis and remobilisation regulation serves as a decisive event that results in anther abortion. Sterile pollen exhibits common traits of pollen starvation and impaired starch accumulation due to the inhibition of apoplastic transport starting from the LM stage, which is regulated by cell wall invertase TaIVR1 and Suc transporter TaSUT1. Summary statement: The manuscript provides new insight into the role of carbohydrate metabolism in regulating anther development and the molecular mechanisms underlying pollen abortion in a thermo‐sensitive genic male sterile winter wheat line under low temperature during meiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Nucleoside analogs are widely used for the treatment of viral diseases (Hepatitis B/C, herpes and human immunodeficiency virus, HIV) and various malignancies. ALS-8176, a prodrug of the 4′-chloromethyl-2′-deoxy-2′-fluoro nucleoside ALS-8112, was evaluated in hospitalized infants for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), but was abandoned for unclear reasons. Based on the structure of ALS-8112, a series of novel 4′-modified-2′-deoxy-2′-fluoro nucleosides were synthesized. Newly prepared compounds were evaluated against RSV, but also against a panel of RNA viruses, including Dengue, West Nile, Chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Unfortunately, none of the compounds showed marked antiviral activity against these viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tubular steel members with slender cross-sections in compression are prone to local buckling. Different approaches, such as infilling concrete, installation of internal stiffeners and externally bonding fiber-reinforced polymer reinforcement, have been developed to retard the local buckling of steel tubular sections, and hence to improve the performance of tubular structures. In this study, a total of 35 circular hollow-steel-tube (HST) stub columns with both non-slender and slender cross-sections confined by different types of external confinements, namely steel ring, spiral and jacket confinements were tested in the experimental program. The uni-axial behavior of externally confined HST columns, including the failure mode, ultimate load-carrying capacity, stiffness and ductility, were studied and discussed. The enhancements in strength, stiffness and ductility of HST columns with different external confinements were assessed. The results indicated that the improvements on strength and stiffness of the confined HST columns were insignificant for columns with non-slender cross-sections and were considerable for columns with slender cross-sections, whilst the ductility of the HST columns was substantially enhanced by external confinements. Based on the results, equations for column ductility evaluation considering the effects of cross-section slenderness ratio, steel strength and external confinement, are proposed in this study, which are able to predict the column ductility for unconfined and externally confined HST columns. • Behavior of hollow steel tube columns with different external confinements was investigated. • Three external confinement schemes, namely ring, spiral and jacket confinements were adopted. • The effects on strength, stiffness and ductility of columns were studied. • Accurate column ductility equations are proposed for unconfined and externally confined hollow steel tubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The partial autocorrelation function (PACF) is often used in time series analysis to identify the extent of the lag in an autoregressive model. However, the PACF is only suitable for detecting linear correlations. This article proposes the conditional distance autocovariance function (CDACF), which is zero if and only if measured time series components are conditionally independent. Due to the lack of this property, traditional tools for measuring partial correlations such as the PACF cannot work well for nonlinear sequences. Based on the CDACF, we introduce a tool known as an integrated conditional distance autocovariance function (ICDACF), which can test conditional temporal dependence structures of a sequence and estimate the order of an autoregressive process. Simulation studies reveal that the ICDACF can detect the conditional dependence of nonlinear autoregressive models efficiently while controlling for type‐I error rates. Finally, an analysis of a Bitcoin price dataset using the ICDACF demonstrates that our method has considerable advantages over other state‐of‐the‐art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on the core pathogenesis of yin-yang poisoning recorded in the Synopsis of the Golden Chamber and clarifies the characteristics of "yin poisoning" and "yang poisoning" as considered during the Han and Tang dynasties. It is found that the classification criteria for the two are based on the manifestation of syndromes rather than the cold and heat of the pathogenesis. By analyzing the syndrome of yin-yang poisoning in the Synopsis of the Golden Chamber and combining the records with people's understanding of the efficacy of various medicinals in Shengma Biejia Decoction during the Han and Tang dynasties, it is demonstrated that the core pathogenesis is stagnation, mainly reflected in three aspects: accumulation of toxins, stagnation of qi and blood, and stagnation of yang qi. Among these, the degree and location of stagnation of yang qi are the reasons for the difference between yin poisoning and yang poisoning. The disease of yang poisoning is characterized by sufficient yang qi in the body, obstruction of pathogenic factors on the surface, and intense competition between vital qi and evil qi. Therefore, yang stagnation on the surface is more severe and leads to heat symptoms. The disease of yin poisoning is characterized by deficient yang qi in the body, an inability to resist pathogen, and the deepening of evil qi. The yang qi is suppressed by depression and is relatively mild, making it unable to circulate and warm the body, resulting in cold symptoms. Therefore, when treating yang poisoning, ZHANG Zhongjing used medicinals that were pungent, warm and dispersed to relieve the yang depression on the surface. If the yang depression was dispersed, the heat would naturally dissipate. When treating yin poisoning, only internal medicine is used to relieve internal yang qi stagnation, and when yang qi is extended, cold will naturally disappear. In summary, we aimed to enhance our understanding of the efficacy of Shengma Biejia Decoction from the perspectives of promoting the dispersion of toxins, promoting blood circulation, and promoting yang stagnation, in order to provide new ideas for the clinical use of this formula and expand its application scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cracks inside urban underground comprehensive pipe galleries are small and their characteristics are not obvious. Due to low lighting and large shadow areas, the differentiation between the cracks and background in an image is low. Most current semantic segmentation methods focus on overall segmentation and have a large perceptual range. However, for urban underground comprehensive pipe gallery crack segmentation tasks, it is difficult to pay attention to the detailed features of local edges to obtain accurate segmentation results. A Global Attention Segmentation Network (GA-SegNet) is proposed in this paper. The GA-SegNet is designed to perform semantic segmentation by incorporating global attention mechanisms. In order to perform precise pixel classification in the image, a residual separable convolution attention model is employed in an encoder to extract features at multiple scales. A global attention upsample model (GAM) is utilized in a decoder to enhance the connection between shallow-level features and deep abstract features, which could increase the attention of the network towards small cracks. By employing a balanced loss function, the contribution of crack pixels is increased while reducing the focus on background pixels in the overall loss. This approach aims to improve the segmentation accuracy of cracks. The comparative experimental results with other classic models show that the GA SegNet model proposed in this study has better segmentation performance and multiple evaluation indicators, and has advantages in segmentation accuracy and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]