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Frontier scientific discoveries increasingly rely on big-science research infrastructures, such as supercolliders, synchrotron light sources, and space telescopes, whose construction and operation involve intensive international collaboration. This collaborative nature, however, presents a challenge in balancing national interests with the common good, particularly given the substantial fiscal investments involved. This study investigates the effects of one of China's prominent big-science infrastructures, the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), on the country's production of science, differentiating between national and international scientific endeavors. Employing a rigorous difference-in-differences (DID) methodology, it evaluates SSRF's effects on discipline-level production of publications by domestic researchers and those involving international collaboration. The empirical findings reveal compelling evidence that SSRF has significantly enhanced the production of high-impact national and international publications for disciplines reliant on the facility for experiments, particularly increasing the percentage of high-impact national publications. The findings also underscore the dual role of big-science infrastructures in fostering international research collaboration while simultaneously enhancing nations' domestic scientific development and competitiveness. Additionally, the study provides valuable insights for research assessment and science policy discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontier scientific discoveries increasingly rely on big-science research infrastructures, such as supercolliders, synchrotron light sources, and space telescopes, whose construction and operation involve intensive international collaboration. This collaborative nature, however, presents a challenge in balancing national interests with the common good, particularly given the substantial fiscal investments involved. This study investigates the effects of one of China's prominent big-science infrastructures, the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), on the country's production of science, differentiating between national and international scientific endeavors. Employing a rigorous difference-in-differences (DID) methodology, it evaluates SSRF's effects on discipline-level production of publications by domestic researchers and those involving international collaboration. The empirical findings reveal compelling evidence that SSRF has significantly enhanced the production of high-impact national and international publications for disciplines reliant on the facility for experiments, particularly increasing the percentage of high-impact national publications. The findings also underscore the dual role of big-science infrastructures in fostering international research collaboration while simultaneously enhancing nations' domestic scientific development and competitiveness. Additionally, the study provides valuable insights for research assessment and science policy discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With advances in digital technology, physical and virtual spaces have gradually merged. For digitally disadvantaged groups, this transformation is both convenient and potentially supportive. Previous research on public infrastructure has been limited to improvements in physical facilities, and few researchers have investigated the use of mixed physical and virtual spaces. In this study, we focused on integrated virtual and physical spaces and investigated the factors affecting digitally disadvantaged groups' intentions to use this new infrastructure. Building on a unified theory of the acceptance and use of technology, we focused on social interaction anxiety, identified the characteristics of digitally disadvantaged groups, and constructed a research model to examine intentions to use the new infrastructure. We obtained 337 valid data from the questionnaire and analysed them using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results showed positive relationships between performance expectancy, perceived institutional support, perceived marketplace influence, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions. The influence of psychological reactance was significantly negative. Finally, social interaction anxiety had a regulatory effect on performance expectancy, psychological reactance, perceived marketplace influence, and effort expectancy. Its effects on perceived institutional support and facilitating conditions were not significant. The results support the creation of inclusive smart cities by ensuring that the new public infrastructure is suitable for digitally disadvantaged groups. Meanwhile, this study presents new theoretical concepts of new public infrastructures, mixed physical and virtual spaces, which provides a forward-looking approach to studying digitally disadvantaged groups in this field and paves the way for subsequent scholars to explore the field in theory and literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a regulated air pollutant that impacts tropospheric chemistry and is an important indicator of the incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels. In this study, we used 4 years (2019–2022) of winter and spring (January–May) atmospheric CO observations to quantify and characterize city-scale CO enhancements (Δ CO) from the New York City metropolitan area (NYCMA). We observed large variability in Δ CO, roughly 60 % of which was explained by atmospheric transport from the surrounding surface areas to the measurement sites, with the remaining 40 % due to changes in emissions on sub-monthly timescales. We evaluated the CO emissions from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), which has been used to scale greenhouse gas emissions, and found the emissions are much too low in magnitude. During the COVID-19 shutdown in spring 2020, we observed a flattening of the diurnal pattern of CO emissions, consistent with reductions in daytime transportation. Our results highlight the role of meteorology in driving the variability in air pollutants and show that the transportation sector is unlikely to account for the non-shutdown observed CO emission magnitude and variability, an important distinction for determining the sources of combustion emissions in urban regions like the NYCMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phonon lasers have long been a subject of interest and possess broad application prospects. Much effort is devoted to lay the foundation of realizing phonon lasers using cavity magnomechanical systems, but up to now no related work is carried out to explore the quantum‐squeezing‐engineered phonon laser action in cavity magnomechanics. Here, the phonon laser action is investigated in a three‐mode cavity magnomechanical system built based on a microwave resonator‐yttrium iron garnet sphere composite device, focusing on the effect induced by the magnon‐mode squeezing. It is found that the magnon squeezing can improve the effective magnon–photon and magnon–phonon coupling rates. It is demonstrated that the phonon laser action can be engineered and enhanced by changing the squeezing strength. This scheme provides a new mechanism to improve the effective magnon–photon and magnon–phonon couplings for various applications, and demonstrates the feasibility of realizing high‐gain and low‐threshold phonon lasers with cavity magnomechanical platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryopreservation of receptacles or fertilized eggs is the main method for the preservation of indoor germplasm resources for the economic seaweed Sargassum fusiforme. However, none of these methods can achieve long-term preservation of germplasm resources. The holdfast represents the asexual reproductive organ of S. fusiforme and has a dense tissue that can be regenerated into seedlings under suitable conditions. Therefore, in this study, the holdfast was used as the experimental material to analyze the effects of different temperatures (8 °C, 10 °C, 13 °C) and salinities (29‰, 24‰, 19‰, 14‰) on the preservation of S. fusiforme germplasm. The results showed that 29‰ and 14‰ were not suitable for the long-term preservation of holdfasts regardless of temperatures, since both photosynthesis and growth rates of the holdfast decreased after 30 days of preservation at these salinities. However, 8 °C and 19‰ were found to be suitable for the long-term in vitro preservation of holdfasts, with a survival time being as long as 120 days. During the experiment, the photosynthesis activity of the holdfast also displayed less fluctuation in this experimental condition than in the others. After 120 days, the content of malondialdehyde in the holdfasts was the lowest, and the morphology remained intact. 8 °C and 19‰ could be suitable for long-term indoor preservation of S. fusiforme. These findings might provide technical support for solving the problem associated with the difficulty of preserving the germplasm of superior strains in the breeding process. They might also have important significance for crossbreeding and for establishing a germplasm resource bank for S. fusiforme in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An enhanced formation of brown carbon (BrC) with a non-negligible warming effect at the tropopause has recently been found. However, its formation mechanism is unclear. Here, we report on a BrC formation process that happens during air mass upward transport by conducting simultaneous measurements on atmospheric BrC with a 4 h time resolution at the mountain foot (MF, 400 m a.s.l.) and mountainside (MS, 1120 m a.s.l.) of Mt. Hua, China, in the 2016 summer. Our results showed that the daytime light absorption (abs 365nm) of BrC on the MS is approximately 60 % lower than that at the MF due to a dilution effect caused by the planetary boundary layer expansion, but the daytime light absorption of BrC relative to black carbon on the MS is about 30 % higher than that at the MF, suggesting a significant formation of secondary BrC in the lifting process of air mass from the MF to the MS. Such a secondary formation accounted for > 50 % of BrC on the MS but only 27 % of BrC at the MF. Moreover, the N:C elemental ratio of the daytime BrC was 15 % higher on the MS than that at the MF, mainly due to an aerosol aqueous-phase formation of water-soluble organic nitrogen (WSON) compounds. Stable nitrogen isotope composition further indicated that such light-absorbing WSON compounds were produced from the aerosol aqueous-phase reaction of carbonyls with NH 4+. Our work revealed, for the first time, that ammonia-induced aerosol aqueous reactions can significantly promote BrC formation during the air mass lifting process, which is probably responsible for an enhanced light absorption of BrC in the upper boundary layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory responses and neuronal ferroptosis, which are associated with abnormal accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), exert crucial damaging effects on the brain after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). In this study, minocycline (MC)‐loaded cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2‐MC) are constructed for combined ICH treatment. Ultra‐small CeO2 (≈5 nm) synthesized via a high‐temperature approach exhibits powerful free‐radical scavenging and iron‐chelating abilities. In vitro experiments demonstrated that CeO2‐MC effectively attenuated the ROS levels in mouse microglial cells and neurons following oxyhemoglobin stimulation. In addition, CeO2‐MC exhibits iron chelation properties and stabilizes the mitochondrial membrane potential, thereby promoting anti‐inflammatory responses and preventing neuronal ferroptosis. In an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) mouse model, CeO2‐MC exhibited robust free radical scavenging capabilities and demonstrated the ability to preserve mitochondrial morphology and function, mitigate brain edema, and maintain blood–brain barrier integrity by inhibiting neuroinflammation and ferroptosis. Neurobehavioral tests demonstrated that CeO2‐MC significantly ameliorated spatial learning ability and sensorimotor function after ICH. Consequently, a general strategy using CeO2 nanoparticles to augment the therapeutic efficacy of MC highlights a new perspective for the in‐depth treatment of ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth cycle of tellurium zinc cadmium crystals is long and the growth system is complex. When using vertical Bridgman or vertical gradient freezing methods to grow tellurium zinc cadmium (CdZnTe) crystal materials, the growth process is often difficult to observe intuitively, and there is no corresponding means to detect the temperature field inside the crystals, which brings inconvenience to improve the crystal growth process. In this paper, numerical simulation software is used to analyze the influences of furnace air convection on the temperature field of CdZnTe crystal growth. By opening holes at the top and bottom of furnace, gas exchanging occurs between the inside and outside of the furnace, thereby regulates the convection behaviors. Before opening holes, the convection rate is slow (only 10-5 m/s), forming stable convection cells; after opening holes, the convection rate significantly increases (0.25 - 0.90 m/s), and the convection state changes to laminar flow. Through controlling the aperture size (20 - 40 mm) in the model, the laminar flow rate can be effectively regulated. At the same temperature setting, when the flow rate increases from 0.25 m/s to 0.90 m/s, the temperature gradient will increase from 0.5 K/mm to 1.1 K/mm. Furthermore, experimental work is applied on real furnace, the change of temperature filed before and after opening holes were studied. The experimental results of temperature gradient is accord with the simulating results. It is also found that under laminar flow state, increasing convection rate may improve the stability of temperature field. The increase of temperature gradient and the improvement of stability in the temperature field will be beneficial for the preparation of high-quality CdZnTe crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As live streaming becomes a widely used online sales mode, previously content-centred anchors are attempting to switch to e-commerce live streaming. The purpose of this research was to explore the mechanisms that prompt consumers to stay or leave after content anchors transfer to live e-commerce broadcasts. In addition, we explored the factors affecting consumption from the perspectives of anchors, consumers and the external environment. Design/methodology/approach: We distributed questionnaires to a group of fans who had experienced the transition of content anchors to live streaming and received back 375 valid questionnaires. Using psychological contract theory, we constructed a theoretical model for the scenario in which content anchors transition to live e-commerce broadcasting and analysed the data using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings: The results show that circle culture, mainstream culture, initial trust and live streaming content all positively influenced consumers' attitudes, whilst consumers' past shopping experiences negatively influenced consumers' attitudes. The personal charm of the content anchors did not have a significant effect on consumers' attitudes. Additionally, we found that only anchors with a significant circle culture and good trust levels amongst fans were able to transition to live e-commerce streaming successfully. Originality/value: This study extends the application of psychological contract theory to the field of e-commerce and describes the transformation of different types of psychological contracts. The paper's conclusions provide a reference for decision-making and the implementation of transformation by content-based anchors to live streaming, helping them to coordinate their relationships with fans more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study integrates ten years of daily weather, traffic, and air pollution data across the six largest Norwegian cities, utilizing data from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the Norwegian Institute of Air Research, and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The compilation of this dataset involved detailed selection and verification of monitoring stations to ensure consistency and accuracy. Initial data collection focused on the top ten most populous cities in Norway, with the subsequent examination of traffic and air pollution monitoring sites. Weather variables were then matched to the selected sites, resulting in a comprehensive dataset from 2009 to 2018. The resulting dataset encompasses extensive information, including harmful pollutants such as Nitric oxide (NO), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Nitrogen oxides (NOx), Particulate Matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5), and Particulate Matter less than 10 micrometers in diameter (PM10). The dataset's potential for further analysis and its utility in informing policy decisions underscore its significance. This integrated dataset is a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers alike, facilitating comprehensive studies on the intersection of weather, traffic, and air pollution in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial literature investigating the intergenerational transmission of depressive symptoms has primarily focused on mothers and adolescents, whereas less is known about the potential role of fathers, especially their parenting behaviors. This study aimed to address this gap by examining the mediating role of maternal parenting, and the moderating role of paternal parenting in this intergenerational transmission pathway. A total of 528 Chinese community adolescents (Mage = 12.70 ± 1.49 years; 48.7%, girls) and their mothers participated. After adolescent sex, age, maternal educational levels, and monthly household income were controlled for, both maternal warmth and rejection mediated the association between maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms. More importantly, paternal warmth buffered the adverse effect of maternal depressive symptoms and maternal rejection on adolescent depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the buffering role of paternal parenting in blocking the intergenerational transmission risk of depressive symptoms from mothers to adolescents and emphasize the need for father-focused interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing a reliable credit card fraud detection model has become a primary focus for academia and the financial industry. The existing anti-fraud methods face challenges related to low recall rates, inaccurate results, and insufficient causal modeling ability. This paper proposes a credit card fraud detection model based on counterfactual data enhancement of the triplet network. Firstly, we convert the problem of generating optimal counterfactual explanations (CFs) into a policy optimization of agents in the discrete–continuous mixed action space, thereby ensuring the stable generation of optimal CFs. The triplet network then utilizes the feature similarity and label difference of positive example samples and CFs to enhance the learning of the causal relationship between features and labels. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method improves the accuracy and robustness of the credit card fraud detection model, outperforming existing methods. The research outcomes are of significant value for both credit card anti-fraud research and practice while providing a novel approach to causal modeling issues across other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the development of secondary brain injury (SBI) following intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and represents a promising therapeutic target. Celastrol, the primary active component of Tripterygium wilfordii, is a natural product that exhibits mitochondrial and neuronal protection in various cell types. This study aims to investigate the neuroprotective effects of celastrol against ICH‐induced SBI and explore its underlying mechanisms. Celastrol improves neurobehavioral and cognitive abilities in mice with autologous blood‐induced ICH, reduces neuronal death in vivo and in vitro, and promotes mitochondrial function recovery in neurons. Single‐cell nuclear sequencing reveals that the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)/cAMP‐activated exchange protein‐1 (EPAC‐1) signaling pathways are impacted by celastrol. Celastrol binds to cNMP (a domain of EPAC‐1) to inhibit its interaction with voltage‐dependent anion‐selective channel protein 1 (VDAC1) and blocks the opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pores. After neuron‐specific knockout of EPAC1, the neuroprotective effects of celastrol are diminished. In summary, this study demonstrates that celastrol, through its interaction with EPAC‐1, ameliorates mitochondrial dysfunction in neurons, thus potentially improving SBI induced by ICH. These findings suggest that targeting EPAC‐1 with celastrol can be a promising therapeutic approach for treating ICH‐induced SBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The problem of environmental pollution is becoming increasingly severe, and international consensus confirms the need for eco-friendly consumption. Worldwide, the eco-friendly food market is booming, so understanding consumers' motivations to purchase these foods is crucial. This paper aimed to construct a model explaining consumers' intentions to purchase eco-friendly food by combining stimuli-organism-response (SOR) and signalling theories and exploring the mechanisms by which macro- and micro-signals impact perceptions of value and consumers' subsequent willingness to purchase eco-friendly food. Design/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was distributed through the Qualtrics platform, and the completed questionnaires were collected in March and April 2023. The study used partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the 331 valid responses received. Findings: The results indicated that trustworthy eco-labels for high-quality and health-promoting products, as conveyed in macro signals, significantly enhanced consumers' perceptions of functional value. The peer effect and a moderate level of food anthropomorphism conveyed in micro-signals substantially improved their perceptions of social value, whilst the perceived value of products significantly and positively influenced their purchase intentions. Originality/value: This study explains consumers' motivations to purchase eco-friendly products. This provides an explanation for the effect of macro- and micro-signals on value perceptions. By integrating the different dimensions of these signals to create a unified research perspective, the paper provides an integrated model, thereby filling a research gap concerning the influence of two-dimensional signals on purchase intention. By supporting eco-friendly food use, the paper contributes to environmental protection and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Signaling mediated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is supported by the postsynaptic scaffolding protein PSD-95, has antidepressant effects. Conversely, clinical depression is associated with reduced BDNF signaling. We found that peptidomimetic compounds that bind to PSD-95 promoted signaling by the BDNF receptor TrkB in the hippocampus and reduced depression-like behaviors in mice. The compounds CN2097 and Syn3 both bind to the PDZ3 domain of PSD-95, and Syn3 also binds to an α-helical region of the protein. Syn3 reduced depression-like behaviors in two mouse models of stress-induced depression; CN2097 had similar but less potent effects. In hippocampal neurons, application of Syn3 enhanced the formation of TrkB–Gαi1/3–PSD-95 complexes and potentiated downstream PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling. In mice subjected to chronic mild stress (CMS), systemic administration of Syn3 reversed the CMS-induced, depression-associated changes in PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling, dendrite complexity, spine density, and autophagy in the hippocampus and reduced depression-like behaviors. Knocking out Gαi1/3 in hippocampal neurons prevented the therapeutic effects of Syn3, indicating dependence of these effects on the TrkB pathway. The findings suggest that compounds that induce the formation of PSD-95–TrkB complexes have therapeutic potential to alleviate depression. Editor's summary: The neurotrophic factor BDNF and its receptor TrkB have antidepressant effects. Because direct modulators of this ligand-receptor pair have limited therapeutic potential, Shi et al. instead tested the effects of peptides designed to structurally support BDNF-TrkB signaling intracellularly. Syn3 and CN2097, which bind to the postsynaptic scaffolding protein PSD-95, increased TrkB complex formation and BDNF-induced pathway activation in hippocampal neurons. Syn3 and, to a lesser extent, CN2097 reversed the neuronal and depression-like behavioral effects of chronic stress in mice, showing that targeting PSD-95 has antidepressant potential. —Leslie K. Ferrarelli [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An enhanced formation of brown carbon (BrC) with a non-negligible warming effect at the tropopause has recently been found. However, its formation mechanism is unclear. Here we report a BrC formation process that happens during air mass upward transport by conducting simultaneously a 4-hour time resolution of measurement on atmospheric BrC at the mountain foot (MF, 400 m a.s.l.) and mountainside (MS, 1120 m a.s.l.) of Mt. Hua, China in 2016 summer. Our results showed that the daytime light-absorption (Abs365nm) of BrC at MS is approximately 60 % lower than that at MF due to a dilution effect caused by the planetary boundary layer expansion, but the daytime light-absorption of BrC relative to black carbon at MS is about 30 % higher than that at MF, suggesting a significant formation of secondary BrC in the lifting process of air mass from MF to MS. Such a secondary formation accounted for >50 % of BrC at MS but only 27 % of BrC at MF. Moreover, N:C elemental ratio of the daytime BrC was 15 % higher at MS than that at MF, mainly due to an aerosol aqueous phase formation of water-soluble organic nitrogen (WSON) compounds. Stable nitrogen isotope composition further indicated that such light-absorbing WSON compounds were produced from the aerosol aqueous-phase reaction of carbonyls with NH4+. Our work for the first time revealed that ammonia-induced aerosol aqueous reactions can significantly promote BrC formation during the air mass lifting process, which is probably responsible for an enhanced light absorption of BrC in the upper troposphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CdZnTe crystals are widely used as epitaxial substrates for HgCdTe thin films for infrared detectors and in the fabrication of room temperature nuclear radiation detectors. During crystal growth, the interface shape is closely related to the heat state. Combined with the numerical simulation technique to control the temperature field distribution during CdZnTe crystal growth, the crystal growth procedure of micro-convex solidification interface by vertical Bridgman method and vertical gradient freeze method were designed, and the single crystal rate of CdZnTe crystals was analyzed according to the actual crystal growth experiments. The distribution spectrum of Zn components in the longitudinal section of CdZnTe crystals with equal diameters was obtained by photoluminescence spectroscopy for compositional testing in order to investigate the relationship between the temperature field distribution at the solid-liquid interface and the macroscopic segregation behavior of Zn components. It is found that the temperature gradient distribution on both sides of the solid-liquid interface significantly influences the shape selection and stability of the solidification interface during the crystal growth process, and a larger temperature gradient on the solid-phase side contributes helps to achieve stable crystal growth at the convex interface, thereby increasing the likelihood of growing single crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: GABPB1, the gene that encodes two isoforms of the beta subunit of GABP, has been identified as an oncogene in multiple malignant tumors. However, the role and mode of action of GABPB1 in malignant tumors, especially in lung cancer, are not well understood and need further research. Methods: Our research focused on examining the biological function of GABPB1 in NSCLC (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer). We analysed tumor data from public databases to assess the expression of GABPB1 in NSCLC and its correlation with patient prognosis and investigated GABPB1 expression and methylation patterns in relation to the tumor microenvironment. In parallel, experiments were conducted using short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to suppress the GABPB1 gene in human lung cancer cells to evaluate the effects on cell proliferation, viability, and apoptosis. Results: GABPB1 was widely expressed in various tissues of the human body. Compared to that in normal tissues, the expression of this gene was different in multiple tumor tissues. GABPB1 was highly expressed in lung cancer tissues and cell lines. Its expression was associated with molecular subtype and cellular signalling pathways, and a high level of GABPB1 expression was related to a poor prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma patients. The expression and methylation of GABPB1 affect the tumor microenvironment. After suppressing the expression of GABPB1 in both A549 and H1299 cells, we found a decrease in cell growth and expression, the formation of clones and an increase in the apoptosis rate. Conclusions: Our research verified that GABPB1 promotes the tumorigenesis of NSCLC and has an inhibitory effect on tumor immunity. The specific role of GABPB1 may vary among different pathological types of NSCLC. This molecule can serve as a prognostic indicator for lung adenocarcinoma, and its methylation may represent a potential breakthrough in treatment by altering the tumor immune microenvironment in lung squamous cell carcinoma. The role and mechanism of action of GABPB1 in NSCLC should be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of brown fishmeal in replacement of white fishmeal in the diet of Chinese soft-shelled turtles and to find the optimal amount of brown fishmeal to add. Five experimental groups were set up and fed to animals, and they were composed by different proportions of white and brown fishmeal: G1 (30% white and 25% brown fishmeal), G2 (25% white and 30% brown fishmeal), G3 (20% white and 35% brown fishmeal), G4 (15% white and 40% brown fishmeal), G5 (10% white and 45% brown fishmeal). G1 is regarded as the control group. Turtles were randomly divided into five experimental groups with four replicates each. The experiment lasted 72 days. The results showed that the WGR, SGR, FCR, and HSI of the G3 group were not significantly different from those of the control group (P > 0.05). In addition, brown fishmeal can increase the crude protein content in the muscles of them. Among the serum biochemical indices, there was no significant difference between the G3 group and the G1 group, except for the level of TG (P > 0.05). Meanwhile, the activities of AST, ALT, and CAT in the liver of the G3 group did not differ significantly from those of the G1 group (P > 0.05). However, the activities of ACP, AKP, and T-AOC were significantly decreased in the G3 group (P < 0.05). In addition, the alteration of fishmeal did not affect the digestive enzyme activities in the stomach, liver, and intestine, and there is no significant difference (P > 0.05). Importantly, with increasing brown fishmeal addition, the expression of Fas, Pparγ, Scd, and Stat3 showed a significant increase, while the expression of Bmp4 decreased significantly (P < 0.05). In this study, the addition of 20% white fishmeal and 35% brown fishmeal to the diet of Chinese soft-shelled turtles did not adversely affect growth performance. Therefore, 20% white fishmeal and 35% brown fishmeal are the most practical feed formulations for Chinese soft-shelled turtles in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the effect of kinetic on seaweed pattern formation in an Al-2 wt pct Si alloy during laser surface remelting. Our findings showed that the cellular pattern growth could be linked to the strong anisotropy of the interface energy in the (100)[001]0 deg and (100)[001]15 deg orientations. However, at a small but finite interface energy anisotropy of the (100)[001]45 deg orientation, degenerate seaweed can prevail under a scanning velocity of 10 mm/s. A 3D finite element numerical model of combined processing parameters showed that a high-temperature gradient (~106 K/m) promoted the formation of degenerate seaweed. As the scanning velocity increased, the effects of interface kinetics and the interface energy are comparable, causing a transition from the degenerate to hyperbranched seaweed. Furthermore, in the (111)[01-1]0 deg orientation, where the interfacial energy was nearly isotropic, the interface kinetics can become dominant and govern the seaweed cells growing along the scanning direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a regulated air pollutant that impacts tropospheric chemistry and is an important indicator of the incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels. In this study, we used four years (2019–2022) of winter and spring (January–May) atmospheric CO observations to quantify and characterize city-scale CO enhancements (ΔCO) from the New York City metropolitan area (NYCMA). We observed large variability in ΔCO, roughly 60 % of which was explained by atmospheric transport from the surrounding surface areas to the measurement sites, with the remaining 40 % due to changes in emissions on sub-monthly timescales. We evaluated the CO emissions from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), which has been used to scale greenhouse gas emissions, and found the emissions are much too low in magnitude. During the COVID-19 shutdown in spring 2020, we observed a flattening of the diurnal pattern of CO emissions, consistent with reductions in daytime transportation. Our results highlight the role of meteorology in driving the variability of air pollutants and show that the transportation sector is unlikely to account for the non-shutdown observed CO emissions magnitude and variability, an important distinction to determine the sources of combustion emissions in urban regions like the NYCMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a regulated air pollutant that impacts tropospheric chemistry and is an important indicator of the incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels. In this study, we used four years (2019--2022) of winter and spring (January--May) atmospheric CO observations to quantify and characterize city-scale CO enhancements (ΔCO) from the New York City metropolitan area (NYCMA). We observed large variability in ΔCO, roughly 60% of which was explained by atmospheric transport from the surrounding surface areas to the measurement sites, with the remaining 40% due to changes in emissions on sub-monthly timescales. We evaluated the CO emissions from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), which has been used to scale greenhouse gas emissions, and found the emissions are much too low in magnitude. During the COVID-19 shutdown in spring 2020, we observed a flattening of the diurnal pattern of CO emissions, consistent with reductions in daytime transportation. Our results highlight the role of meteorology in driving the variability of air pollutants and show that the transportation sector is unlikely to account for the non-shutdown observed CO emissions magnitude and variability, an important distinction to determine the sources of combustion emissions in urban regions like the NYCMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) is a technique commonly used to measure ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urban, rural, and remote environments. PTR-ToF-MS is known to produce artifacts from ion fragmentation, which complicates the interpretation and quantification of key atmospheric VOCs. This study evaluates the extent to which fragmentation and other ionization processes impact urban measurements of the PTR-ToF-MS ions typically assigned to isoprene (m/z 69, C 5 H 8 H +), acetaldehyde (m/z 45, CH 3 CHO +), and benzene (m/z 79, C 6 H 6 H +). Interferences from fragmentation are identified using gas chromatography (GC) pre-separation, and the impact of these interferences is quantified using ground-based and airborne measurements in a number of US cities, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City, and Detroit. In urban regions with low biogenic isoprene emissions (e.g., Las Vegas), fragmentation from higher-carbon aldehydes and cycloalkanes emitted from anthropogenic sources may contribute to m/z 69 by as much as 50 % during the day, while the majority of the signal at m/z 69 is attributed to fragmentation during the night. Interferences are a higher fraction of m/z 69 during airborne studies, which likely results from differences in the reactivity between isoprene and the interfering species along with the subsequent changes to the VOC mixture at higher altitudes. For other PTR masses, including m/z 45 and m/z 79, interferences are observed due to fragmentation and O 2+ ionization of VOCs typically used in solvents, which are becoming a more important source of anthropogenic VOCs in urban areas. We present methods to correct these interferences, which provide better agreement with GC measurements of isomer-specific molecules. These observations show the utility of deploying GC pre-separation for the interpretation PTR-ToF-MS spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This three‐wave longitudinal study examined whether methylation alterations in promoter exon 1F of a stress‐related gene—NR3C1 (NR3C1‐1F)—explained the longitudinal associations between childhood maltreatment and adolescent depressive symptoms. A total of 370 Han Chinese adolescents (Mage = 16.31 ± 1.28 years; 51.4% girls) recruited from Shandong, China were tracked from 2018 to 2020. The results showed that the severity of childhood maltreatment, especially that of emotional abuse and physical neglect, conferred risk for adolescent depressive symptoms via reducing NR3C1‐1F methylation levels. These mediation effects of NR3C1‐1F methylation did not vary between adolescent sex or NR3C1 BclI and Tth111I polymorphisms. The findings highlight how childhood maltreatment contributes to psychopathology development at a biological level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nd3+ ions are commonly employed as sensitizers in lanthanide luminescent nanoprobes. However, the cross-relaxation effect typically limits their doping concentration to less than 5%. To address this limitation, we synthesized and manipulated LiLuF4:Yb,Nd nanoparticles through a rational design of the host lattice and optimization of the doping concentration, achieving up to a 50% doped Nd3+ concentration. The nanoparticles' morphology, energy transfer mechanisms, and luminescent properties revealed robust near-infrared luminescence and successful imaging of mouse blood vessels. Furthermore, the inclusion of Lu in the nanoparticles enabled X-ray computed tomography imaging, enabling dual-modal imaging capabilities. This study presents a strategy for enhancing the performance of lanthanide luminescent nanoprobes and expanding their applications in multimodal imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) and middle ear cholesteatoma (MEC) were two most common chronic middle ear disease(MED) clinically. Accurate differential diagnosis between these two diseases is of high clinical importance given the difference in etiologies, lesion manifestations and treatments. The high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scanning of the temporal bone presents a better view of auditory structures, which is currently regarded as the first-line diagnostic imaging modality in the case of MED. In this paper, we first used a region-of-interest (ROI) network to find the area of the middle ear in the entire temporal bone CT image and segment it to a size of 100*100 pixels. Then, we used a structure-constrained deep feature fusion algorithm to convert different characteristic features of the middle ear in three groups as suppurative otitis media (CSOM), middle ear cholesteatoma (MEC) and normal patches. To fuse structure information, we introduced a graph isomorphism network that implements a feature vector from neighbourhoods and the coordinate distance between vertices. Finally, we construct a classifier named the "otitis media, cholesteatoma and normal identification classifier" (OMCNIC). The experimental results achieved by the graph isomorphism network revealed a 96.36% accuracy in all CSOM and MEC classifications. The experimental results indicate that our structure-constrained deep feature fusion algorithm can quickly and effectively classify CSOM and MEC. It will help otologist in the selection of the most appropriate treatment, and the complications can also be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the heterogeneity of dyadic quality of life (QoL) profiles, determine whether these profiles differ in terms of demographic and medical factors, neuroticism, resilience, and family functioning, and explore the combined effect of patient and caregiver neuroticism, resilience, and family functioning on dyadic QoL profiles. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 304 advanced lung cancer patient-caregiver dyads. Self-report questionnaires were administered to patient-caregiver dyads to assess demographic and medical characteristics, neuroticism, resilience, family functioning, and QoL. Results: The latent profile analysis identified four subgroups of dyadic QoL: patient-low-caregiver-high profile (38.82%), patient-high-caregiver-high profile (22.37%), patient-high-caregiver-low profile (19.74%), and patient-low-caregiver-low profile (19.08%). Additionally, when both patients and their caregivers had a high level of neuroticism or low level of resilience and low family functioning, compared with only member having them, there was a higher risk of poorer dyadic QoL. Conclusions: Our study identified the four heterogeneities of dyadic QoL profiles among advanced lung cancer patient-caregiver dyads. Future dyadic interventions should consider the heterogeneity of dyadic QoL in this population and prioritize patient-caregiver dyads at risk of poor dyadic QoL. Furthermore, when high neuroticism, low resilience, or family functioning coexist between patients and their caregivers, both parties exhibit much lower dyadic QoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interpersonal theories of depression highlight the role of interpersonal stress and individual's sensitivity to social rejection in the development of depression. However, previous research has tested their respective effects, whereas whether or not these two factors interact to affect depression, especially in ways of differential susceptibility or diathesis-stress, remains unknown. By adopting a morphed facial expressions recognition paradigm, the current study investigated the potential moderating role of perceptual sensitivity to facial expressions, especially that to angry expression which signaled social rejection, in the association between interpersonal stress and adolescent depressive symptoms. A total of 186 Chinese late adolescents (Mage = 21.16 ± 1.81 years; 73.7% females) participated in this study. The results demonstrated that perceptual sensitivity for angry faces, but not sad or happy faces, functioned as a plasticity factor significantly moderating the effect of interpersonal stress on depressive symptoms, which was consistent with hypothesis of differential susceptibility rather than diathesis-stress. No interactions were observed regarding non-interpersonal dimensions. These results were robust and survived a series of sensitivity analyses, including k-fold cross-validation test. The current findings highlight the crucial role of perceptual sensitivity to angry expression in explaining individual differences behind the links between interpersonal stress and adolescent depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nobel Prize is a prestigious award for outstanding contributions in different fields of science. However, the issue of how Nobel laureates stand out from all nominees remains a "black box" to be explored. Using data on nominees and nominators for the prizes in physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine from 1901 to 1950, in this study, the influences of the academic impact of a nominee's research, social identities of nominators, and the interaction between the two factors on the nominee's chance of winning were explored. The main determinants for a nominee to receive a Nobel Prize include the academic impact as measured by using L-index and h-index, and nominators' academic identity. However, significant disciplinary differences exist in terms of the influences of such factors. In physics, a nominee's L-index showed a very significant and positive effect, and nominators' administrative identity was helpful, and also their interactions. In chemistry, a nominee's h-index, as well as a nominator's administrative identity and academic identity, were all significant, and similar to physics, interactions between L-index and administrative identity could also increase a nominee's probability of winning the prize. In physiology or medicine, nominee's h-index and nominators' academic identity were of great concern, and when a nominee with a high h-index was nominated by a nominator with a high academic identity, the nominee's chance of being awarded was observed to be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective was to estimate the effect of flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS)-based screening on colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality by conducting an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library searched for RCTs from database inception to December 2022. The methodological quality of the RCTs was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. RevMan 5.4 was used for this meta-analysis. Four RCTs involving 457, 871 patients were included. This meta-analysis revealed that FS-based screening was associated with a 20% relative risk reduction in CRC incidence [RR = 0.80; 95% CI (0.75, 0.86); P < 0.00001], and a 24% reduction in CRC mortality [RR = 0.76; 95% CI (0.70, 0.82); P < 0.00001]. In addition, this meta-analysis revealed that FS-based screening reduced the incidence[RR = 0.68; 95% CI (0.60, 0.77); P < 0.00001] and mortality[RR = 0.64; 95% CI (0.49, 0.83); P = 0.0007] of distal CRC, but had no significant effect on proximal colon cancer. FS-based screening appeared to be effective in reducing distal CRC incidence and mortality in patients at average risk compared to no intervention, but had no significant effect on proximal colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to develop endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-related risk signature to predict the prognosis of melanoma and elucidate the immune characteristics and benefit of immunotherapy in ER-related risk score-defined subgroups of melanoma based on a machine learning algorithm. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) melanoma dataset (n = 471) and GTEx database (n = 813), 365 differentially expressed ER-associated genes were selected using the univariate Cox model and LASSO penalty Cox model. Ten genes impacting OS were identified to construct an ER-related signature by using the multivariate Cox regression method and validated with the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset. Thereafter, the immune features, CNV, methylation, drug sensitivity, and the clinical benefit of anticancer immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in risk score subgroups, were analyzed. We further validated the gene signature using pan-cancer analysis by comparing it to other tumor types. The ER-related risk score was constructed based on the ARNTL, AGO1, TXN, SORL1, CHD7, EGFR, KIT, HLA-DRB1 KCNA2, and EDNRB genes. The high ER stress-related risk score group patients had a poorer overall survival (OS) than the low-risk score group patients, consistent with the results in the GEO cohort. The combined results suggested that a high ER stress-related risk score was associated with cell adhesion, gamma phagocytosis, cation transport, cell surface cell adhesion, KRAS signalling, CD4 T cells, M1 macrophages, naive B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and eosinophils and less benefitted from ICI therapy. Based on the expression patterns of ER stress-related genes, we created an appropriate predictive model, which can also help distinguish the immune characteristics, CNV, methylation, and the clinical benefit of ICI therapy. Key messages: Melanoma is the cutaneous tumor with a high degree of malignancy, the highest fatality rate, and extremely poor prognosis. Model usefulness should be considered when using models that contained more features. We constructed the Endoplasmic Reticulum stress-associated signature using TCGA and GEO database based on machine learning algorithm. ER stress-associated signature has excellent ability for predicting prognosis for melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation modification of mRNA has been studied extensively. It has been reported that m6A determines mRNA fate and participates in many cellular functions and reactions, including oxidative stress. The PLOD2 gene encodes a protein that plays a key role in tissue remodeling and fibrotic processes. Methods: The m6A methylation and expression levels of PLOD2 were determined by m6A methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and MeRIP-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in the testes of varicocele rats compared with control. To determine whether IGF2BP2 had a targeted effect on the PLOD2 mRNA, RNA immunoprecipitation-qPCR (RIP-qPCR) and luciferase assays were performed. CRISPR/dCas13b-ALKBH5 could downregulate m6A methylation level of PLOD2, which plays an important role in PLOD2-mediated cell proliferation and apoptosis in GC-2 cells. Results: PLOD2 was frequently exhibited with high m6A methylation and expression level in the testes of varicocele rats compared with control. In addition, we found that IGF2BP2 binds to the m6A-modified 3′ untranslated region (3′-UTR) of PLOD2 mRNA, thereby positively regulating its mRNA stability. Targeted specific demethylation of PLOD2 m6A by CRISPR/dCas13b-ALKBH5 system can significantly decrease the m6A and expression level of PLOD2. Furthermore, demethylation of PLOD2 mRNA dramatically promote GC-2 cell proliferation and inhibit cell apoptosis under oxidative stress. Conclusion: As a result, we found that varicocele-induced oxidative stress promoted PLOD2 expression level via m6A methylation modification. In addition, targeting m6A demethylation of PLOD2 by CRISPR/dCas13b-ALKBH5 system can regulate GC-2 cell proliferation and apoptosis under oxidative stress. Taken together, our study has acquired a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying male infertility associated with oxidative stress, as well as a novel therapeutic target for male infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify the mechanisms by which perceived scarcity affects consumers' panic-buying behaviours and to explore the underlying reasons for panic-buying. Building on signalling theory and scarcity theory, we constructed a model of panic-buying behaviour. In total, 361 sources of valid data were collected via online questionnaires, and partial least squares structural equation modelling was employed for the empirical analysis. In the context of COVID-19, perceived scarcity significantly and positively influenced the macro signals, for example, by impacting perceived value and perceived competitiveness. Furthermore, perceived scarcity significantly affected consumers' micro signals, such as their perceived anxiety and perceived uncertainty. In combination, perceived value, perceived competitiveness, perceived anxiety and perceived uncertainty significantly and positively influenced consumers' panic-buying behaviours. Trust in the government also played a significant role by regulating consumers' micro signals and macro signals. The originality of this paper lies in its in-depth exploration of the multiple impacts of scarcity on consumer perceptions and it reveals the reasons for panic-buying behaviours. In doing so, it provides practical guidelines and understanding for consumers, businesses and the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperentangled Bell-state analysis (HBSA) for two-photon systems and hyperentangled Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger-state analysis (HGSA) for multi-photon systems play significant roles in quantum information processing. In this paper, we propose a complete and fidelity-robust spatial-polarization two-photon HBSA scheme and generalize it to unambiguous multi-photon HGSA based on the interaction between single photons and singly charged quantum dots (QDs) in optical microcavities under the balance condition. Under the balance condition, the requirement for side-leakage rate and coupling strength for the QD-cavity system can be relaxed and the noise brought on by the unbalanced reflectance of coupled and uncoupled QD-cavity systems is effectively suppressed, raising the fidelity of our schemes to unity in theory. When generalizing to the multi-photon HGSA, our scheme can effectively suppress the decrease in efficiency resulting from the increase in the number of photons. In addition, our schemes simplify the discrimination process and reduce the required light–matter interaction by using self-assisted mechanism. These advantages make our schemes more universal and feasible for high-capacity quantum communications and quantum networks based on hyperentanglement with currently available techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction to a scientific article titled "Celastrol Ameliorates Neuronal Mitochondrial Dysfunction Induced by Intracerebral Hemorrhage via Targeting cAMP-Activated Exchange Protein-1." The correction addresses errors in Figure 1E and the figure legends of Figures 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9, specifically related to the description of statistical significance. Additionally, there was an error in the x-axis of Figure 5E, which has been corrected. These changes do not impact the results or conclusions of the study. [Extracted from the article]

Proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) is a technique commonly used to measure ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urban, rural, and remote environments. PTR-ToF-MS is known to produce artifacts from ion fragmentation, which complicates the interpretation and quantification of key atmospheric VOCs. This study evaluates the extent to which fragmentation and other ionization processes impacts urban measurements of the PTR-ToF-MS ions typically assigned to isoprene (m/z 69, C5H8H+), acetaldehyde (m/z 45, CH3CHO+), and benzene (m/z 79, C6H6H+). Interferences from fragmentation are identified using gas-chromatography (GC) pre-separation and the impact of these interferences are quantified using ground-based and airborne measurements in a number of US cities, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City, and Detroit. In urban regions with low biogenic isoprene emissions (e.g., Las Vegas), fragmentation from higher carbon aldehydes and cycloalkanes emitted from anthropogenic sources may contribute to m/z 69 by as much as 50 % during the day, while the majority of the signal at m/z 69 is attributed to fragmentation during the night. Interferences are a higher fraction of m/z 69 during airborne studies, which likely results from differences in the reactivity between isoprene and the interfering species along with the subsequent changes to the VOC mixture at higher altitudes. For other PTR masses, including m/z 45 and m/z 79, interferences are observed due to the fragmentation and secondary ionization of VOCs typically used in solvents, which are becoming a more important source of anthropogenic VOCs in urban areas. We present methods to correct these interferences, which provide better agreement with GC measurements of isomer specific molecules. These observations show the utility of deploying GC pre-separation for the interpretation PTR-ToF-MS spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development and widespread application of blockchain technology in recent years, smart contracts running on blockchains often face security vulnerability problems, resulting in significant economic losses. Unlike traditional programs, smart contracts cannot be modified once deployed, and vulnerabilities cannot be remedied. Therefore, the vulnerability detection of smart contracts has become a research focus. Most existing vulnerability detection methods are based on rules defined by experts, which are inefficient and have poor scalability. Although there have been studies using machine learning methods to extract contract features for vulnerability detection, the features considered are singular, and it is impossible to fully utilize smart contract information. In order to overcome the limitations of existing methods, this paper proposes a smart contract vulnerability detection method based on deep learning and multimodal decision fusion. This method also considers the code semantics and control structure information of smart contracts. It integrates the source code, operation code, and control-flow modes through the multimodal decision fusion method. The deep learning method extracts five features used to represent contracts and achieves high accuracy and recall rates. The experimental results show that the detection accuracy of our method for arithmetic vulnerability, re-entrant vulnerability, transaction order dependence, and Ethernet locking vulnerability can reach 91.6%, 90.9%, 94.8%, and 89.5%, respectively, and the detected AUC values can reach 0.834, 0.852, 0.886, and 0.825, respectively. This shows that our method has a good vulnerability detection effect. Furthermore, ablation experiments show that the multimodal decision fusion method contributes significantly to the fusion of different modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of either analytical or numerical models of groundwater inflow into a tunnel, ignoring the excavation process, will result in inaccurate prediction. More researchers have begun to study prediction methods with temporal and spatial variables, in accompaniment with the tunnel excavation progress. The hydrogeological parameters significantly affect tunnel inflow prediction; thus, it is always worthy to carry out an inversion analysis when the inflow rate observation is available for the excavated part of a tunnel. Based on a transient analytical model and the Trust Region Reflection (TRR) algorithm, this paper proposes a Dynamic Parameter Calibration (DPC) method to sequentially optimize parameters for a tunnel that is divided into several sectors. The results of two case studies indicate that the fitting effects by DPC are significantly improved compared with the empirical trial-and-error method, indicating good optimizations. The proposed scheme can conduct calibration simultaneously for multiple tunnel sectors and also several optimizations for the same sector. The parameter optimization results reflect the lithologic heterogeneity of different strata. Parameter sensitivity analysis proves that the hydraulic conductivity K has a greater influence on water inflow calculation than the specific storage coefficient S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education system refers to the organisational structure of higher education institutions and the staff and infrastructure needed to provide postsecondary education. To better develop a country or region's higher education system, administrators need to have a handle on the current state of the system, which requires regular and realistic assessments of the quality and sustainability of higher education. Thus, this study constructed a quality-sustainability model (QSM) for national higher education. Nine countries with developed higher education and 13 indicators were selected to reference higher education quality and sustainability globally. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to downgrade these 13 indicators and extract the factor coefficient score matrixes. Of these, four principal components were used for further analysis. Each sub-indicator is assigned weights by the entropy weighting method (EWM) to obtain a quantifiable QSM. The model innovatively includes indicators such as "academic integrity" and is applied experimentally to data from nine countries to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of their higher education systems. The study found that each country's education system has different strengths, and by comparing and summarising them, the findings can guide the development of future-oriented higher education. This study has made some development recommendations based on the model by combining multidisciplinary theories. The study enriches existing methods for assessing the quality of higher education and identifies the weaknesses and directions for the development of higher education in some developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ducted fans with thin‐shelled tubular structures are typically used in unmanned aerial vehicles. However, due to their thinness and heterogeneity, the ducts are prone to warpage deformation, which can adversely affect the aerodynamic characteristics of the fans. In this study, Moldflow software was used to analyze and reduce the warpage deformation of a duct made of 15 wt% glass fiber‐reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. First, a Taguchi experiment was performed to determine the main factors affecting the warpage: the mold surface temperature, melt temperature, injection pressure, and holding pressure. Subsequently, the response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to define a regression equation and response surface relating the dependent and independent variables, and a genetic algorithm (GA) was used for optimization. The maximum warpage was successfully reduced from 0.2217 to 0.0465 and 0.0578 mm through the RSM and GA analyzes, respectively, and the simulated results were validated by data collected using a COMET L3D system. Finally, the influence of the warpage of the ducted rear deflector on the aerodynamic performance was investigated by performing computational fluid dynamics analysis. The results indicated that curving the rear deflector has a beneficial effect on aerodynamic performance, as it increases velocity, but it also reduces the impact of the torque balance. This paper describes an innovative application method using a specific combination of analysis tools to address the problem of optimizing the design, modeling, and performance of ducted fans. This work can help predict manufacturing results and aerodynamic effectiveness at an early stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diabetic foot ulcer(DFU) is a common chronic complication of diabetes because of the dysfunction of islets or receptors of insulin, and it has a high disability and mortality rate. Measuring diabetic foot ulcers is also one of the popular application areas where computer vision combines with deep learning techniques. However, some remaining defects in these studies prevent them from accurately visualizing the wound of different severity. Based on this, we used a multi-classification model to mark the wounds into five grades according to the Wagner diabetic foot grading method. It segmented the different grades in each different level wound using colorfully nested ring shapes to reflect the gradual change of wound grades. We collected 1426 DFU images, of which 967 had nested labels and 459 were single-level labels, with images marked with colored rings to show different degrees of wounds. And then, we constructed a deep learning model of diabetes foot ulcer wounds for semantic segmentation based on Mask Region-based convolutional neural networks (Mask R-CNN), and obtain different levels of diabetes nested segmentation results to reflect the different severity in one wound. Finally, we test and evaluate the performance data of the model. Compared with the state-of- the-art results concerning segmentation and classification and diagnosis of diabetic foot wounds, our model has achieved better performance data (specificity = 99.50%, sensitivity = 70.62%, precision = 84.56%, Mean Average Precision = 85.70%). It shows the effectiveness of our nested segmentation and multi-level classification method. It provides some suggestions and directions for the subsequent evaluation and diagnosis and treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of electrocatalytic small molecules into high value‐added chemicals is a green and sustainable path to reduce energy consumption in traditional industrial production paths. In order to explore the relationship between oxygen function groups in the catalysts and their catalysis behavior, we prepared graphene‐based catalysts with different oxygen densities for formaldehyde reduction reaction by adjusting the content of oxygen‐containing functional groups on the graphene surface. We found that oxygen‐rich graphene (oGO) exhibited the highest activity as well as selectivity for the electroreduction of formaldehyde to 1,2‐propanediol (1,2‐PDO). Compared with graphite sheets and reduced graphene (rGO), the oGO exhibit the highest 1,2‐PDO Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 27.4% with partial current density of 13.7 mA cm−2 at pH 7. In‐situ attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR‐IR) confirms that the increased content of oxygen‐containing groups on the catalyst surface promotes the adsorption and enrichment of ⋅H2CO, which in turn facilitates the coupling reaction to form 1,2‐PDO. This work provides a new vision for the catalyst design in the electrochemical conversion reaction from formaldehyde to 1,2‐PDO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]