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Objectives: This study examined people's preference for the location to receive palliative care services and determined the associated factors. Methods: A questionnaire with reference to the Chinese version of the Hospice Attitude Scale and the Death Correspondence Scale was designed, piloted, revised, and distributed online and in person to collect data (N = 762). Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the effects of relevant factors. Results: The average age of the participants was 38.1, with a relatively even gender distribution. Over 90% of the participants were either single/never married (44.9%) or married with children (46.0%). 58.1% of the respondents (N = 428) indicated that they would like to receive palliative care at home, compared to 41.9% who preferred receiving such care in institutions or other places (N = 309). Each time people's attitudes toward death became one point more positive, they were 10.2% more likely to choose to receive palliative care services at home. People with a neutral attitude toward palliative care, single/never married or divorced with children, and having/had an occupation in health and social work had higher odds of preferring receiving palliative care at home. Those who had poor self-rated health or with an educational background of primary school or lower or some college had lower odds of preferring receiving palliative care at home. Conclusions: The research showed that attitudes toward death and other factors were associated with people's preferences for palliative care locations. More accessible and affordable community-based and home-based palliative care services should be further explored and provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tribological property and corrosion of a steel ball sliding against anodic oxide film (AOF) on Al-Li alloy lubricated by an ionic liquid (imidazolium hexafluorophosphate, LP108) are investigated without and with electric field. Upon sliding, no bubbles are observed without electric field (0 V) and with electric field at 1 V, while bubbles are produced continually with electric field at applied voltages of 5 V and 10 V. Higher voltage produces more bubbles. It is found that bubbles accelerate the worn-out of the AOF in sliding and corrosion of the steel ball after sliding. In the absence of bubbles, friction coefficient lower than 0.1 and long wear lifetime suggest that LP108 is a good lubricant at both 0 V and 1 V. In the presence of bubbles, however, AOF is rapidly worn out, i.e., 3.3±0.2 min at 5 V and 1.6±0.3 min at 10 V. Because the bubbles are produced continually at 5 V and 10 V, there is a rapid transition of the lubricating regime from a flooded state (boundary lubrication regime) to a bubble-dominated state (dry sliding regime). By turning off the electric field after one-minute sliding (no more newly born bubbles), the effective lubrication by LP108 can be preserved. Once the tribo-test is ended, the collapse of the bubbles occurs rapidly and hence the corrosion of the steel ball is greatly accelerated when compared to that in the absence of bubbles. In addition to bubble collapse, the bubbles are responsible for the accelerated corrosion of the steel ball because they are the reactive species of electrochemical decomposition of LP108 by synergistic action of electric field and friction, which is supported by experimental evidence. In other words, neither sliding friction without electric field nor electric field without sliding friction up to 10 V produces bubbles. A friction-activated mechanism is proposed to explain the synergistic action of electric field and friction. In short, sliding friction produces wear of the steel ball and this initiates friction activation of the worn surface of the steel ball. Consequently, the generation of bubbles occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Therapy-related leukemia carries a poor prognosis, and leukemia after chemotherapy is a growing risk in clinic, whose mechanism is still not well understood. Ikaros transcription factor is an important regulator in hematopoietic cells development and differentiation. In the absence of Ikaros, lymphoid cell differentiation is blocked at an extremely early stage, and myeloid cell differentiation is also significantly affected. In this work, we showed that chemotherapeutic drug etoposide reduced the protein levels of several isoforms of Ikaros including IK1, IK2 and IK4, but not IK6 or IK7, by accelerating protein degradation, in leukemic cells. To investigate the molecular mechanism of Ikaros degradation induced by etoposide, immunoprecipitation coupled with LC-MS/MS analysis was conducted to identify changes in protein interaction with Ikaros before and after etoposide treatment, which uncovered KCTD5 protein. Our further study demonstrates that KCTD5 is the key stabilizing factor of Ikaros and chemotherapeutic drug etoposide induces Ikaros protein degradation through decreasing the interaction of Ikaros with KCTD5. These results suggest that etoposide may induce leukemic transformation by downregulating Ikaros via KCTD5, and our work may provide insights to attenuate the negative impact of chemotherapy on hematopoiesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facial expression recognition has long been an area of great interest across a wide range of fields. Deep learning is commonly employed in facial expression recognition and demonstrates excellent performance in large-sample classification tasks. However, deep learning models often encounter challenges when confronted with small-sample expression classification problems, as they struggle to extract sufficient relevant features from limited data, resulting in subpar performance. This paper presents a novel approach called the Multi-CNN Logical Reasoning System, which is based on local area recognition and logical reasoning. It initiates the process by partitioning facial expression images into two distinct components: eye action and mouth action. Subsequently, it utilizes logical reasoning based on the inherent relationship between local actions and global expressions to facilitate facial expression recognition. Throughout the reasoning process, it not only incorporates manually curated knowledge but also acquires hidden knowledge from the raw data. Experimental results conducted on two small-sample datasets derived from the KDEF and RaFD datasets demonstrate that the proposed approach exhibits faster convergence and higher prediction accuracy when compared to classical deep learning-based algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Task allocation enables heterogeneous agents to execute heterogeneous tasks in the domain of unmanned aerial vehicles, while responding to dynamic changes in the environment and available resources to complete complex, multi-objective missions, leading to swarm intelligence. We propose a bio-inspired approach using digital pheromones to perform scalable task allocation when the number of agents, tasks, and the diameter of the communications graph increase. The resulting emergent behaviour also enables idle agents in the swarm to provide periodic or continuous connectivity between disconnected parts of the swarm. We validate our results through simulation and demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by applying it to the 3D coverage and patrol problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct-conversion receivers (DCRs) have been widely used in recent years due to their small size and low power consumption. However, the mismatch between the in-phase (I) and the quadrature (Q) branches will seriously affect the performance of the DCRs. This paper proposes a novel blind compensation method to suppress the interference introduced by IQ mismatch. Based on the Hilbert transform, our proposed method can obtain the orthogonal signal of the I-channel signal by utilizing the Weaver architecture. Compared with traditional compensation methods, the main difference of the proposed method is that it ignores prior information, training sequences, and additional hardware circuits. Furthermore, the complexity of the proposed blind compensation method is low because no iterative operations are involved in the compensation process. The simulation results show that the proposed method has an excellent compensation performance, especially in wideband applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We performed two‐dimensional simulations of the slicing of a rising droplet by a vertical knife and by two knives. We used a free‐energy lattice Boltzmann method. Most simulations are for an Eötvös number of 3.96 and a Morton number of 1.24 × 10−4. We carefully probed effects of the spatial resolution on the rising speed and slicing process. The effect of wettability of the knife(s) was studied by varying the equilibrium contact angle of the drop on the knife in the range of 45° to 135°. Slicing time as well as fine droplet fragments staying behind on the knife depend on the knife's wettability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide. Most of the breast cancer death are due to disease recurrence and metastasis. Increasingly accumulating evidence indicates that mitochondria play key roles in cancer progression and metastasis. Our recent study revealed that transmembrane protein PRRG4 promotes the metastasis of breast cancer. However, it is not clear whether PRRG4 can affect the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells through regulating mitochondria function. Methods: RNA-seq analyses were performed on breast cancer cells expressing control and PRRG4 shRNAs. Quantitative PCR analysis and measurements of mitochondrial ATP content and oxygen consumption were carried out to explore the roles of PRRG4 in regulating mitochondrial function. Luciferase reporter plasmids containing different lengths of promoter fragments were constructed. Luciferase activities in breast cancer cells transiently transfected with these reporter plasmids were analyzed to examine the effects of PRRG4 overexpression on promoter activity. Transwell assays were performed to determine the effects of PRRG4-regulated pathway on migratory behaviors of breast cancer cells. Results: Analysis of the RNA-seq data revealed that PRRG4 knockdown decreased the transcript levels of all the mitochondrial protein-encoding genes. Subsequently, studies with PRRG4 knockdown and overexpression showed that PRRG4 expression increased mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content. Mechanistically, PRRG4 via Src activated STAT3 in breast cancer cells. Activated STAT3 in turn promoted the transcription of mtDNA polymerase POLG through a STAT3 DNA binding site present in the POLG promoter region, and increased mtDNA content as well as mitochondrial ATP production and oxygen consumption. In addition, PRRG4-mediated activation of STAT3 also enhanced filopodia formation, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells. Moreover, PRRG4 elevated migratory behaviors and mitochondrial function of breast cancer cells through POLG. Conclusion: Our results indicate that PRRG4 via the Src-STAT3-POLG axis enhances mitochondrial function and promotes migratory behaviors of breast cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of research on whether participating in productive aging (PA) activities affects driving among older adults and each PA activity's independent effect on driving. This study aims to assess how PA activities affect driving frequency using the social ecological model. Ordinal regression was used to analyze data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (n = 4655). We examined whether participation in PA activities and perceived importance of PA activity participation were related to driving frequency. Higher driving frequency was observed among older adults who worked for pay, provided care, visited friends and family, went out for enjoyment, and had higher perceived importance of PA activity participation. Alternative transportation services and programs could be implemented to ensure safety, mobility, and PA participation as the population continues to age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, in the context of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality era, the rapid development of new energy vehicles has led to higher requirements for the performance of strike forces such as battery cycle life, energy density, and cost. Lithium-ion batteries have gradually become mainstream in electric vehicle power batteries due to their excellent energy density, rate performance, and cycle life. At present, the most widely used cathode materials for power batteries are lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and LixNiyMnzCo1−y−zO2 cathodes (NCM). However, these materials exhibit bottlenecks that limit the improvement and promotion of power battery performance. In this review, the performance characteristics, cycle life attenuation mechanism (including structural damage, gas generation, and active lithium loss, etc.), and improvement methods (including surface coating and element-doping modification) of LFP and NCM batteries are reviewed. Finally, the development prospects of this field are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) networks with higher throughput rates, where a base station (BS) with a large-scale antenna array serves multiple users, have been widely employed in next-generation wireless communication test systems. Massive MIMO-enabled dense heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have also emerged as a promising architecture to increase the system spectrum efficiency and improve the system reliability. Massive MIMO-enabled HetNets have been successfully exploited in sustainable Internet of Thing networks (IoTs). In order to facilitate the testing and performance estimation of IoTs communication systems, this paper studies the achievable rate performance of massive MIMO and HetNets. Differing from the existing literature, we first consider an interference power model for massive MIMO-enabled HetNets. We next obtain an expression for the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) by introducing an interference power. Furthermore, we derive a new closed-form lower bound expression for the achievable rate. The proposed closedform expression shows that the achievable rate is an explicit expression of the number of transmit antennas. In simulation results, the impact of the number of transmit antennas on the achievable rate performance is investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Au modified TiO2/In2O3 hollow nanospheres were synthesized by the hydrolysis method using the carbon nanospheres as a sacrificial template. Compared to pure In2O3, pure TiO2, and TiO2/In2O3 based sensors, the Au/TiO2/In2O3 nanosphere-based chemiresistive-type sensor exhibited excellent sensing performances to formaldehyde at room temperature under ultraviolet light (UV-LED) activation. The response of the Au/TiO2/In2O3 nanocomposite-based sensor to 1 ppm formaldehyde was about 5.6, which is higher than that of In2O3 (1.6), TiO2 (2.1), and TiO2/In2O3 (3.8). The response time and recovery time of the Au/TiO2/In2O3 nanocomposite sensor were 18 s and 42 s, respectively. The detectable formaldehyde concentration could go down as low as 60 ppb. In situ diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS) was used to analyze the chemical reactions on the surface of the sensor activated by UV light. The improvement in the sensing properties of the Au/TiO2/In2O3 nanocomposites could be attributed to the nanoheterojunctions and electronic/chemical sensitization of the Au nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies without effective targeted therapies. MUC1 has emerged as a potential common target for cancer therapy because it is overexpressed in a variety of different cancers including the majority of pancreatic cancer. However, there are still no approved monoclonal antibody drugs targeting MUC1 have been reported. Recently, we generated a humanized MUC1 antibody (HzMUC1) specific to the interaction region between MUC1-N and MUC1-C. In this study, we generated the antibody drug conjugate (ADC) by conjugating HzMUC1 with monomethyl auristatin (MMAE), and examined the efficacy of HzMUC1-MMAE against the MUC1-positive pancreatic cancer in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Western blot and immunoprecipitation were used to detect MUC1 in pancreatic cancer cells. MUC1 localization in pancreatic cancer cells was determined by confocal microscopy. HzMUC1 was conjugated with the monomethyl auristatin (MMAE), generating the HzMUC1-MMAE ADC. Colony formation assay and flow cytometry were used to assess the effects of the HzMUC1-MMAE cell viability, cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Capan-2 and CFPAC-1 xenograft model were used to test the efficacy of HzMUC1-MMAE against pancreatic cancer. Results: HzMUC1 antibody binds to MUC1 on the cell surface of pancreatic cancer cells. HzMUC1-MMAE significantly inhibited cell growth by inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. Importantly, HzMUC1-MMAE significantly reduced the growth of pancreatic xenograft tumors by inhibiting cell proliferation and enhancing cell death. Conclusion: Our results indicate that HzMUC1-ADC is a promising novel targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer. HzMUC1-ADC should also be an effective drug for the treatment of different MUC1-positive cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies without effective targeted therapies. MUC1 has emerged as a potential common target for cancer therapy because it is overexpressed in a variety of different cancers including the majority of pancreatic cancer. However, there are still no approved monoclonal antibody drugs targeting MUC1 have been reported. Recently, we generated a humanized MUC1 antibody (HzMUC1) specific to the interaction region between MUC1-N and MUC1-C. In this study, we generated the antibody drug conjugate (ADC) by conjugating HzMUC1 with monomethyl auristatin (MMAE), and examined the efficacy of HzMUC1-MMAE against the MUC1-positive pancreatic cancer in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Western blot and immunoprecipitation were used to detect MUC1 in pancreatic cancer cells. MUC1 localization in pancreatic cancer cells was determined by confocal microscopy. HzMUC1 was conjugated with the monomethyl auristatin (MMAE), generating the HzMUC1-MMAE ADC. Colony formation assay and flow cytometry were used to assess the effects of the HzMUC1-MMAE cell viability, cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Capan-2 and CFPAC-1 xenograft model were used to test the efficacy of HzMUC1-MMAE against pancreatic cancer. Results: HzMUC1 antibody binds to MUC1 on the cell surface of pancreatic cancer cells. HzMUC1-MMAE significantly inhibited cell growth by inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. Importantly, HzMUC1-MMAE significantly reduced the growth of pancreatic xenograft tumors by inhibiting cell proliferation and enhancing cell death. Conclusion: Our results indicate that HzMUC1-ADC is a promising novel targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer. HzMUC1-ADC should also be an effective drug for the treatment of different MUC1-positive cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, monolithic catalysts with single coating Ce0.75Zr0.25O2, Al2O3 and composite coating Ce0.75Zr0.25O2-Al2O3 were prepared by PMMA hard template-excessive impregnation method with 3DOM La0.7Ce0.3CoO3 as the active component and cordierite as the carrier, and characterized by SEM, XRD, BET, H2-TPR, and XPS, and the catalytic performance for toluene was tested. The results showed that the active components of 3DOM La0.7Ce0.3CoO3/Ce0.75Zr0.25O2-Al2O3/cordierite catalyst were highly dispersed, forming a complete macroporous structure with the largest specific surface area (10.57 m2·g−1), high surface adsorbed oxygen concentration, and good low-temperature reducibility. Its catalytic activity (T50% = 103℃, T90% = 218℃) for toluene was obviously better than the others. According to the comprehensive analysis, the improvement of the performance of the catalyst may benefit from the excellent physicochemical properties and the synergistic effect between Ce0.75Zr0.25O2-Al2O3 composite coating and active components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical vibration, as an alternative of application of solid/liquid lubricants, has been an effective means to modulate friction at the macroscale. Recently, atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments and model simulations also suggest a similar vibration-induced friction reduction effect for nanoscale contact interfaces, although an additional external vibration source is typically needed to excite the system. Here, by introducing a piezoelectric thin film along the contact interface, we demonstrate that friction measured by a conductive AFM probe can be significantly reduced (more than 70%) when an alternating current (AC) voltage is applied. Such real-time friction modulation is achieved owing to the localized nanoscale vibration originating from the intrinsic inverse piezoelectric effect, and is applicable for various material combinations. Assisted by analysis with the Prandtl—Tomlinson (P—T) friction model, our experimental results suggest that there exists an approximately linear correlation between the vibrational amplitude and the relative factor for perturbation of sliding energy corrugation. This work offers a viable strategy for realizing active friction modulation for small-scale interfaces without the need of additional vibration source or global excitation that may adversely impact device functionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Threshold concepts are fundamental to the learning process and are said to transform the way we view and understand the world around us. Although a new framework to gerontology, the threshold concept framework has been utilized in many fields inside (e.g. psychology, social work) and outside (e.g. clinical and research settings) of academia. This framework facilitates understanding learning, exposing expert blind spots, and designing curricula for complex concepts that are challenging to learn. For decades gerontologists have grappled with ageism and its dire consequences including unemployment, negative health outcomes, and rationing of health care. Education is one of, if not the most, powerful tools to combat ageism. This article demonstrates the utility of the threshold concept framework for gerontologists by conceptualizing ageism as a threshold concept. The purpose of this article is to provide an innovative approach to education on complex gerontological topics in different clinical, research, and educational settings using ageism as a primary example of a threshold concept in gerontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To better understand the associations between the driving status of the care recipient and caregiver with provided caregiving hours, more research on the relationships between contextual caregiving factors and driving-related behaviors is needed. Method: Using data from Round 7 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the linked National Survey of Caregiving (NSOC; n = 1054 dyads), this study explored how caregiver transportation assistance and care recipient driving frequency are associated with caregiving hours. Results: Caregiving hours were highest among caregivers who provided transportation every day and among care recipients who had not driven in the last month. After controlling for covariates, negative binomial regression results indicated that greater caregiver transportation assistance was related to more caregiving hours, while greater care recipient driving frequency was related to less caregiving hours. Conclusion: Integrated supports and greater accessibility to transportation services may decrease time spent caregiving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is desired to obtain a piezoceramic with a high piezoelectric coefficient and low dielectric loss simultaneously for energy harvester application. Herein, it is reported that the 0.025Pb(Mn1/3Nb2/3)O3‐0.525Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3‐0.135PbZrO3‐0.315PbTiO3 (PMNN‐PZT) ceramic exhibits superior piezoelectric charge parameter e33 of 37.74 pC m−2 and low dielectric loss tanδ of 0.45%. Furthermore, a PMNN‐PZT ceramic‐based magneto‐mechano‐electric coupled energy harvester (MMEC‐EH) with a varying‐stiffness cantilever is designed and fabricated, which shows the strong self‐resonance effect in response to a random, transient impulse vibration or magnetic field stimulus. The investigations show that under a 0.6 s pulse vibration stimulus, the MMEC‐EH can tune itself into self‐resonance damping oscillation lasting for six seconds at its resonance frequency of 16 Hz, and the produced maximum power is 1.96 mWRMS. Under both weak magnetic field and force‐field dual‐stimulus (Hac = 0.5 Oe and a = 0.05 g), the generated power density is about 60 mWRMS Oe−2g−2cm−3, which is one to two orders of magnitude higher than those previously reported MMEC‐EHs. Finally, the MMEC‐EH is successfully demonstrated to power temperature/humidity sensors, indicating its potential for harvesting both weak vibration and magnetic field energy from environments for self‐powered sensor application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the great environmental pressure brought by the massive stacking of solid waste, red mud and desulfurized gypsum were used to prepare cementitious materials. In this paper, three different material ratios with a 60% content at different curing ages (7 d, 14 d, and 28 d) were utilized to prepare the composite soil. To explore the performance of the composite soil, the resistivity, strain-stress, unconfined compressive strength, and pH of the composite soil were tested and analyzed, as well as the microscopic properties. The results show that the addition of solid waste can enhance the strength, while the optimal ratio of desulfurized gypsum to red mud is 2:2. The enforcement of strength comes from the hydration products. The main products of composite soil are hydrated calcium silicate gel or hydrated calcium aluminate gel and ettringite. In addition, the composite soils behave like a brittle material with peak stress and softening performance. In addition, the current frequency presents an obvious effect on the resistivity of composite soil, and the data at 50 kHz were recommended as the analytical data. Moreover, a positive connection exists between the strength and resistivity; therefore, the strength can be conveniently and expeditiously observed and predicted through the resistivity method in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite materials show exciting potential for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) owing to their intrinsically high photoluminescence efficiency and color purity. The research focusing on perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) has experienced an exponential growth in the past six years. The maximum external quantum efficiency of red, green, and blue PeLEDs has surpassed 20%, 20%, and 10%, respectively. Nevertheless, the current PeLEDs are still in the laboratory stage, and the key for further development of PeLEDs is large-area fabrication. In this paper, we briefly discuss the similarities and differences between manufacturing high-quality and large-area PeLEDs and perovskite solar cells. Especially, the general technologies for fabricating large-area perovskite films are also introduced. The effect of charge transport layers and electrodes on large-area devices are discussed as well. Most importantly, we summarize the advances of large-area (active area ≥ 30 mm2) PeLEDs reported since 2017, and describe the methods for optimizing large-area PeLEDs reported in the literature. Finally, the development perspective of PeLEDs is presented for the goal of highly efficient and large-area PeLED fabrication. It is of great significance for the application of PeLEDs in future display and lighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An innovative numerical procedure for solving the viscoelastic arch problem based on variable fractional rheological models, directly in time domain, is proposed and investigated. First, the nonlinear integral‐differential governing equation is established according to the variable fractional constitutive relation and geometrical relationship. Second, the nonlinear integral‐differential governing equation is transformed into algebraic equations and solved by using the shifted Legendre polynomials. Furthermore, the accuracy and effectiveness of the algorithm are verified according to the mathematical example. A small value of the absolute error between numerical and accurate solution is obtained. Finally, the dynamic analysis of viscoelastic arch is investigated to determine the displacement at different times and positions. The displacement of the viscoelastic arch is compared under various loading (uniformly distributed load and linear load). The displacement of the viscoelastic arch of different materials under the same load conditions is also investigated. The results in the paper show the efficiency of the proposed numerical algorithm in the dynamical analysis of the viscoelastic arch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Florfenicol is widely used to control respiratory diseases and intestinal infections in food animals. However, there are increasing reports about florfenicol resistance of various clinical pathogens. floR is a key resistance gene that mediates resistance to florfenicol and could spread among different bacteria. Here, we investigated the prevalence of floR in 430 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from human clinical samples and identified three types of floR genes (designated floR , floR-T1 and floR-T2) in these isolates, with floR-T1 the most prevalent (5.3%, 23/430). FloR-T2 was a novel floR variant identified in this study, and exhibited less identity with other FloR proteins than FloRv. Moreover, floR-T1 and floR-T2 identified in P. aeruginosa strain TL1285 were functionally active and located on multi-drug resistance region of a novel incomplete Tn 4371 -like integrative and conjugative elements (ICE) in the chromosome. The expression of the two floR variants could be induced by florfenicol or chloramphenicol. These results indicated that the two floR variants played an essential role in the host's resistance to amphenicol and the spreading of these floR variants might be related with the Tn 4371 family ICE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational resource data are a collection of final documents obtained by users, including full-text journals, books, dissertations, newspapers, conference papers, and other database materials. While searching for information in the educational resource database, these resources also have functions such as copying, downloading, reproduction, and dissemination, which raise the issue of expression and protection of intellectual property. Machine learning takes how computers simulate human learning behaviors as the main research content, which can independently determine learning objects, construct their characteristics, perform additional operations beyond the limitations of preset instructions, and discover value from the expression of relative works. On the basis of summarizing and analyzing previous research works, this paper expounded the current research status and significance of intellectual property expression and protection of educational resource data; elaborated the development background, current status, and future challenges of machine learning technology; introduced the methods and principles of data classification algorithm and protection authority identification; performed the technical framework design and expression system establishment of the intellectual property expression of educational resource data based on machine learning; analyzed the mode optimization and rule management of intellectual property protection of educational resource data based on machine learning; and finally conducted a simulation experiment and its result analysis. The results show that the machine learning technology can build a subject-oriented, highly integrated, and time-changing educational resource data storage environment; the comprehensive, analysis-oriented decision-supporting system formed by machine learning can give full play to the potential role of data integration and value discovery and is therefore of great significance for the intellectual property expression and protection of integrated and complexly-related educational resource data. The study results of this paper provide a reference for further research on the intellectual property expression and protection of educational resource data based on machine learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electro-mechanical braking is a new braking mode of rail vehicles, which has the advantages of compact structure, fast response speed, and high precision. It is a new braking technology that conforms to the development trend of full electrification and full intelligence of rail transit brake devices. Due to the special power demand of the electro-mechanical braking device, the electro-mechanical braking motor has a short-time and intermittent working mechanism and is in the state of blocking during working, resulting in its high-temperature rise. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the temperature rise of the motor quickly and accurately at the beginning of its design. To address this problem, based on the coupling calculation of the equivalent thermal circuit method and the equivalent magnetic circuit method, a fast temperature rise calculation method of the motor is proposed. Then, using the fast calculation method, the temperature rise of the electro-mechanical brake motor under different working periods and wind speed is calculated. By function fitting the calculated results, the motor temperature rise curve fitting function is obtained, which can accurately predict the temperature rise of the motor under different working conditions. It provides a theoretical basis for the use of electro-mechanical braking motor in different working conditions and also provides a reference for the design of the electro-mechanical braking motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The condition monitoring of rotating machinery is always a focus of intelligent fault diagnosis. In view of the traditional methods' excessive dependence on prior knowledge to manually extract features, their limited capacity to learn complex nonlinear relations in fault signals and the mixing of the collected signals with environmental noise in the course of the work of rotating machines, this article proposes a novel approach for detecting the bearing fault, which is based on deep learning. To effectively detect, locate, and identify faults in rolling bearings, a stacked noise reduction autoencoder is utilized for abstracting characteristic from the original vibration of signals, and then, the characteristic is provided as input for backpropagation (BP) network classifier. The results output by this classifier represent different fault categories. Experimental results obtained on rolling bearing datasets show that this method can be used to effectively diagnose bearing faults based on original time-domain signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an alternative approach to identify and classify the group of small flying objects especially drones from others, notably birds and kites (inclusive of kiteflying), in near field, by examining the pattern of their flight paths and trajectories. The trajectories of the drones and other flying objects were extracted from multiple clips of videos including various natural and synthetic database. Four trajectories characteristics are observed and extracted from the object's flight paths, i.e., heading or turning angle, curvature, pace velocity, and pace acceleration. Subsequently, principal component analyses were applied to reduce the number of these trajectory features from 4 to 2 parameters. Multi-class classification by support vector machine (SVM) with non-linear transformation kernel was used. Multiple classification models were developed by several algorithms with various transformation kernels. The hyperparameters were optimized using Bayesian optimization. The performances of the different models are compared through the prediction accuracy of the test data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Older adults can expect to live between 6 and 10 years after they give up driving, but driving reduction and cessation (DRC) are not equally experienced by all groups. Individual characteristics such as poor health, impaired vision, older age, and female gender are known to affect DRC. Using cumulative disadvantage theory as a guide, this study assessed the role played by wealth in DRC among older adults. Research Design and Methods Data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression techniques. This allowed for the effect of each predictor on the odds of engagement in a given driving status (full driving, driving reduction [DR], and driving cessation [DC]) to be compared to each of the others. Results The final sample included 6,387 participants. After controlling for the effect of covariates, less wealth was associated with higher odds of DR compared to full driving, DC compared to full driving, and DC compared to DR. Confirming previous research, several other factors were also significantly related to driving status including age, health, vision, gender, race, education, relationship status, household size, and work status. Discussion and Implications The influence of wealth on driving status among older adults represents another disadvantage unequally distributed to some in older adulthood. Those with less wealth will have fewer resources to meet their mobility needs using alternatives and may already be facing additional financial constraints due to worse health and other challenges associated with lower socioeconomic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cholesterol is a risk factor for breast cancer. However, it is still unclear whether the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway plays any significant role in breast carcinogenesis. 24‐Dehydrocholesterol reductase (DHCR24) is a key enzyme in the cholesterol synthesis pathway. Although DHCR24 is reported to have different functions in different cancers, it is not clear whether DHCR24 is involved in breast cancer. In this study, we found that DHCR24 expression was higher in breast cancer especially in luminal and HER2 positive breast cancer tissues compared with normal breast. Changes in DHCR24 expression altered cellular cholesterol content without affecting the adherent growth of breast cancer cells. However, DHCR24 knockdown reduced whereas DHCR24 overexpression enhanced breast cancer stem‐like cell populations such as mammosphere and aldehyde dehydrogenase positive cell numbers. In addition, DHCR24 overexpression increased the expression of the Hedgehog pathway‐regulated genes. Treating DHCR24 overexpressing breast cancer cell lines with the Hedgehog pathway inhibitor GANT61 blocked DHCR24‐induced mammosphere growth and increased mRNA levels of the Hedgehog regulated genes. Furthermore, expression of a constitutively activated mutant of Smoothened, a key hedgehog signal transducer, rescued the decreases in mammosphere growth and Hedgehog regulated gene expression induced by knockdown of DHCR24. These results indicate that DHCR24 promotes the growth of breast cancer stem‐like cells in part through enhancing the Hedgehog signaling pathway. Our data suggest that cholesterol contribute to breast carcinogenesis by enhancing Hedgehog signaling and cancer stem‐like cell populations. Enzymes including DHCR24 involved in cholesterol biosynthesis should be considered as potential treatment targets for breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft robots have recently evoked extensive attention because of their abilities to work effectively in unstructured environments. As an actuation technology of soft robots, dielectric elastomers (DEs) exhibit many intriguing attributes such as large strain and high energy density. This paper presents a novel, DE-based, soft crawling robot inspired by inchworms. The kinematics of the soft crawling robot is explored, and a data-driven model is developed to facilitate the controller design. The overall controller incorporates a feedforward controller, a feedback controller, and a disturbance observer (DOB). The feedback controller and the DOB will compensate the disturbance and model uncertainties resulting from the obtained dynamic model and ensure robust performance of the robot under different conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified using experiments on surfaces made of different materials and with inclined angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, broadband luminosity was used to detect ignition delay and diffused back-illumination extinction imaging was employed to measure soot property with different double-injection strategies in a constant volume combustion chamber under different ambient conditions. The interaction between the two-stage injections have been studied experimentally with two key parameters, dwell time and first injection duration. Results show that in two-stage injection cases, a faster flame propagation speed and a more homogeneous soot concentration distribution were observed in the second injection. Besides, averaged KL value in soot regions of the second injection is slightly less than that of the first one. The first injection has a better effect on the ignition delay of the second injection under low ambient pressure. Meanwhile, the soot onset time of the second injection is advanced more obviously. However, compared with the first injection, the advance amount of the ignition delay and the soot onset time of the second injection shows no particular sensitivity with ambient temperature. With longer pilot injection duration, the initial sooting location of the main injection shows a slight reduction but the total soot mass seems to be constant with the variation of the pilot injection duration. • Faster flame penetration and more homogenous soot distribution were shown in the second injection. • It is not sensitive to facilitate the ignition and soot onset time of the second injection with ambient temperature variation. • Obvious improvement on the ignition without penalty of soot production is found in the second injection at low ambient pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent compliance and resilience allow soft robots to deal with unstructured environments. Among the various soft actuators explored for soft robotic applications, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) stand out due to their intriguing advantages of large deformation, high energy density, fast response, and low cost. However, the viscoelasticity and the electromechanical coupling of these actuators increase the difficulty of the control design, especially for large deformation and/or high-speed operations. In this paper, the control issue of the DEAs is investigated. Inspired by the similarities between DEAs and biological muscles, an antagonistic actuation mechanism is proposed for DEAs control. Owing to the actions of the agonist can be compensated by the antagonist, the viscoelastic effects of the DEAs in antagonistic pairs can be compensated by each other. Moreover, a cerebellum-inspired adaptive learning controller for achieving accurate movements of the DEAs is designed and analyzed. To study the proposed actuation mechanism and controller, a simple 1-DOF manipulator based on two DEAs in an antagonistic pair is developed as a platform. Finally, several experiments have been conducted to test the developed system, and the results show that the proposed approach can achieve good performance even in large deformation and/or high-speed operations as well as strong robustness in disturbance rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: The production of anti‐Her2 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells needs to be optimized to make it a reliable therapy. Methods: Three types of lentiviral vectors expressing anti‐Her2 CAR together with packaging plasmids were co‐transfected into 293 T‐17 cells. The vector with the best packaging efficiency was selected, and the packaging cell culture system and packaging plasmid system were optimized. Centrifugation speed was optimized for the concentration of lentivirus stock. The various purification methods used included membrane filtration, centrifugation with a sucrose cushion and the novelly‐designed instantaneous high‐speed centrifugation. The recombinant lentiviruses were transduced into human peripheral T cells with an optimized multiplicity of infection (MOI). CAR expression levels by three vectors and the efficacy of CAR‐T cells were compared. Results: When co‐transfected, packaging cells in suspension were better than the commonly used adherent culture condition, with the packaging system psPAX2/pMD2.G being better than pCMV‐dR8.91/pVSV‐G. The optimal centrifugation speed for concentration was 20 000 g, rather than the generally used ultra‐speed. Importantly, adding instantaneous centrifugation for purification significantly increased human peripheral T cell viability (from 13.25% to 62.80%), which is a technical breakthrough for CAR‐T cell preparation. The best MOI value for transducing human peripheral T cells was 40. pLVX‐EF1a‐CAR‐IRES‐ZsGreen1 expressed the highest level of CAR in human peripheral T cells and the cytotoxicity of CAR‐T cells reached 63.56%. Conclusions: We optimized the preparation of recombinant lentivirus that can express third‐generation anti‐Her2 CAR in T cells, which should lay the foundation for improving the efficacy of CAR‐T cells with respect to killing target cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies and proposes the vector space decomposition-based direct torque control (DTC) scheme for the T-type neutral-point-clamping (T-NPC) three-level inverters-fed double-stator-winding permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) drive, which provides an effective solution for high-power high-reliability applications. The key is to propose a simple but effective space vector modulation (SVM) for DTC of T-NPC double-stator-winding drives-based two-step voltage vector synthesis, in such a way that good dynamic response and harmonic performance are obtained. The closed-loop controllers on harmonic subspace are incorporated to suppress the possible harmonics induced from back electromotive force and unbalanced parameters in phase windings of electrical machine. Furthermore, a hybrid current control is proposed for fault-tolerant operation of the T-NPC double-stator-winding PMSM drives under one-phase open-circuit conditions. In the hybrid current controller, the healthy winding still uses the SVM-DTC control while the faulty winding uses the closed-loop current controller to track the optimized current references. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed switching strategies and control schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The optimal management remains unknown after nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) discontinuation in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). This prospective study investigated the role of off-treatment viral kinetics in predicting relapse after discontinuation of NA therapy.Methods: A total of 82 noncirrhotic Asian patients with CHB who discontinued NA therapy according to international guidelines were prospectively followed. Patients with a hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level of >2000 IU/mL and an alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level of >2 times the upper limit of normal (clinical relapse) were retreated.Results: Sixty patients were HBV envelope antigen (HBeAg) positive at the start of treatment, and 22 were HBeAg negative. Clinical relapse developed in 28 patients (2-year rates, 31% among HBeAg-positive patients and 53% among HBeAg-negative patients). Age of ≤35 years (hazard ratio [HR], 0.37; P = .026) and end-of-treatment HBsAg level of ≤200 IU/mL (HR, 0.39; P = .078) were independently associated with lower relapse rates. A high risk of biochemical relapse (defined as an ALT level of >2 times the upper limit of normal) was observed if the HBV DNA level was >200000 IU/mL when the level was initially elevated, compared with HBV DNA levels of >2000 to ≤200000 IU/mL (HR, 8.42; P < .001). The risk of biochemical relapse was also high in patients with persistent elevation in the HBV DNA level (confirmed to be >2000 IU/mL within 3 months), compared with the group with transient elevation (HR, 6.87; P < .001).Conclusions: After NA discontinuation, a lower relapse rate was observed in younger patients and in those with low end-of-treatment HBsAg levels. The level and persistence of off-treatment elevated HBV DNA levels were useful in the prediction of a subsequent biochemical relapse and may thus be used to guide off-treatment management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A torque ripple mitigation and current hysteresis control for T-type three level (T-3L) inverter fed open-end doubly-salient permanent-magnet motor (DSPM) drives is proposed in this paper. The structure, principle, and characteristics of the DSPM are studied and analyzed and a T-3L inverter fed open-end three-phase DSPM drive configuration is proposed in this paper. Then, this paper introduces a novel commutation strategy to reduce the torque ripple during phase commutation. Furthermore, the multi-loop hysteresis current controller and DC-link voltage balancing algorithm are presented. The effectiveness of the proposed control schemes is verified by both simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the observation of optically pumped continuous wave lasing in a self-rolled-up InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot microtube at room temperature. Single layer of InAs quantum dots (~ 2.6 ML coverage) in a GaAs well sandwiched by two AlGaAs barriers are incorporated into the tube wall as the gain media. As-fabricated microtube is supported by a 300-nm-thick Au pad, aiming to separate the tube from GaAs substrate and thus to decrease the substrate loss, which finally enables lasing with ultralow threshold power (~ 4 µW) from an microtube ring resonator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although calcitonin gene-related peptide is a recognized pain transducer, the expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide in primary afferents may be differentially affected following different types of nerve injury. Here, we examined whether different calcitonin gene-related peptide expression patterns in primary afferents contributes to distinct sensory disturbances in three animal models of sciatic nerve injury: chronic constriction injury, mild (100g force) or strong (1000g force) transient crush in rats. Assessments of withdrawal reflexes and spontaneous behavior indicated that chronic constriction injury and mild crush resulted in positive neuropathic symptoms (static/dynamic mechanical allodynia, heat hyperalgesia, cold allodynia, spontaneous pain). However, strong crush led to both positive (dynamic mechanical allodynia, cold allodynia, spontaneous pain) and negative symptoms (static mechanical hypoesthesia, heat hypoalgesia). Calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactivity in dorsal root ganglia and corresponding spinal cord segments, and calcitonin gene-related peptide mRNA levels in dorsal root ganglia, indicated that the primary afferent calcitonin gene-related peptide supply was markedly reduced only after strong crush. This reduction paralleled the development of negative symptoms (static mechanical hypoesthesia and heat hypoalgesia). Administration of exogenous calcitonin gene-related peptide intrathecally after strong crush did not alter heat hypoalgesia but ameliorated static mechanical hypoesthesia, an effect blocked by a calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist. Thus, reducing the primary afferent calcitonin gene-related peptide supply contributed to subsequent negative neuropathic symptoms, especially to static mechanical stimuli. Moreover, nerve injury caused a subcellular redistribution of calcitonin gene-related peptide from small- and medium-size dorsal root ganglia neurons to large-size dorsal root ganglia neurons, which paralleled the development of positive neuropathic symptoms. Intrathecal administration of the calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist ameliorated these positive symptoms, indicating that the expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide in large-size dorsal root ganglia neurons is important for the positive neuropathic symptoms in all three models. Taken together, these results suggest that distinct calcitonin gene-related peptide expression pattern in primary afferents contribute to different neuropathic symptoms following chronic constriction or crush injuries to the rat sciatic nerve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]