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Northwest China is both an important coal storage base and an ecologically fragile area, and soil water content (SWC) is a key factor limiting the ecological development of Northwest China. Revealing the characteristics of spatial and temporal distribution changes of soil water content in mining areas under coal mining disturbance and the influencing mechanism is crucial for the protection of water resources in mining areas. In this study, the soil water content (depth 0–1000 cm) of a typical coal mine subsidence area in the western part of Shendong Coal Group was monitored in situ for 1 year after mining, and the absolute value, variability, and spatial distribution of soil water content were temporally analysed by combining classical statistics, 2D Ordinary Kriging and 3D Empirical Bayesian kriging spatial interpolation. sequence analysis. The results showed that the shallow SWC (0 ~ 60 cm) was distributed horizontally in bands, and gradually increased along the direction from northwest to southeast; with the increase of coal mining time, the absolute value of SWC decreased by 0.81% ~ 33.58%, and the coefficient of variation decreased and then increased, with the range of variation from 2.19% ~ 34.49%. The deep SWC (100 ~ 1000 cm) was stratified vertically and increased with soil depth, and the shallow and deeper soil moisture would gradually migrate to the middle layer under the influence of coal mining. In addition, this paper accurately portrays the three‐dimensional spatial and temporal distribution of soil water content by the 3D EBK model, which further reveals the mechanism of coal mining's influence on soil water content. This study can provide technical and data support for predicting and evaluating the potential impacts of mining activities on the water cycle, and help mining areas to formulate policies for managing and protecting water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the challenge of generating clear image frames and minimizing the loss of keyframes by a robot engaging in rapid large viewing angle motion. These issues often lead to detrimental consequences such as trajectory drifting and loss during the construction of curved motion trajectories. To tackle this, we proposed a novel visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm, TKO‐SLAM, which is based on time‐delay feature regression and keyframe position optimization. TKO‐SLAM uses a multiscale recurrent neural network to rectify object deformation and image motion smear. This network effectively repairs the time‐delay image features caused by the rapid movement of the robot, thereby enhancing visual clarity. Simultaneously, inspired by the keyframe selection strategy of the ORB‐SLAM3 algorithm, we introduced a grayscale motion‐based image processing method to supplement keyframes that may be omitted due to the robot's rapid large viewing angle motion. To further refine the algorithm, the time‐delay feature regression image keyframes and adjacent secondary keyframes were used as dual measurement constraints to optimize camera poses and restore robot trajectories. The results of experiments on the benchmark RGB‐D data set TUM and real‐world scenarios show that TKO‐SLAM algorithm achieves more than 10% better localization accuracy than the PKS‐SLAM algorithm in the rapid large viewing angle motion scenario, and has advantages over the SOTA algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the success of immunotherapy in advanced esophageal cancer, neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy (CIT) is being increasingly used for local staged esophageal cancer, especially in the context of clinical trials, which brings similar pCR with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and shows promising results. However, there is still a part of potentially operable patients can't undergo surgery after neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy. The follow-up treatment and prognosis of this population remain unclear. Patients pathologically diagnosed with ESCC, clinical stage T1-3N+M0 or T3-4aNanyM0 (AJCC 8th), PS 0–1 were retrospectively enrolled from 1/2020 to 6/2021 in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. All patients firstly received PD-1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy (albumin paclitaxel, 260 mg/m2 on day 1 plus carboplatin AUC = 5 on day 1) every 3 weeks for 2–4 cycles. For those patients who did not receive surgery, definitive radiotherapy with 50.4 Gy/28F or 50 Gy/25F was adopted using VMAT, concurrent with chemotherapy or alone. The concurrent chemotherapy regimens included weekly TC (paclitaxel 50 mg/m2, d1, carboplatin AUC = 2, d1) or S1 (60 mg bid d1–14, 29–42). The survival outcomes and treatment toxicity were recorded and analyzed. A total of 56 eligible patients were finally identified from 558 patients who were treated in department of thoracic surgery, among all the patients, 25 (44.6%) received radiotherapy alone, and 31 (55.4%) received chemoradiotherapy after neoadjuvant CIT. The median follow-up was 20.4 months (interquartile range [IQR] 8.7–27 months). The median PFS and OS were 17.9 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 11.0–21.9 months) and 20.5 months (95% CI 11.8–27.9 months), respectively. In the subgroup analysis, the median OS was 26.3 months (95% CI 15.33–NA) for patients exhibiting partial response (PR) to CIT, compared to 17 months (95% CI 8.77–26.4) for those with stable disease (SD) or progressive disease (PD), yielding a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.54 (95% CI 0.27–1.06, P = 0.07). No significant difference was observed for patients received radiotherapy alone or chemoradiotherapy with HR = 0.73 (95% CI 0.72–2.6, P = 0.33). The most common Adverse events (AEs) observed during this study were anemia (98.2%), leukopenia (83.9%), thrombocytopenia (53.6%). AEs of grade ≥ 3 radiation-induced pneumonitis and esophagitis were 12.5% and 32.1%, especially, 6 patients (10.7%) died from esophageal fistula and 2 patients (3.6%) died from grade 5 pneumonitis. For local advanced ESCC patients after neoadjuvant CIT who did not receive surgery, definitive radiotherapy was an optional treatment strategy. However, those patients with no response to CIT also showed poor response to radiotherapy, and particular attention should be paid to treatment related toxicity, especially esophageal fistula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing public concerns about ecological issues, it has been increasingly critical for corporations to enhance their green competitive advantages. Utilizing a natural‐resource‐based view of firm and human resource management (HRM) perspective, we propose that green HRM (GHRM) promotes firms' green competitive advantages by facilitating two kinds of green innovation (i.e., green product/process innovation). Via a two‐wave survey study of chief human resources officers (CHOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) from 69 companies in China, we find support that GHRM positively links to green product and process innovations, each of which will, in turn, have a positive correlation with a green competitive advantage. Moreover, an indirectly positive linkage between GHRM and green competitive advantage via two types of green innovation is also proved. Our study expands current research by demonstrating a positive effect of GHRM in building green competitive advantage and by revealing two parallel mechanisms of such effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ginkgo biloba L. is a rare dioecious species that is valued for its diverse applications and is cultivated globally. This study aimed to develop a rapid and effective method for determining the sex of a Ginkgo biloba. Green and yellow leaves representing annual growth stages were scanned with a hyperspectral imager, and classification models for RGB images, spectral features, and a fusion of spectral and image features were established. Initially, a ResNet101 model classified the RGB dataset using the proportional scaling–background expansion preprocessing method, achieving an accuracy of 90.27%. Further, machine learning algorithms like support vector machine (SVM), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and subspace discriminant analysis (SDA) were applied. Optimal results were achieved with SVM and SDA in the green leaf stage and LDA in the yellow leaf stage, with prediction accuracies of 87.35% and 98.85%, respectively. To fully utilize the optimal model, a two-stage Period-Predetermined (PP) method was proposed, and a fusion dataset was built using the spectral and image features. The overall accuracy for the prediction set was as high as 96.30%. This is the first study to establish a standard technique framework for Ginkgo sex classification using hyperspectral imaging, offering an efficient tool for industrial and ecological applications and the potential for classifying other dioecious plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel (Ni)-rich cathodes with elemental concentration gradients within particles have attracted great interest due to their considerably enhanced interfacial stability and electrochemical performance for advanced Li-ion batteries. In this study, we shift our focus from traditional research centered on the optimal chemical compositions in Ni-rich cathode powders with concentration gradients; instead, we decipher the interrelated effects of aluminium (Al) concentration gradient profiles on electrochemical performance and thermal stability. We successfully obtained LiNi0.95Al0.05O2 powders with different Al-gradient profiles by controlling the synthesis parameters, including the co-precipitation schedules of Al/Ni sources and sintering time. Using a combination of focused ion beam (FIB) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), we analyzed Al dispersion across the particle cross-sections. Remarkably, a greater Al concentration gradient across particles enhanced cathode–electrolyte interphase (CEI) stability during extended cycles, as evidenced by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Consequently, the LiNi0.95Al0.05O2 cathode with greater Al concentration gradients exhibited enhanced capacity retention, C-rate performance, and thermal stability compared to LiNi0.95Al0.05O2 with lower Al gradients or Al-free LiNiO2 cathodes. This result underscores the crucial role of the elemental gradient profile, highlighting it as an equally important aspect in the optimization of cathode chemical compositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) is part of standard care in limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) at present. As evidence from retrospective studies increases, the benefits of PCI for limited-stage SCLC are being challenged. Methods: A multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled study was designed. The key inclusion criteria were: histologically or cytologically confirmed small cell carcinoma, age ≥ 18 years, KPS ≥ 80, limited-stage is defined as tumor confined to one side of the chest including ipsilateral hilar, bilateral mediastinum and supraclavicular lymph nodes, patients have received definitive thoracic radiotherapy (regardless of the dose-fractionation of radiotherapy used) and chemotherapy, evaluated as complete remission (CR) of tumor 4–6 weeks after the completion of chemo-radiotherapy. Eligible patients will be randomly assigned to two arms: (1) PCI and brain MRI surveillance arm, receiving PCI (2.5 Gy qd to a total dose of 25 Gy in two weeks) followed by brain MRI surveillance once every three months for two years; (2) brain MRI surveillance alone arm, undergoing brain MRI surveillance once every three months for two years. The primary objective is to compare the 2-year brain metastasis-free survival (BMFS) rates between the two arms. Secondary objectives include 2-year overall survival (OS) rates, intra-cranial failure patterns, 2-year progression-free survival rates and neurotoxicity. In case of brain metastasis (BM) detect during follow-up, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) will be recommended if patients meet the eligibility criteria. Discussion: Based on our post-hoc analysis of a prospective study, we hypothesize that in limited-stage SCLC patients with CR after definitive chemoradiotherapy, and ruling out of BM by MRI, it would be feasible to use brain MRI surveillance and omit PCI in these patients. If BM is detected during follow-up, treatment with SRS or whole brain radiotherapy does not appear to have a detrimental effect on OS. Additionally, this approach may reduce potential neurotoxicity associated with PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snapshot spectral imaging technology enables the capture of complete spectral information of objects in an extremely short period of time, offering wide-ranging applications in fields requiring dynamic observations such as environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, and industrial inspection. In the past decades, snapshot spectral imaging has made remarkable breakthroughs with the emergence of new computational theories and optical components. From the early days of using various spatial-spectral data mapping methods, they have evolved to later attempts to encode various dimensions of light, such as amplitude, phase, and wavelength, and then computationally reconstruct them. This review focuses on a systematic presentation of the system architecture and mathematical modeling of these snapshot spectral imaging techniques. In addition, the introduction of metasurfaces expands the modulation of spatial-spectral data and brings advantages such as system size reduction, which has become a research hotspot in recent years and is regarded as the key to the next-generation snapshot spectral imaging techniques. This paper provides a systematic overview of the applications of metasurfaces in snapshot spectral imaging and provides an outlook on future directions and research priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening of the diversification and openness of financial systems, financial vulnerability, as an endogenous attribute of financial systems, becomes an important measurement of financial security. Based on a network analysis, we introduce a network curvature indicator improved by Copula entropy as an innovative metric of financial vulnerability. Compared with the previous network curvature analysis method, the CE-based curvature proposed in this paper can measure market vulnerability and systematic risk with significant advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper synthesizes the differences in the predictive power of multidimensional firm characteristics on organizational resilience and further identifies the key characteristics and their specific impact patterns. It is found that the firm's stability during the crisis depends more on the pre‐crisis firm's operating conditions, while the post‐crisis firm's flexibility depends more on the firm's internal and external resources. Besides, some firm characteristics rank higher in predicting the importance of organizational resilience. This study examines organizational resilience characteristics from a more comprehensive perspective and provides empirical evidence on how managers can better respond to systemic crises and enhance organizational resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying dynamic objects in dynamic scenes remains a challenge for traditional simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms. Additionally, these algorithms are not able to adequately inpaint the culling regions that result from excluding dynamic objects. In light of these challenges, this study proposes a novel visual SLAM (vSLAM) algorithm based on improved Vision Transformer semantic segmentation in dynamic scenes (VTD-SLAM), which leverages an improved Vision Transformer semantic segmentation technique to address these limitations. Specifically, VTD-SLAM utilizes a residual dual-pyramid backbone network to extract dynamic object region features and a multiclass feature transformer segmentation module to enhance the pixel weight of potential dynamic objects and to improve global semantic information for precise identification of potential dynamic objects. The method of multi-view geometry is applied to judge and remove the dynamic objects. Meanwhile, according to static information in the adjacent frames, the optimal nearest-neighbor pixel-matching method is applied to restore the static background, where the feature points are extracted for pose estimation. With validation in the public dataset TUM (The Entrepreneurial University Dataset) and real scenarios, the experimental results show that the root-mean-square error of the algorithm is reduced by 17.1 % compared with dynamic SLAM (DynaSLAM), which shows better map composition capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inflammatory process mediated by nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor family pyrin domain comprising 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome plays a predominant role in the neurological dysfunction following traumatic brain injury (TBI). SB332235, a highly selective antagonist of chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), has been demonstrated to exhibit anti-inflammatory properties and improve neurological outcomes in the central nervous system. We aimed to determine the neuroprotective effects of SB332235 in the acute phase after TBI in mice and to elucidate its underlying mechanisms. Male C57BL/6J animals were exposed to a controlled cortical impact, then received 4 doses of SB332235, with the first dose administered at 30 min after TBI, followed by additional doses at 6, 24, and 30 h. Neurological defects were assessed by the modified neurological severity score, while the motor function was evaluated using the beam balance and open field tests. Cognitive performance was evaluated using the novel object recognition test. Brain tissues were collected for pathological, Western blot, and immunohistochemical analyses. The results showed that SB332235 significantly ameliorated TBI-induced deficits, including motor and cognitive impairments. SB332235 administration suppressed expression of both CXCL1 and CXCR2 in TBI. Moreover, SB332235 substantially mitigated the augmented expression levels and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome within the peri-contusional cortex induced by TBI. This was accompanied by the blocking of subsequent production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Additionally, SB332235 hindered microglial activity induced by TBI. These findings confirmed the neuroprotective effects of SB332235 against TBI, and the involved mechanisms were in part due to the suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome activity. This study suggests that SB332235 may act as an anti-inflammatory agent to improve functional outcomes in brain injury when applied clinically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has forced many vendors to consider alternative marketing strategies, such as live streaming on social commerce platforms. Social commerce live streaming involves using live streamers to endorse and sell products on their own social media accounts. Statistics show that this format can serve as a survival tool for vendors in exceptional circumstances. However, it is also a valuable opportunity to bring innovation and engagement to traditional e-commerce vendors. Based on a sample of 621 Chinese consumers, this empirical research proposes that features of live streamers (expertise, attractiveness, and humor) play an essential role in social commerce intention. At the same time, virtual friendship, emotional engagement, and platform attachment are antecedents of online purchasing intentions. It also contends that social presence interaction has a moderating effect on live s-commerce and that these elements together constitute a comprehensive model of live s-commerce. Our findings reveal that virtual friendship, platform attachment, and emotional engagement with live streamers are crucial for increasing buying intentions, and they confirm the mediation effect of social commerce intention and the moderating effect of social presence interaction. The practical and theoretical implications are pointed out to assist brands, managers, retailers, and e-marketplaces in developing effective marketing plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective application of spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) in writing education depends on teachers' lesson design, which is deeply influenced by their technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). However, how teaching conceptions, as the fundamental viewpoint that influences teachers' teaching focuses, shape their TPACK remains uncertain. This study aimed to explore how teachers' conceptions shape their TPACK regarding SVVR-supported writing instruction. Twenty-one secondary school teachers participated in this study and conducted one semester of SVVR-supported writing lessons. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, and the interview transcriptions were analyzed using content analysis to explore the association between the teaching conceptions and TPACK. Teaching conceptions were classified into three orientations, namely skill, community, and identity, to reflect the teachers' teaching focuses. TPACK was classified into three categories, namely Replacement, Amplification, and Transformation, to indicate the levels of integrating SVVR into the writing lessons. The results showed that teachers with students' identity-focused conceptions shaped their TPACK at the Transformation level of SVVR integration. Teachers with community-focused conceptions developed students' emotional connections with people and places through their TPACK for deeper writing. Teachers with skill-focused conceptions, on the other hand, shaped their TPACK at the Replacement level that replaced the existing teaching activities and resources with SVVR to teach students writing skills. The findings suggest that teachers may need to shift the conceptions of writing instruction toward identity orientation to develop transformative TPACK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the energy crisis, using the salinity gradient between seawater and freshwater for osmotic energy conversion is a direct way to obtain energy. So far, most nanofluidic membranes utilized for osmotic energy generation are cation‐selective. Given that both anion‐ and cation‐selective membranes have the identical importance for energy conversion devices, it is of great significance to develop anion‐selective membranes. Herein, an anion‐selective membrane is synthesized by in situ growth of imine‐bridged covalent organic framework (COF) on ordered anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) at room temperature. The imine groups and residual amino groups of COF can combine with protons in neutral solution, enabling the COF positively charged and efficiently transport of anions. Particularly, due to the asymmetry in the charge and structure of COF/AAO, the as‐prepared membrane exhibits excellent ionic current rectification property, which can inhibit ion concentration polarization effectively and possess high ion selectivity and permeability. Using the present COF/AAO membrane, salinity gradient energy can be successfully harvested from solutions with high salt content, and the output power density reached 17.95W m−2 under a 500‐fold salinity gradient. The study provides a new avenue for construction and application of anion‐selective membranes in the smart ion transport and efficient energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) is widely distributed in the environment and easy adsorbed by living organisms with adverse effects. Exposure to Cd‐contaminated food may disrupt lipid metabolism and increase human health risk. To study the perturbation effect of Cd on lipid metabolism in vivo, 24 male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned four groups and treated by Cd chloride solution (0, 1.375 mg/kg, 5.5 mg/kg, 22 mg/kg) for 14 days. The characteristic indexes of serum lipid metabolism were analyzed. Afterwards, untargeted metabolomics analysis was applied to explore the adverse effects of Cd on rats by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC‐MS). The results revealed that Cd exposure obviously decreased the average serum of triglycerides (TG) and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) and caused an imbalance of endogenous compounds in the 22 mg/kg Cd‐exposed group. Compared with the control group, 30 metabolites with significant differences were identified in the serum. Our results indicated that Cd caused lipid metabolic disorders in rats by disrupting linoleic acid and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways. Furthermore, there were three kinds of remarkable differential metabolites—9Z,12Z‐octadecadienoic acid, PC(20:4(8Z,11Z,14Z,17Z)/0:0), and PC(15:0/18:2(9Z,12Z)), which enriched the two significant metabolism pathways and could be the potential biomarkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) have a high risk of developing brain metastases (BM). Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) is a standard therapy for limited-stage SCLC (LS-SCLC) patients who achieved complete or partial response after thoracic chemoradiotherapy (Chemo-RT). Recent studies have indicated that a subgroup of patients with a lower risk of BM can avoid PCI, and the present study therefore tries to construct a nomogram to predict the cumulative risk of development of BM in LS-SCLC patients without PCI. Methods: After screening of 2298 SCLC patients who were treated at the Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from December 2009 to April 2016, a total of 167 consecutive patients with LS-SCLC who received thoracic Chemo-RT without PCI were retrospectively analyzed. The paper analyzed clinical and laboratory factors that may be correlated with BM, such as response to treatment, pretreatment serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, and TNM stage. Thereafter, a nomogram was constructed to predict 3‑ and 5‑year intracranial progression-free survival (IPFS). Results: Of 167 patients with LS-SCLC, 50 developed subsequent BM. Univariate analysis showed that pretreatment LDH (pre-LDH) ≥ 200 IU/L, an incomplete response to initial chemoradiation, and UICC stage III were positively correlated to a higher risk of BM (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis identified pretreatment LDH level (hazard ratio [HR] 1.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08–3.34, p = 0.026), response to chemoradiation (HR 1.87, 95% CI 1.04–3.34, p = 0.035), and UICC stage (HR 6.67, 95% CI 1.03–49.15, p = 0.043) as independent predictors for the development of BM. A nomogram model was then established, and areas under the curve of 3‑year and 5‑year IPFS were 0.72 and 0.67, respectively. Conclusion: The present study has developed an innovative tool that is able to predict the individual cumulative risk for development of BM in LS-SCLC patients without PCI, which is beneficial for providing personalized risk estimates and facilitating the decision to perform PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust position control algorithm with learning feedback gain automatic adjustment for collaborative robots under uncertainty is proposed, aiming to compensate for the disturbance effects of the system. First, inside the proportional-derivative (PD) control framework, the robust controller is designed based on model and error. All of the model's uncertainties are represented by functions with upper bounds in order to surmount the uncertainties induced by parameter changes and unmodeled dynamics. Secondly, the feedback gain is automatically adjusted by learning, so that the control feedback gain is automatically adjusted iteratively to optimize the desired performance of the system. Thirdly, the Lyapunov minimax method is used to demonstrate that the proposed controller is both uniformly bounded and uniformly ultimately bounded. The simulations and experimental results of the robot experimental platform demonstrate that the proposed control achieves outstanding performance in both transient and steady-state tracking. Also, the proposed control has a simple structure with few parameters requiring adjustment, and no manual setting is required during parameter setting. Moreover, the robustness and efficacy of the robot's trajectory tracking with uncertainty are significantly enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The significance of detecting human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) in the lower respiratory tract of patients with severe pneumonia is unclear. This study aims to evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of detecting HHV-7 in the lower respiratory tract of patients with severe pneumonia. Methods: Patients with severe pneumonia requiring invasive mechanical ventilation and underwent commercial metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) testing of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from January 2019 to March 2023 were enrolled in 12 medical centers. Clinical data of patients were collected retrospectively, and propensity score matching was used for subgroup analysis and mortality assessment. Results: In a total number of 721 patients, 45 cases (6.24%) were identified with HHV-7 positive in lower respiratory tract. HHV-7 positive patients were younger (59.2 vs 64.4, p = 0.032) and had a higher rate of co-detection with Cytomegalovirus (42.2% vs 20.7%, p = 0.001) and Epstein–Barr virus (35.6% vs 18.2%, p = 0.008). After propensity score matching for gender, age, SOFA score at ICU admission, and days from ICU admission to mNGS assay, there was no statistically significant difference in the 28-day mortality rate between HHV-7 positive and negative patients (46.2% vs 36.0%, p = 0.395). Multivariate Cox regression analysis adjusting for gender, age, and SOFA score showed that HHV-7 positive was not an independent risk factor for 28-day mortality (HR 1.783, 95%CI 0.936–3.400, p = 0.079). Conclusion: HHV-7 was detected in the lungs of 6.24% of patients with severe pneumonia. The presence of HHV-7 in patients with severe pneumonia requiring invasive mechanical ventilation is associated with a younger age and co-detected of Cytomegalovirus and Epstein–Barr virus. While HHV-7 positivity was not found to be an independent risk factor for mortality in this cohort, this result may have been influenced by the relatively small sample size of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific contribution is typically embodiment of the value of a scientific publication, which reflects the inspiration, promotion, and improvement of the publication on existing theories or guiding practices. To analyze scientific contribution efficiently, in this paper, we introduce the task of automatically identifying the contribution type and their corresponding arguments. For this novel task, we first construct a new dataset SciContri by manually annotating the contribution type and argument information of 783 scientific articles. And we propose a joint framework named SciContriExt for the scientific contribution extraction task, i.e., classifying the contribution type and extracting corresponding fine-grained arguments. Our proposed framework adopts a deep learning classification model and a extraction model which extracts the contribution arguments from both token and span level. We jointly train the classification and extraction models by performing a weighted summation of the loss functions of the two models. Experiments show that our proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches on both contribution type classification and argument extraction tasks. The SciContri dataset will be released for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) provides new opportunities for K-12 English as foreign language (EFL) teachers to improve their teaching. To address the emerging trend of integrating AI into teaching, this study investigated EFL teachers' perceptions, knowledge, and behavioral intention to use AI to support teaching and learning of English in middle schools. This study combined relevant aspects of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) as the theoretical basis. A survey was conducted in an AI education demonstration district in China. This survey adopted a 5-point Likert scale which was developed from previous research and the interview records of EFL teachers. A total of 470 valid responses were collected. The reliability and validity of the scale were satisfied with eight constructs: Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), Facilitating Conditions (FC), AI language technological knowledge (AIL-TK), AI technological pedagogical knowledge (AI-TPK), AI-TPACK, and Behavioral Intention (BI). The results showed that the EFL teachers were positive with regard to the measured factors. PE, SI, AIL-TK, and AI-TPACK had significant positive predictive power on BI; and EE, FC, AI-TPK had indirect effects on BI. The complex interrelations were mapped out to provide educators and policymakers with a theoretically grounded scheme to foster teachers' BI to use AI in teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To emphasize the role of non-sulfonamides in the treatment of Nocardia infection and reduce the adverse reactions caused by sulfonamides. We retrospectively analyzed a case of cutaneous nocardiosis in an immunocompetent individual. The colonies obtained by staining the pus in the lesion with antacid and culturing the agar plates were identified by flight mass spectrometry. The pathogenic identification showed Nocardia brasiliensis infection and the patient was treated with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. After treatment with amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, the ulcer gradually peeled and crusted, leaving dark pigmentation. The patient has finally recovered. Sulfonamides are the first-line antibacterial agents for years in treatment of nocardiosis but are of great toxicity and side effects. This patient was successfully treated with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and it provided a reference protocol for patients with sulfonamide-resistant Nocardia or sulfonamides intolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the bottom layer of the autonomous vehicle, path tracking control is a crucial element that provides accurate control command to the X-by-wire chassis and guarantees the vehicle safety. To overcome the deterioration of control performance for autonomous vehicle path-tracking controllers caused by modeling errors and parameter perturbation, an adaptive robust control framework is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the 2-DOF vehicle dynamic model is established and the non-singular fast terminal sliding mode control algorithm is adopted to formulate the control law. The unmeasured model disturbance and parameter perturbation is regarded as the system uncertainty. To enhance the control accuracy, the radial basis forward neural network is introduced to estimate such uncertainty in real time. Then, the dynamic model of an active front steering system is established. The model reference control algorithm is applied for the steering torque control considering model uncertainty brought by the dissipation of manufacturing and mechanical wear. Finally, the Simulink–CarSim co-simulation platform is used and the proposed control framework is validated in two test scenarios. The simulation results demonstrate the proposed adaptive robust control algorithm has satisfactory control performance and good robustness against the system uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspergillus endocarditis (AE) is a highly fatal infection that can occur in heart valve replacement, pacemaker implantation and other heart surgeries, and early recognition and sufficient diagnosis are challenging. Here, we report the case of a 68-year-old male with a history of dilated cardiomyopathy and pacemaker implantation who had a repeated fever with failed antibacterial treatment and sterile blood culture. He developed endocarditis, and the culture and biopsy of vegetation tissue showed the abundant presence of septate hyphae, which was subsequently identified as Aspergillus fumigatus by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing. Although the patient had serious side effects from voriconazole, he had a good prognosis following surgery and prolonged caspofungin antifungal therapy of 42 consecutive days. We discuss the diagnosis and treatment strategy of AE, and recommend galactomannan assays and next-generation sequencing for a timely diagnosis. Early surgical intervention combined with prompt antifungal therapy appears significant for survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nocardia cyriacigeorgica, which mainly causes pleuropulmonary and disseminated nocardiosis, has been proved to be one of the most common opportunistic pathogens in patients with immunodeficiency, but the cases that cause subcutaneous abscesses in normal individuals are rare and should be paid attention to. Methods: The clinical data of a patient with cutaneous nocardiosis caused by Nocardia cyriacigeorgica in Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital were retrospectively analyzed, including clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, imaging examinations, medication and prognosis. Results: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that there was a 26 mm × 73 mm abscess under the skin. The pus in the abscess was green. Gram staining showed positive branched rod-shaped and undivided hyphae. After culture, small wrinkle dry white small colonies were observed, and it was identified as Nocardia cyriacigeorgica by MALDI-TOF MS. Conclusion: We report the first case of a subcutaneous abscess caused by Nocardia cyriacigeorgica in an immunocompetent patient. Compared with cutaneous nocardiosis of which approximately 80% caused by Nocardia brasiliensis invasion, infection of Nocardia cyriacigeorgica is more insidious and latent, the features of the lesions are also unique. For this Nocardia cyriacigeorgica clinical isolate, the tested antibacterial drugs are generally sensitive and have an ideal prognosis after treatment with linezolid and timely debridement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is characterized by a high risk of brain metastasis and poor survival. This study aims to assess the prognostic role of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) treated with thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) and prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI).Methods: This study retrospectively evaluated 197 consecutive patients who underwent TRT and PCI for LS-SCLC between November 2005 and October 2017. Both pretreatment and maximal serum LDH levels (mLDH) during treatment were checked, and an increased LDH level was defined as more than 240 IU/ml. Clinical factors were tested for associations with intracranial progression-free survival (IPFS) and overall survival (OS) after PCI. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival rates, and multivariate Cox regression analyses were carried out to identify variables associated with survival.Results: Of the total patients, 28 had higher pretreatment LDH levels and mLDH levels were increased in 95 patients during treatment. In patients in the normal and elevated mLDH groups, the 1‑, 2‑, and 5‑year IPFS rates were 96.7% vs. 90.1%, 91.7% vs. 73.8%, and 87.8% vs. 61.0% (P < 0.01), respectively. Compared to those with normal LDH levels, patients with increased mLDH levels had a higher cumulative risk of intracranial metastasis (hazard ratio [HR] 3.87; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.73-8.63; P < 0.01) and worse overall survival (HR 2.59; 95% CI 1.67-4.04; P < 0.01). The factors LDH level at baseline or changes between pretreatment level and maximum level during treatment failed to predict brain metastases or OS with statistical significance. In the multivariate analyses, both mLDH during treatment (HR 3.53; 95% CI 1.57-7.92; P = 0.002) and patient age ≥ 60 (HR 2.46; 95% CI 1.22-4.94; P = 0.012) were independently associated with worse IPFS. Factors significantly associated with worse OS included mLDH during treatment (HR 2.45; 95% CI 1.56-3.86; P < 0.001), IIIB stage (HR 1.75; 95% CI 1.06-2.88; P = 0.029), and conventional radiotherapy applied in TRT (HR 1.66; 95% CI 1.04-2.65; P = 0.034).Conclusion: The mLDH level during treatment predicts brain metastasis and survival in LS-SCLC patients treated with TRT and PCI, which may provide valuable information for identifying patients with poor survival outcomes and possible candidates for treatment intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perchlorate is a well-known thyroid-disrupting chemical as well as an extremely stable inorganic pollutant widely distributed in the environment. Therefore, perchlorate posts potential risks to the environment as well as human health. Crayfish is a dominant aquatic food with increasing consumption levels in recent years. It is crucial to evaluate the accumulation of perchlorate with well-water-soluble properties in crayfish and to assess its health risks. In our present study, we obtained crayfish samples from cultivated ponds and markets based on the regions of the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River. The perchlorate concentration was measured in all 206 samples using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS). Monte Carlo simulation was used to perform health risk assessments. The results indicated that perchlorate levels ranged from 7.74–43.71 μg/kg for cultivated crayfish and 4.90–16.73 μg/kg for crayfish sold in markets. The perchlorate accumulation mainly occurred in exoskeleton parts. All the HQ values were remarkable, at less than one—indicating that perchlorate exposure through the ingestion of crayfish does not pose an appreciable risk to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We evaluated the differences between patients with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infections and Fever outpatients, so that prevention and control measures can be taken in time. Patients and Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 65 patients with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Sixty-nine age- and sex-matched Fever outpatients were enrolled during the same period of time. We also reanalyzed data from 81 SARS-CoV-2 Wild-Type-infected patients. We compared the clinical characteristics and initial indexes of routine tests among the 3 groups. Results: A total of 93.8% of the patients with Omicron infections had clinical symptoms, and the major symptoms were cough, fever and pharyngalgia. Pharyngalgia was a specific manifestation in Omicron group compared to Wild-Type group. The white blood cell of the Omicron group was lower than that of the Fever group [5.0 (3.6– 6.1) vs 10.1 (7.6– 12.9) × 109/L, P < 0.001]. The neutrophil count in Omicron group was lower than that in Fever and Wild-Type group [2.6 (1.8– 3.9) vs 8.1 (5.9– 10.9), P < 0.001; 2.6 (1.8– 3.9) vs 3.4 (2.5– 4.7) × 109/L, P < 0.001]. The white blood cell and neutrophil counts were lower in Omicron group than in the Fever group. The top 5 major symptoms were fever, cough, pharyngalgia, headache and expectoration. Conclusion: There are differences between the patients with Omicron infections and Fever outpatients, both in clinical manifestations and initial routine hematology indicators. We hope to provide some clues for early identification combined with a history of living in the epidemic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the current post-epidemic period, hygiene requirements and health needs in the hospitality industry keep increasing, and consumers become more concerned about the cleanliness of hotels and have stronger demands for contactless services in hotels. The growth and popularity of IoT technology in China make it more accessible to a wider range of service industries and provides the basis for the application of IoT in the hospitality industry. The application of IoT devices in hotels mainly includes intelligent robots, intelligent guest control, systems, etc., which helps to realize contactless services in hotels. This research reviews the entire development cycle of the application of IoT in the hospitality industry, from the founding, development, and expansion of companies to their IPO and post-IPO maturity. From a perspective combined with IoT technology, we can cope with the changing industry models, business models, and operation modes in the hospitality industry more efficiently. The development of IoT in hotels will move towards humanization and service-orientation. Through the role of human–machine linkage and the reasonable management of IoT equipment, IoT technology can reasonably promote the efficiency of manual work, while injecting "warmth" and "quality" into IoT equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing primarily on the issues of low purity and high energy consumption in n-Butyl acetate production, pressure swing reactive distillation (RD-PS) and a new process combining conventional reactive distillation and pressure swing thermal coupling (RD-PSTC) were proposed. Chemical software Aspen Plus (version 10) was used to investigate the steady state simulations of both processes. Furthermore, the energy consumption and purity of the product were utilized as the objective functions in order to achieve optimal total annual cost (TAC). Compared with RD-PS process, the obtained results showed that RD-PSTC process could save 19.86% TAC, 73.97% CO2 emissions, and 28.84% total energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the transfer of rural land is an important way for many developing countries to improve the efficiency of rural land use and develop the rural economy. A reasonable income distribution scheme (IDS) is the key to enhancing farmer willingness to participate in the transfer of rural construction land use rights. However, little attention has been paid to farmers' preference for the IDS of the transfer of rural collective construction land use rights. This research aims to detect the farmers' preference for IDS in the process of rural collective land rights transfer. Based on the survey data of 489 farmers in Liuyang City, Hunan Province and Deqing County, Zhejiang Province, China, a random parameter Logit model is used to explore their preference for the IDS of the transfer of rural collective construction land use rights. The results show that, in general, the farmers focus on the income distribution ratio and pension in the IDS, which will significantly improve their utility. There are obvious regional differences in their preference for IDSs. For example, farmers in Liuyang prefer payment in shares, while those in Deqing prefer cash. Thus, the IDS for the transfer of rural collective construction land use rights should be based on the basic principle of ensuring fair land value-added income for the farmers, increased payment forms with social security functions, and reasonable IDSs in accord with the preferences of farmers in different regions, so as to enhance farmer willingness to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing a simple technique for in situ monitoring of sweating rate can provide real time feedback of individual's dehydration status and further assist in human health management. This work demonstrates the visible darkening of laser‐induced graphene (LIG) after wetting and its wearable practicability in monitoring sweating rate. LIGs with various porous morphologies are generated and their color differences are quantitatively assessed with hue‐saturation‐value model, correlated with the sheet resistance and the porous architecture. Embedding LIG pattern within microchannel enables the direct readout of water‐filled region and arranging length scale marks along microchannel allows direct readout of fluid volume with human eye for more simple measurements. Flexible design of length scale resolution can balance the detection frequency (i.e., real time ability) and its accuracy. The in situ and real time flow rate monitoring performance is successfully adopted on‐body for sweating rate analysis with reasonable accuracy. Apart from the simplicity and low cost, compared to other flow rate sensing methods, the proposed platform is reusable with no special cleaning needed for the microchannel but just drying, and no visible decline of the performance occurs. LIG's darkening strategy endows an avenue for the development of powerful in situ and real time sweating analytical platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The proportion of elderly patients with esophageal cancer (EC) is increasing due to prolonged life expectancy and aging process. The aim of the study is to explore the optimal treatment strategy for elderly patients (aged ≥70 years) with locally advanced EC. Methods: Eligible patients with cT2-4aNxM0 EC were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database from 2010 to 2016. Treatment patterns were divided into six groups: surgical resection (S), chemoradiotherapy (CRT), trimodality therapy (CRT+S), radiotherapy (RT), chemotherapy (CT), or observation with no treatment (Obs). Survival between groups was compared using the log-rank test, and the Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify factors associated with overall survival (OS). Results: A total of 2917 patients with potentially curable EC were identified. Of all the patients included, 6.7%, 51.8%, 18.0%, 9.4% and 3.6%received S, CRT, CRT+S, RT, and CT, respectively, whereas 10.6% underwent Obs. The 3-year OS estimates were 30.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 23.5–38.9%), 25.4% (95% CI: 22.8–28.3%),44.3% (95% CI: 39.3–49.9%), 11.4% (95% CI: 7.7–17.0%), 16.1% (95% CI: 9.1–28.3%), and 5.6% (95% CI: 3.2–9.8%) for S, CRT, CRT+S RT, CT, and Obs (p<0.001), respectively. Overall, patents underwent CRT+S had the longest OS, compared to other treatment patterns, and the survival difference was not significant between patients receiving CRT and S (p=0.12) in the elderly population. However, the survival benefits of trimodality therapy over CRT gradually weakened with the increase in age, and became statistically non-significant for EC patients aged ≥80 years (p=0.35). Multivariate analysis showed that treatment patterns, age, sex, tumor grade, T stage, N stage, and marital status were significantly associated with OS. Conclusion: Generally, the use of trimodality therapy was associated with the longest OS, the survival benefits were comparable between CRT and S alone, and CRT was superior to RT or CT alone in elderly patients with curable EC. For patients intolerable to surgery or aged ≥80 years, definitive CRT should be considered as a preferable option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a public health emergency of international concern. There has been a surge in demand for COVID-19 diagnostic reagents, as timely detection of virus carriers is one of the most important components of disease prevention and control. Nucleic acid testing (NAT), with high sensitivity and specificity, is considered the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Therefore, more than 700 research units and companies have been devoted to developing NAT reagents. To date, nearly 600 research units and companies have claimed to have completed the development of NAT reagents. The use of these products has a positive effect on disease prevention and control; however, exaggerated claims and inadequate understanding of the products have led to improper access to reagents and equipment in clinics. This has resulted in chaos in the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19. Herein, we have overviewed the COVID-19 NAT products, including their principles, corresponding advantages and disadvantages, relevant circumstances for application, and respective roles in epidemic containment. Our comments may provide some references for assay developers and aid clinical staff in choosing the appropriate class of test from the different tests available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network structures play important roles in social, technological, and biological systems. However, the observable nodes and connections in real cases are often incomplete or unavailable due to measurement errors, private protection issues, or other problems. Therefore, inferring the complete network structure is useful for understanding human interactions and complex dynamics. The existing studies have not fully solved the problem of the inferring network structure with partial information about connections or nodes. In this paper, we tackle the problem by utilizing time series data generated by network dynamics. We regard the network inference problem based on dynamical time series data as a problem of minimizing errors for predicting states of observable nodes and proposed a novel data-driven deep learning model called Gumbel-softmax Inference for Network (GIN) to solve the problem under incomplete information. The GIN framework includes three modules: a dynamics learner, a network generator, and an initial state generator to infer the unobservable parts of the network. We implement experiments on artificial and empirical social networks with discrete and continuous dynamics. The experiments show that our method can infer the unknown parts of the structure and the initial states of the observable nodes with up to 90% accuracy. The accuracy declines linearly with the increase of the fractions of unobservable nodes. Our framework may have wide applications where the network structure is hard to obtain and the time series data is rich. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Actualization of teaching conceptions in lesson design: how teaching conceptions shape TPACK regarding spherical video-based virtual reality-supported writing instruction." The article was originally published without open access but has since been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The authors of the article are Mengyuan Chen, Ching-sing Chai, and Morris Siu-Yung Jong. The publisher, Springer Nature, remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. [Extracted from the article]

It may not be easy to implement complex AI models in edge devices without strong computing capacity (e.g. GPU). The Universal Approximation Theorem states that a shallow neural network (SNN) can represent any nonlinear function. In this paper, we focus on the learnability and robustness of SNNs, obtained by a greedy tight force heuristic algorithm [a Performance Driven Back-Propagation (PDBP)] and a loose force meta-heuristic algorithm [a variant of particle swarm optimization (VPSO)]. From the engineering prospective, all sensors are well justified for a specific task. Hence, all sensor readings should be strongly correlated to the target, and the structure of an SNN should depend on the dimensions of a problem space. The key findings of the research are summarized as follows: (1) The number of hidden neurons of an SNN depends on the nonlinearity of the training data, and the number of hidden neurons up to the dimension number of a problem space could be enough; (2) The learnability of SNNs, produced by error-driven PDBP, is always better than that of SNNs, optimized by error-driven VPSOs; (3) The performances of SNNs, obtained by PDBPs and VPSOs, do not change much for different training rates; and (4) Comparing with other classic machine learning algorithms, such as C4.5, NB and NN in literature, the SNNs, obtained by accuracy-driven PDBPs, win for all tested data sets, and the improvement percentage is up to 32.86%. Hence, the research could provide valued guidance for the implementation of edge intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study validated the general extended technology acceptance model for e-learning (GETAMEL) with the survey data from the English as a foreign language (EFL) online class during the novel coronavirus lockdown period. A total of 678 undergraduates participated in the survey. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data. The results showed that the influence of perceived usefulness of students on their intentional behavior to use the online learning system was not mediated by their attitude, indicating a very limited role of attitude toward technology in the model. Enjoyment and self-efficacy had no significant effects on the internal constructs, raising theoretical concerns on the applicability of this general model into specific contexts. In addition, we found that experience might be a moderator rather than an antecedent of the internal constructs in the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing the antitumor activity and systemic toxicity of tripterine still faces a big challenge due to the narrow therapeutic window. To address this issue, we report a microemulsion system based on tripterine, brucea oil, and glycyrrhizin, and dual modified with both transferrin and cell-penetrating peptide SA-R6H4 (Tf/SA-R6H4-TBG-MEs) for combinational and tumor-targeted cancer therapy. Such a microemulsion exhibited a spherical shape with a size of ~50 nm and a mildly-negative charge. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of Tf/SA-R6H4-TBG-MEs against ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells was 0.27 ± 0.43 μg tripterine/mL, which was 5.85 times lower than that of free tripterine. The cellular uptake of tripterine after treatment with Tf/SA-R6H4-TBG-MEs was 1.56 times higher than that of TBG-MEs (non-modified microemulsion). In pharmacokinetics studies, the area under the curve of Tf/SA-R6H4-TBG-MEs increased by 1.97 times compared with that of the physical mixture group. The tumoral accumulation of tripterine was significantly improved in Tf/SA-R6H4-TBG-MEs group than TBG-MEs-treated group. In antitumor efficacy in vivo, Tf/SA-R6H4-TBG-MEs exhibited the strongest inhibition of tumor growth and the longest survival period among all the groups, which is associated with the rational combination, microemulsion system, and dual modification with tumor-targeted ligands. Importantly, Tf/SA-R6H4-TBG-MEs significantly reduced the toxicity of tripterine against the liver and kidney. Our design provides a new approach for efficient and safe ovarian cancer therapy based on a multicomponent combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancement in virtual reality (VR) technology has enabled language learners to be engaged in immersive and interactive learning environments. Recent studies have revealed that the educational use of VR technology can improve students' writing achievement, behavioral engagement, and cognitive engagement in learning. However, the factors contributing to these improvements are not fully understood. Writing programs that foster a positive writing self-concept is helpful for students' development. In this study, adopting the self-determination theory as the theoretical lens, the affordances of VR contributing to students' self-concept in descriptive writing (DW) were explored through a newly adapted survey. Secondary school students (n = 300) who attended a VR-supported writing course completed the survey that measured their responses to five related factors: (i) autonomous observation, (ii) relatedness, (iii) self-efficacy, (iv) satisfaction, and (v) writing self-concept. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the five-factor survey measurements. The results indicated that the construct validity and reliability of the survey were acceptable. A structural equation model was constructed to investigate the hypothesized relationships of the factors contributing to the students' writing self-concept. The results indicated self-efficacy and satisfaction directly predict students' writing self-concept, and relatedness indirectly predicts writing self-concept. These findings reveal the underlying mechanism which could inform educators who are keen on promoting or harnessing VR-supported learning and teaching in writing education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) has caused large hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) epidemics among young children, and EV71 infection is the leading cause of severe HFMD cases and deaths. In mainland China, the prevalence and risk factors of non-C4 EV71 strains are still unclear. In this study, we monitored non-C4 strains over a 10-year HFMD epidemiological surveillance period in Xiamen. The 5'UTR and VP1 coding region of EV71 strains were amplified by RT-nested PCR and sequenced. Thirty-two non-C4 EV71 strains were identified during 2009-2018. This study provides important information about the prevalence of EV71 in China that will be applicable for development of vaccines and diagnostic reagents as well as establishment of policies for HFMD prevention and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is overexpressed and associated with poor prognosis in many kinds of cancer. In the current study, we evaluated the prognostic value of LDHA expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and tested whether LDHA inhibition might improve radiotherapy efficacy in NSCLC.Methods: LDHA expression was investigated in NSCLC patients, using online database and further verified by immunohistochemistry. The prognostic value of LDHA was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier plotter database. In vitro, two NSCLC cell lines were pretreated with oxamate, an inhibitor of LDHA, and colony formation method was performed to determine cellular radiosensitivity. Comet assay was used to detect DNA damage after irradiation. Flow cytometry was applied to test cell cycle progression and apoptosis, and monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining was used to examine cell autophagy.Results: Both mRNA and protein levels of LDHA expression were up-regulated in NSCLC tissues. High LDHA expression was a poor prognostic factor and associated with radioresistance in NSCLC patients. LDHA inhibition by oxamate remarkably increased radiosensitivity in both A549 and H1975 cancer cells, and enhanced ionizing radiation (IR)-induced apoptosis and autophagy, accompanied by cell cycle distribution alternations. Furthermore, LDHA inhibition induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and cellular ATP depletion, which might increase DNA injury and hinder DNA repair activity.Conclusions: Our study suggests that inhibition of LDHA may be a potential strategy to improve radiotherapy efficacy in NSCLC patients, which needs to be further tested by clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Based on role theory, from the perspective of workplace behaviors (proactive behavior, in-role behavior and organizational citizenship behavior), this paper provides a perspective of matching process on the importance of fit in personnel selection. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample of 231 leader–employee dyadic in a two-wave survey, the hypotheses were demonstrated with hierarchical regression analyses. Findings: The results presented that: (1) Employees' perceptions of implicit leadership prototype fit and leaders' perceptions of implicit followership prototype fit were positively related to employees' workplace behaviors; (2) Employees' perceptions of implicit leadership prototype fit and leaders' perceptions of implicit followership prototype fit increased person-supervisor fit; (3) The influence of the interaction between employees' perceptions of implicit leadership prototype fit and leaders' perceptions of implicit followership prototype fit on employees' workplace behaviors will be mediated, first by person-supervisor fit and then by work engagement. Originality/value: This study introduces the perspective of matching process that reflects the relative importance of fit in personnel selection. The results also enriched role theory from the perspective of implicit prototype fit, which provides an important basis for managers to effectively use managerial cognition and inspire employees' positive workplace behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenomenographic research about teachers' conception of teaching has consistently revealed that teachers' conception of teaching influence their classroom practices, which in turn shape students' learning experiences. This paper reports teachers' conceptions of teaching with regards to the use of interactive spherical video-based virtual reality (ISV-VR) in Chinese descriptive composition writing. Twenty-one secondary teachers in Hong Kong involved in an ISV-VR-supported Chinese descriptive writing program participated in this phenomenographic study. Analyses of the semi-structured interviews establish seven conception categories that are specifically related to the use of ISV-VR for descriptive Chinese composition writing: (1) offering students more observational opportunities; (2) improving students' writing skills; (3) promoting students' learning participation and motivation; (4) shifting learning from teacher-centric to student-centric, (5) enhancing collaborative learning among students; (6) cultivating students' positive values and moral character, and (7) shaping students' self-identity as "writers." The concurrent and convenient access to the ISV-VR resources was for the teachers an enriched and supportive environment for them to cultivate students' writer identity. In addition, it was discovered that the structural relationships of the conceptions may be better organized along three axes of continuum: conception's orientation, teaching attention locus, and understanding of writing. These categories form a hierarchy from skill-oriented to community-oriented, and finally to identity-oriented conception. The findings may provide researchers and practitioners with novel insight into the teaching of composition writing in the contexts of L1 acquisition supported by virtual reality technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Morita‐Baylis–Hillman (MBH) reaction and [3, 3]‐sigmatropic rearrangement are two paradigms in organic synthesis. We have merged the two types of reactions to achieve [3,3]‐rearrangement of aryl sulfoxides with α,β‐unsaturated nitriles. The reaction was achieved by sequentially treating both coupling partners with electrophilic activator (Tf2O) and base, offering an effective approach to prepare synthetically versatile α‐aryl α,β‐unsaturated nitriles with Z‐selectivity through direct α‐C‐H arylation of unmodified α,β‐unsaturated nitriles. The control experiments and DFT calculations support a four‐stage reaction sequence, including the assembly of Tf2O activated aryl sulfoxide with α,β‐unsaturated nitrile, MBH‐like Lewis base addition, [3,3]‐rearrangement, and E1cB‐elimination. Among these stages, the Lewis base addition is diastereoselective and E1cB‐elimination is cis‐selective, which could account for the remarkable Z‐selectivity of the reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Morita‐Baylis–Hillman (MBH) reaction and [3, 3]‐sigmatropic rearrangement are two paradigms in organic synthesis. We have merged the two types of reactions to achieve [3,3]‐rearrangement of aryl sulfoxides with α,β‐unsaturated nitriles. The reaction was achieved by sequentially treating both coupling partners with electrophilic activator (Tf2O) and base, offering an effective approach to prepare synthetically versatile α‐aryl α,β‐unsaturated nitriles with Z‐selectivity through direct α‐C‐H arylation of unmodified α,β‐unsaturated nitriles. The control experiments and DFT calculations support a four‐stage reaction sequence, including the assembly of Tf2O activated aryl sulfoxide with α,β‐unsaturated nitrile, MBH‐like Lewis base addition, [3,3]‐rearrangement, and E1cB‐elimination. Among these stages, the Lewis base addition is diastereoselective and E1cB‐elimination is cis‐selective, which could account for the remarkable Z‐selectivity of the reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]