Search

Purpose: Based on the approach/inhibition theory of power, this study explores the relationship between sense of power and exploitative leadership. We particularly examine the role of self-interest as a mediator and the role of ambition at work as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from 189 supervisors and 702 employees. We analyzed the data using path analysis to test the research model. Findings: The results show the following: (1) sense of power positively affects exploitative leadership; (2) the effects of sense of power on exploitative leadership are mediated by self-interest; (3) the effects of self-interest on exploitative leadership are moderated by ambition at work. Originality/value: The current study identifies self-interest as a key mediator that links sense of power to exploitative leadership and demonstrates that ambition at work moderates the process of self-interest to exploitative leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroptosis is a programmed cell death that relies on iron and lipid peroxidation. It differs from other forms of programmed cell death such as necrosis, apoptosis and autophagy. More and more evidence indicates that ferroptosis participates in many types of diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases, ischemia-reperfusion injury, cardiovascular diseases and so on. Hence, clarifying the role and mechanism of ferroptosis in diseases is of great significance for further understanding the pathogenesis and treatment of some diseases. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a colorless and flammable gas with the smell of rotten eggs. Many years ago, H2S was considered as a toxic gas. however, in recent years, increasing evidence indicates that it is the third important gas signaling molecule after nitric oxide and carbon monoxide. H2S has various physiological and pathological functions such as antioxidant stress, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and anti-tumor, and can participate in various diseases. It has been reported that H2S regulation of ferroptosis plays an important role in many types of diseases, however, the related mechanisms are not fully clear. In this review, we reviewed the recent literature about the role of H2S regulation of ferroptosis in diseases, and analyzed the relevant mechanisms, hoping to provide references for future in-depth researches. Highlights: Whether H2S can regulate cell ferroptosis through selective autophagy other than ferritinophagy is a topic worth studying in the future; The role and mechanism of H2S regulation of ferroptosis in various tumors require future research to elucidate. Further researches are needed to determine whether different concentrations of H2S can promote ferroptosis in different tissues and disease types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, with the increasing scale of industrial systems, multisensor monitoring data exhibit large-scale dynamic Gaussian and non-Gaussian concurrent complex characteristics. However, the traditional principal component analysis method is based on Gaussian distribution and uncorrelated assumptions, which are greatly limited in practice. Therefore, developing a new fault detection method for large-scale Gaussian and non-Gaussian concurrent dynamic systems is one of the urgent challenges to be addressed. To this end, a double-layer distributed and integrated data-driven strategy based on Laplacian score weighting and integrated Bayesian inference is proposed. Specifically, in the first layer of the distributed strategy, we design a Jarque–Bera test module to divide all multisensor monitoring variables into Gaussian and non-Gaussian blocks, successfully solving the problem of different data distributions. In the second layer of the distributed strategy, we design a dynamic augmentation module to solve dynamic problems, a K-means clustering module to mine local similarity information of variables, and a Laplace scoring module to quantitatively evaluate the structural retention ability of variables. Therefore, this double-layer distributed strategy can simultaneously combine the different distribution characteristics, dynamism, local similarity, and importance of variables, comprehensively mining the local information of the multisensor data. In addition, we develop an integrated Bayesian inference strategy based on detection performance weighting, which can emphasize the differential contribution of local models. Finally, the fault detection results for the Tennessee Eastman production system and a diesel engine working system validate the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional on-site survey for railway flood safety is inadequate for the increasing demand of flood hazard assessment. This study introduced an integrated desktop system to enhance the efficiency and precision of flood hazard monitoring. By integrating drone multimodal data with railway geographic information, the system addressed the challenges of hazard identification, management, and reporting. Based on the WPF framework and integrated with the Cefsharp and Vue. js, it seamlessly combined 3D scenes with data operations and employed an OpenGL-based 3D GIS engine for multimodal data display and spatial analysis. A classified hazard marking function and an offline SpatiaLite database ensured data persistence and portability. Tested on a 300 km railway section with 148 key flood points and two phases of drone data, the system demonstrates effective multimodal data management and real scene visualization for hazard assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prunella vulgaris L. (Lamiaceae) is a perennial medicinal plant commonly used to treat thyroid dysfunction, infectious hepatitis, and mastitis in north-east Asia and Europe. In China, there has been a historical change in the medicinal use of P. vulgaris from the use of whole plants to the use of the spicas. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the protective effects of whole plant P. vulgaris water extracts and spicas on hyperthyroidism with liver-yang hyperactivity syndrome and to preliminarily explain the mechanism of action of these water extracts. Materials and Methods: Rats were induced with aconite decoction and levothyroxine and treated with P. vulgaris whole plant and spicas water extract for 28 days at the same time. Body weight, food intake, and rectal temperature were monitored. The serum thyroid function indicators thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroid hormone-free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4), liver function index alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), oxidative damage index malondialdehyde (MDA), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were detected. Liver and thyroid tissues were taken for sectioning and observation. The liver inflammatory factors human tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the expression levels of the apoptotic proteins caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) were detected. Results: Both P. vulgaris whole plant and spica water extract groups exhibited markedly reduced FT3 and FT4 contents, increased the TSH content, and decreased ALT and AST activities. Furthermore, these agents improve thyroid and liver lesion tissue; reduce MDA content; increase SOD activity; reduce IL-6, TNF-α, and caspase-3 expression; and increase Bcl-2 expression. Conclusion: The whole plant and spicas water extracts of P. vulgaris have obvious protective effects on hyperthyroidism and hyperactivity in liver yang, and the protective effect of the water extract of spicas is greater than that of the whole plant water extract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation and joint damage. Previous studies have shown that pyroptosis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of RA. In this study, the effects of circular RNA hsa_circ0000175 on pyroptosis and inflammation of RA were evaluated. Serum levels of circ_0000175 and miR-31-5p were determined by RT-qPCR, and the correlation between them was evaluated by Spearman correlation analysis. Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) were extracted and prepared for in vitro study. The subcellular localization of circ_0000175 was detected by FISH assay. Pyroptosis and inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-18 and IL-6 were measured by flow cytometry and ELISA, respectively. RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assays verified the interaction between circ_0000175 and miR-31-5p. Western blot was used to detect the differential expression of pyroptosis-related factors (GSDME-N, GSDMD-N, cleaved caspase-1 and cleaved caspase-3). Circ_0000175 level was increased but miR-31-5p expression was decreased in PBMCs of RA patients and LPS/ATP-treated FLSs, companied with negative correlation. Moreover, miR-31-5p was a target of circ_0000175 in RA-FLSs. Silencing of circ_0000175 or overexpression of miR-31-5p significantly alleviated LPS/ATP-induced pyroptosis in FLSs through both caspase-1/GSDMD and caspase-3/GSDME pathways. Additionally, GSDME was identified as the target of miR-31-5p. The inhibitory effects of circ_0000175 depletion on pyroptosis and inflammation in RA-FLSs treated with LPS/ATP were strengthened by GSDME knockdown. Circ_0000175 can induce pyroptosis and trigger inflammatory response during the occurrence of RA through the miR-31-5p/GSDME axis, which provides a novel therapeutic target for RA treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inductive power transfer (IPT) technology is used in various applications owing to its safety features, robust environmental adaptability, and convenience. In some special applications, the charging pads are required to be as compact as possible to accommodate practical spatial requirements, and even size requirements dictate that the diameter of the charging pad matches the air gap. However, such requirements bring about a decrease in the transmission efficiency, power, and tolerance to misalignment of the system. In this paper, by comparing a double-sided inductor–capacitor–capacitor (LCC), double-sided inductor–capacitor–inductor (LCL), series–series (SS), and inductor–capacitor–capacitor–series (LCC-S) compensation topologies in IPT systems, we identified a double-sided LCC compensation topology that is suitable for weak coupling coefficients. Furthermore, this study modeled and simulated the typical parameters of coreless coils in circular power pads, such as the number of coil layers, turns, wire diameter, and wire spacing, to enhance the mutual inductance of the magnetic coupler during misalignment and long-distance transmission. A wireless charging system with 640 W output power was built, and the experimental results show that a maximum dc-dc efficiency of over 86% is achieved across a 200 mm air gap when the circular power pad with a diameter of 200 mm is well aligned. The experimental results show that using a suitable compensation topology and optimizing the charging pad parameters enables efficient IPT system operation when the coupling coefficient is 0.02. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser-arc hybrid additive manufacturing (LAHAM) based on the synergistic interaction of laser and arc has vast potential applications due to the advantages of high precision and fast manufacturing speed. Titanium alloy is a kind of indispensable material in the aerospace and marine industries because of its superior performance. This study primarily investigates the effect of laser power on formability, microstructure evolution, and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V, a titanium alloy fabricated by LAHAM. The results indicate that the material utilization of the Ti-6Al-4V wire first increases and then decreases with the increasing laser power, reaching a maximum value of 95.48% at a power of 1500 W. As laser power increases, the acicular martensite α′ content in the LAHAM samples decreases, while the α phase increases and exhibits a coarsening phenomenon. Tensile strength increases with the rise in laser power, reaching a maximum horizontal tensile strength of 1080 MPa and a maximum vertical tensile strength of 1100 MPa. However, elongation decreases with increasing laser power. Microhardness decreases with the rise in laser power. The increase in laser power enhances the bonding between deposition layers, significantly improving the tensile strength of the specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is characterized by the senescence and declining vitality of nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs), often driven by mitochondrial dysfunction. This study elucidates that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a crucial role in attenuating NPC senescence by secreting mitochondria-containing microvesicles (mitoMVs). Moreover, it demonstrates that static magnetic fields (SMF) enhance the secretion of mitoMVs by MSCs. By distinguishing mitoMV generation from exosomes, this study shifts focus to understanding the molecular mechanisms of SMF intervention, emphasizing cargo transport and plasma membrane budding processes, with RNA sequencing indicating the potential involvement of the microtubule-based transport protein Kif5b. The study further confirms the interaction between Rab22a and Kif5b, revealing Rab22a's role in sorting mitoMVs into microvesicles (MVs) and potentially mediating subsequent plasma membrane budding. Subsequent construction of a gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel delivery system further addresses the challenges of in vivo application and verifies the substantial potential of mitoMVs in delaying IVDD. This research not only sheds light on the molecular intricacies of SMF-enhanced mitoMV secretion but also provides innovative perspectives for future IVDD therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battery voltage plateau characteristics are crucial for designing and controlling battery management systems. Utilising the plateau period attributes to their fullest extent can enable optimal battery control, enhance battery performance, and prolong battery lifespan. This research aimed to investigate the performance of cylindrical ternary lithium batteries at various discharge rates, focusing on the variations in terminal voltage, capacity, and temperature. The battery performance at different discharge rates was meticulously examined through cyclic charge/discharge experiments. The convexity of the voltage curve was used to analyse the voltage plateau characteristics at different rates. The findings revealed significant differences in battery performance under varying discharge rates. Higher discharge rates resulted in shorter discharge times and lower battery voltages at corresponding residual capacities. The discharge time, capacity, and voltage during the plateau phase decreased as the discharge rate increased. At discharge rates of 1 C, 3 C, 5 C, 7 C, 9 C, and 11 C, the proportion of discharged battery capacity ranged from 86.45% to 78.42%. At the same time, voltage and temperature variations during the plateau period decreased significantly compared to those before and after discharge. This research provides a crucial reference point for advancing battery design and thermal management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bedforms associated with turbidite systems are commonly observed on seafloor. Previous studies have analysed bedform morphological and sedimentary features to determine their formation mechanisms and flow dynamics. However, the seafloor topography and ocean circulation have comprehensively influenced both down‐ and along‐slope turbidity flow processes, complicating the spatial distribution of the related bedforms. Three‐dimensional seismic data (3D) were used to depict the morphological and sedimentary features of the bedforms around the canyon mouth on the slope of the Rovuma Basin (offshore Mozambique), to reveal the spatial distribution and related flow processes of the bedforms. The results show that the spatial morphological and sedimentary features of the submarine bedforms at canyon mouths are controlled by the combined action of down‐ and along‐slope factors. The along‐slope bottom currents influence the deposition distribution of the turbidity current at the canyon mouth. However, slope breaks control bedform morphological and sedimentary features during downslope turbidity currents. Coarse‐grained material of turbidity current flows along the axial zone of the canyon mouth, forming a linear series of crescent‐shaped net‐erosional cyclic steps characterized by short steep stoss sides and long gentle lee sides. The fine‐grained material of the turbidity currents is deflected towards the northern flank of the axial zone by the bottom currents and deposited as undulating net‐depositional cyclic steps at upper reach of the northern flank, showing long gentle stoss sides and short steep sides. Slope breaks enhance the erosion on cyclic steps by altering the velocity of turbidity current, forming net‐erosional cyclic steps with the manifestation of both short and steep stoss and lee sides at lower reaches of northern flank. The turbidity current in the axial zone formed lateral flow diversions caused by the obstruction of the cyclic steps. The flow diversions converge with the downslope flowing unconfined turbidity current at the northern flank and constitute a confluence characterized by continuous variation of flow properties, forming the cyclic steps featuring irregular morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic cancer's high fatality rates stem from its resistance to systemic drug delivery and aggressive metastasis, limiting the efficacy of conventional treatments. In this study, two-dimensional ultrathin silicene nanosheets were initially synthesized and near-infrared-responsive two-dimensional silicene-mesoporous silica nanoparticles (SMSNs) were successfully constructed to load the clinically-approved conventional pancreatic cancer chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine. Experiments on nanoparticle characterization show that they have excellent photothermal conversion ability and stability. Then silicene-mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with gemcitabine nanoparticles (SMSN@G NPs) were employed in localized photothermal therapy to control pancreatic tumor growth and achieve therapeutic effects. Our research confirmed the functionality of SMSN@G NPs through immunoblotting and apoptotic assays, demonstrating its capacity to enhance the nuclear translocation of the NF- κ B p65, further affect the protein levels of apoptosis-related genes, induce the apoptosis of tumor cells, and ultimately inhibit the growth of the tumor. Additionally, the study assessed the inhibitory role of SMSN@G NPs on pancreatic neoplasm growth in vivo, revealing its excellent biocompatibility. SMSN@G NPs have a nice application prospect for anti-pancreatic tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing importance of the stock market, it is of great practical significance to accurately describe the systemic risk of the stock market and conduct more accurate early warning research on it. However, the existing research on the systemic risk of the stock market lacks multi-dimensional factors, and there is still room for improvement in the forecasting model. Therefore, to further measure the systemic risk profile of the Chinese stock market, establish a risk early warning system suitable for the Chinese stock market, and improve the risk management awareness of investors and regulators. This paper proposes a combination model of EEMD-LSTM, which can describe the complex nonlinear interaction. Firstly, 35 stock market systemic risk indicators are selected from the perspectives of macroeconomic operation, market cross-contagion and the stock market itself to build a comprehensive indicator system that conforms to the reality of China. Furthermore, based on TEI@I complex system methodology, an EEMD-LSTM model is proposed. The EEMD method is adopted to decompose the composite index sequence into intrinsic mode function components (IMF) of different scales and one trend term. Then the LSTM algorithm is used to predicted and model the decomposed sub-sequences. Finally, the forecast result of the composite index is obtained through integration. The empirical results show that the stock market systemic risk index constructed in this paper can effectively identify important risk events within the sample period. In addition, compared with the benchmark model, the EEMD-LSTM model constructed in this paper shows a stronger early warning ability for systemic financial risks in the stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tailored thermal heat-treatment process for Ti-6Al-4V alloy manufactured by laser–arc hybrid additive manufacturing can achieve desired microstructures and excellent mechanical properties for components. The effects of different heat treatment regimens on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy manufactured by laser–arc hybrid additive manufacturing are investigated in this study. Utilizing optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, we analyze the variations in microstructure with changes in heat-treatment parameters and explore the reasons for the changes in mechanical properties under different solutions' treatment temperatures and cooling rates. The microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V alloy fabricated via laser–arc hybrid additive manufacturing was primarily composed of Widmanstätten α plate structures and a small amount of acicular martensite α′ within columnar β grains that grew outward from the substrate along the deposition direction. Following solution treatment and aging heat treatment, the microstructure transitioned to a typical high-performance net basket structure with significantly reduced α plate thickness, leading to noticeable enhancements in sample ductility and toughness. Specifically, when the solution treatment and aging treatment regimen was set at 950 °C for 1 h, followed by air cooling, and then aging at 540 °C for 6 h with subsequent air cooling, the average grain size decreased by a factor of two compared to the as-deposited samples, while the impact toughness increased by 66.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon a comprehensive global database of landslides and utilizing high-resolution IMERG satellite precipitation data, this study investigates the spatial and temporal variations of landslide occurrences across the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This study constructs a region-specific, graded warning system by formulating an average effective intensity–duration (I–D) rainfall threshold curve for each ASEAN member. Examination of 1747 landslide events spanning from 2006 to 2018 illustrates a significant association between the frequency of landslides in ASEAN regions and the latitudinal movement of local precipitation bands. Incidences of landslides hit their lowest in March and April, while a surge is observed from October to January, correlating with the highest mortality rates. Geographical hotspots for landslide activity, characterized by substantial annual rainfall and constrained landmasses, include the Philippine archipelago, Indonesia's Java Island, and the Malay Peninsula, each experiencing an average of over 2.5 landslides annually. Fatalities accompany approximately 41.4% of ASEAN landslide events, with the Philippines and Indonesia registering the most substantial numbers. Myanmar stands out for the proportion of large-scale landslide incidents, with an average casualty rate of 10.89 deaths per landslide, significantly surpassing other countries in the region. The I–D rainfall threshold curves indicate that the Philippines experienced the highest precipitation levels before landslide initiation, whereas Myanmar has the threshold set at a considerably lower level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins play a crucial role in increasing the functional diversity of proteins and are associated with the pathogenesis of various diseases. This review focuses on a less explored PTM called citrullination, which involves the conversion of arginine to citrulline. This process is catalyzed by peptidyl arginine deiminases (PADs). Different members of the PAD family have distinct tissue distribution patterns and functions. Citrullination is a post-translational modification of native proteins that can alter their structure and convert them into autoantigens; thus, it mediates the occurrence of autoimmune diseases. CD4+ T cells, including Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells, are important immune cells involved in mediating autoimmune diseases, allergic reactions, and tumor immunity. PADs can induce citrullination in CD4+ T cells, suggesting a role for citrullination in CD4+ T cell subset differentiation and function. Understanding the role of citrullination in CD4+ T cells may provide insights into immune-related diseases and inflammatory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fuzzy control improvement method is proposed with an integral line-of-sight (ILOS) guidance principle to meet the needs of autonomous navigation and high-precision control of ship trajectories. Firstly, a three-degree-of-freedom ship motion model was established with the battery-powered container ship ZYHY LVSHUI 01 built by the COSCO Shipping Group. Secondly, a ship path-following controller based on the ILOS algorithm was designed. To satisfy the time-varying demand of the look-ahead distance parameters during the following process, especially under different navigation conditions, fuzzy logic controllers were designed for different navigation conditions to automatically adjust the look-ahead distance parameters. Thirdly, a controller was applied that uses a five-state extended Kalman filter (EKF) to estimate the heading, speed, and heading rate based on the ship's motion model with the assistance of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) position measurements. This provides the necessary navigational information, reduces the algorithm's dependence on sensors, and improves its generalizability. Finally, path-following experiments were carried out in the MATLAB experimental platform, and the results were compared with different following algorithms. The simulation results showed that the new algorithm has a better following performance, and it can maintain a smooth rudder angle output. The research results provide a reference for the path-following control of ships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grasslands in North China are rich in fungal resources. However, the knowledge of the structure and function of fungal communities and the role of microbial communities in vegetation restoration and succession are limited. Thus, we used an Illumina HiSeq PE250 high-throughput sequencing platform to study the changing characteristics of soil fungal communities in degraded grasslands, which were categorized as non-degraded (ND), lightly degraded, moderately degraded, and severely degraded (SD). Moreover, a correlation analysis between soil physical and chemical properties and fungal communities was completed. The results showed that the number of plant species, vegetation coverage, aboveground biomass, and diversity index decreased significantly with increasing degradation, and there were significant differences in the physical and chemical properties of the soil among the different degraded grasslands. The dominant fungal phyla in the degraded grassland were as follows: Ascomycota, 44.88%–65.03%; Basidiomycota, 12.68%–29.91%; and unclassified, 5.51%–16.91%. The dominant fungi were as follows: Mortierella, 6.50%–11.41%; Chaetomium, 6.71%–11.58%; others, 25.95%–36.14%; and unclassified, 25.56%–53.0%. There were significant differences in the microbial Shannon–Wiener and Chao1 indices between the ND and degraded meadows, and the composition and diversity of the soil fungal community differed significantly as the meadows continued to deteriorate. The results showed that pH was the most critical factor affecting soil microbial and fungal communities in SD grasslands, whereas soil microbial and fungal communities in ND grasslands were mainly affected by water content and other environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees remaining silent about ethical aspects of work or organization-related issues, termed employee ethical silence, perpetuates misconduct in today's business setting. However, how and why it occurs is not yet well specified in the business ethics literature, which is insufficient to manage corporate misconducts. In this research, we investigate how and when exploitative leadership associates with employee ethical silence. We draw from the conservation of resources theory to theorize and test a cognitive resource pathway (i.e., work meaningfulness) and a moral resource pathway (i.e., moral potency) to explain the association between exploitative leadership and employee ethical silence. Results from two studies largely support our hypotheses that work meaningfulness and moral potency mediate the effect of exploitative leadership on ethical silence contingent on performance reward expectancy. Theoretical and practical implications are thoroughly discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Fruits of commercial Garcinia genus have been used for centuries in subtropic and tropic areas. However, large amounts of their seeds and included kernels are generally discarded as wastes or treated as low‐value agricultural products due to lack of appropriate processing technologies. The kernels have considerable values as sources of specialty fats and liposoluble bioactive compounds. Typical Garcinia seed fats for commercial purposes are mainly kokum (Garcinia indica) butter, mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) seed fat and yellow mangosteen (Garcinia xanthochymus). These fats contained special sn‐1,3‐disaturated‐2‐unsaturated triacylglycerols, especially StOSt, POSt, StLSt and PLSt (P, palmitic acid; St, stearic acid; O, oleic acid and L, linolic acid), which are quite different from the triacylglycerol structure in common vegetable oils. Their improved usages in chocolate fats, trans‐free shortenings, dressings, salad and cooking oils, oleogels and antioxidants were concluded in this review. The health benefits contributed by their functional micronutrients (e.g. tocopherols, phytosterols, polyphenols and flavonoids) were further discussed to expand their application in functional foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Bile acids (BAs) improve antioxidant properties and lipid metabolism, but their effects on dairy cattle remain to be elucidated. The study results revealed that total antioxidant capacity and levels of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase were significantly higher in dairy cows supplemented with 18 g of BAs than in control cows. In conclusion, BAs can improve the antioxidant performance of dairy cows. This experiment investigated the effects of different levels of bile acid (BA) additives in diets on the lactation performance, serum antioxidant metabolites, and serum biochemical indices of 60 multiparous mid-lactation dairy cows. The cows were randomized to receive one of the four homogeneous treatments, with the BA preparation supplemented at 0, 6, 12, and 18 g/head/d. The experiment lasted for 14 weeks. The first 2 weeks were the pre-feeding period. The milk yield and composition data were recorded weekly, and the dry matter intake and antioxidative blood index were analyzed on the 6th, 10th, and 14th weeks of the study. On the 84th day of the experiment, the experimental group exhibited significantly higher levels of total protein and albumin, by 57.5% and 55.6%, respectively, compared to the control group (p < 0.05). On both the 28th and 84th days of the trial, the experimental group showed a markedly higher lipase content compared to the control group, by 26.5% and 25.2%, respectively (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the experimental group displayed notably elevated levels of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and total antioxidant capacity, surpassing the control group by 17.4%, 21.6%, and 8.7%, respectively. In conclusion, BA additives improve the serum antioxidant indices of dairy cows, thereby enhancing the performance of these cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus cereus is a food-borne pathogen that can produce cereulide in the growth period, which causes food poisoning symptoms. Due to its resistance to heat, extreme pH, and proteolytic enzymes, cereulide poses a serious threat to food safety. Temperature, pH, and aw can influence cereulide production, but there is still a lack of research with multi-environmental impacts. In this study, the effects of temperature (15~45 °C), pH (5~8), and aw (0.945~0.996) on the emetic reference strain B. cereus F4810/72 growth, cereulide production, relevant ces genes (cesA, cesB, cesP), and transcription regulators genes (codY and abrB) expression at transcription level were studied. B. cereus survived for 4~53 h or grew to 6.85~8.15 log10 CFU/mL in environmental combinations. Cereulide accumulation was higher in mid-temperature, acidic, or high aw environments. Increased temperature resulted in a lower cereulide concentration at pH 8 or aw of 0.970. The lowest cereulide concentration was found at pH 6.5 with an increased aw from 0.970 to 0.996. Water activity had a strong effect on transcriptional regulator genes as well as the cesB gene, and temperature was the main effect factor of cesP gene expression. Moreover, environmental factors also impact cereulide synthesis at transcriptional levels thereby altering the cereulide concentrations. The interaction of environmental factors may result in the survival of B. cereus without growth for a period. Gene expression is affected by environmental factors, and temperature and pH may be the main factors influencing the correlation between B. cereus growth and cereulide formation. This study contributed to an initial understanding of the intrinsic link between the impact of environmental factors and cereulide formation and provided valuable information for clarifying the mechanism of cereulide synthesis in combined environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A short-circuit fault in the gas discharge tube (GDT) is one of the latent hazards of electrical equipment. It may cause the ignition of electrical equipment. Therefore, based on the existing GDT, an improved external open-circuit failure gas discharge tube (EOFGDT) which can remove short-circuit (SC) failure is presented in this paper, and its structure and working mechanisms are introduced. This EOFGDT can utilize the combustion and heat transfer of continuous arcs due to SC failures to increase the temperature of its end electrode, so as to induce a solder joint failure, by which the elastic sheet on the solder joint becomes disconnected from the end electrode, forming an external gap that reduces the rising speed and amplitude of the recovery voltage across the arc gap, and eventually forms an open circuit (OC) within the structure. The EOFGDT SC condition was simulated and a test of the EOFGDT ability to remove SC faults by using an 8/20 µs impulse current generator coupled with a power-frequency power supply test bed was conducted. The experimental results show that the magnitude of the SC follow currents, power-frequency voltages, and the impulse currents are positively correlated to the OC response time, which is greatly affected by the power-frequency follow currents. When the SC current reaches 30 A, the EOFGDT OC response time is about 350 ms. The experimental waveform is consistent with the screen result of the OC response time of the EOFGDT, which proves the effectiveness of EOFGDTs for the inhibition of SC follow-current failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through artificial polyploid induction, new varieties of horticultural crops with better quality can be generated. Mixed culture was used to induce polyploidy of black currant in this study. Sterile seeds of black currant were treated with different concentrations of colchicine (0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20%) for different lengths of time (8 h, 12 h, 24 h, 36 h, 48 h). The results showed that 0.15% colchicine treatment for 24 h was the best condition for polyploid induction of black currant, and the highest induction rate was 12.0%. The ploidy of seedlings was verified by chromosome counting and flow cytometry. The morphological differences and stomatal characteristics of tetraploid plants and diploid plants were compared. The tetraploid plants were characterized by being dwarfed with shorter internode lengths, having thick stems,t larger and rounder leaves, with decreased stomatal density and larger stomates. Finally, a total of 3246 differentially expressed genes were identified in diploid and tetraploid leaves by transcriptome sequencing analysis, including 615up and 2631down regulated genes. KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome) pathway analysis showed that 1355 DEGs (Differentially expressed gene) were enriched in 133 metabolic pathways. DEGs were mainly enriched in 'Plant hormone signal transduction' and 'MAPK (Mitogen-activated protein kinase) signaling pathway-plant' pathways, that were related to plant hormones, biotic stress and abiotic stress signal transduction. This study enriched the germplasm resources of black currant, provided a new way for black currant breeding, and provided a theoretical basis for revealing the potential mechanism of tetraploid development. Key message: Successfully induced tetraploid blackcurrant, revealing the difference between tet raploid and diploid blackcurrant plants through physiological characteristics and transcriptome analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many influencing factors of bubble curtain clipping technology. In order to obtain the optimal combination of bubble curtain in engineering applications, AUTODYN software was used to design a three factor and three level orthogonal test. The average reduction rate of shock wave peak pressure was used as an evaluation index to study the influence and sensitivity of the number of bubble curtain layers, the burst distance of the bubble curtain and the charge depth on the bubble curtain clipping effect. The results indicate that the clipping ability of the bubble curtain has a great value, and there will be a negative effect if the number of bubble curtain layers continues to increase. The number of bubble curtain layers has the greatest effect on the clipping ability, followed by the charge depth, and the effect of bubble curtain explosion center distance is the smallest. The smaller the burst center distance and the greater the depth of the packet, the better the bubble curtain chipping effect. When the number of bubble curtain layers is 2, the bubble curtain burst distance is 1 m, and the charge depth is 10.5 m, the clipping effect is the best. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: There are undetectable levels of fat in fat-poor angiomyolipoma. Thus, it is often misdiagnosed as renal cell carcinoma. We aimed to develop and evaluate a multichannel deep learning model for differentiating fat-poor angiomyolipoma (fp-AML) from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Methods: This two-center retrospective study included 320 patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University (FAHSYSU) and 132 patients from the Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC). Data from patients at FAHSYSU were divided into a development dataset (n = 267) and a hold-out dataset (n = 53). The development dataset was used to obtain the optimal combination of CT modality and input channel. The hold-out dataset and SYSUCC dataset were used for independent internal and external validation, respectively. Results: In the development phase, models trained on unenhanced CT images performed significantly better than those trained on enhanced CT images based on the fivefold cross-validation. The best patient-level performance, with an average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.951 ± 0.026 (mean ± SD), was achieved using the "unenhanced CT and 7-channel" model, which was finally selected as the optimal model. In the independent internal and external validation, AUCs of 0.966 (95% CI 0.919–1.000) and 0.898 (95% CI 0.824–0.972), respectively, were obtained using the optimal model. In addition, the performance of this model was better on large tumors (≥ 40 mm) in both internal and external validation. Conclusion: The promising results suggest that our multichannel deep learning classifier based on unenhanced whole-tumor CT images is a highly useful tool for differentiating fp-AML from RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the fundamental sources of noise in atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermal fluctuations of the cantilever have been studied for the case of a free tip but not much for cantilevers in contact. In this paper, using the equipartition theorem, we calculated the thermal deflection amplitude for all normal modes of an elastically supported AFM cantilever, including the free cantilever as a special case. With increasing contact stiffness, the mean thermal fluctuation amplitude decreases for all cantilever modes when in the elastic contact. In addition, considering the optical lever detection scheme used in most AFMs, we calculated the corresponding output thermal noise amplitude. The experiments validated our theoretical calculations. Our investigation facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of the thermal noise in AFM. It provides guidance for thermally excited contact-resonance AFM, which is promising for quantitative viscoelastic measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypothyroidism is a common disease in the US population. The impact of hypothyroidism on perioperative complications of total hip arthroplasty is poorly understood. To examine risk factors and hospitalization costs in patients with hypothyroidism after total hip arthroplasty (THA) using a large-scale sample national database. Methods: A case–control study was performed based on the national inpatient sample database from 2005 to 2014. With the use of propensity scores, patients with hypothyroidism were matched in a 1:1 ratio to those without hypothyroidism by age, gender, race, Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI), and insurance type. Patient demographics, postoperative complications, length of stay (LOS), and hospital costs were compared between matched cohorts. Short-term complication rates after THA were compared using multivariate logistic analysis. Results: The proportion of patients with hypothyroidism receiving THA was 12.97%. Linear regression analysis yielded that patients with hypothyroidism receiving THA were more likely to have postoperative acute anemia (odds ratio = 1.15; 95% confidence interval = 1.12–1.18) and higher mean hospital costs compared to the non-hypothyroid cohort. Conclusions: This present study demonstrates that hypothyroid patients undergoing THA have a higher risk of short-term complications. Furthermore, it significantly increased the total cost of hospitalization, which deserves more attention from orthopedic surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Inflammation of bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs) may occur during mastitis, which affects the nutrient absorption, metabolism, and glucose and amino acid utilization of mammary epithelial cells. However, there are few studies on amino acid uptake under different nutritional conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on nutrient transport and metabolic energy supply under high- and low-glucose conditions by evaluating glucose and amino acid consumption and the expression of related genes, and to examine how different concentrations of glucose affect the proinflammatory response. BMECs were cultured in 6-well culture plates with different concentrations of glucose with or without 4 μg/mL LPS for 6 h, and then the consumption of glucose and amino acids in the supernatant was detected and the relative expression of related mRNA was determined. Glucose and amino acids are important sources of nutrients in the synthetic milk of dairy cows, and understanding the fate of amino acids is essential to optimize the utilization of amino acids in milk protein synthesis, thereby reducing nutrient inefficiencies during lactation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of LPS and different concentrations of glucose on (1) the expression of inflammatory factors and genes, (2) the glucose metabolism, and (3) amino acid utilization in BMECs. The results showed that there was an interaction (LPS × glucose, p < 0.05) between LPS and glucose content in the inflammatory cytokine genes (IL-6 and TNF-α) and the inflammatory regulatory genes (CXCL2, CXCL8, and CCL5). With the addition of LPS, the HG + LPS group caused downregulated (p < 0.05) expression of IL-6 and TNF-α, compared with the LG + LPS group. Interestingly, compared with the LG + LPS group, the HG + LPS group upregulated (p < 0.05) the expression of CXCL2, CXCL8, and CCL5. LPS supplementation increased (p = 0.056) the consumption of glucose and GLUT1 gene expression (p < 0.05) and tended to increase (p = 0.084) the LDHA gene expression of BMECs under conditions of different concentrations of glucose culture. High glucose content increased (p < 0.001) the consumption of glucose and enhanced (p < 0.05) the GLUT1, HK1, HK2, and LDHA gene expression of BMECs with or without LPS incubation, and there was an interaction (LPS × glucose, p < 0.05) between LPS and glucose concentrations in GLUT1 gene expression. In this study, LPS enhanced (p < 0.05) the consumption of amino acids such as tryptophan, leucine, isoleucine, methionine, valine, histidine, and glutamate, while high levels of glucose decreased (p < 0.01) consumption, except in the case of tyrosine. For histidine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine consumption, there was an interaction (LPS × glucose, p < 0.05) between LPS and glucose levels. Overall, these findings suggest that relatively high glucose concentrations may lessen the LPS-induced BMEC inflammatory response and reduce amino acid consumption, while low glucose concentrations may increase the demand for most amino acids through proinflammatory responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human prostatic tissue exhibits complex mechanical behaviour due to its multiphasic, heterogeneous nature, with hierarchical microstructures involving epithelial compartments, acinar lumens and stromal tissue all interconnected in complex networks. This study aims to establish a computational homogenization framework for quantifying the mechanical behaviour of prostate tissue, considering its multiphasic heterogeneous microstructures and the mechanical characteristics of tissue constituents. Representative tissue microstructure models were reconstructed from high‐resolution histology images. Parametric studies on the mechanical properties of the tissue constituents, particularly the fibre‐reinforced hyper‐elasticity of the stromal tissue, were carried out to investigate their effects on the apparent tissue properties. These were then benchmarked against the experimental data reported in literature. Results showed significant anisotropy, both structural and mechanical, and tension‐compression asymmetry of the apparent behaviours of the prostatic tissue. Strong correlation with the key microstructural indices such as area fractions of tissue constituents and the tissue fabric tensor was also observed. The correlation between the stromal tissue orientation and the principal directions of the apparent properties suggested an essential role of stromal tissue in determining the directions of anisotropy and the compression‐tension asymmetry characteristics in normal human prostatic tissue. This work presented a homogenization and histology‐based computational approach to characterize the apparent mechanical behaviours of human prostatic or other similar glandular tissues, with the ultimate aim of assessing how pathological conditions (e.g., prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia) could affect the tissue mechanical properties in a future study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embryonic mesenchymal cells are dispersed within an extracellular matrix but can coalesce to form condensates with key developmental roles. Cells within condensates undergo fate and morphological changes and induce cell fate changes in nearby epithelia to produce structures including hair follicles, feathers, or intestinal villi. Here, by imaging mouse and chicken embryonic skin, we find that mesenchymal cells undergo much of their dispersal in early interphase, in a stereotyped process of displacement driven by 3 h of rapid and persistent migration followed by a long period of low motility. The cell division plane and the elevated migration speed and persistence of newly born mesenchymal cells are mechanosensitive, aligning with tissue tension, and are reliant on active WNT secretion. This behaviour disperses mesenchymal cells and allows daughters of recent divisions to travel long distances to enter dermal condensates, demonstrating an unanticipated effect of cell cycle subphase on core mesenchymal behaviour. Embryonic mesenchymal cells are dispersed within an extracellular matrix but can coalesce to form condensates with key developmental roles. This study uses live-imaging of embryonic skin to reveal that mesenchymal cells migrate in a rapid and persistent manner for three hours after division, with the angle of mitosis and direction and speed of migration controlled by tissue tension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of catalytic asymmetric reaction with water as the reactant is challenging due to the reactivity‐ and stereoselectivity‐control issues resulted from the low nucleophilicity and the small size of water. We disclose herein a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) catalyzed atroposelective ring‐opening reaction of biaryl oxazepines with water. A series of biaryl oxazepines undergo the CPA catalyzed asymmetric hydrolysis in a highly enantioselective manner. The key for the success of this reaction is the use of a new SPINOL‐derived CPA catalyst and the high reactivity of biaryl oxazepine substrates towards water under acidic conditions. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the reaction proceeds via a dynamic kinetic resolution pathway and the CPA catalyzed addition of water to the imine group is both enantio‐ and rate‐determining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of catalytic asymmetric reaction with water as the reactant is challenging due to the reactivity‐ and stereoselectivity‐control issues resulted from the low nucleophilicity and the small size of water. We disclose herein a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) catalyzed atroposelective ring‐opening reaction of biaryl oxazepines with water. A series of biaryl oxazepines undergo the CPA catalyzed asymmetric hydrolysis in a highly enantioselective manner. The key for the success of this reaction is the use of a new SPINOL‐derived CPA catalyst and the high reactivity of biaryl oxazepine substrates towards water under acidic conditions. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the reaction proceeds via a dynamic kinetic resolution pathway and the CPA catalyzed addition of water to the imine group is both enantio‐ and rate‐determining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The densification of coal-measure sandstones is important to the exploration of tight sand gas. Previous studies have focused on the influence of diagenesis on sandstone densification, however neglecting the role of depositional processes. Based on an integrated analysis of logging, core, and rock and mineral data, this study depicted the lithological distribution and petrological characteristics of the coal-measure sandstones of the Shanxi Formation in the northeastern Ordos Basin, with revealing the influence of depositional process on diagenesis, and thus identified the densification of the sandstones. The results show that the sandstones were deposited in fluvial-delta settings and were isolated vertically and interbedded with the organic-rich carbonaceous mudstones and coal seams deposited in swamps. Depositional process exerts significant impact on the diagenesis of coal-measure sandstones by determining the sandstone composition. The sandstones are characterized by high argillaceous matrix content that sourced from both the weathered parent rock and the erosion of swamps. The well-sorted coarse and medium sandstones deposited in the middle of channels have relatively low argillaceous matrix contents due to high hydrodynamic energy, which preserved partial intergranular pores after compaction owing to grain supporting. The residual pores facilitated the acidic flow from organic matter in coal seams and mudstones, which led to dissolution and produced dissolved pores. However, the CO2 generated by the thermal degradation of organic acids in carbonaceous mudstones and coal seams contributed to ferroan carbonate cementation, which led to sandstone densification. The poorly sorted fine sandstones deposited in channel margins or crevasse splays present high argillaceous matrix content due to low hydrodynamic energy. The mixed muddy and carbonaceous clasts due to the erosion of swamps by channels further increased the content of argillaceous matrix. High content of argillaceous matrix occupied most intergranular pores after strong compaction and restricted acidic fluid flow, therefore, dissolution and ferroan cementation were limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Causality detection, as a more fine‐grained task than causality extraction, which aims to detect the components that represent the cause and effect in sentence‐level texts with causality, is a significant task in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). Previous research on causality detection has concentrated on text token features whilst ignoring the dependency attributes between tokens. In this paper, we propose a model that uses the Edge‐featured Graph Attention Network based on dependency‐directed graphs for the causality detection task. To begin, we convert the texts with causality into the representation of dependency‐directed graphs (DDG), which regard the dependency attributes between tokens as edge features. Then we use Edge‐featured Graph Attention Network to aggregate the node and edge features of DDG. Finally, we put the graph embedding into Bi‐directional Long Short‐Term Memory (BiLSTM) layer to learn the dependencies between forward and backward long‐distance nodes in DDG. Experiments on three datasets prove that this method achieves better performance in precision, recall, and other evaluation metrics compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypothyroidism is a common disease in the US population. The impact of hypothyroidism on perioperative complications of total hip arthroplasty is poorly understood. To examine risk factors and hospitalization costs in patients with hypothyroidism after total hip arthroplasty (THA) using a large-scale sample national database. Methods: A case–control study was performed based on the national inpatient sample database from 2005 to 2014. With the use of propensity scores, patients with hypothyroidism were matched in a 1:1 ratio to those without hypothyroidism by age, gender, race, Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI), and insurance type. Patient demographics, postoperative complications, length of stay (LOS), and hospital costs were compared between matched cohorts. Short-term complication rates after THA were compared using multivariate logistic analysis. Results: The proportion of patients with hypothyroidism receiving THA was 12.97%. Linear regression analysis yielded that patients with hypothyroidism receiving THA were more likely to have postoperative acute anemia (odds ratio = 1.15; 95% confidence interval = 1.12–1.18) and higher mean hospital costs compared to the non-hypothyroid cohort. Conclusions: This present study demonstrates that hypothyroid patients undergoing THA have a higher risk of short-term complications. Furthermore, it significantly increased the total cost of hospitalization, which deserves more attention from orthopedic surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the trade‐off between the field of view and resolution of various microscopes, obtaining a wide‐view panoramic image through high‐resolution image tiles is frequently encountered and demanded in numerous applications. Here, we propose an automatic image mosaic strategy for sequential 2D time‐lapse scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. This method can accurately compute pairwise translations among serial image tiles with indeterminate overlapping areas. The detection and matching of feature points are limited by geographical coordinates, thus avoiding accidental mismatching. Moreover, the nonlinear deformation of the mosaic part is also taken into account. A smooth stitching field is utilized to gradually transform the perspective transformation in overlapping regions into the linear transformation in non‐overlapping regions. Experimental results demonstrate that better image stitching accuracy can be achieved compared with some other image mosaic algorithms. Such a method has potential applications in high‐resolution large‐area analysis using serial microscopy images. Research Highlights: An automatic image mosaic strategy for processing sequential scanning electron microscopy images is proposed.A smooth stitching field is applied in the image mosaic.Improved stitching accuracy is achieved compared with other conventional mosaic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultrasonic-vibration-assisted pressing process can improve the fluidity and the uneven distribution of density and particle size of WC-Co powder. However, the microscopic mechanism of ultrasonic vibration on the powder remains unclear. In this paper, WC particles with diameter 5 μm and Co particles with diameter 1.2 μm were simulated by three-dimensional spherical models with the aid of the Python secondary development. At the same time, the forming process of the powder at the mesoscale is simulated by virtue of the finite element analysis software ABAQUS. In the simulation process, the vibration amplitude was set to 1, 2, and 3 μm. Their influence on the fluidity, the filling density, and the stress distribution of WC-Co powder when the ultrasonic vibration was applied to the conventional pressing process was investigated. The simulation results show that the ultrasonic vibration amplitude has a great influence on the density of the compact. With an increase in the ultrasonic amplitude, the compact density also increases gradually, and the residual stress in the billet decreases after the compaction. From the experimental results, the size distribution of the billet is more uniform, the elastic after-effect is reduced, the dimensional instability is improved, and the density curves obtained by experimentation and simulation are within a reasonable error range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing high-speed railway operation monitoring data management system consists of four main components, which are data processing, result transfer, visual display and report output. The system has disadvantages including weak visualization and data mining, and lacks of the integration with geology information. Based on the fact, a system architecture was built by using the B/ S mode, which included data layer, service layer, and presentation layer, for storage, distribution, and display of operation monitoring data. The architecture achieved front-end and back-end separation using the ASP. NET and Vue. js framework. Aiming to enhance the system's GIS map visualization and spatial analysis capabilities, the highspeed railway operation monitoring data management system incorporated with the Openlayers which enabled maintenance of monitoring results from multiple data sources, information mining of monitoring data, and visualization of results. The system's effectiveness was verified through application cases involving two operational monitoring projects, covering a total distance of 300 km and comprising 17 061 monitoring points with 11 periods of monitoring data. The research results demonstrate that the system has effectively improved data storage efficiency through pre-entry of points and the combination and import of multiple coordinate systems. The availability of multiple statistical charts, such as the one map module and deformation curve, enriches the display of results and can serve as an effective tool for railway management and maintenance departments in handling high-speed railway monitoring data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is estimated that globally 425 million subjects have moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The accurate prediction of sleep apnea events can offer insight into the development of treatment therapies. However, research related to this prediction is currently limited. We developed a covert framework for the prediction of sleep apnea events based on low-frequency breathing-induced vibrations obtained from piezoelectric sensors. A CNN-transformer network was utilized to efficiently extract local and global features from respiratory vibration signals for accurate prediction. Our study involved overnight recordings of 105 subjects. In five-fold cross-validation, we achieved an accuracy of 85.9% and an F1 score of 85.8%, which are 3.5% and 5.3% higher than the best-performed classical model, respectively. Additionally, in leave-one-out cross-validation, 2.3% and 3.8% improvements are observed, respectively. Our proposed CNN-transformer model is effective in the prediction of sleep apnea events. Our framework can thus provide a new perspective for improving OSA treatment modes and clinical management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, the Chinese government designated Wenzhou city as a testbed for policy experimentation aimed at institutionalizing informal lending practices. This study investigates how interest rates in the formal and informal credit markets interacted before and after this policy experimentation. Hence, we use the vector autoregression models and ordinary multiple regression method, which is based on the financial repression theory. We document large yield spreads between the formal and informal credit markets in Wenzhou before (2003–2011) and after (2013–2018) the reforms. We find an increase in the responsiveness of the informal sector to the formal sector, after the reforms. We argue that the informal financial system serves as a one-way substitute for the formal financial sector in Wenzhou. An analysis of the transaction-level data suggests that maturity, availability of collateralization, loan purpose, and the amount of loans determine informal lending rates. Thus, this study provides important policy implications for reforming China's financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses ego depletion theory to explore the cross-level effect of exploitative leadership on employee innovative behaviour. It examines the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating role of team task conflict. Using data collected from 371 employees and their direct supervisors from 79 work units in China, a multi-level path analysis is used to test a cross-level moderated mediation model. The results show that exploitative leadership negatively affects employee innovative behaviour via the mediation of thriving at work, which is moderated by team task conflict. Implications for research and practice are fully discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of examining the structure of Zr55Cu35Al10 alloy around the glass transition temperature (Tg) using the classical molecular dynamics simulations, it was proven that the atomic bonds in the interconnecting zones (i-zones) became loose with the small amount of energy absorption, and it became free volumes easily when the temperature approached Tg. Instead of i-zones, when clusters were largely separated by free volume networks, the solid amorphous structure was converted into supercooled liquid state, resulting in a sharp strength reduce and the great plasticity change from a limited plastic deformation to superplasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]