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The optical surface of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines is highly vulnerable to contamination by hydrocarbons, resulting in the formation of carbon deposits that significantly degrade the quality and efficiency of lithography. The dynamic gas lock (DGL) has been proven as an effective approach to alleviate carbon deposition. However, the majority of existing studies on carbon deposition neglect the influence of the DGL. This paper is dedicated to investigating the phenomena of hydrocarbon adsorption, desorption, and cleavage with considering the effects of the DGL. A comprehensive mathematical model of the carbon deposition process is established, and the impact of radiation intensity, temperature, and hydrocarbon types on the depositing rate is considered. The results suggest that the primary cause of carbon deposition is the direct cracking of hydrocarbons induced by photons with a wavelength range between 12.5 and 14.5 nm. Additionally, it has been observed that the carbon deposition rate decreases exponentially as clean gas flow increases when EUV radiation intensity exceeds 50 mW/mm2. Conversely, at low EUV radiation intensity, clean gas flow has little effect on the carbon deposition rate. An effective approach to mitigate carbon deposition is to elevate the temperature of the optical surface and employ light hydrocarbon materials in the EUV process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed lead–tin halide perovskites, as highly sensitive materials in the near-infrared region, hold significant potential for optoelectronic device applications. Here, mixed lead–tin halide perovskite saturable absorbers (SAs) have been developed by coupling with the side-polished surfaces of the single-mode fibers and excellent saturable absorption effects of the mixed lead–tin halide perovskite SAs have been demonstrated in the near-infrared region. By constructing the in-gap site assisted carrier transfer mode, the saturation absorption process of the mixed lead–tin halide perovskite SAs can be well explained, in which defects as in-gap sites can help the photon-generated carriers transfer into the conduction band and promote the Pauli-blocking-induced absorption bleaching in the SA. Moreover, ytterbium-doped fiber lasers based on perovskite SAs have been fabricated, and mode-locked operations at 1040 nm are achieved using the mixed lead–tin halide perovskite SA, generating ultra-short pulses with a pulse width of 683 fs, 3 dB bandwidth of 4.88 nm, signal-to-noise ratio exceeding 49.74 dB, and a repetition rate of 3.74 MHz. Our findings demonstrate that the mixed lead–tin halide perovskite SAs have excellent optical modulation capability and promising applications in the field of ultrafast photonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vortex generators can enhance the operational safety of high-speed trains and offer effective anti-rolling performance. This paper investigates the influence of vortex generator installation angles on the aerodynamic characteristics of trains. The Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation method is used to analyze the leeward side vortex structure. It is found that when the angle between the vortex generators and the relative wind is 30 ° , the rolling moment of the train is minimized, as it significantly reduces side forces while preventing excessive growth of lift force inducing rolling moment. The reduction in rolling moment of the train by vortex generators is attributed to the suppression of leeward side trailing vortices of the train, which delays flow separation at the roof of the train, inducing a downward trend in the separated flow. Dynamic Mode Decomposition reveals that vortex generators do not alter the stability of near-body trailing vortices but enhance the pulsatile characteristics of far-body trailing vortices, which do not affect the pressure distribution on the leeward side of the train. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physics-informed neural network (PINN) has aroused broad interest among fluid simulation researchers in recent years, representing a novel paradigm in this area where governing differential equations are encoded to provide a hybrid physics-based and data-driven deep learning framework. However, the lack of enough validations on more complex flow problems has restricted further development and application of PINN. Our research applies the PINN to simulate a two-dimensional indoor turbulent airflow case to address the issue. Although it is still quite challenging for the PINN to reach an ideal accuracy for the problem through a single purely physics-driven training, our research finds that the PINN prediction accuracy can be significantly improved by exploiting its ability to assimilate high-fidelity data during training, by which the prediction accuracy of PINN is enhanced by 53.2% for pressure, 34.6% for horizontal velocity, and 40.4% for vertical velocity, respectively. Meanwhile, the influence of data points number is also studied, which suggests a balance between prediction accuracy and data acquisition cost can be reached. Last but not least, applying Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations and turbulence model has also been proved to improve prediction accuracy remarkably. After embedding the standard k–ε model to the PINN, the prediction accuracy was enhanced by 82.9% for pressure, 59.4% for horizontal velocity, and 70.5% for vertical velocity, respectively. These results suggest a promising step toward applications of PINN to more complex flow configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prior neuroimaging studies on vestibular migraine (VM) have extensively certified the functional and structural alterations in multiple brain regions and networks. However, few studies have assessed the cerebral blood flow (CBF) in VM patients using arterial spin labeling (ASL). The present study aimed to investigate CBF and functional connectivity (FC) alterations in VM patients during interictal periods. Methods: We evaluated 52 VM patients and 46 healthy controls (HC) who received resting-state pseudo-continuous ASL and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. Comparisons of voxel-based CBF and seed-based FC were performed between the two groups. Brain regions showed significant group differences in CBF analyses were chosen as seeds in FC analyses. Additionally, the associations between abnormal imaging results and clinical features were explored. Results: Compared with HC, VM patients showed higher normalized CBF in the right precentral gyrus (PreCG), left postcentral gyrus (PostCG), left superior frontal gyrus and bilateral insular (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). Furthermore, VM patients exhibited increased FC between the right PreCG and areas of the left PostCG, left cuneus and right lingual gyrus (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). In addition, we observed decreased FC between the left insular and regions of the left thalamus and right anterior cingulate cortex, as well as increased FC between the left insular and right fusiform gyrus in VM patients (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). Moreover, these variations in brain perfusion and FC were significantly correlated with multiple clinical features including frequency of migraine symptoms, frequency of vestibular symptoms and disease duration of VM (all p < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients with VM during interictal period showed hyperperfusion and abnormal resting-state FC in brain regions potentially contributed to disrupted multi-sensory and autonomic processing, as well as impaired ocular motor control, pain modulation and emotional regulation. Our study provided novel insights into the complex neuropathology of VM from a CBF perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luster is one of the vital indexes in pearl grading. To find a fast, nondestructive, and low-cost grading method, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is introduced to predict the luster grade through the texture features. After background removal, flattening, and segmentation, the speckle pattern of the region of interest is described by seven kinds of feature textures, including center-symmetric auto-correlation (CSAC), fractal dimension (FD), Gabor, gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), histogram of oriented gradients (HOG), laws texture energy (LAWS), and local binary patterns (LBP). To find the relations between speckle-derived texture features and luster grades, four Four groups of pearl samples were used in the experiment to detect texture differences based on support vector machines (SVMs) and random forest classifier (RFC)) for investigating the relations between speckle-derived texture features and luster grades. The precision, recall, F1-score, and accuracy are more significant than 0.9 in several simulations, even after dimension reduction. This demonstrates that the texture feature from OCT images can be applied to class the pearl luster based on speckle changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lane width is crucial for traffic safety management. Previous studies have shown that inappropriate width will lead to an increase in accident probability and unsafe driving behaviors. However, there have been limited studies on determination method of special lane width for different models, especially for passenger cars. To tackle this problem, the lateral driving behavior characteristics of the expressway need to be clarified. This work aims to obtain the appropriate lane width according to the vehicles' width and lateral position characteristics. In this study, the lane lateral residual width (the distance between the vehicle body's contour and the lane marking on the same side) and the lateral safety margin are extracted as characterization indices of vehicle lateral characteristics from natural driving trajectory data of expressways. The effect of vehicle type, driving speed, and lane position on the expressway's trajectory behavior is investigated. The results show that the utilization rate of lane width is higher in the outer lane compared to the inner lane. As driving speed increases, vehicles in the inner and middle lanes exhibit shy away effect, moving away from obstacles. Substantial variations exist in the lateral width of lanes among different vehicle types. When driving in the same lane, passenger cars' lane lateral residual width that is 0.4–0.5 m wider than that of heavy vehicles. The recommended lane width for the safe operation of trucks on expressways is 3.75 m. After a comprehensive analysis of vehicle width, trajectory oscillation, and lateral safety margin, this study proposes a minimum lane width of 3.25 m and a recommended general width of 3.5 m for a passenger car‐only expressway. This study holds great significance in enhancing road safety and provides a valuable theoretical foundation for the design of lane width in a passenger car‐only expressway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chaiqin Qingning Capsule (CQQNC), a traditional Chinese patent medicine, can effectively shorten the duration of fever and significantly improve fever symptoms. However, the mechanism of its antipyretic effect needs to be further elucidated. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of CQQNC in the treatment of fever. We used the network pharmacology method to analyze the mechanism of action of CQQNC in the treatment of fever and validated our study primarily by molecular docking. Finally, the predictive results were verified by IL‐1β‐induced bEnd.3 cells. The results showed that quercetin, kaempferol, cubebin, chenodeoxycholic acid, isorhamnetin, bilirubin, cholic acid, and baicalin were the major components of CQQNC against fever. A total of 381 common targets have been crossed by CQQNC for the treatment of fever. Furthermore, we found that CQQNC targets several deregulated genes in fever such as AKT1, COX2, AVP, cAMP, IL6, IL1B, TNF, mPGES1, and PI3K, biological functions such as endopeptidase, cytokine receptor binding, and phosphatase activity, and signaling pathways such as the PI3K‐Akt pathway and the AGE‐RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications. The docking study revealed that the core components of CQQNC both had high affinity for hub targets, especially the targets of COX‐2, cAMP, mPGES1, and PI3K proteins. To further investigate the mechanism of CQQNC, an Elisa assay and Western blot detection were performed as part of an in vitro study. Elisa's result showed that CQQNC can significantly decrease the expression levels of cPLA2, sPLA2, PGE2, cAMP, and 15‐PGDH after stimulating IL‐1β to bEnd.3 cells in a dose‐dependent manner (p <.01, p <.001, p <.0001). In addition, detection of the PGE2/ COX /cMAP pathway via immunoblotting showed that CQQNC can significantly downregulate the protein expression of COX‐1, COX‐2, EP3, cAMP, and mPGES1 in bEnd.3 (p <.0001, p <.001, p <.01). In conclusion, our study confirmed that the antipyretic mechanism of CQQNC affects the synthesis and secretion processes of PGE2 via the PGE2/ COX/cAMP pathway, providing insight into the antipyretic mechanism of CQQNC in clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To investigate changes in functional connectivity (FC) focusing on parietal operculum cortex 2 (OP2) in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) patients with residual dizziness (RD) after successful canalith repositioning procedure (CRP). Methods: High‐resolution three‐dimensional T1 and resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were performed on 55 healthy controls (HCs), 55 BPPV patients with RD, and 55 patients without RD after successful CRP. Seed‐based (bilateral OP2) FC was calculated to investigate the changes in FC among the three groups. Additionally, we further explored the associations between abnormal FC and clinical symptoms. Results: One‐way analysis of covariance showed significant FC differences among the three groups. Post‐hoc analysis showed that patients with RD exhibited decreased FC between left OP2 and regions of left angular gyrus (AG), thalamus, precuneus, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and right cerebellum posterior lobe (CPL) in comparison with HCs. In addition, compared with patients without RD, patients with RD showed decreased FC between left OP2 and regions of left MFG, AG, middle temporal gyrus, and right CPL. Moreover, in patients with RD, the FC between left thalamus and OP2 was negatively correlated with duration of RD, and the FC between left AG and OP2 was negatively correlated with duration of BPPV. Conclusion: BPPV patients with RD showed reduced FC between brain regions involved in vestibular processing and spatial cognition; These results suggested that BPPV patients with RD might have diminished central processing of vestibular information and impaired spatial cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: CDC25B, as a member of the cell cycle regulating protein family, is located in the cytoplasm and is involved in the transition of the cell cycle and mitosis. CDC25B is highly expressed in various tumors and is a newly discovered oncogene. This study aimed to investigate the impact of CDC25B on mitoxantrone resistance in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) and its possible mechanisms. Methods: This study analyzed the expression of CDC25B and its potential transcription factor E2F3 in STAD, as well as the IC50 values of tumor tissues by bioinformatics analysis. Expression levels of CDC25B and E2F3 in STAD cells were measured by qRT-PCR. MTT was utilized to evaluate cell viability and IC50 values of STAD cells, and comet assay was utilized to analyze the level of DNA damage in STAD cells. Western blot was used to analyze the expression of DNA damage-related proteins. The targeting relationship between E2F3 and CDC25B was validated by dual-luciferase and ChIP assays. Results: Bioinformatics analysis and molecular experiments showed that CDC25B and E2F3 were highly expressed in STAD, and CDC25B was enriched in the mismatch repair and nucleotide excision repair pathways. The IC50 values of tumor tissues with high expression of CDC25B were relatively high. Dual-luciferase and ChIP assays confirmed that CDC25B could be transcriptionally activated by E2F3. Cell experiments revealed that CDC25B promoted mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells by regulating DNA damage. Further research found that low expression of E2F3 inhibited mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells by DNA damage, but overexpression of CDC25B reversed the impact of E2F3 knockdown on mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells. Conclusion: This study confirmed a novel mechanism by which E2F3/CDC25B mediated DNA damage to promote mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells, providing a new therapeutic target for STAD treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: CDC25B, as a member of the cell cycle regulating protein family, is located in the cytoplasm and is involved in the transition of the cell cycle and mitosis. CDC25B is highly expressed in various tumors and is a newly discovered oncogene. This study aimed to investigate the impact of CDC25B on mitoxantrone resistance in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) and its possible mechanisms. Methods: This study analyzed the expression of CDC25B and its potential transcription factor E2F3 in STAD, as well as the IC50 values of tumor tissues by bioinformatics analysis. Expression levels of CDC25B and E2F3 in STAD cells were measured by qRT-PCR. MTT was utilized to evaluate cell viability and IC50 values of STAD cells, and comet assay was utilized to analyze the level of DNA damage in STAD cells. Western blot was used to analyze the expression of DNA damage-related proteins. The targeting relationship between E2F3 and CDC25B was validated by dual-luciferase and ChIP assays. Results: Bioinformatics analysis and molecular experiments showed that CDC25B and E2F3 were highly expressed in STAD, and CDC25B was enriched in the mismatch repair and nucleotide excision repair pathways. The IC50 values of tumor tissues with high expression of CDC25B were relatively high. Dual-luciferase and ChIP assays confirmed that CDC25B could be transcriptionally activated by E2F3. Cell experiments revealed that CDC25B promoted mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells by regulating DNA damage. Further research found that low expression of E2F3 inhibited mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells by DNA damage, but overexpression of CDC25B reversed the impact of E2F3 knockdown on mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells. Conclusion: This study confirmed a novel mechanism by which E2F3/CDC25B mediated DNA damage to promote mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells, providing a new therapeutic target for STAD treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The D2 procedure has been accepted as the standard treatment for advanced gastric cancer (GC) in East Asia. Determination of the number of lymph nodes (LNs) after gastrectomy may influence the pathological stage assessment of lymph node metastasis, significantly influencing prognostic evaluations and formulation of chemotherapy regimens. Methods: Between January 2020 and January 2022, the medical files of 312 patients with clinical stage T0-4aN0-3M0 gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively, and the patients were assigned to the normal group (lymph nodes were examined roughly), manual group (lymph nodes were manually examined meticulously), and device group (lymph nodes were examined by device). The clinical and pathologic characteristics, number of lymph nodes harvested, and the time required for lymph node examination was compared. Results: A total of 312 gastric cancer patients (mean age 65.8 ± 10.3 years, 85 females and 227 males) underwent gastrectomy with curative intent at our department. Sex, age, body mass index (BMI), tumor size, clinical TNM stage, and pathologic TNM stage in the three groups showed no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05). The mean number of harvested lymph nodes in the normal, manual, and device group was 24.2, 36.6 and 35.2, respectively, which showed significant differences (P < 0.0001). The mean number of positive lymph nodes in the normal, manual, and device group was 3.5, 3.9 and 3.9, respectively (P = 0.99). The mean time consumption in device group was 15 min while the time consumption in manual group was 52.3 min, which showed a significant difference (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: This improved lymph node examination method offers a simple approach that is worth promoting, and it can improve the number of harvested lymph nodes efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-speed railway bridge, accounting for over 50% of railway lines, plays an important role in high-speed railways. When the train runs at high speed on these bridges, the strong winds will directly pose a risk to the safety of train operation, even causing train overturning accidents. Therefore, it is significantly urgent to accurately simulate the relative motion of the train-bridge system in crosswind environment. An improved delayed detached-eddy simulation study based on the shear stress transfer k-omega (I-ω) turbulence model was used to analyze the aerodynamic characteristics of trains running on bridges under two relative motion modes, i.e., the static synthesis method (SSM) and the dynamic decomposition method (DDM), and the variation rule of train aerodynamic loads. The differences of aerodynamic forces, surface pressure distributions, and flow characteristics around the train body under two motions were discussed. The results show that the applied velocity-inlet boundaries in two relative train-bridge motion modes under crosswinds lead to a large difference in the flow characteristics around bridges. Compared with the SSM, the DDM generates more small-scale vortices in the leeward side of the train, causes more disturbances, and enhances the flow instability. Under the DDM, the side force coefficient and lift force coefficient of the train are decreased by 1.99%, 66.67% (Train on the windward side) and 24.47%, 48.24% (Train on the leeward side), respectively, as compared to the SSM. The achievements obtained in the current study can provide data support for the operation standard of high-speed trains traveling on bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-quality β-Ga2O3 film was grown on a (111) GaAs substrate using the metal organic chemical vapor deposition method. The band alignment of the β-Ga2O3/GaAs heterojunction interface was determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The energy-band structure of β-Ga2O3/GaAs was constructed based on the binding energies of Ga 3d and As 3d core levels as well as valence band maximum values. The valence band offset was determined to be 3.50 ± 0.05 eV. As a consequence, a type-ΙΙ heterojunction with a conduction band offset of 0.12 ± 0.05 eV was determined in the present study. The accurate determination of the band alignment of the β-Ga2O3/GaAs heterojunction provided useful information for the application in β-Ga2O3/GaAs-based devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounting evidence indicates the potential involvement of ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) in the modulation of various cancer types. Nevertheless, the precise biological significance of ACLY in gastric cancer (GC) remains elusive. This study sought to elucidate the biological function of ACLY and uncover its influence on peritoneal metastasis in GC. The expression of ACLY was assessed using both real-time quantitative PCR and western blot techniques. To investigate the impact of ACLY on the proliferation of gastric cancer (GC) cells, colony formation and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) assays were performed. The migratory and invasive abilities of GC were evaluated using wound healing and transwell assays. Additionally, a bioinformatics analysis was employed to predict the correlation between ACLY and HIF-1A. This interaction was subsequently confirmed through a chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. ACLY exhibited upregulation in gastric cancer (GC) as well as in peritoneal metastasis. Its overexpression was found to facilitate the proliferation and metastasis of GC cells in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Moreover, ACLY was observed to play a role in promoting angiogenesis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Notably, under hypoxic conditions, HIF-1A levels were elevated, thereby acting as a transcription factor to upregulate ACLY expression. Under the regulatory influence of HIF-1A, ACLY exerts a significant impact on the progression of gastric cancer, thereby facilitating peritoneal metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-contact micro-manipulation tools have enabled invasion-free studies of fragile synthetic particles and biological cells. Rapid electrokinetic patterning (REP) traps target particles/cells, suspended in an electrolyte, on an electrode surface. This entrapment is electrokinetic in nature and thus depends strongly on the suspension medium's properties. REP has been well characterized for manipulating synthetic particles suspended in low concentration salt solutions (~ 2 mS/m). However, it is not studied as extensively for manipulating biological cells, which introduces an additional level of complexity due to their limited viability in hypotonic media. In this work, we discuss challenges posed by isotonic electrolytes and suggest solutions to enable REP manipulation in bio-relevant media. Various formulations of isotonic media (salt and sugar-based) are tested for their compatibility with REP. REP manipulation is observed in low concentration salt-based media such as 0.1× phosphate buffered saline (PBS) when the device electrodes are passivated with a dielectric layer. We also show manipulation of murine pancreatic cancer cells suspended in a sugar-based (8.5% w/v sucrose and 0.3% w/v dextrose) isotonic medium. The ability to trap mammalian cells and deposit them in custom patterns enables high-impact applications such as determining their biomechanical properties and 3D bioprinting for tissue scaffolding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate changes in dynamic functional network connectivity (FNC) in patients with vestibular migraine (VM) and explore their relationship with clinical manifestations. Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were scanned from 35 VM patients without peripheral vestibular lesion and 40 age-, sex- and education-matched healthy controls (HC). Independent component analysis (ICA), sliding window (SW) and k-means clustering analysis were performed to explore the difference in FNC and temporal characteristics between two groups. Additionally, Pearson's partial correlation analysis was adopted to investigate the relationship between clinical manifestations and rs-fMRI results in patients with VM. Results: Compared with HC, patients with VM showed increased FNC in pairs of extrastriate visual network (eVN)-ventral attention network (VAN), eVN-default mode network (DMN) and eVN-left frontoparietal network (lFPN), and exhibited decreased FNC in pairs of VAN-auditory network (AuN). The altered FNC was correlated with clinical manifestations of patients with VM. Additionally, we found increased mean dwell time and fractional windows in state 2 in VM patients compared with HC. Mean dwell time was positively correlated with headache impact test-6 (HIT-6) scores, fractional windows was positively associated with dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) scores. Conclusion: Our results indicated that patients with VM showed altered FNC primarily between sensory networks and networks related to cognitive, emotional and attention implementation, with more time spent in a state characterized by positive FNC between sensor cortex system and dorsal attention network (DAN). These findings could help reinforce the understanding on the neural mechanisms of VM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large‐scale physics‐based simulation is conducted to investigate ground motion distribution in the Mw 7.0 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, Japan. The model simulates the earthquake scenario from fault rupture to wave propagation, and localized site response with consideration of the combined effect of soil nonlinearity and topographic amplification. The simulation domain is 51 km × 43 km × 25 km, and the obtained ground motion time histories are compared satisfactorily with recordings from KiK‐net and K‐NET. Ground motion distribution considering nonlinear soil response and topographic amplification is presented. A 3D equivalent linear model is developed to mimic the soil nonlinearity, and it is demonstrated that neglecting soil nonlinearity could over‐predict peak ground acceleration (PGA) and underestimate peak ground velocity (PGV) near the fault. The topographic amplification factors (TAFs) of PGA and PGV are found between 0.5 and 2.0, with a correlation coefficient of 0.7 between them. Predictive equations are proposed to correlate TAFs of PGA and PGV with topographic features, which are represented by relative heights obtained at different length scales. Finally, major earthquake damages are summarized with reference to the obtained ground motion intensity map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their involvement in numerous biochemical pathways, neuropeptides have been the focus of many recent research studies. Unfortunately, classic analytical methods, such as western blots and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays, are extremely limited in terms of global investigations, leading researchers to search for more advanced techniques capable of probing the entire neuropeptidome of an organism. With recent technological advances, mass spectrometry (MS) has provided methodology to gain global knowledge of a neuropeptidome on a spatial, temporal, and quantitative level. This review will cover key considerations for the analysis of neuropeptides by MS, including sample preparation strategies, instrumental advances for identification, structural characterization, and imaging; insightful functional studies; and newly developed absolute and relative quantitation strategies. While many discoveries have been made with MS, the methodology is still in its infancy. Many of the current challenges and areas that need development will also be highlighted in this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To characterize the altered brain function in patients with vestibular migraine (VM) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: In this prospective study, fMRI images as well as clinical characteristics and behavioral scales were collected from 40 VM patients and 40 healthy controls (HC). All patients received neurological, neuro-otological, and conventional MRI examinations to exclude peripheral vestibular lesions, focal lesions, and other neurological diseases. Seed-based (bilateral parietal operculum cortex 2, OP2) functional connectivity (FC) and independent component analysis (ICA)-based functional network connectivity (FNC) were performed to investigate the brain functional changes in patients with VM. Additionally, the correlations between the altered FC/FNC and behavioral results were analyzed. Results: Compared with HC, patients with VM showed increased FC between the left OP2 and right precuneus and exhibited decreased FC between the left OP2 and left anterior cingulate cortex. We also observed increased FC between the right OP2 and regions of the right middle frontal gyrus and bilateral precuneus, as well as decreased FC between the bilateral OP2. Furthermore, patients with VM showed decreased FNC between visual network (VN) and networks of auditory and default mode, and exhibited increased FNC between VN and executive control network. A correlation analysis found that FC between the left OP2 and right precuneus was positively correlated with scores of dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) in patients with VM. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated altered brain function in patients with VM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α-Ga2O3 film deposited on m-plane sapphire substrate by RF magnetron sputtering method was used to fabricate a solar-blind UV PD with traditional MSM structure. The optimum deposition temperature of the pure-phase (300) α-Ga2O3 film was confirmed to be 775 ℃ from the XRD, AFM and deposition rate analyses. The bandgap of the prepared α-Ga2O3 film was estimated to be 5.3 eV from the optical absorbance measurement. The (300) α-Ga2O3 film based PD exhibited a responsivity of 659.6 A/W and a photo-to-dark ratio of 1554 under 254 nm light illumination. The response time constants at bias voltage of 5 V were estimated to be (0.28, 1.52 s) and (0.04, 0.62 s), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ba4Al5 is an electride in which excess anion electrons are confined in the two-dimensional interlayer region. Here, we carry out a systematical study on the electronic, optical, and plasmonic properties of Ba4Al5 using the first-principles calculations. It is found that the metallic Ba4Al5 has a relatively low cleavage energy (~ 0.77 J/m2), suggesting a weak interlayer interaction and the easiness of exfoliation. Importantly, Ba4Al5 possesses a low work function on the (001) surface and exhibit excellent optical properties, such as high light absorption coefficient with weak optical anisotropy that becomes stronger when decreasing the thickness. It is further found that Ba4Al5 is also a suitable plasmonic material which can be used in the near-infrared frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progression, prognosis, and therapeutic strategy of stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) have a close connection with tumor microenvironment (TME). Thus, it is pivotal to delve into the TME and immune-related genes, which may bring possibilities for improving patient's prognosis. TCGA-STAD dataset was analyzed to acquire differentially expressed lncRNAs in tumor samples, which were overlapped with the immune-related lncRNA datasets in the ImmLnc database. Twenty-six lncRNAs related to STAD immunity and patient's prognosis were acquired by univariate Cox analysis. Following lncRNA expression patterns, STAD samples could be classified into two clusters with completely different immune patterns. We performed multivariate Cox regression analysis on lncRNAs to identify 7-feature lncRNAs and constructed a corresponding prognostic model. The model validity was verified by survival analysis and ROC curve in validation and training sets. To explore connection between model and TME and tumor drug resistance, this study analyzed differences in immune cell infiltration between samples from high- and low-risk groups and then revealed immune cells follicular helper with significant differences in tumor tissue infiltration. Analysis of resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs revealed that samples in the high-risk group had resistance to cisplatin, doxorubicin, bleomycin, and gemcitabine. Through univariate and multivariate Cox analyses, we manifested that risk score could be an independent prognostic factor. Combining risk score and clinical factors, a nomogram was constructed to accurately predict patient's prognosis. This model can effectively predict prognosis, TME, and drug resistance of STAD patients, which may provide a reference for tumor development evaluation and precise treatment for clinical STAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of the freight train formation on the train aerodynamic performance was studied. Six cases involving a locomotive (LM) and three different freight vehicles – a boxcar (BC), a tanker (TK), and a double-container freight wagon (DW), were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the aerodynamic drag was significantly affected by the freight train formation type, and the total drag force in Case 2 (LM + BC + DW + TK) was the smallest. Furthermore, the flow field around the train was analyzed to reveal the influence mechanism of the different types of freight train formations on the aerodynamic drag. The car position and the adjacent cars had significant effects on the aerodynamic characteristics of the train. The DW had a greater effect on the pressure and velocity distributions around the train. In addition, the variations of the vortices in the near wake of the same tail car were inconsistent, although there were similar characteristics for the same tail car. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fatigue life of the bearing can be predicted effectively by combining the multifield coupling condition of the working process with the internal microstructure. In this paper, a bearing fluid lubrication model is established based on the computational fluid dynamics method, and the calculation result is coupled to the thermal-solid model by the grid mapping method. Through this method, a bearing thermal-fluid-solid multifield coupling dynamics model is established to obtain the evolution information of bearings. Simultaneously, the micro-characterization experiments of SKF6406 bearing (M50 bearing steel) were carried out by electron backscatter diffraction, scanning electron microscope and nano-indentation. The microstructure model of bearing containing micro-inclusions was established by the Voronoi method. On this basis, the microscopic stress distribution characteristics and the motion law of bearing microstructure under the multifield coupling action are solved. In the end, the fatigue life prediction method of rolling bearing was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungal infection is a pre-harvest and post-harvest crisis for maize kernels and infection detection at early stage is still a difficult point. The feasibility of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for imaging mold-contamination on maize kernel at early stage is investigated. OCT technique provides high-resolution 2D tomographic images of micro-structure of maize and realizes immediate, automated, and non-destructive detection of mold by proposed method. After denoising, edge detection, smoothing, and flatten, thin pericarp layer is cropped and extracted. Then, the number of non-zero pixels on the upper boundary is calculated and the float threshold is used to classify whether there are mildew pixels in a certain column. All the experimental results suggest that mold contaminated maize kernel can be detected and marked by monitoring near surface layers combined with our proposed method. The OCT approach is suitable for fast, nondestructive diagnosis of mold at early stage, which may potentially lead to significant cost savings and better control of the spread of mold in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the functional connectivity (FC) between the bilateral thalamus and the other brain regions in patients with vestibular migraine (VM). Methods: Resting-state fMRI and 3D-T1 data were collected from 37 patients with VM during the interictal period and 44 age-, gender-, and years of education-matched healthy controls (HC). The FC of the bilateral thalamus was analyzed using a standard seed-based whole-brain correlation method. Furthermore, the correlations between thalamus FC and clinical characteristics of patients were investigated using Pearson's partial correlation. Results: Compared with HC, VM patients showed decreased FC between the left thalamus and the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral insular and right supplementary motor cortex. We also observed decreased FC between the right thalamus and the left insular and ACC in VM patients. Furthermore, patients with VM also exhibited increased FC between the left thalamus and the right precuneus and middle frontal gyrus, between the right thalamus and superior parietal lobule. FC between the right thalamus and the left insular was negatively correlated with disease duration (p = 0.019, r = − 0.399), FC between the left thalamus and the left ACC was negatively correlated with HIT-6 score (p = 0.004, r = − 0.484). Conclusion: VM patients showed altered FC between thalamus and brain regions involved in pain, vestibular and visual processing, which are associated with specific clinical features. Specifically, VM patients showed reduced thalamo-pain and thallamo-vestibular pathways, while exhibited enhanced thalamo-visual pathway, which provided first insight into the underlying functional brain connectivity in VM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniform microwave field (UMF) has increasing applications in microwave industries and electromagnetic measurements. In this work, we propose an analytical method to synthesize UMFs based on the Fourier transform (FT) and time reversal (TR) technique. FT is used to analytically obtain the excitation amplitudes for the antenna elements of TR mirror (TRM). TR is applied to compensate for their excitation phases so that all the TR signals radiated from the TRM antennas arrive at the target zone without phase difference. TRM is an antenna array of each antenna element with the TR processing ability, which is designed for UMF generation. Thanks to the analytical property, the proposed method provides a new efficient way to achieve the UMFs. Full-wave simulations demonstrate the validity and accuracy of this method. Some critical factors that may affect the 3 dB field width, phase deviation, and amplitude ripples of the UMFs are studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post‐synaptic density 93 (PSD‐93) mediates glutamate excitotoxicity induced by ischemic brain injury, which then induces microglial inflammatory response. However, the underlying mechanisms of how PSD‐93 mediates the crosstalk between neurons and microglia in the post‐synaptic dense region remain elusive. CX3 chemokine ligand 1 (CX3CL1) is a chemokine specifically expressed in neurons while its receptor CX3CR1 is highly expressed in microglia. In this study, we examined the interaction of PSD‐93 and CX3CL1 in the crosstalk between neurons and microglia in acute ischemic stroke. We utilized male C57BL/6 mice to establish the middle cerebral artery occlusion model (MCAO) and designed a fusion small peptide Tat‐CX3CL1 (357‐395aa) to inhibit PSD‐93 and CX3CL1 interaction. The combination peaks of PSD‐93 and CX3CL1 at 6 hr after I/R were observed. The binding sites were located at the 420–535 amino acid sequence of PSD‐93 and 357–395 amino acid sequence of CX3CL1. Tat‐CX3CL1 (357‐395aa) could inhibit the interaction of PSD‐93 and CX3CL1 and inhibited the pro‐inflammatory cytokine IL‐1β and TNF‐α expression and provided neuroprotection following reperfusion. Together, these data suggest that PSD‐93 binds CX3CL1 to activate microglia and initiate neuroinflammation. Specific blockade of PSD‐93‐CX3CL1 interaction reduces I/R induced neuronal cell death, and provides a new therapeutic target for ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field tests were carried out to measure the wheel-rail forces of a high-speed train passing by a windbreak breach with a crosswind speed and a train speed of 32 m/s and 120 km/h, respectively. Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations and multibody dynamic simulations were carried out to reproduce the field test experiments. The results obtained indicated that the side force and yawing moment of the train plays a key role in the safety of the head and the tail of the train when it passes by a windbreak breach. By analysing the flow structures, the reasons behind the different aerodynamic loads on the train head and tail were discussed. Based on the vehicle movement, the maximum derailment coefficient (0.8) of the train head appeared to be at a higher risk of danger as compared to the maximum derailment coefficient (0.2) of the train tail. This is due to the wind loads on the train head which compel the bogies to relatively move with the carbody along the lateral direction one more time than the train tail. Whereas, for the train tail, there is no relative motion between the carbody and bogies on the tail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser hardening is an important branch of laser surface hardening technology, which is widely used in metallurgy, transportation, machinery manufacturing, aerospace and other fields. At present, relying entirely on experience or process trial-and-error method, it can not effectively reveal the transient mechanism of laser quenching of disk laser, which is not conducive to shortening the research and development cycle and saving costs. The numerical simulation provides an effective way to obtain the dynamic evolution law of multi-field coupling in laser quenching process. In this paper, a thermo-mechanical coupling model of ASTM 1045 laser quenching process by disk laser is established. In the model, the temperature-dependent physical parameters were calculated by CALPHAD method. The transient law of temperature and microstructural transformation during quenching was obtained by solving the model. The formation and transformation degree of martensite were characterized by the dynamic changes of the depth and width of quenched transformation layer. The quenching structure and transformation hardening law were observed by Axioskop 2 SEM and Zeiss-IGMA HD FE-SEM to verify the accuracy of the simulation results. On this basis, the process parameters of laser quenching were sampled by Monte-Carlo method based on response surface methodology. The sensitivity effects of different process parameters on the temperature field and phase change field of laser quenching were analyzed, which laid a theoretical foundation for the optimization of process parameters. (1) Establish a thermo-mechanical coupling model for quenching process of ASTM 1045, and the sensitivity of the system is calculated. (2) The model can accurately reproduce the transient process of temperature and phase transformation field during laser quenching. (3) The laser power and laser incident angle are positively correlated with the response value. (4) The spot diameter and scanning speed are negatively correlated with response value. (5) The model can effectively calculate the sensitivity of laser quenching, predict the width and depth of quenching layer, and optimize process parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to analyze the influence mechanism of MIG welding parameters during thermo-mechanical coupling to improve the MIG welding process. In this paper, the Python script and the birth and death element method are used to realize the transient growth of a weld, the moving load of the welding heat source was realized by a Fortran subroutine, and a thermo-mechanical coupling model for the SUS301L-HT stainless steel MIG welding process is established. The temperature field and the thermal stress field are calculated. On this basis, a response surface model is established by the BOX-Behnen Design (BBD) method, and the sensitivity of welding process parameters to the influence of welding process is calculated by combining the Monte Carlo method with the response surface model. The calculation shows that the welding current and the welding speed have the most significant effect during the MIG welding of SUS301L-HT stainless steel, while the arc voltage has a relatively weak effect on the welding. The V-shaped angle has a great influence on the deformation angle of the welded workpiece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzymatic reactions are often terminated by severe aqueous environments. Inspired by bio‐protection of silk cocoons, a system of silk fibroin (SF) nanococoons is developed, which is capable of providing a bio‐protective environment for enzymatic activities on one hand, and facilitating the process of cascade enzymatic reactions on the other hand. This gives rise to the significant enhancement in enzymatic stability and efficacy. For instance, the protected glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase enzymes exhibit a 17.5‐ and 7.0‐fold increase when stored at 60 °C (>50% activity; ≈28 h) and 25 °C (>67.5% activity; ≈14 days), respectively, compared with free enzymes. It follows that this protective effect is subject to the mutual templated crystallization between enzymes and SF molecules, which prevents enzyme molecules from unfolding. In animal experiments, it shows that alcohol oxidase and catalase protected by silk nanococoons are able to reduce the alcohol levels of intoxicated mice with >5.0‐time efficacy at the alcohol decomposition level of >80% in 4.0 h compared with the unprotected. By bio‐inspiration of silk cocoons, the silk bio‐nanoreactors demonstrate the significant potential applications in biomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind tunnel tests for trains under large yaw angles are usually limited due to the width of the wind tunnel. Therefore, the leading car and a downstream dummy vehicle model are often employed instead of a real train, but there are no clear regulations regarding the shape of the end of the dummy vehicle. This paper studied the impact of the trailing edge shape of the downstream dummy vehicle on train aerodynamics subjected to crosswind based on the shear-stress-transport k-ω turbulence model of the delayed detached eddy simulation. Three types of end shapes, namely the rectangular end shape, the arc end shape, and the streamlined end shape were chosen for comparison, and the simulation results of the three-car-group train were selected as the benchmark. First, the reliability of the numerical method was validated by wind tunnel tests. Then, the aerodynamic coefficients under yaw angles of 0°–60° and the surface pressure distributions and flow structures around the train under the yaw angle of 60° of the head cars with different end shapes were compared and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to reveal the microevolution mechanism of welded structures during thermo-mechanical coupling to improve the welding quality. In this paper, a random microcrystalline structure model for welds is established by the Voronoi tessellation method. According to the nanoindentation results, heterogeneous grains are produced. A welding workpiece model with statistical significance is established. On this basis, the Python script and the birth and death element method are used to realize the transient growth of a weld, and a thermo-mechanical coupling model for the SUS301L-HT stainless steel metal inert gas welding process is established. The temperature field and thermal stress field are calculated. The calculation shows that the thermal stresses along the growth direction of the weld area are in the form of a "trapezoid," and the stresses at both ends are small. The stress in the vertical direction of the weld has a single peak, and the peak appears in the center of the weld. The stress distribution of the model that considers heterogeneous grains is obviously inhomogeneous compared with that of the traditional model. The thermal stress distribution in the weldment is obviously inhomogeneous due to the heterogeneous grains, the stresses at the boundaries of the adjacent grains in the weldment change abruptly. It is found that the greater the difference in the mechanical properties between grains is, the more obvious the change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the influences of human lung adenocarcinoma PC-9 cells on tight junction proteins of blood brain barrier (BBB) under CXCR4/SDF-1 axis by establishing a model of BBB in vitro. Methods: The immortalized mouse brain microvascular endothelial Bends cells were used to establish a model of BBB in vitro by monolayer culture; Subsequently, transendothelial electric resistance (TEER) and fluorescein sodium permeability experiment were used to detect the function of in vitro BBB model and observe the effect of PC-9 cells on the function of BBB model, respectively. Western blotting was used to detect the effect of PC-9 cells on function of BBB model and expressions of endothelial tight junction proteins under the treatment of single or combined AMD3100 and SDF-1 (1 μg/ml AMD3100,100 ng/ml SDF-1, AMD3100+SDF-1). Transwell assay was used to detect the influence of CXCR4/SDF-1 axis on the ability of PC-9 cells transmigrating the cell layer of BBB model. Results: Monolayer culture of Bends cells can form tightly connected BBB with highTEER,which reached (182.13±5.19) Ω.cm² at the 96 h; in the meanwhile, fluorescein sodium permeability experiment showed that BBB had significantly lower permeability than that of control group ([40.31±2.43]% vs [150.10± 3.17]%, P<0.05). The TEER of BBB decreased to (46.7±4.35) Ω•cm² after coculture with PC-9 cells for 24 h, and at the same time the sodium fluorescein permeability of BBB significantly increased than that of pre-treatment ([136.32±4.93]% vs [50.24±6.21]%, P<0.05). PC-9 cells up-regulated the expressions of tight junction proteins of Bends cells under the treatment of AMD3100 (P<0.05). The number of PC-9 cells transmigrating the BBB in AMD3100 treatment group was significantly lower than that of CON group (43±2 vs 81±2, P<0.05). Conclusion: AMD3100 can reduce the ability of PC-9 cells destroying the tight junction of the BBB model established in vitro by Bends cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce the impact of a mountain ridge on the crosswind flow field of a specific section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railway, a portion of the mountain ridge was removed to increase the distance from the windbreak. To verify the effects of this flow optimization measure, the wind speed and wind angle were tested in this mountain ridge region. In this paper, under the actual conditions of this specific case study, the average and transient wind characteristics were analyzed based on the test results. Then, based on the actual terrain model, using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with two inlet boundary conditions, namely, constant wind and exponential wind, the results obtained from the two boundary conditions were validated. Furthermore, the visualized flow structures and wind speed distributions along the railway under both boundary conditions were compared. Finally, along the railway, the impacts of different terrain types on the flow field of the railway were compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double unit trains running at high speeds may create additional aerodynamic challenges due to two streamlined structures with close proximity, exploring the aerodynamic performance of double unit trains is now critical. In this study, detached eddy simulation (DES) approach was employed to study the aerodynamic performance and the nearby flow patterns of a double unit train, whose results were compared and analyzed with that of a single-unit train with a same length. The results showed that the coupling method could change the aerodynamic drag on each car and tended to increase the overall drag of the double unit train. The lift force of the front car near the coupler was significantly increased. Similar slipstream distributions were found around the front half single and double-unit train except in a region close to the coupler. Due to the coupling structure, the slipstream of the rear half of double unit train was much stronger compared to single unit train. The vortex region behind the double-unit train was much wider than that of the single-unit train and was accompanied by greater vortex-shedding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A certain gap spacing between adjacent vehicles is usually inevitable in wind tunnel force tests of high-speed trains under no crosswind, which may affect the wind tunnel test results. Thus, to understand the influence of gap spacings on the train aerodynamics, the aerodynamic drag, pressure distributions and airflow structures of 1/8th-scale high-speed train models with gap spacings of 0, 5, 8, 10, 20, and 30 mm were studied using RANS based on SST k-ω turbulence model. The simulation method was verified by the wind tunnel experiment data. The results show that the gap spacing significantly affects the airflow structure around inter-car gap and aerodynamic resistances of train models. For the high-speed train model scaled at 1/8th at zero yaw, compared with gap spacing of 0 mm, the gap spacings lead to a significant reduction in the aerodynamic drag of the head car and an increase in that of the tail car, whereas which of the middle car is not significant. The maximum difference of the drag coefficient of the entire train model is smaller than 2.0%. When the gap spacing does not exceed 8 mm, the discrepancies of the drag coefficients of three cars are within 6.15%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the time-averaged and instantaneous slipstream velocity, time-averaged pressure, wake flows, and aerodynamic force of a high-speed train (HST) with different nose lengths are compared and analyzed using an improved delayed detached-eddy simulation (IDDES) method. Four train models were selected, with nose lengths of 4, 7, 9, and 12 m. To verify the accuracy of the numerical simulation results, they were compared with wind tunnel test results. The comparison results show that the selection of the numerical simulation method is reasonable. The research results show that with increasing nose length, the peak values of the time-averaged slipstream velocity of the trackside position (3 m from the center of track and 0.2 m from the top of rail) and the platform position (3 m from the center of track and 0.2 m from the top of rail) decrease continuously, and show a trend of rapid reduction at first, and then a slow decrease. As the nose length increased from 4 to 12 m, the time-averaged slipstream velocity at the trackside position and platform position are decreased by 57% and 19.5%, respectively. At a height of 1.6 m from the top of the rail, ΔCPmax (maximum pressure coefficient), |ΔCPmin| (the absolute value of minimum pressure coefficient), and ΔCP (pressure change coefficient) decrease with increasing nose length, which is similar to the peak value of time-averaged slipstream velocity, decreasing rapidly at first and then slowly. As the nose length increased from 4 to 12 m, decreases of ΔCPmax, |ΔCPmin|, and ΔCP by 26.5%, 58.5%, and 44.8% were shown, respectively. Different nose lengths also have a significant impact on wake flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the layered structure and thickness-dependent bandgap of MoS2, it is intriguing to investigate the layer-dependent performance of MoS2 based photodetectors. In this work, centimeter-scale layered MoS2 films with different layer numbers are achieved by using pulsed laser deposition by controlling the number of laser pulses. The measurement of transport characteristics in the dark indicates a Schottky barrier contact formed at the Au/MoS2 interface. The obtained metal–semiconductor–metal MoS2 based photodetectors present a UV-to-NIR photoresponse with high stability. When the thickness of the film is decreased, the photoresponse of the MoS2 photodetectors gradually increases from multilayer to bilayer, and more importantly, a notable enhancement in the photoresponse for the monolayer can be observed. In particular, a photoresponsivity of 1.96 A W−1 is achieved in monolayer MoS2 samples under illumination with a wavelength of 300 nm. The physical mechanism responsible for the observation is discussed based on the layer dependent Schottky barrier variation and the indirect-to-direct energy band transition in MoS2. Our work provides an insight into layer-dependent optical behavior in MoS2 films, which should be helpful for developing further large-scale photosensing applications in the atomic limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of a wind barrier on the aerodynamic performance of a train–bridge system under crosswind using a numerical simulation method. The studied bridge is a long-span cable-stayed bridge with a flat steel box girder, located in Chongqing, China. The flow field around the train–bridge system with and without a wind barrier is numerically simulated. Wind barrier porosities varying from 10 to 60% are evaluated. The tricomponent coefficients of the train, bridge, and train–bridge system are obtained and investigated in detail. The effect of the wind barrier on the aerodynamics of the train–bridge system is revealed through the determination of the aerodynamic forces, pressure mapping, and flow visualization. The results show that a wind barrier successfully decreases the mean velocity above the girder and consequently decreases the drag force and moment on the train; however, the wind barrier also significantly increases the drag force on the girder. Therefore, installation of a wind barrier improves the running safety of the train but is detrimental to the wind resistance of the bridge. Additionally, the efficiency of the wind barrier depends on the porosity. A lower porosity improves the train safety but is more detrimental to the bridge safety. An optimal wind barrier porosity of 30% is obtained based on the aerodynamic forces of both the train and the bridge. Compared to a train–bridge system without a wind barrier, the drag force and moment on the train decrease by 66.1 and 62.9%, respectively; the drag force on the bridge girder increases to 0.86, and the drag force on the train–bridge system equals that without the wind barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In areas with strong wind, windbreaks are built along railways to reduce the impact of wind on trains. However, because of the restrictions imposed by actual terrain, windbreak structures are often not uniform, such as from a cutting to an embankment, resulting in a discontinuous transition region. When a train runs through this region, a distinct yawing phenomenon occurs. This study numerically explored the aerodynamic features of a train running through a rectangular windbreak transition region. The variations in the pressure, side force, and moment of a train were analyzed, and the flow field features were clarified. Furthermore, the yawing motion of the car body with time was described. Finally, based on EN14067-6, the critical wind speed was obtained using the safety assessment of a train running through a windbreak transition region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slight postharvest bruises of loquats remarkably affect the quality and shelf life of the fruits, but they are difficult to identify using visual inspection. Sub-surface structural changes in cells caused by mechanical injury or impact can be detected using spectroscopy-based methods from different angles. Optical coherence tomography (OCT), a non-destructive technology, can acquire cross-sectional images to analyze sub-surface structures of loquats, thus offering the potential to identify fruit bruises. This study proposes an automated OCT image processing method for extracting large cells from loquat images, which involves a series of steps including image denoising, boundary detection, filtering, binarization, segmentation, and region selection. Parenchyma cells in loquat tissue were visualized and characterized, and the five-cell morphological parameters, including total cell surface area, average cell surface area, average cell Feret diameter, equivalent diameter, and cell amount were measured. The bruised and non-bruised loquat groups showed significant differences in the total cell surface area and cell amount, suggesting that these two parameters might be used as indictors for bruise identification. No significant differences in other parameters were observed between the two groups. The microcosm approach proposed in this study sheds some light on ways to improve fruit quality evaluation. Overall, combined with appropriate image processing, OCT is an efficient and non-destructive tool for loquat bruise detection. The proposed strategy might also be expanded to other agricultural applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ga2− x Fe x O3 (GFO) bulks with x from 0.7 to 1.3 have been fabricated using the classic solid-state route. The structural, optical, and magnetic properties have been investigated systematically. X-ray diffraction spectra and FULLPROF profile fitting indicate that GFO bulks belong to the orthorhombic structure with the space group Pc 21 n. Phase separation appears at the Fe content of x = 1.3. The optical bandgap decreases almost linearly with the increase of iron content, which means that the bandgap of GFO bulks can be controlled by adjusting the Fe content in the samples. The magnetic property measurements suggest that GFO is ferromagnetic, and the magnetic properties are enhanced compared with other reported works, exhibiting the application in ferromagnetic semiconductors devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The system-wide site-specific analysis of intact glycopeptides is crucial for understanding the exact functional relevance of protein glycosylation. A dedicated workflow with the capability to simultaneously characterize and quantify intact glycopeptides in a site-specific and high-throughput manner is essential to reveal specific glycosylation alteration patterns in complex biological systems. In this study, an enhanced, dedicated, large-scale site-specific quantitative N-glycoproteomics workflow has been established, which includes improved specific extraction of membrane-bound glycoproteins using the filter aided sample preparation (FASP) method, enhanced enrichment of N-glycopeptides using sequential hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and multi-lectin affinity (MLA) enrichment, site-specific N-glycopeptide characterization enabled by EThcD, relative quantitation utilizing isobaric N,N-dimethyl leucine (DiLeu) tags and automated FDR-based large-scale data analysis by Byonic. For the first time, our study shows that HILIC complements to a very large extent to MLA enrichment with only 20% overlapping in enriching intact N-glycopeptides. When applying the developed workflow to site-specific N-glycoproteome study in PANC1 cells, we were able to identify 1067 intact N-glycopeptides, representing 311 glycosylation sites and 88 glycan compositions from 205 glycoproteins. We further applied this approach to study the glycosylation alterations in PKM2 knockout cells vs. parental breast cancer cells and revealed altered N-glycoprotein/N-glycopeptide patterns and very different glycosylation microheterogeneity for different types of glycans. To obtain a more comprehensive map of glycoprotein alterations, N-glycopeptides after treatment with PNGase F were also analyzed. A total of 484 deglycosylated peptides were quantified, among which 81 deglycosylated peptides from 70 glycoproteins showed significant changes. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway was highly enriched, which provided evidence to support the previous finding that PKM2 knockdown cancer cells rely on activation of Akt for their survival. With glycosylation being one of the most important signaling modulators, our results provide additional evidence that signaling pathways are closely regulated by metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the $\beta $ -Ga2O3-based solar-blind ultraviolet photodetector has attracted intensive attention due to its wide application prospects. Photodetector arrays can act as an imaging detector and also improve the detecting sensitivity by series or parallel of detector cells. In this letter, the highly integrated metal-semiconductor-metal structured photodetector arrays of $32\times 32$ , $16\times 16$ , $8\times 8$ , and $4\times 4$ have been designed and fabricated for the first time. Herein, we present a 4-1 photodetector cell chosen from a $4\times 4$ photodetector array as an example to demonstrate the performance. The photo responsivity is $8.926 \times 10^{-1}$ A/W @ 250 nm at a 10-V bias voltage, corresponding to a quantum efficiency of 444%. All of the photodetector cells exhibit the solar-blind ultraviolet photoelectric characteristic and the consistent photo responsivity with a standard deviation of 12.1%. The outcome of the study offers an efficient route toward the development of high-performance and low-cost DUV photodetector arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]