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Fuzzy sets provide an effective method for dealing with uncertain and imprecise problems. For data of intermediate fuzzy distribution, membership degrees of objects whose attribute values are larger or smaller than the normal value would be the same and carried out the same decision. However, objects with different values mean that the information they contain is different for the decision-making problem. The decision process of calculating membership degrees in fuzzy set will lose the information of data itself. Therefore, bilateral fuzzy sets and their three-way decisions are proposed. First, the deviation degree is proposed in order to distinguish these objects. Compared with the membership degree, the deviation degree extends the mapping range from [0, 1] to [- 1, 1]. For six typical membership functions, their corresponding deviation functions are discussed and deduced. Second, the concept of bilateral fuzzy sets is proposed and the corresponding operation rules are analyzed and proved. Then, three-way decisions and approximations based on bilateral fuzzy sets are constructed. Next, for the optimization of threshold, principle of least cost is extended to the three-way decisions model based on bilateral fuzzy sets, and theoretical derivation is carried out. Finally, based on probability statistics, the principle based on confidence interval is proposed, which provides a new perspective for threshold calculation.

Background Ultrasound (US)-guided-only insertion at the bedside is safe and improves the success rates of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC). However, PICC insertion procedures remain challenging for special cases. Purpose To show that fluoroscopically guided tip repositioning, for failed US-guided PICC placement, safely led to satisfactory positioning in difficult cases and, importantly, improved success rates of PICC placements. Material and Methods A retrospective study of 1560 patients who underwent US-guided PICC placement were performed. Patients who failed US-guided PICC placement were transferred to the interventional radiology department for fluoroscopically guided tip repositioning. Baseline characteristics as well as insertion-related factors were collected. All data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results In total, 37 (2.4%) patients who failed US-guided PICC placement accepted fluoroscopically guided adjustment or re-insertion. Of these 37 patients, 32 were enrolled. We observed no significant differences between right and left arm PICC access ( P > 0.05), even though a higher percentage of PICCs were inserted into left arms (56.3%). The basilic vein (65.6%) was the most common insertion site. Only four patients experienced slight angiospasm (3.1%) and venous thrombosis (9.4%). US-guided PICC insertion failures were primarily due to line tip malposition (84.4%). All patients successfully underwent fluoroscopically guided tip repositioning, which resulted in optimal catheter tip positioning. PICC lines were adjusted in most patients (n=28, 87.5%) Conclusion Malposition was the primary issue causing US-guided PICC insertion failure. Fluoroscopically guided tip repositioning safely and efficaciously led to satisfactory positioning in difficult cases; thus, we recommend this method for patients failing US-guided PICC placement.

Two essential ingredients for the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect, i.e. topological and magnetic orders, can be combined by doping magnetic ions into a topological insulator (TI) film. Through this approach, the QAH effect has been realized in chromium (Cr)- and/or vanadium (V)-doped TI (Bi,Sb)2Te3 thin films. In this work, we synthesize both V- and Cr-doped Bi2Te3 thin films with controlled dopant concentration using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). By performing magneto-transport measurements, we find that both systems show an unusual but yet similar ferromagnetic response with respect to magnetic dopant concentration, specifically the Curie temperature does not increase monotonically but shows a local maximum at a critical dopant concentration. Our angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements show that the Cr/V doping introduces hole carriers into Bi2Te3, which consequently move the chemical potential toward the charge neutral point. In addition, the Cr/V doping also reduces the spin-orbit coupling of Bi2Te3 which drives it from a nontrivial TI to a trivial semiconductor. The unusual ferromagnetic response observed in Cr/V-doped Bi2Te3 thin films is attributed to the dopant-concentration-induced magnetic exchange interaction, which displays the evolution from the van Vleck-type ferromagnetism in a nontrivial magnetic TI to the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY)-type ferromagnetism in a trivial diluted magnetic semiconductor. Our work provides insights into the ferromagnetic properties of magnetically doped TI thin films and facilitates the pursuit of high-temperature QAH effect., 17 pages, 4 figures. Comments are welcome

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of the welding sequence on the substrate plate distortion during the wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process. This paper also aims to show the capability of finite element simulations in the prediction of those thermally induced distortions. Design/methodology/approach An experiment was conducted in which solid aluminum blocks were manufactured using two different welding sequences. The distortion of the substrates was measured at predefined positions and converted into bending and torsion values. Subsequently, a weakly coupled thermo-mechanical finite element model was created using the Abaqus simulation software. The model was calibrated and validated with data gathered from the experiments. Findings The results of this paper showed that the welding sequence of a part significantly affects the formation of thermally induced distortions of the final part. The calibrated simulation model was able to capture the different distortion behavior attributed to the welding sequences. Originality/value Within this work, a simulation model was developed capable of predicting the distortion of WAAM parts in advance. The findings of this paper can be used to improve the design of WAAM welding sequences while avoiding high experimental efforts.

The 3D-BER enriched denitrifying microorganisms and improved nitrogen removal efficiency.

Hierarchically porous carbon nanotubes anchored with ZnSe/CoSe nanodots were successfully prepared from one-dimensional core–shell MOFs, and the anode delivered excellent rate performance and high cycling stability for lithium/sodium storage.

Aim/Purpose: This study attempts to apply gamification to support the training of small business owners in business web development from a work-based learning perspective. Background: Web design describes the process of creating a website and embodies many different aspects, such as webpage layout, content production, and graphic design. However, there are many obstacles that small business owners face when developing their websites, such as time and budget constraints, lacking technical skills, and difficulties with content creation. Methodology: Based on the literature review, a gamified training program was developed for website development. The new website design and development training method was compared with the traditional lecture training method from small business owners’ perspectives in the specific work-based learning context. Contribution: This study contributes to the field of work-based learning by developing an innovative gamified training program for small business owners in website development learning. Findings: The results confirm that the gamified training program improved learning outcomes and satisfaction. The results of this study help advance the understanding of work-based training program design and provide insights to support small business owners in learning new technologies. Recommendations for Practitioners: Results confirm that this new training system is superior to the traditional lecture training method. While much attention has been directed to website design and development learning or business activities of small business owners, this study emphasizes the need for work-based learning in such a context. Recommendation for Researchers: This study also shows a potential way for future research by combining technology education and small business owners’ needs. Impact on Society: The results of this study show the advantages of gamified training programs. For their future training program selections, small business owners should pay more attention to gamified training and education systems in the market. Furthermore, gamified training and education systems not only help small businesses but also could be adopted by mid-size or even large companies in their training programs. Future Research: Future research should be conducted to investigate to what extent gamification improves work-based learning and how to design gamification to improve work-based learning.

A topological insulator (TI) interfaced with an s-wave superconductor has been predicted to host an unusual form of superconductivity known as topological superconductivity (TSC). Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has been the primary approach in the scalable synthesis of the TI/superconductor heterostructures. Although the growth of epitaxial TI films on s-wave superconductors has been achieved, it remains an outstanding challenge for synthesizing atomically thin TI/superconductor heterostructures, which are critical for engineering the TSC phase. Here, we used MBE to grow Bi2Se3 films with the controlled thickness on monolayer NbSe2 and performed in-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and ex-situ magneto-transport measurements on these Bi2Se3/monolayer NbSe2 heterostructures. We found that the emergence of Rashba-type bulk quantum well bands and spin-nondegenerate surface states coincides with a marked suppression of the in-plane upper critical magnetic field of the superconductivity in Bi2Se3/monolayer NbSe2 heterostructures. This is the signature of a crossover from Ising- to Rashba-type superconducting pairings, induced by altering Bi2Se3 film thickness. Our work opens a new route for exploring a robust TSC phase in TI/Ising superconductor heterostructures., 27 pages, 4 pages, comments are welcome

Capacitive deionization has attracted wide concern on accountof its high energy efficiency, low manufacturing cost and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the development of capacitive deionization is still impeded because of the scarcity of suitable electrode materials with superior performance. Herein, we successfully prepared the two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide (Ti

Background Oxidative stress and memory impairment have been implicated, a common functional brain disease. Nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is highly induced in oxidative stress, indicating that Nrf2 is an emerging target of memory therapy. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Noni on brain memory impairment induced by hydrocortisone and its protection mechanism in mice. Methods Male Kuming mice were (n = 8/group) given hydrocortisone by gastric gavage for 14 consecutive days to establish the memory impairment model except for those in the control group. At the same day, the corresponding drugs were given by gastric gavage. The changes in ethology were examined. Brains were extracted and subjected to western blot analysis and biochemical analyses to assess the activities of oxidative stress. Results The middle and high-dose Noni groups ameliorated the ethology and the high-dose Noni group increased cerebral protein expressions of Nrf2, kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), as compared to the model group. The arrangement of CA3 vertebral cells in hippocampus of mice was slightly compact and hyperchromatic and pyknosis were alleviated. Furthermore, the biochemical analyses showed the activities of related enzymes of oxidative stress in high-dose Noni group were increased. Conclusions Noni might be a powerful antioxidant that can protect nerve cell and may possess as a potential benefit for the treatment of memory impairment.

Thymocytes need to proliferate into a significant cell mass to allow a subsequent selection process during the double-positive (DP) stage. However, it is not clear at what stage this massive cell proliferation occurs. Immature CD8 single-positive (ISP) cells are a well-defined thymocyte subpopulation. However, the function of this cell subset has not yet been characterized. In this study, we analyzed the transcription pattern of mouse ISP cells and observed higher expression levels of cell cycling genes. We also found out that ISP cells exhibited the highest cell proliferative capacity among thymocytes in different developmental stages. Nuclear protein ataxia-telangiectasia (NPAT/p220) is one of the highly expressed cell cycling genes in ISP cells, which is known to play a critical role in coordinating histone gene expression necessary for rapid cell proliferation. Selective deletion of NPAT at the ISP stage led to reduced thymus size and significant loss of DP cells, secondary to reduced histone gene expression and impaired ISP cell proliferation capacity. A block of thymocyte development at the ISP stage was also observed, which was due to increased IL-7R expression. Continuous IL-7R signal served as a compensating mechanism for cell proliferation upon NPAT deletion, but in turn inhibited the expression of transcription factors TCF-1 and LEF-1, which is essential for the transition of ISP to DP cells. In summary, our study revealed the proliferation capacity of the ISP subpopulation during thymocyte differentiation as well as a vital role of NPAT in this developmental stage.

Objective. Acute lung injury (ALI) is one of the common and severe complications of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), which is the primary cause of death in intensive care units. Nevertheless, there is a lack of effective treatment for ALI secondary to CPB. κ-Opioid receptor (KOR) agonists have been demonstrated to improve lung function after pulmonary hypertension. However, its protective role has been barely reported in CPB-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Therefore, this research focused on the protective effect of a KOR agonist U50448H on ARDS and investigated its potential relationship with the NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Method. Forty-five rats were randomly allocated into Sham, CPB, and U50448 groups (n = 15 rats/group). After a CPB model was successfully established in rats, CPB rats were treated with the KOR agonist U50448H. The values of extravascular lung water (EVLW), alveolar-arterial oxygen tension difference (AaDO2), and respiratory index (RI) were examined, and the lung wet/dry (W/D) weight ratio was also calculated. Western blot (WB) was utilized to measure the expression of MMP-9, GSDMD-C, GSDMD-N, NLRP3, ASC, pro-Caspase-1, pro-IL-1β, and α7-nAChR. The immunofluorescence assay was performed for examining the expression of ROS, F480, iNOS, CD206, and α7-nAChR. Cell apoptosis was detected by the TUNEL assay. ELISA was used to test the level of LPS in serum and the level of MDA, GSH, SOD, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-6, IL-18, and IL-1β in lung tissues. Results. It was observed that the administration of U50448H significantly reduced EVLW values and LPS levels in the lung of rats. Meanwhile, U50448H increased AaDO2 values while decreasing RI values. Moreover, the administration of U50448H alleviated the pathological damage caused by ALI secondary to CPB. U50448H repressed ROS release and oxidative stress responses, as well as lowered LPS levels in plasma and MMP-9 expression in the lung of CPB rats. Furthermore, U50448H facilitated the shift of macrophage phenotype to M2. In addition, U50448H decreased the activity of the CAP-NLRP3 inflammasome and suppressed pyroptosis in pulmonary cells. Conclusion. The KOR agonist U50448H improved lung function and relieved lung injury in CPB rats, accompanied by diminished ROS and MMP-9 levels in lung tissues, promoted macrophage polarization from M1 to M2, and reduced NLRP3 inflammasome activities. These results indicated U50448H as a promising drug for the treatment of ALI secondary to CPB.

To realize the goal of "carbon neutral", enterprises need to carry out the CDP carbon disclosure project and the independent audit carbon assurance under pressure from carbon regulation. Therefore, based on the external audit quality perspective, this paper examines the factors influencing the quality of carbon assurance that are important for the development of carbon assurance market business. Firstly, 58 listed companies with heavy carbon emissions in China are selected as the research objects, and the evaluation index system for DRS companies' carbon guarantee is established. Then, considering the volatility and conflicting properties of the indicators, we use the combination of weighting entropy and the CRITIC method, measuring the driving factor, response factor, and status factor of carbon assurance quality through the TOPSIS method. Moreover, this article establishes a weighted linear regression model to explore the premise of state-owned equity and the degree of portfolio leverage as control variables. Audit quality is significantly and positively correlated with carbon assurance. In addition, State ownership and DCL are positively and negatively correlated with carbon assurance quality, respectively. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant suggestions for accounting firms to develop a perfect carbon assurance process and improve the quality of carbon assurance.

Temporal action detection aims to judge whether there existing a certain number of action instances in a long untrimmed videos and to locate the start and end time of each action. Even though the existing action detection methods have shown promising results in recent years with the widespread application of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), it is still a challenging problem to accurately locate each action segment while ensuring real-time performance. In order to achieve a good tradeoff between detection efficiency and accuracy, we present a coarse-to-fine hierarchical temporal action detection method by using multi-scale sliding window mechanism. Since the complexity of the convolution operator is proportional to the number and the size of the input video clips, the idea of our proposed method is to first determine candidate action proposals and then perform the detection task on these candidate action proposals only with a view to reducing the overall complexity of the detection method. By making full use of the spatio-temporal information of video clips, a lightweight 3D-CNN classifier is first used to quickly determine whether the video clip is a candidate action proposal, avoiding the re-detection of a large number of non-action video clips by the heavyweight deep network. A heavyweight detector is designed to further improve the accuracy of action positioning by considering both boundary regression loss and category loss in the target loss function. In addition, the Non-Maximum Suppression (NMS) is performed to eliminate redundant detection results among the overlapping proposals. The mean Average Precision (mAP) is 40.6%, 51.7% and 20.4% on THUMOS14, ActivityNet and MPII Cooking dataset when the Intersection-over-Union (tIoU) threshold is set to 0.5, respectively. Experimental results show the superior performance of the proposed method on three challenging temporal activity detection datasets while achieving real-time speed. At the same time, our method can generate proposals for unseen action classes with high recalls.

MXene has attracted a wide spread attention as promising supercapacitor electrode materials owing to excellent electronic conductivity and reversible surface redox capability. In fact, the supercapacitor performance strongly relies onsurface terminations of MXene. However, regulating the types of surface terminations for enhancing the electrochemical performance of MXene is still one of major challenge. Herein, we successfully prepared a MXene containing iodine terminations (I-Ti

Background The regulation of glycolysis and autophagy during feeding and metamorphosis in holometabolous insects is a complex process that is not yet fully understood. Insulin regulates glycolysis during the larval feeding stage, allowing the insects to grow and live. However, during metamorphosis, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) takes over and regulates programmed cell death (PCD) in larval tissues, leading to degradation and ultimately enabling the insects to transform into adults. The precise mechanism through which these seemingly contradictory processes are coordinated remains unclear and requires further research. To understand the coordination of glycolysis and autophagy during development, we focused our investigation on the role of 20E and insulin in the regulation of phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1). We examined the glycolytic substrates and products, PGK1 glycolytic activity, and the posttranslational modification of PGK1 during the development of Helicoverpa armigera from feeding to metamorphosis. Results Our findings suggest that the coordination of glycolysis and autophagy during holometabolous insect development is regulated by a balance between 20E and insulin signaling pathways. Glycolysis and PGK1 expression levels were decreased during metamorphosis under the regulation of 20E. Insulin promoted glycolysis and cell proliferation via PGK1 phosphorylation, while 20E dephosphorylated PGK1 via phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) to repress glycolysis. The phosphorylation of PGK1 at Y194 by insulin and its subsequent promotion of glycolysis and cell proliferation were important for tissue growth and differentiation during the feeding stage. However, during metamorphosis, the acetylation of PGK1 by 20E was key in initiating PCD. Knockdown of phosphorylated PGK1 by RNA interference (RNAi) at the feeding stage led to glycolysis suppression and small pupae. Insulin via histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) deacetylated PGK1, whereas 20E via acetyltransferase arrest-defective protein 1 (ARD1) induced PGK1 acetylation at K386 to stimulate PCD. Knockdown of acetylated-PGK1 by RNAi at the metamorphic stages led to PCD repression and delayed pupation. Conclusions The posttranslational modification of PGK1 determines its functions in cell proliferation and PCD. Insulin and 20E counteractively regulate PGK1 phosphorylation and acetylation to give it dual functions in cell proliferation and PCD.

IntroductionActinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (A. pleuropneumoniae) is a member of Actinobacillus in family Pasteurellaceae. It is the causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, which has caused huge economic losses to pig industry over the world. Cysteine is a precursor of many important biomolecules and defense compounds in the cell. However, molecular mechanisms of cysteine transport in A. pleuropneumoniae are unclear.MethodsIn this study, gene-deleted mutants were generated and investigated, to reveal the roles of potential cysteine/cystine transport proteins FliY and YdjN of A. pleuropneumoniae.ResultsOur results indicated that the growth of A. pleuropneumoniae was not affected after fliY or ydjN single gene deletion, but absence of both FliY and YdjN decreased the growth ability significantly, when cultured in the chemically defined medium (CDM) supplemented with cysteine or cystine as the only sulfur source. A. pleuropneumoniae double deletion mutant ΔfliYΔydjN showed increased sensitivity to oxidative stress. Besides, trans-complementation of YdjN into ΔfliYΔydjN and wild type leads to increased biofilm formation in CDM. However, the virulence of ΔfliYΔydjN was not attenuated in mice or pigs.DiscussionThese findings suggest that A. pleuropneumoniae FliY and YdjN are involved in the cysteine/cystine acquisition, oxidative tolerance, and biofilm formation, but not contribute to the pathogenicity of A. pleuropneumoniae.

Desiccation cracking is a common deterioration that occurs in archaeological excavation sites and greatly threatens long-term preservation. The aim of this research is to comprehensively evaluate the development degree of desiccation cracking (DOC) and explore the relationships between soil properties and its development. Seven indicators are selected to comprehensively describe the DOC, and principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to calculate the weight of each indicator. Linear correlation analysis (LCA) is adopted to calculate the correlations of six soil properties and DOC. The results showed that each indicator has an influence on the DOC. The clay particle content, clay mineral content, and plasticity index showed a positive correlation with the DOC, and the moisture content showed a negative correlation. This research proposed a comprehensive evaluation method to describe the development degree of deterioration at the earthen site, and the results revealed the internal factors influencing desiccation cracking from a qualitative perspective, which can lay a foundation for further conservation research.

Background: External noise is a necessary factor for calculating the signal-to-noise ratio and evaluating communication quality and is one of the important parameters when designing low-frequency communication schemes or evaluating low-frequency signal quality. Methods: To study the radio noise distribution of each frequency point within the low-frequency band from 40kHz to 80kHz in a typical Southern China region at different time periods, the test team conducted a low-frequency radio noise test in Ziyang District, Yiyang City. Results and Discussion: The test data is analyzed and the results show that in this area, the radio noise in the 40kHz to 80kHz frequency band changes significantly day and night. The noise factors of most frequency points are in line with the predicted value given in the predicted value of the Radio Noise Volume of Recommendation ITU-R P.372-10. Conclusion: However, the noise distributions of 50kHz, 54kHz, 60kHz, and 68.5kHz are significantly higher than those of the predicted values.

AMPK plays significant roles in the modulation of metabolic reprogramming and viral infection. However, the detailed mechanism by which AMPK affects viral infection is unclear. The present study aims to determine how AMPK influences white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection in shrimp (Marsupenaeus japonicus). Here, we find that AMPK expression and phosphorylation are significantly upregulated in WSSV-infected shrimp. WSSV replication decreases remarkably after knockdown of Ampkα and the shrimp survival rate of AMPK-inhibitor injection shrimp increases significantly, suggesting that AMPK is beneficial for WSSV proliferation. Mechanistically, WSSV infection increases intracellular Ca2+ level, and activates CaMKK, which result in AMPK phosphorylation and partial nuclear translocation. AMPK directly activates mTORC2-AKT signaling pathway to phosphorylate key enzymes of glycolysis in the cytosol and promotes expression of Hif1α to mediate transcription of key glycolytic enzyme genes, both of which lead to increased glycolysis to provide energy for WSSV proliferation. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism by which WSSV exploits the host CaMKK-AMPK-mTORC2 pathway for its proliferation, and suggest that AMPK might be a target for WSSV control in shrimp aquaculture.

Supplementary Figure 3. Representative gating strategy for the analysis of blood and spleen samples from HLA-A2 transgenic mice.

Supplementary Figure 5. Antitumor activity of mCUE-101 in TC-1 tumors.

Purpose:To assess the potential for CUE-101, a novel therapeutic fusion protein, to selectively activate and expand HPV16 E711-20-specific CD8+ T cells as an off-the shelf therapy for the treatment of HPV16-driven tumors, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), cervical, and anal cancers.Experimental Design:CUE-101 is an Fc fusion protein composed of a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex, an HPV16 E7 peptide epitope, reduced affinity human IL2 molecules, and an effector attenuated human IgG1 Fc domain. Human E7-specific T cells and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were tested to demonstrate cellular activity and specificity of CUE-101, whereas in vivo activity of CUE-101 was assessed in HLA-A2 transgenic mice. Antitumor efficacy with a murine surrogate (mCUE-101) was tested in the TC-1 syngeneic tumor model.Results:CUE-101 demonstrates selective binding, activation, and expansion of HPV16 E711-20-specific CD8+ T cells from PBMCs relative to nontarget cells. Intravenous administration of CUE-101 induced selective expansion of HPV16 E711-20-specific CD8+ T cells in HLA-A2 (AAD) transgenic mice, and anticancer efficacy and immunologic memory was demonstrated in TC-1 tumor-bearing mice treated with mCUE-101. Combination therapy with anti-PD-1 checkpoint blockade further enhanced the observed efficacy.Conclusions:Consistent with its design, CUE-101 demonstrates selective expansion of an HPV16 E711-20-specific population of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, a favorable safety profile, and in vitro and in vivo evidence supporting its potential for clinical efficacy in an ongoing phase I trial (NCT03978689).

Supplementary Materials and Methods

Supplementary Figure 4. Antitumor activity of mCUE-101 in established TC-1 tumors.

Supplementary Figure 6. Characterization of E7-specific CD8+ T cells in mice bearing TC-1 tumors.

Supplementary Table 1