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English literature teaching can improve students’ literary literacy and English proficiency. In this paper, we preprocess the English literature teaching data in colleges and universities from the two modalities of visual information and auditory information, extract the features of auditory modality, text modality, and video modality of the classroom respectively, and represent the features using bidirectional long-time memory neural network. A multilayer attention network mechanism is introduced to complete multimodal fusion in English literature teaching and label multimodal features after the extraction is done. On this basis, a student-centered innovative teaching path for English literature in colleges and universities is constructed, and teaching practice and multimodal discourse analysis are carried out to explore its teaching effect. The results show that the length of time used for facial smiles in inefficient classrooms (780.52/s) is significantly more than that in inefficient classrooms (150.22/s), and the length of time used for eye interactions (832.63/s) is significantly more than that in inefficient classrooms (720.44/s), and the length of time used for animations (450.42/s) is significantly more than that in inefficient classrooms (128.88/s), and efficient classrooms are more emphasized on student interactions. Students’ reading and writing abilities were significantly different from those before the practice (P

Background Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common disease of the digestive system. With the improvements of living standards and breakthroughs in viral hepatitis research, NAFLD has replaced viral hepatitis as the most common chronic liver disease. Guidance documents can provide clinical staff with standard and reliable diagnosis and treatment approaches. The screening and development of high-quality guidance documents is of great importance to standardise the clinical practice of NAFLD. Objective To analyze the methodological quality and reporting quality of guidance documents for NAFLD, summarize and compare the recommendations, so as to provide a reference for the development and report of future guidelines for NAFLD. Methods PubMed, CNKI, CBM, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, VIP Database were searched for clinical guidelines and consensuses on NAFLD supplemented by WHO, GIN, NICE, SIGN and Medlive from 2012-01-01 to 2022-01-01. Two researchers in the field of liver disease screened the literature, extracted the data and independently evaluated the methodological quality and reporting quality of the included guideline documents using AGREE Ⅱ and RIGHT, respectively. The recommendations of the higher quality guideline documents were collated and compared by the two researchers. Results A total of 19 publications were enrolled, including 12 guidelines and 7 consensuses; 6 in Chinese and 13 in English; 10 of which were developed using an evidence-based approach. The average scores for each domain of AGREE Ⅱ were 42.84% for scope and purpose, 31.43% for participants, 31.25% for rigour, 60.67% for clarity, 32.68% for application and 37.50% for independence. The average scores of RIGHT in each area were 59.65% for basic information, 66.12% for background, 42.11% for evidence, 39.85% for recommendations, 17.11% for review and quality assurance, 18.42% for funding and conflict of interest statement and management, 47.37% for other aspects. The average scores in AGREEⅡ and reporting qualities in RIGHT of evidence-based guidance documents were both higher than non-evidence-based guidance documents. The average scores in AGREEⅡ and reporting qualities in RIGHT of foreign guidance documents were higher than domestic guidance documents. The main recommendations relate to screening and diagnosis, assessment, management (non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatment) and surgical treatment. Conclusion The methodological quality and reporting quality of the published guidance documents for NAFLD still need to be improved, and there are still gaps between domestic guidance documents and international guidance documents. The development of TCM guidance documents should follow an evidence-based approach. Further reference should be made to international standards such as AGREE Ⅱ and RIGHT in the development and reporting of guidelines. Clinical screening awareness for high-risk population of NAFLD and a comprehensive system for early non-invasive diagnosis and assessment should be established. Multidimensional treatment plans for lifestyle, liver function and metabolic disorders should be provided for patients with NAFLD.

The Yangtze River Basin serves as an essential ecological shelter in China, yet it has encountered escalating aquatic ecological challenges. Exploring the spatial–temporal changes and the trade-off–synergy relationships of water-related ecosystem services (WESs) is necessary for formulating management and planning policies targeting the sustainable development of watersheds. In this study, the InVEST model is utilized to evaluate the spatial–temporal variations in water yield (WY), water purification (WP), and soil conservation (SC) in the Yangtze River Basin using remote-sensed data from 2001 to 2021. The spatial overlay method and a correlation analysis were adopted to reveal the trade-off–synergy relationship among the three WESs. Additionally, we performed a comparative analysis across the grid and sub-basin scales. The results showed that the multi-year average WY, WP, and SC were 536.10 mm, 1.32 kg/ha, and 250.08 t/ha, representing increasing rates of 4.74 mm/a, −0.001 kg/ha/a, and 1.88 t/ha/a, respectively. Moreover, the trade-off–synergy relationships of WESs exhibited spatial variability; specifically, the WY-WP, WP-SC, and WY-SC pairs demonstrated reduced synergy magnitude over time. The WES interactions were stable across the scales of interest, while synergy strength showed noticeable variability. The findings may contribute to the sustainable development of the Yangtze River Basin and enhance the comprehensive management of WESs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have shown promising performance in medical image analysis, including breast lesion classification in 2D ultrasound (US) images. Despite the outstanding performance of DCNN solutions, explaining their decisions remains an open investigation. Yet, the explainability of DCNN models has become essential for healthcare systems to accept and trust the models. This paper presents a novel framework for explaining DCNN classification decisions of lesions in ultrasound images using the saliency maps linking the DCNN decisions to known cancer characteristics in the medical domain. The proposed framework consists of three main phases. First, DCNN models for classification in ultrasound images are built. Next, selected methods for visualization are applied to obtain saliency maps on the input images of the DCNN models. In the final phase, the visualization outputs and domain-known cancer characteristics are mapped. The paper then demonstrates the use of the framework for breast lesion classification from ultrasound images. We first follow the transfer learning approach and build two DCNN models. We then analyze the visualization outputs of the trained DCNN models using the EGrad-CAM and Ablation-CAM methods. We map the DCNN model decisions of benign and malignant lesions through the visualization outputs to the characteristics such as echogenicity, calcification, shape, and margin. A retrospective dataset of 1298 US images collected from different hospitals is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the framework. The test results show that these characteristics contribute differently to the benign and malignant lesions' decisions. Our study provides the foundation for other researchers to explain the DCNN classification decisions of other cancer types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To implement sustainable water resource management, the industries that produce a huge amount of wastewater are aiming to recycle wastewater. Reverse osmosis (RO) is an advanced membrane process that can produce potable water from wastewater. However, the presence of diverse pollutants in the wastewater necessitates effective pretreatment to ensure successful RO implementation. This study evaluated the efficiency of microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) as two pretreatment methods prior to RO, i.e., MF-RO and UF-RO, for recycling poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSWW). The direct treatment of PSWW with RO (direct RO) was also considered for comparison. In this study, membrane technology serves as a post treatment for PSWW, which was conventionally treated at Sanderson Farm. The results demonstrated that all of the processes, including MF-RO, UF-RO, and direct RO treatment of PSWW, rejected 100% of total phosphorus (TP), over 91.2% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), and 87% of total solids (TSs). Total nitrogen (TN) levels were reduced to 5 mg/L for MF-RO, 4 mg/L for UF-RO, and 9 mg/L for direct RO. In addition, the pretreatment of PSWW with MF and UF increased RO flux from 46.8 L/m2 h to 51 L/m2 h, an increase of approximately 9%. The product water obtained after MF-RO, UF-RO, and direct RO meets the required potable water quality standards for recycling PSWW in the poultry industry. A cost analysis demonstrated that MF-RO was the most economical option among membrane processes, primarily due to MF operating at a lower pressure and having a high water recovery ratio. In contrast, the cost of using RO without MF and UF pretreatments was approximately 2.6 times higher because of cleaning and maintenance expenses related to fouling. This study concluded that MF-RO is a preferable option for recycling PSWW. This pretreatment method would significantly contribute to environmental sustainability by reusing well-treated PSWW for industrial poultry purposes while maintaining cost efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Number connection test A (NCT-A) and digit symbol test (DST), the preferential neuropsychological tests to detect minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) in China, haven't been standardized in Chinese population. We aimed to establish the norms based on a multi-center cross-sectional study and to detect MHE in cirrhotic patients. NCT-A and DST were administered to 648 healthy controls and 1665 cirrhotic patients. The regression-based procedure was applied to develop demographically adjusted norms for NCT-A and DST based on healthy controls. Age, gender, education, and age by education interaction were all predictors of DST, while age, gender, and education by gender interaction were predictors of log10 NCT-A. The predictive equations for expected scores of NCT-A and DST were established, and Z-scores were calculated. The norm for NCT-A was set as Z ≤ 1.64, while the norm for DST was set as Z ≥ − 1.64. Cirrhotic patients with concurrent abnormal NCT-A and DST results were diagnosed with MHE. The prevalence of MHE was 8.89% in cirrhotic patients, and only worse Child–Pugh classification (P = 0.002, OR = 2.389) was demonstrated to be the risk factor for MHE. The regression-based normative data of NCT-A and DST have been developed to detect MHE in China. A significant proportion of Chinese cirrhotic patients suffered from MHE, especially those with worse Child–Pugh classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an effective numerical method is proposed for a linear complementarity problem (LCP) arising in the valuation of American bond options under the Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (CIR) model. Firstly, a variable substitution is used to simplify the linear complementary model. Secondly, the finite difference method is adopted to discretize the simplified model, and an equivalent variational form is obtained. Based on the positive definiteness of the discretized matrix, a projection and contraction method (PCM) is adopted for the resulting discretized variational problem. Finally, numerical experiments highlight the effectiveness and performance of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the existing cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) denoising methods have achieved promising results, most of them are dependent on the number of diffusion gradient directions, noise distributions, and noise levels. To address these issues, we propose a novel self-supervised cardiac DTI denoising network, Node2Node, which firstly expresses the diffusion-weighted (DW) image volumes along different directions as a graph, then the graph framelet transform (GFT) is implemented to map the DW signals into the GFT coefficients at different spectral bands, allowing us to accurately match the DW image pairs. After that, using the matched image pairs as input and target, a ResNet-like network is used to denoise in a self-supervised manner. In addition, a novel edge-aware loss based on pooling operation is proposed to retain the edge. Through comparison with several state-of-the-art methods on synthetic, ex vivo porcine, and in vivo human cardiac DTI datasets, we showed that the root mean square error (RMSE) of DW images and the average angular error (AAE) of fiber orientations obtained using Node2Node are the smallest, improved by 47.5% and 23.7%, respectively, on the synthetic dataset, demonstrating that Node2Node is not sensitive to the properties of the dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper carried out wind tunnel tests and numerical analysis to study the effect of the spatial position of deflector plates on the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a double-deck truss girder. The wind tunnel tests found that setting the web deflector plate and the lower chord deflector plate significantly suppressed the VIV. In order to study the suppression mechanism of the deflector plate on VIV, numerical simulations were conducted using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. We analyzed the suppression mechanism of the deflector plate on VIV by combining the vertical amplitude obtained by numerical simulation with the change in the vorticity magnitude and direction. The results showed that the flow velocity around the lower surface of the airflow was reduced, resulting in significantly lower vorticity at the exact position of the lower chord deflector plate and web deflector plate section compared to the original section. The web deflector plate and the lower chord deflector plate broke the vortex shedding mode in the wake flow region, and the vortex shedding frequency was far away from the self-oscillation frequency of the double-deck truss girder, thus suppressing the VIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiple edge sites on 2D nanosheets or nanoplates usually supply more active sites which result in the enhancement of gas sensing performance. Manufacturing porous structure, with high density of edge sites coupled under the irradiation of UV light, have great potential in NO2 gas selectivity at room temperature. In this work, annealing engineered active edge sites of 2D SnO2 porous nanoplates were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route. SnO2-600 2D semicircle nanoplates with small holes on its edge are attribute to their high sensitivity and selectivity to NO2 gas under the excitation of 365 nm UV light at room temperature. Density functional theory calculations show that the adsorption energy of −0.74 eV and the obvious variation in band gap before and after the interaction of NO2 on SnO2 (110). These results indicate high performance of gas sensitivity of SnO2 to NO2. The present studies provide useful strategies for the development of high selective room temperature SnO2-based NO2 sensors. Highlights: The SnO2 porous nanoplates with multiple active edge sites were successfully synthesized by a feasible hydrothermal method via adjusting annealing temperature. The fabricated SnO2-600 sensor displayed excellent NO2-sensing performance with fast response and recovery properties with the aid of UV excitation at room temperature. The gas sensing mechanism and gas selectivity mechanism are investigated by density functional theory calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-span suspension bridges are susceptible to wind loads. Therefore, a more precise analysis of their wind-induced vibration response is necessary to ensure the structure's absolute safety. This investigation conducted wind tunnel tests for the construction and completion stages to reveal the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) phenomenon of a double-deck suspension bridge. The results showed that no VIV occurred during the construction stage. However, the inclusion of railings significantly deteriorated the aerodynamic performance of the suspension bridge, leading to significant VIV at +3° and +5° wind angles of attack. Additionally, reducing the railing ventilation rate can significantly suppress the VIV amplitude. A new analysis method based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is proposed to investigate the VIV mechanism of the double-deck truss girder. Twenty-nine measurement points were used to explore the vortex that causes VIV. The numerical simulations found that the area above and aft of the upper deck dominated the vertical VIV, while the aft of the lower deck dominated the torsional VIV. Furthermore, the intensity of the vortex in these areas was significantly lower during the construction stage. Moreover, reducing the railing ventilation rate significantly suppresses the torsional VIV by reducing the intensity of the vortex in the region behind the lower deck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root rot caused by Fusarium oxysporum is a serious root disease that affects the growth and yield of peanut crops worldwide. Identifying resistance genes is of great significance for both conventional and molecular breeding. At present, there are a few identified disease resistance genes, and the defense response mechanism against this pathogen remains unclear. Using transcriptome analysis techniques, 21 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in plants treated with Bacillus thuringiensis TG5 and carbendazim. Among these DEGs, the TIFY10A protein gene, pyruvate decarboxylase, and UDP glycosyltransferase 74B1 genes play an important role in early resistance to root rot in peanut plants, leading to regulatory factors that trigger immunity. Our study provides important information on the response mechanism of peanut plants to F. oxysporum-induced root rot and the protective benefits of colonization by the microbial pesticide, B. thuringiensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a modified maximum tangential stress criterion by considering T-stress and uniaxial compression tests have been utilized to theoretically and experimentally reveal the fracture initiation mechanism of a center-symmetric closed crack in compacted clay. The results show that wing cracks occur in the linear elastic phase of the stress-strain curve. In the plastic phase of the stress-strain curve, the wing cracks extend gradually and the shear cracks occur. The crack initiation stress and peak stress of compacted clay first decrease with the rise in pre-crack inclination angle (β = 0°–40°), and then increase with the rise in pre-crack inclination angle (β = 50°–90°). When the pre-crack inclination angle is relatively small or large (β ≤ 10° or β ≥ 70°), the crack type is mainly tension cracks. Secondary shear cracks occur when the pre-crack inclination angle is 10°–80°. When the dimensionless crack length is larger than 0.35, the crack types include wing-type tension cracks and secondary shear cracks. The experimental results were compared with the theoretical values. It was found that the critical size rc of compacted clay under compression-shear loading was 0.75 mm, smaller than the value calculated by the empirical formula (12 mm). The MTS criterion considering T-stress can be used to predict the compression-shear fracture behavior of compacted clay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As sustainable structures like steel structures become more widely used, so do their construction issues. Improper lifting measures of long-span spatial steel structures may delay the construction period and even cause safety accidents. These problems have hindered the realization of sustainable buildings. Few studies on long-span spatial steel structures considered time-varying mechanical characteristics during the construction process. During the construction process, it will be found that the installed structure does not meet the required accuracy, and the installed content needs to be removed and re-constructed. This will cause idle work and rework, which will result in a waste of resources and is not conducive to sustainable development. Therefore, it is necessary to study the lifting construction process of long-span spatial steel structures and form a refined construction method. Based on the lifting construction process of the maintenance hangar roof of Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, this study proposes a time-varying mechanical analysis method for synchronous and asynchronous integral lifting of long-span space steel structures basing the Building Information Model (BIM). The force on the lifting point is analyzed during the hoisting construction process when the single-point asynchronous integral lifting and the interlaced point asynchronous integral lifting are carried out. The adverse effect of the displacement difference between lifting points during asynchronous integral lifting is proved. It provides a reference for the safe construction of long-span spatial steel structure lifting and also helps to improve the sustainability of construction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inter-regional freight volume is a crucial factor for transportation infrastructure planning and investment decision-making. However, existing studies on freight volume estimation have mainly focused on the total freight volume within a specific region, without taking freight flow into consideration. In this research, a gravity model was employed to estimate the inter-regional trade coefficient matrix based on the input–output tables of the 31 provinces in China in 2017. The inter-regional freight volume was then determined by converting the value flow into freight flow. To determine the model parameters, we used information from 2017 and subsequently validated the results using dates from 2012 to 2020. We also studied the impact of industrial structure change on freight volume by simulating dates from the aforementioned model in 2017. The results indicated that the model can effectively simulate inter-regional freight volume while taking into account the influence of industrial restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-span double-deck truss girder bridge has become a recommend structural form because of its good performance on traffic capacity. However, the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) characteristics for double-deck truss girders are more complicated and there is a lack of related research. In this research, wind tunnel tests were utilized to investigate the VIV characteristics of a large-span double-deck truss girder bridge. Meanwhile, the VIV suppression effect of the aerodynamic mitigation measures was measured. Furthermore, the VIV suppression mechanism was studied from the perspective of vortex shedding characteristics. The results indicated that the double-deck truss girder had a significant VIV when the wind attack angles were +3° and +5°. The aerodynamic mitigation measures had an influence on the VIV response of the double-deck truss girder. The upper chord fairing and lower chord inverted L-shaped deflector plate played a crucial role in suppressing VIV. Numerical analysis indicated that vortex shedding above the upper deck or in the wake region may dominate vertical VIV, while vortex shedding in the wake region of the lower deck may dominate torsional VIV. The upper chord fairing and lower chord inverted L-shaped deflector plate disrupted the original vortex shedding pattern in both regions, thereby suppressing VIV. This research can provide a foundation for bridge design and vibration suppression measures for large-span double-deck truss girder bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of support friction on mixed-mode I/II fracture behavior of compacted clay using notched deep beam (NDB) specimens under symmetric fixed support. Numerical models of 330 NDB specimens were established considering the crack inclination angle, crack length, support span, and support friction coefficient, and the normalized fracture parameters (YI, YII, and T*) of NDB specimens were calibrated. The numerical results showed that the values of YI, YII, and T* decreased at different degrees after considering the support friction. Notably, the support friction coefficient could significantly change the loading pattern at the crack tip. To verify this phenomenon, 12 compacted clay NDB specimens were prepared, and a mixed-mode I/II fracture test was performed under fixed support conditions; the phenomenon of asymmetric crack propagation was studied. The test data were processed using the numerical calibration results of YI, YII, and T* with and without consideration of friction. Afterward, the test data were compared and analyzed by combining the generalized maximum tangential stress (GMTS) and the maximum tangential stress (MTS) criteria. The analysis indicated that the real fracture characteristics of compacted clay NDB specimens could not be reflected when conducting mixed-mode I/II fracture tests under symmetric fixed support conditions if the test results were analyzed by YI, YII, and T* without considering support friction, as in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rock-socketed pile is widely used in coastal wharf, Marine bridge, and Marine power engineering, and the end bearing function is considered more in the design process. However, the lateral friction resistance of rock-socketed piles is an important bearing part, and the load transfer mechanism of the pile–soft rock interface is an important research focus. In this paper, a comparative analysis was adopted in the test, and ten groups of test specimens were made, including five groups of natural and saturated mudstone specimens, respectively. The characteristics of interfacial load transfer were analyzed through the shear test of a pile–mudstone interface. A calculation model for the vertical bearing capacity of rock-socketed piles based on the softening of lateral friction resistance was established, and the effects of interface relative displacement, lateral positive pressure, pile length, and pile stiffness on the vertical bearing capacity of rock-socketed piles were analyzed. The results show that the shear strength of the pile–rock interface is lower than that of the mudstone interface, and the interfacial shear strength shows the characteristics of "first increasing, then decreasing, and finally flattening with the increase of shear displacement". The vertical ultimate bearing capacity and residual bearing capacity under saturation were 89.49% and 89.73% of the natural state, respectively. With the increase of pile side pressure, the proportion of pile side friction resistance increased by 39.96%, and the pile side friction resistance was fully exerted. With the increase of pile length, the vertical ultimate bearing capacity of pile foundation increased, and the residual bearing capacity change value increased from 6.80% to 16.97%. However, the increase in pile stiffness had little effect on the vertical bearing capacity. The calculation model can provide a certain reference for the design and calculation of rock-socketed piles in soft rock areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire safety evacuation has been used in numerous different kinds of buildings. This research conducts a scientometric review of fire safety evacuation applications and advances in the buildings to clarify the research trends of fire evacuation in the future and provide guidance for relevant research. A total of 3312 journals and conference proceedings were analyzed through different dimensions. The result proves that evacuation environments concentrate mainly on residential building, commercial building, school, and railway station. The characteristics of the evacuee have been gradually refined in recent years, including children, the elderly, patients, and vulnerable groups. The main experimental approaches of fire safety evacuation are evacuation drills, site records, and VR/AR experiments. The crowd behavior models mainly consist of six types: a cellular automata model, a social force model, a lattice gas model, a game-theoretic model, an animal agent-based model, and a computer agent-based model. The analysis results in the theoretical method are becoming gradually closer to the behavioral characteristics and movement data of the crowd during the actual evacuation with improvements of practical considerations. The study of evacuation drills, disaster rescue, emergencies, and other external environmental factors will become the forefront of future research, and subway stations, airports, high-rise building, and other personnel places will be the focus of the study of crowd evacuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of "Internet + Ice and Snow Tourism," the tourism industry has ushered in new development opportunities and external challenges. "Internet + tourism" breeds a new huge tourism market. This new market consists of netizens + purchasing power + purchasing desire. This paper mainly selects the integration of mobile ice and snow tourism and tourism and leisure industry as the main research subject, focusing on the in-depth study of the future development trend of the integration of ice and snow tourism and leisure industry and the mobile Internet industry. The analysis found that the tourism industry in the ice and snow area mainly has the following problems: the division of functional areas is not clear, there is a large gap between service innovation capabilities and industrial demand, and the level of industrial informatization is inconsistent with development goals and the lack of market service credit. On the basis of combining tourism Internet service platform and big data marketing experience, creatively propose to create a new development pattern of "one network, three places and one platform" for ice and snow tourism, promote the "Three New Coverage Projects" of the tourism network, and build a new cross-business cooperation mechanism of "Internet + Tourism"; rely on Internet marketing and publicity measures to enhance the development of tourism service integrity and other countermeasures; use Internet thinking to solve the problems of tourism industry development; and provide suggestions for the innovative development of the tourism industry in the ice and snow regions and the entire autonomous region. The implementation of these countermeasures predicts that the local economy will increase by at least 51.28%, so the development of the "Internet + ice and snow tourism" type industry in combination with the actual situation is not waiting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant tumors worldwide. The ST6 β-galactoside α-2, 6-sialyltransferase 1 (ST6GAL1) has been found aberrantly expressed in a variety of cancers including HCC, but its function and mechanism in regulating liver inflammation remain to be investigated. This study aimed to explore the role of ST6GAL1 in HCC. The data of ST6GAL1 expression, prognosis, and clinical parameters were collected and further analyzed from the public databases including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Human Protein Atlas (HPA), and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The HCC rat model was constructed by intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine. The mRNA and protein expression levels of ST6GAL1 in rat liver tissues were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, capillary electrophoresis, and Western blot. Results: The ST6GAL1 mRNA and protein expression levels were both lower in HCC tissues compared with normal liver tissues in the public databases and HCC rat model. The survival analysis showed that upregulation of ST6GAL1 was an independent prognostic factor for good prognosis in HCC patients. The ST6GAL1 mRNA expression showed a negative correlation with ST6GAL1 methylation levels. Enrichment analysis showed that ST6GAL1 expression was most associated with metabolic, cancer, estrogen, axon guidance, cAMP, and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways. The ST6GAL1 mRNA expression negatively correlated with liver inflammation status and proportion of NK CD56bright, NK CD56dim, pDC, and CD8+ T cells in liver. Conclusion: Compared with normal tissues, ST6GAL1 was lower expressed in HCC tumor tissues, and the downregulation of ST6GAL1 was associated with a poor prognosis in HCC patients. ST6GAL1 could further affect the infiltration of immune cells to exert anti-inflammation function in liver. Our study indicated that ST6GAL1 could be a potential biomarker and therapeutic target to assess the prognosis and regulate the immune cells infiltration level of HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater blasting technology has been widely used in inland waterway improvement projects. However, due to the particularity and complexity of underwater blasting, it is difficult to predict the transmission patterns of underwater blasting shock waves. Therefore, based on the Guoyuan Port Phase II project in Chongqing, the transmission patterns and influencing factors of underwater drilling blast shock wave pressure were investigated by field monitoring and numerical simulation. In this study, a total of 45 groups of shock wave pressures were measured, and the underwater shock wave pressure transmission formula obtained through data fitting was P = 27.39 × (Q1/3/R)1.25. Furthermore, the shock wave pressure transmission process in water was numerically simulated, and the simulation results were verified using field monitoring data. The results showed that the simulation and measured results were consistent. Finally, the influence of water depth, flow rate, and flow direction on the transmission pattern of shock wave pressure was analyzed, based on a numerical simulation method. The results showed that the more blastholes there are, the smaller the peak pressure of the shock wave. The lower the depth of blasting, the faster the decay of shock wave pressure. The flow rate has less effect on the shock wave pressure. At flow rates of 1, 2, 3, and 4 m/s in the range of 0 to 50 m, the shock wave pressure in the upstream flow decreased by 5.7%, 7.4%, 9.1%, and 10.2%, respectively, compared with that in the downstream flow. This study provides a theoretical basis for safety control of underwater drilling blasting engineering in inland waterways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This pilot study aims at exploiting machine learning techniques to extract color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) features and to build an artificial neural network (ANN) model based on these CDUS features for improving the diagnostic performance of thyroid cancer classification. Methods: A total of 674 patients with 712 thyroid nodules (TNs) (512 from internal dataset and 200 from external dataset) were randomly selected in this retrospective study. We used ANN to build a model (TDUS‐Net) for classifying malignant and benign TNs using both the automatically extracted quantitative CDUS features (whole ratio, intranodular ratio, peripheral ratio, and number of vessels) and gray‐scale ultrasound (US) features defined by the American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI‐RADS). Then, we compared the diagnostic performance of the model, the performance of another ANN model based on the gray‐scale US features alone (TUS‐Net), and that of radiologists. Results: The TDUS‐Net (0.898, 95% CI: 0.868–0.922) achieved a higher area under the curve (AUC) than that of TUS‐Net (0.881, 95% CI: 0.850–0.908) in the internal tests. Compared with radiologists, TDUS‐Net (AUC: 0.925, 95% CI: 0.880–0.958) performed better than radiologists (AUC: 0.810, 95% CI: 0.749–0.862) in the external tests. Conclusions: Applying a machine learning model by combining both gray‐scale US features and CDUS features can achieve comparable or even higher performance than radiologists in classifying TNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The waterway from Chongqing to Yibin in the upper Yangtze River provides strong support for the socioeconomic development in Western China, while it also has a negative influence on the river ecosystem, such as river fragmentation, wetland disconnectivity, fish habitat, and biodiversity. Accurately characterizing the exploitation, economic efficiency, and ecological pressure of the waterway from Chongqing to Yibin is of great significance for the further development of the upper Yangtze River. In this study, based on statistical data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the waterway development, economic benefits, and ecological pressure of the waterway from Chongqing to Yibin were evaluated. The sustainability index (SI) was introduced to comprehensively assess the sustainability of waterways using the hierarchical model, which integrates the exploitation ratio (ER), economic efficiency index (EEI), and ecological pressure index (EPI). A relatively low ER (41.04%), a low consistency index (CI, 0.31), a high EEI (9037.18 USA$/gha), and a low EPI (0.33) yielded an SI of 0.70, indicating that the waterway from Chongqing to Yibin in the upper Yangtze River is in a sustainable development stage. Compared with the typical global Golden Inland Waterways, the waterway from Chongqing to Yibin still has great development potential under the prioritizing ecological protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ice and snow economy is an economy characterized by ice and snow, and its foundation is ice and snow resources. The ice and snow economy covers the tertiary industry of ice and snow activities, and its core power comes from ice and snow tourism, which promotes the common development of manufacturing, transportation, catering, retail, and other industries. This paper studies the low-carbon effect measurement analysis of the structural adjustment of the ice and snow industry based on artificial intelligence, which proves that the economic benefits and carbon emissions of the structural adjustment of the ice and snow industry will be greatly improved after the addition of artificial intelligence technology. For this research, a series of investigation experiments are conducted, and the ice and snow industry in Heilongjiang Province is selected for analysis. First, the important position of artificial intelligence technology in today's information society and its practicality are fully analyzed, and then its feasibility in combination with the structural adjustment of the ice and snow industry is analyzed. Second, it analyzes the characteristics of the structural adjustment of the ice and snow industry while taking into account its requirements for measuring low-carbon effects. The mathematical model of industrial structure optimization based on low-carbon constraints is adopted in the application model of artificial intelligence technology in the adjustment of the ice and snow industry structure, and the effects of carbon emissions before and after structural adjustments in the ice and snow industry are calculated to achieve a better industrial structure adjustment plan. Experimental data shows that with the help of artificial intelligence in the process of structural adjustment of the ice and snow industry, the average income of residents has increased by nearly 7%, and the transformation of the ice and snow industry's contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions has rapidly increased to 12.24%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Greater Houston Area, mobile sources contribute to the highest share of NOx emissions and the second-highest share of VOC emissions. The Houston METRO system that operates public buses is a key element of Houston's infrastructures that could reduce the emissions of criteria air pollutants (CAPs) and greenhouse gases (GHGs), thus improving the regional air quality. We used life-cycle assessment (LCA) and life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) to evaluate the environmental sustainability of electric buses and compared it to diesel buses. The LCA simulations demonstrate that life-cycle emissions of GHGs, VOCs, NOx, and black carbon associated with electric buses are lower than conventional diesel and diesel hybrid buses. These lower emissions are mainly attributed to the fact that natural gas currently makes up about 50% of the fuel used to generate electricity in Texas. However, other emissions such as PM10, PM2.5, SOx, N2O, and primary organic carbon are higher and would lead to the higher environmental cost of electric buses than diesel buses. The environmental cost analysis estimates that the annual cost savings of electric buses in 2040 would significantly support the long-term goal of environmental sustainability in the Greater Houston area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex response of underground geomaterials subjected to dynamic disturbance arises from the microstructure redistribution under high in- situ stress and the resulting fracture behaviors at multiaxial stress states. Inclined specimens were employed in an axially constrained split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) system to achieve a combination of compression-shear stress states and static-dynamic loads. The loading rate under investigation ranged from 500 to 4,000 GPa/s, along with the axial prestress of 7, 21, 35, 49, and 63 MPa on specimens with an inclination of 0°, 3°, 5°, and 7°. The modified SHPB experimentation and discrete-element method modeling were implemented to unravel the combined effects of the loading rate, preload, and stress path on the failure mechanism of sandstone specimens involving the failure strength and envelope, fracturing pattern, fragmentation, and microcracking process. The positive rate dependence of the failure strength and Drucker–Prager envelope was observed. The preload showed double effects on the failure strength, indicated by an upper bound of the failure envelope as it expanded with the increasing preload. The microdamage accumulated during preloading and the global stress field collectively influenced the failure pattern of the inclined specimen, altering from a shear fracturing mode under dynamic loading or high-preload static-dynamic loading to an axial splitting mode near the specimen surface under low-preload static-dynamic loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poultry slaughterhouses produce a large amount of wastewater, which is usually treated by conventional methods. The traditional techniques face some challenges, especially the incapability of recovering valuable nutrients and reusing the treated water. Therefore, membrane technology has been widely adopted by researchers due to its enormous advantages over conventional methods. Pressure-driven membranes, such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO), have been studied to purify poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSWW) as a standalone process or an integrated process with other procedures. Membrane technology showed excellent performance by providing high efficiency for pollutant removal and the recovery of water and valuable products. It may remove approximately all the pollutants from PSWW and purify the water to the required level for discharge to the environment and even reuse for industrial poultry processing purposes while being economically efficient. This article comprehensively reviews the treatment and reuse of PSWW with MF, UF, NF, and RO. Most valuable nutrients can be recovered by UF, and high-quality water for reuse in poultry processing can be produced by RO from PSWW. The incredible performance of membrane technology indicates that membrane technology is an alternative approach for treating PSWW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]