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Vegetation phenology is a sensitive indicator of climate change, and can help understand the response of vegetation cycles to climate, which is important for understanding the impact of global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, based on the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) time-series data, derived from the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, the climate parameters were extracted using the Savitzky–Golay (S–G) filtering method to explore the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of the vegetation phenology in an agro-pasture ecotone in China, from 2000 to 2020. In addition, the response characteristics of the vegetation phenology to the climate elements (temperature and precipitation) were also analyzed. The results showed the following: (1) The start of the growing season (SOS) was widely advanced, and that was caused by climate change. The end of the growing season (EOS) was delayed, and the length of the growing season (LOS) was gradually extended with a large interannual fluctuation in the SOS and the LOS in the region; (2) the SOS showed significant negative correlations with the air temperature and precipitation. Precipitation was mainly positively correlated with the EOS, but there was no significant difference in the correlation between temperature and the EOS. In general, pre-season precipitation is the main driver of the vegetation phenology, while the influence of temperature on the phenology is less obvious; (3) in the semi-arid area and arid area, the phenology was mainly influenced by precipitation. The response of the vegetation phenology to the temperatures in different temperature zones was found to be regular, showing high spatial differences. In general, the higher the cumulus temperature, the lower the negative effect of the temperature on both the SOS and EOS. These results may provide new reference to study the non-systematic changes of the vegetation phenology in response to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to survey the associations of six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TMOD1 and PTCSC2 genes with thyroid carcinoma (TC). Method: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 510 patients with TC and 509 normal controls. Six SNPs were genotyped by the Agena MassARRAY platform. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between SNPs and TC susceptibility by calculating odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). SNP-SNP interactions were analyzed by multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR). Results: Our study showed that rs925489 (OR = 1.45, p = 0.011) and rs965513 (OR = 1.40, p = 0.021) were significantly associated with an increased risk of TC. Rs10982622 decreased TC risk (OR = 0.74, p = 0.025). Further stratification analysis showed that rs10982622 reduced the susceptibility to TC in patients aged ≤ 45 years (OR = 0.69, p = 0.019) and in females (OR = 0.61, p = 0.014). Rs925489 increased TC risk in people aged > 45 years (OR = 1.54, p = 0.044) and in males (OR = 2.34, p = 0.003). In addition, rs965513 was related to an increased risk of TC in males (OR = 2.14, p = 0.007). Additionally, haplotypes in the block (rs925489|rs965513) significantly increased TC risk (p < 0.05). The best predictive model for TC was the combination of rs1052270, rs10982622, rs1475545, rs16924016, and rs925489. Conclusion: TMOD1 and PTCSC2 polymorphisms were separately correlated with a remarkable decrease and increase in TC risk based on the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides an important framework for economic, social, and environmental action. A comprehensive indicator system to aid in the systematic implementation and monitoring of progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is unfortunately limited in many countries due to lack of data. The availability of a growing amount of multi-source data and rapid advancements in big data methods and infrastructure provide unique opportunities to mitigate these data shortages and develop innovative methodologies for comparatively monitoring SDGs. Big Earth Data, a special class of big data with spatial attributes, holds tremendous potential to facilitate science, technology, and innovation toward implementing SDGs around the world. Several programs and initiatives in China have invested in Big Earth Data infrastructure and capabilities, and have successfully carried out case studies to demonstrate their utility in sustainability science. This paper presents implementations of Big Earth Data in evaluating SDG indicators, including the development of new algorithms, indicator expansion (for SDG 11.4.1) and indicator extension (for SDG 11.3.1), introduction of a biodiversity risk index as a more effective analysis method for SDG 15.5.1, and several new high-quality data products, such as global net ecosystem productivity, high-resolution global mountain green cover index, and endangered species richness. These innovations are used to present a comprehensive analysis of SDGs 2, 6, 11, 13, 14, and 15 from 2010 to 2020 in China utilizing Big Earth Data, concluding that all six SDGs are on schedule to be achieved by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contextual information plays a pivotal role in the semantic segmentation of remote sensing imagery (RSI) due to the imbalanced distributions and ubiquitous intra-class variants. The emergence of the transformer intrigues the revolution of vision tasks with its impressive scalability in establishing long-range dependencies. However, the local patterns, such as inherent structures and spatial details, are broken with the tokenization of the transformer. Therefore, the ICTNet is devised to confront the deficiencies mentioned above. Principally, ICTNet inherits the encoder–decoder architecture. First of all, Swin Transformer blocks (STBs) and convolution blocks (CBs) are deployed and interlaced, accompanied by encoded feature aggregation modules (EFAs) in the encoder stage. This design allows the network to learn the local patterns and distant dependencies and their interactions simultaneously. Moreover, multiple DUpsamplings (DUPs) followed by decoded feature aggregation modules (DFAs) form the decoder of ICTNet. Specifically, the transformation and upsampling loss are shrunken while recovering features. Together with the devised encoder and decoder, the well-rounded context is captured and contributes to the inference most. Extensive experiments are conducted on the ISPRS Vaihingen, Potsdam and DeepGlobe benchmarks. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations exhibit the competitive performance of ICTNet compared to mainstream and state-of-the-art methods. Additionally, the ablation study of DFA and DUP is implemented to validate the effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a large-scale irrigation and water conservancy project in ancient times, karez are common in Central Asia and arid regions with a history of thousands of years. Turpan, which is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has the most extensive and concentrated distribution of karez shafts in China. There are tens of thousands of shafts, some of which are in use and are living cultural heritage. According to radiocarbon (14C) dating, some karezs are over 600 years old. The karez is of great significance to the research on geology, hydrology, oasis, climate change, and development history of karez in Turpan. With the development of the population, arable land, industrialization, and urbanization, karez systems are facing the risk of abandonment. Detailed karez distribution mapping or dynamic monitoring data are important for their management or analysis; although there are related methods, due to Turpan's large desert and "Gobi" environments, field surveys are time- and energy-consuming, and some areas are difficult to access. Precise shaft locations and distribution maps are scarce and often lack georeferencing. The distribution and preservation of karez have not yet been fully grasped. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of You Only Look Once version 5 (YOLOv5) in automatically detecting karez in high-resolution images of the Turpan region. We propose post-processing steps to reduce the false karez identified by YOLOv5. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using YOLOv5 and post-processing techniques to detect karez automatically, and the detected results are sufficient to capture the linear alignment of karez. Target detection based on YOLOv5 and post-processing can greatly improve automatic shaft identification and is therefore useful for the fine mapping of karez. We also applied this method in Shanshan County (for which no detailed mapping data on karez has been obtained before) and successfully detected some karez that had not been archived before. The number of shafts in Turpan is 82,493. Through DBSCAN clustering, it was identified which karez line belonged to which shaft; the number of sections of karez that have been used is 5057, which have a total length of 2387.2 km. The karez line obtained was overlaid with the crop-land data, and the positional relationship between the karez line and the crop land was analyzed. The cultivated area is basically surrounded by karez. Our method can potentially be applied to construct an inventory for all karez shafts globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The zone adjacent to a transcription start site (TSS), namely, the promoter, is primarily involved in the process of DNA transcription initiation and regulation. As a result, proper promoter identification is critical for further understanding the mechanism of the networks controlling genomic regulation. A number of methodologies for the identification of promoters have been proposed. Nonetheless, due to the great heterogeneity existing in promoters, the results of these procedures are still unsatisfactory. In order to establish additional discriminative characteristics and properly recognize promoters, we developed the hybrid model for promoter identification (HMPI), a hybrid deep learning model that can characterize both the native sequences of promoters and the morphological outline of promoters at the same time. We developed the HMPI to combine a method called the PSFN (promoter sequence features network), which characterizes native promoter sequences and deduces sequence features, with a technique referred to as the DSPN (deep structural profiles network), which is specially structured to model the promoters in terms of their structural profile and to deduce their structural attributes. Results: The HMPI was applied to human, plant and Escherichia coli K-12 strain datasets, and the findings showed that the HMPI was successful at extracting the features of the promoter while greatly enhancing the promoter identification performance. In addition, after the improvements of synthetic sampling, transfer learning and label smoothing regularization, the improved HMPI models achieved good results in identifying subtypes of promoters on prokaryotic promoter datasets. Conclusions: The results showed that the HMPI was successful at extracting the features of promoters while greatly enhancing the performance of identifying promoters on both eukaryotic and prokaryotic datasets, and the improved HMPI models are good at identifying subtypes of promoters on prokaryotic promoter datasets. The HMPI is additionally adaptable to different biological functional sequences, allowing for the addition of new features or models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li‐ion hybrid supercapacitors (LHSCs) are intensely studied due to their favorable power densities. However, combined higher energy density materials, particularly anodes, are desirably sought. Herein, a defect‐dominating structure protocol is reported. Specifically, two visible structural defects, i.e., crystal vacancy and lattice distortion have been introduced in situ in ultrafine niobium nitride (NbN) monocrystals that are integrated into a carbon (C) framework. Highly reversible Li‐ion storage capacities up to 540 mAh g−1 are demonstrated in such a NbN@C composite anode, together with excellent rate capability and cycling stability. An extra vacancy‐induced capacity contribution of the defective NbN component is evidenced by first‐principles density functional theory (DFT) simulations in contrast to perfect modeling. Coupling with an activated carbon (AC) cathode, the NbN@C//AC cell can deliver balanced energy and power densities of 53.8 Wh kg−1 and 7818 W kg−1 at 4 A g−1, and retain a desired energy density of 56.1 Wh kg−1 after 10 000 cycles at 1 A g−1. Findings from this study, particularly the demonstrated defects‐induced extra capacity of pseudocapacitive materials, may inspire new structural material designs of LHSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing availability of multiplatform, multiband, very-high-resolution (VHR) satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data has attracted the attention of a growing number of scientists and archeologists. In particular, over the last two decades, archeological research has benefited from SAR development mainly due to its unique ability to acquire scenes both at night and during the day under all weather conditions, its penetration capability, and the provided polarimetric and interferometric information. This paper explored the potential of a novel method (nonlocal (NL)-SAR) using TerraSAR-X (TSX) and Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation (COSMO)-SkyMed (CSK) data to detect buried archeological remains in steep, rugged terrain. In this investigation, two test sites were selected in southern Tunisia, home to some of the most valuable and well-preserved limes from the Roman Empire. To enhance the subtle signals linked to archeological features, the speckle noise introduced into SAR data by the environment and SAR system must be mitigated. Accordingly, the NL-SAR method was applied to SAR data pertaining to these two significant test sites. Overall, the investigation (i) revealed a fortified settlement from the Roman Empire and (ii) identified an unknown urban area abandoned during this period via a field survey, thus successfully confirming the capability of SAR data to reveal unknown, concealed archeological sites, even in areas with a complex topography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paradigm of dynamic data driven application system (DDDAS) has been proposed as a framework to analyze and predict the character and behavior of complex systems that influence computational models significantly. Its accuracy and efficiency lies in its ability to integrate observations on different temporal and spatial scales from real-time sensors, and in its measurement steering and controlling capabilities. Many problems in environmental sciences are nonlinear and complex, impossible to solve by using input/output sequence flows without feedback control. Nonlinear system efficiency depends on measurement control and steering, on-line data assimilation, and model selection with dynamic optimization. Compared with traditional methods, DDDAS possesses the capacity to overcome these limitations. This paper discusses DDDAS and classifies typical cases of its application in environmental sciences into three levels of paradigm. Short reviews of multi-model simulation and data assimilation are provided for practical use. Recent developments and future perspectives are reviewed. Future work may address determining automatically where, when, and how to acquire real-time data, and its integration with GIS, to improve efficiency and accuracy. User-generated content will find wide application in the future. Considering the differences between DDDAS and other data-driven methods in solving the same nonlinear complex system problems, a combination of nonlinear science and chaos theory is advocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dockless bicycle sharing is one of the low-carbon transportation modes towards sustainable mobilities. Electric fences, as an effective solution for parking management, may have a high potential in guiding the usage of dockless bicycles at a low operation cost. However, new issues arise with the implementation of electric fences. The location of electric fences in hotspots fails to match the parking demand, leading the parking congestion in urban central areas. In this paper, a novel methodology of bicycle hotspots identification and classification is proposed to support parking management. An evaluation framework for bicycle hotspots is also proposed covering three aspects: demand and supply, unbalance, and land use. The methodology is applied to the case of Xiamen Island by using the trip data covering 53,629 bicycles during morning peak hours. Applying the methodology proposed, 47 pick-up hotspots and 53 return hotspots are identified, respectively. The total parking overload of return hotspots during the morning peak is 12,587 bicycles in Xiamen Island. The 53 return hotspots are classified into three clusters, including (1) hotspots where bicycle sharing is in overload status, (2) hotspots where bicycle sharing service quality needs to be improved, and (3) hotspots where bicycle sharing is in stable status. Based on the demand and land use characteristics, parking management schemes and policy implications are proposed. The result of this paper provides guidance for the layout of dockless bicycle sharing electric fences in different areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Transverse electron injection confines electrons well within the multiple quantum wells and overcome the electron overflow. • The narrow and long mesa designs enhance the electron injection and light extraction characteristics. • Transverse structure deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes implement high modulation bandwidth and high light output power simultaneously. Conventional structure deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) at short wavelengths typically suffer from electron overflow and low light-emitting efficiency. For solar-blind communication application, conventional DUV-LEDs are struggling to simultaneously implement high external quantum efficiency (EQE) and high modulation bandwidth. In this paper, we report that transverse structure LEDs can overcome abovementioned problems and achieve high EQE and high modulation bandwidth. The n-AlGaN free transverse structure LEDs have been demonstrated to yield high crystal quality multiple quantum wells (MQWs). Due to the transverse electron injection, transverse structure LEDs can confine electrons well within the MQWs and avoid electron overflow. To enhance the electron injection and light extraction characteristics, the narrow and long mesa designs were optimized by both experimental and theoretical-fit results. Finite-difference time domain simulation indicates that the n+-GaN layer of the transverse LEDs with the transverse MQWs mesa design does not degrade light extraction. The transverse structure LEDs attain the maximum light output power and EQE recorded to date for DUV-LEDs below 250 nm, respectively 14 mW and 1.72 %. Furthermore, the −3 dB modulation bandwidth can be achieved up to 416 MHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural volatile oil has high medicinal value, but the extraction and separation technology were limited by low composition, complex composition, and strong volatility. This study validated the feasibility of membrane separation technology for enriching volatile oil from the aspects of membrane separation efficiency, volatile oil components, and drug efficacy. A shellac coated alumina ceramic (lac@AC) membrane with irregular nanoneedle-like surface structure was prepared to enrich the volatile oil from vinegar-processed Cyperi Rhizoma (vpCR). Compared to the alumina ceramic (AC) membrane, the lac@AC membrane exhibited 29.77 % and 98.05 % increase in water and emulsion flux, respectively. Meanwhile, the oil rejection of lac@AC membrane increased 26.29 %. According to the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, the similarity between the volatile oils obtained by membrane separation and the traditional steam distillation method was higher than 99.5 %. In addition, antibacterial experiments showed that the volatile oil obtained by membrane separation has similar antibacterial effects to the volatile oil obtained by steam distillation. Component analysis and pharmacodynamic analysis both demonstrated the feasibility of using membrane separation to obtain vpCR volatile oil. This study offers a technical reference for the efficient, high-quality, and environmentally friendly extraction of natural plant oils with complex ingredients. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The external alternating magnetic field (AMF) strategy is the most promising research topic to solve the bottleneck of catalyst activity enhancement. However, the mechanism between the arrangement of the spin electrons under the AMF and the catalytic activity enhancement for water splitting is still unclear. Herein, we synthesize Fe 3 O 4 @CNTs heterostructure as a research model and resolve the mechanism by system theoretical analysis and in-situ Raman characterization. The multiple orbital interactions of σ(d z 2, p z , s) and π(d xz - p x , d yz - p y) promote the hexa-coordinated Fe oct for both the reductive HER and oxidative OER processes. The AMF excites the transition from low to high spin configurations of the Fe oct sites, which accelerates charge transfer of unpaired d electrons and optimizes adsorption and desorption interactions to intermediates during the reaction processes, resulting in a significant enhancement of the electrocatalytic activity (HER: 32 mV at 10 mA cm−2, OER: 179 mV at 100 mA cm−2). [Display omitted] • Density functional theory calculations reveal the high catalytic activity of hexa-coordinated iron sites. • Constructing heterostructures and applying external magnetic fields jointly influence material activity. • Mechanism for enhancing the activity of high-spin state electron orbitals through external magnetic field regulation. • In-situ Raman real-time monitoring of highly active FeOOH species during the reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescent probes for determination of strongly acidic pH values are urgently needed, especially the ones with ratiometric signal changes. Here, two fluorescent probes (CP and CyC) based on coumarin-hemicyanine were synthesized. Both probes emitted red fluorescence under weakly acidic to weakly alkaline conditions, whereas blue fluorescence under strongly acidic conditions. Notably, probe CP displayed good stability, water solubility, anti-interference ability, repeated utilization and instant response. Encouraged by the good performance, probe CP based test strips were used to indicate the pH of aqueous solutions, and to detect HCl or NH 3 vapor in air reversibly. [Display omitted] • Two ratiometric fluorescent probes to detect extreme acidity are synthesized. • The probe CP shows desired properties and good performance in detecting pH. • The probe CP can be conveniently used on paper strips and in real water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "A 5-and a-half-year-experiment shows precipitation thresholds in litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics in arid and semi-arid regions." The original article was published online on November 27, 2023, with Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. However, the authors later decided to cancel Open Access, and the copyright of the article changed on December 7, 2023, to © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023 with all rights reserved. The publisher, Springer Nature, remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The authors of the article are Hao Qu, Eduardo Medina-Roldán, Shaokun Wang, Xujun Ma, Xinyuan Wang, Xia Tang, and Liangxu Liu. [Extracted from the article]

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the genome are remarkably useful resources for investigating the genome architecture, studying the genetic basis of complex traits and implementation of genomic selection. However, information on high-density SNPs is unavailable for most aquaculture species owing to the high costs of whole genome sequencing. Genotype imputation is an attractive approach for obtaining large number of genomic variants at a low cost. In this study, the first haplotype reference panel was constructed for Chlamys farreri , an economically important mollusk species and a major contributor to aquaculture in China. A total of 174 scallops from six populations in the main scallop culture area were selected for whole-genome resequencing. More than 87.47 million SNPs were identified and 3,968,417 SNPs genome-wide were selected for constructing the haplotype reference panel for C. farreri. The number of SNPs per chromosome ranged from 125,000 to 279,981 with an average spacing of 242 bases. Several factors were evaluated based on the imputation performance of the reference panel. The imputation accuracies of 19 chromosomes ranged from 0.91 to 0.95, and there were no significant differences among them (p > 0.05). The imputation accuracies of populations could reach 0.95, 0.93, and 0.90 for ZY, PR, and CS respectively, which confirmed a positive relationship between the kinship within the population and the imputation accuracy. The imputation accuracies increased with sequencing depth and plateaued at 0.5×, reaching accuracies of 0.91–0.93 for artificially breeding populations. Taken together, we constructed a haplotype reference panel for C. farreri , which can provide a cost-effective way to extend the limited number of genotypes for boosting the power of downstream analyses such as genome-wide association studies and genomic selection. • The first haplotype reference panel of Chlamys farreri was constructed and included 3.9 M SNPs. • The imputation accuracy was not different among 19 chromosomes. • The imputation accuracy improved with increasement of kinship between target individuals and reference population. • The imputation accuracies could reach 0.93 with 0.5× sequencing depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing is an effective mean to prevent coal bumps in deep coal mining. The calculation of stress redistribution of coal sidewall after hydraulic fracturing can evaluate the fracturing effect and provide a reference for the hydraulic fracturing scheme design. In this paper, a theoretical model of stress redistribution of roadway sidewall after hydraulic fracturing is established with considering the effect of crushing zone. And the influences of the water injection length and the fracturing radius on the stress redistribution of roadway sidewall are investigated. The results show that the water injection section should be set at a deeper position with considering the existence of the crushing zone. The coal roadway sidewall after hydraulic fracturing is divided into five zones: the crushing zone, the shallow plastic zone, the pressure relief zone, the deep plastic zone, and the elastic zone. The stress redistribution law is obviously affected by the water injection section length and fracturing radius. With the increase of water injection length or fracturing radius, the pressure relief effect is more evident, but the axial force of rockbolt increases gradually. In order to acquire a better pressure relief effect, the matching of the water injection length and the fracturing radius should be considered crucially in the hydraulic fracturing design for preventing coal bumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selective-area regrowth (SAG) n-type GaN source/drain electrode has been widely used in high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) for high-frequency applications. Previous studies focused only on device performances, but not on SAG n+-GaN in devices. This paper studies electron concentration and mobility of SAG n+-GaN on InAlN/GaN HEMTs via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). It is revealed that electron mobility of SAG GaN is significantly affected by thickness. The decrease in mobility in a thin GaN may be attributed to regrowth interface defects. A gas flow model on the regrowth region is proposed to guide the regrowth of SAG GaN for improving the electron mobility. A high electron mobility of 138 cm2/V s with an electron concentration of 5.2 × 1019/cm3 is obtained from an 80-nm n+-GaN with the regrowth width of 10 μm. Due to the high doping level, the nonalloy metal-semiconductor contact resistance (Rm-GaN) is as low as 0.041 Ω mm. The interface resistance (Rint) between GaN and 2DEG is extracted using transfer length measurement (TLM) models and found to be 0.106 Ω mm. The on-resistance (Ron) is 0.753 Ω mm for InAlN/GaN HEMT with a source-drain metal spacing (Lsd metal) of 2 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop nomograms for effective prediction of cause-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) of patients who underwent radical operation for stage I-III appendiceal adenocarcinoma.Methods: Clinical information from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database was retrieved from 2004 to 2015 and subjected to multivariate analysis to explore variables that affect the OS and CSS. Results were used to construct nomograms to assess the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS and CSS rates, then their calibration accuracy and discriminative power were examined using Kaplan-Meier curves, calibration plots, and C statistics.Results: Overall, 1,241 patients were included in the analysis. We found 7 and 5 factors that could independently alter the prognosis, then used for creating nomograms for evaluating the OS and CSS, respectively, with respective C-index values of 0.741 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.729-0.754) and 0.747 (95% CI: 0.733-0.762). Calibration and receiver operating characteristic curves further revealed excellent predictive performance.Conclusions: We successfully built highly accurate nomograms for evaluating the 1-, 3-, and 5-year CSS and OS rates in subjects who underwent radical operation for stage I-III appendiceal adenocarcinoma. Further studies, involving prospective validations, are required to validate these nomograms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practicality of portable fluorescent detectors has attracted widespread attention. Herein, a series of luminogens was obtained via integrating pyrrole/fluorinated-pyrrole with triphenylamine in high yield. The emission performance was modified via varying the F and CN substituents on the pyrrole ring. The compounds TPACHO and TPAFCHO, with aldehyde-group-substituted pyrrole, exhibit significant mechanochromic luminescence (MCL) behavior and typical AIEE properties. The compounds TPA2CN and TPA2FCN can efficiently detect liquid and gaseous hydrazine hydrate, and they can achieve paper-based detection through visually clear emission color switching from yellow/orange to blue. The minimum detectable concentration of hydrazine was 10 mM. Moreover, TPA2CN exhibits good inhibitory activity toward human nasopharyngeal tumor cells (CNE1) and it has application prospects in tumor cell detection and biological cell monitoring. Thus, such functionalized paper can be applied as highly selective discriminating test strips for hydrazine hydrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 vaccine enhanced the induction and mature of DCs. • H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 could induce tumor-specific CD8+ T cell responses. • H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 vaccine could inhibit the tumor growth of renal cancer. • CD8+ T cells are required for the induction of protective anti-tumor immunity by H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3. Metastatic renal carcinoma is a kind of tumor with high degree of malignancy, but there are no effective treatment methods and strategies at present. In this study, we designed a folate-grafted PEI600-CyD (H1) nanoparticle-mediated DNA vaccine containing an adjuvant of high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) and a tumor-specific antigen of B7H3 (CD276) for renal carcinoma therapy. Mice bearing subcutaneous human B7H3 (hB7H3)-Renca tumor were immunized with H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3, H1-pB7H3, H1-pHMGB1, or Mock vaccine. Compared to other control groups, the growth of the tumor was significantly inhibited in H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 vaccine group. The increased proportion and mature of CD11c+ DCs were observed in the spleen of H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 treated mice. Likewise, HMGB1 promoted B7H3 vaccine to induce tumor-specific CD8+ T cell proliferation and CTL responses. Beyond that, H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 vaccine strengthened the induction of functional CD8+ T cells. With the depletion of CD8+ T cells, the anti-tumor effect of H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 also disappeared, indicating that CD8+ T cells are the key factor of the anti-tumor activity of the vaccine. So, to sum up, H1-pHMGB1/pB7H3 vaccine could achieve the desired anti-tumor effect by enhancing the response of tumor-specific functional CD8+ T cell responses. H1 nanoparticle-based vaccines may have great potential and prospect in the treatment of primary solid tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Phosphate metabolism is known to be regulated by the PhoPR regulatory system in Streptomyces and some other bacteria. In this study, we report that MtrA also regulates phosphate metabolism in Streptomyces. Our data showed that, in Streptomyces coelicolor, MtrA regulates not only phosphate metabolism genes such as phoA but also phoP under different phosphate conditions, including growth on rich complex media without added inorganic phosphate and on defined media with low or high concentrations of inorganic phosphate. Cross‐regulation was also observed among mtrA, phoP and glnR under these conditions. We demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo binding of MtrA to the promoter regions of genes associated with phosphate metabolism and to the intergenic region between phoR and phoU, indicating that these phosphate metabolism genes are targets of MtrA. We further showed that MtrA in S. lividans and S. venezuelae has detectable regulatory effects on expression of phosphate metabolism genes. Additionally, the MtrA homologue from Corynebacterium glutamicum bound predicted MtrA sites of multiple phosphate metabolism genes, implying its potential for regulating phosphate metabolism in this species. Overall, our findings support MtrA as a major regulator for phosphate metabolism in Streptomyces and also potentially in other actinobacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining oil slick thickness plays an important role in assessing oil spill volume and its environmental impacts on the ocean. In this study, we used a Hyperion image of an oil spill accident area and seawater and fresh crude oil samples collected in the Bohai Sea of China. A well-controlled laboratory experiment was designed to simulate spectral responses to different oil slick thicknesses. Spectral resampling and normalization methods were used to reduce the differences in spectral reflectances between the experimental background seawater sample and real background seawater. Fitting the analysis with laboratory experimental data results showed a linear relationship between normalized oil slick reflectance and normalized oil slick thickness [20th band (R2=0.92938,n=49,p<0.01), 26th band (R2=0.93806,n=49,p<0.01), 29th band (R2=0.93288,n=49,p<0.01)]. By using these statistical models, we successfully determined the normalized oil slick thickness with the Hyperion image. Our results indicate that hyperspectral remote sensing technology is an effective method to monitor oil spills on water. The spectral ranges of visible green and red light were the optimal bands for estimating oil slick thickness in case 2 water. The high, stabilized spectral reflectance of background seawater will be helpful in oil slick thickness inversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With abundant aggregate network bandwidth, continuous data streams are commonly used in scientific and commercial applications. Correspondingly, there is an increasing demand of authenticating these data streams. Existing strategies explore data stream authentication by using message authentication codes (MACs) on a certain number of data packets (a data block) to generate a message digest, then either embedding the digest into the original data, or sending the digest out-of-band to the receiver. Embedding approaches inevitably change the original data, which is not acceptable under some circumstances (e.g., when sensitive information is included in the data). Sending the digest out-of-band incurs additional communication overhead, which consumes more critical resources (e.g., power in wireless devices for receiving information) besides network bandwidth. In this paper, we propose a novel strategy, DaTA, which effectively authenticates data streams by selectively adjusting some interpacket delay. This authentication scheme requires no change to the original data and no additional communication overhead. Modeling-based analysis and experiments conducted on an implemented prototype system in an LAN and over the Internet show that our proposed scheme is efficient and practical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passivation of carbon dots (CDs) are usually implemented through coupling reactions, which requires either specific functional groups on the surface of CDs or multiple steps. In this paper, we propose a feasible method to passivate CDs via in-situ free radical polymerization, which has no dependence on functional groups and thus is suitable for CDs prepared via either bottom-up or top-down route. Taking bare CDs that cut from active carbon by top-down method as an example. When putting acrylic acid, sodium methallyl sulfonate and acrylic phosphate ester as monomers into the bare CDs solution along with ammonium persulfate, stirring at room temperature for 2h, the monomers were polymerized and formed terpolymer-passivated CDs (T-CDs) of which quantum yields (QY) increased obviously. The QY of the bare CDs and the T-CDs were 0.2% and 29.1%, respectively. More interestingly, the bare CDs were found capable of constructing a redox-initiated couple with ammonium persulfate to initiate polymerization. Another example token to further approve the feasibility and universality of "in-situ free radical polymerization" passivation method is our reported poly (N-vinylcarbazole)-passivated CDs (PVK-CDs) that prepared by bottom-up method. The PVK-CDs were synthesized via thermal treatment of a mixture composed of citric acid and N-vinylcarbazole molecules at 300 °C for 2 h. During the process the citric acid was carbonized to provide pristine CDs and N-vinylcarbazole was in-situ polymerized on the surface of the pristine CDs through thermal initiation, which enhances the fluorescence QY up to 40%. [Display omitted] • Propose a feasible and universal method for passivating carbon dots (CDs) based on free radical polymerization. • The passivation method can improve the quantum yield and realize the functionalization of CDs through the design of monomers. • The passivation method has no dependence on functional groups and the structure of CDs. • The passivation method is suitable for CDs derived from different sources and preparing methods. • CDs are capable of being reductants to form a redox-initiated couple and boost the passivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines deficit irrigation on greenhouse grown cucumber in the North China Plain (NCP). The level of fulfillment of water requirements was used as a gauge to differentiate five border irrigation treatments. Fresh fruit yields were highly influenced by the total volume of irrigation water at every growth stage. The treatment with minimum irrigation water applied had the lowest productions. The mathematical functions that better fit for the production obtained with the water volume received were linearism, but the functions of evapotranspiration (ET) and yield were second-degree polynomials. The water use efficiency (WUE) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) decreased with the increase of irrigation water applied from stem fruiting to the end, significantly since harvest of zenith fruits. But WUE and IWUE were ascending with the increase of irrigation water from cucumber field setting to first fruit ripening. Well irrigation along the whole cycle was a clearly advisable irrigation regime. On the other hand, the least advisable regimes were those that lead to deficiencies from harvest of the first fruit to the zenith fruits. But we strongly recommend actions be taken to limit the inefficient soil evaporation that resulted from higher temperature at the last growth stages in order to improve WUE and IWUE. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a novel discrete squirrel search optimization algorithm for the bi-objective traveling salesman problem (TSP). Firstly, the squirrel search algorithm, a single-objective optimization algorithm, needs to be improved to a multi-objective optimization algorithm. This paper designs a mapping fitness function according to the Pareto sorting level and grid density to evaluate all the feasible solutions and applies a selection probability based on the roulette wheel selection. Then, this paper implements this algorithm and other algorithms on classic multi-objective test functions to analyze solutions’ convergence and diversity. It is concluded that it has a good performance in solving multi-objective problems. Moreover, based on this multi-objective squirrel search algorithm, this paper then designs an encoding method to initialize solutions, applies a crossover operator to the squirrel migration process, and utilizes a mutation operator to the squirrel mutation stage. In this case, a discrete squirrel search optimization for the bi-objective traveling salesman problem (TSP) is finally designed. And this paper analyzes the results of this algorithm and other algorithms running on classic bi-objective TSPs. As a result, the presented algorithm’s solutions are also superior to other algorithms for convergence and spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adverse effects of glucocorticoids (GCs) on bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSCs) play an important role in steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). Our previous miRNA microarray analysis indicated that microRNA-224-5p (miR-224-5p) could be a potential regulator; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we demonstrated that miR-224-5p was upregulated in GC-treated BMSCs, and functional experiments revealed that miR-224-5p could suppress osteogenic but promote adipogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Smad4 was identified as a direct target gene of miR-224-5p, and the Smad4-Taz axis was confirmed as the regulatory pathway for adipo-osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Our in vivo experiments further confirmed that the miR-224-5p antagomir could alleviate the inhibitory effects of GCs and facilitate bone formation in steroid-induced ONFH models. Therefore, these findings provide insight into the function of miR-224-5p as a reciprocal regulator of the adipo-osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, and it could serve as a novel therapeutic target for steroid-induced ONFH. • miR-224-5p serves as a reciprocal regulator of the adipo-osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. • Smad4-TAZ axis is the intrinsic regulator of miR-224-5p in osteogenesis and adipogenesis. • Inhibition of miR-224-5p reduces the degree and incidence of steroid-induced ONFH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Hydrophobic silibinin was linked to the N-acetylgalactosamine-modified hydrophilic dextran backbone via a phenylboronic acid linkage to produce an amphiphilic polymer. • ROS-responsive liver-targeting NPs for efficient encapsulation of hydrophobic cell-permeable Ca2+ chelator BAPTA-AM agents via hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions. • The released BAPTA-AM blocked the sterile inflammatory reaction and apoptosis signaling in the upstream link of acute liver injury. • The silibinin exerted synergistic hepatoprotective effects after the ROS-responsive cleavage of phenylboronic acid. Calcium overload in hepatocytes mediates the crosstalk and amplification loop with oxidative stress and severe inflammation that initiate pro-apoptotic and necrotic signaling pathways in acute liver injury (ALI). In this study, an N-acetylgalactosamine-modified amphiphilic dextran-silibinin conjugate (GalNAc-Dex-Sil) with ROS-sensitive phenylboronic acid (PBA) linkage was synthesized. The as-prepared amphiphilic polymer was self-assembled into GalNAc-Dex-Sil nanoparticles, which efficiently encapsulated the membrane-permeable calcium chelator BAPTA-AM (BA), achieving GalNAc-mediated hepatocyte-specific targeting and ROS-responsive release in injured hepatocytes through PBA cleavage. Accordingly, a single low-dose injection of formulation (BA: 150 μg·kg−1) significantly alleviated hepatocyte oxidative stress and inflammation, rescued dying hepatocytes, prevented further hepatocyte damage, and ultimately restored liver function in the ALI mouse model by 1) rapidly and effectively eliminating the overloaded calcium and scavenging excessive ROS via released BA to block the feed-forward vicious cycles of the cell damage, 2) inhibiting the inflammatory cascade by decreasing the expression of the key factor of the NF-κB/NLPR3 axis, 3) inhibiting the key branch of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway (Cyt C/Bcl-2 family/caspase-3 axis) and death receptor pathway (TNFα/Caspase-8 axis), and 4) stabilizing hepatocyte membranes through the synergistic hepatoprotective effect of silibinin. Taken together, this formulation exhibited great potential as a potent and effective ALI treatment strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of tourism in the World Natural Heritage Sites (WNHSs), it made ecological environment issues increasingly become prominent while boosting regional economic development. Exploring the influence and evolution of natural and socio-economic factors will help to maintain the authenticity and integrity of the WNHSs, and promote sustainable development. Here, to better understand the sustainable development situation of the WNHSs, we construct a nature-society-based comprehensive evaluation framework, and combining the remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) with the spatial autocorrelation model, and employed the obstacle factor diagnostic model, to reveal the spatial–temporal characteristics and the key driving factor of ecological environment in the Jiuzhaigou. Meanwhile, we assess the integrated ecological sensitivity of the Jiuzhaigou and determine the key conservation area. Through the analysis of results, we find that RSEI from 2013 to 2020 exhibits a fluctuation trend resembling an "N-shape", high RSEI points tend to cluster in the southern part of the study area, while low RSEI points cluster in the northern part, it has a significant spatial heterogeneity. We shed further light on that when the number of tourists exceeds the population carrying capacity of the heritage site, the negative impacts of tourism development on the natural environment will outweigh the positive impacts of tourism revenue growth on regional economic development and constrain the sustainable development of the site as a whole. Specifically, dissolved oxygen concentration in water, nitrogen dioxide concentration, and noise are the main drivers of nature. The proportion of tertiary industry, fixed asset investment, and total tourism consumption are the main drivers of society. Furthermore, the ecological sensitivity of Jiuzhaigou is moderately low. Therefore, we suggest that the government should improve and refine the existing disaster early warning mechanism, dynamically adjust and control the number of tourists received per day, harmonize the relationship between economic development and environmental protection, and strengthen the protection of authenticity and integrity in areas of high ecological sensitivity. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Micro-aeration and leachate recirculation accelerate the stabilization of landfill. • The integrated process promotes the enrichment of facultative bacteria. • Bacteria that cause hydrolytic acidity benefit the stabilizing process. • Synergy between methanogens and acidifying bacteria is enhanced in integrated process. The long duration of landfill stabilization is one of the challenges faced by municipalities. In this paper, a combination of micro-aeration and leachate recirculation is used to achieve rapid degradation of organic matter in landfill waste. The results showed that the content of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in the hydrolysis phase increased significantly and could enter the methanogenic phase quickly. Until the end of the landfill, the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP) and ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 +–N) by micro-aeration and leachate recirculation reached 80.17 %, 48.30 % and 48.56 %, respectively, and the organic matter degradation rate reached 50 %. Micro-aeration and leachate recirculation enhanced the abundance of facultative hydrolytic bacteria such as Rummeliibacillus and Bacillus and the oxygen tolerance of Methanobrevibacter and Methanoculleus. Micro-aeration and leachate recirculation improved the organic matter degradation efficiency of landfill waste by promoting the growth of functional microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The AXEPT trial demonstrated that modified XELIRI (mXELIRI; capecitabine + irinotecan) was noninferior to standard treatment with FOLFIRI (fluorouracil + leucovorin + irinotecan), both ± bevacizumab, in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The present study was designed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of mXELIRI versus FOLFIRI as a second-line treatment of mCRC. We developed a Markov model to estimate the costs and health outcomes of mXELIRI and FOLFIRI in patients with mCRC from the Chinese payer perspective. Survival data, transition probabilities, and health utility values were obtained from published studies. The costs of drugs were obtained from the West China Hospital. Life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained, incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) values were regarded as the primary end points. One-way sensitivity analysis and probabilistic sensitivity analysis were performed to evaluate the impact of uncertainty of parameters in the analysis. The effectiveness was found to be 0.48 QALYs (1.14 LYs) in the mXELIRI arm and 0.41 QALYs (1.05 LYs) in the FOLFIRI arm, with total costs of 29,896.41 US dollars (USD) in the mXELIRI arm and 28,894.68 USD in the FOLFIRI arm. The ICER and ICUR with mXELIRI versus FOLFIRI were 11,130.33 USD/LY and 14,310.43 USD/QALY gained, which were less than the willingness-to-pay threshold in China (25,840.88 USD/QALY). Based on the results of this study, mXELIRI was found to be a cost-effective alternative to FOLFIRI as a second-line treatment of mCRC in patients in China. • The present study is the first to investigate both the overall health and economic effects of capecitabine plus irinotecan versus leucovorin, fluorouracil, and irinotecan as second-line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer based on the Phase III, randomized, double-blind AXEPT trial in China. • In base-case analysis, our results suggested that mXELIRI treatment is a cost-effective second-line treatment for mCRC compared with FOLFIRI treatment in China. • We performed sensitivity analysis to evaluate robustness of the model and address uncertainty of estimated parameters, and the results of the sensitivity analysis are consistent with the base case analysis. • Our study should give suggestions of pharmacoeconomics for the decision-making process to make better recommendations regarding the second-line therapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, chromium coating conducted by magnetron sputtering was introduced to braze SiC ceramics using inactive AgCu filler metal. The results showed that reliable metallurgical bonding of SiC ceramics was obtained at 900°C for 10 minutes. SEM, XRD, and TEM were used to identify the reaction phase in the joint, and the typical interfacial microstructure was SiC/mixed CrSi2 + Cr23C6 layer/CrSi2/Ag(s,s)+Cu(s,s)/CrSi2/mixed CrSi2 + Cr23C6 layer/SiC. The shear strength of SiC joint using chromium coating brazed with inactive AgCu filler metal was 29.6 MPa and the joint fractured at the SiC substrate entirely after shear test. The proposed active element coating method provides a feasible way to achieve the brazing of ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary gastrointestinal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PGI-DLBCL) is a highly heterogeneous type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A number of studies have demonstrated that microRNA-130a (miR-130a) serves a role in the tumorigenesis and prognosis of numerous human tumors. However, to the best of our knowledge, the prognostic significance of miR-130a in PGI-DLBCL remains unknown. The present study explored the association between miR-130a and the clinical outcomes of PGI-DLBCL. Relative miR-130a expression was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect expression levels of BCL-2, c-MYC, neprilysin, B-cell lymphoma 6 protein, PWWP domain-containing DNA repair factor 3A and proliferation marker protein Ki-67. A receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed to analyze the specificity and sensitivity of microRNA levels in the diagnosis of PGI-DLBCL. Survival curves were constructed using the Kaplan-Meier method. In the present study, miR-130a expression was notably higher in patients with PGI-DLBCL compared with in the controls (P<0.0001). miR-130a overexpression was closely associated with a high International Prognostic Index score (3–5) and drug resistance (P=0.017 and P=0.044, respectively). No significant difference in other clinical features was observed. Patients with increased expression levels of miR-130a had lower overall survival [hazard ratio (HR), 2.998; 95% CI, 1.347-6.673; P=0.007] and progression-free survival (HR, 3.325; 95% CI, 1.488-7.429; P=0.003) compared with patients who had lower expression levels of miR-130a. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis suggested that miR-130a was a negative prognostic parameter in PGI-DLBCL. Therefore, upregulation of miR-130a could become a potential prognostic marker for PGI-DLBCL. Additionally, further study of these results may have important guiding significance for the prognosis of patients with PGI-DLBCL in the clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent increases in urbanization and tourism threaten the viability of UNESCO world heritage sites across the globe. The Angkor world heritage site located in southern Cambodia is now facing such a challenge. Over the past two decades, Angkor has seen over 300,000% growth in international tourist arrivals, which has led to uncontrolled development of the nearby city of Siem Reap. This study uses remote sensing and GIS to comprehend the process of urban expansion during the past 14 years, and has applied the CA-Markov model to predict future urban expansion. This paper analyzes the urban pressure on the Angkor site at different scales. The results reveal that the urban area of Siem Reap city increased from 28.23 km2 in 2004 to 73.56 km2 in 2017, an increase of 160%. Urban growth mainly represented a transit-oriented pattern of expansion, and it was also observed that land surfaces, such as arable land, forests, and grasslands, were transformed into urban residential land. The total constructed land area in the core and buffer zones increased by 12.99 km2 from 2004 to 2017, and 72% of the total increase was in the buffer zone. It is predicted that the built-up area in Siem Reap is expected to cover 135.09 km2 by 2025 and 159.14 km2 by 2030. The number of monuments that are most likely be affected by urban expansion is expected to increase from 9 in 2017 to 14 in 2025 and 17 in 2030. The urban area in Siem Reap has increased dramatically over the past decade and monuments continue to be decimated by urban expansion. This paper urges closer attention and urgent actions to minimize the urban pressure on the Angkor site in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiation‐induced pulmonary fibrosis (RIPF) is a life‐threatening complication of thoracic radiotherapy, which contributes to continued deterioration in pulmonary function. Sphingosine‐1 phosphate receptor 3 (S1PR3) has been identified as a crucial molecule in fibrosis. Accumulating evidence indicated that the inhibition of the S1PRs ameliorates fibrogenesis. Thus, this study aims to explore whether S1PR3 participates in RIPF and elucidates the molecular mechanisms underlying S1PR3‐modulated epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in transforming growth factor‐β1‐induced pulmonary epithelia. A recombinant adeno‐associated viral‐mediated S1PR3 (AAV‐S1PR3) gene therapy analyzed the effect of S1PR3 gene deficiency on the altered histology structure and molecular mechanisms in the lung of mice with whole‐lung irradiation. Compared with the AAV‐negative control mice, AAV‐mediated S1PR3 knockdown in the lung of mice attenuated pulmonary fibrosis induced by the radiation, as indicated by the alleviation of collagen accumulation, lessened histopathological alterations, and the suppression of inflammatory cells infiltration. S1PR3 deficiency reversed the RIPF concomitantly with abrogated EMT‐related protein (α‐smooth muscle actin). Consistently, S1PR3‐deficient pulmonary epithelia inhibited the EMT process changes and fibrosis formation. Furthermore, S1PR3 was designated as one of the target genes for microRNA‐495‐3p (miR‐495‐3p). The inhibition of miR‐495‐3p promoted the expression of S1PR3 in pulmonary epithelia, whereas the overexpression of miR‐495‐3p inhibited the S1PR3/SMAD2/3 pathway and suppressed the EMT process. Collectively, miR‐495‐3p might be a negative regulator of the EMT process in fibrosis formation by inhibiting the targeted S1PR3 gene. These results established a link between the S1PR3 gene, the EMT process, and the fibrosis, suggesting the pharmacological blockage of S1PR3 as a potential therapeutic strategy for RIPF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to efficiently regenerate jawbone defects caused by trauma, jaw osteomyelitis, tumors, or intrinsic genetic diseases is still challenging. Ectoderm-derived jawbone defect has been reported to be regenerated by selectively recruiting cells from its embryonic origin. Therefore, it is important to explore the strategy for promoting ectoderm-derived jaw bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (JBMMSCs) on the repair of homoblastic jaw bone. Glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is an important growth factor and is essential in the process of proliferation, migration and differentiation of nerve cells. However, whether GDNF promoting the function of JBMMSCs and the relative mechanism are not clear. Our results showed that activated astrocytes and GDNF were induced in the hippocampus after mandibular jaw defect. In addition, the expression of GDNF in the bone tissue around the injured area was also significantly increased after injury. Data from in vitro experiments demonstrated that GDNF could effectively promote the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of JBMMSCs. Furthermore, when implanted in the defected jaw bone, JBMMSCs pretreated with GDNF exhibited enhanced repair effect compared with JBMMSCs without treatment. Mechanical studies found that GDNF induced the expression of Nr4a1 in JBMMSCs, activated PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and then enhanced the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation capacities of JBMMSCs. Our studies reveal that JBMMSCs are good candidates for repairing jawbone injury and pretreated with GDNF is an efficient strategy for enhancing bone regeneration. • GDNF was induced in the hippocampus and in the bone tissue around the injured area after mandibular jaw defect. • GDNF promoted the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of ectoderm-derived JBMMSCs. • JBMMSCs pretreated with GDNF showed enhanced bone regeneration after mandibular jaw defect. • GDNF induced the expression of Nr4a1 and activated PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in JBMMSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to explore the association between the SIRT1 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3758391 and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in a Chinese Han population. Methods: 206 patients diagnosed with DLBCL and 219 healthy individuals were recruited in the present study. The genotyping of SIRT1 rs3758391 polymorphism was detected by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism. The SIRT1 mRNA expression was detected by the Taqman real-time quantitative PCR. Results: Our study showed that the genotype TT and allele T frequency were significantly higher in DLBCL patients than that of controls (p = 0.02 and 0.01, respectively). No statistical differences were observed between SIRT1 rs3758391 and clinical characteristics of DLBCL patients. Analysis of the polymorphism revealed an increased risk of DLBCL associated with TC and TT genotype when compared with CC genotype [odds ratio = 2.621 and 3.518, respectively; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.249–5.501 and 1.675–7.390, respectively; p = 0.011 and 0.001, respectively]. The survival analysis indicated that the patients with C allele had higher overall survival rate than those with genotype TT (p = 0.005). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the TT genotype of SIRT1 SNP rs3758391 was an independent poor prognostic factor for DLBCL patients (p = 0.006, HR 1.981, 95% CI 1.215–3.231). The SIRT1 mRNA expression was significantly upregulated in DLBCL patients than that of controls (p < 0.001). In addition, the SIRT1 mRNA expression of TT subgroup was upregulated compared with TC/CC subgroup in DLBCL patients (p < 0.001). Conclusion: These results suggest that the SIRT1 rs3758391 polymorphism is associated with the risk and survival rate of DLBCL in Chinese Han population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In Streptomyces, GlnR is an activator protein that activates nitrogen‐assimilation genes under nitrogen‐limiting conditions. However, less is known regarding the regulation of these genes under nitrogen‐rich conditions. We determined that the developmental regulator MtrA represses nitrogen‐assimilation genes in nitrogen‐rich media and that it competes with GlnR for binding to GlnR boxes. The GlnR boxes upstream of multiple nitrogen genes, such as amtB, were confirmed as MtrA binding sites in vitro by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and in vivo by ChIP‐qPCR analysis. Transcriptional analysis indicated that, on nutrient‐rich medium, MtrA profoundly repressed expression of nitrogen‐associated genes, indicating opposing roles for MtrA and GlnR in the control of nitrogen metabolism. Using in vitro and in vivo analysis, we also showed that glnR is itself a direct target of MtrA and that MtrA represses glnR transcription. We further demonstrated functional conservation of MtrA homologues in the recognition of GlnR boxes upstream of nitrogen genes from different actinobacterial species. As mtrA and glnR are widespread among actinomycetes, this mechanism of potential competitive control over nitrogen metabolism genes may be common in this group, adding a major new layer of complexity to the known regulatory network for nitrogen metabolism in Streptomyces and related species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nedaplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy became an alternative doublet treatment strategy to cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with locoregional, advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Materials and Methods: Using a Markov model, we simulated patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma from disease-free to death. Input data for the model were collected from published literature and the standard fee database of West China Hospital. The outcome was expressed in quality-adjusted-years (QALYs), net monetary benefit at the threshold of $25,841, three times the Gross Domestic Product of China in 2017. The costs and benefits were discounted at 3% annually and a half-cycle correction was considered. The input parameters were varied in one-way sensitivity analysis to confirm the robustness of the model. All of the primary analyses used second-order probabilistic sensitivity analysis to capture the impact of parameter uncertainty based on 10,000 Monte-Carlo simulations.Results: The mean QALYs of treatment in stage II-IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma were comparable: 2.90 QALYs for nedaplatin and 3.12 QALYs for cisplatin. Nedaplatin cost $34,505 compared with $27,167 for cisplatin, generating an incremental net monetary benefit of nedaplatin versus cisplatin of $-13,357 at the ceiling ratio of $25,841. The results of nedaplatin remained cost-ineffective over the majority of the sensitivity analyses. The cost-effectiveness curve showed that the probability of strategies being cost-effective were 0% for nedaplatin and 100% for cisplatin in stage II-IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma at any willingness-to-pay threshold.Conclusions: Nedaplatin is a dominated, cost-ineffective alternative to concurrent chemoradiotherapy in stage II-IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma compared with cisplatin from the perspective of Chinese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing complexity of engineering systems, reliability analysis and evaluation of systems with traditional methods can't meet practical engineering requirements. Based on limited experimental conditions, lack of data, complex structure models, insufficient cognitive abilities, and many other issues, people have to consider many uncertain factors in system reliability research. Besides, common cause failure (CCF) has become an important factor of system failure. In this paper, a discrete‐time Bayesian network (DTBN) associated with an eight‐rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system is presented to discuss above problems. In this approach, the system is assumed as a two‐state system. After that, interval analysis theory is employed to deal with uncertainty. We consider the four sets of auxiliary propellers in the auxiliary power group as a 3/8 voting system, and β factor model is used to process CCF in the auxiliary power group. The proposed methods prove the validity of proposing interval analysis theory to solve uncertain problems and it is necessary to consider reducing or avoiding CCFs in system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper confronts the disparity between a tradition that has defined anthropology as a comparative discipline and the practices which increasingly embrace cultural relativism and the uniqueness of each fieldsite. It suggests that it is possible to resolve this dilemma, through creating a vertical structure that complements the horizontal task of comparison across fieldsites. This vertical structure is composed of different methods of dissemination which make explicit a series of steps from a baseline of popular dissemination which stresses the uniqueness of individuals, through books and journal articles with increasing degrees of generalisation and comparison. Following this structure leads us up through analysis to the creation and employment of theory. This allows us to make comparisons and generalisations without sacrificing our assertion of specificity and uniqueness. We illustrate this argument though a recent nine-field site comparison of the use and consequences of social media in a project called 'Why We Post.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analysis of the concentration of different-sized charcoals and magnetic susceptibility of the CH-1 core from Chaohu Lake, East China during the Holocene, the features of fire in relation to environmental change in the charcoal record and the effect of human activities were revealed. Between 9870 and 6040 cal yr BP, the climate was still relatively dry, although it was becoming warmer and wetter. The relatively dry climate apparently created favorable conditions for natural fires to occur, which suggests that the charcoal concentration was high. The warmest and wettest period was from 6040 to 2170 cal yr BP during the Holocene, and very little charcoal was found in the core, because the high precipitation during this period apparently suppressed natural fires. However, human activities increased the fire frequency during the cultural phase. Archaeological investigations indicate that a large number of Neolithic and historic sites, including the Lingjiatan cultural sites (5600–5300 cal yr BP), were distributed around Chaohu Lake. As a result, value peaks in the charcoal concentration were shown. After 2170 cal yr BP, the climate became drier and cooler, and conditions were once again favorable for fires to occur naturally. The concentration of charcoal in the core greatly increased and showed the greatest levels of fire activity, which was related to both the drier climate and the enhanced human activities. The water level of Chaohu Lake reached a minimum in this period, as the lakebed was possibly exposed and formed the substrate for ancient sites, such as the flourishing Juchao state (2090–1710 cal yr BP). During the most recent 200 years, the amount of charcoal concentration sharply decreased, and fire occurrence disappeared gradually because there was not enough biomass in the Chaohu Lake basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Quasi-2D UID Ga 2 O 3 exhibits a weakly anisotropic in-plane electrical property (mobility max/min ∼ 1.4), whereas Quasi-2D doping Ga 2 O 3 shows a large anisotropic electronic (σ max/min ∼ 5.7) and photoelectrical (R max/min ∼ 5.1 at 254 nm) features, showing the potential for future anisotropic devices. • Quasi-2D Ga 2 O 3 shows a polarization-dependent anisotropic Raman response in a period of 180°, especially, in which the A 10 mode reveals the anisotropic ratio of 12.7. • Based on the Ab initio calculations, more charges would transfer between Ga and O atoms along [0 0 1] than [0 1 0] axis orientation, which may contribute to the highly in-plane anisotropy in Quasi-2D Ga 2 O 3. β-Ga 2 O 3 , as an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor is a promising material for broad applications for power and deep-ultraviolet (DUV) devices. However, the low-symmetric monoclinic structure resulting the anisotropic characteristic may have a profound impact on device performances. In this work, the anisotropic properties of Raman vibrations, electronic and photoelectric properties for in-plane (1 0 0) face of exfoliated quasi two-dimensional (Quasi-2D) β-Ga 2 O 3 have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. It exhibits regularly rectangular-shaped Fast Fourier Transform patterns corresponding to the asymmetric system. Raman scattering intensities of characteristic peaks change periodically with rotated polarization angles. The measured mobility of unintentional doping Quasi-2D Ga 2 O 3 is approximate (mobiltity max/min = 1.4), which is benefited to fabricate energy-efficient power devices in lower dimension without consideration of the orientation. Whereas, the conductivity and photoresponse of doping Quasi-2D Ga 2 O 3 along c axis are larger than those of b axis, exhibiting a large anisotropic conductance (σ max/min = 5.7) and dichroic DUV responsivity (R max/min = 5.1), superior to most 2D anisotropic materials. In addition, calculations based on density functional theory validate a significantly larger electron localization function of O atoms along c axis. And the absorption coefficient is also highly in-plane orientation-dependent. Our work provides a deep insight into Ga 2 O 3 based applications for next-generation high-voltage and anisotropic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trace metals and metalloids in aquatic ecosystems may lead to adverse effects on the survival of fish, especially in the sensitive life stages of vulnerable species. It is still unknown whether threatened fish species in the heavily sediment-laden Yellow River are exposed to toxicity risks associated with multiple trace metals. Herein, we analyzed the concentrations of trace metals in aquatic environmental media and fish tissues across the Yellow River mainstream and assessed the level of metal toxicity to threatened fish. Significantly different concentrations of trace metals in fish tissues were measured between at least two categories among near-threatened, vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered fish. No metal showed a higher concentration in demersal fish than in pelagic fish. Substantially low metal toxicity was observed for the gill of Rhinogobio nasutus (near-threatened) in the upper reaches, as well as for the gill and liver of Silurus lanzhouensis (endangered) in the middle reaches. High contents of suspended sediment in water and high metal concentrations in sediment and suspended matter could influence the survival and reproduction of fish, especially those already with threatened status. [Display omitted] • Toxicity risks of trace metals in threatened fish were studied in the Yellow River. • Metal concentrations in fish tissues significantly differed with threatened status. • No metal had a higher concentration in demersal fish than in pelagic fish. • Fish tissues of some species were exposed to very low toxicity of multiple metals. • Threatened fish in sediment-laden rivers require more attention due to metal toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sustainable Development Situation in World Natural Heritage Sites. • A general comprehensive assessment indicators system. • Resident income is highly correlated with tourism. • The government intervention is effective in Jiuzhaigou. • After the earthquake, the level of coupling coordination dropped. To continue directing global sustainable development efforts from 2015 to 2030, the United Nations adopted 17 global development goals known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 to 2015 expired. Sustainable development of World Natural Heritage Sites is one of these 17 MDGs and a crucial step toward achieving global sustainability. A scientific and systematic indicator system that can measure the sustainable development of natural World Heritage Sites more objectively and fairly is urgently needed to support the establishment of SDG11.4 on a Chinese scale and to help with the subsequent promotion of the development of natural World Heritage Sites. This study proposes a comprehensive assessment indicator system for the sustainable development of natural heritage sites based on the theoretical framework of "value contribution-environmental effect" to quantify the sustainable development of natural heritage sites. The study is based on the ecological environment and regional economic and social data of Jiuzhaigou World Natural Heritage Site from 2010 to 2020. Finally, the degree of coupling and coordination between the natural environment and economic development is assessed and studied. The results show that tourism to the World Heritage Site drove rapid economic development in Jiuzhaigou County between 2010 and 2020. As the fame of the World Heritage Site Jiuzhaigou has grown, so has the per capita income of local locals, making them unduly reliant on tourists for a living. Meanwhile, both the 2017 earthquake and the COVID-19 epidemic in 2019 have had substantial detrimental effects on the local economy. Furthermore, the Jiuzhaigou sustainable development trend from 2010 to 2020 exhibits a "W-shaped" curve, and there is a high level of positive coupling between the Jiuzhaigou sustainable development trend and economic development, and the two are mutually reinforcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates a novel low silver content TiO 2 nanoparticle composite solder alloys, and discusses the TiO 2 size effect on reliability of the solder and its solder joints with copper. 6 nm and 20 nm TiO 2 nanoparticles were synthesized and added into Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC105) solder to prepare the nano-composite solders. The microstructure, coefficient of thermal expansion of the solders, and the shear strength, interfacial intermetallic compound growth of the solder joints under thermal cycling (1000 cycles) between −55 °C and 125 °C were investigated. The experimental results show that TiO 2 nanoparticles can refine β -Sn grain size, decrease CTE of the solders, as well as suppress the interfacial intermetallic compound formation and growth. Also, after thermal cycling, the nano-composite solder joints have higher shear strength than the joints without TiO 2 nanoparticles. Most importantly, smaller TiO 2 nanoparticles (6 nm) shows larger influence on the respects of microstructure refinement, coefficient of thermal expansion reduction, interfacial IMC thickness decrease, and shear strength enhancement of the solder joints. The TiO 2 nano-composite solder joints show higher electrical reliability than the original SAC105 solder joint according to the results of electric resistance change during thermal cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides, as one of the most destructive natural phenomena, distribute extensively in Wolong Giant Panda Natural Reserve and cause damage to both humans and endangered species. Therefore, landslide susceptibility zonation (LSZ) mapping is necessary for government agencies and decision makers to select suitable locations for giant pandas. The main purpose of this study is to produce landside susceptibility maps using logistic regression (LR), analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and a combined fuzzy and support vector machine (F-SVM) hybrid method based on geographic information systems (GIS). A total of 1773 landslide scarps larger than one cell (25 × 25 m) were selected in the landslide inventory mapping, 70 % of which were selected at random to be used as test data, and the other 30 % were used as validation. Topographical, geological, and hydrographical data were collected, processed, and constructed into a spatial database. Nine conditioning factors were chosen as influencing factors related to landslide occurrence: slope degree, aspect, altitude, profile curvature, geology and lithology, distance from faults, distance from rivers, distance from roads, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Landslide susceptible areas were analyzed and mapped using the landslide occurrence factors by different methods. For conventional assessment, weights and rates of the affecting factors were assigned based on experience and knowledge of experts. In order to reduce the subjectivity, a combined fuzzy and SVM hybrid model was generated for LSZ in this paper. In this approach, the rates of each thematic layer were generated by the fuzzy similarity method, and weights were created by the SVM method. To confirm the practicality of the susceptibility map produced by this improved method, a comparison study with LR, AHP was assessed by means of their validation. The outcome indicated that the combined fuzzy and SVM method (accuracy is 85.73 %) is better than AHP (accuracy is 78.84 %), whereas it is relatively similar to LR (accuracy is 84.55 %). The susceptibility map based on combined the fuzzy and SVM approach also shows that 5.8 % of the study area is assigned as very highly susceptible areas, and 17.8 % of the study area is assigned as highly susceptible areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]