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A nonlinear dynamic model of angular contact ball bearing under combined external loads is established based on the nonlinear elastic Hertz contact theory and raceless control theory. The established dynamic model is solved by employing variable step size Newton Raphson iteration method and the validation of model is verified by comparing the proposed results with the corresponding results come from the existing literatures. The solution of the presented model has high accuracy compared with the existing experimental results. In addition, the computational efficiency of the proposed model is improved significantly by introducing iteration step size adjustment factor. According to the proposed model, the dynamic contact and stiffness characteristics of angular contact ball are studied systematically by investigating the effects of combined external load working conditions on the contact parameters including contact angle and contact force and the stiffness parameters including diagonal stiffness and off-diagonal stiffness. This research can provide the theoretical basis and technique guidance for the designation and manufacture of angular contact ball bearing under combined external loads.

Many current fault diagnosis methods tend to ignore the temporal correlation in signals, leading to a loss of critical fault information. Additionally, traditional diagnostic models often face challenges in terms of noise immunity, generalization, and handling non-Euclidean structured data. To address these issues, we propose a novel fault diagnosis approach that combines graph neural networks (GNNs) with the Markov transform field (MTF). We first use the MTF to convert vibration signals into 2-D images, preserving temporal correlation and preventing the loss of crucial fault information. Next, we use a graph convolutional neural network (GCN) to process graph-structured data, capturing global structural information. Finally, we introduce the graph attention network (GAT) to dynamically adjust node weights based on their relative importance, enhancing the overall model performance. In this article, we introduce a new fault diagnosis model, GCN-GAT, and evaluate it using the CWRU bearing dataset and a custom-built planetary gearbox dataset. The results show that our model maintains high fault detection accuracy even in the presence of significant noise and variable load conditions. This indicates that our approach demonstrates strong robustness and generalization, providing an effective solution for complex fault diagnosis tasks.

Bear bile has been a valuable and effective medicinal material in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for over 13 centuries. However, the current practice of obtaining it through bear farming is under scrutiny for its adverse impact on bear welfare. Here, we present a new approach for creating artificial bear bile (ABB) as a high-quality and sustainable alternative to natural bear bile. This study addresses the scientific challenges of creating bear bile alternatives through interdisciplinary collaborations across various fields, including resources, chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmacology, and TCM. A comprehensive efficacy assessment system that bridges the gap between TCM and modern medical terminology has been established, allowing for the systematic screening of therapeutic constituents. Through the utilization of chemical synthesis and enzyme engineering technologies, our research has achieved the environmentally friendly, large-scale production of bear bile therapeutic compounds, as well as the optimization and recomposition of ABB formulations. The resulting ABB not only closely resembles natural bear bile in its composition but also offers advantages such as consistent product quality, availability of raw materials, and independence from threatened or wild resources. Comprehensive preclinical efficacy evaluations have demonstrated the equivalence of the therapeutic effects from ABB and those from commercially available drained bear bile (DBB). Furthermore, preclinical toxicological assessment and phase I clinical trials show that the safety of ABB is on par with that of the currently used DBB. This innovative strategy can serve as a new research paradigm for developing alternatives for other endangered TCMs, thereby strengthening the integrity and sustainability of TCM.

High-voltage circuit breakers are the core equipment in power networks, and to a certain extent, are related to the safe and reliable operation of power systems. However, their core components are prone to mechanical faults. This study proposes a component separation method to detect multiple mechanical faults in circuit breakers that can achieve online real-time monitoring. First, a model and strategy are presented for obtaining mechanical voiceprint signals from circuit breakers. Subsequently, the component separation method was used to decompose the voiceprint signals of multiple faults into individual component signals. Based on this, the recognition of the features of a single-fault voiceprint signal can be achieved. Finally, multiple faults in high-voltage circuit breakers were identified through an experimental simulation and verification of the circuit breaker voiceprint signals collected from the substation site. The research results indicate that the proposed method exhibits excellent performance for multiple mechanical faults, such as spring structures and loose internal components of circuit breakers. In addition, it provides a reference method for the real-time online monitoring of high-voltage circuit breakers.

This paper proposes a synthetical multi-degree-of-freedom mathematical modelling for analyzing the dynamic characteristics of angular contact ball bearing with waviness subjected to the external load working conditions. The above multi-degree-of-freedom mathematical modelling is established based on nonlinear elastic Hertz contact theory and inner raceway control theory by employing improved Newton–Raphson iteration method; the validation of the established mathematical modelling is verified by comparing the presented results with the existing literature results. The above mathematical modelling has considered raceway waviness, ball waviness, bearing clearance, centrifugal force, gyroscopic moment, external loads, and rotating speed comprehensively. Firstly, the effects of waviness order and waviness amplitude on time-varying contact and stiffness characteristics of angular contact ball bearing are investigated systematically. Then, the influences of bearing clearance, rotating speed, axial force, radial force, and torque on the dynamic contact and stiffness characteristics of angular contact ball bearing with waviness are analyzed thoroughly. The main results show that the solution results of mathematical modelling have converged, respectively, when raceway waviness order increases to 25 and ball waviness order increases to 5; The variation tendencies of time-varying contact angle, contact force, and stiffness of angular contact ball bearing with waviness are aperiodic; The amplitudes of time-varying contact angle, contact force, and stiffness of angular contact ball bearing increase evidently with waviness amplitude increased; The bearing clearance has important influence on the contact angle and contact force of outer raceway and inner raceway, respectively; The effects of radial force and torque on contact and stiffness characteristics are consistent basically in the corresponding direction; The influences of axial force and rotating speed on the contact and stiffness characteristics are more remarkable compared with other factors. The investigations of contact and stiffness characteristics of angular contact ball bearing with waviness are helpful for the designation and manufacture of high precision angular contact ball bearing.

In recent years, the unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) technique has achieved remarkable success in cross-domain fault diagnosis of rotating machinery. In UDA, three pivotal pieces of information—namely, class labels, domain labels, and data structures, play a critical role in establishing a connection between labeled samples of the source domain and unlabeled samples of the target domain. Most research methods use only one or two of these types of information, ignoring the importance of data structure. In addition, global domain adaptive techniques are typically used, ignoring the relationships between subdomains. The conventional convolutional neural network (CNN) exhibits limited capability in extracting essential fault-related information, thereby significantly affecting the accuracy of fault identification. To address this problem, we propose the Graph Convolutional Domain Adaptive Adversarial Network (SPGCAN) as a novel approach for the intelligent diagnosis of faults in rotating machinery. A classifier and a domain discriminator are used to extract the first two types of information. Using residual networks with a multichannel split attention mechanism, graph CNNs for the modeling of data structures. We use a combination of local maximum mean discrepancy (LMMD) and adversarial domain adaptation methods to align the subdomain distributions and reduce the distributional differences between the relevant subdomains and the global. Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) bearing dataset and planetary gearbox dataset are used for cross-domain fault diagnosis and are compared with current mainstream UDA methods. Ultimately, SPGCAN demonstrates better fault identification accuracy across 24 cross-domain fault diagnosis tasks on both datasets, thus substantiating the method’s effectiveness and superiority.

With the miniaturization and integration of wearable electronics, there are some serious problems such as signal crosstalk and high power consumption that restrict its development. Active‐matrix thin‐film transistors (TFTs) with high permittivity (high‐k) insulator layer provide a promising opportunity for reducing signal crosstalk and power consumption of wearable electronics. Here, we propose a simple and cost‐effective gradient heating‐up strategy to prepare high‐k zirconium dioxide (ZrO 2)‐based dielectric films. Amorphous ZrO 2films annealed at 400°C exhibits a high transmittance and a high dielectric properties of a relative low leakage current (10‐8A/cm2) and large capacitance density of 215 nF/cm2. To meet requirements of flexible wearable electronics, ZrO 2‐organic polymer hybrid dielectric film was further developed. A smooth surface morphology (Sa=0.478 nm) and good dielectric performance (~10‐8A/cm2) of ZrO 2‐based hybrid film was obtained at 250°C, which can promote the development of flexible TFT and extend the application scenarios of wearable electronics.

The work proposes an asynchronous convex Lyapunov function and an inverse weighted switching scheme to study the asynchronous finite-time H ∞ control issue of discrete-time switched systems. Based on the manipulation that the switching interval is partitioned into three sections, the designed Lyapunov function is constructed in convex structure, reducing the conservatism caused by the low degree of freedom. Owing to the finite-time parameter, the inverse weighted form of the dwell time can be used to characterize the exponent term. The inverse weighted switching is raised to erase the dwell time restriction of each subsystem, only requiring that the inverse weighted sum of all dwell times is less than a constant. Based on the asynchronous convex Lyapunov function and inverse weighted switching, the l 2 -gain analysis is conducted to derive the asynchronous finite-time H ∞ controller. Finally, two numerical examples and an application example are given to verify the potential and validity of the proposed results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm is widely used in diversified applications due to its excellent anti-deformation and anti-interference in measuring time-series based similarity. However, the high time complexity of DTW restrains the applicability of real-time case. The existing DTW acceleration studies suffer from a loss of accuracy. How to accelerate computation while maintaining satisfying computational accuracy remains challenging. Motivated by sequential three-way decisions, this paper develops a novel model with adaptive sequential three-way decisions for dynamic time warping (AS3-DTW). Firstly, we systematically summarize distance differences under the context of adjacent tripartite search spaces for DTW, and propose five patterns of granularity adjustments of the search spaces. Furthermore, we present the corresponding calculation method of DTW adjacent tripartite search spaces distances difference. Finally, we construct a novel dynamism on adaptively adjusting time warping by combining sequence-based multi-granularity with sequential three-way decisions. Experimental results show that AS3-DTW effectively achieves promising trade-off between computational speed and accuracy on multiple UCR datasets when compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms. • We formulate the dynamic time warping problem from the searching of time-series based granularity. • We integrated S-3WD into the DTW search process to adaptive adjust the DTW search spaces based on data characteristics. • The proposed method attained a desirable balance between efficiency and effectiveness, broadening the S-3WD theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the effectiveness of elastic compression stockings (ECS) in prevention of post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) in patients suffering from proximal deep venous thrombosis (DVT) who did not undergo thrombus removal procedures.

In this paper, M-Copula is used to analyze the correlation between Shanghai Composite Index and Shanghai Fund Index. By analyzing the characteristics of the logarithmic yields sequence of two samples, the marginal distribution model is established by using EGARCH-M-GED model. According to the correlation between two logarithmic yields sequence, the M-Copula model is selected to model its correlation structure, and its parameters are estimated by EM algorithm. Because M-Copula combines characteristics of different Copulas, it has more flexible distribution forms and more prominent ability to describe the fat tails and correlation characteristics of data, and more importantly, the effect is better than single Copula.

An electro-optically (EO) $Q$Q-switched Tm:YAP laser with high peak power was demonstrated based on a ${{\rm La}_3}{{\rm Ga}_5}{{\rm SiO}_{14}}$La_3Ga_5SiO_14 (LGS) crystal. The EO modulator was operated in a pulse-on mode driven by a 1/4 wave voltage of 2400 V, which was the lowest voltage designed for LGS-based EO modulators at 2 µm, to the best of our knowledge. At a repetition rate of 200 Hz, a maximum single-pulse energy of 3.15 mJ was obtained with a minimum pulse duration of 17 ns, corresponding to a peak power as high as 185.3 kW.

Discrimination of cancer cells at the single-cell metabolic level is crucial for early diagnosis. However, some cancer cells share similar metabolic information with normal cells, making them difficult to be distinguished using mass spectrometry. Herein, we propose a method by treating osteosarcoma cells and normal human osteoblasts with mannose as a stimulant, which greatly promotes the metabolic discrimination of osteosarcoma cells at the single-cell level. The low PMI (mannose 6-phosphate isomerase) level of both osteosarcoma cell lines compared to normal human osteoblasts is the reason for the abnormal metabolic pathway of two osteosarcoma cell lines with mannose treatment. We also found that the level of hexoses-6P in osteosarcoma cells significantly increased after mannose treatment, while no such increase was found in normal human osteoblasts. The proposed method is very meaningful for early diagnosis of cancer.

Recent genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) identified numerous schizophrenia (SZ) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) associated loci, most outside protein‐coding regions and hypothesized to affect gene transcription. We used a massively parallel reporter assay to screen, 1,049 SZ and 30 AD variants in 64 and nine loci, respectively for allele differences in driving reporter gene expression. A library of synthetic oligonucleotides assaying each allele five times was transfected into K562 chronic myelogenous leukemia lymphoblasts and SK‐SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. One hundred forty eight variants showed allelic differences in K562 and 53 in SK‐SY5Y cells, on average 2.6 variants per locus. Nine showed significant differences in both lines, a modest overlap reflecting different regulatory landscapes of these lines that also differ significantly in chromatin marks. Eight of nine were in the same direction. We observe no preference for risk alleles to increase or decrease expression. We find a positive correlation between the number of SNPs in linkage disequilibrium and the proportion of functional SNPs supporting combinatorial effects that may lead to haplotype selection. Our results prioritize future functional follow up of disease associated SNPs to determine the driver GWAS variant(s), at each locus and enhance our understanding of gene regulation dynamics.

Despite appropriate treatment, up to 50% of patients with proximal deep vein thrombosis will develop postthrombotic syndrome (PTS). Once PTS occurs, there is no specific treatment, and some patients constantly experience intolerable symptoms. Hence, prevention of PTS is important.

Aortic dissection remains a life-threatening condition necessitating accurate diagnosis and timely intervention. This study aimed to unravel phenotypic heterogeneity in Stanford type B aortic dissection (TBAD) patients through machine learning clustering analysis of cardiovascular CT imaging.

Purpose: Knowledge sharing in a master-apprentice pattern is the process of transferring tacit knowledge from masters to apprentices. In addition, 90 per cent of knowledge required for organizational innovation is tacit knowledge in the master-apprentice pattern. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution of knowledge sharing in master-apprentice pattern and explore the consequences of how to improve the knowledge sharing in the master-apprentice pattern. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses asymmetric evolutionary game theory to study the evolutionary track of knowledge sharing in master-apprentice pattern of innovative organizations by analyzing the utility of masters and apprentices during the process of knowledge sharing in master-apprentice pattern of the innovative organization. Findings: The results reveal that when the masters obtained utility from sharing knowledge is greater than that from hoarding knowledge, and the apprentices obtained utility from studying hard is greater than the costs, the innovative organization can get the largest utility from the knowledge sharing in the mater-apprentice pattern. Research limitations/implications: The limitation of the research is that this paper mainly studies knowledge sharing among individuals and does not research knowledge sharing between individuals and organizations. Practical implications: This research has extended the understanding of knowledge sharing in master-apprentice and its evolution path. Also, the obtained findings are conducive to promoting knowledge sharing in master-apprentice and improving human resource management in innovative organizations. Originality/value: This paper attempts to construct the evolution path of knowledge sharing in master-apprentice pattern, which is a useful exploration of the dynamics of knowledge sharing in master-apprentice pattern and makes up for the shortcomings of the existing research.

Discrimination of cancer subtypes at the single-cell level is critical for the early diagnosis and accurate treatment of cancer. However, the discrimination of breast cancer subtypes based on their metabolite information, which could provide a new perspective of the cellular metabolomics, is still in its infancy. Herein, a high-coverage single cell metabolic analysis was carried out for the discrimination of breast cancer subtypes by combining multiple microextraction with mass spectrometry (MS). About 4300 ion signals were extracted from each cell and assigned to lipids, energy metabolites, and so on. Based on the multivariate analysis of the metabolite information, four subtypes of breast cancer were successfully discriminated. Characteristic components of each subtype were also identified as potential biomarkers such as phosphatidylcholine (PC; PC (32:1), PC (34:1)), UDP/UDP-HexNAc, and Hex-bis-P/Hex-P). Moreover, metabolomics correlation analysis at the single-cell level further revealed the coregulation clusters of the identified components, which provided more metabolites data for bioinformatics studies. Overall, our results on single cell metabolic analysis could give new insights to precision medicine, early diagnosis, and cancer treatments.

Two-dimensional bismuth has attracted extensive attention for its unique properties, such as a moderate bandgap, high carrier mobility, and high stability. In this work, a uniform bismuth quantum dots saturable absorber (BiQDs-SA) was successfully fabricated by the liquid-phase exfoliation method. It was successfully employed in a passively Q-switched bulk laser operating at the telecommunication wavelength of 1.3 μm. The as-fabricated BiQDs-SA-based 1.3 μm Q-switched laser not only exhibits low timing jitter but also shows long-term stability for several days. The maximum average output power of 125 mW was obtained with the shortest pulse width of 510 ns and repetition rate of 135 kHz, corresponding to single-pulse energy and pulse peak power of 0.9 μJ and 1.8 W, respectively. The results indicate that BiQDs-SA is a potential optical modulator for passively Q-switched solid-state lasers.

We successfully fabricated the high-quality few-layered α-In_2Se_3 and investigated its carrier dynamics and nonlinear optical absorption properties by pump–probe and open-aperture Z-scan technologies. Intra- and inter-band relaxation times were determined to be 7.2 ps and 270 ps, respectively, and the effective nonlinear absorption coefficient was measured as β_eff=−3.9×10^3  cm/GW (1064 nm). Based on α-In_2Se_3 saturable absorber, a continuous-wave mode-locking operation was realized. Pulse duration, repetition rate, and maximum output power were measured to be 352 fs, 42.4 MHz, and 0.56 W, corresponding to pulse energy of 13.2 nJ and peak power of 37.5 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of non-transition metal chalcogenides applied in ultrafast all-solid-state bulk lasers. This work well verified that α-In_2Se_3 should be a promising optical modulator candidate for all-solid-state lasers.

Hypoxia is a common characteristic of solid tumors, which is caused by the imbalance of oxygen supply and consumption. As the expression level of nitroreductase (NTR) increases in hypoxic solid tumors, NTR is one of the common biomarkers of hypoxia and widely used to evaluate the degree of tumor hypoxia. In this study, we designed and synthesized a highly water-soluble chemiluminescent probe, CL-NTR, for the detection of NTR activity in hypoxic tumors. It was found that the probe could be used to detect NTR with high sensitivity, and the total light photons increased tremendously with 6000-fold after the probe was treated with NTR. The chemiluminescence total light photons emission was directly proportional to the concentration of nitroreductase in the range of 3–55 ng/mL, with a detection limit of 0.947 ng/mL. Finally, the probe was successfully used to evaluate NTR activity in living mice by chemiluminescent imaging. In general, this probe has a remarkable response to NTR, which provides a promising method for the determination of NTR activity in vivo.

In this Letter, a high-quality saturable absorber (SA) based on a multilayered two-dimensional ternary chalcogenide Ta_2NiS_5 with a narrow bandgap, has been successfully fabricated and used as a SA in a 1.9 μm spectral region. The nonlinear saturable absorption properties of the as-prepared SA have been investigated by using an open-aperture Z-scan method. A passively Q-switched all-solid-state laser operating at 1.9 μm has been realized with the Ta_2NiS_5 SA. The maximum average output power, shortest pulse width, pulse energy, and pulse peak power from the passively Q-switched (PQS) laser are 1.1 W, 313 ns, 22.0 μJ, and 71.0 W, respectively. This is the first demonstration of the saturable absorption property of Ta_2NiS_5, to the best of our knowledge. The results indicate well the promising potential of Ta_2NiS_5 as a broadband SA in realizing pulsed mid-infrared lasers with high performance.

Efficient tumor accumulation and body clearance are two paralleled requirements for ideal nanomedicines. However, it is hard for both to be met simultaneously. The inefficient clearance often restrains the application of drug delivery systems (DDSs), especially for high-dosage administration. In this study, the star-like and block structures are combined to enhance the tumor specific targeting of the parent structures and obtain additional renal excretion property. The influences of polymer architectures and chemical compositions on the physicochemical and biological properties, particularly the simultaneous achievement of tumor accumulation and renal clearance, have been investigated. Among the tested conjugates, an eight-arm triblock star polymer based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(N-(2-hydroxyl) methacrylamide) (PHPMA) is found to simultaneously fulfill the requirements of superior tumor accumulation and efficient renal clearance due to the appropriate micelle size and reversible aggregation process. On the basis of this conjugate, 60 mg/kg of Dox equivalent (much higher than the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of Dox) can be administered to efficiently suppress tumor growth without causing any obvious toxicity. This work provides a new approach to design polymer–drug conjugates for tumor specific application, which can simultaneously address the efficacy and safety concerns.

High-quality gold (Au) nanospheres (Au-NPs) with a diameter of 52 nm were prepared by the seeded growth method. The mid-infrared (MIR) nonlinear saturable absorption properties were measured by a balanced twin-detector measurement technique. With the as-prepared Au-NPs saturable absorber (SA), an efficient passively Q-switched laser was realized at 2.95 μm for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Under an absorbed pump power of 4.0 W, a maximum output power of 268 mW was obtained with the shortest pulse width of 734 ns and repetition rate of 91 kHz, corresponding to the pulse energy up to 2.95 μJ. The results indicate that Au-NPs are promising candidates as SAs for MIR laser pulse generation.

Combined with the advantages of the narrow bandwidth of a non-planar ring oscillator seed laser and the structure of a direct pumped Innoslab amplifier, a high-efficiency and high-power continuous-wave (CW) single-frequency laser was obtained by densely folding the seed laser beam in an Innoslab amplifier with a wedged multi-folded configuration. A maximum output power of 83.4 W of a single-frequency amplifier with a bandwidth of 17.69 kHz was obtained under a pump power of 234 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 33.2%. The beam quality factor M^2 at the maximum output power in horizontal and vertical directions was measured to be 1.15 and 1.24, respectively. The long-term power instability in 2 h was less than 1.63%.

In this paper, the weighted L1-gain analysis and control synthesis for switched positive linear systems are investigated via a weighted edge-dependent average dwell time approach. First, a novel multiple convex copositive Lyapunov function is devised in a polytopic form with clock-dependent function coefficients, which not merely upgrades the degrees of freedom of the Lyapunov function considerably, but also permits the descent at switching instants. By weighted edge-dependent switching technique, the feasible switching zone is greatly extended, and the dwell time constraint is eliminated for each subsystem. In a particular scenario, the lower bound on the weighted sum of all dwell times can be even erased thoroughly, and the relevant non-weighted L1-gain results can be derived. Furthermore, two L1-gain convex control laws are derived in time-varying forms, comprising state feedback and output feedback, which can be updated continuously during the running time of systems. Finally, a positive circuit system and two numerical examples are presented to conduct comparative studies with other clock-dependent Lyapunov function results, suggesting that the proposed results perform better under low complexity on L1-gain, switching zone, computation time, etc, and improve transient performances such as settling time and overshoot.

We experimentally and theoretically investigate the noise-like pulse (NLP) generation in a nonlinear polarization rotation-based mode-locked Ho-doped fiber ring laser, which can optionally operate in the dual-wavelength regime. By carefully changing the pump power and polarization state, the dual-wavelength NLP regime at 2041.9 and 2083.3 nm is finally achieved, which corresponds to a pulse energy of 11.84 nJ and a pulse duration of 849 fs. It is believed to be the first report on the dual-wavelength NLP operation from the previously reported Ho-doped fiber lasers.

The output tracking control problem is investigated for a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems via Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy observer-based control approach. A delayed fuzzy observer is firstly established to estimate state variables and premise variables. Then, a target state is built to convert the output tracking problem into the stabilization problem of a tracking error system. As a result, we can use the approaches for stabilization problems to realize the output tracking. Finally, a new delayed nonquadratic Lyapunov function is introduced to design controller gains and observer gains separately. Two practical examples, subsuming PWM buck converter and mass–spring–damper system, are considered to show the effectiveness of our results. A numerical example demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurocognitive abilities constitute complex traits with considerable heritability. Impaired neurocognition is typically observed in schizophrenia (SZ), whereas convergent evidence has shown shared genetic determinants between neurocognition and SZ. Here, we report a genome‐wide association study (GWAS) on neuropsychological and oculomotor traits, linked to SZ, in a general population sample of healthy young males (n = 1079). Follow‐up genotyping was performed in an identically phenotyped internal sample (n = 738) and an independent cohort of young males with comparable neuropsychological measures (n = 825). Heritability estimates were determined based on genome‐wide single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and potential regulatory effects on gene expression were assessed in human brain. Correlations with general cognitive ability and SZ risk polygenic scores were tested utilizing meta‐analysis GWAS results by the Cognitive Genomics Consortium (COGENT) and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC‐SZ). The GWAS results implicated biologically relevant genetic loci encoding protein targets involved in synaptic neurotransmission, although no robust individual replication was detected and thus additional validation is required. Secondary permutation‐based analysis revealed an excess of strongly associated loci among GWAS top‐ranked signals for verbal working memory (WM) and antisaccade intra‐subject reaction time variability (empirical P < 0.001), suggesting multiple true‐positive single‐SNP associations. Substantial heritability was observed for WM performance. Further, sustained attention/vigilance and WM were suggestively correlated with both COGENT and PGC‐SZ derived polygenic scores. Overall, these results imply that common genetic variation explains some of the variability in neurocognitive functioning among young adults, particularly WM, and provide supportive evidence that increased SZ genetic risk predicts neurocognitive fluctuations in the general population. © 2015 The Authors American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric GeneticsPublished by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

AbstractWe previously reported a genetic linkage for schizophrenia (SZ; nonparametric linkage score of 4.27) at 10q22 in an Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) population. In follow-up fine-mapping, we found strong evidence for an association between 3 intronic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the 5' end of neuregulin 3 (NRG3)and the delusion factor score of our phenotypic principal component analysis. Two independent groups replicated these findings, indicating that variants in NRG3confer a risk for a delusion-rich SZ subtype. To identify the causative variants, we sequenced the 162-kb linkage disequilibrium block covering the NRG35' end in 47 AJ SZ patients at the extremes of the delusion factor quantitative trait distribution. Among the identified variants, we found 5 noncoding SNVs which were present on the high delusion factor haplotype and significantly overrepresented in high delusion factor subjects. We tested these for regulatory effects and found that risk alleles of rs10883866 and rs60827755 decreased and increased, respectively, the expression of a reporter gene as compared to the reference allele. In postmortem brain mRNA quantification experiments, we found the same variants also perturb the relative expression of alternative NRG3isoforms. In summary, we have identified regulatory SNVs contributing to the association of NRG3with delusion symptoms in SZ.© 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel

In this paper, the problem of adaptive tracking control is addressed for a class of nonlinear systems with parametric uncertainty, unknown actuator nonlinearity and disturbance. Two type of actuator nonlinearities, that is, backlash-like hysteresis and symmetric dead-zone, are considered simultaneously. Without constructing the inverse function of actuator nonlinearity, unified control framework is established. An adaptive control scheme, capable of guaranteeing the exponential tracking with zero tracking error, is proposed. Two simulation examples are provided to clarify and verify the proposed approach.

When unexpected real-time events occur which cause performance deviations, rescheduling is necessary to update a production schedule if needed. The rescheduling problem concerning external environment-related real-time events is investigated in this paper. First of all, various real-time events are sorted into three categories: productive process-related, production management-related and external environment-related. Then, a new rescheduling framework is proposed to deal with external environment-related real-time events and the framework is detailedly explained with a practical example. We establish knowledge-based analyses to provide scheduling with commands and information by considering external environment-related factors. Finally, a conclusion is given and future work is also mentioned.

The sequencing of the human genome has allowed us to observe globally and in detail the arrangement of genes along the chromosomes. There are multiple lines of evidence that this arrangement is not random, both in terms of intergenic distances and orientation of neighbouring genes. We have undertaken a systematic evaluation of the spatial distribution and orientation of known genes across the human genome. We used genome-level information, including phylogenetic conservation, single nucleotide polymorphism density and correlation of gene expression to assess the importance of this distribution. In addition to confirming and extending known properties of the genome, such as the significance of gene deserts and the importance of 'head to head' orientation of gene pairs in proximity, we provide significant new observations that include a smaller average size for intervals separating the 3' ends of neighbouring genes, a correlation of gene expression across tissues for genes as far as 100 kilobases apart and signatures of increasing positive selection with decreasing interval size surprisingly relaxing for intervals smaller than ~500 base pairs. Further, we provide extensive graphical representations of the genome-wide data to allow for observations and comparisons beyond what we address.

Electrochromic devices (ECDs) are in high demand for many applications; however, there is no ideal method to achieve the full recycling of the substrate and the functional layer in ECDs. Currently, it is still challenging to access ECDs with excellent electrochromic property, good degradability, and facile recycling capability. In this study, high-performance ECDs are successfully fabricated by using poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) as the functional layer and transparent gelatin film (TGF) derived from pigskin as the substrate. Compared with PET films or PET-based ECDs, the optical transmittance of TGF and the coloration efficiency of our ECDs could be increased by 3.2 and 41.4%, respectively, showing a great potential to replace conventional plastic-based ECDs. Furthermore, the TGF not only showed good biodegradability but also could be regenerated via a simple process without the loss of desirable properties. In addition, the functional layer and substrate can be easily separated in water due to the adjusted interactions of the interface and the unique property of gelatin, which may open a new path for fabricating green electronics.

Detail studies of the seismic section and certain wells, such as the Puguang-2, the Puguang-6, and the Maoba Wells, demonstrate that the reef facies from the Permian Changxing Formation to the Triassic Feixianguan Formation are expressed as the lens with medium-strong changing swings and chaotic images in the seismic section. The reef facies is made up of gray limestones and dolomites of both baffling sponge reef and the frame sponge reef. Moreover, the bank facies from the Permian Changxing Formation to the Triassic Feixianguan Formation is represented as the lens with medium-strong changing swings and discontinuity images in the seismic section, which is made up of several petrologic types, that is, the French gray thick-bedded to massive sparitic oolitic dolomite, the sparitic gravel-oolitic dolomite, the sparitic pisolitic-oolitic dolomite, the sparitic bioclastic dolomite, and the sparitic dolarenite. Both the reef facies and the bank facies concomitant are developed and distributed in space along the platform margin, which form a special reef-bank facies zone. This facies zone controls the petrological features, the reservoir qualities, and the spatial distribution of the reservoirs of natural gas in the Daxian-Xuanhan area.

A unified dynamic model of a rotating shaft-disc system with multilaminar functional graded graphene platelet reinforced composite (FG-GPLRC) disc is established in order to study the vibration characteristics of the system. Based on first-order shear deformation theory, Timoshenko Beam theory and differential quadrature finite element method, the discrete energy matrices of shaft and disc are obtained. Then the total differential equation of the system is procured by assembling the shaft and disc element matrices. The accuracy and reliability of the model are verified by comparing with the software simulation results. Besides, the influence of boundary conditions, GPL distribution types, GPL weight, disc layers and physical dimensions on the system vibration characteristics is analyzed. It reflects that the GPL distribution types and boundary conditions will make a certain difference to the frequency parameters of shaft-disc system. Furthermore, the vibration characteristics of different GPL distribution types are differently sensitive to the variation in material and geometric parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

May-Thurner syndrome (MTS) is typically characterized by compression of the left common iliac vein by the overlying right common iliac artery. The present study evaluated the occurrence of atypical imaging features of MTS using three-dimensional computed tomography venography reconstruction (3D-CTV) and analyzed their correlation with clinical features.

Cancer stem cells, a special subgroup of cancer cells, have self-renewal capabilities and multidirectional potential, which may be reprogrammed from the dedifferentiation of cancer cells, contributing to the failure of clinical treatments. Esophageal adenocarcinoma grows in an inflammatory environment stimulated by deoxycholic acid, an important component of gastroesophageal reflux content, contributing to the transformation of esophageal squamous epithelium to the precancerous lesions of esophageal adenocarcinoma, that is, Barrett esophagus. In the present study, deoxycholic acid was used to investigate whether it could induce the expression of reprogramming factors Krüppel-like factor, OCT4, and Nanog; the transformation to cancer stem cells in esophageal adenocarcinoma; and the involvement of the interleukin-6/signal transduction and activation of transcription 3 inflammatory signaling pathway. OE33 cells were treated with deoxycholic acid (250 μM) for 0 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, and 12 hours before evaluating the messenger RNA expression of Krüppel-like factor, OCT4, Nanog, interleukin-6, and Bcl-xL by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Interleukin-6 protein was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, while signal transduction and activation of transcription 3, phosphorylated signal transduction and activation of transcription 3, Krüppel-like factor, and OCT4 were detected by Western blot. Signal transduction and activation of transcription 3 small interfering RNA and human recombinant interleukin-6 were used to treat OE33 cells and to detect their effects on Krüppel-like factor, OCT4, Nanog, CD44, hypoxia-inducible factor 1-α, and Bcl-xL expression. Results showed that deoxycholic acid promotes the expression of reprogramming factors Krüppel-like factor and OCT4, which are regulated by the interleukin-6/signal transduction and activation of transcription 3 signaling pathway. Deoxycholic acid has a malignancy-inducing effect on the transformation of esophageal adenocarcinoma stem cells, improving the antiapoptotic ability of tumors, and increasing the malignancy of esophageal adenocarcinoma. Deactivating the regulatory signaling pathway of interleukin-6/signal transduction and activation of transcription 3 and neutralizing deoxycholic acid may be novel targets for improving the clinical efficacy of esophageal adenocarcinoma therapy.

We demonstrated a passively Q-switched mode-locked 2.9 µm Ho,Pr:LiLuF4bulk laser based on a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. A stable pulse train with a modulation depth of nearly 100% was obtained. The mode-locked pulse width inside the Q-switched pulse envelope was estimated to be approximately 800 ps with a repetition rate of 47.27 MHz. The maximum average output power was determined to be 146 mW with a Q-switched pulse repetition rate of 18.2 kHz at a center wavelength of 2883 nm.

Abstract In this paper, the problem of reliable controller design for event-triggered singular Markov jump systems with partly known transition probabilities, nonlinear perturbations and actuator faults is studied. To mitigate the burden of data transmissions over network, two event-triggered schemes with different triggering conditions are introduced. The switch law between the two event-triggered schemes is governed by a random variable with Bernoulli distribution. Taking nonlinear perturbations and actuator faults into account, the resulting closed-loop system is converted into a time-delay singular Markov jump system with partly known transition probabilities. Sufficient conditions of stochastically admissible for the resulting closed-loop system are obtained in terms of a group of linear matrix inequalities. The co-design of desirable reliable controller and weighting matrices of event-triggered schemes is presented. Finally, two numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the developed results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a high power continuous-wave (CW) and acoustic-optically (AO) Q-switched 1314-nm laser with a diode-side-pumped Nd:YLF module. A maximum CW output power of 21.6 W is obtained with a diode pump power of 180 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.0% and a slope efficiency of 16.1%. In the Q-switching operation, a highest pulse energy of 3.8 mJ is obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz. The shortest pulse width and maximum single peak power are 101.9 ns and 37.3 kW, respectively.