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To investigate the endothelialization of covered and bare stents deployed in the canine carotid arteries and subclavian arteries for treating experimental aneurysms and arteriovenous fistulas, twenty aneurysms were created in 10 dogs, and 20 fistulas in another 10 dogs. The Willis balloon-expandable covered stent and a self-expandable covered stent were used to treat these lesions, and a self-expandable bare stent was deployed in the subclavian artery for comparison. Followed up for up to 12 months, the gross observation, pathological staining, and scanning electronic microscopic data were analyzed. Two weeks after creation of animal model, thirty self-expandable covered stents and ten balloon-expandable covered stents were deployed. Fifteen bare stents were deployed within the left subclavian arteries. Twenty days after stenting, the aneurysm significantly shrank. At 6 months, the thrombi within the aneurysm cavity were organized. Three to 12 months later, most covered and bare stents were covered by a thin transparent or white layer of endothelial intima. Layers of intima or pseudomembrane were formed on the stent 20–40 days after stent deployment. Over three months, the pseudomembrane became organized, thinner, and merged into the vascular wall. Under scanning electronic microscopy, the surface of covered and bare stents had only deposition of collagen fibers and rare endothelial cells 20–40 days after stenting. From three to ten months, the endothelial cells on the internal surface of stent became mature, with spindle, stripe-like or quasi round morphology along the blood flow direction. Over time, the endothelial cells became mature. In conclusion, three months after deployment in canines' arteries, the self-expandable bare and covered stents have mostly been covered by endothelial cells which become maturer over time, whereas the balloon-expandable covered stents do not have complete coverage of endothelial cells at three months, especially for protruding stent struts and areas. Over time, the endothelialization will become mature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospun scaffolds play important roles in the fields of regenerative medicine and vascular tissue engineering. The aim of the research described here was to develop a vascular scaffold that mimics the structural and functional properties of natural vascular scaffolding. The mechanical properties of artificial vascular tissue represent a key issue for successful transplantation in small diameter engineering blood vessels. We blended silk fibroin (SF) and fibrin to fabricate a composite scaffold using electrospinning to overcome the shortcomings of fibrin with respect to its mechanical properties. Subsequently, we then carefully investigated the morphological, mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, hemocompatibility, degradation, cytocompatibility and biocompatibility of the SF/fibrin (0:100), SF/fibrin (15:85), SF/fibrin (25:75), and SF/fibrin (35:65) scaffolds. Based on these in vitro results, we implanted SF/fibrin (25:75) vascular scaffold subcutaneously and analyzed its in vivo degradation and histocompatibility. The fiber structure of the SF/fibrin hybrid scaffold was smooth and uniform, and its fiber diameters were relatively small. Compared with the fibrin scaffold, the SF/fibrin scaffold clearly displayed increased mechanical strength, but the hydrophilicity weakened correspondingly. All of the SF/fibrin scaffolds showed excellent blood compatibility and appropriate biodegradation rates. The SF/fibrin (25:75) scaffold increased the proliferation and adhesion of MSCs. The results of animal experiments confirmed that the degradation of the SF/fibrin (25:75) scaffold was faster than that of the SF scaffold and effectively promoted tissue regeneration and cell infiltration. All in all, the SF/fibrin (25:75) electrospun scaffold displayed balanced and controllable biomechanical properties, degradability, and good cell compatibility. Thus, this scaffold proved to be an ideal candidate material for artificial blood vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: This work theoretically demonstrates a catalyst of copper monatomic wire supported on graphene nanoribbons (Cu-GNR) with a high efficiency for nitric oxide electroreduction reaction (NORR). This not only decreases the usage rate of noble metals but also possesses superior limiting potential comparable to pure Cu (− 0.69 and − 0.61 V, vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)). The key is that Cu-GNR will have more efficient catalytic activity for NORR when fully covered by NO, since these weaken the adsorption ability of the reduction steps at the beginning. In sum, our findings may offer a platform for clarifying the effects of the concentration of reactants on catalytic process. Methods: Spin-polarized DFT with ultrasoft pseudopotentials as implemented in the CASTEP code was used in this work. The exchange correlation effects were described by generalized gradient approximation (GGA) with Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) functional. The dispersion correction within Grimme scheme (DFT-D2) was employed to accurately describe the van der Waals (vdW) interactions. The Hirshfeld population analysis was adopted to evaluate the charge transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Dihydroxylammonium 5,5'-biotetrazolium-1,1'-diolate (TKX-50) has two important properties of typical azole energy-containing ionic salts, including high energy and safety. Therefore, in today's era where more emphasis is placed on explosive performance and explosive detonation control conditions, TKX-50 is a very important object of research, and its reaction process in the initial stage of detonation is gradually receiving more and more attention from researchers in the field of energy-containing materials research. Methods: In this paper, based on first-principles density-functional theory (DFT), the mechanism of chemical bond breakage of TKX-50 under pressure was determined based on the analysis of the strength and stability of chemical bonds inside the TKX-50 molecules using Raman spectroscopy relative intensity analysis. The results show that TKX-50 is dominated by N–H bond breaking and followed by H–O bond breaking in the initial reaction stage. These reactions lead to the reorganization and structural changes within the molecule, which eventually lead to the decomposition of TKX-50. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of stable gene-edited plant lines using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)–CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) requires a lengthy process of outcrossing to eliminate CRISPR–Cas9-associated sequences and produce transgene-free lines. We have addressed this issue by designing fusions of Cas9 and guide RNA transcripts to tRNA-like sequence motifs that move RNAs from transgenic rootstocks to grafted wild-type shoots (scions) and achieve heritable gene editing, as demonstrated in wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica rapa. The graft-mobile gene editing system enables the production of transgene-free offspring in one generation without the need for transgene elimination, culture recovery and selection, or use of viral editing vectors. We anticipate that using graft-mobile editing systems for transgene-free plant production may be applied to a wide range of breeding programs and crop plants. Gene-edited plants free of CRISPR-associated sequences are generated by grafting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double-sided lapping process with fixed abrasive shows a strong capability of achieving high efficiency and high surface quality due to its controllable movement of the abrasive and determined material removal modes, and it can be as an alternative technology for fabricating ultra-precision optical components. However, the formation and evolution of the surface topography and roughness (Ra) were rarely clarified in the previous research due to the complicity of the double-sided lapping process. This paper established a new mathematical analytical model to provide a better scientific understanding of the formation and evolution of the surface topography and roughness, in which the spatial location and protrusion height of abrasive particles, each abrasive-material interaction, kinematics trajectory of abrasive particles, and force balance on the workpiece were considered. A series of lapping experiments on the Y3Al5O12 (YAG) wafer were conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed model and analyze the influence of processing parameters on surface topography and roughness evolution. The results indicated that the proposed analytical model can be effectively used to predict surface topography and optimize the process parameters of double-sided planetary lapping for better surface roughness. The variation of processing time and rotational speed of the lapping plate (pad) possesses a significant influence on surface topography and Ra values. Better surface Ra values can be achieved by selecting the proper processing time and rotational speed of the lapping plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An in-depth understanding of the anisotropic characteristics of shale is the basis for improving the production capability of shale gas. Therefore, the cracking behavior of shales under compression and tension was investigated experimentally from macroscopic and microscopic perspectives. Uniaxial compression tests were carried out, and the effects of bedding on the generation of microcracks were analyzed through nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Then, Brazilian splitting and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) tests were performed, and the corresponding relationship between the failure mode and the fracture surface morphology was discussed. The results reveal that the mechanical properties and failure modes of shales are affected significantly by the existence of bedding planes. The total volume and size of microflaws after failure increase, and the highest porosity of newly generated microcracks is that of the 0° specimen. The microflaws are classified into two categories, including capillary and seepage microflaws. The newly generated microflaws in the 0°, 30°, and 90° specimens are mainly due to seepage microflaws, while those in the 60° specimen are mainly due to capillary microflaws. In the Brazilian splitting test, the fracture surface morphology of the specimen is closely related to the failure mode and mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serine proteases (SPs) and their homologs (SPHs) are among the best-characterized gene families. They are involved in several physiological processes, including digestion, embryonic development and immunity. In the current study, a total of 177 SPs-related genes were characterized in the genome of Ostrinia furnacalis. The activation site of SPs/SPHs and enzyme specificity of SPs were identified, and the findings showed that most of the SPs analyzed possessed trypsin substrate specificity. Several SPs/SPHs with similar simple gene structures had tandem repeat-like distributions on the scaffold, indicated that gene expansion has occurred in this large family. Furthermore, we constructed 30 RNA sequencing libraries including four with developmental stage and four middle larval stage tissues to study the transcript levels of these genes. Differentially upregulated and downregulated genes were obtained via data analysis. More than one-quarter of the genes were specifically identified as highly expressed in the midgut in compared to the other three tissues evaluated. In the current study, the domain structure, gene location and phylogenetic relationship of genes in O. furnacalis were explored. Orthologous comparisons of SPs/SPHs between model insects and O. furnacalis indicated their possible functions. This information provides a basis for understanding the functional roles of this large family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new polypyrrole tin boratophosphate (PTB) material has been synthesized for the first time in this work. A series of characterization analyses of the PTB by FTIR, XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM and EA have proved that PTB is amorphous ion nanocomposites, which shows that the PTB has excellent chemical stability in complex acidic and organic environments and commendable selectivity for Pb2+ as well. The adsorption mechanism of the PTB adsorption process was studied in detail from the aspects of thermodynamics, kinetic and adsorption isotherm. It is proved that the adsorption kinetic model conforms to the quasi second-order kinetic model, while the adsorption isotherm is consistent with the Langmuir model. It is also proved that the adsorption of Pb2+ ions by the PTB is spontaneous endothermic process. In conclusion, the PTB cation exchange material synthesized in this paper has a good application prospect in the removal of Pb2+ from industrial and domestic sewage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the complexity of the measurement in a confined space the effect of workpiece rotational speed on surface quality, such as the uniformity of surface roughness (Ra) and peak-to-valley (PV) error of flatness, has not been revealed during the double-sided planetary lapping process. To resolve this concern, a method to measure the workpiece rotational speed is proposed, and the mathematical model for calculating the grit trajectory left on the workpiece in double-sided lapping considering the workpiece rotational speed is established. A variation coefficient for nonuniformity of the track point distribution (NUTPD) is introduced to evaluate the trajectory uniformity. Subsequently, the trajectory map of multiple grits and the value of NUTPD were simulated at different variations, which include the rotational speed ratio γ of the pad to the sun gear, and the rotational speed ratio η of the workpiece to the sun gear. The simulation result shows that the uniformity of the trajectory of the grits left on the workpiece surface is significantly affected by the rotational speed ratios γ and η. Furthermore, to verify the reliability of the simulation, corresponding processing tests were conducted by employing a double-sided planetary lapping machine with YAG wafers. The results show that the uniformity of the surface roughness and the peak-to-valley error of flatness can be reflected in the values of NUTPD. By selecting optimal rotational speed ratios η, better flatness and surface roughness of YAG can be achieved for the lower nonuniformity of trajectory distribution. The above analysis confirms that the method of measuring the rotational speed of the workpiece and trajectory analysis can significantly contribute to optimizing the rotational speed ratio γ. In addition, the above method can provide guidance for the optimization of rotational speed ratio η to obtain more uniform roughness and better flatness of the workpiece surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing the pressure of crystallization of peraluminous felsic rocks is essential to understanding their petrogenesis and implications for the tectonic histories of orogenic belts. Phase relations studies in the haplogranite system reveal that the stability field of quartz enlarges while the stability field of feldspars shrinks with increasing pressure. The result is that the compositions of the cotectic melts (saturated in quartz and feldspar) become less silicic with increasing pressure. Furthermore, the position of the quartz − feldspar cotectic is insensitive to water activity in the melt. This relationship provides an opportunity to estimate the pressure at which melt, quartz, and feldspar equilibrated. The accuracy of pressure estimation depends on accurately estimating the composition of the cotectic melt. However, additional components drive the composition of the cotectic melt away from that in the simple haplogranite system. For example, anorthite component (An) shifts the cotectic curve towards the Qz–Or join, and excess aluminum in the melt (i.e., peraluminous composition) drives the cotectic curve toward the Qz apex. A majority of felsic magmas (> ~ 70 wt% SiO2) are at least slightly peraluminous, and strongly peraluminous magmas are common in orogenic settings. A reasonable estimation of the pressures (depths) of crystallization of peraluminous magmas, which is critical for understanding accompanying tectonic processes, requires a better understanding of the effect of excess Al on the cotectic, and specifically on quartz saturation. We have compiled 32 experimental cotectic glass compositions in the felsic system, in which ASI (= Al2O3/(CaO + Na2O + K2O)(commonly defined identically to A/CNK), in mole content)) range from 1.10 to 2.13. The scheme of (Blundy and Cashman, Contrib Mineral Petrol 140:631–650, 2001) was chosen to correct for the effect of An on the position of the cotectic. The measured Qz of the experimental cotectic melts was compared to Qz calculated using the Blundy and Cashman correction at the experimental pressures. We assumed that the discrepancy between the corrected Qz content and the experimental Qz content was caused by excess aluminum in the melt. Based on this assumption, we can regress the relationship between excess aluminum (ASI-1) and "excess" Qz content. The positive correlation between ASI-1 and increased Qz demonstrates that excess aluminum increases the cotectic Qz content, i.e. quartz solubility, in the peraluminous system. The deviation of Qz content systematically increases from 4 to 20 wt%, with ASI rising from 1.10 to 2.13; the increase is especially rapid and clearly defined between 1.1 and 1.5, the normal range for natural peraluminous melts. The departure from ASI = 1.00 (ASI–1) systematically affects normative Qz in melt at a given P. We calibrate this relationship as: δ Q z = - 18.14 × A S I - 1 2 + 37.64 × ASI - 1 where δQz is the deviation of normative Qz in quartz- + feldspar-saturated melts as ASI increases from 1.00. Uncertainty in our calibration is fairly high (~ 120 MPa (one sigma), based on a standard error from the regression). This uncertainty might be influenced by many factors: (1) the accuracy of the compiled experiments; (2) disequilibrium in the compiled experiments; (3) uncertainty in the estimation of quartz + feldspar-saturated melt compositions based on natural rock samples; (4) the effect of other elements on the position of the cotectic curve, such as F, P, B, Fe, Mg, Ti, Mn. The empirical barometer was applied to natural examples (compositions of peraluminous glasses and granite compositions that permit estimation of melt compositions) with other thermobarometric constraints (cordierite-saturation, GASP (garnet-Al2SiO5-quartz-plagioclase), GBPQ (garnet-biotite-plagioclase-quartz), TitaniQ barometers for estimated melts; host rock metamorphic conditions). We propose that, where natural samples provide good estimates of the compositions of peraluminous melts that were saturated in quartz + feldspars (ideally two feldspars), our calibration provides useful estimates of the pressure of equilibration. Note that whole-rock compositions of granites cannot be assumed to represent melt composition; hence, pressures calculated by our barometer may not be meaningful unless applied to rocks whose compositions are likely to represent melts on the quartz-feldspar cotectic. The most obvious candidates are rhyolite glasses that host quartz + feldspar phenocryst assemblages and phenocryst-poor, aplitic-textured granites with textures indicating simultaneous crystallization of quartz and feldspar. The pressure calculation can be easily performed with the user-friendly spreadsheet (online supplement Table S4). As anticipated, the calculated pressures for peraluminous compositions are significantly higher than current quartz-saturation-based barometers would otherwise suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the bending of a two-layer piezoelectric semiconductor plate (bimorph). The macroscopic theory of piezoelectric semiconductors is employed. A set of two-dimensional plate equations is derived from the three-dimensional equations. The plate equations exhibit direct couplings among bending, electric polarization along the plate thickness, and mobile charges. In the case of pure bending, a combination of physical and geometric parameters is identified which characterizes the strength of the interaction between the mechanical load and the distribution of mobile charges. In the bending of a rectangular plate under a distributed transverse mechanical load, it is shown that mobile charge distributions and potential barriers/wells develop in the plate. When the mechanical load is local and self-balanced, the induced carrier distributions and potential barriers/wells are also localized near the loading area. The results are fundamentally useful for mechanically manipulating mobile charges in piezoelectric semiconductor devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of the mechanical and failure behavior of shale interbedded with sandstone is of scientific and engineering significance for shale gas development. Triaxial compression tests were conducted to investigate the effects of the confining stress and thickness proportion of sandstone interlayers on the characteristic stresses and macroscopic failure modes of specimens of shale interbedded with sandstone. The characteristics of microflaws within interbedded specimens were also examined from a microscopic perspective based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). According to the test results, the deformation and failure process of shale interbedded with sandstone exhibit obvious stage characteristics. The characteristic stresses are affected by the confining stress and thickness proportion of sandstone interlayers, while the ratios of the different characteristic stresses to the peak stresses remain almost constant. All specimens exhibit a tensile-shear failure mode, and six crack morphology patterns can be summarized at the interface between shale and sandstone interlayers. The microflaws in the failed specimens can be classified into three types, namely, closed flaws, small open flaws, and large open flaws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milling force during machining process has strong time-varying and multi-frequency characteristic, which is easy to cause tool vibration, wear, and cutting chatter, and even lead the machining accuracy of parts to be out of tolerance. The paper proposed a milling force prediction method for a general helix cutter during peripheral milling. In this model, the geometric parameters of milling cutter are parametric defined, and then an analytical instantaneous uncut chip thickness (IUCT) model is presented with taking cutter runout (offset and inclination) and geometric entity shape of workpiece into account. A series of milling experiments using aluminum alloy were carried out with six kinds of milling cutters in a high-speed machining center. The analysis results show that the predicted value of milling force can better reflect the change trend of the actual measured one, and well prove the validity of the presented method. Furthermore, the influences of milling parameters, cutter runout, milling type, cutter tooth number, and unequal spacing angle on the time domain and frequency domain excitation characteristics of milling force are systematically analyzed, which can provide useful guidance for the tool design and machining parameter selection in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A novel stem cell delivery core-shell biomass microcapsule was generated by an all-aqueous phase microfluidic electrospray technique. Microcapsule with a certain mechanical strength and porous structure is beneficial for substances exchange between cells and the external environment, together with avoiding cell damage during treatment. Core-shell microcapsule provided a favorable cell growth microenvironment, which mimics a physicochemical microenvironment and protects the cells from the immune attack from body. Bone defects caused by trauma, tumor, or osteoarthritis remain challenging due to the lack of effective treatments in clinic. Stem cell transplantation has emerged as an alternative approach for bone repair and attracted widespread attention owing to its excellent biological activities and therapy effect. The attempts to develop this therapeutic approach focus on the generation of effective cell delivery vehicles, since the shortcomings of direct injection of stem cells into target tissues. Here, we developed a novel core-shell microcapsule with a stem cell-laden core and a biomass shell by using all-aqueous phase microfluidic electrospray technology. The designed core-shell microcapsules showed a high cell viability during the culture procedure. In addition, the animal experiments exhibited that stem cell-laden core-shell microcapsules have good biocompatibility and therapeutic effect for bone defects. This study indicated that the core-shell biomass microcapsules generated by microfluidic electrospray have promising potential in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robot welding is a basic but indispensable technology for many industries in modern manufacturing. However, many welding parameters affect welding quality. During the real welding process, welding defects are inevitably generated that affect the structural strengths and comprehensive performances of different welding products. Therefore, an accurate welding defect recognition algorithm is necessary for automatic robot welding to assess the effects of defects on structural properties and system maintenance. Much work has been devoted to welding defect recognition. It can be mainly divided into two categories: feature-based and deep learning-based methods. The detection performances of feature-based methods rely on effective image features and strong classifiers. However, faced with weak-textured and weak-contrast welding images, the realization of strong image feature expression still faces a certain challenge. Deep learning-based methods can provide end-to-end detection schemes for welding robots. Nevertheless, an effective deep network model relies on much training data that are not easily collected during real manufacturing. To address the above issues regarding defect detection, a novel welding defect recognition algorithm is proposed based on multi-feature fusion for accurate defect detection based on X-ray images. To improve network training, an effective data augmentation process is proposed to construct the dataset. Combined with transfer learning, the multi-scale features of welding images are acquired for effective feature expression with the pre-trained AlexNet network. On this basis, based on multi-feature fusion, a welding defect recognition algorithm fused to a support vector machine with Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is proposed for multi-scale defect detection. Experiments show that the proposed method achieves a better recognition performance in terms of detecting welding defects than those of other related recognition algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporal muscle thickness measured on 3D MRI has recently been linked to prognosis in glioblastoma patients and may serve as an independent prognostic indicator. This single-center study looked at temporal muscle thickness and prognosis in patients with primary glioblastoma. Overall survival was the major study outcome. For a retrospective analysis from 2010 to 2020, clinical data from 102 patients with glioblastoma at the Department of Oncology Radiotherapy of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University were gathered. Fifty-five cases from 2016 to 2020 contained glioblastoma molecular typing data, of which 45 were IDH wild-type glioblastomas and were analysed separately. TMT was measured on enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance images in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.Overall patient survival (OS) was calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method and survival curves were plotted using the log-rank-sum test to determine differences between groups, and multifactorial analyses were performed using a Cox proportional-risk model.The median TMT for 102 patients was 6.775 mm (range: 4.95–10.45 mm). Patients were grouped according to median TMT, and the median overall survival (23.0 months) was significantly longer in the TMT > median group than in the TMT median group (P 0.001; Log-rank test). Analysing 45 patients with IDH wild type alone, the median overall survival (12 months) of patients in the TMT > median group was significantly longer than that of patients in the TMT ≤ median group (8 months) (P < 0.001; Log-rank test).TMT can serve as an independent prognostic factor for glioblastoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enrollment rate of freshmen has always been a headache for colleges and universities. It is also very difficult to accurately predict the number of freshmen before they register. In recent years, deep learning and machine learning technology have made a breakthrough and are widely used in data processing, edge computing, and situation awareness. So far, no researcher has used machine learning methods to forecast the enrollment of new students, because the intuitive feeling is that the registration of a freshman is very subjective, dependent on several factors. To date, the number of freshmen in universities has always been forecasted using traditional methods, that is, phone calls and fee payment status inquiries. On the basis of the historical admission enrollment data of a university, this study used a variety of machine learning methods, including decision tree, random forest, and back propagation neural network, for forecasting. Based on the results of our research, it is possible to predict whether a freshman will register in a university, which makes this work very worthy of further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in severity of anxiety and depression symptoms, stress and sleeping quality after three months of mass quarantine for COVID-19 among undergraduate fresh students compared to their pre-COVID-19 measures. We used participants from the Chinese Undergraduate Cohort (CUC), a national prospective longitudinal study to examine the changes in anxiety and depression symptoms severity, stress and sleep quality after being under mass quarantine for three months. Wilcoxon matched pair signed-rank test was used to compare the lifestyle indicators. Severity of anxiety, depression symptoms, stress and sleep quality were compared with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. We used generalized estimating equation (GEE) to further quantify the change in mental health indicators and sleep quality after the COVID-19 mass quarantine compared to baseline. This study found that there was no deterioration in mental health status among Chinese new undergraduate students in 2020 after COVID-19 mass quarantine compared with the baseline measures in 2019. There was an improvement in sleep quality and anxiety symptoms. After adjusting for age, sex, exercise habit, time spent on mobile gadgets, and time spent outdoors, year 2020 was significantly associated with severity of depression symptoms in males (OR:1.52. 95%CI:1.05–2.20, p-value = 0.027). Year 2020 was significantly associated with the improvement of sleeping quality in total (OR:0.45, 95%CI:0.38–0.52, p < 0.001) and in all the subgroups. This longitudinal study found no deterioration in mental health status among Chinese new undergraduate students after three months of mass quarantine for COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HBV infection is recognized as a serious global health problem, and hepatitis B virus infection is a complicated chronic disease leading to liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). New biochemical serum markers could be used to advance the diagnosis and prognosis of HBV-associated liver diseases during the progression of chronic hepatitis B into cirrhosis and HCC. We determined whether the 4210 Da and 1866 Da polypeptides are serum metabolite biomarkers of hepatopathy with hepatitis B virus. A total of 570 subjects were divided into five groups: healthy controls, those with natural clearance, and patients with CHB, LC, and HCC. The 1866 Da and 4210 Da polypeptides were measured by Clin-ToF II MALDI-TOF–MS. There were significant differences in 4210 Da and 1866 Da levels among the five groups (P < 0.001). For the differential diagnosis of CHB from normal liver, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 4210 Da and 1866 Da and their combination via logistic regression were 0.961, 0.849 and 0.967. For the differential diagnosis of LC from CHB, the areas under the ROC curve were 0.695, 0.841 and 0.826. For the differential diagnosis of HCC from CHB, the areas under the ROC curve were 0.744, 0.710 and 0.761, respectively. For the differential diagnosis of HCC from LC, the areas under the ROC curve of 4210 Da and 1866 Da were 0.580 and 0.654. The positive rate of 1866 Da was 45.5% and 69.0% in AFP-negative HCC patients and that of 4210 Da was 60.6% 58.6% in AFP-negative HCC patients of the study HCC vs. CHB and HCC vs. LC. The 4210 Da and 1866 Da polypeptide levels were positively correlated with HBV DNA levels (P < 0.001, r = 0.269; P < 0.001, r = 0.285). The 4210 Da and 1866 Da polypeptides had good diagnostic value for the occurrence and progression of HBV-related chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and could serve to accurately guide treatment management and predict clinical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of aggregate gradation (11 gradations with volume moment mean diameter ranging from 192 to 398 μm) and hydrogen peroxide (HP) dosage (0%, 0.8%, 1.6%, 2.4%, and 3.2% by weight of cement) on the fluidity, strength, and microstructure of cemented foam backfill (CFB) was comprehensively evaluated in this study. The fluidity, expansion ratio, and water film thickness for fresh CFB and 28-day strength and microstructural properties for hardened CFB were compared as a function of aggregate gradation and HP dosage. The end results reveal that the fluidity of fresh CFB decreases with finer aggregate and higher HP dosage due to their effect on water film thickness, but the expansion ratio increases. The strength for hardened backfill without foaming agent increases with coarser aggregate, but that for cemented foam backfill decreases. Additionally, the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) results denote that the variation of aggregate gradation and HP dosage mainly influences the volume of large pores (>1 μm) and consequently the overall porosity of CFB, resulting in the strength variation. The linear relationship between compressive strength and averaged fractal dimensions of cross-sections obtained from X-ray CT indicates that the number of extra-large pores (100~500 μm) determines the strength of CFB. The influence of HP on the hydration reaction of backfill and the potential application of CFB in mining practices are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, LHCb collaboration reported their first observation of the rare decays B s → ϕ (f 0 (980) / f 2 (1270) →) π + π - and the evidence of B 0 → ϕ (f 0 (980) / f 2 (1270) →) π + π - . Motivated by this, we study these quasi-two-body decays in the perturbative QCD approach. The branching fractions, CP asymmetries and the polarization fractions are calculated. We find that within the appropriate two-meson wave functions, the calculated branching fractions are in agreement with the measurements of LHCb. Based on the narrow-width approximation, We also calculate the branching fractions of the quasi-two-body B d , s → ϕ (f 0 (980) / f 2 (1270) →) π 0 π 0 and B d , s → ϕ (f 2 (1270) →) K + K - , and hope the predictions to be tested in the ongoing LHCb and Belle II experiments. Moreover, the processes B d , s → ϕ f 2 (1270) are also analyzed under the approximation. We note that the CP asymmetries of these decays are very small, because these decays are either penguin dominant or pure penguin processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are mostly used for monitoring the environment; however, they are usually powered by non-rechargeable batteries with limited energy. Solar energy harvesting is an attractive solution to the limit by charging the sensor nodes; however, the harvested solar energy is easily affected by weather conditions. Based on the characteristics of uncertainty and intermittency of solar energy, this paper proposes a plus-profile solar energy prediction algorithm. This algorithm makes the prediction of future available solar energy by finding the data in the dataset that is most similar to the data of the day and combining it with recent weather trend. According to the predicted result, the paper further proposes an adaptive energy management scheme to suit the harvested energy. In the scheme, sensor nodes can adaptively adjust task scheduling to achieve energy neutrality. The simulation results show that compared with other algorithms, the prediction accuracy of the proposed prediction algorithm is improved by 17.7 and 22.4%, respectively, and the proposed energy management scheme reduced energy loss by 6.2 and 46.8%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-power inductors are fundamental components in high-power DC–DC converters, with their performance being a crucial metric of converter efficiency. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of a novel calculation method for the air gap length in such inductors. Taking into account the effects of air gap diffusion and the winding magnetic field, an expression for the air gap diffusion radius is derived, focusing on a distributed air gap structure. Furthermore, models for calculating the air gap and winding reluctance are developed, grounded in electromagnetic field theory. An equivalent magnetic circuit model, formulated based on Kirchhoff's second law, facilitates the proposed method for air gap length calculation. This study also involves the development of 3D models for both discrete and decoupled integrated inductors. The comparison between simulation outcomes and calculated air gap lengths indicates a maximum error of less than 8%, with the minimum error being as low as − 0.79%. Compared with traditional methods, the calculation method proposed in this paper has significant advantages. Additionally, the discrepancy between calculated values and experimental measurements is found to be 1.11%. These results validate the accuracy and applicability of the theoretical analysis and calculation method, underscoring their significance in the design and optimization of high-power DC–DC converters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and intelligent manufacturing, the traditional teaching-playback mode and the off-line programming (OLP) mode cannot meet the flexible and fast modern manufacturing mode. Therefore, the intelligent welding robots have been widely developed and applied into the industrial production lines to improve the manufacturing efficiency. The sensing system of welding robots is one of the key technologies to realize the intelligent robot welding. Due to its unique characteristics of good robustness and high precision, the structured light sensor has been widely developed in the intelligent welding robots. To adapt to different measurement tasks of the welding robots, many researchers have designed different structured light sensors and integrated them into the intelligent welding robots. Therefore, the latest research and application work about the structured light sensors in the intelligent welding robots is analyzed and summarized, such as initial weld position identification, parameter extraction, seam tracking, monitoring of welding pool, and welding quality detection, to provide a comprehensive reference for researchers engaged in these related research work as much as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sevoflurane, a commonly used anesthetic, may cause agitation in patients. However, the mechanism underlying this clinical observation remains largely unknown. We thus assessed the effects of sevoflurane on neuronal activation and behaviors in mice. Ten-day-old mice received 2% sevoflurane, 1% isoflurane, or 6% desflurane for 10 minutes. The behavioral activities were recorded and evaluated at one minute after the loss of righting reflex in the mice, which was about two minutes after the anesthetic administration. The neuronal activation was evaluated by c-Fos expression and calcium imaging at one minute after the anesthetic administration. Propofol, which reduces neuronal activation, was used to determine the cause-and-effect of sevoflurane. We found that sevoflurane caused an increase in neuronal activation in primary somatosensory cortex of young mice and behavioral hyperactivity in the mice at one minute after the loss of righting reflex. Desflurane did not induce behavioral hyperactivity and isoflurane only caused behavioral hyperactivity with borderline significance. Finally, propofol attenuated the sevoflurane-induced increase in neuronal activation and behavioral hyperactivity in young mice. These results demonstrate an unexpected sevoflurane-induced increase in neuronal activation and behavioral hyperactivity in young mice. These findings suggest the potential mechanisms underlying the sevoflurane-induced agitation and will promote future studies to further determine whether anesthetics can induce behavioral hyperactivity via increasing neuronal activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the observations of the decays B 0 → K 0 ∗ (1430) 0 f 0 (980) and B 0 → K 2 ∗ (1430) 0 f 0 (980) from BaBar collaboration, we study the B 0 (+) → K 0 , 2 ∗ (1430) 0 (+) f 0 (980) / σ decays in the perturbative QCD approach for the first time. In the absence of reliable nonperturbative wave functions we only assume the scalar meson f 0 (980) and σ are two-quark ground states. In our calculations, these decays are all dominated by the hard-scattering emission and annihilation diagrams, while the factorizable emission diagrams are forbidden or suppressed heavily by the vector decay constants. Furthermore, the branching fractions are sensitive to the mixing between f 0 (980) and σ . Comparing our results with the experimental data, a large mixing angle θ is favored. Taking θ = 145 ∘ , the orders of branching fractions of B → K 0 ∗ (1430) 0 σ , B → K 2 ∗ (1430) 0 σ and B → K 0 , 2 ∗ (1430) 0 f 0 (980) are predicted to be 10 - 4 , 10 - 5 and 10 - 6 , respectively, which can be measured in the current experiments such as LHCb and Belle-2. In addition, although these decays are penguin dominant, the mixing also leads to large direct CP asymmetries in these decays. With the precise data in future, our results could shed light on the inner structure of the scalar mesons and can be used to determine the mixing angle of the σ - f 0 (980) system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To establish a model for predicting lymph node metastasis in bladder cancer (BCa) patients. Methods: We retroactively enrolled 239 patients who underwent three-phase CT and resection for BCa in two centers (training set, n = 185; external test set, n = 54). We reviewed the clinical characteristics and CT features to identify significant predictors to construct a clinical model. We extracted the hand-crafted radiomics features and deep learning features of the lesions. We used the Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance algorithm and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator logistic regression algorithm to screen features. We used nine classifiers to establish the radiomics machine learning signatures. To compensate for the uneven distribution of the data, we used the synthetic minority over-sampling technique to retrain each machine-learning classifier. We constructed the combined model using the top-performing radiomics signature and clinical model, and finally presented as a nomogram. We evaluated the combined model’s performance using the area under the receiver operating characteristic, accuracy, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis. We used the Kaplan–Meier survival curve to analyze the prognosis of BCa patients. Results: The combined model incorporating radiomics signature and clinical model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic of 0.834 (95% CI: 0.659–1.000) for the external test set. The calibration curves and decision curve analysis demonstrated exceptional calibration and promising clinical use. The combined model showed good risk stratification performance for progression-free survival. Conclusion: The proposed CT-based combined model is effective and reliable for predicting lymph node status of BCa patients preoperatively. Critical relevance statement: Bladder cancer is a type of urogenital cancer that has a high morbidity and mortality rate. Lymph node metastasis is an independent risk factor for death in bladder cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate the performance of a deep learning radiomics model for preoperatively predicting lymph node metastasis in bladder cancer patients. Key points: • Conventional imaging is not sufficiently accurate to determine lymph node status. • Deep learning radiomics model accurately predicted bladder cancer lymph node metastasis. • The proposed method showed satisfactory patient risk stratification for progression-free survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosgene is a highly concealed and highly toxic gas that seriously threatens human health and public security. Therefore, the detection of phosgene is of great significance to world security. Herein, a new type of fluorescent probe based on 2-(2-aminophenyl) imidazo [1,5-a] pyridine is reported for the rapid detection of phosgene. The probe itself only emits a faint green fluorescence, while phosgene allows it to produce a strong blue fluorescence. During the recognition process, phosgene interacts simultaneously with both amino site and imidazole moiety in the probe molecule, resulting in a four-ring-fused rigid structure with high fluorescence quantum yield. The probe not only has the characteristics of high efficiency, high sensitivity (detection limit 2.68 nM), and high selectivity, but also has remarkable spectral changes. Finally, a portable test strip is used to detect phosgene in the gas phase, and the fluorescent color change of the test strip can be easily observed. The most exciting thing is that the portable test strip with the probe PMPY-NH2 can produce a strong fluorescence response to 1 ppm of phosgene, which is far lower than the level of phosgene that seriously threatens to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation process of returned straw in rice fields can improve soil organic matter and promote sustainable agriculture. The degradation process of returned straw is a humification process as well as a mineralization process involving microorganisms and enzymes. However, the degradation process of returned straw, the effect on straw decomposing microorganisms and the regulatory mechanism on potential functionality under cool climate flooding conditions are currently unknown.For this purpose, we investigated the biodegradation of straw from a biodegradation point of view at 20, 40, 71, 104, and 137 d after return under conventional (130 kg hm−2), 1/3 straw return (2933 kg hm−2), 2/3 straw return (5866 kg hm−2), and full straw return (8800 kg hm−2) applications in cool climate rice fields.. The test found Paludibacteraceae and Archaeaceae were the dominant bacteria for straw degradation, and their relative abundance was highest when 2/3 of straw was returned to the field. The straw degradation extracellular enzyme activity was higher in the late return period (104 d). At this time, the potential functionality of the soil differed significantly among the different return amounts, with the best extracellular enzyme activity and potential functionality at the 2/3 straw return amount. Therefore, the optimal amount of rice straw returned to the field is 5866 kg hm−2 at the current conventional N application rate (130 kg hm−2) in the cold zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxaliplatin is widely used in chemotherapy for colorectal cancer (CRC), but its sensitivity has become a major obstacle to limiting efficacy. Many literatures reported that Nrf2 activation promoted tumor chemoresistance. In this study, we explored the role and mechanism of Nrf2 inhibition in oxaliplatin-based chemosensitivity of CRC. In vitro experiments, we applied 4-octyl itaconate (4-OI) to activate Nrf2, and used lentivirus to knock down Nrf2 in CRC cell lines. By measuring cell viability, colony formation, apoptosis, reactive oxygen species production, and western blot, we found that oxaliplatin and lobaplatin suppressed the growth of HCT-116 and LOVO cells in a dose-dependent manner, and promoted the expression of Nrf2. 4-OI, an Nrf2 activator, reduced the sensibility of CRC cells to oxaliplatin and lobaplatin, while the knockdown of Nrf2 promoted the sensibility of CRC cells to oxaliplatin and lobaplatin. Through the public databases, we found that the expression of GPX4 in normal tissues was lower compared with cancer tissues in CRC, and the high GPX4 expression predicted a poor prognosis. Meanwhile, we found that oxaliplatin reduced the expression of GPX4 in vitro. The knockdown of Nrf2 enhanced the effects of oxaliplatin to reduce the expression of GPX4 and GSH content, and increase the MDA content, which enhanced oxaliplatin-induced ferroptosis. Subsequently, we found that oxaliplatin promoted the expression of GSDME-N, and induced LDH, IL-1β, and TNF-a release, and the knockdown of Nrf2 aggravated the occurrence of GSMDE-mediated pyroptosis. Finally, we found that the knockdown of Nrf2 enhanced the inhibition of oxaliplatin on HCT116 xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Thus, our study showed that Nrf2 inhibition improved sensitivity to oxaliplatin of CRC cells by promoting ferroptosis and pyroptosis, which provided a new target for overcoming chemoresistance in CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian mudstones (including the Wufeng, Guanyinqiao and Longmaxi Formations) in the Sichuan Basin are some of the most important shale gas plays in China. In order to enhance our understanding of the process of formation of organic carbon up to 10%, optical, microscopy and geochemical methods have been used to investigate the petrographic and geochemical characteristics of the formation. Firstly, three mudstone lithofacies were identified based on a wide variety of mudstone laminations. These are: (a) indistinctly laminated mudstone; (b) parallel-laminated mudstone; and (c) nonparallel-laminated mudstone. Then, combining with the evidence from depocenter migration, Th/U ratios and total organic carbon, the abundant organo-minerallic fabrics suggest that organic carbon was preferentially deposited and preserved in anoxic, low energy and stagnant water conditions during deposition of the Wufeng and Longmaxi Formations. On the contrary, the Guanyinqiao Formation with poor organic carbon was deposited in oxic and high-energy water conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the automation level of the welding robots, the automatic extraction and identification of the weld seam is the pre-requisite of the intelligent welding robots. During the real industrial environment, the welding environment often has the characteristics of weak texture, poor contrast, reflections from metallic surfaces, and imperfections on the work piece. These characteristics will seriously affect the accurate extraction of weld seam. To realize the automatic path planning of welding robots, a new method of automatic extraction and identification of narrow butt joint under weak contrast is realized to serve the 3D path teaching of welding robots. To achieve accurate extraction of narrow butt joint under weak contrast, this paper designs a new seam extraction operator to achieve accurate and fast extraction of weld seam with various shapes and sizes. And the shape feature of weld seam is used to construct feature vector. Finally, to get optimal classification performance, the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is adopted in this paper to finish identification of narrow butt joints. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm could quickly and accurately realize the extraction and identification of the narrow butt joints under weak contrast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some environmental factors, such as brownification and eutrophication, may influence the successful invasions of non-native submerged macrophytes. However, few studies have focused on how interactions between these factors influence the performance of exotic submerged plants. Here, we conducted an experiment in 60 indoor containers (170 l) over 68 days using the native species Hydrilla verticillata (L. f.) Royle and the non-native species Elodea nuttallii (Planch.) St. John to test the effects of brownification, eutrophication and their interactions on the growth and competition of native and non-native aquatic plants. Our results showed that the biomass of both H. verticillata and E. nuttallii increased in the brown water treatment and that eutrophication and water brownification did not lead to a shift from a native species-dominated system to a non-native-dominated system. However, brown water treatment decreased the relative competitive ability of E. nuttallii, and this decrease was exacerbated when brown water and nutrient treatments were combined. Our results indicated that some environmental factors, such as water brownification, eutrophication and their interactions, may not benefit the competition of some non-native submerged macrophytes. Further studies with more species are needed to corroborate these conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern manufacturing industry, the welding quality is one of the key factors which affect the structural strength and the comprehensive quality of the products. It is an important part to establish the standard of welding quality detection and evaluation in the process of production management. At present, the detection technologies of welding quality are mainly performed based on the 2D image features. However, due to the influence of environmental factors and illumination conditions, the welding quality detection results based on grey images are not robust. In this paper, a novel welding detection system is established based on the 3D reconstruct technology for the arc welding robot. The shape from shading (SFS) algorithm is used to reconstruct the 3D shapes of the welding seam and the curvature information is extracted as the feature vector of the welds. Furthermore, the SVM classification method is adopted to perform the evaluation task of welding quality. The experimental results show that the system can quickly and efficiently fulfill the detection task of welding quality, especially with good robustness for environmental influence cases. Meanwhile, the method proposed in this paper can well solve the weakness issues of conventional welding quality detection technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation process of returned straw in rice fields can improve soil organic matter and promote sustainable agriculture. The degradation process of returned straw is a humification process as well as a mineralization process involving microorganisms and enzymes. However, the degradation process of returned straw, the effect on straw decomposing microorganisms and the regulatory mechanism on potential functionality under cool climate flooding conditions are currently unknown.For this purpose, we investigated the biodegradation of straw from a biodegradation point of view at 20, 40, 71, 104, and 137 d after return under conventional (130 kg hm−2), 1/3 straw return (2933 kg hm−2), 2/3 straw return (5866 kg hm−2), and full straw return (8800 kg hm−2) applications in cool climate rice fields.. The test found Paludibacteraceae and Archaeaceae were the dominant bacteria for straw degradation, and their relative abundance was highest when 2/3 of straw was returned to the field. The straw degradation extracellular enzyme activity was higher in the late return period (104 d). At this time, the potential functionality of the soil differed significantly among the different return amounts, with the best extracellular enzyme activity and potential functionality at the 2/3 straw return amount. Therefore, the optimal amount of rice straw returned to the field is 5866 kg hm−2 at the current conventional N application rate (130 kg hm−2) in the cold zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxaliplatin is widely used in chemotherapy for colorectal cancer (CRC), but its sensitivity has become a major obstacle to limiting efficacy. Many literatures reported that Nrf2 activation promoted tumor chemoresistance. In this study, we explored the role and mechanism of Nrf2 inhibition in oxaliplatin-based chemosensitivity of CRC. In vitro experiments, we applied 4-octyl itaconate (4-OI) to activate Nrf2, and used lentivirus to knock down Nrf2 in CRC cell lines. By measuring cell viability, colony formation, apoptosis, reactive oxygen species production, and western blot, we found that oxaliplatin and lobaplatin suppressed the growth of HCT-116 and LOVO cells in a dose-dependent manner, and promoted the expression of Nrf2. 4-OI, an Nrf2 activator, reduced the sensibility of CRC cells to oxaliplatin and lobaplatin, while the knockdown of Nrf2 promoted the sensibility of CRC cells to oxaliplatin and lobaplatin. Through the public databases, we found that the expression of GPX4 in normal tissues was lower compared with cancer tissues in CRC, and the high GPX4 expression predicted a poor prognosis. Meanwhile, we found that oxaliplatin reduced the expression of GPX4 in vitro. The knockdown of Nrf2 enhanced the effects of oxaliplatin to reduce the expression of GPX4 and GSH content, and increase the MDA content, which enhanced oxaliplatin-induced ferroptosis. Subsequently, we found that oxaliplatin promoted the expression of GSDME-N, and induced LDH, IL-1β, and TNF-a release, and the knockdown of Nrf2 aggravated the occurrence of GSMDE-mediated pyroptosis. Finally, we found that the knockdown of Nrf2 enhanced the inhibition of oxaliplatin on HCT116 xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Thus, our study showed that Nrf2 inhibition improved sensitivity to oxaliplatin of CRC cells by promoting ferroptosis and pyroptosis, which provided a new target for overcoming chemoresistance in CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new emerging technique, transfer learning enjoys the advantage of integrating the well-learnt knowledge from another related work to facilitate an improved learning result of one task. Most of the existing transfer learning methods are designed for long texts and short texts. However, the latter one distinguishes from the former one in terms of its sparse nature, noise words, syntactical structure, and colloquial terminologies used. A transfer learning algorithm called automatic transfer learning (AutoTL) is proposed for short text mining. By transferring knowledge automatically learnt from the online information, the proposed method enables training data to be selected automatically. Furthermore, it does not make any a priori assumption about probability distribution. Our experimental results on 20Newsgroups, Simulated Real Auto Aviation, and Reuter-21578 validate the higher performance of the proposed AutoTL over several state-of-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-crystalline TiO nanosheet array films with tunable percentage of exposed {001} facets were synthesized on FTO by a simple hydrothermal method. The effects of the hydrochloric acid concentration on morphology, crystal structure, and optical property have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscope system, and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. When the hydrochloric acid concentration increases from 4.8 to 5.2 mol/L, dense regular nanosheets tend to grow perpendicular to the substrate surface, and the percentage of exposed {001} facets is increasing from 76 to 84 %. Evolution of these nanosheet array films has accompanied by significant variations of photoelectronic and photocatalytic properties. The intensity of Raman peak E at 144 cm decreases, and the photocurrent increases when more proportion areas of {001} facets are exposed. The sample prepared at hydrochloric acid concentration of 4.8 mol/L shows the highest photocatalytic activity. This can be explained by the preferential carrier transport to different facets of the TiO crystal with tradeoff relation between the {101} and {001} facets, and a increasing of total catalytic sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent genome-wide association studies implicated that the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are common susceptible genes of two contextual diseases: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer. We aimed to test whether the copy number variations (CNVs) in nAChRs have hereditary contributions to development of the two diseases. In two, two-stage, case-control studies of southern and eastern Chinese, a common CNV-3956 that duplicates the cholinergic receptor, nicotinic, α7 (CHRNA7) gene was genotyped in a total of 7880 subjects and its biological phenotype was assessed. The ≥4-copy of CNV-3956 increased COPD risk (≥4-copy vs 2/3-copy: OR=1.44, 95% CI=1.23-1.68) and caused poor lung function, and it similarly augmented risk (OR=1.49, 95% CI=1.29-1.73) and worsened prognosis (hazard ratio (HR)=1.25, 95% CI=1.07-1.45) of lung cancer. The ≥4-copy was estimated to account for 1.56% of COPD heritability and 1.87% of lung cancer heritability, respectively. Phenotypic analysis further showed that the ≥4-copy of CNV-3956 improved CHRNA7 expression in vivo and increased the carriers' smoking amount. The CNV-3956 of CHRNA7 contributed to increased risks and poor prognoses of both COPD and lung cancer, and this may be a genetic biomarker of the two diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) have been shown to be associated with the pathogenesis of cartilage damage in arthritis. Trans-caryophyllene (TC) is an important constituent of the essential oils of several species of plants. In this study, we found that TC treatment could inhibit TNF-α-induced matrix metallopeptidase 13, cyclooxygenase-2, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in human chondrocytes. Moreover, the increase in inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and NO production induced by TNF-α was able to be suppressed by TC treatment. Importantly, treatment with TC was also found to inhibit activation of the main proinflammatory regulator, interferon regulatory factor-1, which is increased in the presence of TNF-α. Interestingly, we also proved that TC's effects on these mechanisms are dependent on the type 2 cannabinoid receptor. Taken together, the results of this study show that TC exerts anti-inflammatory effects in TNF-α-stimulated chondrocyte models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel plasma exposure technique has been introduced into conventional magnetron sputtering process to enhance the crystallization of indium oxide (InO) films at room temperature. The effect of plasma exposure technique with different pulsed DC voltages on the electrical and mechanical properties of InO films was investigated. It is observed that film crystallization can be significantly enhanced when the pulsed DC voltage (| V|) is higher than |−500 V| (| V| > |−500 V|). By applying the plasma exposure process, InO films prepared at room temperature with thickness of 135 nm shows low resistivity of 4.11 × 10 Ω cm, mobility of 42.1 cm/Vs, and transmittance over 80 % in the visible range. Compared with the InO films without plasma exposure process, the InO films with plasma exposure show better crystallization and remarkably higher nanohardness. The plasma exposure technique is a useful candidate technique for enhancing film crystallization at low temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High throughput screening (HTS) methods of enzyme variants are essential for the development of robust biocatalysts suited for low impact, industrial scale, biobased synthesis of a myriad of compounds. However, for the majority of enzyme classes, current screening methods have limited throughput, or need expensive substrates in combination with sophisticated setups. Here, we present a straightforward, high throughput selection system that couples sucrose synthase activity to growth. Enabling high throughput screening of this enzyme class holds the potential to facilitate the creation of robust variants, which in turn can significantly impact the future of cost effective industrial glycosylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the activity of tropical cyclones (TCs) in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) from 1979 to 2018 to discover the mechanism affecting the contribution rate to the meridional moisture budget anomaly (MMBA) over the southern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau (SBTP). May and October–December are the bimodal phases of BOB TC frequency, which decreases month by month from October to December and is relatively low in May. However, the contribution rate to the MMBA is the highest in May. The seasonal variation in the meridional position of the westerlies is the key factor affecting the contribution rate. The relatively southern (northern) position of the westerlies in November and December (May) results in a lower (higher) contribution rate to the MMBA. This mechanism is confirmed by the momentum equation. When water vapor enters the westerlies near the trough line, the resultant meridional acceleration is directed north. It follows that the farther north the trough is, and the farther north the water vapor can be transported. When water vapor enters the westerlies from the area near the ridge line, for Type-T (Type-R) TCs, water vapor enters the westerlies downstream of the trough (ridge). Consequently, the direction of the resultant meridional acceleration is directed south and the resultant zonal acceleration is directed east (west), which is not conducive to the northward transport of water vapor. This is especially the case if the trough or ridge is relatively south, as the water vapor may not cross the SBTP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the edge computing, service placement refers to the process of installing service platforms, databases, and configuration files corresponding to computing tasks on edge service nodes. In order to meet the latency requirements of new types of applications, service placement in edge computing becomes critical. The service placement strategy must be carried out in accordance with the relevant tasks within the program. However, previous research has paid little attention to related tasks within the application. If the service placement strategy does not consider task relevance, the system will frequently switch services and cause serious system overhead. In this paper, we mainly study the problem of service placement in edge computing. At the same time, we considered the issue of network access point selection during data transmission and the dependencies of task execution. We propose a Dynamic Service Placement List Scheduling (DSPLS) algorithm based on dynamic remaining task service time prediction. We conducted relevant simulation experiments, and our algorithm took the least amount of time to complete the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile edge computing can meet the needs of users in real time by pushing cloud resources, such as computing, network, and storage, to the edge of a mobile network. Although mobile edge technology has brought many conveniences to mobile services, many security problems, such as mutual authentication between mobile users and servers, and the impersonation of mobile users or servers, have not been properly solved. In this paper, we propose a lightweight and secure authentication protocol to solve such security problems. We conducted a formal security analysis of our protocol using ProVerif and the Real-or-Random model to prove its correctness and security, and even if the registration center is attacked, our protocol is still secure. At the end of this paper, by comparing the communication and computing costs with other existing protocols, we prove the security and efficiency of our protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding an accurate, stable and effective model to predict the rise and fall of stocks has become a task increasingly favored by scholars. This paper proposes a long short-term memory (LSTM) network based on Pearson's correlation coefficient and a Bayesian-optimized LightGBM hybrid model, named as LSTM-BO-LightGBM, to solve the problem of stock price fluctuation prediction. The multilayer bidirectional LSTM-BO-LightGBM prediction model is compared with the LSTM-BO-XGBoost hybrid model, the LSTM-LightGBM hybrid model, the LSTM-XGBoost hybrid model, the single LSTM network model and the RNN network model. The prediction result of the LSTM-BO-LightGBM model for the "ES = F" stock is an RMSE value of 596.04, MAE value of 15.24, accuracy value of 0.639 and f1_score value of 0.799, which are improved compared with the prediction results of the other five models. At the same time, when applying the model to "YM = F", "CL = F", "^TNX", "^N225", "NQ = F", "AAPL", "GC = F", "JPY = X" and "SI = F", all of the nine stocks showed good forecasting performance. The results demonstrate that the multilayer bidirectional LSTM-BO-LightGBM model proposed in this paper has better approximation ability and generalization ability in the stock fluctuation forecast than previous models and can well fit the stock fluctuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic-caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)– has posed a global threat and presented with it a multitude of economic and public-health challenges. Establishing a reliable means of readily available, rapid diagnostic testing is of paramount importance in halting the spread of COVID-19, as governments continue to ease lockdown restrictions. The current standard for laboratory testing utilizes reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR); however, this method presents clear limitations in requiring a longer run-time as well as reduced on-site testing capability. Therefore, we investigated the feasibility of a reverse transcription looped-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)-based model of rapid COVID-19 diagnostic testing which allows for less invasive sample collection, named SaliVISION. This novel, two-step, RT-LAMP assay utilizes a customized multiplex primer set specifically targeting SARS-CoV-2 and a visual report system that is ready to interpret within 40 min from the start of sample processing and does not require a BSL-2 level testing environment or special laboratory equipment. When compared to the SalivaDirect and Thermo Fisher Scientific TaqPath RT-qPCR testing platforms, the respective sensitivities of the SaliVISION assay are 94.29% and 98.28% while assay specificity was 100% when compared to either testing platform. Our data illustrate a robust, rapid diagnostic assay in our novel RT-LAMP test design, with potential for greater testing throughput than is currently available through laboratory testing and increased on-site testing capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tool breakage is a prominent concern during the rough machining process, which is essential to be monitored online to prevent this phenomenon and maintain the surface quality. In this study, a tool breakage monitoring method is proposed based on the mechanism model and machining data using the acceleration signal. This method takes care of the whole process with the transition from a fresh tool to its full breakage. The mechanism of the tool breakage is obtained by this method, which is then implemented into a single synthesis parameter based on the frequency domain feature for the analysis of tool condition, and the data of fused features are statistically processed to carry out the breakage monitoring. The parameter 3 σ ¯ (three times the mean of standard deviation) is taken as the threshold value to determine the breakage condition in real time. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical model, which proves the efficiency and simplicity of online tool breakage monitoring based on the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]