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To describe a case of T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) masquerading as viral retinal necrosis (VRN). A 75-year-old-man with a history of T-PLL in complete remission complained of an acute vision loss in his right and only eye. Ophthalmic examination demonstrated the presence of anterior chamber cells, mild vitritis, and peripheral retinal whitening with intraretinal hemorrhages evocative of VRN. While the anterior chamber tap came back negative for HSV, VZV, and CMV, cytology performed on the aqueous humor described the presence of leukemic cells. T-PLL can rarely masquerade as a viral retinal necrosis. Diagnostic work-up should therefore always rule out the infectious causes of retinitis. Anterior chamber tap can sometimes prove useful in the diagnosis of T-PLL even in the absence of a hypopyon, avoiding the need for vitrectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In traditional contexts, enterprises often hesitate to engage in data sharing due to the associated heightened risks and transaction costs. Blockchain technology, leveraging its encryption algorithms and smart contracts, effectively alleviates these challenges, thereby encouraging enterprises to actively participate in data sharing. The adoption of reasonable reward and penalty mechanisms can prevent opportunistic behaviours and stimulate data sharing among businesses. It is noteworthy that blockchain technology and data alliance have a mutually substitutive effect in terms of risk and communication costs, while they complement each other in regulatory and transaction costs. The integration of blockchain technology with data alliance can enhance collaborative revenue and reduce various costs. When distributing collaborative revenue, it is crucial to adhere to the guiding principle of ‘prioritizing efficiency while considering fairness’. Collaboration becomes a reality when all parties collectively achieve a substantial overall revenue threshold. Subsequently, in-depth exploration of fair resource allocation principles is crucial to ensure the equitable distribution of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A network interface program for controllers (NICON) for pseudo-dynamic hybrid simulations is presented. The program is implemented as an independent program residing between the simulation model and an actuator controller with various functions necessary for hybrid simulations, such as communication, coordinate transformation, error compensation. These functions are generalized to allow for a generic configuration of actuator setup theoretically with any number of control points and control degrees of freedom. Application examples of NICON to hybrid simulations of civil infrastructures subjected to earthquakes or fire are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Studies have shown that fasting blood glucose (FBG) is closely associated with poor prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), but its association with in-stent restenosis (ISR) is still unclear. Therefore, this study was to explore the association between FBG with ISR in patients with CHD after PCI. Design. In this cohort study, we included 531 patients with CHD who underwent PCI. Logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC), subgroup analysis and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were used to assess the association between FBG with ISR. Results. A total of 124 (23.4%) patients had ISR. Patients with higher levels of FBG had higher incidence of ISR compared to those with lower levels of FBG (p = 0.002). In multivariable logistic regression analyses, higher levels of FBG remained strongly associated with higher risk of ISR (as a categorical variable, OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.21–2.94, p = 0.005; as a continuous variable, OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.03–1.23, p = 0.011). ROC analysis also showed that FBG might be associated with the occurrence of ISR (AUC = 0.577, 95% CI: 0.52–0.64, p = 0.013). Subgroup analyses showed the association of FBG with ISR was also stable in several subgroups (< 60 years or ≥ 60 years, male, with or without smoking, without diabetes and without hypertension). And RCS analysis showed that FBG was linearly and positively associated with the risk of ISR. Conclusions. Higher levels of FBG were closely associated with higher risk of ISR in patients with CHD after PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Seafood tends to be highly vulnerable to spoilage and deterioration due to biochemical reactions and microbial contaminations, which requires appropriate processing technologies to improve or maintain its quality. Flavor, as an indispensable aspect reflecting the quality profile of seafood and influencing the final choice of consumers, is closely related to the processing technologies adopted. This review gives updated information on traditional and emerging processing technologies used in seafood processing and their implications on flavor. Traditional processing technologies, especially thermal treatment, effectively deactivate microorganisms to enhance seafood safety and prolong its shelf life. Nonetheless, these methods come with limitations, including reduced processing efficiency, increased energy consumption, and alterations in flavor, color, and texture due to overheating. Emerging processing technologies like microwave heating, infrared heating, high pressure processing, cold plasma, pulsed electric field, and ultrasound show alternative effects to traditional technologies. In addition to deactivating microorganisms and extending shelf life, these technologies can also safeguard the sensory quality of seafood. This review discusses emerging processing technologies in seafood and covers their principles, applications, developments, advantages, and limitations. In addition, this review examines the potential synergies that can arise from combining certain processing technologies in seafood processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent study by Funahashi et al. explores the expression of miRNA in schizophrenia patients, providing valuable insights into potential biomarkers and treatment effects. The study suggests that miR-675-3p is upregulated in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) who are treated with clozapine. However, caution is needed when interpreting these findings, as the upregulation of miR-675-3p may be a feature of TRS itself rather than a specific effect of clozapine. The study also compares miRNA expression in non-TRS patients treated with antipsychotics other than clozapine, but the lack of detailed information on specific antipsychotic regimens introduces a significant variable. Further research is needed to separate the effects of the disease from the effects of treatment and to better understand clozapine's specific influence on miRNA expression in TRS. [Extracted from the article]

The city region has emerged as an important form of regional development and governance. However, the dynamics of spatial inequality in city regions are misunderstood. This study examines the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) to determine the spatiotemporal evolution of regional inequality across prefecture-level municipalities from 1990 to 2018. It finds that regional inequality has steadily increased since the 1990s but has declined somewhat in recent years. This is associated with faster growth and higher upward mobility of central regions in the early reform period and increases in the upward mobility of the periphery in recent years. The gradient-distance curve of the Shanghai-centered economy sharpened and then flattened, indicating the polarization of growth in the core regions, followed by the diffusion of development and improved regional integration. However, the core-periphery remains stronger within provinces between provincial capitals and other regions. Despite regional integration and peripheral development, the problem of spatial exclusion and core-periphery structures persists. More attention needs to be given to the core-periphery relationship and the development of peripheral regions to promote regional integration and reduce spatial polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the postbuckling behaviors of pressure-loaded laminated cylindrical shells made of carbon nanotube reinforced composite (CNTRC) under thermal environmental conditions. The shell has negative in-plane or out-of-plane effective Poisson's ratio (EPR). The thermo-mechanical properties of CNTRCs are temperature dependent. The CNT volume fraction of the shell is in a piece-wise functionally graded (FG) distribution across the shell thickness. The extended rule of mixture (EROM) model is applied to determine the thermo-mechanical properties of CNTRCs. Based on the framework of the Reddy's third order shear deformation shell theory and the von Kármán-type of kinematic assumptions, the governing partial differential equations for pressure-loaded CNTRC laminated cylindrical shells are formulated. The thermal environmental condition effect is also included. The postbuckling solution for pressure-loaded FG-CNTRC laminated cylindrical shell is obtained in the asymptotic sense by means of a singular perturbation technique in associate with a two-step perturbation approach. Numerical investigations are carried out for the (10/60/10)S shell including in-plane NPR effect, and (20/-20/20)S and (70/-70/70)S shells including out-of-plane NPR effect. Assessment is presented through numerical comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hyperspectral remote sensing technology has developed rapidly in recent years, providing a new scheme for intelligent monitoring of forest resources. This study aims to deeply mining the UAV hyperspectral information, and construct the best model for extracting Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) forest information. Firstly, the spectral information features of Moso bamboo, broadleaf, bare area and shadow were obtained and their spectral anisotropies were analyzed. Secondly, multiple machine learning algorithms were combined with the recursive feature elimination (RFE) to obtain three sets of optimized feature subsets. Eventually, three sets of optimization features were substituted into multiple machine learning algorithms to build nine models of Moso bamboo information extraction, comparing their classification effects and generalization capabilities. The results showed that: (1) The subset of features optimized by different base classifiers in combination with RFE and the ranking results of optimized features' importance were different, but all the three sets of optimized feature subsets showed relatively obvious feature difference patterns; (2) The nine models based on SVM-RFE, RF-RFE and XGBoost-RFE were all capable of extracting Moso bamboo information, among which, the classification effect of the XGBoost-RFE-XGBoost model was the best and had significant advantages, with the overall classification accuracy OA, Kappa coefficient and R2 of 98.75%, 0.983 and 0.980, respectively, and the classification accuracy for Moso bamboo was 98.34%. Thus, XGBoost was the most applicable algorithm for feature optimization in combination with RFE, and the most effective algorithm with a better generalization ability for extracting Moso bamboo information from UAV hyperspectral images. This study is crucial for Moso bamboo's large area monitoring and fine identification, providing a technical reference for obtaining information about the spatial and temporal distribution of Moso bamboo resources timely and accurately, facilitating the monitoring and management of them, and giving full play to their ecological and economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perforated cold-formed steel (PCFS) beams are increasingly used in constructional industry and become popular due to their advantages and economic benefit. Apart from the light weight, the openings in PCFS beams can also be used for services such as pipe utilities to release more building space. However, beams with web perforations may collapse as the result of web-distortional buckling or flange/web distortional buckling due to the web weakness caused by perforations. In this paper a study on the flange/web distortional buckling of PCFS beams is presented. An analytical solution to determine the critical stress of flange/web distortional buckling of PCFS beams is derived by using energy method. To demonstrate the analytical solution, finite element analysis is also carried out. The finite element analysis results show that the analytical solution provided can give good and reliable prediction for the flange/web distortional buckling of PCFS beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The published studies regarding the relationships between zinc finger 365 (ZNF365) polymorphisms and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) risk in Caucasians have yielded conflicting results. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to clarify this issue. The Electronic databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Wiley Online Library, and EMBASE were searched for eligible studies up to 31 November 2020. The quality of eligible studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) under different genetic models were calculated to assess the strength of associations. A total of 22 relevant case–control studies with 9542 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and 13,886 controls, as well as 13,651 Crohn's disease (CD) patients and 15,256 controls, were involved in our meta-analysis. rs10761659 polymorphism significantly decreased CD and UC risk (except for the heterozygous model and the dominant model in UC), and rs10995271 polymorphism was significantly associated with UC (except for the heterozygous model and dominant model) rather than CD. The meta-analysis demonstrated that the rs10761659 polymorphism might be a protective factor for both UC and CD in Caucasians, while the rs10995271 polymorphism might be a risk factor for UC rather than CD in Caucasians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the residential mobility decisions of rural migrants with a history of living in urban villages in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu province. Many were displaced by its demolition–redevelopment policy (forced movers); some chose to move voluntarily to improve their housing utility (voluntary movers); others decided to stay put in substandard housing (voluntary non-movers). A survey of their current housing conditions revealed that, compared to voluntary non-movers, most forced movers had not become better-off. But the voluntary movers had done much better than both of the other groups, implying that a timely move could have led to their improved housing conditions. However, even voluntary moves proved to have a downside, namely, that voluntary migrants would likely end up living somewhere more remote from coveted facilities and locations of jobs in the inner city. Logistic regression analysis showed how differences in socio-demographic characteristics between voluntary movers and non-movers could explain why some decided to move. For those who decided to stay, the analysis also indicates how the advantages of the current location may compensate for housing deficiencies. These results correspond to the motives migrants expressed in supplementary in-depth interviews: migrants intending to become permanent residents were most likely to move for better housing. The findings also point to structural constraints on residential mobility. For poor migrants without a Jiangsu hukou, moving to better housing was simply not an option. This suggests that further hukou reform is needed if urban redevelopment is not only meant to improve the image of the city but also the migrants' housing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This application note investigates the causal relationship between oil price and tourist arrivals to further explain the impact of oil price volatility on tourism-related economic activities. The analysis itself considers the time domain, frequency domain and information theory domain perspectives. Data relating to US and nine European countries are exploited in this paper with causality tests which include time domain, frequency domain, and Convergent Cross Mapping (CCM). The CCM approach is nonparametric and therefore not restricted by assumptions. We contribute to existing research through the successful and introductory application of an advanced method, and via the uncovering of significant causal links from oil prices to tourist arrivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nonlinear bending behavior of nanocomposite laminated plates with negative Poisson's ratios (NPR) is reported. Each ply of the plate is made of carbon nanotube-reinforced composites (CNTRCs) and may have different CNT volume fractions and the CNTRC plies are arranged in the thickness direction in a piece-wise functionally graded pattern. The plate is supposed to be rested on a two-parameter elastic foundation and is exposed in a thermal environment. The temperature-dependent material properties of the CNTRCs are evaluated using an extended Voigt (rule of mixture) model. The governing equations for the nonlinear bending of FG-CNTRC laminated plates are based on Reddy's third order shear deformation plate theory and solved by using a two-step perturbation approach. Analytical solutions are obtained which include the geometrical nonlinearity in the von Kármán sense, the thermal effects and the plate-foundation interaction. The effect of NPR on the nonlinear bending responses of FG-CNTRC laminated plates under different loading conditions are investigated comparatively according to the graphical results. It is explicitly shown that NPR has a significant effect on the nonlinear bending responses of CNTRC laminated plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant trend has been rapid and unprecedented migration from rural to urban China since the mid-1980s. This dramatic demographic change has profoundly reshaped the migrants' sense of the newly settled place. By examining the perceptual changes that have occurred in this usual context, we attempted to analyze the impact of social connection on the migrants' sense of belonging to the host cities. In order to accomplish this, we conducted an empirical study featuring 12,807 rural-to-urban migrants across eight Chinese cities. We found that their contact with residents who were not related to them was positively linked to the development of a sense of belonging in the host cities, whereas contact with only nonresidents had the opposite effect. In addition, we also observed that one's sense of belonging is mostly fostered by one's direct interaction with a place, but it could be also be indirectly mediated via social contacts. Furthermore, the context of place will affect one's affinity for it. Also, the availability of public services generates positive feelings regarding the new place, whereas large population size has the opposite effect. This study deepened our understanding about migrants' subjective sense place and revealed the inherent complexity in this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant trend has been rapid and unprecedented migration from rural to urban China since the mid-1980s. This dramatic demographic change has profoundly reshaped the migrants' sense of the newly settled place. By examining the perceptual changes that have occurred in this usual context, we attempted to analyze the impact of social connection on the migrants' sense of belonging to the host cities. In order to accomplish this, we conducted an empirical study featuring 12,807 rural-to-urban migrants across eight Chinese cities. We found that their contact with residents who were not related to them was positively linked to the development of a sense of belonging in the host cities, whereas contact with only nonresidents had the opposite effect. In addition, we also observed that one's sense of belonging is mostly fostered by one's direct interaction with a place, but it could be also be indirectly mediated via social contacts. Furthermore, the context of place will affect one's affinity for it. Also, the availability of public services generates positive feelings regarding the new place, whereas large population size has the opposite effect. This study deepened our understanding about migrants' subjective sense place and revealed the inherent complexity in this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stereo dense image matching normally refers to per-pixel correspondence search between stereo pairs. However, their matching results actually depend on matching window sizes. Large windows usually obtain robust matching results in weak-textured regions, but serious mismatches in depth/disparity (parallax in the epipolar space) inconsistency regions. Small windows compute accurate matching results in depth/disparity inconsistency regions, but it may contain high matching uncertainties in weak-textured regions. To improve matching accuracies, this letter focuses on adaptively selecting appropriate matching windows for each pixel. In general, we propose a window size selection network (WSSN) with the basic assumption that appropriate window sizes are related to image textures and depth/disparity variations. WSSN firstly extracts both image texture features and disparity features by convolutional neural network and then utilizes the fully connected layers to conduct optimal window size selection. Experiments on an aerial image dataset show that our proposed method is capable of selecting appropriate matching windows for each pixel. It achieved the highest matching accuracy when compared with the matching results of a series of fixed matching windows and a state-of-the-art textured based window selection method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using remote sensing techniques to detect trees at the individual level is crucial for forest management while finding the treetop is an initial and important first step. However, due to the large variations of tree size and shape, traditional unsupervised treetop detectors need to be carefully designed with heuristic knowledge making an efficient and versatile treetop detection still challenging. Currently, the deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown powerful capabilities to classify and segment images, but the required volume of labelled data for the training impedes their applications. Considering the strengths and limitations of the unsupervised and deep learning methods, we propose a framework using the automatically generated pseudo labels from unsupervised treetop detectors to train the CNNs, which saves the manual labelling efforts. In this study, we use multi-view satellite imagery derived digital surface model (DSM) and multispectral orthophoto as research data and train the fully convolutional networks (FCN) with pseudo labels separately generated from two unsupervised treetop detectors: top-hat by reconstruction (THR) operation and local maxima filter with a fixed window (FFW). The experiments show the FCN detectors trained by pseudo labels, have much better detection accuracies than the unsupervised detectors (6.5% for THR and 11.1% for FFW), especially in the densely forested area (more than 20% of improvement). In addition, our comparative experiments when using manually labelled samples show the proposed treetop detection framework has the potential to significantly reduce the need for training samples while keep a comparable performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a generalized distributed simulation framework that has been developed at the University of Toronto. The proposed framework is characterized by the ability to integrate diverse numerical integration and substructure modules and experimental specimens. This feature is enabled by a standardized data-exchange format and a communication protocol through which any potential integration or substructure modules can communicate with each other. The data-exchange format is designed with the information required for various simulation purposes such as real-time simulation, hybrid simulation with thermal load, etc. Current development of the simulation framework is presented through several application examples, which are rarely seen from previous simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Amyloid light chain (AL) amyloidosis is characterized by tissue deposition of amyloid fibres derived from immunoglobulin that can lead to irreversible organ damage. Information about genomic profiles of AL amyloidosis is lacking. Methods: In this study, we adopted a two-step strategy to investigate the mutational profile of AL amyloidosis bone marrow plasma cells (PCs) and their clinical implications. In step one, whole-exome sequencing was performed in bone marrow PCs and paired with normal tissue from 10 AL amyloidosis patients, by which we identified 10 significantly mutated genes (SMGs). In step two, we constituted a targeted gene sequencing (TGS) panel covering the frequently mutated genes identified in step one, genes reported in prior AL amyloidosis studies, and known cancer driver mutations. Then, we analysed an expanded cohort of AL amyloidosis patients (N = 48) with this panel comprising 98 genes. Results: Four recurrent mutations were identified by TGS and verified by Sanger sequencing: ASB15 (c. 844 C > T), ASCC3 (c. 1595 A > G), HIST1H1E (c. 311 C > T) and KRAS (c. 35 G > A), among which the first three mutations were associated with inferior overall survival (OS). Additionally, we found that the number of mutations identified by the TGS panel of 98 genes could be a prognostic predictor for OS. Conclusions: In summary, we revealed genomic profiling in AL amyloidosis and found mutation profiles associated with OS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article coins a neologism, place spoofing, to describe the unique transformation of a place when it purposefully replicates another alien place, thereby enabling the residents to live in the vicarious environment of that imitated place. Place spoofing captures how a place disconnects from its indigenous culture and historical heritage during the transformation. This framing enables us to further reflect on the causes of this unique urban development. To deepen our understanding of place spoofing, we elaborate on its connotation, different spoofing strategies, and its goal of delivering an alien sense of place. We further analyze its market price and then discuss the perspective of place spoofing as a type of conspicuous commodity. To put the theoretical framework in context, the xenophilic copycat residential communities in Beijing are examined. Specifically, the copycat communities are sifted out from all available Beijing residential community transactions from an online real estate database. The distribution of copycat communities demonstrates the (re)production of place spoofing in the geographic layout of the city. The empirical results show that the copycat communities tend to have higher prices, implying that the residents pursue an alien sense of place and the symbolic meanings carried by its sentiment. This study also discusses how buyers, developers, and governments react to place spoofing. Overall, place spoofing provides a lens to frame this long-standing, but often neglected, urban development. This article lays the groundwork for geographers to explore the spoofing phenomenon by examining its underlying spatial characteristics, economic benefits, and social implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology has the potential to bring about revolutionary changes in manufacturing products, including sunscreens. However, a knowledge gap between benefits and detriments of engineered nano-materials used in sunscreens exists, which gives rise to safety concerns. This article is concerned with the protection of consumers without impairing the embellishment of this promising technology. It is widely argued that the harm associated with nano-sunscreens may only occur under certain conditions related mainly to users skin vulnerability, which can be avoided by informed and careful use of such a product. We thus recognize the need for fostering the growth of nanotech simultaneously with preventing potential harm. We revisit the Australian sunscreens regulatory policies, which embrace a "wait and see" approach, through the lens of regulatory policies in the European Union (EU) that are influenced by a "precautionary principle." We highlight the importance of informing consumers about the sunscreen they are using and recommend that product labels should disclose the presence of nano-ingredients in line with the EU disclosure requirements. This will allow users to carefully apply the product in order to avoid any potential harm and to protect manufacturers from possible costly litigation in future. This can be achieved through a combined collaborative effort of regulators, supply chain entities, and end users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain is disrupting the banking industry and contributing to the increased big data in banking. However, there exists a gap in research and development into blockchain-ed big data in banking from an academic perspective, and this gap is expected to have a significant negative impact on the adoption and development of blockchain technology for banking. In hope of motivating more active engagement by academics, researchers and bankers alike, we present the most comprehensive review of the impact of blockchain in banking to date by summarizing the opportunities and challenges from a bankers perspective. In addition, we also discuss the impact that big data from blockchain will have on banking data analytics in future and show the increasing importance of filtering and signal extraction for the banking industry. Whilst there is evidence of selected banks adopting blockchain technology in isolation or small groups, we find the need for extensive research and development into several aspects of banking with blockchain to overcome the challenges which are currently hindering its adoption in banking across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:This study evaluates the relationship between multiple system atrophy and α-synuclein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid, plasma and neural tissue. Method:Literature search for relevant research articles was undertaken in electronic databases and study selection was based on a priori eligibility criteria. Random-effects meta-analyses of standardized mean differences in α-synuclein levels between multiple system atrophy patients and normal controls were conducted to obtain the overall and subgroup effect sizes. Meta-regression analyses were performed to evaluate the effect of age, gender and disease severity on standardized mean differences. Results:Data were obtained from 11 studies involving 378 multiple system atrophy patients and 637 healthy controls (age: multiple system atrophy patients 64.14 [95% confidence interval 62.05, 66.23] years; controls 64.16 [60.06, 68.25] years; disease duration: 44.41 [26.44, 62.38] months). Cerebrospinal fluid α-synuclein levels were significantly lower in multiple system atrophy patients than in controls but in plasma and neural tissue, α-synuclein levels were significantly higher in multiple system atrophy patients (standardized mean difference: −0.99 [−1.65, −0.32];p= 0.001). Percentage of male multiple system atrophy patients was significantly positively associated with the standardized mean differences of cerebrospinal fluid α-synuclein levels (p= 0.029) whereas the percentage of healthy males was not associated with the standardized mean differences of cerebrospinal fluid α-synuclein levels (p= 0.920). Conclusion:In multiple system atrophy patients, α-synuclein levels were significantly lower in the cerebrospinal fluid and were positively associated with the male gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the residential mobility of China’s rural–urban migrants in light of evidence from Yangzhou, a medium-sized city in Jiangsu province. To evaluate the effects of forced moves induced by demolition-led redevelopment, these outcomes are compared to those of voluntary moves. The evaluation is specifically concerned with dwelling attributes and location characteristics. Dwelling attributes consist of tenure and housing facilities, while commuting distance, distance to the city centre and the length of a child’s trip to school comprise the location characteristics. Logistic regression of data from a 2012–2013 survey shows that a voluntary relocation and the intention to move prior to notification of intended demolition are likely to result in positive outcomes. The migrants’ relocation strategy involves making a trade-off between better dwelling attributes and a better location. When housing improvement is their major concern, they tend to move to peripheral areas. However, it seems that children’s educational opportunities are being factored into the trade-off. In that case, migrants purchase an apartment in a specific school district or at least move closer to it. For the sake of their children, they relegate other motives to second place. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose:Neurobrucellosis (NB) is a rare complication of brucellosis. NB presents with avariety of clinical manifestations, and the symptoms are always atypical. Our aim was to analyze the demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, imaging findings, treatments and outcomes of patients with NB. Material and Method:We retrospectively reviewed the data from 17 patients with NB hospitalized at the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital between 1 January 2005 and 31 October 2016. Results:The following symptoms were recorded: 10/17 (59%) patients had fever, and 9/17 (53%) patients had a disorder affecting urination and defecation. Involvement of the cranial nerves was documented in 12/17 (71%) patients. The positivity rates of the tests were as follows: serum standard tube agglutination (STA), 15/17 (88.2%); cerebrospinal fluid STA, 10/17 (59%). The radiologic findings were categorized into four types: normal, white matter changes, vascular insult and inflammatory changes. Patients were treated with different combinations of rifampicin, doxycycline, ceftriaxone sodium and sulphamethoxazole for a total of six months. Two (12%) patients deteriorated, and two (12%) patients were lost to follow-up. The remaining patients (76%) were cured, but sequelae occurred in six patients. Conclusions:NB should be kept in mind in patients with autonomic dysfunction, especially disorders of urination and defecation. Hearing loss due to vestibulocochlear nerve injury seems to be typical for NB. The high incidence of sequelae may be related to a long disease course and the involvement of the central nervous system. Early detection, diagnosis and treatment could decrease mortality and sequelae. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses the effects of residential relocation on China’s rural–urban migrants’ social networks in light of evidence from Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. Our study contrasts voluntary moves with forced moves driven by demolition-led redevelopment of urban villages. Based on data from a survey conducted between 2012 and 2013, the regression analysis shows that voluntarily relocated migrants are more likely than forced movers to use phone/computer to contact their former neighbours, and communication technology allows them to maintain the frequency of their contact. Furthermore, when moving to a gated neighbourhood, voluntary movers are more likely than forced movers to participate in public activities, to have more contact with new neighbours and thereby to get more help from the residents’ committee and new neighbours. The results suggest that forced moves have negative effects on migrants’ social networks in the neighbourhood and that the demolition-led redevelopment programmes do not promote the migrants’ integration in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose:Aspergillosis of the central nervous system is very rare. However with recent increases in the use of immunosuppressive agents and antibiotics, its incidence is increasing. We evaluated the demographics, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, diagnosis, underlying conditions, treatment regimens and outcomes of patients with cerebral aspergillosis (CA).Methods:We retrospectively reviewed data from eight patients with CA hospitalized at a Chinese general hospital from 1 January 2005 to 30 September 2015.Results:Common clinical manifestations included headache and cranial nerve involvement. Four patients underwent biopsy and were pathologically diagnosed withAspergillushyphae. One patient was proved to haveAspergillusinfection via autopsy. One patient had positive cerebrospinal fluid fungal cultures. The lesion locations were: the cavernous sinus (n= 5, 62.5%), frontal lobe (n= 1, 12.5%), temporosphenoid lobe (n= 1, 12.5%) and cerebellum (n= 1, 12.5%). At the end of follow-up, three patients were cured and five patients had died (mortality rate, 62.5%).Conclusions:Most patients with CA had no significant immunosuppression-related conditions in our study.Aspergillusspp.can infect the central nervous system through several pathways and CA has an atypical clinical manifestation. The use of local tissue puncture, surgery or other invasive means to obtain diseased tissue containing higher levels ofAspergillus, followed by culture or histological examination, can contribute to an early diagnosis of CA and timely therapeutic intervention. The prognosis of CA is poor, but early and adequate use of antifungal drugs with high transfer across the blood–brain barrier and radical surgery to remove lesions can improve the survival rate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming a vital role in our current modern life for detecting and collecting data about a natural or built environment, including human body. One of the reasons is due to WSNs have very attractive advantages. But one of the problems is internal attacks that have gained prominence and posed most challenging threats to all WSNs. In this paper, we extend our discussion at the conference of the AISC 2016 to an effective algorithm to make an evaluation for detecting internal attack by evidentiary assessment for protecting a WSN from the internal attacks with multi-criteria in real-time. This protecting is based on the combination of the multiple pieces of evidences collected from the nodes suffering from an internal attacker in a network. A decision made is carefully discussed based on the Dempster–Shafer Theory (DST). One of the advantages of this proposed method is that it is not just making a performance in real-time but also it is effective due to it does not need the knowledge about the normal or malicious node in advance with very high average accuracy that is close to 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The multi-objective optimization of multiple geostationary spacecraft refuelling is investigated in this article. A servicing spacecraft (SSc) and a propellant depot (PD), both parked initially in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), are utilized to refuel multiple GEO targets of known propellant demand. The capacitated SSc is expected to rendezvous with fuel-deficient GEO targets or the PD for the purpose of refuelling or getting refuelled. The multiple geostationary spacecraft refuelling problem is treated as a multi-variable combinatorial optimization problem with the principal objective of minimizing the propellant consumption and the mission duration. A two-level optimization model is built, and the design variables are the refuelling orderX, the refuelling timeTand the binary decision variableS. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm is employed to solve the up-level optimization problem. For the low-level optimization, an exact algorithm is proposed. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and validity of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The available components in the flesh of litchi seem insufficient to interpret its wide and significant physiological effects. Some unusual compounds, including myo-inositol, inositol methyl derivatives and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were identified as main constituents in the flesh of litchi. Their concentrations varied among cultivars but remain relatively constant during development. Litchi flesh was shown to contain moderate myo-inositol (0.28–0.78 mg g−1FW), ascorbic acid (0.08–0.39 mg g−1FW) and phenolics (0.47–1.60 mg g−1FW), but abundantl-quebrachitol (1.6–6.4 mg g−1FW) and GABA (1.7–3.5 mg g−1FW). The concentration of GABA in the flesh of litchi was about 100 times higher than in other fruits. Andl-quebrachitol is not a common component in fruits. The biological and physiological activities of inositols, inositol derivatives and GABA have been extensively documented. These compounds are probably important compositional characteristic contributing to the widely shown health benefits of litchi. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Image matching is one of the key technologies for digital Earth. This paper presents a combined image matching method for Chinese satellite images. This method includes the following four steps: (1) a modified Wallis-type filter is proposed to determine parameters adaptively while avoiding over-enhancement; (2) a mismatch detection procedure based on a global-local strategy is introduced to remove outliers generated by the Scale-invariant feature transform algorithm, and geometric orientation with bundle block adjustment is employed to compensate for the systematic errors of the position and attitude observations; (3) we design a novel similarity measure (distance, angle and the Normalized Cross-Correlation similarities, DANCC) which considers geometric similarity and textural similarity; and (4) we introduce a hierarchical matching strategy to refine the matching result level by level. Four typical image pairs acquired from Mapping Satellite-1, ZY-1 02C, ZY-3 and GeoEye-1, respectively, are used for experimental analysis. A comparison with the two current main matching algorithms for satellite imagery confirms that the proposed method is capable of producing reliable and accurate matching results on different terrains from not only Chinese satellite images, but also foreign satellite images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ContextOxidative stress and inflammation are implicated in the aging process and its related hepatic and renal function decline. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is one of the most abundant polyphenol compounds in the human diet. Recently, CGA has shownin vivoandin vitroantioxidant properties. ObjectiveThe current study investigates the effects of protective effects of chlorogenic acid (CGA) ond-galactose-induced liver and kidney injury. Materials and methodsHepatic and renal injuries were induced in a mouse model by subcutaneously injection ofd-galactose (d-gal; 100 mg/kg) once a day for 8 consecutive weeks and orally administered simultaneously with CGA included in the food (200 mg/kg of diet). The liver and renal functions were examined. Histological analyses of liver and kidney were done by haematoxylin and eosin staining. The oxidative stress markers and pro-inflammatory cytokines in the liver and the kidney were measured. ResultsCGA significantly reduced the serum aminotransferase, serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels ind-gal mice (p <0.05). CGA also restored superoxide dismutase, catalase, and malondialdehyde levels and decreased glutathione content in the liver and kidney ind-gal mice (p <0.05). Improvements in liver and kidney were also noted in histopathological studies. CGA reduced tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) protein levels in the liver and kidney ind-gal mice (p <0.05). Discussion and conclusionThese findings suggest that CGA attenuatesd-gal-induced chronic liver and kidney injury and that this protection may be due to its antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a new manoeuvring strategy for the multiple geosynchronous satellites inspection problem is proposed. In contrast to previous research, it can be used to visit multiple geosynchronous satellites orbiting in different orbital planes in an economical way. In the proposed mission scenario, several chasers are initially placed in an equatorial high eccentric orbit. Two orbital manoeuvres are exerted at perigee to adjust the apogee of the chaser for every inspection. Subsequently, the targets will be visited when they fly through the ascending or descending nodes of their orbits. Based on the proposed strategy, a two-level optimization approach is developed to optimize visitation order and time regarding fuel consumption. Meanwhile, the manoeuvre velocity and time are determined. Finally, the proposed method is applied to several numerical test cases to demonstrate its validity for mission planning optimization for the visual inspection of multiple geosynchronous satellites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is a relatively common opportunistic infection in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and can also occur in patients with no underlying disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, diagnosis and misdiagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of CM at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 55 patients at a tertiary care hospital from January 1, 1992 to December 31, 2013. All the patients had a definite diagnosis based on etiology. Results: All 55 patients had a positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) India ink staining result. The predominant change observed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was leptomeningeal liner enhancement, which is also called 'lumbriciform-enhancing.' Only 15 patients were first diagnosed with CM, indicating a misdiagnosis rate of 72.7%. At the follow-up end point, 8 patients were cured, 33 had improved, and 14 had died. The overall response rate was 74.5%. The voriconazole group had a response rate of 100%, which was significantly higher than the other two groups. Conclusions: Most CM patients in China were previously healthy without any potential risk factors. CM was easily misdiagnosed due to the lack of specificity of early clinical symptoms. Repeated CSF India ink staining should be performed to identify the pathogen. Voriconazole could be administered to the patients with CM, especially to patients who had a treatment failure with amphotericin B alone or accompanied by fluconazole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate differences in antioxidative defence and carbon–nitrogen metabolism between acid-tolerant (YJSM) and acid-sensitive (YHSM) rice cultivars under acid stress. Acid-tolerant and acid-sensitive rice were planted in both acidic soil (pH 4.21) and normal soil (pH 6.13). Forty-eight days after sowing, rice shoots and roots from four treatments were collected, and the other four replicates were harvested at seed maturity. The results revealed that the grain yield of acid-tolerant YJSM was significantly higher than that of acid-sensitive YHSM under acid stress. The activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase and catalase) and contents of non-enzymatic antioxidants (ascorbate and reduced glutathione) of acid-tolerant YJSM were both higher than those of acid-sensitive YHSM under acid stress. Moreover, the enzyme activities (nitrate reductase, glutamine synthetase, glutamate synthase and glutamate dehydrogenase) and product contents (soluble sugar and soluble protein) of carbon–nitrogen metabolism of acid-tolerant YJSM were higher than those of acid-sensitive YHSM under acid stress. The NO3–N and carbon (C) contents in leaves of acid-tolerant YJSM were both significantly higher than those of acid-sensitive YHSM under acid stress. This study suggests that the acid-tolerant rice cultivar has better antioxidative defence and carbon–nitrogen metabolism systems than the acid-sensitive rice cultivar and is more effective in resisting acid stress. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TiO2–MWCNT core/shell heterostructures containing a single MWCNT have been successfully prepared via solvothermal method. TiO2–MWCNT heterostructures with different morphologies and electromagnetic (EM) properties have obtained by adjusting the weight ratio of titanium dioxide (TiO2)and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) (weight ratio: 1:1, 5:1 and 10:1). EDS spectrum and X-ray diffraction analysis reveal that the product is composed of Ti, O, and C elements, and the crystal structure of TiO2is tetragonal anatase phase. SEM and TEM images show that the MWCNTs are coated by a thin layer of TiO2crystals, and the average diameters of the needle-like TiO2nanocrystals are less than 100 nm. EM properties of the as-prepared TiO2–MWCNT heterostructures are investigated in the 0.5–18.0 GHz range. The permittivity and permeability of the TiO2–MWCNT heterostructures change obviously as the weight ratio of TiO2and MWCNT increases. Moreover, the typical resonance–antiresonance phenomenon can be observed in the permittivity and permeability curves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to elucidate the mechanism of the dehydrogenative oxidation of various primary alcohols (or α-hydroxy carboxylic acids) and the dehydrogenative coupling of alcohols with ammonia catalysed by the same water-soluble Cp*Ir complex bearing a 2-pyridonate-based ligand (A–Ir). Another two new catalystsA–RhandA–Osare computationally designed for the dehydrogenative oxidation of alcohols. The plausible pathway for alcohol dehydrogenation includes three steps: alcohol oxidation to aldehyde (step I); the generation of dihydrogen in the metal coordination sphere (step II); and the liberation of dihydrogen accompanied with the regeneration of active catalystA(step III). Among them, the step I follows bifunctional concerted double hydrogen transfer mechanism rather than the β-H elimination. For step II, the energy barriers involving the addition of one or two water molecules are higher than in absence of water. Our results also confirm thatA–Ircan be applied in the dehydrogenation of various α-hydroxy carboxylic acids by the similar mechanism. Remarkably,A–Iris also found to be efficient for the coupling reactions of various primary benzyl alcohols with ammonia to afford amides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) processes play an increasingly important role in wastewater treatment and resource recycling by its ingenious construction and excellent performance. The authors aim to introduce new research progresses and applications of ABR in the last two decades, focusing mainly on the following aspects: presenting and comparing its development and application instances, discussing the optimization of operating regulation and mathematical models, stating existing problems in current researches, suggesting possible improvements, and proposing future research perspectives. The contributions of this review involve enhancing ABR treatment efficiency and operation stability to provide information for colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic Knowledge Repository (EKR) is one of the most commonly deployed knowledge management technologies, yet its success hinges upon employees' continued use and is further complicated in today's multinational context. We integrate multiple theoretical linkages into a research model, conceptualizing knowledge-seeking as an instrumental behavior, adopting the technology acceptance model to characterize the individual-level continued EKR knowledge-seeking behavioral model, and drawing on the climato-economic theory to explain cross-national behavioral differences. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we test the model with data from 1352 randomly sampled knowledge workers across 30 nations. We find that two national-level factors, climate harshness and national wealth, interactively moderate the individual-level relationship between perceived usefulness (PU) and behavioral intention (BI) to continue seeking knowledge from EKR, such that the difference in the strength of this relationship is larger between poor-harsh and poor-temperate nations than between rich-harsh and rich-temperate nations. We find similar cross-level cross-national differences for the link between perceived ease of use (PEOU) and PU but not for the link between PEOU and BI. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extraction of lane markings is still a challenge due to the poor quality of lane markings and interferences from external circumstances. In this paper, we utilize line segments as low-level features to detect lane markings on structured road scenes. Our novel algorithm can be highlighted in four items as follows. Firstly, a road surface region is reasonably located using adaptive segmentation method, and then most of the interferences from the external circumstances are eliminated by Laplacian filter. Secondly, the line segments detected by the line segment detector are applied to represent the structural information of lanes. Thirdly, non-lane candidate markings are removed through orientation and vanishing point constraints. Finally, the lanes are accurately extracted from the remaining candidate lane marking. Experimental results on complex structured road scenarios in urban streets are shown and the effectiveness and robustness of our novel algorithm are underpinned by the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the mediating effects of cognitive trust and affective trust on the relationship between supervisors' participative leadership behavior and subordinate work outcomes, using data obtained from 247 dyads in a manufacturing organization located in mainland China. Structural equation modeling revealed that while affective trust fully mediated the relationships between participative leadership of supervisor and subordinate job performance and organizational citizenship behavior, cognitive trust had non-significant effects. These findings underscore the importance of interpersonal interactions between the supervisor and subordinate for engendering subordinate work outcomes. They also lend support to the exchange (relationship)-based explanation as to how trust enhances the response of subordinates to the participative leadership behavior of their immediate supervisor, given that affective trust involves a process of social exchange between both parties over an extended period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]