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Abstract Background To explore the pulmonary-vascular-stump filling-defect on CT and investigate its association with cancer progression. Methods Records in our institutional database from 2018 to 2022 were retrospectively analyzed to identify filling-defects in the pulmonary-vascular-stump after lung cancer resection and collect imaging and clinical data of patients. Results Among the 1714 patients analyzed, 95 cases of filling-defects in the vascular stump after lung cancer resection were identified. After excluding lost-to-follow-up cases, a total of 77 cases were included in the final study. Morphologically, the filling-defects were dichotomized as 46 convex-shape and 31 concave-shape cases. Concave defects exhibited a higher incidence of increase compared to convex defects (51.7% v. 9.4%, P = 0.001). Among 61 filling defects in the pulmonary arterial stump, four (6.5%) increasing concave defects showed the nuclide concentration on PET and extravascular extension. The progression-free survival (PFS) time differed significantly among the concave, convex, and non-filling-defect groups (log-rank P

Abstract Efficient charge-carrier injection and transport in organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) are essential to simultaneously achieving their high efficiency and long-term stability. However, the charge-transporting layers (CTLs) deposited by various vapor or solution processes are usually in amorphous forms, and their low charge-carrier mobilities, defect-induced high trap densities and inhomogeneous thickness with rough surface morphologies have been obstacles towards high-performance devices. Here, organic single-crystalline (SC) films were employed as the hole-transporting layers (HTLs) instead of the conventional amorphous films to fabricate highly efficient and stable OLEDs. The high-mobility and ultrasmooth morphology of the SC-HTLs facilitate superior interfacial characteristics of both HTL/electrode and HTL/emissive layer interfaces, resulting in a high Haacke’s figure of merit (FoM) of the ultrathin top electrode and low series-resistance joule-heat loss ratio of the SC-OLEDs. Moreover, the thick and compact SC-HTL can function as a barrier layer against moisture and oxygen permeation. As a result, the SC-OLEDs show much improved efficiency and stability compared to the OLEDs based on amorphous or polycrystalline HTLs, suggesting a new strategy to developing advanced OLEDs with high efficiency and high stability.

Abstract As the boost of power electronics technology, the harmonic problem in the power system is becoming increasingly prominent. Fourier decomposition is performed on the load current in the power system, and components with a frequency that is an integer multiple of the fundamental wave are referred to as harmonic components. Harmonic control is essential to establish a safe and reliable power grid environment and provide high-quality and clean electricity to power users. The study focused on parallel active power filters, proposed a specific harmonic detection method on the grounds of synchronous harmonic rotating coordinate system, and developed a phase-locked loop design on the grounds of order generalized integrator. Meanwhile, a compensation current control method on the grounds of space vector pulse width modulation was introduced. The results showed that in the full compensation simulation experiment, the compensated A-phase grid side current waveform was significantly improved and presented a sinusoidal shape. After 0.05 s, the actual output compensation current closely followed the command current. Meanwhile, after compensation, the total harmonic distortion rate decreased from 26.58 to 3.06%. In specific harmonic compensation simulation experiments, when the sum of 5th, 7th, and 11th harmonic components was used as the command current for compensation, the distortion of the current waveform was improved after the load undergoes a sudden change. After compensation, the 5th, 7th, and 11th harmonic content significantly decreased, and the total harmonic distortion rate decreased to 4.08%. This indicated that the proposed phase-locked loop design and harmonic detection method for active power filters had high stability and effectiveness. The study’s primary contribution is to enhance the utilization efficiency of DC voltage and improve the dynamic response ability of current. Additionally, it offers a new method for reducing the impact of harmonics on the power grid and improving power quality. It provided an effective method reference for technological progress in related fields such as power electronics and control engineering.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) including anti-programmed death cell protein 1 (anti-PD1) and anti-programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), by disinhibiting the antitumor responses of lymphocytes, have extended survival benefits for patients in lung cancer. ICIs can also lead to a wide spectrum of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), due to dysregulation of immune reactions. Here, we report a 27-year-old female patient with adenocarcinoma of the lung treated with pembrolizumab-combined chemotherapy treatment, who complained of urinary irritation symptoms. No bacteria were found in multiple urine cultures. B-mode ultrasonography indicated a high echo in the right lateral wall of the bladder, about 5.6 × 4.5 mm in size. Transurethral bladder tumor resection (TURBT) was operated. At biopsy, we found CD3+ CD8+ lymphocyte, plasma cell, and eosinophil infiltration and lymphoid follicle formation in the bladder mucosal layer. This is a report of non-bacterial inflammation of the urinary tract caused by immunotherapy.

In the domain of gas pipeline operations, significant safety hazards prevail. This study delves into the triggering mechanisms behind gas pipeline leakage incidents, pinpoints key risk factors contributing to these occurrences, and proposes effective control measures. By classifying risk coupling forms associated with various accidents, the N-K model formula is utilized to assess the coupling degree of primary risk factors. The resultant coupling relationship is integrated into the University of California at Irvine NETwork (UCINET), forming a complex network model for quantitative analysis. Secondary risk factors' coupling degrees are measured, and the network's characteristic parameters are scrutinized. Noteworthy risk factors within the network include improper maintenance (A3), unclear or missing signage (C4), equipment aging and wear (B10), unauthorized occupation of ground space (C5), failure to implement rules and regulations (D3), and failure of electrical protection (B5). By controlling the above risk factors, disrupting the coupling process of risk factors, and blocking the transmission pathways of risk factors, the objective is to prevent leakage incidents and ensure the safe operation of gas pipelines.

The high-speed development of the liquor industry brings sorghum demand, which is increasingly strong at the moment. Still, its harvesting mechanization level is low, and with the design of a longitudinal flow sparse and dense curved-teeth sorghum threshing technology, the harvester’s work quality is improved by the reduction of seed impurities. This article describes the working principle of the harvester, the overall distribution of threshing elements, and force analysis of the threshing aspects to determine the structure of the threshing elements. The orthogonal test was carried out, with a sparse–dense interphase threshing drum as the research object, selecting operating speed, threshing element bending angle, and threshing element mounting angle as the test factors, with the entrainment loss rate and the net threshing rate as the assessment indexes for the three-factor, three-level test, and the use of Design-Expert to establish a mathematical regression model between the factors and the two indicators, resulting in the following optimized parameters: when the operating speed is 1.0 m·s−1, the bending angle of the threshing element is 80°, and the mounting angle of the threshing element is 45°, the loss rate of entrainment is 1.89%, and the net threshing rate is 95.53%. The machine’s design indexes are in line with relevant national standards and can meet the demand for mechanized harvesting of sorghum.

The tuning of fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative (FOPID) controllers for automatic voltage regulator (AVR) systems presents a complex challenge, necessitating the solution of real-order integral and differential equations. This study introduces the Dumbo Octopus Algorithm (DOA), a novel metaheuristic inspired by machine learning with animal behaviors, as an innovative approach to address this issue. For the first time, the DOA is invented and employed to optimize FOPID parameters, and its performance is rigorously evaluated against 11 existing metaheuristic algorithms using 23 classical benchmark functions and CEC2019 test sets. The evaluation includes a comprehensive quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis. Statistical significance was assessed using the Friedman’s test, highlighting the superior performance of the DOA compared to competing algorithms. To further validate its effectiveness, the DOA was applied to the FOPID parameter tuning of an AVR system, demonstrating exceptional performance in practical engineering applications. The results indicate that the DOA outperforms other algorithms in terms of convergence accuracy, robustness, and practical problem-solving capability. This establishes the DOA as a superior and promising solution for complex optimization problems, offering significant advancements in the tuning of FOPID for AVR systems.

Abstract Purpose Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive and rapidly progressive malignant tumor characterized by a poor prognosis. Chemotherapy remains the primary treatment in clinical practice; however, reliable biomarkers for predicting chemotherapy outcomes are scarce. Methods In this study, 78 SCLC patients were stratified into “good” or “poor” prognosis cohorts based on their overall survival (OS) following surgery and chemotherapeutic treatment. Next-generation sequencing was employed to analyze the mutation status of 315 tumorigenesis-associated genes in tumor tissues obtained from the patients. The random forest (RF) method, validated by the support vector machine (SVM), was utilized to identify single nucleotide mutations (SNVs) with predictive power. To verify the prognosis effect of SNVs, samples from the cbioportal database were utilized. Results The SVM and RF methods confirmed that 20 genes positively contributed to prognosis prediction, displaying an area under the validation curve with a value of 0.89. In the corresponding OS analysis, all patients with SDH, STAT3 and PDCD1LG2 mutations were in the poor prognosis cohort (15/15, 100%). Analysis of public databases further confirms that SDH mutations are significantly associated with worse OS. Conclusion Our results provide a potential stratification of chemotherapy prognosis in SCLC patients, and have certain guiding significance for subsequent precise targeted therapy.

Magnetic reconnection plays a crucial role in the energy release process for different kinds of solar eruptions and activities. The rapid solar eruption requires a fast reconnection model. Plasmoid instability in the reconnecting current sheets is one of the most acceptable fast reconnection mechanisms for explaining the explosive events in the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) scale, which is also a potential bridge between the macroscopic MHD reconnection process and microscale dissipations. Plenty of high-resolution observations indicate that the plasmoid-like structures exist in the high-temperature solar corona, but such evidences are very rare in the lower solar atmosphere with partially ionized plasmas. Utilizing joint observations from the Goode Solar Telescope and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we discovered a small-scale eruptive phenomenon in NOAA Active Region 13085, characterized by clear reconnection cusp structures, supported by nonlinear force-free field extrapolation results. The plasmoid-like structures with a size of about 150 km were observed to be ejected downward from the current sheet at a maximum velocity of 24 km s ^−1 in the H α line wing images, followed by enhanced emissions at around the postflare loop region in multiple wavelengths. Our 2.5D high-resolution MHD simulations further reproduced such a phenomenon and revealed reconnection fine structures. These results provide comprehensive evidences for the plasmoid-mediated reconnection in partially ionized plasmas, and suggest a unified reconnection model for solar flares with different length scales from the lower chromosphere to the corona.

The use of existing natural gas pipelines for the transport of hydrogen/natural gas mixtures can achieve large-scale, long-distance and low-cost hydrogen transportation. A jet fire induced by the leakage of high-pressure pure hydrogen and hydrogen-blended natural gas pipelines may pose a severe threat to life and property. Based on the Abel–Nobel equation of state and a notional nozzle model, an equivalent pipe leakage model is established to simulate high-pressure pipeline gas leakage jet fire accidents. Large-scale high-pressure hydrogen and natural gas/hydrogen mixture jet fires are simulated, showing the jet impingement process and obtaining an accurate and effective simulation framework. This framework is validated by comparing the simulated and experimental measured results of flame height, flame appearance and thermal radiation. Several combustion models are compared, and the simulated data show that the non-premixed chemical equilibrium combustion model is superior to other combustion models. The influence of the pipe pressure and the hydrogen blending ratio on the consequences of natural gas/hydrogen mixture pipeline leakage jet fire accidents is explored. It is found that when the hydrogen blending ratio is lower than 22%, the increase in the hydrogen blending ratio has little effect on the decrease in the thermal radiation hazard distance.

In the green synthesis reaction of adipic acid, the oxidant H2O2 undergoes exothermic decomposition easily and the high exothermic amount of the reaction can easily lead to thermal runaway. This study carries out calorimetric experiments on the green synthesis reaction of adipic acid, studies the effect of the stabilizer ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) on the safety of the synthesis reaction, and further explores the effect of EDTA on the Na2WO4-catalyzed decomposition reaction of H2O2 under the conditions of continuous flow, and develops the microchannel continuous flow process of green synthesis of adipic acid containing EDTA, in order to provide theoretical support for the improvement of intrinsic safety of green synthesis of adipic acid.

Plasmoid instability usually accounts for the onset of fast reconnection events observed in astrophysical plasmas. However, the measured reconnection rate from observations can be one order of magnitude higher than that derived from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. In this study, we present the results of magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized low solar atmosphere based on 2.5D MHD simulations. The whole reconnection process covers two different fast reconnection phases. In the first phase, the slow Sweet–Parker reconnection transits to the plasmoid-mediated reconnection, and the reconnection rate reaches about 0.02. In the second phase, a faster explosive reconnection appears, with the reconnection rate reaching above 0.06. At the same time, a sharp decrease in plasma temperature and density at the principle X-point is observed, which is associated with the strong radiative cooling, the ejection of hot plasma from the local reconnection region, or the motion of the principle X-point from a hot and dense region to a cool and less dense region along the narrow current sheet. This causes gas pressure depletion and increases magnetic diffusion at the main X-point, resulting in the local Petschek-like reconnection and a violent and rapid increase in the reconnection rate. This study for the first time reveals a common phenomenon where the plasmoid-dominated reconnection transits to an explosive faster reconnection with a rate approaching the order of 0.1 in partially ionized plasma in the MHD scale.

In order to solve the problems of grain lifter in sorghum harvesting, such as ear loss and serious crop leakage loss, combined with the physical and mechanical characteristics of sorghum, the segmented and reverse spiral grain lifter for sorghum harvesting and cutting table was developed, and the design method of the main structural parameters of the grain lifter was determined. The comparative test of the working effect of the clasp showed that the working effect of the cutting table with the clasp was better than that without the clasp, which effectively reduced the harvest loss of the cutting table. By using Box–Behnken experimental design method, the influence law of forward speed, tilt angle, and rotation speed of grain lifter on the rate of ear loss and harvest loss in sorghum harvesting was investigated. The regression mathematical model and response surface of the rate of ear loss and harvest loss and analysis factors were established, and the optimal working parameters of the grain lifter were determined. The forward speed was 0.8 m/s, the tilt angle of the grain lifter was 28°, and the rotation speed of the grain lifter was 330 r/min. Under these conditions, the spike loss rate was 2.01, the leakage loss rate was 2.19, and the error with the theoretical value was less than 3%, which proved the rationality of the optimized combination parameters. In the harvest of crooked and fallen sorghum, the grain lifter can effectively reduce the loss of sorghum head drop and lodging leakage, ensure the reliability of the cutting table, and achieve low loss and efficient harvest of sorghum.

The present study investigates the diffusion bonding of leaded-tin bronze (CuSn10Pb10) and 45 steel via surface modification method, i.e., hot-dip tin coating (HDTC) treatment, so as to provide guidance for the application of copper/steel joints. The effect of HDTC treatment on the interfacial microstructure and mechanical performance of CuSn10Pb10/45 steel joint is established. The results show that the interfacial crack is formed during diffusion bonding of CuSn10Pb10 and 45 steel without HDTC treatment. However, HDTC treatment evidently promotes the mutual diffusion of elements between CuSn10Pb10 and 45 steel, and a metallurgical CuSn10Pb10/HDTC 45 steel joint with a transition layer consisting of Fe-enriched solid solution, Cu-enriched solid solution and Cu10Sn3 intermetallic compound is obtained. The CuSn10Pb10/HDTC 45 steel joint at a bonding temperature of 900 °C shows higher shear strength and better ductility than that of CuSn10Pb10/45 steel joint. With the increasing of bonding temperature, the promoted occurrence and aggregation of Cu10Sn3 intermetallic compound in the CuSn10Pb10/HDTC 45 steel bonding interface results in the increase in shear strength, but the decrease in ductility of joint.

Thermal decomposition experiment of 5-(4-Pyridyl)tetrazolate (H4-PTZ) was carried out. The heat flow curve and reaction rate data under different heating rates were obtained. The characteristic parameters were obtained. The apparent activation energy for each individual reaction was calculated by applying different methods. On this basis, the Malek method was used to predict the most probable mechanism function of thermal decomposition reaction of H4-PTZ. The thermal safety parameters, including self-accelerating decomposition temperature, hot spot fire temperature and thermal explosion critical temperature were also predicted. The activation enthalpy, activation entropy, and activation Gibbs free energy of H4-PTZ are calculated. Gaussian16 program was used to optimize the molecular structure, search the transition state and calculate the intrinsic reaction coordinates of H4-PTZ. The most probable decomposition path of H4-PTZ was found, and the activation energy calculated by experiment was compared with that calculated by the theory.

Objective To describe a non‐anatomical arthroscopic all‐inside repair of medial meniscus posterior root tear (MMPRT) to posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) technique for patients with normal lower limb alignment and to evaluate the short‐term clinical and radiologic outcomes. Methods MMPRT directly to PCL was repaired with all‐inside horizontal mattress suturing technique rather than by the transtibial pullout suture technique or anchor suturing repair technique in 20 Laparade Type II MMPRT patients with normal lower limb alignment during 2018–2019. The clinical and radiological outcomes were evaluated retrospectively for at least 2 years follow‐up. The VAS score, Lysholm score, Tegner activity score were evaluated preoperatively and at the final follow‐up. The status of the medial meniscus posterior root were assessed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) preoperatively and at the final follow‐up. Results Twenty patients (mean age 54.5 ± 19.5 years) were included in the present study. The mean follow‐up duration was 32.5 ± 5.8 months. The VAS score was significantly decreased from preoperative 6.5 ± 1.5 to 2.1 ± 1.4 at the final follow‐up (P

ABSTRACT Transcriptional factors (TFs) and their regulons make up the gene regulatory networks. Here, we developed a method based on TF-directed activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) mutagenesis in combination with genome sequencing, called AIDmut-Seq, to detect TF targets on the genome. AIDmut-Seq involves only three simple steps, including the expression of the AID-TF fusion protein, whole-genome sequencing, and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiling, making it easy for junior and interdisciplinary researchers to use. Using AIDmut-Seq for the major quorum sensing regulator LasR in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we confirmed that a few TF-guided C-T (or G-A) conversions occurred near their binding boxes on the genome, and a number of previously characterized and uncharacterized LasR-binding sites were detected. Further verification of AIDmut-Seq using various transcriptional regulators demonstrated its high efficiency for most transcriptional activators (FleQ, ErdR, GacA, ExsA). We confirmed the binding of LasR, FleQ, and ErdR to 100%, 50%, and 86% of their newly identified promoters by using in vitro protein-DNA binding assay. And real-time RT-PCR data validated the intracellular activity of these TFs to regulate the transcription of those newly found target promoters. However, AIDmut-Seq exhibited low efficiency for some small transcriptional repressors such as RsaL and AmrZ, with possible reasons involving fusion-induced TF dysfunction as well as low transcription rates of target promoters. Although there are false-positive and false-negative results in the AIDmut-Seq data, preliminary results have demonstrated the value of AIDmut-Seq to act as a complementary tool for existing methods. IMPORTANCE Protein-DNA interactions (PDI) play a central role in gene regulatory networks (GRNs). However, current techniques for studying genome-wide PDI usually involve complex experimental procedures, which prevent their broad use by scientific researchers. In this study, we provide a in vivo method called AIDmut-Seq. AIDmut-Seq involves only three simple steps that are easy to operate for researchers with basic skills in molecular biology. The efficiency of AIDmut-Seq was tested and confirmed using multiple transcription factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Although there are still some defects regarding false-positive and false-negative results, AIDmut-Seq will be a good choice in the early stage of PDI study.

Cell envelope proteases (CEPs) can break down milk protein into peptides with different functions, which are of great benefit to human health. Therefore, the high-yield CEPs of Lactobacillus plantarum have the potential to produce functional dairy products. In previous experiments, we found that Na2HPO4, inulin, casein peptone and leucine have significant effects on CEP production by Lactobacillus plantarum LP69. So we proceeded to optimize the composition of the CEP-producing culture medium of L. plantarum through Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology. The protease activity, protein content and specific activity of CEPs produced by L. plantarum by inulin (0.2, 0.3, 0.4 %), casein peptone (0.4, 0.6, 0.8 %), Na2HPO4 (0.50, 0.52, 0.54 %) and leucine (14, 16, 18 mg/L) were evaluated. The optimal ratio of medium is 0.4 % inulin, 0.66 % casein peptone, 0.5 % Na2HPO4 and 14.04 mg/L Leucine. The final enzyme activity reached (24.46±0.81) U/mL, and the specific activity reached (1.41±0.46) U/mg.

ABSTRACT The part of expression noise that is brought about by transcriptional regulation (represented here as NTR) is an important criterion for estimating the regulatory mode of a gene. However, characterization of NTR is an under-explored area, and there is little knowledge regarding the genome-wide NTR in the model pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here, with a library of dual-color transcriptional reporters, we estimated the NTR for over 90% of the promoters in P. aeruginosa. Most promoters exhibit low NTR, while 42 and 115 promoters with high NTR were screened out in the exponential and the stationary growth phases, respectively. Specifically, a rearrangement of NTR was found in promoters involved in amino acid metabolism when bacteria enter the exponential phase. In addition, during the stationary phase, high NTR was found in a wide range of iron-related promoters involving siderophore synthesis and heme uptake, ExsA-regulated promoters involving bacterial virulence, and FleQ-regulated promoters involving biofilm development. We also found a large-scale negative dependence of transcriptional regulation between high-NTR promoters belonging to different functional categories. Our findings offer a global view of transcriptional heterogeneity in P. aeruginosa. IMPORTANCE The phenotypic diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is frequently observed in research, suggesting that bacteria adopt strategies such as bet-hedging to survive ever-changing environments. Gene expression noise (GEN) is the major source of phenotypic diversity. Large GEN from transcriptional regulation (represented as NTR) represent an evolutionary necessity to maintain the copy number diversity of certain proteins in the population. Here, we provide a system-wide view of NTR in P. aeruginosa under nutrient-rich and stressed conditions. High NTR was found in genes involved in flagella biosynthesis and amino acid metabolism under both conditions. Specially, iron acquisition genes exhibited high NTR in the stressed condition, suggesting a great diversity of iron physiology in P. aeruginosa. We further revealed a global negative dependence of transcriptional regulation between those high-NTR genes under the stressed condition, suggesting a mutually exclusive relationship between different bacterial survival strategies.

Compared with traditional volume space-based multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), surface space-based MVPA has many advantages and has received increasing attention. However, surface space-based MVPA requires considerable programming and is therefore difficult for people without a programming foundation. To address this, we developed a MATLAB toolbox based on a graphical interactive interface (GUI) called surface space-based multivariate pattern analysis (SF-MVPA) in this manuscript. Unlike the traditional MVPA toolboxes, which often only include MVPA calculation processes after data preprocessing, SF-MVPA covers the complete pipeline of surface space-based MVPA, including raw data format conversion, surface reconstruction, functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) data preprocessing, comparative analysis, surface space-based MVPA, leave one-run out cross validation, and family-wise error correction. With SF-MVPA, users can complete the complete pipeline of surface space-based MVPA without programming. In addition, SF-MVPA is designed for parallel computing and hence has high computational efficiency. After introducing SF-MVPA, we analyzed a sample dataset of tonal working memory load. By comparison with another surface space-based MVPA toolbox named CoSMoMVPA, we found that the two toolboxes obtained consistent results. We hope that through this toolbox, users can more easily implement surface space-based MVPA.

Cell-envelope proteinases (CEPs) can hydrolyze casein into functional peptides, which is beneficial to the health of the host. The single factor experiment screened out that the optimal conditions for CEP production by Lactobacillus plantarum LP69 were 37°C, 20h, initial pH of 7, and optimal inoculation amount of 5%. The best conditions for this experiment were obtained by orthogonal experiment: time 22h, temperature 39°C, initial pH value of 6, and inoculation amount of 5%. Under this culture condition, the target protease activity of Lactobacillus plantarum LP69 reached 22.31±0.82U/mL, the protein content was 19.07±0.36mg/mL, and the specific activity was 1.17±0.06U/mg. The specific activity significantly increased by 15.8% compared with the control (p

Abstract Objectives The purpose of the present paper was to study isolated meniscal ramp lesions without obvious ACL rupture. Their biomechanical mechanisms were analyzed and their clinical characteristics were reviewed. The clinical effects of an all‐inside horizontal mattress suture for isolated ramp lesions were evaluated. Materials and Methods Twenty isolated meniscal ramp lesion patients without obvious ACL rupture from 2015 to 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Preoperative MRI showed intact ACL and signs of ramp lesions. These isolated ramp lesions were arthroscopically confirmed and repaired through an all‐inside horizontal mattress suturing method. MRI was performed 3 months postoperatively to assess isolated ramp lesion healing. The Tegner–Lysholm score and the visual analog scale score were recorded preoperatively and at 2 years postoperatively. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was performed to determine statistical significance. Results Arthroscopic exploration confirmed isolated ramp lesions and longitudinal ACL splits or degeneration without obvious ACL rupture. MRI 3 months postoperatively showed healing of the isolated ramp lesions. At 2 years postoperatively, the VAS scores were significantly decreased and the Tegner–Lysholm scores were significantly increased. Knee function, without pain, was restored in all patients, including walking, climing and descending stairs, and squatting. Conclusion Isolated meniscal ramp lesions without obvious ACL rupture may exist because of ACL longitudinal splits or degeneration and can be repaired through anterolateral and anteromedial portals with an all‐inside horizontal‐mattress suturing method.

This study focuses on a novel humidity sensor composed of graphene-oxide (GO)-supported MoTe2 nanosheets. Conductive Ag electrodes were formed on PET substrates by inkjet printing. A thin film of GO-MoTe2 was deposited on the Ag electrode used for adsorbing humidity. The experiment’s results demonstrate that MoTe2 are attached to GO nanosheets uniformly and tightly. The capacitive output of the sensors with various ratios of GO/MoTe2 has been tested for different levels of humidity (11.3–97.3%RH) at room temperature (25 °C). As a consequence, the obtained hybrid film exhibits superior sensitivity (94.12 pF/%RH). The structural integrity and interaction of different components were discussed to afford the prominent humidity sensitivity performance. Under the bending condition, the output curve of the sensor has no obvious fluctuation. This work provides a low-cost way to build flexible humidity sensors with high-performance in environmental monitoring and healthcare.

Ship detection from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is inherently subject to the special imaging mechanism of SAR. In recent years, deep-learning-based techniques for detecting objects from optical images have rapidly advanced and promoted the development of SAR image detection technology. However, the strong speckle noise in SAR images degrades low-level feature learning in shallow layers, hindering the higher level learning of semantic features for object detection. In view of the problems encountered in direct end-to-end feature learning for object detection and the close relationship between objects and auxiliary cues, a multitask learning-based object detector (MTL-Det) is proposed in this article to distinguish ships in SAR images. The proposed approach models the ship detection problem, not as a single object detection task, but as three cooperative tasks. The model involves two auxiliary subtasks that are focused on learning object-specific cues (e.g., texture and shape) for the ship detection task, which is constrained by the pseudoground truth generated by the main task. Assisted by auxiliary subtasks, the low-level features are robust to speckle noise and reliably support high-level feature learning. Compared with traditional single-task-based object detectors, more discriminative object-specific features are learned by multitask learning without the extra cost of manual labeling. The experiments conducted in this study help demonstrate the advantages of MTL-Det in improving the ship detection performance on two SAR datasets: high-resolution SAR images dataset and large-scale SAR ship detection dataset-v1.0.

Abstract Background To investigate the feasibility, safety and therapeutic efficacy of arthroscopy in managing the 3 most common soft tissue complications, peripatellar impingement (PI), arthrofibrosis (AF) and generalized synovitis (GS), after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods A retrospective review of patients undertaking arthroscopy for PI, AF and GS was conducted. Outcome measures included complications, postoperative range of motion (ROM), Knee Society Score (KSS) and rates of symptom recurrence, prosthesis revision. Intraoperative findings and surgical procedures were also recorded. Paired t test, Fisher’s exact test, Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction were used for statistical evaluation. Results A total of 74 patients, including 35 patients with peripatellar impingement, 25 patients with arthrofibrosis and 14 patients with generalized synovitis, with a mean age of 66.1 ± 7.9 years, were analysed. The mean follow-up (FU) duration was 81.3 ± 40.6 months. All patients underwent arthroscopic surgery safely without intraoperative complications. However, there were 4 postoperative complications, including 1 acute myocardial infarction and 3 periprosthetic joint infections. Overall, patients acquired improvements in ROM from 81.7 ± 23.1° to 96.8 ± 20.5° (p < 0.05), in KSS knee score from 64.2 ± 9.6 to 78.7 ± 12.1 (p < 0.05) and in KSS function score from 61.1 ± 7.4 to 77.3 ± 12.2 (p < 0.05) postoperatively. Patients in all 3 groups had improvements in ROM (p < 0.05), KSS knee score (p < 0.05) and KSS function score (p < 0.05). The overall recurrence rate was 22.9% (95% confidence interval (CI) 15.1–34.9%), and the overall revision rate was 14.9% (95% CI 8.6–25.6%). There were significant differences in both the symptom recurrence and prosthesis revision rates among the groups (p < 0.05). The PI group had a significantly lower symptom recurrence rate (11.4%, 95% CI 4.5–28.7%) and revision rate (8.6%, 95% CI 2.9–25.3%) (p < 0.017), while the GS group had a significantly higher recurrence rate (42.9%, 95% CI 23.4–78.5%) and revision rate (35.7%, 95% CI 17.6–72.1%) (p < 0.017). Conclusions In the setting of symptomatic TKA, although carrying certain risks for PJI and other complications, arthroscopic intervention could be feasible and provide clinical improvement in most cases at an average of 81.3 months follow-up. Patients with PI had the best outcomes, while patients with GS had the worst outcomes. Level of evidence Level IV

IntroductionImmunosuppressed patients with bloodstream infection are at risk of mortality. Our objective was to assess the independent risk factors of bloodstream infection with mortality in immunosuppressive states.MethodsThe medical data of a total of 896 patients who were hospitalized in our hospital were collected from January 2015 to December 2019. Evaluation of the independent risk factors of mortality was done by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.ResultsOf the 896 immunosuppressed patients with bloodstream infection, 698 had over 60-day survivals and 198 had 60-day mortality. In our study, PCT (mean ±; standard: 11.40 ±; 31.89 µg/l vs. 62.45 ±; 17.10 µg/l, p = 0.007) and presence of age >60 years (40% vs. 14.19%, p = 0.001) were significantly different between situations with and without 60-day survivals in both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Age >60 years and PCT could be used as indicators for bloodstream infection with 60-day death in immunosuppressive states; the OR (95% CI) were 1.532 (1.099–2.135) and 2.063 (1.413–3.013), respectively. In different subgroups, PCT and age were also independent risk factors of blood system diseases, Klebsiella pneumoniae infection, diabetes, and ICU-stay subgroups.ConclusionsAge and PCT were independently associated with mortality in immunosuppressive states, which may help to identify the highly risky situation of bloodstream infection in immunosuppressive states.

The adrenergic system contributes to the stress‐induced onset and progression of cancer. Adrenergic fibers are the primary source of norepinephrine (NE). The underlying mechanisms involved in NE‐induced colon cancer remain to be understood. In this study, we describe the function and regulatory network of NE in the progression of colon cancer. We demonstrate that NE‐induced phosphorylation of cAMP response element‐binding protein 1 (CREB1) promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of human colon cancer cells. The downstream effector of NE, CREB1, bound to the promoter of miR‐373 and transcriptionally activated its expression. miR‐373 expression was shown to be necessary for NE‐induced cell proliferation, invasion, and tumor growth. We confirmed that proliferation and invasion of colon cancer cells are regulated in vitro and in vivo by miR‐373 through targeting of the tumor suppressors TIMP2 and APC. Our data suggest that NE promotes colon cancer cell proliferation and metastasis by activating the CREB1–miR‐373 axis. The study of this novel signaling axis may provide mechanistic insights into the neural regulation of colon cancer and help in the design of future clinical studies on stress biology in colorectal cancer.

This study considers a service-deployment problem of C4ISR(Command, Control, Communication, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) system under service-oriented architecture. In order to make C4ISR sufficiently agile to meet the challenges brought by diverse combat missions and highly adversarial combat processes, this paper adopts a distributed deployment method to deploy the service processes that constitute C4ISR in multiple data centers. Considering the service information requirements and the location of specific data, a deployment constraint for a service is proposed. Further, in order to improve resource utilization and reduce communication overhead, this paper establishes a distributed service deployment model facing the characteristics of C4ISR. For the large search space and complex constraints of the optimal problem, a multi-objective genetic simulated annealing algorithm is proposed by designing the neighboring individual generation rules and combining the simulated annealing mechanism and the genetic algorithm to enhance the ability of both local search and global search. The simulation results show that this method can produce a high-quality C4ISR service-deployment scheme effectively.

This paper considers a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) secure simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) system aided by the intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), where the transmitter (T), the information receiver (IR) and energy receiver (ER) are all equipped with multiple antennas. Assuming that the ER may be potential eavesdropper (Eve), we aim to maximize the secrecy rate via jointly designing the precoding matrix, the artificial noise (AN) covariance, and the phase shift matrix, subject to the harvested energy and unit modulus reflect coefficient (RC) constraints. The formulated secrecy rate maximization (SRM) problem is non-convex with multiple coupled variables. To tackle it, an inexact block coordinate descent (IBCD) method is proposed, where the unit modulus constraint is handled by the penalty majorization-minimization (MM) and the complex circle manifold (CCM) methods. Finally, simulation results validate the effectiveness of IRS in enhancing the security.

For A-site substituted AA'BO3 perovskite, the doped A' element is easy to migrate to the surface and form segregation of A'Ox, which could partially block active B sites and thus reduce catalytic activity. In the present work a La0.8Sr0.2CoO3-δ perovskite-type solid was first prepared and then treated with acetic acid to eliminate SrO segregation on its surface. The obtained catalyst (LCSO-a) possessed a significantly enhanced catalytic activity for toluene oxidation in the 220–260 °C range. This promotion effect might be attributed to the increase in the concentration of active surface oxygen species and the reduction in their binding strength. In addition, the LCSO-a catalyst showed very good stability and water resistance.

Tumor microenvironment plays an important role in tumor proliferation, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Local RAS is a key factor to tumor proliferation and metastasis in NSCLC microenvironment, but its role on angiogenesis and VM formation remains unclear. Although overwhelming majority of previous studies suggested that VM is well established in aggressive tumor and facilitates tumor growth and metastasis, we put forward different views from another angle. We proved that status of tumor blood supply patterns, including VM channels and endothelial vessels, can dynamically exchange with each other along with local RAS fluctuations in microenvironment. Quantitatively, ACE2/ACEI promotes VM formation via Nodal/Notch4 activation; while structurally, ACE2/ACEI leads to a strong and solid structure of VM via inhibition of VE-cadherin internalization. These changes induced by ACE2/ACEI relate to relatively low metastasis rate and comforting prognoses of NSCLC patients.

Objective: Ephedrine hydrochloride (EH) is a major component from Ephedra sinica STAPF, which is used as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine. This study was designed to investigate the effect of EH on water metabolism and further explore the relevant signaling pathway of body fluid regulation in “lung governing regulation of water passage” using a rabbit model of mechanical ventilation. The molecular mechanism of the EH effect in the kidney was also investigated. Methods: Rabbits were randomly divided into a control group, model group, EH group, and dexmedetomidine hydrochloride (DH) group. Urine volume was measured by the intubation method and pathologic changes in lung and renal tissue were measured by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Nitric oxide (NO) production in lung, serum, and kidney were analyzed using chemical methods. An ELISA was used to analyze angiotensin II (Ang II), antidiuretic hormone (ADH), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels in the lung, serum, and kidney. Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) and aquaporin-2 (AQP2) mRNA and protein expression in the kidney was determined using qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Results: EH significantly inhibited the decrease in the total urine volume in the third and fourth stages, and displayed significant regulatory effects on NO, Ang II, ADH, PGE2, ANP, and ET-1 in serum, lung, and renal tissues compared with the model group. In the kidney, AQP1 and AQP2 mRNA and protein expression in the EH group were remarkably down-regulated compared with the model group. Conclusion: EH exerted a regulatory effect on water metabolism by diffusing the lung and increased urine volume in the rabbit model, which was consistent with the decrease in kidney AQP1 and AQP2 expression levels that led to an increase in urine volume. EH could assist with DH to exert a protective effect on the clinical application of mechanical ventilation. Keywords: Mechanical ventilation, Ephedrine hydrochloride, Dexmedetomidine hydrochloride, Humoral regulation

In present study, the effects of carbon sources (glucose, lactose, sucrose, galactose, maltose and soluble starch) and nitrogen sources (casein peptone, whey protein, soy peptone, yeast, tryptone, beef extract and peptone) on activity of cell envelope proteinases (CEP), specific activity, protein content, OD600 value and pH in MRS broth fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum LP69 were investigated by individual factor experiment. The results indicated that carbon and nitrogen sources have significant influence on the activity of CEP and specific activitys of L. plantarum LP69, glucose, maltose, casein peptone and peptone are superior to other selected carbon and nitrogen sources. The optimum concentrations of glucose, maltose, casein peptone and peptone for L. plantarum LP69 are 2%, 2%, 1% and 1%; the activity of CEP are 19.52U/mL, 21.13U/mL, 13.49U/mL and 20.61U/mL, respectively.

The transposition of the stator bar is an important technique in the large generator design. Under the excitation of vibration and thermal effect, the insulation of strand is easily damaged, which leads to short-circuiting fault, and adversely impacts the generator's secure operation. To better protect the generator, there is a need for detailed research of the characteristics of stator transposition bar under the strands short-circuit condition. In this paper, we proposed a 3D finite numerical method (FEM) for calculating the strand short-circuit current. In the proposed method, the whole model of stator transposition bar is divided into multiple piecewise segments, and each segment is coupled together by the circuit. Based on this method, the electromagnetic properties of the 308° stator transposition bar under the strands short-circuit fault condition are analyzed. Then, the properties of the strand short-circuit current is studied. Finally, the calculated results are compared with the measured data. The results show that the calculation of the strand short-circuit current with high precision and the strand short-circuit current jump is one of the characteristics of strands short-circuit fault in stator transposition bar.

Green energy powered cognitive radio is proposed as a promising method to improve the energy efficiency (EE) and spectrum efficiency (SE). We consider the green power farms that harvest energy from solar and wind, which is used for the primary transmitter and the cognitive sensor network (CSN). The primary transmitter has priority to utilize the spectrum and the energy, and then the energy powered for the CSN may not be sufficient. Both the energy management and energy harvesting process will affect the throughput of the cognitive sensors (CSs). In this paper, we aim to design the system parameters in the CSN (including the sensing threshold, the sensing time, the final decision threshold in the fusion center, and the number of cooperating CSs) that can improve the utilization efficiency of the harvested energy and maximize the CSs' throughput. Since the parameters are intertwined with the energy causality constraint and the average throughput, we decouple the influence of final decision threshold on the throughput from the influence of the sensing time and sensing threshold. The optimization problem is divided into two sub-problems. Algorithm 1 and Algorithm 2 are proposed to solve sub-problem 1 and sub-problem 2, respectively. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can improve the average throughput significantly, and is able to achieve the best tradeoff between SE and EE.

In this paper, we investigate a robust transmit design in underlay energy harvesting (EH) cognitive radio networks (CRNs), where the malicious energy receivers (ERs) can be treated as potential eavesdroppers (Eves) due to their ability of wiretapping the desired information. Considering a general case of statistical Eves' channel state information (CSI), to transmit signals in a secret and energy-efficient manner, an outage-constrained secrecy energy efficiency (OC-SEE) optimization problem is formulated to design transmit beamforming vectors. The original problem is non-convex and challenging to solve. To make it more tractable, we first rewrite this problem by semi-definite relaxation (SDR), and Bernstein-type inequality (BTI) approach is resorted to conservatively approximate the probabilistic constraints. Then, based on the fractional programming theory, an equivalent parametric reformulation is proposed to convert the original problem into a subtractive form. Furthermore, by introducing auxiliary variables, with the aid of Sphere Bounding method, the tractable solution of this OC-SEE maximization problem can be obtained through solving a two-stage optimization problem. Finally, numerical results are provided to validate the efficacy of the proposed design.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) aided communication has the potential to provide on-demand wireless services and improve the outdoor link throughput. Applications for UAVs are rapidly growing with the development of Internet of Things. Because of limited battery energy, the UAVs need time-limited spectrum access to complete data transmission. Hence there are two challenges for the UAV-based communication: 1) Spectrum-efficient design; 2) Energy-efficient design. In this paper, we investigate the optimization of spectrum efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE) for cognitive UAV network based on location information. Because of high mobility, the cognitive radio (CR) based UAVs operate on different frequency bands that vary with time and space. Thus, one spectrum band that is available in one region may not be necessarily available in another region. Based on location information of the primary transmitter and the UAV, we propose a hybrid mode in which the sensing performance and UAV's transmit power can be adjusted simultaneously to satisfy the outage constraint of the primary user. The multi-objective optimization theory is used to solve the tradeoff between SE and EE. The UAV's transmit power, sensing time and sensing threshold are optimized jointly to solve the tradeoff problem. To further improve the SE and EE performance, we propose a multi-frame combined sensing scheme, in which multiple frames are bundled together. Simulation results are provided to show the SE-EE tradeoff design, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid mode, and to show the advantages of the multi-frame combined sensing scheme in EE performance.

This paper makes research on a secure hybrid satellite-terrestrial communication network with eavesdroppers at the primary and secondary receivers. To secure the transmitted messages, we adopt the null space beamforming to the amplified-and-forward (AF) relay protocol and weighted fractional data carrying artificial noise (WFDCAN) to the decoded-and-forward (DF) relay protocol at the satellite. Considering the time delay may be brought by the WFDCAN, we introduce a parameter θ to indicate the delay severity. The secrecy capacity is combined with θ to derive the maximum secrecy delay constrain. The secrecy capacity, the ASER of the up-link channel and the delay constrain of the down-link channel are applied as factors for a three level relay protocol selection scheme. To simplify the analyses and expressions, the models of the AF protocol and the DF protocol are integrated to form a new transmission model. Furthermore, the secrecy performance at the destination receiver is considered for terrestrial relay selection to enhance the security performance. We also apply the columns of the frequency hopping based multi-term weighted fractional fourier transform (FH-MWFRFT) matrix as signal processing vector to the base station of the terrestrial network to minimize the interference it brings to the terrestrial relays. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed system could maintain the security at the relays and the secondary receiver while reducing the delay at the satellite in some conditions.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with data transmission and sensing facilities are gaining more popularity in different applications due to its miniaturization and mobility. In this paper, a UAV-based overlay cognitive radio (CR) network is investigated in which the UAV is used as a secondary user (SU). This paper proposes an efficient energy management solution to improve the performance of the UAV. When SUs opportunistically utilize the licensed spectrum of the primary network, spectrum sensing is needed to determine whether to transmit data or not, so the sensing time and secondary transmission power should be jointly optimized. We formulate this non-convex optimization problem subject to multiple constraints, which seeks to investigate on the effect of the sensing time and transmission power on the performance of the system. The problem is difficult to tackle, then we propose an algorithm applying the techniques of alternating optimization and dichotomy method. In addition, we compare the proposed algorithm with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to verify its performance. Numerical results show that our proposed algorithm outperforms the PSO algorithm and significantly enhances the energy efficiency of the UAV-based CR system.

The triple-frequency linear combination method can provide combinations with different characteristics and is one of the important methods to improve the performance of navigation services. Due to the large number of combinations and different combination performances, combinatorial clustering optimization is very important, and the efficiency of manual screening is very low. Firstly, based on the basic model, the objective equations are derived. Secondly, based on the fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm, three improved PSO-FCM algorithms are proposed, namely the S-PSO-FCM algorithm, L-PSO-FCM algorithm, and LOG-PSO-FCM algorithm. Thirdly, according to the different combination characteristics, the two datasets whose combined coefficients sum to 0 and 1 are emphatically discussed. Finally, the effectiveness of the improved PSO-FCM algorithms is studied based on the public dataset and the measured BeiDou-3 navigation satellite system (BDS-3) data of short baseline, long baseline, and ultra-long baseline. The results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than that of the FCM algorithm, especially in short baseline and long baseline cases.

Multi-source image fusion is very important for improving image representation ability since its essence relies on the complementarity between multi-source information. However, feature-level image fusion methods based on the convolution neural network are impacted by the spatial misalignment between image pairs, which leads to the semantic bias in merging features and destroys the representation ability of the region-of-interests. In this paper, a novel multi-source image fusion transformer (MsIFT) is proposed. Due to the inherent global attention mechanism of the transformer, the MsIFT has non-local fusion receptive fields, and it is more robust to spatial misalignment. Furthermore, multiple classification-based downstream tasks (e.g., pixel-wise classification, image-wise classification and semantic segmentation) are unified in the proposed MsIFT framework, and the fusion module architecture is shared by different tasks. The MsIFT achieved state-of-the-art performances on the image-wise classification dataset VAIS, semantic segmentation dataset SpaceNet 6 and pixel-wise classification dataset GRSS-DFC-2013. The code and trained model are being released upon the publication of the work.

Tert-butyl peroxy-3,5,5-trimethylhexanoate (TBPTMH), a liquid ester organic peroxide, is commonly used as an initiator for polymerization reactions. During the production process, TBPTMH may be exposed to acids and alkali, which may have different effects on its thermal hazard, so it is necessary to carry out a study on the thermal hazard of TBPTMH mixed with acids and alkali. In this paper, the effects of H2SO4 and NaOH on the thermal decomposition of TBPTMH were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and adiabatic calorimetry (Phi-TEC II). The “kinetic triple factors” were calculated by thermodynamic analysis. The results show that the three Ea are 132.49, 116.36, and 118.24 kJ/mol, respectively; thus, the addition of H2SO4 and NaOH increased the thermal hazard of TBPTMH. In addition, the characteristic parameters (time to maximum rate under adiabatic conditions, self-accelerated decomposition temperature) of its thermal decomposition were determined, and the control temperature (45, 40, and 40 °C) of TBPTMH under the action of acid-alkali were further received. This work is expected to provide some guidance for the safe storage, handling, production, and transportation of TBPTMH in the process industry.

La2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics were prepared by the same method of solid-state reaction as CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics. The structure and dielectric responses for La2/3Cu3Ti4O12 and CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics were systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and impedance analyzer. Compared with CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics, La2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics with higher density and refined grain exhibit a high dielectric constant (ε′ ~ 104) and two dielectric relaxations in a wide temperature range. The dielectric relaxation below 200 K with an activation energy of 0.087 eV in La2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics is due to the polyvalent state of Ti3+/Ti4+ and Cu+/Cu2+, while the dielectric relaxation above 450 K with higher activation energy (0.596 eV) is due to grain boundary effects. These thermal activated dielectric relaxations with lower activation energy in La2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics both move to lower temperatures, which can be associated with the enhanced polyvalent structure in La2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics. Such high dielectric constant ceramics are also expected to be applied in capacitors and memory devices.

Thermal conductivity is one of the most important thermophysical properties of a melt-cast explosive. However, the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of such explosives cannot be easily measured across the whole solidification process (including the liquid, semi-solid, and solid states). This study used an inverse analysis method to estimate the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of a 2,4-dinitroanisole/cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine (DNAN/HMX) melt-cast explosive in a continuous way. The method that was used is described here in detail, and it is verified by comparing the estimated thermal conductivity with a prespecified value using simulated measurement temperatures, thereby demonstrating its effectiveness. Combining this method with experimentally measured temperatures, the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of the DNAN/HMX melt-cast explosive was obtained. Some measured thermal conductivity values for this explosive in the solid state were used for further validation.

Aiming at the problems of early leakage monitoring of urban nonmetallic pipelines and the large positioning error, an inverse transient urban nonmetallic gas pipelines leakage location method based on Markov quantitative judgment was proposed. A Markov flow state transition probability matrix was established based on the flow data under different pressures obtained by experiments to quantitatively determine the pipeline leakage status. On this basis, an inverse transient leakage control equation suitable for urban nonmetallic gas pipeline leakage location was constructed according to the actual. The difference between the pressure and the calculated pressure was sought for the objective function. Finally, the objective function was optimized in conjunction with the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method to obtain the actual leakage parameters and calculate the size and location of the leakage source. The results show that the inverse transient leakage localization method based on Markov’s quantitative judgment can more accurately determine the leakage status of the pipeline and calculate the early leakage parameters and leakage location of the gas pipeline, which improves the positioning accuracy.

Detecting off-nadir objects is a well-known challenge in remote sensing due to the distortion and mutable representation. Existing methods mainly focus on a narrow range of view angles, and they ignore broad-view pantoscopic remote sensing imagery. To address the off-nadir object detection problem in remote sensing, a new nadir-like generative adversarial network (NaGAN) is proposed in this paper by narrowing the representation differences between the off-nadir and nadir object. NaGAN consists of a generator and a discriminator, in which the generator learns to transform the off-nadir object to a nadir-like one so that they are difficult to discriminate by the discriminator, and the discriminator competes with the generator to learn more nadir-like features. With the progressive competition between the generator and discriminator, the performances of off-nadir object detection are improved significantly. Extensive evaluations on the challenging SpaceNet benchmark for remote sensing demonstrate the superiority of NaGAN to the well-established state-of-the-art in detecting off-nadir objects.

Pyoverdine is secreted by the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to scavenge iron from its hosts. Here, the authors show that under stress conditions P. aeruginosa uses a ‘conditional privatization’ strategy, reserving pyoverdine intracellularly to protect against oxidative damage.

We present a novel constellation-splitting criterion in the multiple parameters weighted-type fractional Fourier transform (MP-WFRFT) modulations. First, the signal superposition characteristics are studied and the related four theorems are put forward and proved. Second, to get the expected constellation pattern, we build the optimization model with the defined constraints. Then, the genetic algorithm is adopted to optimize the designed model. Finally, numerical results are presented to validate the proposed theorems, and the bit error rate performance shows that the MP-WFRFT can be utilized to guarantee the communication security.

This paper presents a novel combinatory strategy to embed weighted-type fractional Fourier transform (WFRFT) precoding signals into transform domain communication system (TDCS). The original data can be divided into two parts. One part is modulated with the cyclic code shift keying in the traditional TDCS. The other part is first disguised as other higher order baseband modulations MPSK through WFRFT proceding process, then will further be embedded into the traditional TDCS system. A double-random scheme is designed to dynamically generate the pseudo phase for WFRFT rotation and TDCS basic function's phase. Theoretical analyses show that the higher spectral efficiency can be obtained while causing little effect on its original communication quality. The final simulations demonstrate that the constellation precoding method can help disguise the original signals into other higher order baseband PSK modulations with a controllable Gaussian-like noise. Besides, owing to the dynamically double-random phase generation scheme, the proposed combinatory WFRFT-TDCS system can gain better anti-eavesdropping capacity while maintaining its own communications' quality with regards to bit error rate performances.