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The sensitive detection of ten-eleven translocation (TET) dioxygenase is of significance for understanding the demethylation mechanism of 5-methylocytosine (5mC), which is responsible for a wide range of biological functions that can affect gene expression in eukaryotic species. Here, a non-label and sensitive fluorescence biosensing method for TET assay using TET1 as the model target molecule is established on the basis of target-triggered Mg2+-dependent DNAzyme and catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA)-mediated multiple signal amplification cascades. 5mC sites in the hairpin DNA probe are first oxidized by TET1 into 5-carboxycytosine, which are further reduced by pyridine borane into dihydrouracil, followed by its recognition and cleavage by the USER enzyme to liberate active DNAzyme and G-quadruplex sequences from the probe. The DNAzyme further cyclically cleaves the substrate hairpins to trigger subsequent CHA reaction and DNAzyme cleavage cycles for yielding many G-quadruplex strands. Thioflavin T dye then intercalates into G-quadruplexes to cause a magnificent increase of fluorescence for high sensitivity assay of TET1 with 47 fM detection limit. And, application of this method for TET1 monitoring in diluted serum has also been confirmed. [Display omitted] • Non-label and sensitive fluorescent ten-eleven translocation enzyme assay is developed. • DNAzyme and CHA recycling are integrated into the assay to amplify the signal output. • The method shows high selectivity and has a low detection limit of 47 fM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial heterogeneity of landslide influencing factors is the main reason for the poor generalizability of the susceptibility evaluation model. This study aimed to construct a comprehensive explanatory framework for landslide susceptibility evaluation models based on the SHAP (SHapley Additive explanation)-XGBoost (eXtreme Gradient Boosting) algorithm, analyze the regional characteristics and spatial heterogeneity of landslide influencing factors, and discuss the heterogeneity of the generalizability of the models under different landscapes. Firstly, we selected different regions in typical mountainous hilly region and constructed a geospatial database containing 12 landslide influencing factors such as elevation, annual average rainfall, slope, lithology, and NDVI through field surveys, satellite images, and a literature review. Subsequently, the landslide susceptibility evaluation model was constructed based on the XGBoost algorithm and spatial database, and the prediction results of the landslide susceptibility evaluation model were explained based on regional topography, geology, and hydrology using the SHAP algorithm. Finally, the model was generalized and applied to regions with both similar and very different topography, geology, meteorology, and vegetation, to explore the spatial heterogeneity of the generalizability of the model. The following conclusions were drawn: the spatial distribution of landslides is heterogeneous and complex, and the contribution of each influencing factor on the occurrence of landslides has obvious regional characteristics and spatial heterogeneity. The generalizability of the landslide susceptibility evaluation model is spatially heterogeneous and has better generalizability to regions with similar regional characteristics. Further explanation of the XGBoost landslide susceptibility evaluation model using the SHAP method allows quantitative analysis of the differences in how much various factors contribute to disasters due to spatial heterogeneity, from the perspective of global and local evaluation units. In summary, the integrated explanatory framework based on the SHAP-XGBoost model can quantify the contribution of influencing factors on landslide occurrence at both global and local levels, which is conducive to the construction and improvement of the influencing factor system of landslide susceptibility in different regions. It can also provide a reference for predicting potential landslide hazard-prone areas and for Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) research. • Application of machine learning algorithm (XGBoost) and explainable algorithm (SHAP). • Landslide susceptibility mapping in several study areas with significant differences in regional characteristics. • Reveal the spatial heterogeneity of landslide drivers. • The investigation of the "reproducibility" of the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial language interaction is critical for human-robot interactions. However, previous findings are inconsistent in people's perspective choices for robots and humans. In two experiments, participants viewed complex spatial layouts and verbally instructed an imagined human or robot addressee to find the target location or route. In both tasks, participants only tended to describe from humans' but not robots' perspective, at the cost of taking more time to generate instructions for humans than robots. The results showed that spatial language interaction is not only a spatial but also a social task, and people do not regard robots as human-like social partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of mechanical property tests on early-age concrete reinforced with industrial-grade carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are reported. The objective of the study was to validate the effectiveness of CNTs and establish the development of concrete properties with CNT dosage and concrete age. Ultrasonication, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry and scanning electron microscopy were employed to inspect or improve the dispersion quality. The test programme considered four CNT dosages and seven concrete ages, with three replicates. The results indicated that industrial-grade CNTs can lead to increases in cubic compressive strength, tensile splitting strength, prismatic compressive strength and ultimate strain of concrete (up to 34·2, 11·1, 19·4 and 8·3%, respectively) comparable to those obtained with the use of fine nanotube particles; no significant influence was found for the other tested concrete properties. The results of this study also indicated that increases in strengths and strain were most significant during the first 7 d, the period when concrete is most prone to cracking due to shrinkage and hydration heat. This implies that industrial-grade CNTs may have a great potential in reducing early-age concrete cracking with much less health risk and lower testing requirements compared with the use of fine nanotube powders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on China, which has a special household registration system (called hukou ), this study examines the likely effects of the China’s National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014–2020) on rural migrant workers’ intentions to reside permanently in cities and their future energy consumption preference. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in 2014 and 2015 among rural migrant workers and residents with a hukou in three cities (985 migrants and 671 residents with a hukou). Analysis results show that 39% of migrant workers intended to reside permanently in cities under the aforementioned plan, and the current energy consumption of residents with a hukou is 1.2–4.0 times higher than that of rural migrant workers. Further analyses based on structural equation models confirm that migrants’ current less-satisfied life experience and lower level of viability in cities hinder them to become a permanent urban resident. Unexpectedly, migrants’ permanent residence intentions do not affect their future energy consumption preference, which is however mostly affected by their confidence and barriers to become a permanent resident, especially future concerns about health and lack of social security in their current daily life. Finally, it is argued that studies on rural migrants should pay more attention to capability-concerned and life-oriented aspects, which are useful to derive important insights into cross-sectoral energy policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To optimize simultaneous control of NO and elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) and gain more insight into the mechanisms, nano-sized TiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 -CeO 2 materials synthesized via sol-gel method were used for simultaneous removal of NO and Hg 0 from simulated flue gas. The physicochemical characteristics of catalysts were characterized by ICP-OES, BET, XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, H 2 -TPR and FT-IR. TiAl 10 Ce 20 nanoparticle with the addition of 10 wt%Al 2 O 3 showed superior NO removal efficiency (93.41%) and Hg 0 removal efficiency (80.54%) in the presence of SCR atmosphere at 300 °C. The deactivation effects of 8% H 2 O and 400 ppm SO 2 were also reduced by Al addition. In the presence of SCR atmosphere, the capture of Hg 0 was inhibited by the existence of NH 3 , while the presence of Hg 0 had little impact on NO removal. The characterization results showed that the excellent performance of TiAl 10 Ce 20 nanoparticle might result from the stronger redox ability, lower crystallinity and better texture properties with highly dispersed Ce species, which were all attributed to Al addition. The mechanisms for simultaneous removal of NO and Hg 0 were also proposed on the basis of above results. TiAl 10 Ce 20 nanoparticle developed in this work was considered to be a promising catalyst for simultaneous removal of NO and Hg 0 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the impacts of climate disasters on the behavior of tourists in Bangladesh, this study makes an initial attempt to investigate tourists’ adaptation behavior in response to climate disasters. A questionnaire survey was developed and administered to address both tourists’ previous adaptation behavior and their stated adaptation behavior in response to different future climate disasters. The choice modeling analysis of tourists’ previous behavior revealed that a cyclone is more likely to result in the cancellation of a trip, and a flood is more likely to result in a change in trip timing. As for the stated behavior analysis, it was confirmed that most variables related to disaster severity show significant influence on adaptation behavior. The results also indicate that construction of disaster-resilient transportation networks is essential to avoid trip cancellations. In addition, improving market-oriented tourism service quality in Bangladesh could play a significant role in reducing the probability of both trip cancellations and changes of destination. The findings of this study can provide the tourism industry in Bangladesh with critical insights for future disaster management and sustainable development of the tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Mg-Gd-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy was processed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at 375 °C. The grain size of Mg-Gd-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy was refined to ~ 2.5 μm with the spherical precipitates (β 1 phase) distributing in the matrix. The mechanical properties of ECAPed alloy were significantly improved as a result of the grain refinement and precipitation strengthening. The corrosion rate of the ECAPed magnesium alloy in simulated body fluid dramatically decreased from 0.236 mm/a to 0.126 mm/a due to the strong basal texture and refined microstructure. This wrought magnesium alloy shows potentials in biomedical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing impacts of climate change, many people in Bangladesh are being forced to move their homes and/or change their jobs. Unfortunately, little is known about how people jointly decide on their jobs and residential location changes in association with the influence of climate change disasters. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how residents in coastal and inland areas may change their jobs and/or residential location under different scenarios of potential impacts of floods and cyclones by comparing socioeconomic and experiential factors. A stated preference survey was conducted in 14 coastal and inland areas of Bangladesh. As a result, 788 respondents provided 3152 valid samples (1948 from coastal areas and 1204 from inland areas). Analysis results based on a cross-nested logit model indicate that flood has no obvious impact on choices of inland people, and flood and cyclone have limited effects on people's choices in coastal areas, except for cyclone intensity. Income is not significant in the decisions of the coastal people, but it does matter to the inland people. The inland people are more likely to depend on government help during disasters. However, the coastal people's decisions are driven by different factors in a complicated way. The inland people prefer changing their jobs to changing their residential locations, but the coastal people are slightly more aggressive in deciding to change their residential location in response to flood. Structural differences of choice behaviors under flood and cyclone are also revealed. Finally, policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to monitor therapeutic antibodies in human serum to obtain the pharmacokinetic data for assessing their therapeutic efficacy at the dosage of administration. Here, based on the target-triggered proximity binding approach, as well as the catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) and CRISPR/Cas12a cleavage dual signal amplification strategy, we describe the establishment of a highly sensitive method for detecting panitumumab, a cancer therapeutic monoclonal antibody, in diluted human serums. The two proximity probes bind the target panitumumab simultaneously to form initiation sequences for subsequent CHA for the cyclic yield of many dsDNAs, which further activate the specific trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a to digest lots of fluorescently quenched ssDNAs to restore drastically enhanced fluorescence for detecting panitumumab with a 0.62 pM detection limit. Besides, the sensing approach can selectively discriminate panitumumab against other monoclonal antibodies and realize low levels of panitumumab detection in diluted serums. Moreover, by simple replacement of the proximity recognition probes, the established method can be easily expanded for the development of versatile sensing platforms for different biomolecules in addition to antibodies. [Display omitted] • A new method for the detection of therapeutic monoclonal antibody is reported. • Chimeric probes bind the target molecules to trigger cascaded signal amplifications. • Such method shows highly improved sensitivity and selectivity for target molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration variation of phenylalanine (Phe), an essential amino acid in humans, can cause metabolism disorders and even mental disability. Sensitive and convenient monitoring of Phe is therefore important for disease diagnosis. We describe here the establishment of a new aptamer-based, sensitive and label-free colorimetric Phe detection strategy by integrating catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) and Mg2+-dependent DNAzyme amplification cascades. The target Phe coordinates with pentamethylcyclopentadienyl rhodium(III) chloride dimer [(Cp*RhCl 2) 2 ] to form a complex that has a high affinity to the corresponding aptamer sequence. Upon its binding to the aptamers in DNA duplex probes, ssDNA strands are released to trigger subsequent CHA reactions for the formation of many DNAzymes, which cleave the substrate signal probes to liberate lots of CHA initiation strands and free G-quadruplexes to realize the cascaded amplifications. Hemin further associates with the many G-quadruplexes to yield hemin/G-quadruplex mimicking peroxidases, which catalyze solution of substrate to exhibit highly enhanced UV–vis adsorption for detecting Phe at 0.19 μM level. At the meantime, the monitoring of Phe in diluted serums with high selectivity has also been demonstrated by the developed method, indicating its potential for simple diagnosis of Phe-related diseases. [Display omitted] • A new aptamer-based, sensitive and label-free colorimetric assay for phenylalanine is reported. • The integration of CHA with DNAzyme leads to a significant signal amplification. • The method has a high selectivity and a low sub-micromolar level detection limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The responses of soil moisture to rainfall are of great significance for watershed hydrological modeling. However, few studies have been done to investigate these responds on hillslope in a typical semi-arid grassland region. This study used high temporal resolution soil moisture data to explore the soil moisture dynamics, response conditions and its controls of 0–40 cm soil profile in the upslope (14°), midslope (9°), and downslope (4°) of a typical grassland inland river basin under bare ground (BG), stubble (SG), and natural grassland (CK) treatments. The results showed that soil water content and water storage increased in the downslope direction, and all showed as BG > SG > CK. The dry and wet changes in fast-changing layer (5 cm) and active layer (10 cm) were rapid, while soil moisture below 20 cm was relatively stable and fluctuated only in heavy or continuous rainfalls. The soil moisture response process varied greatly under different rainfall, rainfall intensity and antecedent soil moisture conditions, which explained 41.1% of the total difference. The rainfall replenishment threshold and the required initial soil profile water content of soil moisture response in 5 cm, 10 cm and 20 cm soil layers were 5.8 mm, 8.0 mm, 11.4 mm and 8.7 vol%, 9.4 vol%, 10.8 vol%, respectively. Soil properties, vegetation characteristics and topography could explain 38.8%, 14.5% and 5.6% of the soil moisture variation on the hillslope. In addition, under the comprehensive influence of environmental factors, changes in soil moisture of the upslope were significantly affected by soil sand content, the differences in the midslope were mainly due to soil clay content and belowground biomass, whereas the vegetation characteristics were the main factors in the downslope. This study can contribute to the further understanding of slope-scale ecohydrological processes and hydrological simulation of semi-arid grassland watersheds. • The response of soil moisture to rainfall under different vegetation treatments at different hillslope positions was investigated. • Rainfall recharge thresholds and initial soil profile water content for soil moisture responses at different soil depths were determined. • The effects of water condition, vegetation characteristics and soil properties on soil water responses at different hillslope locations were quantified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The PF contributed to the total infiltration was >50% • The control mechanisms of temporal and small-scale spatial characteristics on different types of preferential flow processes were clarified. • Environmental characteristics differed between two types of preferential flow. • The two types of preferential flow affected soil moisture parameters differently. The control mechanisms of temporal and small-scale spatial characteristics on different types of preferential flow (PF) processes during infiltration are still lacking. Two-year high-resolution in situ soil moisture profiles were used to investigate the controls of PF processes and its interaction with moisture and vegetation dynamics, which covers three hillslope positions (upslope–14˚, midslope–9˚, and downslope–4˚) and three vegetation treatments (bare ground, stubble grassland and natural grassland) in a typical semi-arid grassland of Eurasia. Two types of PF were identified. Non-sequential response (NSR) was taken as one indication of PF using the disordered response of soil moisture profiles to rainfall. Fast preferential flow in sequence response (PF-rate) was taken as another indicator when a measured maximum pore water rate higher than saturated hydraulic conductivity. The conditions for the occurrence of the two PFs were inconsistent and different from the studies which showed the higher probability of PFs under dryer conditions and with higher rainfall intensities. Small rainfall events with low rainfall intensity and relatively low soil moisture at most locations showed higher NSR frequency, which further highlight the strong dependence of NSR on hydrophobicity and macropore structure of the topsoil. Whereas a higher rainfall intensity increased PF-rate under wet conditions. Meanwhile, the occurrence of PF-rate was also significantly controlled by vegetation coverage, soil texture and saturated hydraulic conductivity of 5–10 cm soil layer. Furthermore, the frequency of PF was 15.9%–44.5%, and its contribution to the total infiltration was >50%. The water recession rate of NSR and PF was slower and faster than that of matrix flow, respectively. This demonstrates the importance of PF to water replenishment in scarce rain areas and the influence of combinations of spatial–temporal factors on different flow processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of land use policy on people's residential and travel choices may be overestimated because of self-selection effects. In the context of commuting, neighborhood and travel preferences may induce self-selection effects in choices about residential location, work location, and commuting mode. Presumably, such self-selection effects may vary across different job markets. To date, however, no study has been done in developing countries. Therefore, this study aims to fill this research gap by using data collected in Hanoi, Vietnam. A joint model with the above three choices is built by incorporating self-selection effects, where effects of land use attributes are emphasized. Choices of labor-intensive workers (11,344) and knowledge-intensive workers (12,360) are compared. The statistical significance of multiple self-selection effects is confirmed, which suggests that the joint estimation of the above three choices is a useful approach. As for the magnitude of influence of self-selection effects, self-selection seems to be more influential in knowledge-intensive workers' residential location and work location choices. As for land use attributes, different types of households, and labor-intensive and knowledge-intensive workers show different responses to different types of land in location choices (especially the work location choice). Effects of land use diversity and population density on the commuting mode choice are mixed. Additionally, the centralization of knowledge-intensive employment and decentralization of labor-intensive employment are captured. These findings may be useful for city planners in Hanoi in designing land use patterns in the future in order to keep knowledge-intensive workers working and living close together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ConclusionsEndoscopic surgery is safe and effective for children with congenital basal meningoencephaloceles (CBMs); it provides an acceptable operative outcome with a short recovery time and fewer complications and may be considered as a primary approach.ObjectivesTo explore the safety and effectiveness of using transnasal or transoral endoscopic surgery on children with CBMs.MethodsThe clinical data of eight CBMs children who underwent transnasal or transoral endoscopic surgery in a hospital from January 2011 to January 2015 were collected. The presenting symptoms, lesion locations, surgical outcomes, and complications were examined retrospectively.ResultsOf the eight children, five (62.5%) patients were male, and their ages ranged from 1 year and 6 months to 14 years (median of 9 years). Six patients presented with the transethmoidal sub-type, and two presented with the transsphenoidal sub-type. The average hospital stay of all patients was 8.6 ± 2.6 days. There were neither intra-operative nor post-operative complications observed in any of the cases during the follow-ups that occurred between 6–54 months (mean of 15.5 months). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores the direct rebound effect, which indicates the degree of increase in travel demand caused by the increasing vehicle efficiency in the private passenger transport sector. Different from the usual effect, here the direct rebound effect is not assumed to be the same for the entire population. To determine when rebound occurs and who is suffering, two types of triggers, which may lead to different rebound effects among the population, are investigated: vehicle efficiency and travel demand. The quantile regression method is adopted to measure the rebound effect and differentiate it with respect to vehicle efficiency and travel demand. Considering that the rebound effect might have diverse performance in different cities, a comparative analysis between Beijing and Tokyo is conducted. Drawing on the data collected in a household energy consumption survey in Beijing and Tokyo in 2009, the models are estimated and the results reveal significant heterogeneity of the direct rebound effect both in Beijing and Tokyo, but with a much more complicated form in Beijing. For travelers in Beijing, rebound only occurs to those people whose cars are less efficient than 15–18 km/L, and the magnitude of the rebound effect is between 31.8% and 60.2%, varying across travelers with different travel demands. In comparison, in Tokyo, only travelers with low and medium kilometers traveled have the rebound effect, and the effect is inversely related to their travel demand, ranging between 17.1% and 92.3%. The above-identified inter-city and intra-city difference in the rebound effect could contribute to the population and a spatially specific policy scheme in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cast Mg–2.9Gd–1.5Nd–0.3Zn–0.3Zr alloy was processed by equal channel angular pressing at 375 °C for 1, 4 and 8 passes. Microstructure, texture and mechanical properties were investigated. The results indicate that the average grain size decreases from ∼50 μm at as-cast state to 1.23 μm during 8-pass ECAP. Homogeneity of microstructure improved obviously and new spherical β 1 phase gradually precipitated from α-matrix with the increase of pass. Moreover, the random texture was converted to the strong (0002) basal texture. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS) and elongation increased in all passes, and the magnesium alloy obtained the excellent mechanical property at ECAP for 8 pass, for which the UTS, YS and elongation reached to 274.1 MPa, 231.6 MPa and 20.3%, respectively. The increase in strength and ductility was owing to cooperative effects of grain refinement, precipitation strengthening and texture evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household decisions on the energy consumption behavior are with regard to the situations that multiple end-uses (e.g., domestic appliances and vehicles) are simultaneously hold and consumed. To deal with this issue, the multiple discrete–continuous models are the best choices from the behavioral perspective. This study compared two types of utility theory-based multiple discrete–continuous models, which are widely applied in the literature: multiple discrete–continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model and the improved resource allocation model based on the multi-linear function (RAM-MLF). A household energy consumption survey was carried out in Beijing in 2010, and the comparative analysis on the performance of these two models is carried out based on the survey data. Results show that the overall performance of RAM-MLF is slightly superior to the MDCEV model due to the incorporation of the inter-end-use interaction and the relative importance of end uses. Moreover, the utility structure by using the satiation parameters to represent the diminishing marginal utility with the increasing consumption shows better fitness than the structure only using the logarithmic function. These findings can be contributed to understand the household energy consumption behavior, while suggest the potential improvement of the model structure, which is mainly focused on the utility form and the decision making mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a gradient descent method for enhancing the quality of reconstructed images encoded by double-phase holograms (DPHs). Holographic displays are often noisy because of optical hardware problems. However, owing to the conversion from complex-amplitude holograms to phase-only holograms, the reconstructed images still have noise and cannot be ignored. In this paper, the proposed method uses a spectrum loss function instead of image loss function in the gradient descent optimization process. The spectrum loss function ensures that DPHs can be optimized by gradient descent method, and this method requires only several iterations. The simulations and experimental results have validated the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study determined the microbial composition in maxillary sinusitis and determined the predominant fungal and bacterial species. Samples were obtained from 11 patients with fungal sinusitis and 2 healthy patients. The 13 samples were sequenced using an Illumina Hi-Seq 2000, and mapping to the human, bacterial, and the fungal genomes were based on several steps. Bioinformatics and statistical analyses were then performed for bacterial and fungal expressions in the samples. All samples were cultures for fungal growth. The sequencing data revealed that Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus oryzae were the dominant fungal strains in the rhinosinusitis samples, and Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis were the dominant bacterial strains. Indeed, the fungi and bacteria were associated with the development of fungal rhinosinusitis. Furthermore, B. cereus and B. thuringiensis may cooperate with Pseudomonas aeruginosa to inhibit the growth of fungal mycelia. Knowledge of the microbial composition can provide a diagnostic reference for patients with maxillary sinusitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased attention has been paid to travel behaviour in circumstances of extreme weather conditions that are expected with climate change, and the analyses usually address intra-city travel. There is lack of assessments on inter-city travel which has less redundancy and is more exposed to extreme weather threats. In addition, much of the research has been carried out in developed countries. This paper provides new perspectives by investigating how people adapt their inter-city travel behaviour to flooding impacts in Bangladesh. With an orthogonal design of three flooding scenarios, questionnaire data were collected in 14 coastal and inland areas. Results of the statistical analyses identify the significant impacts of flooding on people’s inter-city travel and reveal significant differences in attitudes and responses to flooding and extreme weather in coastal compared to inland locations. The main factors significantly affecting travel behaviour choice are road disruption, isolation by flood water, and flood frequency. These factors are felt differently in coastal and inland locations. The most common responses are cancelling trips or changing destinations. It is recommended that when making flooding adaptation decisions, it is important to protect road infrastructure and guarantee accessible routes in coastal areas, while offering more flood adaptation education to the inland people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities exposed their vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unprecedented policies restricted human activities but left a unique opportunity to quantify anthropogenic effects on urban air pollution. This study aimed to explore the underlying urban development issues behind these restrictions and support a sustainable transition. The data from ground stations and Sentinel-5P satellite were used to assess the temporal and spatial anomalies of NO2. Beijing China was selected for a case study because this mega city maintained a "dynamic zero-COVID" policy with adjusted restrictions, which allowed for better tracking of the effects. The time-series decomposition and prediction regression model were employed to estimate the normal NO2 levels in 2020. The deviation between the observations and predictions was identified and attributed to the policy interventions, and spatial stratified heterogeneity statistics were used to quantify the effects of different policies. Workplace closures (54.8%), restricted public transport usage (52.3%), and school closures (46.4%) were the top three restrictions that had the most significant impacts on NO2 anomalies. These restrictions were directly linked to mismatched employment and housing, educational inequality, and long-term road congestion issues. Promoting the transformation of urban spatial structures can effectively alleviate air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates urban recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on three main types of working, commercial, and night-life activities and associating them with land use and inherent socio-economic patterns as well as points of interests (POIs). Massive multi-source and multi-scale data include mobile phone signaling data (500 m × 500 m), aerial images (0.49 m × 0.49 m), night light satellite data (500 m × 500 m), land use data (street-block), and POIs data. Methods of convolutional neural network, guided gradient-weighted class activation mapping, bivariate local indicator of spatial association, Elbow and K-means are jointly applied. It is found that the recovery in central areas was slower than in suburbs, especially in terms of working and night-life activities, showing a donut-shaped spatial pattern. Residential areas with mixed land uses seem more resilient to the pandemic shock. More than 60% of open spaces are highly associated with recovery in areas with high-level pre-pandemic social-economic activities. POIs of sports and recreation are crucial to the recovery in all areas, while POIs of transportation and science/culture are also important to the recovery in many areas. Policy implications are discussed from perspectives of open spaces, public facilities, neighborhood units, spatial structures, and anchoring roles of POIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A life history survey of Japanese’s four types of biographies is implemented. [•] Residence, household structure, job/education and car ownership are targeted. [•] An exhaustive CHAID analysis is done to capture biographical interdependences. [•] Both intra-domain and inter-domain biographical interdependences are observed. [•] Both short- and long-term state dependence and future expectations are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Direct and indirect rebound effects for private vehicle in Japan are investigated. [•] SP-off-RP method is used to identify the existence and distribution of rebounds. [•] 34% of respondents have the reallocation choices which cause rebound effect. [•] Rebound effects from vehicles are more possible to occur in domestic sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multi-scale solid particles optimization for Eco-SCC was developed by DEM simulation. • DEM models gave insights into interactions among aggregates with different gradation. • The flow behavior and continuous motion traces of fresh Eco-SCC could be presented. • Optimized Eco-SCC showed lower environmental loads than normal SCC mixtures. The development of mix design method for low-binder ecologically-friendly self-compacting concrete (Eco-SCC) has attracted interest in recent years. Most studies investigated this topic by evaluating mixtures with various ingredient proportions experimentally and then establish empirical correlations. This research attempts to take the first step towards a novel numerical discrete element method (DEM) simulation to optimize multi-scale particles size distribution of Eco-SCC at a constant mixing proportion. The two-phase DEM model was generated as an assembly of hard core with soft shell based on the thickness of mortar layer covering gravels and rheological behavior of suspending mortar, to characterize fresh properties of Eco-SCC. The rolling resistance standard contact model was adopted for simulating fresh mortar matrix lacking in excess paste. It was found that the blended cementitious powders closer to Fuller ideal curve and the aggregates gradation with higher fractal dimension were beneficial to the flowability of mixture. However, potential negative impacts on stability or passing ability of Eco-SCC might also be induced by an overmuch incorporation of slag or a higher portion of large-size gravel. The numerical results not only showed good agreements with experimental verifications (deviations lower than 7% for flow spread prediction), but also provided insights into the interactions among particles along with their continuous motion traces. Thereby, DEM modelling can be used as an efficient tool to reveal the influential mechanism of aggregates on fresh Eco-SCC and attain a general improvement in rheological performance via multi-scale particles optimization, with the measured slump flow increasing from 510 mm to 730 mm (by 43.1% at most) in this study. The eventually optimized Eco-SCC mix can be obtained with slump flow at 670 mm, V-funnel time at 4.1 s, J-ring spread at 635 mm, VSI = 0, and the cost intensity of 7.09 CNY·m−3·MPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Forbes expressed fat-free mass (FFM, in kg) as the cube of height (H, in m): FFM = 10.3 × H3. Our objective is to examine the potential influence of gender and population ancestry on the association between FFM and height. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis involving an existing dataset of 279 healthy subjects (155 males and 124 females) with age 5-59 years and body mass index (BMI) 14-28 kg/m2. FFM was measured by a four-component model as the criterion. Results: Nonlinear regression models were fitted: FFM = 10.8 × H2.95 for the males and FFM = 10.1 × H2.90 for the females. The 95% confidence intervals for the exponential coefficients were (2.83, 3.07) for the males and (2.72, 3.08) for the females, both containing hypothesized value 3.0. Population ancestry adjustment was considered in the H-FFM model. The coefficient of the H-FFM model for male Asians is smaller than that for male Caucasians ( P = 0.006), while there is no statistically significant difference among African-Americans, Caucasians and Hispanics: 10.6 for the males (10.1 for Asians, 10.8 for African-Americans, 10.7 for Caucasians and 10.4 for Hispanics) and 9.6 for the females (9.3 for Asians, 9.8 for African-Americans, 9.6 for Caucasians and 9.5 for Hispanics). Age adjustment was unnecessary for the coefficient of the H-FFM model. Conclusion: Height is the most important factor contributing to the magnitude of FFM across most of the lifespan, though both gender and ancestry effects are significant in the H-FFM model. The proposed H-FFM model can be further used to develop a mechanistic model to explain why population ancestry, gender and age influence the associations between BMI and %Fat. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses ANSYS Workbench platform to simulate the casting and rolling composite process, taking the horizontal type casting and rolling machine as the research object, and conducts the numerical simulation study of copper-aluminum composite solid-liquid casting and rolling heat-flow coupling, mainly to study different walking speed, aluminum pouring temperature, casting and rolling zone length, heat transfer coefficient on the temperature field, liquid phase rate influence law, and use it as a theoretical guide for copper-aluminum solid-liquid casting. The experiments of copper-aluminum solid-liquid casting-rolling composite were carried out to optimize the process parameters and to verify the experiments, so as to prepare a well-bonded copper-aluminum composite plate. The composite mechanism in the preparation of copper-aluminum composite plate was analyzed, and it was clarified that the interfacial layer was formed through four stages: contact between copper and aluminum surfaces, contact surface activation, mutual diffusion of copper and aluminum atoms, and reaction diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to clarify differences in Japanese time use behaviour for people with/without responsibility for nursing care of family members by comparing the behaviour of three population groups: in-home caregivers, out-of-home caregivers and non-caregivers. The analysis is also conducted with respect to the behaviour on weekdays and weekends. After examining the differences of time use behaviour based on simple statistical tests, we develop a multilevel multiple discrete-continuous extreme value model, which simultaneously represents activity participation and time allocation. In the model, observed variations, unobserved inter-individual variations and unobserved spatial variations are distinguished. Using large-scale national time use data collected in Japan, the analysis confirms various differences of time use behaviour across the three groups, especially between in-home caregivers and non-caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue provides additional insights into activity-travel behaviour analysis for universal mobility design. Four papers are included, focusing on behavioural issues of elderly who need nursing care, children and parents, low-income persons and car-deficient households. Time use, travel mode usage, car allocation within households and activity scheduling behaviours are analysed in these papers, using large-scale samples. Promising methods about the representation of inter-personal interactions and diverse behavioural variations as well as empirical findings are provided. Methodological challenges and mobility policies in the future are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Indolizidine alkaloids (+)-monomorine I (1) and (−)-indolizidine 195B (2), having cis and trans relationships of the C-3 and C-9 substituents, respectively, were prepared from the sulfinimine-derived chiral building blocks N-sulfinyl δ-amino β-ketophosphonate and 3-oxo pyrrolidine 2-phosphonate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents an integrated model system for mobility maximization based on a quantified specification of environmental capacity, and evaluates policy interaction and effectiveness by simulating a number of policy scenarios. The system is designed to specify the maximum level of car ownership and number of trips by private and public modes subject to an environmental capacity constraint defined as the frontier emission under maximum system efficiency. Four types of hypothetical policies (population change, urban sprawl, land-use pattern and network improvement) are designed and the effects of 13 policy scenarios are simulated using data of Dalian City, China. Results reveal that the integrated model system reacts sensitively to policy interventions. The urban sprawl reflected in a changing residential distribution from central to suburban areas is most instrumental from the perspective of pollution alleviation. If the goal is to simultaneously reduce emissions while accommodating mobility, two combinational policy scenarios outperform all others. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper attempts to evaluate the effects of in-vehicle warning information on drivers’ decelerating and accelerating behavior when approaching an intersection near an arch-shaped bridge, where traffic accidents have often occurred due to poor visibility. The warning information was provided with images and/or voice, triggered by the actual presence of a stopped vehicle at the downhill road section of the intersection. An on-site driving experiment was conducted on a national highway in Hiroshima City, Japan, by involving 14 university students, and it was demonstrated that dynamic information seems more effective for drivers to avoid dangerous driving situations than static information. It was also found that having only the voice-based warning information may be as effective as having both the voice and image warning information. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Optimization of key steps in the synthesis of the architecturally unique tetracyclic antitumor alkaloid (-)-agelastatin A (1) improved the overall yield of the 11-step process (eight operations) from 9% to 23%. Changing the solvent and using a more efficient N-benzyl deprotecting-group procedure enhanced the yields of the C-ring and D-ring intermediates, (-)-4 and (-)-7, respectively. Bromination of (-)-7 with 1,3-dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin, rather than N-bromosuccinimide (NBS), increased the yield of (-)-1 from 69% to more than 94% yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To represent heterogeneous group decision-making mechanisms in choice behavior, this paper attempts to develop a new household discrete choice model by integrating different types of household choice models based on latent class modeling approach under the principle of random utility maximization, where household utility function at each model is defined to theoretically reflect its members’ preferences and intra-household interaction. A latent class corresponds to a particular group decision-making mechanism. The proposed model can deal with not only the choice situations where multiple household members involved in joint decision are known a priori, but also the situations where the involved members are unknown. As a case study, three types of household utility functions are dealt with: multi-linear, maximum and minimum types, in the context of couples’ car ownership behaviors. Due to the limited sample size, paired combinations of the three utilities are examined and compared. Using the data collected in two Japanese cities in 2004, the effectiveness of the proposed household decision model is empirically confirmed. It is found that changes of utility combinations result in very complicated variations in both signs and values of the model parameters and choice probabilities by multi-linear utility show small variations across different combinations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Even though the importance of representing group decision-making mechanisms of household behavior has been recognized since the 1980s in the context of the activity-based approach, studies about group behavior in transportation are relatively new and consequently limited, compared with the research about individual decisions. In line with the special issue “Modeling Intra-Household Interactions and Group Decision-Making” published in the Journal of Transportation in 2005, and motivated by the recent progress of group behavior research in transportation, this special issue presents examples of state-of-the-art modeling approaches to household activity travel decisions. We hope it will stimulate more intensive discussion about future research directions from both methodological and practical perspectives. Five papers are selected to cover diverse methodologies, including group decision theory, utility theory, latent class modeling, rule-based modeling, and micro-simulation approaches. The topics cover household task and time allocation, car ownership, vehicle transaction, mode choice, activity generation, and activity scheduling behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A dynamic weight particle swarm optimization-based sine map method is presented. • Weight particle swarm optimization-back propagation neural network is created. • The back propagation neural network parameters are optimized. • The prediction accuracy of industrial robot systems is improved. • This method has a superior performance in reliability prediction. Aiming at the problem of low accuracy of reliability prediction, a back propagation neural network (BPNN) model is developed. In the process of reliability prediction, a dynamic weight particle swarm optimization-based sine map (SDWPSO) method including a novel inertial weight update strategy is developed. This new strategy introduced a linear decreasing parameter in the sine-map, which enables particles to perform a fine search at a very low speed in the later stage of the search and greatly improves the convergence speed of the algorithm. Furthermore, a hybrid model named SDWPSO-BPNN is created to improve the reliability prediction accuracy in engineering systems. The proposed SDWPSO approach is compared with four algorithms using fourteen benchmark functions to verify the effectiveness. The experimental results indicate that SDWPSO has a better search ability than the other algorithms. Then, the hybrid SDWPSO-BPNN is applied to predict the reliability of turbocharger and industrial robot systems, respectively. The obtained results manifest that the SDWPSO-BPNN is more powerful than that of SVM and ANN methods for reliability prediction in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Travel behavior models assuming individual decision-making processes have been a dominant theme in transportation studies. While the assumption that an individual can decide on all relevant aspects of some types of travel behavior may be reasonable, in many other aspects household members interact before making decisions about different activities that they perform and the time that is involved. On the other hand, different types of households may show different group decision-making mechanisms. In other words, there might exist diverse intra-household interactions during joint decision-making processes. To reflect this point, this paper aims to develop a new household time allocation model based on the iso-elastic class of social welfare function, which can include different types of household utility functions as special cases (e.g., Nash, utilitarianism, autocratic and max–min types). Throughout this empirical analysis, which uses an activity diary data collected in a depopulated region of Japan, the effectiveness of the proposed model is confirmed. Furthermore, the model’s applicability in evaluating transportation policies for elderly people is examined based on a simulation analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Most existing activity-based models of transport demand are based on individual activity-travel choice. Although it has been realized that activities in multiple person households need to be coordinated and sometimes synchronized in time and space, there is still a lack of household-level models of activity-travel demand. Recently, several potentially productive areas of time use research have been identified, including the allocation of tasks, resources and possessions to household members, and joint activity engagement by household members. This paper reports on the development of a household task allocation and time use model based on a multi-linear group utility function. Using activity-travel diary data, collected in the South Rotterdam Region, the Netherlands, a model of household task allocation and time use, incorporating the influence of travel time, was estimated. The model also allows quantifying the relative influence of the household members. The results indicate that, on weekdays, for nearly half of the households the husband mostly influences task allocation and time use, for one-fifth of the households it is the wife and the remaining households show an equal relative influence for the husband and wife. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Individual choice behavior usually involves a complex decision-making process, and is often context-dependent reflecting the influence of choice environment and the fact that the individual has limited information processing ability and varying levels of interest in alternatives. However, the existing models in transportation have not represented these behavioral mechanisms satisfactorily, although to avoid the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) property of the widely used multinomial logit (MNL) model, a variety of non-IIA models have been suggested in the literature. This paper will propose another random utility choice model by introducing the concepts of relative utility and relative interest. A revised MNL model and a revised Nested-MNL model will be developed. Both of these models do not have the IIA property. The performance of these new models will be assessed using conjoint-based activity diary data about the choice of destination and stop pattern. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A series of novel hydrophobic, bulky χ2-constrained phenylalanine and naphthylalanine derivatives were designed and synthesized. Asymmetric hydrogenations of α-enamides using Burk''s DuPHOS-based Rh(I) catalysts generated high enantiomerically pure α-amino acid derivatives, which subsequently underwent Suzuki cross couplings with boronic acid derivatives to afford these aromatic substituted amino acids in high yields and with high enantioselectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Analyzed the taxonomic and functional dynamics of microbial community to algal blooms. • Constructed 161 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes by binning analysis. • Cyanobacterial strains showed diverse energy pathways, transporters and prokaryotic defense systems. • Nitrogen and phosphorus influence the microbial structure by affecting co-pathways. Freshwater lakes are threatened by harmful cyanobacterial blooms, whose basic unit is Cyanobacterial Aggregate (CA). CA-attached bacteria play a significant role through different blooming stages with substantial variation of their taxonomic structure. However, little is known about their functional variations and functional links with cyanobacteria due to the lack of reference genomes. In this longitudinal study, we collected 16 CA samples from Lake Taihu, one of China's largest freshwater lakes, from April 2015 to February 2016, and sequenced their V4 region of 16S rRNA genes, full metagenomes (MG), and metatranscriptomes (MT). The analysis of these data revealed the dynamics of microbial taxonomic and functional structure in CAs, influenced by both external environmental factors and internal metabolism. 55 OTUs, 456 genes, and 37 transcripts showed significantly differential abundance across the early, middle, and late blooming stages (ANOVA test, P < 0.05). Total nitrogen and total phosphorus were proved to be the most important environmental drivers of microbial taxonomic and functional variations in CAs (Mantel's r > 0.25, P < 0.05). We constructed 161 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), out of which 22 were cyanobacterial strains with diverse energy pathways, transporters and prokaryotic defense systems. Based on these MAGs, we constructed a cyanobacteria-bacteria co-nitrogen-pathway and a cyanobacteria-bacteria co-phosphorus-pathway, by which we demonstrated how nitrogen and phosphorus influence the dynamics of the microbial structure to a certain extent by affecting these co-pathways. Overall, these results characterized the taxonomic, functional, and transcriptional variations of microbes in CAs through different blooming stages. Genome assembly and metabolic analysis of cyanobacteria and their attached bacteria suggested that the material exchange and signal transduction do, indeed, exist among them. Our understanding of the underlying molecular pathways for cyanobacterial blooms could lead to the control of blooms by interventional strategies to disrupt critical microbes' expression. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steam curing is commonly adopted in the production of precast concretes (PC) for modern industrialized buildings. To propel recycling of harmful waste and reduce carbon emission for prefabricated construction, this study aims to provide insights into the role of steam curing in performance of PC incorporating self-ignited coal gangue (CG) particles. Mechanical strength and transport properties of concretes with variable CG dosages and different curing conditions were evaluated. Cement paste matrices were employed to analyze microstructure and mineral phases. Results showed that the CG incorporation degraded early-age strength and increased porosity and water absorption under standard curing condition, but improved the resistance to chloride ion or gas penetration. Steam curing can significantly activate the pozzolanic reaction of CG particle and alleviate the negative impact arising from CG addition. Both steam curing temperature and duration had a direct bearing on early-age and long-term performance of CG-PC. An excessive steam curing tended to induce an evident deterioration on CG-PC strength and anti-permeability, especially at later ages. Overall, CG-PC cured at 60 °C for 18 h showed substantially low transport behaviors and refined pore structure, merely with a negligible loss of ultimate strength. Therefore, it is concluded that the combination of a suitable steam curing regime and a proper CG content could realize the production of green concretes with excellent durability, low cost and substantial environmental benefit. • Microstructure and hydrated phase evolution at different conditions were analyzed. • Steam curing can greatly alleviate performance degradation of concrete induced by CG. • Incorporation of CG in steam cured concrete reduces carbon footprint for prefabricated concrete industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disinfection efficacy of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) has been recognized in food industry. However, the application of single SAEW limited its disinfection potential. The efficacy of the two-step disinfection with SAEW for the reduction of L. monocytogenes contamination on different food raw materials was evaluated compared to the one-step disinfection with SAEW in this study. Results demonstrated that SAEW could reduce both the natural aerobic bacterial count and inoculated L. monocytogenes population on endive and chicken immediately after processing and SAEW with approximately 60 mg/L of available chlorine concentration (ACC) had equal or higher antibacterial efficacy compared to NaClO solutions with approximately 150 mg/L of ACC. Moreover, SAEW treatments could control the growth of microbial populations of L. monocytogenes during storage and the efficacy on the microbial reduction was associated to the initial populations. In addition, the SAEW-treated food raw materials were stored and disinfected again after storage and the results showed that the two-step disinfection method could decrease the survival populations of L. monocytogenes by 24.8%–99.6% compared to the one-step disinfection of SAEW. Therefore, considering storage habits, the two-step disinfection of SAEW may be a better choice in the disinfection of non-consumed-directly food raw materials. • A two-step disinfection of SAEW on L. monocytogenes on endive and chick was evaluated. • SAEW could reduce both the microbial contamination on endive and chicken before storage. • SAEW could control the growth of L. monocytogenes on endive and chicken during storage. • The two-step disinfection of SAEW is a better choice in the non-consumed-directly food materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates the one-pot reaction, an efficient and environmentally friendly organic synthesis method, utilized to prepare the silanized silica-encapsulated calcium carbonate@natural rubber composites (SSC@NR), following first mixing the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) solution, silica (SiO2) sol solution and a small amount of Si-69 solution, to modify the surface of CaCO3 particles, and then wet mixing with natural rubber latex. The obtained silanized silica-encapsulated calcium carbonate (SSC) particles were tested by TGA, FTIR and XRD, to substantiate the effect of surface modification. Moreover, the effects of the amount of SSC on the Mooney viscosity, curing characteristics, physical and mechanical properties and dynamic mechanical properties of the SSC@NR were investigated. The results show that the surface of modified CaCO3 is effectively coated with SiO2 particles by means of physical and chemical combination, to achieve the effect of surface coating. When the optimum amount of SSC filler is 40 phr, the SSC can form better physical adsorption and chemical combination with the NR molecular chains and can be evenly dispersed in the rubber matrix, resulting in the conspicuous improvement of physical and mechanical properties, such as the tensile strength, tear strength, elongation at break and abrasion resistance. Meanwhile, the compound with SSC has preferable processability and dynamic mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The content of chlorophyll, an important substance for photosynthesis in plants, is an important index used to characterize the photosynthetic rate and nutrient grade of plants. The real-time rapid acquisition of crop chlorophyll content is of great significance for guiding fine management and differentiated fertilization in the field. This study used the method of continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to process the collected visible and near-infrared spectra of a corn canopy. This task was conducted to extract the valuable information in the spectral data and improve the sensitivity of chlorophyll content assessment. First, a Savitzky–Golay filter and standard normal variable processing were applied to the spectral data to eliminate the influence of random noise and limit drift on spectral reflectance. Second, CWT was performed on the spectral reflection curve with 10 frequency scales to obtain the wavelet energy coefficient of the spectral data. The characteristic bands related to chlorophyll content in the spectral data and the wavelet energy coefficients were screened using the maximum correlation coefficient and the local correlation coefficient extrema, respectively. A partial least-square regression model was established. Results showed that the characteristic bands selected via local correlation coefficient extrema in a wavelet energy coefficient created a detection model with optimal accuracy. The determination coefficient (Rc2) of the calibration set was 0.7856, and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the calibration set (RMSEC) was 3.0408. The determination coefficient (Rv2) of the validation set is was 0.7364, and the RMSE of the validation set (RMSEV) was 3.3032. Continuous wavelet transform is a process of data dimension enhancement which can effectively extract the sensitive variables from spectral datasets and improve the detection accuracy of models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This virtual special issue (VSI) focuses on the importance of researching young people's life choices and travel behaviors based on the life-oriented approach. Young people's behaviors may be uniquely different from other age groups. A better understanding of such behaviors is essential for making transport policy decisions from long-term, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectional perspectives. This VSI presents ten papers, covering topics such as possession of a driver's license, car ownership and usage, travel patterns, household expenditure, residential behavior, shared mobility, and self-driving public buses. The features and major findings of each paper are summarized and then important research issues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasonic vibration-assisted laser welding is a very promising and innovative method, which uses the ultrasonic cavitation effect to suppress weld pool defects and improve weld quality. During ultrasonic-assisted laser welding, the high temperature of the weld will transfer to the ultrasonic system due to the long-time contact between the tool head and the weld, and the high temperature will cause the eigenfrequency of the ultrasonic oscillator to drift and unstable energy output. So, it is a very important and urgent problem to be solved. A frequency model of the ultrasonic oscillator is first established, and an optimization design method coupled finite element genetic algorithm and heat for the ultrasonic oscillator is proposed. This method can quickly predict the frequency mode and solve such problems as ultrasonic oscillator eigenfrequency drift and the existence of multiple resonance peaks in the design. Numerical simulation indicates that both sizes of the composite Ti-6Al-4 V conical horn and the tool head are negatively correlated with the eigenfrequency. The optimized total lengths of both the horn and the tool head are 77 mm and 65 mm, respectively. The eigenfrequency of the optimized ultrasonic oscillator satisfies the frequency tracking range (35 ± 0.5 kHz) in a wide temperature range. The experiment shows that no other non-working modes appear near the working frequency, which improves the output properties of ultrasonic energy, and the eigenfrequency of the optimized ultrasonic oscillator is 34, 790.3 Hz, which is agreement with the optimization, and the mechanical quality factor is up to 2899.2. The experimental and simulation results show that the theoretical and numerical optimization methods proposed in this paper can be applied not only in the structural design of the ultrasonic system for assisted laser welding, but also in the design and optimization of ultrasonic structures under other complex temperature conditions (glass molding, fouling removal, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a method for reducing the crosstalk effect in phase-only spatial light modulators (SLMs) for double-phase holograms (DPHs). New encoding equations for DPHs are deduced according to the crosstalk model of the SLM. The crosstalk effect of the SLM is obtained via measurement of the diffraction efficiency of binary phase gratings as opposed to measurement of the point spread function. The results of experiments indicate that this method can significantly improve the image quality of DPHs in the optical reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the serum levels of uric acid (UA) in obese acanthosis nigricans (AN) patients with different thyroid hormones (THs) levels within the normal range. Methods: We investigated 834 obese patients (385 females and 449 males) with euthyroid function in the department of endocrinology of shanghai 10th people's hospital from 2011 to 2019 with the median age of 29 years (interquartile range 22-36 years) for this study. 343 patients were diagnosed of AN. The cut-offs for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4) were 2mIU/L, 16mIU/L and 5mIU/L, respectively. Results: In male obese patients, AN patients with high TSH and FT4 had higher levels of UA compared to those with high TSH and low FT4 (523.20±120.98 vs. 477.56±86.92umol/L, P=0.036) and showed a correlation with fasting C-peptide (FCP) (r=0.330, P=0.029). The TSH, FT3, and FT4 alone did not showed any predictive value in male patients. In female patients, high FT3 was associated with higher levels of UA (388.47±100.95 vs. 366.33±82.40umol/L, P=0.019). However, the predictive value of FT3 in female was obtained only in low TSH subgroup (low TSH+ high FT3 vs. low TSH+ low FT3, P=0.033) not in high TSH patients. The levels of fasting insulin, 2h-insulin, FCP, 2h C-peptide, total cholesterol, triglyceride and testosterone were in correlation with higher UA levels in female obese patients with low TSH and high FT3(all P<0.05). Conclusion: The metabolic characteristics of UA are found to differ in obese patients with euthyroid function, in which AN plays an important role for male obese patients with high TSH and high FT4. But in the case of female, a combination of THs instead of AN showed it's unique in UA metabolism. Disclosure: J. Zhang: None. G. Li: None. X. Cheng: None. X. Wang: None. M. Jayachandran: None. Y. Huang: None. S. Qu: None. Funding: National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1314100); National Natural Science Foundation of China (81970677); Shanghai Pujiang Program (2019PJD040); Effect of ApoC3 High Expression on Islet Cells and Related Molecular Mechanism (03.05.18.002) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]