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In order to optimize the hot working window of the novel TiZrAlHf Ti-based medium entropy alloy, the thermal deformation characteristics and microstructural evolution during thermal deformation were investigated by using hot compression simulation experiments and microstructural characterization methods. The results show that the microstructure of TiZrAlHf alloy ingot primarily consists of lamellar α phase and Widmanstatten structure at grain boundaries. The β transformation temperature (Tβ) of TiZr-AlHf alloys is 895 ℃. Within the α/α+β phase region (700-850 ℃) during deformation, an instability zone is identified within the temperature range of 700-750 ℃. The thermal deformation activation energy in the α/α+β phase region is 827.514 kJ/mol, the deformation microstructure predominantly comprised globular α phase, with the softening mechanism involving the globularization of lamellar α phase. When the alloy is deformed in the β phase region (900-1100 ℃) test process range, there is no instability zone in hot processing map, all samples remain intact without any signs of cracking. Consequently, free forging can be employed for roughing and finish forging operations. The hot deformation activation energy is 113.909 kJ/mol, and the deformation microstructure is mainly elongated β grains and acicular martensite α'. The softening mechanism in the region is dynamic recovery. The underlying nature of both deformation softening mechanisms lies in the proliferation of dislocations, slip and the evolution of cellular structures.

The black soldier fly larvae (BSF) are used as a substitute for soybean meal due to their high crude protein content. This experiment aims to assess the impact of heat treatment on the rumen degradability of BSF and protein digestion in the small intestine using the in situ nylon bag method and the three-step in vitro method. This study comprises a total of 8 groups (n = 6). The negative control group includes only full-fat soybeans (FFS) and BSF (FF group and BS group). The positive control groups consist of a 95% BSF or 95% FFS mixed with 5% cassava (FFC and BSC groups). The treatment groups involve adding 75% water to the positive control mixture, followed by vigorous kneading to achieve uniform mixing. The resulting mixture was then pressed to a thickness of approximately 5 cm, placed in an oven, and dried for 120 min at temperatures of 120 °C and 140 °C (12FFC, 14FFC, 12BSC, and 14BSC groups). Nylon bags will be incubated in the rumen for 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, and 48 h, and the small intestine protein digestion rate will be analyzed at 16 h. Compared to the BS group, heat-treated BSF showed increased (P < 0.05) rumen DM degradability and effective degradability. The 14BSC group increased (P < 0.05) rumen CP degradability and degradation kinetic parameters, while the 12BSC group decreased (P < 0.05) these parameters. The CP degradability of BSF was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of full-fat soybeans. The Idg and IDCP of heat-treated full-fat soybeans were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of other treatment groups. At the same time, heat treatment was beneficial for increasing (P < 0.05) the Idg and IDCP of BSF, and the 14BSC treatment effect was significantly better (P < 0.05) than that of the 12BSC group. Therefore, based on the results of this experiment, it is recommended to supplement BSF with cassava and subject them to heat treatment at 140 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the lack of reliable measurement methods for identifying wear mechanisms and predicting the state of mechanical seal tribo-parts, this study proposes a method for characterizing tribological behavior based on measuring face vibration acceleration. It aims to uncover the source mechanism of mechanical seal face vibration acceleration influenced by tribology and dynamic behavior. This research delves into the dynamic behavior characteristics and vibration acceleration of the mechanical seal stationary ring. We explored the variation pattern of face vibration acceleration root mean square (RMS) with rotation speed, sealing medium pressure, and face surface roughness. The results indicate that under constant medium pressure, an increase in rotation speed leads to a decrease in acceleration RMS and an increase in face temperature. Similarly, under constant rotation speed, an increase in medium pressure results in nonlinear changes in acceleration RMS, forming an "M" shape, along with an increase in face temperature. Furthermore, under conditions of constant medium pressure and rotation speed, an increase in the surface roughness of the rotating ring face corresponds to an increase in acceleration RMS and face temperature. Upon starting the mechanical seal, both acceleration RMS and temperature initially increase before decreasing, a trend consistent with the Stribeck curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serverless computing is a promising paradigm that greatly simplifies cloud programming. With serverless computing, developers simply provide event-driven functions to a serverless platform, and these functions can be orchestrated as serverless workflows to accomplish complex tasks. Due to the lightweight limitation of functions, serverless workflows not only suffer from existing vulnerability-based threats but also face new security threats from the function compiling phase. In this paper, we present SMWE, a secure and makespan-oriented workflow execution framework in serverless computing. SMWE enables all life cycle protection for functions by adopting compiler shifting and running environment replacement in the serverless workflow. Furthermore, SMWE balances the tradeoff between security and makespan by carefully scheduling functions to running environments and selectively applying the secure techniques to functions. Extensive evaluations show that SMWE significantly increases the security of serverless workflows with small makespan cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the pathogenicity of duck adenovirus Type 3 (DAdV-3) in chickens. In this study, this virus was identified through the amplification of specific viral fragments and whole-genome sequencing, and its pathogenicity was identified by means of its inoculation into chickens. The isolated DAdV-3 led to higher pathogenicity and fatality rates in chickens. The main clinical symptoms in the sacrificed chicks were hepatitis–hydropericardium syndrome (HHS), swollen and petechial hemorrhages of the bursa, and the gizzard's endothelium falling off easily. Histopathological examination showed swelling, necrosis, lymphocyte infiltration, and basophilic inclusion bodies in multiple organs. Higher antibody levels were found in the surviving chickens. The major variation domains (ORF19B, ORF66, and ORF67) did not change after infection with the virus in Muscovy ducks and chickens. This is the first study to report the pathogenicity of DAdV-3 in chickens, and it provides an experimental basis for newly infected hosts of DAdV-3. Duck adenovirus Type 3 (DAdV-3) severely affects the health of ducks; however, its pathogenicity in chickens remains unknown. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the pathogenicity and major pathological changes caused by DAdV-3 in chickens. Viral DNA was extracted from the liver of the Muscovy duck, and the fiber-2 and hexon fragments of DAdV-3 were amplified through polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The evolutionary tree revealed that the isolated virus belonged to DAdV-3, and it was named HE-AN-2022. The mortality rate of chicks that received inoculation with DAdV-3 subcutaneously via the neck was 100%, while the mortality rate for eye–nose drop inoculation was correlated with the numbers of infection, with 26.7% of chicks dying as a result of exposure to multiple infections. The main symptoms exhibited prior to death were hepatitis–hydropericardium syndrome (HHS), ulceration of the glandular stomach, and a swollen bursa with petechial hemorrhages. A histopathological examination revealed swelling, necrosis, lymphocyte infiltration, and basophilic inclusion bodies in multiple organs. Meanwhile, the results of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) demonstrated that DAdV-3 could affect most of the organs in chickens, with the gizzard, glandular stomach, bursa, spleen, and liver being the most susceptible to infection. The surviving chicks had extremely high antibody levels. After the chickens were infected with DAdV-3 derived from Muscovy ducks, no amino acid mutation was observed in the major mutation regions of the virus, which were ORF19B, ORF66, and ORF67. On the basis of our findings, we concluded that DAdV-3 infection is possible in chickens, and that it causes classic HHS with ulceration of the glandular stomach and a swollen bursa with petechial hemorrhages, leading to high mortality in chickens. The major variation domains did not change in Muscovy ducks or in chickens after infection. This is the first study to report DAdV-3 in chickens, providing a new basis for preventing and controlling this virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electron pair approximation offers an efficient variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) approach for chemistry simulations on quantum computers. With the number of entangling gates scaling quadratically with system size and a constant measurement overhead, the orbital optimized unitary pair coupled cluster double (oo-upCCD) ansatz strikes a balance between accuracy and efficiency. However, the electron pair approximation prevents the method from achieving quantitative accuracy. To improve it, we explore the theory of second order perturbation (PT2) correction to oo-upCCD. PT2 accounts for the missing broken-pair contributions in oo-upCCD, while retaining its efficiencies. For molecular bond stretching and chemical reactions, the method significantly improves the predicted energy accuracy, reducing oo-upCCD's error by up to 90%. On IonQ's quantum computers, we find that the PT2 energy correction is highly noise-resilient. The predicted VQE-PT2 reaction energies are in excellent agreement with noise-free simulators after applying simple error mitigations solely on the VQE energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oviductal inflammation (OI) significantly reduces the egg production and economic returns in poultry farming. While Lactobacillus crispatus (LAC) is effective against inflammation, its role in treating or preventing oviductal inflammation is understudied. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic mechanisms of LAC on oviductal inflammation, with a focus on reproductive tract health, microbiome, gene expression, and cytokine levels. This study involved 24 Jingfen No. 6 laying hens aged 60 weeks, divided into four groups: the CON, OI, OI + LAC, and OI + heat-killed Lactobacillus crispatus (HLAC) groups. And it included a 10-day adaptation, a 7-day period for the development of OI using inflammation-inducing drugs (the control received saline), followed by an 8-day treatment in which the CON and OI groups received 1 mL of MRS broth daily, and the OI + LAC and OI + HLAC groups were treated with live and heat-killed Lactobacillus crispatus (109 CFUs/mL), respectively, with six hens in each group. This study showed that Lactobacillus crispatus supplementation significantly reduced the oviductal inflammation and atrophy in the hens, with the affected hens showing markedly lower egg production rates (p < 0.001) compared to the control and treated groups (OI + HLAC and OI + LAC). The daily intake of fresh (OI + LAC, p = 0.076) or heat-killed (OI + HLAC, p < 0.01) Lactobacillus crispatus notably enhanced the feed conversion efficiency. The OI group suffered significant ovarian damage and vascular rupture, more so than the CON group, while Lactobacillus crispatus supplementation mitigated this damage. The IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 levels were significantly elevated in the OI group compared to those in the OI + LAC group (p < 0.05), with a significant reduction in the TNF-α levels in the latter (p < 0.001). The supplementation improved the microbial composition in the cecum, isthmus, and shell gland, enriching the cecum with beneficial bacteria, such as Ruminococcus_torques_group and Megamonas. This approach fostered ovarian health and follicle differentiation and preserved the epithelial cell barrier function in the shell gland, reducing inflammatory damage in the genital tract. This dual efficacy underscores the role of the probiotic in diminishing oviductal inflammation, regardless of its state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research on overvoltage in trains can be divided into field tests and circuit simulations. The circuit simulation study focuses on the overvoltage amplitude distribution, the oscillation frequency of the main operating overvoltage is also an important characteristic, and the amplitude and frequency characteristics of the overvoltage need to be considered in the study of its suppression method. However, there is currently limited research on the frequency distribution of overvoltage. To provide guidance for the study of overvoltage suppression in the operation of the main circuit breaker, a new simulation model of train operating main break overvoltage is proposed based on the three-dimensional structure of the car body, high-voltage cables and rails. The model is used to simulate the transient overvoltage characteristics of the high-voltage cable core and each car body during the operation of the main circuit breaker, and the distribution of the overvoltage in each car body is obtained. The simulation results show that the maximum overvoltage amplitude during the operation of car 1 is 6.10 kV, while it is the smallest for car 4. The overvoltage amplitudes of cars 1 to 4 are all above 1 kV, and it was found that there are two main oscillation frequencies of the main overvoltage during the operation of the car body, which are 0.70 MHz and 1.30 MHz. Furthermore, the accuracy of the distribution characteristics and spectral characteristics of the train operating main break overvoltage is verified by static tests on the existing trains, and the test data show that the simulation results are extremely accurate in terms of overvoltage amplitude distribution, and the error between simulation and test does not exceed 5% in terms of amplitude, except for car 4. In terms of spectral characteristics, both simulation and experiment have two main oscillation frequencies, which can be considered consistent between simulation and experiment. Therefore, it can be concluded that the simulation model based on the three-dimensional structure has the ability to simulate the characteristics of operating overvoltage with high accuracy and provides guidance for overvoltage suppression research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional super-resolution reconstruction methods for flow fields use end-to-end mapping to determine the relationship between high- and low-resolution flow field data. The reconstruction quality of these methods depends on the accuracy of the low-resolution data. Ensuring the accuracy of low-resolution data has, thus, become a precondition for super-resolution tasks, and it imposes strict limitations on the applicability of super-resolution reconstruction methods in practical engineering applications. This paper proposes a flow field super-resolution reconstruction method coupled with feature recognition (FRNet) to reduce the dependence on the accuracy of low-resolution data. FRNet uses a feature extractor with identification capabilities to determine the effectiveness of low-resolution flow field characteristics. It recognizes the effective characteristics using a feature distance distribution. Meanwhile, a representation of the obstacle shape and freestream information is introduced to compensate for invalid features and to suppress the influence of low-precision flow field characteristics on the reconstruction results. Different downsampling factors, different density grids, and noise are used to simulate a variety of engineering application scenarios to verify the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that FRNet has significant advantages over traditional super-resolution reconstruction methods. Our method does not rely on the accuracy of low-resolution data and can effectively mitigate the impact of low-resolution flow field data that do not conform to physical phenomena. This characteristic allows FRNet to exhibit outstanding performance when handling flow field data affected by noise from wind tunnel wall and rack interferences. Consequently, FRNet should prove highly beneficial for the optimization of complex flow fields using super-resolution reconstruction methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) severely affects the work and the quality of life of people. We previously demonstrated that silencing activation transcription factor 3 (ATF3) blocked the IVDD pathological process by regulating nucleus pulposus cell (NPC) ferroptosis, apoptosis, inflammation, and extracellular matrix (ECM) metabolism. Nevertheless, whether miR‐874‐3p mediated the IVDD pathological process by targeting ATF3 remains unclear. We performed single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) and bioinformatics analysis to identify ATF3 as a key ferroptosis gene in IVDD. Then, Western blotting, flow cytometry, ELISA, and animal experiments were performed to validate the roles and regulatory mechanisms of miR‐874‐3p/ATF3 signalling axis in IVDD. ATF3 was highly expressed in IVDD patients and multiple cell types of IVDD rat, as revealed by scRNA‐seq and bioinformatics analysis. GO analysis unveiled the involvement of ATF3 in regulating cell apoptosis and ECM metabolism. Furthermore, we verified that miR‐874‐3p might protect against IVDD by inhibiting NPC ferroptosis, apoptosis, ECM degradation, and inflammatory response by targeting ATF3. In vivo experiments displayed the protective effect of miR‐874‐3p/ATF3 axis on IVDD. These findings propose the potential of miR‐874‐3p and ATF3 as biomarkers of IVDD and suggest that targeting the miR‐874‐3p/ATF3 axis may be a therapeutic target for IVDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cells that first respond to insults in circulation. Although associative evidence suggests that differences in neutrophils may be linked to the sex-specific vulnerability of inflammatory diseases, mechanistic links remain elusive. Here, we identified extensive sex-specific heterogeneity in neutrophil composition under normal and auto-inflammatory conditions at single-cell resolution. Using a combination of single-cell RNA sequencing analysis, neutrophil-specific genetic knockouts and transfer experiments, we discovered dysregulation of two unconventional (interferon-α responsive and T cell regulatory) neutrophil subsets leading to male-biased incidence, severity and poor prognosis of auto-inflammatory Behçet's uveitis. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) and exosome study revealed that male-specific negative effects of both genetic factors and circulating exosomes on unconventional neutrophil subsets contributed to male-specific vulnerability to disease. Collectively, our findings identify sex-specifically distinct neutrophil subsets and highlight unconventional neutrophil subsets as sex-specific therapeutic targets to limit inflammatory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]