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With the emergence of Level 4 automated vehicles, it is necessary to investigate the impact of these vehicles on mode choice. Previous studies have looked at the potential benefits and drawbacks of automated vehicles, but there has been little research done on how these vehicles will impact individuals' travel behaviors. This paper proposes a needs-based approach to study the impact of Level 4 automated vehicles on mode choice. The approach takes into consideration the travel needs of different individuals and their willingness to adopt new technologies. Through a stated preference survey in China, the data on travel preferences and the perceived safety levels of automated vehicles can be collected. Then, a model is built to simulate the adoption of Level 4 automated vehicles and estimate the mode split for different scenarios. The results indicated that private AV modes are preferred, and business and nonwork trips may be the targeted market for all AV modes. Overall, value of automation increases with income for private modes, with large variance. Furthermore, Pro-AV attitude has a positive effect on value of automation, especially for self-owned AV and AV subscription. Accordingly, the needs-based approach demonstrates a promising method to study the impact of new technologies on travel behaviors and provides insights for policy makers to promote more sustainable transportation systems., Author(s): Chen Zhijian [1,2]; Ge Ying-En [3]; Shikun Liu [4]; Jiandong Qiu (corresponding author) [2,5]; Jingke Zhang [6,7]; Jing Kang [2] 1. Introduction With the emergence of automated vehicles [1-5], [...]

The growth status of winter wheat seedlings during the greening period is called the seedling situation. Timely and accurate determinations of the seedling situation type are important for subsequent field management measures and yield estimation. To solve the problems of low-efficiency artificial classification, subjective doping, inaccurate classification, and overfitting in transfer learning in classifying the seedling condition of winter wheat seedlings during the greening period, we propose an improved ConvNeXt winter wheat seedling status classification and identification network based on the pre-training–fine-tuning model addressing over-fitting in transfer learning. Based on ConvNeXt, a SETFL-ConvNeXt network (Squeeze and Excitation attention-tanh ConvNeXt using focal loss), a winter wheat seedling identification and grading network was designed by adding an improved SET attention module (Squeeze and Excitation attention-tanh) and replacing the Focal Loss function. The accuracy of the SETFL-ConvNeXt reached 96.68%. Compared with the classic ConvNeXt model, the accuracy of the Strong class, First class, and Third class increased by 1.188%, 2.199%, and 0.132%, respectively. With the model, we also compared the effects of different optimization strategies, five pre-training-fine-tuning models, and the degree of change in the pre-trained model. The accuracy of the fine-tuning models trained in the remaining layers increased by 0.19–6.19% using the last three frozen blocks, and the accuracy of the pre-trained model increased by 3.1–8.56% with the least degree of change method compared with the other methods. The SETFL-ConvNeXt network proposed in this study has high accuracy and can effectively address overfitting, providing theoretical and technical support for classifying winter wheat seedlings during the greening period. It also provides solutions and ideas for researchers who encounter overfitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the electrically and magnetically tunable Goos–Hänchen (GH) shift of a reflected light beam at terahertz frequencies. Our study focuses on a photonic crystal heterostructure incorporating a monolayer anisotropic graphene. We observe a tunable and enhanced GH shift facilitated by a drastic change in the reflected phase at the resonance angle owing to the excitation of the topological edge state. Considering the quantum response of graphene, we demonstrate the ability to switch positive and negative GH shifts through the manipulation of graphene's conductivity properties. Moreover, we show that the GH shift can be actively tuned by the external electric field and magnetic field, as well as by controlling the structural parameters of the system. We believe that this tunable and enhanced GH shift scheme offers excellent potential for preparing terahertz shift devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grouting technology is the primary method for repairing cracks in earthen sites. However, there has been a long-standing lack of effective methods for evaluating grouting effectiveness. This paper proposes a field evaluation method based on P-wave velocity. This method explicitly discusses two scenarios where the P-wave velocity of the grout is either higher or lower than that of the soil, using the depth ℎ of the "hypothetical crack" as the evaluation indicator. The experimental results indicate that specimens with 20% and 40% defects show increases in ℎ values of 0.0113 m and 0.0166 m, respectively. Laboratory tests have demonstrated that this method can accurately evaluate grouting effectiveness and is not affected by the P-wave velocity of the soil. The application of this evaluation method to three typical earthen sites resulted in more reliable and easily quantifiable evaluation outcomes. By considering the width of grout, the method provides a more intuitive comparison of reparation effectiveness. The study demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed method, thereby facilitating effective crack reparation in earthen sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grout injection is an effective technique for repairing cracks in earthen sites. This study aims to address the challenges of Calcined Ginger Nuts (CGN)-based grout and enhance its engineering performance by investigating the compatibility of different superplasticizers. We examined the effects of Polycarboxylate Superplasticizer (PCE) and Naphthalene Superplasticizer (PNS) on the properties of CGN-based grout, focusing on fluidity, rheological properties, mechanical strength, volume stability, color difference, and pore structure. The engineering applicability of the optimized CGN-based grout with superplasticizers was assessed using COMSOL Multiphysics. The results show that fluidity increased with higher dosages of PCE and PNS. The grout containing these superplasticizers behaved as a shear-thinning fluid, following the power law model. Specifically, the consistency coefficient of grout with 0.5 wt% PCE and PNS decreased by 39.73% and 64.83%, respectively. Additionally, 2.9 wt% PCE and PNS reduced volume shrinkage rate by 6.86% and 6.27%, respectively. Initially, increasing the dosage of PCE and PNS improved compressive and flexural strength, but these properties later declined. XRD analysis revealed that PNS above 1.1 wt% and PCE weakened the hydration reaction, while both superplasticizers promoted carbonation. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) showed that 1.1 wt% PCE and PNS reduced the proportion of capillary pores by 13.79% and 10.11%, respectively. Based on these findings, 0.5 wt% PNS demonstrated the best compatibility with CGN-based grout, whereas PCE showed poor compatibility. Numerical simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics confirmed that 0.5 wt% PNS provided superior grouting effectiveness. Therefore, the CGN based grout with 0.5wt% PNS demonstrates excellent engineering performance and applicability. This study offers valuable insights into optimizing CGN-based grout for the preservation of earthen sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we theoretically study the optical bistability (OB) of reflected light beams at visible light frequencies by using a Kretschmann–Raether (KR) configuration where double-layer MoS2 is inserted. This OB phenomenon results from the local field enhancement owing to the excitation of metal surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and the introduction of the double-layer MoS2. By considering the third-order conductivity of MoS2, we obtain a threshold electric field with an incident electric field of 107 V/m levels. Furthermore, the influences of the structural parameters on the hysteretic behavior as well as the threshold of OB are clarified. This tunable OB phenomenon will provide possible options for nonlinear optical bistable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saturated orthogonal array is an important type of fractional factorial designs in experimental design. On the basis of guaranteeing orthogonality, it maximizes the number of factors and saves the cost of experiments. Therefore, it is increasingly used in practical experiment. For quantitative factors, the minimum β-aberration criterion is suitable for selecting good designs under a polynomial model. However, construction methods of designs with less β-aberration have not been fully investigated. In this article, we apply the Rao-Hamming method to construct a class of three-level saturated orthogonal arrays, and perform a special level permutation on the designs of the Rao-Hamming construction, which makes the resultant designs mirror-symmetric ones. Furthermore, we analyze the distribution of elements in each row and among all possible pairs of rows of the mirror-symmetric designs, and discuss some properties of the β-wordlength pattern for three-level mirror-symmetric designs constructed by the Rao-Hamming method. In addition, we provide the explicit expressions of β3 and β4 for three-level mirror-symmetric designs, which can reduce the computational complexity of the β-wordlength pattern, and provide an effective idea for finding designs under the minimum β-aberration criterion. Finally, numerical examples are used to illustrate and verify the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent liver disorder in Western countries, with approximately 20%-30% of the MASLD patients progressing to severe stages. There is an urgent need for noninvasive, cost-effective, widely accessible, and precise biomarkers to evaluate liver steatosis. This study aims to assess and compare the diagnostic performance of a novel reference frequency method-based ultrasound attenuation coefficient estimation (ACE) in both fundamental (RFM-ACE-FI) and harmonic (RFM-ACE-HI) imaging for detecting and grading liver steatosis., Methods: An Institutional Review Board-approved prospective study was carried out between December 2018 and October 2022. A total number of 130 subjects were enrolled in the study. The correlation between RFM-ACE-HI values and magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF), as well as between RFM-ACE-FI values and MRI-PDFF were calculated. The diagnostic performance of RFM-ACE-FI and RFM-ACE-HI was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, as compared to MRI-PDFF. The reproducibility of RFM-ACE-HI was assessed by interobserver agreement between two sonographers., Results: A strong correlation was observed between RFM-ACE-HI and MRI-PDFF, with R = 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.83-0.92; P < .001), while the correlation between RFM-ACE-FI and MRI-PDFF was R = 0.65 (95% CI: 0.50-0.76; P < .001). The area under the ROC (AUROC) curve for RFM-ACE-HI in staging liver steatosis grades of S ≥ 1 and S ≥ 2 was 0.97 (95% CI: 0.91-0.99; P < .001) and 0.98 (95% CI: 0.93-1.00; P < .001), respectively, and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.65-0.85) and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.70-0.88) for RFM-ACE-FI, respectively. Great reproducibility was achieved for RFM-ACE-HI, with an interobserver agreement of R = 0.97 (95% CI: 0.94-0.99; P < .001)., Conclusions: The novel RFM-ACE-HI method offered high liver steatosis diagnostic accuracy and reproducibility, which has important clinical implications for early disease intervention and treatment evaluation., (© 2024 American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.)

Ultrasound vascular imaging (UVI) is a valuable tool for monitoring the physiological states and evaluating the pathological diseases. Advancing from conventional two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) UVI would enhance the vasculature visualization, thereby improving its reliability. Row-column array (RCA) has emerged as a promising approach for cost-effective ultrafast 3D imaging with a low channel count. However, ultrafast RCA imaging is often hampered by high-level sidelobe artifacts and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which makes RCA-based UVI challenging. In this study, we propose a spatial-temporal similarity weighting (St-SW) method to overcome these challenges by exploiting the incoherence of sidelobe artifacts and noise between datasets acquired using orthogonal transmissions. Simulation, in vitro blood flow phantom, and in vivo experiments were conducted to compare the proposed method with existing orthogonal plane wave imaging (OPW), row-column-specific frame-multiply-and-sum beamforming (RC-FMAS), and XDoppler techniques. Qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method. In simulations, the proposed method reduced the sidelobe level by 31.3 dB, 20.8 dB, and 14.0 dB, compared to OPW, XDoppler, and RC-FMAS, respectively. In the blood flow phantom experiment, the proposed method significantly improved the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the tube by 26.8 dB, 25.5 dB, and 19.7 dB, compared to OPW, XDoppler, and RC-FMAS methods, respectively. In the human submandibular gland experiment, it not only reconstructed a more complete vasculature but also improved the CNR by more than 15 dB, compared to OPW, XDoppler, and RC-FMAS methods. In summary, the proposed method effectively suppresses the side-lobe artifacts and noise in images collected using an RCA under low SNR conditions, leading to improved visualization of 3D vasculatures.

Tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA) is the main bioactive component of Chinese herbal medicine salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen). Sodium sulfonate of Tan-IIA is widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Tan-IIA also has inhibitory effects on tumor cells such as gastric cancer, but its therapeutic effect and mechanism on human neuroblastoma have not been evaluated, so its pharmacological mechanism is systematically evaluated by the combined method of network pharmacology and molecular docking. PharmMapper and SwissTargetPrediction predicted 331 potential Tan-IIA-related targets, and 1,152 potential neuroblastoma-related targets were obtained from GeneCards, DisGeNET, DrugBank, OMIM and Therapeutic Target databases (TTD), 107 common targets for Tan-IIA and neuroblastoma. Through gene ontology (GO) functional annotation, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomesa (KEGG) pathway enrichment, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and cytoHubba plug-in, 10 related signal pathways (Pathways in cancer, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, Prostate cancer, etc.) and 10 hub genes were identified. The results of molecular docking showed that Tan-IIA could interact with 10 targets: GRB2, SRC, EGFR, PTPN1, ESR1, IGF1, MAPK1, PIK3R1, AKT1 and IGF1R. This study analyzed the related pathways and targets of Tan-IIA in the treatment of human neuroblastoma, as well as the potential anticancer and anti-tumor targets and related signaling pathways of Tan-IIA, which provides a reference for us to find and explore effective drugs for the treatment of human neuroblastoma., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Tang, Wang, Miao, Zhao, Cao, Sun, Zhang, Sui and Li.)