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The 3D visualization of the porosity in high-pressure die casting (HPDC) Mg alloys AZ91D and Mg4Ce2Al0.5Mn (EA42) was investigated by X-ray computed tomography. It was demonstrated that the volumetric porosity at the near-gate location for alloy EA42 was significantly higher than that far from the gate location. This difference resulted from the low valid time during intensified casting pressure conditions. Specimens of alloy EA42 exhibited a narrow pore distribution in the side view (∼0.5 mm) compared to the wide distribution (∼1.8 mm) of alloy AZ91D, which was mainly attributed to the formation mechanism of the defect band. The formation of microporosity in the defect band of alloy EA42 was inhibited because of the significant latent heat released by a large amount of the Al11Ce3 phase segregated in the defect band during solidification. Additionally, an effective estimator (Z-Propagation) was introduced, which is proposed to predict the projected area fraction of the porosity (f) involved during tensile failure with better effectiveness compared with traditional methods based on the actual fractured surface. By coupling the Z-Propagation method with the critical local strain model, the logarithmic fracture strain and true fracture stress of the specimens were predicted within 3.03% and 1.65% of the absolute value of the average relative error (AARE), respectively.

Aiming at weak representation ability and severe loss of time series features in the traditional methods when facing large-scale and complex power load forecasting tasks, an LSTM-Autoencoder model that integrates long-term and short-term features of the samples is proposed for load forecasting. The encoder part simultaneously receives long time series and short time series as input to extract time series features of different levels and generate related latent vectors. The decoder tries to reconstruct the input sequence while outputting the prediction results to ensure that the latent vectors are meaningful. In addition, the model also uses a mixture of supervised and unsupervised training methods. Experiments based on a publicly available dataset from Alberta Electric System Operator showed that the method presented in this research is superior to many existing mainstream methods, with a mean absolute error of less than 52MW between the prediction results and the actual load values.

A straightforward and fast transient temperature rise calculation model is necessary for electrical engineers to manage power cable load. A self-heating lumped parameter model (LPM) without the requirement of monitoring cable surface temperature is developed to evaluate the real-time transient temperature rise of the power cable in ducts. A mutual-heating lumped parameter model to describe the mutual heat interaction between any two cables is proposed in this paper as well. The transient temperature rise of any power cable in duct is the sum of the self-heating temperature rise and the mutual-heating temperature rise from all the other power cables in ducts. All parameters of these two models are obtained by transient thermal circuit analysis, CYMCAP calculation results and generic algorithm. A case study has been conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed LPMs and the self and mutual temperature rise for each cable in ducts have been obtained. These results agree with the accurate data obtained from CYMCAP well, indicating that LPM can be used as a fast and straightforward tool to calculate the transient temperature rise of power cables in duct.

Information on the effects of halophyte communities on soil organic carbon (SOC) is useful for sequestrating C in arid regions. In this study, we identified four typical natural halophyte communities in the Manasi River Basin in Xinjiang Province, Northeast China, namely, Karelinia caspia (Pall.) Less., Bassia dasyphylla (Fisch. et C. A. Mey.) Kuntze, Haloxylon ammodendron (C. A. Mey.) Bunge, and Tamarix ramosissima Lour. We compared soil aggregation and aggregated-associated SOC under these communities. The aggregate fraction of 0.053–0.25 mm accounted for 47%–75% of the total soil mass, significantly more than the > 0.25 and 0.25 mm aggregates (13.3%–43.8%) and T. ramosissima community having more 0.25 mm fraction, followed by the T. ramosissima (4.9 g kg−1) > K. caspia (4.2 g kg−1) > B. dasyphylla (3.4 g kg−1). The H. ammodendron community had the highest total SOC and aggregate-associated SOC, which was primarily because aggregate-associated SOC content at the 0–10 and 10–20 cm depths under this community were higher than those under other plant communities. The H. ammodendron community could be beneficial for increasing SOC in saline soils in the arid region.

Radiotherapy is one of the most important clinical cancer treatments, which works mainly by delivering a prescribed radiation dose to the tumor tissues. However, high doses of radiation may also lead many irreversible damages to the surrounding normal tissues. Thereby, how to effectively reduce these side-effects has been a significant factor in influencing cancer therapeutic effect. In this work, we synthesized the hollow PtPd nanocubes with high-index facets, and investigated the radiation protection capability in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed the PtPd nanocrystals can decrease the ROS level and improve the survival rate of radiated cells. Meanwhile, survival rate of radiated mice can significantly increase from 0 to 30% after PtPd treatment. Consequently, the enzyme and ROS level in radiated mice can be recovered.

Herein, a renewable and flexible UV-shielding biocomposite film was obtained by poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and lignin. A strategy of reactive interfacial compatibilization was developed in order to improve the miscibility of lignin with PBS. Firstly, lignin was modified by maleic anhydride, and then the reactive plasticizer triethy citrate (TEC) was employed as a bridge to reinforce the interaction of lignin with PBS. The elongation at break and the Young’s modulus of the films were evaluated at a maximum of 208% and 129 MPa respectively at the lignin content of 20% and TEC content of 5%, indicating the excellent enhanced flexibility. The miscibility of the lignin was rationalized through the analysis of SEM, DSC, and FT-IR. Exceptionally, the films could block against 100% UV light and degrade absolutely in different compositions. Conclusively, the strategy opens up novel approaches to expand the accessibility of lignin to renewable bioplastics.

Yb3+/Er3+/Tm3+ tri-doped CaF2 single crystals have been successfully synthesized via Temperature Gradient Technique (TGT) method, and represented by X-ray diffraction (XRD) examination, absorption and fluorescence spectrum, pump power dependence and lifetime analysis in details. Under the excitation of 980 nm laser diode (LD), the upconversion luminescence (UCL) spectra of Yb3+/Er3+/Tm3+/CaF2 as a function of Tm3+ concentration are made up of intense blue (Tm3+:1G4 → 3H6), green (Er3+: 4S3/2, 2H11/2 → 4I15/2), and red (Er3+:4F9/2 → 4I15/2) emissions, which are located at 478, 523, 539 and 656 nm, respectively. With increasing concentration of Tm, the color can be tunable from orange-yellow, white to blue light. And the optimal Yb3+/Er3+/Tm3+ doping concentrations for white light are determined to be 10%Yb, 0.1%Er and 0.05%Tm. The research indicates that the as-prepared materials may have potential applications in the fields of three dimensional displays, back lighting, white light sources, and so on.

Spectral properties of Nd, Gd:CaF2 crystals were investigated. In comparison with Nd:CaF2, the spectral parameters of Nd, Gd:CaF2 were altered in a large scale. LD-pumped true CW laser has been demonstrated in the crystals. The slope efficiency with the value of 45% in 0.5 at.% Nd, 5 at.% Gd:CaF2 was achieved, it is the highest slope efficiency in Nd doped CaF2 single crystals by LD-pumping. The system is a promising candidate for highly efficient lasers.

3at.%Tm 3 + :Ca 1 − x Gd x F 2 + x ( x = 0 , 0.005, 0.01, 0.02) single crystals were grown by the vertical Bridgman method, where Gd 3 + ions play the role of manipulating ions for local structure to form a disordered lattice site. Spectral properties of these crystals were investigated. Compared to 3at.%Tm 3 + :CaF2, the spectral parameters of 3at.%Tm 3 + :Ca 1 − x Gd x F 2 + x were drastically enhanced in a large scale. LD pumped lasers have been demonstrated in the crystals for the first time. For CW operation, the slope efficiency up to 49.7% was achieved with output power of 1.927 W at 1970 nm. With a birefringent quartz plate, wavelength-tunable laser operation with a tuning range of more than 176 nm was realized.

Deep-tissue optical imaging is a longstanding challenge limited by scattering. Both optical imaging and treatment can benefit from focusing light in deep tissue beyond one transport mean free path. Wavefront shaping based on time-reversed ultrasonically encoded (TRUE) optical focusing utilizes ultrasound focus, which is much less scattered than light in biological tissues as the 'guide star'. However, the traditional TRUE is limited by the ultrasound focusing area and pressure tagging efficiency, especially in acoustically heterogeneous medium. Even the improved version of iterative TRUE comes at a large time consumption, which limits the application of TRUE. To address this problem, we proposed a method called time-reversed photoacoustic wave guided time-reversed ultrasonically encoded (TRPA-TRUE) optical focusing by integrating accurate ultrasonic focusing through acoustically heterogeneous medium guided by time-reversing PA signals, and the ultrasound modulation of diffused coherent light with optical phase conjugation (OPC), achieving dynamic focusing of light into scattering medium. Simulation results show that the focusing accuracy of the proposed method has been significantly improved compared with conventional TRUE, which is more suitable for practical applications that suffers severe acoustic distortion, e.g. transcranial optical focusing.

The effect of microalloying Sc on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloys was experimentally investigated through X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy characterizations and tensile tests. The presence of Sc caused the formation of the primary Al3Sc phase and behaved a significant modifying effect on the cast microstructure with an equiaxed microstructure attained in the Sc-bearing alloys rather than the dendrites in Sc-free alloys. In the subsequent thermal extrusion processing, a remarkable grain refinement and retardation of recrystallization occurred, because the nano-sized Al3Sc dispersoids contributed to the pinning effect on the dislocation movement and grain boundary migration in the Sc-bearing alloys. The mechanical properties were significantly improved with the addition of Sc. The superior comprehensive mechanical properties in the Sc-bearing alloys were achieved via the optimal extrusion at 350 °C with the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of 373.7 ± 3 MPa and 490.3 ± 5 MPa, respectively. The strong strengthening behavior of the Sc addition in the extruded alloys is mainly attributed to the grain refinement and the dispersoid strengthening from the Al3Sc particles. The corresponding contributions to the increase in yield strength derived from the grain refinement and the dispersoid strengthening were estimated, which indicated that the highest particle density attained by extrusion at 350 °C resulted in the excellent mechanical properties of the Sc-bearing alloys.

The Ti–Fe–Mn alloys have attracted extensive interests due to the excellent hydrogen storage properties of the TiFe and TiMn2 (i.e. the C14 Laves phase) intermetallic compounds. The phase equilibria involving these two phases are essential for the design of hydrogen storage materials. In order to accelerate the design process, a thermodynamic description of the ternary Ti–Fe–Mn system was developed by experimental phase diagram study, ab initio calculations and CALPHAD-type thermodynamic modeling in the present work. The phase equilibria involving TiFe and C14 Laves phases were investigated by using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The partial isothermal sections at 1273 and 1373 K were established. Ab initio calculations were carried out to assist the determination of the thermodynamic parameters for the C14 Laves phase. The Ti-Mn system was re-assessed to reproduce the phase diagram data over the entire composition range. The Ti-Fe-Mn system was modeled and optimized based on reliable binary descriptions and experimental data. The TiFe and C14 Laves phases were well described to reproduce the phase equilibria with other phases in the ternary system. Moreover, the developed thermodynamic description of the Ti-Fe-Mn system was successfully applied for the prediction of phase constitutions of hydrogen storage alloys, demonstrating evidently the reliability of the practical use of present model parameters.

The wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) was employed to fabricate the AZ61 alloys via different fabrication parameters. The microstructure, including grain size and porosity, varies with the processing conditions, which significantly influence the mechanical properties of the fabricated materials. The superior microstructure with fine grains and reduced porosity was achieved via fabrication parameters with current of 130A, voltage of 12.5 kV and wire feed speed of 820 mm/min, providing exceptionally excellent comprehensive mechanical properties.

Rationale & Objective Metabolically healthy obesity (obesity without any metabolic abnormality) is not considered to be associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. We examined and quantified the association between metabolically healthy overweight/obesity and the risk of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a British primary care population. Study Design Retrospective population-based cohort study. Setting & Participants 4,447,955 of the 5,182,908 adults in The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database (United Kingdom, 1995-2015) with a recorded body mass index (BMI) at the time of registration date who were free of CKD and cardiovascular disease. Exposure 11 body size phenotypes were created, defined by BMI categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity) and 3 metabolic abnormalities (diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia). Outcome Incident CKD defined as a recorded code for kidney replacement therapy, a recorded diagnosis of CKD, or by an estimated glomerular filtration rate of 3 mg/mmol for ≥90 days. Results Of the 4.5 million individuals, 1,040,921 (23.4%) and 588,909 (13.2%) had metabolically healthy overweight and metabolically healthy obesity, respectively. During a mean follow-up interval of 5.4 ± 4.3 (SD) years, compared with individuals with a metabolically healthy normal weight (n = 1,656,231), there was a higher risk of incident CKD among those who had metabolically healthy overweight (adjusted HR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.28-1.33]) and metabolically healthy obesity (adjusted HR, 1.66 [95% CI, 1.62-1.70]). The association was stronger in those younger than 65 years of age. In all BMI categories, there was greater risk of incident CKD with a greater number of metabolic abnormalities in a graded manner. Limitations Potential misclassification of metabolic status due to delayed diagnosis and residual confounding due to unmeasured factors. Conclusions Overweight and obesity without metabolic abnormality are associated with a higher risk of incident CKD compared with those with normal body weight and no metabolic abnormality.

Background: Novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) is often changing rapidly and fatal. Early detection and early triage of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is the key to success management of the disease. An easily obtainable yet accurate variable for both diagnosis and prognosis is urgently needed. We aim to report predictive Value of the Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio(NLR) for diagnosis and worse clinical course of the COVID-19, which have not been well demonstrated. Methods: Our study consisted of two stages, at the first stage, a retrospective, single-center, cohort study including was conducted in Heilongjiang, on admission, demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected and compared between patients with COVID-19 and patients with non COVID-19; we used multivariable logistic regression methods to explore the risk factors associated with COVID-19;A receiver operating characteristic(ROC) analysis was conducted to calculate the area under the curve(AUC) to assess predictive value of NLR for diagnosis of COVID 19. At the second stage, we conducted retrospective, multi-center and large sample study in 43 hospitals from ten provinces of China, COVID-19 patients with laboratory-confirmed divided into three groups including mild cases, ordinary cases and severe cases. Multivariate logistic regression methods were used to identify the risk factors for the deterioration of COVID-19, along with, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was also drawn to assess impact on the clinical course of the COVID-19. Findings: We recruited a total of 635 patients with COVID-19 and 27 cases with non COVID-19(Viral pneumonia) from 28 January to 25 February. A total of 88 cases were enrolled with a retrospective, single-center, cohort study from Heilongjiang province, of these, COVID-19 cases were 61(69%) and non COVID-19 cases were 27(31%). On admission, fever (69%) was the most common symptoms, cough (56%) and fatigue(53%). An average(SD) of NLR of COVID-19 patients and non- COVID-19 patients were3.48±2.04 and 2.21±1.14, respectively. multivariable regression showed increasing odds of COVID-19 patients associated with NLR(odds ratio 1.752, 95% CI 1.111-2.763, per 1 unit increase; p=0.016). In addition, the area under the curve (AUC) of NLR was 0.707 and cutoff value was 2.22. At the second stage, 635 patients with COVID were enrolled with a retrospective, multi-center, large sample study in the 43 settings from 10 provinces, of these, mild case were 86(14%), ordinary cases [486(76%)],severe cases[63(10%)], common symptoms was at onset of disease were cough[356(56%)], an average of NLR of 635 patients was 4.04±4.68, and elevated NLR with the deterioration of clinical course[mild case(2.73±2.28), ordinary cases(3.58±3.07), severe cases(9.38±10.52), P

The atomic mobility in BCC Ti-Mn and Ti-Al-Mn alloys was assessed by using the DICTRA software after critically evaluating all available experimental diffusion data. Good agreements were obtained from the comprehensive comparisons between the calculated and experimental diffusion coefficients. The interdiffusion behaviour was further well predicted, confirming the reliability of the present mobility parameters., This work was supported by the Natural Science Funds of China [Grant No. 51571113], and the Joint Project of Industry-University-Research of Jiangsu Province [Grant No: BY2016005]. Ms. Jingya Wang acknowledges the financial support from the China Scholarship Council (Grant no. 201506890002).

Ionizing radiation produces excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) which impose detrimental effects on biological systems. Thus, it is important to explore clinically safe and efficacious radioprotection agents to scavenge ROS and reduce the risks of radiotherapy. Recently, emerging catalytic nanomaterials such as sulfide nanomaterials have shown capability of clearing ROS in vivo by unique electron transfers between atoms, but their catalytic activities are yet suboptimal. As such, there is an unmet need to improve catalytic properties for stronger antioxidant activities and radiation protection. Herein, we prepared ultrasmall Au-MoS2 clusters (∼2.5 nm) and they showed enhanced catalytic properties via gold intercalation facilitating increased active sites and synergistic effects. Electrocatalysis results revealed that the catalytic activity of Au-MoS2 towards H2O2 was superior to ultrasmall MoS2 without Au. As a result, we found that improving the electrocatalytic property of Au-MoS2 can effectively enhance corresponding antioxidant activities and radioprotection effects in vivo. In addition, Au-MoS2 also showed significant radioprotection in vitro and dramatically reduced the excess of radiation-induced adverse ROS. It also rescued radiation-induced DNA damages and protected the bone marrow hematopoietic system from ionizing radiation.

The electrical steel has attracted considerable attention due to the excellent soft magnetic properties, which can be improved by the addition of alloying elements such as Al, Si and Mn. To increase element contents, the hot-dipping and diffusion-annealing method has been developed. The method requires detailed insight on the diffusion behavior of the alloy system. In the present work, the re-assessment of the diffusion mobilities for the bcc phase (including both bcc_A2 and bcc_B2 phases) in the Fe-Al system were firstly performed based on the critical evaluation of the available experimental data. By applying the diffusion-couple method, the interdiffusion coefficients in bcc_A2 Fe-Al-Si alloys were determined and used to optimize the diffusion mobilities. The bcc_A2 Fe-Al-Mn diffusion couples were also designed to verify the diffusion mobilities. Comparison between the model-predicted and experimental diffusion data such as diffusion coefficients, concentration profiles and diffusion paths confirms the reliability of the present mobility parameters.

The spectroscopic properties of 0.6at.%:Pr:Ca1-xRxF2+x (R = Y, Gd; x = 0,0.006, 0.012, 0.03, 0.06) crystals were investigated and compared. The XRD tests were conducted and the cell dimensions of the crystals were calculated. Room temperature absorption spectra have been registered and analyzed. The emission spectra and decay curves of the crystals were obtained at room temperature. Increasing the proportion of the lattice regulators of Y3+ or Gd3+ ions could significantly enhance the luminescence intensity of all visible emission bands with different ratios. Particularly, the emission intensity ratio of orange to red increased from 0.15 to 1.9 in Pr:Ca1-xYxF2+x crystals and to 1.02 in Pr:Ca1-xGdxF2+x crystals, respectively. Furthermore, Pr:Ca1-xGdxF2+x crystals have substantially strong emission at orange and red region of 580–660 nm, comparable with blue light at 482 nm. The quantum efficiency of the crystals increased rapidly with the increment of R3+ concentration, and finally tend to be 100%.

Person re-identification (re-id) across cameras remains a very challenging problem, especially when the wide range searching exists in a multi-camera surveillance network. Current person re-identification methods focus on using visual model to search the specified person. In fact, in practical applications, due to the large-scale search range, the searching way only relying on visual model is not efficient. Moreover, the recall ability of visual model usually is limited in large-scale searching, because it does not consider the spatial-temporal information of person. However, the current public re-id datasets only include the visual samples. To address this problem, in this work, we collect a large-scale re-id dataset, PKU-SVD-B-REID, which includes both visual and spatial-temporal information of over 133 K samples. Then, we propose a novel person re-id framework, named Hierarchical Spatial-Temporal Model (HSTM), which can effectively predict the person activity path and reduce the search range in the real multiple cameras surveillance system. Extensive experiments on PKU-SVD-B-REID validate the superiority of our method over conventional re-id methods based on only visual information in terms of both efficiency and accuracy.

The objective of this study was to develop a model using a combination of routine clinical variables to predict mortality in critically ill patients.A cohort of 500 patients recruited from eight university hospital intensive care units (ICUs) was used to develop a model via logistic regression analyses. Discrimination and calibration analyses were performed to assess the model.The model included the lactate level (odds ratio [OR]=1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01 to 1.22, P=0.029), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (OR=1.03, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.04, P=0.002), acute physiology score (OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.15, P0.001), Charlson comorbidity index (OR=1.36, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.60, P0.001) and surgery type (OR: selective=Ref, no surgery=8.04, 95% CI 3.74 to 17.30, P0.001, emergency=3.66, 95% CI 1.60 to 8.36, P=0.002). The model showed good discrimination (area under receiver operating characteristic curve: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.80 to 0.87) and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow test P=0.137) for predicting in-hospital mortality.The developed multifactor model can be used to effectively predict mortality in critically ill patients at ICU admission.

Combination of gene therapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) has drawn much attention in cancer therapy in recent years. However, this joint treatment process lacks fluorescence imaging visualization guidance that limits its clinical applications in oncotherapy. Herein, we report the use of gene therapy and tungsten oxide (W18O49, WO) synthetized with template method for combined PTT of cancer. In this system, a novel nanoplatform, with Bax gene, WO and indocyanine green (ICG) loaded in mesoporous silica nanoparticle had been successfully constructed, which was used as the near-infrared imaging-guided gene/optothermal multi-modal oncotherapy. These nanoparticles could achieve a synergistic therapy effect of gene therapy and PTT for tumor under 808nm near-infrared (NIR) laser excitation. In vivo animal experiments showed that they could cause solid tumor regression under 808nm NIR light irradiation, revealing the potential of these nanocomposites as a fluorescence imaging-guided multi-modal therapeutic nanosystem for tumor visual synergistic treatment.

The effect of Ca and Zn in solid solution on the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) of basal slip, tensile twinning and pyramidal slip in Mg alloys has been measured through compression tests on single crystal micropillars with different orientations. The solute atoms increased the CRSS for basal slip to ~ 13.5 MPa, while the CRSS for pyramidal slip was lower than 85 MPa, reducing significantly the plastic anisotropy in comparison with pure Mg. Moreover, the CRSSs for twin nucleation and growth were very similar (~ 37 MPa) and the large value of the CRSS for twin growth hindered the growth of twins during thermo-mechanical processing. Finally, evidence of prismatic slip and cross-slip between basal and prismatic dislocations was found. It is concluded that the reduction of plastic anisotropy, the activation of different slip systems and cross-slip and the weak basal texture promoted by the large CRSS for twin growth are responsible for the improved ductility and formability of Mg-Ca-Zn alloys.

High quality PrF3 crystal was successfully grown by the temperature gradient technique (TGT). The magneto-optical properties of PrF3 crystal were systematically investigated in the UV-VIS-NIR region. The advantage of PrF3 over CeF3 and TGG is its transparency in deep-UV region down to 258 nm. The dispersions of Verdet constant of PrF3 and TGG crystals in VIS-NIR region are similar. The Verdet constant of PrF3 crystal can theoretically increase from 677.93 rad T−1•m−1 at 300 nm to 967.53 rad T−1•m−1 at 270 nm. The CeF3 and TGG crystals aren't transparent in this region. Therefore, PrF3 crystal is the promising candidate for use as a Faraday rotator for optical systems operating below 300 nm.

Discovering automatically the semantic structure of tagged visual data (e.g. web videos and images) is important for visual data analysis and interpretation, enabling the machine intelligence for effectively processing the fast-growing amount of multi-media data. However, this is non-trivial due to the need for jointly learning underlying correlations between heterogeneous visual and tag data. The task is made more challenging by inherently sparse and incomplete tags. In this work, we develop a method for modelling the inherent visual data concept structures based on a novel Hierarchical-Multi-Label Random Forest model capable of correlating structured visual and tag information so as to more accurately interpret the visual semantics, e.g. disclosing meaningful visual groups with similar high-level concepts, and recovering missing tags for individual visual data samples. Specifically, our model exploits hierarchically structured tags of different semantic abstractness and multiple tag statistical correlations in addition to modelling visual and tag interactions. As a result, our model is able to discover more accurate semantic correlation between textual tags and visual features, and finally providing favourable visual semantics interpretation even with highly sparse and incomplete tags. We demonstrate the advantages of our proposed approach in two fundamental applications, visual data clustering and missing tag completion, on benchmarking video (i.e. TRECVID MED 2011) and image (i.e. NUS-WIDE) datasets., Comment: Artificial Intelligence journal 2017

Carbon aerogels (CAs) were prepared via the pyrolysis of phenolic resin gels (PRGs) containing ZnCl2. The pyrolysis of PRGs and the activation of resulted amorphous carbons in CAs can be carried out in one step. Structure characterizations of CAs were performed by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectrum and gas adsorption-desorption method. Electrochemical performances of CAs were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. CAs with specific surface area of 2846 m2 g−1 can display its specific capacitance of 246 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and 219 F g−1 at 10 A g−1. The addition of ZnCl2 in matrix of PRGs by a hydrothermal treatment can effectively avoid its serious volatilization at higher temperatures and enhance its activation efficiency. A series of structure evolutions in CAs including their specific surface areas, pore volumes and accumulation states of laminar carbon molecules can be caused by changing the content of ZnCl2 in PRGs. High electrochemical performances of CAs are resulted from their adjusted carbon structures. The relation between the structure evolutions in CAs and their improved electrochemical performances is also discussed.

The spectral properties of lightly doped Er:CaF 2 and Er,Pr:CaF 2 single crystals were investigated. Benefited from particular clustering effect, 2.79 μm continuous-wave (CW) laser operation was demonstrated in lightly doped 3 at.% Er:CaF 2 crystal. After co-doping small amount of Pr 3+ , the lifetime gap between Er 3+ : 4 I 11/2 and Er 3+ : 4 I 13/2 was shortened from 7.86 ms to about 1 ms. Moreover, the near-infrared and up-conversion fluorescence were significantly quenched. Thus, the CW laser performance was greatly improved. The slope efficiency was effectively improved from 8.0% to 15.8%.

The neutrase (EC 3.4.24.4) and papain (EC 3.4.22.2) were together immobilized ascross-linked enzyme aggregates (N-P-CLEAs) and their properties were characterized. The influence of the precipitant, cross-linking ratio of glutaraldehyde and cross-linking time were investigated. Ethanol was selected as the more efficient precipitant compared with ammonium sulfate. The proper cross-linking ratio of enzyme and glutaraldehyde was 1:5 (v/v) and the optimized cross-linking time was 4h. N-P-CLEAs showed obvious improvement in thermal stability and pH stability than the free enzyme (P0.05) and could hold relatively high activity retention in nonpolar and hydrophilic solvents and without activity loss at 4°C for more than six months. The cross-linking reaction had been appeared in N-P-CLEAs and more orderly microscopic surface morphology of N-P-CLEAs was observed. The molecular weight and thermal denaturation temperature of N-P-CLEAs were increased while the isoelectric point was decreased compared with those of the free enzymes. Application of N-P-CLEAs in bean proteins and zein showed a higher degree of hydrolysis, such as the hydrolysis degree of mung bean protein hydrolyzed by N-P-CLEAs was 12%, increased by approximately 4.5% compared to that of free enzyme. The results demonstrated that the N-P-CLEAs was suitable for application in food protein hydrolysis.

In order to improve the stability of tea polyphenols (TP), microencapsulation was applied by using spray drying method with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose phthalate as coating material. The obtained microcapsules were further characterized on the physical properties, encapsulation efficiency, in vitro digestion study, storage stability and antioxidant capacity. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. The microcapsules were found to have a smooth surface shape with a particle size distribution of 10–200 μm by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation. The encapsulation efficiency of microencapsulated TP was 70.98%. Release rate of TP from microcapsules in simulated intestinal fluid had increased significantly compared with that in simulated gastric fluid ( p p

Background: Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO), the common extrathyroidal manifestation in Graves' hyperthyroidism (GH), often has an unsatisfactory therapeutic effect due to late diagnosis. Methods: Firstly, we proposed a novel score termed TCR Clonal expansion and chaos Score (TCS) to characterize VJ. TCS score equals to the ratio between clonal expansion of TCR V-J combination and chaos of peptide similarity. Then, we sequenced the RNA transcripts from the complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) of TCR Vβ from 100 peripheral blood samples, including 43 GO and 57 stable GH. Random forest method was applied to select candidate features with the best performance to classify GO and GH. Lastly, this model was applied in an independent validation dataset consisting of 18 stable GH samples and 17 GH samples who progressed to GO in the follow up visit. Findings: The leave-one-out cross validation showed this model with a sensitivity of 87.88% and a specificity of 81.08% to differentiate GO from stable GH. And it achieved a sensitivity and specificity of 70.59% and 72.22% for prediction GO progression in GH. Specifically, 12 of the 17 GH patients who were predicted as GO developed symptoms of eyelid swelling, chemosis or proptosis in a median of 6.5 months (4-9.75 months, IQR). In addition, GO-free survival analysis demonstrated that "predicted GO" patients (n = 17) were significant difference with "predicted GH" patients (n = 18) in GO progression (P = 0.015, log-rank test). Interpretation: Our finding provides a proof of concept for diagnosis and prognosis using TCR repertoire and may help develop novel prophylactic strategy for GO and other autoimmune diseases. Funding Statement: This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant NO. 2018YFC1311500 (B.S.), 2017YFC0907500 (K.Y.) and 2018YFC0910400 (K.Y.)), National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant NO. 81670725 (B.S.), 81500690 (Y.W.), 31671372 (K.Y.), 61702406 (X.Y.)), the Clinical Research Award of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China (grant NO. XJTU1AF-CRF-2017-001 (B.S.)), Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2018JM70990 (Y.W.)), Key Research and Development Project of Shaanxi Province (grant NO. 2017ZDXM-SF-060 (B.S.)), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (1191329875 (Y.W.)), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (224646(Y.W.)). Declaration of Interests: The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (KYLLSL-2015-004-01). Informed consent was sought from all patients before screening and study entry.

The spectroscopic properties of the Pr-doped CaF2 crystals are investigated. The photoluminescence intensity in the visible region is drastically enhanced by co-doping Gd3+ ions in Pr:CaF2 crystal. Furthermore, relative emission intensities of the 484 nm, 598 nm and 642 nm emission lines are greatly improved. Continuous-wave laser oscillation of Pr, Gd:CaF2 crystal at ∼642 nm is realized at room temperature, for the first time to our knowledge. The highest output power of 22.2 mW is achieved with a slope efficiency of 7.5%.

Er3+ doped Bi4Ge3O12(BGO) crystals with different Er3+ ion concentration were prepared by Bridgman-Stockbarge (B–S) method and the temperature dependence of its upconversion (UC) luminescence was investigated systematically. The phases and luminescence properties of all the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and upconversion luminescence (UCL) spectra. The temperature sensing performance of Er3+ doped Bi4Ge3O12 sample was studied via the fluorescence intensity ratio method from two thermally coupled 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 levels. Excited by 980 nm laser, the sensitivity first increased and then decreased with the increase of Er3+ ion concentration, and the maximum sensitivity can be obtained in the 0.3 mol% Er3+ doped sample at 498 K for 50.3 × 10−4 K−1. Meanwhile, the experiment also proved that Er3+ doped BGO as temperature sensing has a high reliability and repeatability. The influence mechanism of concentration on temperature sensing was studied by using the calculation of the Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory, 0.3 mol% Er3+ doped Bi4Ge3O12 sample had a larger the ratio of the green radiation transition rate at the thermal coupling level. These results indicated that Er3+ doped Bi4Ge3O12(BGO) crystals may be a good candidate material as optical temperature sensor.

Graphical abstract, The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has been almost controlled in China under a series of policies, including “early diagnosis and early treatment”. This study aimed to explore the association between early treatment with Qingfei Paidu decoction (QFPDD) and favorable clinical outcomes. In this retrospective multicenter study, we included 782 patients (males, 56 %; median age 46) with confirmed COVID-19 from 54 hospitals in nine provinces of China, who were divided into four groups according to the treatment initiation time from the first date of onset of symptoms to the date of starting treatment with QFPDD. The primary outcome was time to recovery; days of viral shedding, duration of hospital stay, and course of the disease were also analyzed. Compared with treatment initiated after 3 weeks, early treatment with QFPDD after less than 1 week, 1-2 weeks, or 2-3 weeks had a higher likelihood of recovery, with adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (95 % confidence interval [CI]) of 3.81 (2.65–5.48), 2.63 (1.86-3.73), and 1.92 (1.34-2.75), respectively. The median course of the disease decreased from 34 days to 24 days, 21 days, and 18 days when treatment was administered early by a week (P < 0.0001). Treatment within a week was related to a decrease by 1-4 days in the median duration of hospital stay compared with late treatment (P

PRDM16 is a transcription co-factor that plays critical roles in development of brown adipose tissue, as well as maintenance of adult hematopoietic and neural stem cells. Here we report that PRDM16 is a histone H3K4 methyltransferase on chromatin. Mutation in the N-terminal PR domain of PRDM16 abolishes the intrinsic enzymatic activity of PRDM16. We show that the methyltransferase activity of PRDM16 is required for specific suppression of MLL fusion protein-induced leukemogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic studies show that PRDM16 directly activates the SNAG family transcription factor Gfi1b, which in turn downregulates the HOXA gene cluster. Knockdown Gfi1b represses PRDM16-mediated tumor suppression, while Gfi1b overexpression mimics PRDM16 overexpression. In further support of the tumor suppressor function of PRDM16, silencing PRDM16 by DNA methylation is concomitant with MLL-AF9-induced leukemic transformation. Taken together, our study reveals a previously uncharacterized function of PRDM16 that depends on its PR domain activity.