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With the intensification of global climate change, there is an increasing emphasis on protecting natural resources. Mangrove forests, critical to tropical and subtropical intertidal ecosystems, have garnered considerable attention in recent years for their strong carbon sink capacity, rich species diversity, and abundant natural resources. This study utilizes the 2020 global mangrove vector data as a baseline to construct a reasonable buffer zone by calculating the increase in mangrove crown width. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and its Sentinel-2 data from 2022 are employed to acquire synthetic images across all regions using the mosaic algorithm. Then, mangrove forests are extracted using the Otsu algorithm, and a map depicting the global spatial distribution of mangrove forests in 2022 is obtained. The average overall accuracy of the extracted mangrove forests in this study reaches 92.4%, and it is determined that the global mangrove forest area expanded by 4920.6 km2 between 2020 and 2022, This study provides crucial data support for the global monitoring of mangrove changes and holds significant importance for protecting and restoring mangrove ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of half-height infilled walls on the failure modes of frame columns through quasi-static tests of both frame models and half-height infilled wall frame models. Based on the experimental results, a seismic analysis model of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures is established, and parametric studies are carried out to analyze the effects of masonry materials and masonry heights on the seismic performance of structures. The results show that the load-bearing capacity and stiffness of the structure are improved, while the ductility of the structure is reduced because of the existence of infilled walls. As the height of infilled walls increases, there is a notable decrease in the free height of frame columns. At a wall-to-column height ratio of 0.2, the masonry walls exert a negligible effect on the frame structure's seismic performance. In contrast, at a ratio of 0.6, there is a transition in column failure modes from bending to shearing. When evaluated at consistent masonry heights, aerated concrete block-infilled walls demonstrate the least impact on the seismic performance of RC frame structures. Thus, in the absence of additional structural enhancements, the use of aerated concrete blocks is recommended to mitigate the negative implications of infilled walls on the seismic integrity of RC frames. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When launching a heavy-duty vehicle, torque and position control during automatic clutch engagement is critical, and the driver's intention to launch and changes in the vehicle's launching resistance make clutch control more complex. This paper analyses the automatic engagement process of automated mechanical transmission (AMT) clutches and proposes an optimal control of the clutch torque for launching heavy-duty vehicles. Firstly, a fuzzy neural network (FNN)-based vehicle launching states recognition (LSR) system is designed for distinguishing the driver's launching intention and the vehicle's launching equivalent moment of resistance. Secondly, jerk, friction work, and launching reserve power are taken as the performance indexes for clutch torque optimization, the weight coefficients of each performance index are adjusted according to the LSR results, and the optimal clutch torque is solved by using the minimum value principle based on the shooting method. Finally, simulations and tests are conducted to validate the strategy of optimizing clutch torque, and the impact of torque optimization on the position change during the engagement process is analyzed. The results indicate that under different driver's intentions, vehicle masses, and road gradient conditions, the jerk, friction work, and slipping time of heavy vehicles during the launching process are improved by applying the optimization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spodoptera frugiperda was used to investigate its role as a trehalase inhibitor of three new thiothiazolidone compounds—6d, 6e, and 6f. The development and reproduction of S. frugiperda were investigated to evaluate the potential of these compounds as a novel pesticide for pest control. Compounds 6d, 6e, and 6f were injected into larvae and female pupae. Molecular changes in trehalose and chitin metabolism genes were monitored. Pupal trehalase activity, the female pupal emergence rate, ovarian development, and SfVg and SfVgR gene expression levels were assessed. The results revealed that all three compounds significantly inhibited trehalase activity in the larvae. The expression of TRE was significantly downregulated, and compounds 6d and 6f significantly downregulated the expression of TRE2. Treated larvae exhibited significantly decreased survival rates and a higher incidence of abnormalities. The egg production and hatching rates were markedly diminished by the inhibitors, and the ovaries displayed blackening and clumping. These compounds exhibit promise as eco-friendly insecticides, but further experiments are required to test their multifaceted capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) frames, carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) was used to retrofit reinforced concrete frame structures. The comparison pseudo-static test results show that the peak load, initial stiffness and ductility of the CFRP retrofitted model were increased by 43.89%, 39.27% and 30.1%, respectively. Based on the parametric study of the finite element model, the contribution of CFRP to the seismic upgrading effect of RC columns was quantitatively revealed, and an optimized design of retrofitted CFRP was proposed. The results show that the peak load, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the whole structure are improved by using CFRP full-wrap reinforcement and strip reinforcement models with different coverage areas. The damage degree of the column decreases, the damage degree of the beam increases, and the failure mode changes from "column hinge" to "beam hinge". Simultaneously, different CFRP reinforcement areas and the distance between strip CFRP have different reinforcement effects on concrete structures. Based on the investigation results, the recommended ratio of CFRP strip to spacing is 1 to 1.25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In visible light communication (VLC), the precise latency evaluation of wireless access networks and the efficient forwarding strategy of core networks are the crux for end-to-end reliability provisioning. Leveraging martingale theory, an elegant latency-bounded reliability analysis framework is studied for the VLC network. Considering the characteristic that VLC links are easy to block, the martingale of the service process is constructed. Based on the time shift features, the martingale process related to latency is proposed for the VLC system, which models the influence of entanglement between aggregate arrivals and random service on latency. A stopping time event about latency is defined. Renting the stopping time theory, a tight upper bound of the unreliability with regard to latency is derived. In the core network, a dynamic forward backhaul framework is proposed, which uses the relay selection algorithm based on back-pressure theory to improve data transmission quality. The theoretical latency-bounded reliability matches the simulation results well, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed analysis framework, and the proposed relay selection algorithm can also improve network performance under data-intensive transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable, green, and safe natural biopolymer-derived materials are highly desired for the purification of pollutants, but significantly improving their performance without the introduction of additional harmful chemicals remains a huge challenge. Based on the concept of "structure optimization design", environment-friendly composite beads (named SA/PASP/RE) with excellent adsorption performance and recyclability were rationally constructed through a green ionic crosslinking route, using the completely green biopolymer sodium alginate (SA), sodium salt of polyaspartic acid (PASP), and the natural nanoclay rectorite (RE) as starting materials. The nano-layered RE was embedded in the polymer matrix to prevent the polymer chain from becoming over-entangled so that more adsorption sites inside the polymer network were exposed, which effectively improved the mass transfer efficiency of the adsorbent and the removal rate of contaminants. The composite beads embedded with 0.6% RE showed high adsorption capacities of 211.78, 197.13, and 195.69 mg/g for Pb(II) and 643.00, 577.80, and 567.10 mg/g for methylene blue (MB) in Yellow River water, Yangtze River water, and tap water, respectively. And the beads embedded with 43% RE could efficiently adsorb Pb(II) and MB with high capacities of 187.78 mg/g and 586.46 mg/g, respectively. This study provides a new route to design and develop a green, cost-effective, and efficient adsorbent for the decontamination of wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Persistent inflammation, immunosuppression, and catabolic syndrome (PICS) are the main causes of poor outcomes in patients transferred out of ICU. Hyaluronic acid has a potential function to alleviate PICS, and, as a widely accepted food additive, HA can be consumed through food products such as dairy products, greatly increasing patient medical compliance. This study evaluated the remission effect of PICS model mice after oral administration of HA with different molecular weights. The results showed a nonlinear relationship between HA molecular weight and its effect of intervention with symptoms in PICS mice and the high molecular weight HA (HMW-HA) was more effective in relieving symptoms in PICS model mice. Therefore, we believe that HMW-HA can be used to prepare functional foods for the purpose of intervening with PICS disease. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a new functional food additive which has the potential to ameliorate persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome (PICS), but the biological effects of HA with various molecular weights differ dramatically. To systematically investigate the efficacy of HA in altering PICS symptoms, medium-molecular-weight (MMW) HA was specifically selected to test its intervention effect on a PICS mouse model induced by CLP through oral administration, with high-molecular-weight (HMW) and low-molecular-weight (LMW) HA also participating in the experimental validation process. The results of pathological observations and gut flora showed that MMW HA rapidly alleviated lung lesions and intestinal structural changes in PICS mice in the short term. However, although long-term MMW HA administration significantly reduced the proportions of harmful bacteria in gut flora, inflammatory responses in the intestines and lungs of PICS mice were significantly higher in the MMW HA group than in the HMW HA and LMW HA groups. The use of HMW HA not only rapidly reduced the mortality rate of PICS mice but also improved their grip strength and the recovery of spleen and thymus indices. Furthermore, it consistently promoted the recovery of lung and intestinal tissues in PICS mice, and it also assisted in the sustained restoration of their gut microbiota. These effects were superior to those of LMW HA and MMW HA. The experimental results indicate that HMW weight HA has the greatest potential to be an adjunct in alleviating PICS as a food additive, while the safety of other HAs requires further attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tunnel smooth blasting, optimizing the water interval charging structure of peripheral holes is of great significance in improving the effect of smooth blasting and reducing the unit consumption of explosives. Addressing the issue of a single traditional evaluation standard, this paper proposes a composite index evaluation method for rock blasting damage in different zones, and the best charging structure is optimized according to the evaluation results. Taking Liyue Road Tunnel Light Smooth Blasting Project in Chongqing as the Research Background, the numeric models were established with ten kinds of charge structures, the charge structures and explosive quantity were optimized according to the evaluation results, and then the field tests were conducted. The results show that when the length of the water medium at the bottom of the hole is 20 cm, the damage range of the retained rock mass can be controlled while ensuring rock fragmentation. If the length of the water medium at the orifice and in the center of the hole is more than 30 cm, it will affect the superposition effect of the blast stress wave, resulting in under-excavation; in the preferred charge structure, the ratio of the length of the upper and lower explosives reaches 1:3, and the ratio of the length of the water medium is 2:2:1, which achieves a better rock-breaking effect in the field test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In current pig farming, pigs are susceptible to stress-induced adverse emotions. Emotional contagion may propagate these emotions within a herd, potentially affecting overall welfare. Typically, treatments of individual pigs should be conducted separately from the group. Thus, after separation from treatment on an individual pig, the behavioral responses and heart rate changes of the companion pig were recorded to determine if the sensory avoidance was effective. It was found that peers were still affected by the treated pigs after sensory avoidance. Separation from treatment does not eliminate the effects of the treated pig on companion pigs, which can still be affected in post-treatment contact. In the pig farming industry, it is recommended to avoid groups when treating individuals to reduce adverse reactions in the group. However, can this eliminate the adverse effects effectively? Piglets were assigned to the Rewarding Group (RG), the Punishing Group (PG), and the Paired Control Group (PCG). There were six replicates in each group, with two paired piglets per replicate. One piglet of the RG and PG was randomly selected as the Treated pig (TP), treated with food rewards or electric shock, and the other as the Naive pig (NP). The NPs in the RG and PG were unaware of the treatment process, and piglets in the PCG were not treated. The behavior and heart rate changes of all piglets were recorded. Compared to the RG, the NPs in the PG showed longer proximity but less contact behavior, and the TPs in the PG showed more freezing behavior. The percentage change in heart rate of the NPs was synchronized with the TPs. This shows that after sensory avoidance, the untreated pigs could also feel the emotions of their peers and their emotional state was affected by their peers, and the negative emotions in the pigs lasted longer than the positive emotions. The avoidance process does not prevent the transfer of negative emotions to peers via emotional contagion from the stimulated pig. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) swarm is used for edge computing, and high-speed data transmission is required, accurate tracking of the UAV swarm's centroid is of great significance for the acquisition and synchronization of signal demodulation. Accurate centroid tracking can also be applied to accurate communication beamforming and angle tracking, bringing about a reception gain. Group target tracking (GTT) offers a suitable framework for tracking the centroids of UAV swarms. GTT typically involves accurate modeling of target maneuvering behavior and effective state filtering. However, conventional coordinate-uncoupled maneuver models and multi-model filtering methods encounter difficulties in accurately tracking highly maneuverable UAVs. To address this, an innovative approach known as 3DCDM-based GRU-MM is introduced for tracking the maneuvering centroid of a UAV swarm. This method employs a multi-model filtering technique assisted by a gated recurrent unit (GRU) network based on a suitable 3D coordinate-coupled dynamic model. The proposed dynamic model represents the centroid's tangential load, normal load, and roll angle as random processes, from which a nine-dimensional unscented Kalman filter is derived. A GRU is utilized to update the model weights of the multi-model filtering. Additionally, a smoothing-differencing module is presented to extract the maneuvering features from position observations affected by measurement noise. The resulting GRU-MM method achieved a classification accuracy of 99.73%, surpassing that of the traditional IMM algorithm based on the same model. Furthermore, our proposed 3DCDM-based GRU-MM method outperformed the Singer-KF and 3DCDM-based IMM-EKF in terms of the RMSE for position estimation, which provides a basis for further edge computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever-increasing world population and environmental stress are leading to surging demand for nutrient-rich food products with cleaner labeling and improved sustainability. Plant proteins, accordingly, are gaining enormous popularity compared with counterpart animal proteins in the food industry. While conventional plant protein sources, such as wheat and soy, cause concerns about their allergenicity, peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, and other pulses are becoming important staples owing to their agronomic and nutritional benefits. However, the utilization of pulse proteins is still limited due to unclear pulse protein characteristics and the challenges of characterizing them from extensively diverse varieties within pulse crops. To address these challenges, the origins and compositions of pulse crops were first introduced, while an overarching description of pulse protein physiochemical properties, e.g., interfacial properties, aggregation behavior, solubility, etc., are presented. For further enhanced functionalities, appropriate modifications (including chemical, physical, and enzymatic treatment) are necessary. Among them, non-covalent complexation and enzymatic strategies are especially preferable during the value-added processing of clean-label pulse proteins for specific focus. This comprehensive review aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the interrelationships between the composition, structure, functional characteristics, and advanced modification strategies of pulse proteins, which is a pillar of high-performance pulse protein in future food manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Prosthetic rehabilitation is essential for upper limb amputees to regain their ability to work. However, the abandonment rate of prosthetics is higher than 50% due to the high cost of rehabilitation. Virtual technology shows potential for improving the availability and cost-effectiveness of prosthetic rehabilitation. This article systematically reviews the application of virtual technology for the prosthetic rehabilitation of upper limb amputees. (2) Methods: We followed PRISMA review guidance, STROBE, and CASP to evaluate the included articles. Finally, 17 articles were screened from 22,609 articles. (3) Results: This study reviews the possible benefits of using virtual technology from four aspects: usability, flexibility, psychological affinity, and long-term affordability. Three significant challenges are also discussed: realism, closed-loop control, and multi-modality integration. (4) Conclusions: Virtual technology allows for flexible and configurable control rehabilitation, both during hospital admissions and after discharge, at a relatively low cost. The technology shows promise in addressing the critical barrier of current prosthetic training issues, potentially improving the practical availability of prosthesis techniques for upper limb amputees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, to establish the biomechanical characteristics of commercial vehicle drivers' muscles and bones while operating the three pedals, a driver pedal-operation simulator was built, and the real-life situation was reconstructed in OpenSim 3.3 software. We set up three seat heights to investigate the drivers' lower limbs, and the research proceeded in two parts: experiment and simulation. Chinese adult males in the 95th percentile were selected as the research participants. In the experiment, Delsys wireless surface electromyography (EMG) sensors were used to collect the EMG signals of the four main muscle groups of the lower limbs when the drivers operated the three pedals. Then, we analyzed the muscle activation and the degree of muscle fatigue. The simulation was based on OpenSim software to analyze the driver's lower limb joint angles and joint torque. The results show that the activation of the hamstrings, gastrocnemius, and rectus femoris muscles were higher in the four muscle groups. In respect of torque, in most cases, hip joint torque > knee joint torque > ankle joint torque. The knee joint angles were the largest, and the ankle joint angles changed the most. The experimental results provide a reference for improving drivers' handling comfort in commercial vehicles and provide theoretical bases for cab design and layout optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete removal of low concentration organic pollutants from wastewater to obtain clean water has always been a highly desired but challenging issue. In response to this, we proposed a new strategy to fabricate a carbon-in-silicate nanohybrid composite by recycling dye-loaded layered clay adsorbent and converting them to new heterogeneous carbon-in-silicate nanocomposite through an associated calcination-hydrothermal activation process. It has been confirmed that most of the dye molecules were present in waste rectorite adsorbent using an intercalation mode, which can be in situ converted to carbon in the confined interlayer spacing of rectorite. The further hydrothermal activation process may further improve the pore structure and increase surface active sites. As expected, the optimal composite shows extremely high removal rates of 99.6% and 99.5% for Methylene blue (MB) and Basic Red 14 (BR) at low concentrations (25 mg/L), respectively. In addition, the composite adsorbent also shows high removal capacity for single-component and two-component dyes in deionized water and actual water (i.e., Yellow River water, Yangtze River water, and seawater) with a removal rate higher than 99%. The adsorbent has good reusability, and the adsorption efficiency is still above 93% after five regeneration cycles. The waste clay adsorbent-derived composite adsorbent can be used as an inexpensive material for the decontamination of dyed wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing demand for higher-speed and large-capacity data communications has driven the development of constellation shaping technology. This paper proposes a hybrid constellation shaping scheme for 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (64QAM) based on hexagonal lattice of a constellation subset. The proposed scheme aims to enhance the nonlinear tolerance of higher-order modulated signals and further improve the constellation shaping gain. The initial quantitative characterization of the constellation is firstly performed based on the hexagonal lattice structure. Then, the objective function of maximizing constellation figure of merits (CFM) is utilized to determine the position distribution of constellation points, resulting in the generation of the geometric shaping-64QAM (GS-64QAM) signal. Finally, according to concentric hexagonal layers, all constellation points are divided into multiple subsets where points within the same subset are assigned the same probability, and the hybrid shaping-64QAM (HS-64QAM) signal is generated. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, the experimental verification was demonstrated in a 120 Gbit/s multi-span coherent optical communication system. Experimental results indicate that, at the soft-decision forward error correction threshold, HS-64QAM achieves an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) gain of 1.9 dB and 4.1 dB over uniform GS-64QAM in back-to-back and 375 km transmission scenarios, respectively. Furthermore, HS-64QAM achieves an OSNR gain of 2.7 dB and 7.6 dB over uniform Square-64QAM in back-to-back and 375 km transmission scenarios, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visible-light-based transmission application plays an important role in various types of sensor services for the Internet of Things (IoTs). However, in big data scenarios, current visible-light-based systems cannot achieve concurrent high-speed communication, low-speed communication, and positioning. Therefore, in this article, we propose a smart visible-light-based fusion applications system, named Fasys, to solve the above problem for the big data traffic with heterogeneity. Specifically, for low-speed data services, we propose a novel linear block coding and bit interleaving mechanism, which enhances the LED positioning accuracy and recovers the lost data bits in the interframe gap (IFG). For high-speed data services with traffic possessing burstiness, an elegant statistical reliability analysis framework in regard to latency is proposed based on martingale theory. The backlog martingale process is constructed. Leveraging stopping time theory, a tight upper bound of unreliability is obtained. An arrival abstraction and traffic allocation scheme is designed, which contributes to decouple the reliability requirement as the maximum supportable arrival load. Finally, we implement our Fasys system, and extensive experimental results show that our system can achieve consistent high-precision positioning and low-BER data communication for low-speed data services. And the proposed martingale-based traffic allocation scheme can achieve the provisioning of reliability in regard to the latency for high-speed data services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on lattimo glass, also known as milk glass, and analyzes the influence of Chinese porcelain on its creation in Venice through the study of its transmission path and revival. It also explores the role of religion in the glass trade between China and Italy from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, with a particular focus on religious iconography. By relying on previous research on the religious iconography of glass during this period and analyzing precious glass objects, this paper aims to examine the brief popularity and decline of lattimo glass as an imitation of Chinese Ming porcelain in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries, as well as the significance and impact of religious iconography on lattimo glass during the eighteenth century. The paper approaches the process of the introduction of Chinese aesthetics in Europe during this period from three angles: the origin of lattimo glass, the cross-media imitation and innovation of Chinese religious iconography, and cultural interaction. This process highlights the crucial role of influential religious imagery in the formation of cross-cultural communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing an effective method to achieve stability and improve the quality of Tibetan tea has scientific significance. Aspergillus niger K1 isolated and identified from Tibetan tea was inoculated in unsterilized or sterilized tea leaves to develop the bioaugmented fermentation (BF) and normal fermentation (NF) processes of Tibetan tea. The results showed that BF resulted in infusions with a deeper color, a stronger aroma, and a thicker taste compared to NF. The dominant bacterium in BF was Staphylococcus (23.76%), while the dominant fungus was Blastobotrys adeninivorans (50.95%). Moreover, 859 metabolites were identified, and the level of 90 differentially changed metabolites (DCMs) in BF increased significantly (VIP > 1, p < 0.05, FC > 2) compared to those in NF, while the level of 37 DCMs in BF decreased significantly (VIP > 1, p < 0.05, FC < 0.5). Correlation analysis demonstrated that A. niger significantly positively correlated with theabrownins, caffeine, and glutamylisoleucine (p < 0.05, |r| > 0.8). B. adeninivorans showed significant negative correlations with 1-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-1,4-dihydronicotinamide and 2-hydroxyacetaminophen sulfate (p < 0.05, |r| > 0.8). Consequently, the inoculation of A. niger for BF has the potential to alter the metabolites in tea through a synergistic interaction with other microorganisms, ultimately improving the sensory quality of Tibetan tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To find the optimal main ingredient ratio of compound fruit wine for enriching the varieties of lycopene-enriched fruit products and improving their economic value, fuzzy mathematics sensory evaluation and the D-optimal mixture design were considered. Under the main ingredient ratios of tomato juice, papaya juice, carrot juice, and gac fruit juice of 27.2%, 27.5%, 10.0%, and 35.3%, respectively, a clear and transparent compound fruit wine with a full-bodied fruit and wine aroma and mellow taste can be obtained. Meanwhile, a total of 406 metabolites were identified in the compound fruit wine, which were classified into nine superclasses including lipids and lipid-like molecules (150), organic acids and derivatives (69), and others. The relative levels of 54 metabolites after optimization were decreased significantly (VIP > 1.0, p < 0.05, FC < 0.5), while the relative levels of 106 metabolites including lycopene and (13Z)-lycopene were increased significantly (VIP > 1.0, p < 0.05, FC > 2). Furthermore, the EC50 values of this compound fruit wine after optimization of the main ingredient ratio for scavenging ABTS+·, DPPH·, O2−·, and ·OH were 78.62%, 57.74%, 42.85%, and 59.91%, respectively. Together, a compound fruit wine rich in lycopene with antioxidant activities was manufactured, which has application potential in the development of functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the large-scale use of the Internet of Things, security issues have become increasingly prominent. The accurate detection of network attacks in the IoT environment with limited resources is a key problem that urgently needs to be solved. The intrusion detection system based on network traffic characteristics is one of the solutions for IoT security. However, the intrusion detection system has the problem of a large number of traffic features, which makes training and detection slow. Aiming at this problem, this work proposes a feature selection method based on a genetic algorithm. The experiments performed on the Bot-IoT botnet detection dataset show that this method successfully selects 6 features from the original 40 features, with a detection accuracy of 99.98% and an F1-score of 99.63%. Compared with other methods and without feature selection, this method has advantages in training time and detection accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brilliant effect of the Buddha not only strengthens Buddhist believers' psychological effects of worship, consecration, and showing off of merits, but also becomes an important dissemination method to attract the public to join in. Starting from the golden skin of ancient Buddha statues, this paper analyzes the relevant historical documents and unearthed objects of gilded Buddha statues in ancient India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China and pays attention to the body decoration and technology dissemination as well as the process and influence of Chinese localization. In traditional Buddhist culture, gold technology and its application have an important impact on artistic expression, appearance protection, and the psychology of Buddhist statues. In the Late Tang Dynasty, the government and Buddhism suffered conflicts between supply and demand due to gold resources. The forced stripping of gilded Buddha statues became a historical epitome reflecting the deep social and economic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TC4/AlSi12 bimetallic structures (BS) with Nb interlayer transition were fabricated by laser additive manufacturing (LAM). The results showed that the TC4/AlSi12 BS with Nb interlayer prepared with optimized process parameters can be divided into three regions (the TC4 region, Nb region and the AlSi12 region) and two interfaces (the TC4/Nb interface and the Nb/AlSi12 interface). The high melting point (Ti, Nb) solid solution formed in the Nb region acted as a diffusion barrier between the TC4 alloy and the AlSi12 alloy, thereby effectively inhibiting the formation of Ti-Al intermetallic compounds (IMCs). With the decrease of the laser output power for AlSi12 deposition, the NbAl3 IMC changed from layered to dispersed distribution, while γ-TiAl and Ti5Si3 IMC disappeared, thus significantly reducing the crack susceptibility of the BS deposited layer. The tensile strength of TC4/AlSi12 BS with Nb interlayer was about 128MPa, and the fracture was located near the Nb/AlSi12 interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saliency detection is a key research topic in the field of computer vision. Humans can be accurately and quickly mesmerized by an area of interest in complex and changing scenes through the visual perception area of the brain. Although existing saliency-detection methods can achieve competent performance, they have deficiencies such as unclear margins of salient objects and the interference of background information on the saliency map. In this study, to improve the defects during saliency detection, a multiscale cascaded attention network was designed based on ResNet34. Different from the typical U-shaped encoding–decoding architecture, we devised a contextual feature extraction module to enhance the advanced semantic feature extraction. Specifically, a multiscale cascade block (MCB) and a lightweight channel attention (CA) module were added between the encoding and decoding networks for optimization. To address the blur edge issue, which is neglected by many previous approaches, we adopted the edge thinning module to carry out a deeper edge-thinning process on the output layer image. The experimental results illustrate that this method can achieve competitive saliency-detection performance, and the accuracy and recall rate are improved compared with those of other representative methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spodoptera frugiperda is one of the world's major agricultural pests and it occurs in many countries around the world. In Lepidoptera, the peritrophic membrane in the midgut protects the midgut epithelial cells and facilitates the digestion and absorption of food. Its main components are chitin and protein. Chitin synthase (CHS), as the last enzyme in the chitin biosynthesis pathway, is very important. Here, the expression of chitin synthase B (CHSB) gene identified from midgut was inhibited by RNA interference to explore its function in the metabolism of trehalose and chitin of S. frugiperda larvae. The results were as follows: SfCHSB was highly expressed in actively feeding larvae. Second, knockdown of SfCHSB resulted in decreased expression of most genes involved in chitin metabolism, including chitinase, and abnormal phenotypes of S. frugiperda were observed. In addition, membrane-bound trehalase activity and glucose content increased, and trehalose content decreased at 24 h after dsSfCHSB injection. Trehalase activities increased significantly and the glycogen content decreased at 48 h after dsSfCHSB injection. Finally, the activity of chitinase decreased and the content of chitin increased significantly. Our results indicate that SfCHSB expression is specific, SfCHSB has a large role in regulating chitin metabolism, and it has broad application prospects in the biocontrol of S. frugiperda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the large-scale application of the Internet of Things (IoT), security issues have become increasingly prominent. Device identification is an effective way to secure IoT environment by quickly identifying the category or model of devices in the network. Currently, the passive fingerprinting method used for IoT device identification based on network traffic flow mostly focuses on protocol features in packet headers but does not consider the direction and length of packet sequences. This paper proposes a device identification method for the IoT based on directional packet length sequences in network flows and a deep convolutional neural network. Each value in a packet length sequence represents the size and transmission direction of the corresponding packet. This method constructs device fingerprints from packet length sequences and uses convolutional layers to extract deep features from the device fingerprints. Experimental results show that this method can effectively recognize device identity with accuracy, recall, precision, and f1-score over 99%. Compared with methods using traditional machine learning and feature extraction techniques, our feature representation is more intuitive, and the classification model is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Canine mammary tumors (CMTs) are the most common neoplasms in female dogs, and their high rate of recurrence and metastasis result in a poor prognosis; therefore, timely and effective diagnosis is essential. In this study, the tumors were identified by histopathology and combined with X-ray and ultrasonography to assess the presence of organ metastases. Changes in certain indicators that suggested multiple direct or paraneoplastic changes associated with tumors were detected/suspected by hematological examination. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed that HER-2 serum concentrations were significantly different between healthy dogs and dogs with malignant tumors. mRNA expression of HER-2, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin, CEA, CA15-3 and SF were measured in CMT tissues by qPCR. The expression of these tumor markers (except for E-cadherin) in the malignant tumor group was significantly higher than in the benign group and the healthy control group (p < 0.05), however, there were no significant differences between the benign mammary tumor group and the healthy control group (p > 0.05). Measurement of biomarkers in dogs by serological and molecular biological assays represents a milestone in the early diagnosis of tumors, assessment of disease progression and response to chemotherapy. Canine mammary tumors (CMTs) are one of the most common tumors in female dogs, and they are associated with a poor prognosis owing to their high rate of recurrence and metastasis rates, which make their diagnosis especially important in clinical veterinary medicine. In this study, the characteristics of tumors were observed in dogs suffering from CMTs, and clinical diagnosis and histopathology were used to identify tumors. Furthermore, the expression levels of tumor markers for CMTs were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and quantitative PCR (qPCR). Upon clinical examination, dogs with CMTs displayed a distinct and irregular mass in the mammary gland, and X-ray (Latero-lateral and ventro-dorsal views) and ultrasonography of the abdomen revealed a moderately echogenic mass at the mammary gland with slightly stronger density than the surrounding tissue. A total of 30 tumors were identified by histopathology, 11 benign and 19 malignant. Changes in some indicators in dogs suffering from CMTs and healthy dogs suggested that there were multiple direct or paraneoplastic changes associated with tumors that could be detected/suspected by hematological examination, and ELISA revealed the HER-2 serum concentrations were significantly different between healthy animals and those with malignant tumors. qPCR indicated that tumor markers N-cadherin, Vimentin, HER-2, CEA, CA15-3 and SF were higher in dogs with malignant tumors than healthy dogs, with a low level of E-cadherin in malignant tumors. This study verified that serological tests and molecular biological tests were essential to the early diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of dogs with tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The typical microstructure of the laser melting deposition (LMD) additive-manufactured Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si alloy (TC11) contains the heat-affected bands (HABs), the narrow bands (NBs) and the melting pools (MPs) that formed due to the reheating and superheating effects during the layer-by-layer manufacturing process. Characterization results indicated that the coarse primary α lath (αp) and transformed β (βt) structures were located in the HABs, while the fine basketweave structure was formed inside the MPs. The rapid modifications of microstructure and tensile properties of the LMD-TC11 via electropulsing treatment (EPT) were investigated. The initial heterogeneous microstructure transformed into a complete basketweave structure and the HABs vanished after EPT. Thus, a more homogeneous microstructure was achieved in the EPT sample. The ultrafast microstructural changes were mainly attributed to the solid state phase transformation during electropulsing. The tensile properties of the sample were basically stable, except that the yield strength decreased as EPT voltage increased. This study suggests that EPT could be a promising method to modify the microstructure and mechanical properties of the additive-manufactured alloys in a very short time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cut blasting creates new free surfaces that facilitate rock breaking and reduces blast vibration. However, the time when the new free surface is formed is not clear in on-site blasting practices. This paper proposes a method to identify this formation time through a vibration energy comparison. Firstly, a variational mode decomposition method identified the initiation time sequence of high-precision detonators from the observed blast-induced vibration wave. Based on the superposition of the single-hole waves extracted from the single-free-surface blasting test, we constructed a predicted wave that shared the initiation time sequence with the observed one. The Hilbert transform found the accumulated energy curves of the two waves separately. By comparing the linear correlation of the two curves, we identified the new free surface's formation time to improve the blast design. The tunnel-blasting case showed that 64.5 ms was required to form the new free surface. In the actual blasting, each cut hole used 1.0 kg of explosives. The maximum vibration velocity was 0.90 cm·s−1, which met the control target of less than 1.0 cm·s−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the phenomenon of pressure servo valve system self-excited oscillation is studied, the dynamic model of the system is established, and the validity of the model is verified by experimental analysis. On this basis, it is concluded that the pressure oscillation with constant amplitude and nondecaying is caused by self-excited oscillation. Such a phenomenon comes from unreasonable structure design of pressure servo valve. Moreover, the factors affecting pressure oscillation are evaluated qualitatively. In order to suppress the pressure self-excited oscillation, this paper proposes a pressure servo valve structure optimization method based on weakening the positive feedback effect of the backpressure. The simulation results show that the method can effectively eliminate the system self-excited oscillation. The stability margin analysis shows that after the structure optimization, the pressure servo valve system has adequate stability margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citrus melanose is a fungal disease caused by Diaporthe citri F.A. Wolf. It is found in various citrus-growing locations across the world. The host range of D. citri is limited to plants of the Citrus genus. The most economically important hosts are Citrus reticulata (mandarin), C. sinensis (sweet orange), C. grandis or C. maxima (pumelo), and C. paradisi (grapefruit). In the life cycle of D. citri throughout the citrus growing season, pycnidia can be seen in abundance on dead branches, especially after rain, with conidia appearing as slimy masses discharged from the dead twigs. Raindrops can transmit conidia to leaves, twigs, and fruits, resulting in disease dispersion throughout small distances. Persistent rains and warm climatic conditions generally favor disease onset and development. The melanose disease causes a decline in fruit quality, which lowers the value of fruits during marketing and exportation. High rainfall areas should avoid planting susceptible varieties. In this article, information about the disease symptoms, history, geographic distribution, epidemiology, impact, and integrated management practices, as well as the pathogen morphology and identification, was reviewed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a large-diameter shield crosses through bridge piles, stress and deformation of the bridge piles caused by tunnel excavation occurs. This is a an exciting topic of engineering research into the construction of subways. We considered an 15.8 m large-diameter shield machine made in China to excavate the Chunfeng tunnel as the background of our research. First, based on the previous engineering experience, reinforcement measures of the shield crossing the bridge piles were investigated. PLAXIS 3D finite element software was used to simulate the process of shield tunnelling through the piles of Hongling Interchange No. 1 Bridge. We analyzed the mechanical characteristics of the piles in the process of shield tunnelling through the bridge piles and evaluated the reliability of the reinforcement measures. Finally, combined with field monitoring data, the accuracy of the model and the rationality of the treatment measures were verified. This research considered a successful case of 15.8 m large-diameter adjacent shield tunnelling bridge piles. Analysis of the stratum and the mechanical behavior of bridge piles in the process of crossing provides a theoretical reference for engineering measures on similar projects in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement While Drilling (MWD) is the most commonly used real-time information acquisition technique in offshore intelligent drilling, its power supply has always been a concern. Triboelectric nanogenerators have been shown to harvest low-frequency vibrational energy in the environment and convert it into electricity to power small sensors and electrical devices. This work proposed a cantilever-beam-based triboelectric nanogenerator (CB-TENG) for transverse vibration energy harvesting of a drill pipe. The CB-TENG consists of two vibrators composed of spring steel with PTFE attached and Al electrodes. The structurally optimized CB-TENG can output a peak power of 2.56 mW under the vibration condition of f = 3.0 Hz and A = 50 mm, and the electrical output can be further enhanced with the increased vibration parameters. An array-type vibration energy harvester integrated with eight CB-TENGs is designed to fully adapt to the interior of the drill pipe and improve output performance. The device can realize omnidirectional vibration energy harvesting in the two-dimensional plane with good robustness. Under the typical vibration condition, the short-circuit current and the peak power can reach 49.85 μA and 30.95 mW, respectively. Finally, a series of demonstration experiments have been carried out, indicating the application prospects of the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter (TIADC) is a good option for high sampling rate applications. However, the inevitable sample-and-hold (S/H) mismatches between channels incur undesirable error and then affect the TIADC's dynamic performance. Several calibration methods have been proposed for S/H mismatches which either need training signals or have less extensive applicability for different input signals and different numbers of channels. This paper proposes a statistics-based calibration algorithm for S/H mismatches in M-channel TIADCs. Initially, the mismatch coefficients are identified by eliminating the statistical differences between channels. Subsequently, the mismatch-induced error is approximated by employing variable multipliers and differentiators in several Richardson iterations. Finally, the error is subtracted from the original output signal to approximate the expected signal. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the selection of key parameters and the advantage to other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harvesting acoustic energy in the environment and converting it into electricity can provide essential ideas for self-powering the widely distributed sensor devices in the age of the Internet of Things. In this study, we propose a low-cost, easily fabricated and high-performance coniform Helmholtz resonator-based Triboelectric Nanogenerator (CHR-TENG) with the purpose of acoustic energy harvesting. Output performances of the CHR-TENG with varied geometrical sizes were systematically investigated under different acoustic energy conditions. Remarkably, the CHR-TENG could achieve a 58.2% higher power density per unit of sound pressure of acoustic energy harvesting compared with the ever-reported best result. In addition, the reported CHR-TENG was demonstrated by charging a 1000 μF capacitor up to 3 V in 165 s, powering a sensor for continuous temperature and humidity monitoring and lighting up as many as five 0.5 W commercial LED bulbs for acoustic energy harvesting. With a collection features of high output performance, lightweight, wide frequency response band and environmental friendliness, the cleverly designed CHR-TENG represents a practicable acoustic energy harvesting approach for powering sensor devices in the age of the Internet of Things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The scarab beetle Holotrichia parallela is a serious underground pest and causes serious damages in China to a variety of crops. To reduce the use of pesticides, insect olfactory proteins attract more and more attention in the development of pollution-free control agents in plant protection. In this study, we evaluate the molecular mechanism in the scarab beetle to detect oviposition cues. We clone a leg biased gene HparOBP14 which encodes for an odorant-binding protein of the scarab beetle and demonstrate its involvement in binding, electrophysiological, and behavioral responses to the oviposition chemicals by the knockdown of HparOBP14 expression using RNA interference technique. Our study provides a strong theoretical basis for the development of environmentally acceptable strategies for H. parallela control. Holotrichia parallela is one of the agriculturally important scarab beetle pests in China. In this study, HparOBP14 was cloned, which is the most abundantly expressed among the OBP genes in the legs of female H. parallela adults. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis showed that HparOBP14 has a Plus-C structure motif. The expression profile analysis revealed that HparOBP14 expression was the highest in the female antennae and then in the legs. The fluorescence competitive binding experiment of the recombinant HparOBP14 protein showed that HparOBP14 had an affinity with 6-methyl-5-heptene-2-one (plant volatile), 3-methylindole, p-cymene, methanol, formaldehyde, α-pinene, and geraniol (organic fertilizer volatile). Knockdown HparOBP14 expression decreased significantly the EAG response of the injected female adults to p-cymene, methanol, formaldehyde, α-pinene, and geraniol. Similarly, the injected female adults were significantly less attracted to geraniol and methanol. Therefore, HparOBP14 might bind organic matter volatiles during oviposition. These results are not only helpful to analyze the olfactory recognition mechanism of female adult H. parallela when choosing suitable oviposition sites, but also to provide target genes for green prevention and control of H. parallela in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Diaporthe eres is one of the most serious plant pathogenic fungi that affect many economically important plants. It can cause rootstock death, stem canker, stem necrosis, dead branch, shoot blight, fruit rot, leaf spot, leaf necrosis, and umbel browning. In general, morphological and molecular characterization using multiple loci sequences were performed for the identification of Diaporthe species. However, there are morphological differences due to culture conditions, and the taxonomy of species of Diaporthe is unclear because the phylogeny based on different genes gives different tree topologies. In this study, we evaluate the phylogenetic relationships and population diversity among D. eres and other Diaporthe species. Our results showed that phylogenetic analyses from concatenated multi-locus DNA sequence data could resolve the D. eres species. Furthermore, haplotype network analysis showed that no correlation existed between population diversity and distribution or hosts across China. These results could improve our understanding of the epidemiology of D. eres and provide useful information for effective disease management. Diaporthe eres is considered one of the most important causal agents of many plant diseases, with a broad host range worldwide. In this study, multiple sequences of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), translation elongation factor 1-α gene (EF1-α), beta-tubulin gene (TUB2), calmodulin gene (CAL), and histone-3 gene (HIS) were used for multi-locus phylogenetic analysis. For phylogenetic analysis, maximum likelihood (ML), maximum parsimony (MP), and Bayesian inferred (BI) approaches were performed to investigate relationships of D. eres with closely related species. The results strongly support that the D. eres species falls into a monophyletic lineage, with the characteristics of a species complex. Phylogenetic informativeness (PI) analysis showed that clear boundaries could be proposed by using EF1-α, whereas ITS showed an ineffective reconstruction and, thus, was unsuitable for speciating boundaries for Diaporthe species. A combined dataset of EF1-α, CAL, TUB2, and HIS showed strong resolution for Diaporthe species, providing insights for the D. eres complex. Accordingly, besides D. biguttusis, D. camptothecicola, D. castaneae-mollissimae, D. cotoneastri, D. ellipicola, D. longicicola, D. mahothocarpus, D. momicola, D. nobilis, and Phomopsis fukushii, which have already been previously considered the synonymous species of D. eres, another three species, D. henanensis, D. lonicerae and D. rosicola, were further revealed to be synonyms of D. eres in this study. In order to demonstrate the genetic diversity of D. eres species in China, 138 D. eres isolates were randomly selected from previous studies in 16 provinces. These isolates were obtained from different major plant species from 2006 to 2020. The genetic distance was estimated with phylogenetic analysis and haplotype networks, and it was revealed that two major haplotypes existed in the Chinese populations of D. eres. The haplotype networks were widely dispersed and not uniquely correlated to specific populations. Overall, our analyses evaluated the phylogenetic identification for D. eres species and demonstrated the population diversity of D. eres in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opium poppies are a major source of traditional drugs, which are not only harmful to physical and mental health, but also threaten the economy and society. Monitoring poppy cultivation in key regions through remote sensing is therefore a crucial task; the location coordinates of poppy parcels represent particularly important information for their eradication by local governments. We propose a new methodology based on deep learning target detection to identify the location of poppy parcels and map their spatial distribution. We first make six training datasets with different band combinations and slide window sizes using two ZiYuan3 (ZY3) remote sensing images and separately train the single shot multibox detector (SSD) model. Then, we choose the best model and test its performance using 225 km2 verification images from Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), which exhibits a precision of 95% for a recall of 85%. The speed of our method is 4.5 km2/s on 1080TI Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). This study is the first attempt to monitor opium poppies with the deep learning method and achieve a high recognition rate. Our method does not require manual feature extraction and provides an alternative way to rapidly obtain the exact location coordinates of opium poppy cultivation patches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyurethane/urea copolymers based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PURPEG) were exposed to weakly ionized, highly reactive low-pressure oxygen plasma to improve their sorption kinetics. The plasma was sustained with an inductively coupled radiofrequency generator operating at various power levels in either E-mode (up to the forward power of 300 W) or H-mode (above 500 W). The treatments that used H-mode caused nearly instant thermal degradation of the polymer samples. The density of the charged particles in E-mode was on the order of 10 16 m -3 , which prevented material destruction upon plasma treatment, but the density of neutral O-atoms in the ground state was on the order of 10 21 m -3 . The evolution of plasma characteristics during sample treatment in E-mode was determined by optical emission spectroscopy; surface modifications were determined by water adsorption kinetics and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; and etching intensity was determined by residual gas analysis. The results showed moderate surface functionalization with hydroxyl and carboxyl/ester groups, weak etching at a rate of several nm/s, rather slow activation down to a water contact angle of 30° and an ability to rapidly absorb water.