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The traditional shrub fruits harvesting method is manual picking, while the efficiency is low, which seriously restricts the development of Lycium barbarum L. industry. In order to mechanize the harvesting process of Lycium barbarum L. and improve the correct picking rate while reducing the damage rate of Lycium barbarum L. harvesting, it is very important to analyze the kinematic model of the fruit-bearing branch during vibration harvesting. Through the measurement and analysis of the natural characteristics and physical parameters of the branches, a simplified model of Lycium barbarum L. shrub fruit-bearing branch was built by Solidworks 2023 software, and the appropriate material properties were selected. Through modal analysis and harmonious response analysis, the response characteristics data of fruit-bearing branches of Lycium barbarum L. shrub were obtained. In Qinghai Nuomuhong Farm, the field vibration harvesting kinematic model feature analysis test was carried out, and the acceleration data of the vibration harvesting process were collected by using the acceleration sensor, and through the analysis of the frequency spectrum characteristics of the data, it was concluded that when the excitation frequency was maintained between 8 and 14 Hz, the Lycium barbarum L. fell off well and the picking rate can reach 97.56%, the efficiency can reach 6.88 pieces of fruit per second, and the branch damage was acceptable, which theoretically met the needs of harvesting.

Federated learning (FL) is a distributed machine learning approach that can enable Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices to collaboratively learn a machine learning model without explicitly sharing local data in order to achieve data clustering, prediction, and classification in networks. In previous works, some online multi-armed bandit (MAB)-based FL frameworks were proposed to enable dynamic client scheduling for improving the efficiency of FL in underwater wireless IoT networks. However, the security of online dynamic scheduling, which is especially essential for underwater wireless IoT, is increasingly being questioned. In this work, we study secure dynamic scheduling for FL frameworks that can protect against malicious clients in underwater FL-assisted wireless IoT networks. Specifically, in order to jointly optimize the communication efficiency and security of FL, we employ MAB-based methods and propose upper-confidence-bound-based smart contracts (UCB-SCs) and upper-confidence-bound-based smart contracts with a security prediction model (UCB-SCPs) to address the optimal scheduling scheme over time-varying underwater channels. Then, we give the upper bounds of the expected performance regret of the UCB-SC policy and the UCB-SCP policy; these upper bounds imply that the regret of the two proposed policies grows logarithmically over communication rounds under certain conditions. Our experiment shows that the proposed UCB-SC and UCB-SCP approaches significantly improve the efficiency and security of FL frameworks in underwater wireless IoT networks.

Mastitis (MAS), endometritis (MET), and ketosis (KET) are prevalent diseases in dairy cows that result in substantial economic losses for the dairy farming industry. This study gathered 26,014 records of the health and sickness of dairy cows and 99,102 data of reproduction from 13 Holstein dairy farms in Central China; the milk protein and milk fat content from 56,640 milk samples, as well as the pedigree data of 37,836 dairy cows were obtained. The logistic regression method was used to analyze the variations in the prevalence rates of MAS, MET, and KET among various parities; the mixed linear model was used to examine the effects of the three diseases on milk production, milk quality, and reproductive traits. DMU software (version 5.2) utilized the DMUAI module in conjunction with the single-trait and two-trait animal model, as well as best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP), to estimate the genetic parameters for the three diseases, milk production, milk quality, and reproductive traits in dairy cows. The primary findings of the investigation comprised the following: (1) The prevalence rates of MAS, MET, and KET in dairy farms were 20.04%, 10.68%, and 7.33%, respectively. (2) MAS and MET had a substantial impact (p < 0.01) on milk production, resulting in significant decreases of 112 kg and 372 kg in 305-d Milk Yield (305-d MY), 4 kg and 12 kg in 305-d Protein Yield (305-d PY), and 6 kg and 16 kg in 305-d Fat Yield (305-d FY). As a result of their excessive 305-d MY, some cows were diagnosed with KET due to glucose metabolism disorder. The 305-d MY of cows with KET was significantly higher than that of healthy cows (205 kg, p < 0.01). (3) All three diseases resulted in an increase in the Interval from Calving to First Service (CTFS, 0.60–1.50 d), Interval from First Service to Conception (FSTC, 0.20–16.20 d), Calving Interval (CI, 4.00–7.00 d), and Number of Services (NUMS, 0.07–0.35). (4) The heritabilities of cows with MAS, MET, and KET were found to be low, with values of 0.09, 0.01, and 0.02, respectively. The genetic correlation between these traits ranged from 0.14 to 0.44. This study offers valuable insights on the prevention and control of the three diseases, as well as feeding management and genetic breeding.

In order to evaluate the effects of acidifiers and essential oils in drinking water on growth, intestinal digestive capacity, and immune status in broilers, a total of 480, 1-day-old Arbore Acres broilers were randomly assigned to four treatments including normal tap water (Ctr) and tap water supplemented with acidifier I (ACI), acidifier I and essential oils (ACI+EO), and acidifier II (ACII). Both ACI+EO and ACII increased final body weight. The pH value of the crop and gizzards was reduced by ACI+EO, and ACII decreased the pH values of the proventriculus and gizzards (p < 0.05). Compared with control group, ACI, ACI+EO, ACII significantly enhanced lipase activity in jejunum but ACII decreased the level of serum total cholesterol and total triglyceride (p < 0.05). Compared with the control group, ACI+EO and ACII significantly increased the relative weight of the spleen, increased the level of serum IgA and IgM, and decreased E. coli in excreta, while ACII significantly decreased Salmonella in excreta (p Lactobacillus in excreta. In conclusion, ACI+EO improved immune status and ACII was effective in reducing Salmonella and promoting Lactobacillus, contributing to intestinal health.

With the increasing demand for lithium (Li) resources in industry, there has been new attention on clay-type lithium-rich deposits recently. In this study, a Li-rich clay deposit with a Li2O content up to 0.3% in the Liangshan Formation in the upper Yangtze, South China Block was demonstrated. We analysed the mineralogy and element geochemistry of the samples from the Liangshan Formation and its underlying and overlying layers. Kaolinite (average 53%, up to 93%) was the major mineral in the samples from the Liangshan Formation. The Li concentrations increased with increasing kaolinite compositions and Al2O3 concentrations. Furthermore, based on the geochemical indicators, it was suggested that the clay formation and Li enrichment were related to the weathering processes of the bottom impure limestone under the hot and wet climate, and the sedimentary processes in the anoxic, still, and flat land–sea interaction area in the Upper Yangtze. The Li was probably sourced from the bottom impure limestone during the weathering stage. The samples from the Liangshan Formation also showed REE enrichment from 117 to 729 μg/g.

The prediction of parking space availability plays a crucial role in information systems providing parking guidance. However, controversy persists regarding the efficiency and accuracy of mainstream time series prediction methods, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs). In this study, a comparison was made between a temporal convolutional network (TCN) based on CNNs and a long short-term memory (LSTM) network based on RNNs to determine an appropriate baseline for predicting parking space availability. Subsequently, a multi-head attention (MAT) mechanism was incorporated into an LSTM network, attempting to improve its accuracy. Experiments were conducted on three real and two synthetic datasets. The results indicated that the TCN achieved the fastest convergence, whereas the MAT-LSTM method provided the highest average accuracy, namely 0.0330 and 1.102 × 10−6, on the real and synthetic datasets, respectively. Furthermore, the improved MAT-LSTM model accomplished an increase of up to 48% in accuracy compared with the classic LSTM model. Consequently, we concluded that RNN-based networks are better suited for predicting long-time series. In particular, the MAT-LSTM method proposed in this study holds higher application value for predicting parking space availability with a higher accuracy.

Background: Prognostic factors for poor survival have been proposed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). We conducted a retrospective study on hematological profile after first cycle of chemotherapy for esophageal SCC patients receiving CCRT. Methods: From January 2008 to December 2017, a total of 420 patients with esophageal SCC were enrolled. All included patients had undergone CCRT. Complete blood count, differential count, NLR, and PLR before chemotherapy (CHT) and after first cycle of CHT were obtained. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to assess the association between survival and patient, disease, and treatment characteristics. Results: On univariate analysis, significant factors for overall survival (OS) and disease specific survival (DSS) included ECOG performance status, clinical staging, operation, cisplatin dose, prechemotherapy NLR and PLR, and elevated postchemotherapy NLR. On multivariate analysis, ECOG performance status 0–I, Clinical staging I–II, Operation, cisplatin dose >150 mg/m2, prechemotherapy PLR 9/L were independent factors for predicting better OS. Independent factors for predicting better DSS included ECOG performance status 0–I, Clinical staging I–II, Operation, cisplatin dose >150 mg/m2, and prechemotherapy PLR Conclusions: Our study showed that low levels of prechemotherapy PLR and NLR were associated with better OS and DSS. Elevated platelet count and NLR after first cycle of CHT were associated with better OS. Elevated PLR and NLR after first cycle of CHT were associated with better DSS.

Cross-species spillover to humans of coronaviruses (CoVs) from wildlife animal reservoirs poses marked and global threats to human and animal health. Recently, sporadic infection of canine coronavirus–human pneumonia-2018 (CCoV-HuPn-2018) in hospitalized patients with pneumonia genetically related to canine and feline coronavirus were identified. In addition, swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) had the capability of broad tropism to cultured cells including from humans. Together, the transmission of Alphacoronaviruses that originated in wildlife to humans via intermediate hosts was responsible for the high-impact emerging zoonosis. Entry of CoV is mainly mediated by Spike and formation of a typical six helix bundle (6-HB) structure in the postfusion state of Spike is pivotal. Here, we present the complete fusion core structures of CCoV-HuPn-2018 and SADS-CoV from Alphacoronavirus at 2.10 and 2.59 Å, respectively. The overall structure of the CCoV-HuPn-2018 fusion core is similar to Alphacoronavirus like HCoV-229E, while SADS-CoV is analogous to Betacoronavirus like SARS-CoV-2. Collectively, we provide a structural basis for the development of pan-CoV small molecules and polypeptides based on the HR1-HR2 complex, concerning CCoV-HuPn-2018 and SADS-CoV.

Pile composite foundations (PCFs) have been commonly applied in reinforcement engineering to adjust the vertical stiffness of foundations, due to the displacement control design criteria for foundations. PCFs that have dissimilar pile lengths, located over inclined bedrock, have shown significantly different vertical behaviors from PCFs with equal pile lengths, placed over a semi-infinite medium. However, the vertical behaviors of dissimilar PCFs over inclined bedrock cannot be predicted with the current theoretical methods, although they have been widely adopted in engineering. An analytical method is proposed in this investigation to analyze the vertical bearing characteristics of dissimilar PCFs over inclined bedrock. A pile–soil system is decomposed into fictitious piles and extended soil, and then a control equation to determine the axial force along the fictitious piles is established, stemming from the compatibility conditions between them. The vertical behaviors of dissimilar PCFs can be obtained by solving the control equation with iterative procedures, and the equation is verified by two field load tests of single piles from the Honghe bridge and a numerical case. Then, the settlement and load transfer behaviors of 3 × 1 dissimilar PCFs and their influence factors are analyzed, and the results are as follows. (1) Obvious differences can be observed concerning the axial force distribution, settlement w, and load-sharing ratio (LSR) of each pile element for different pile–soil stiffness ratios (Ep/Es). (2) The LSR of pile 1 increases from 0.074 to 0.253 for the rigid pile and from 0.062 to 0.161 for the flexible pile condition when the cushion stiffness Kc changes from 1 × 104 kN/m to 3 × 108 kN/m. The non-dimensional vertical stiffness of the foundation, N0/wdEs, increases from 10.21 to 28.95 for the rigid pile condition and increases from 8.69 to 14.44 for the flexible pile condition, when Kc increases from 1 × 104 kN/m to 4 × 105 kN/m. (3) The neutral layer depth of the pile zn, the average settlement w, and the differential settlement wd of each element head decrease with Kc, and no negative friction zone exists (zn = 0 m) for all the pile elements when Kc> 2 × 105 kN/m. (4) The N0/wdEs decreases with the distance between the pile bottom and the inclined bedrock Δ. For the rigid and flexible pile conditions, the N0/wdEs is 22.16 and 13.48 for Δ = 1 m, and 13.13 and 10.10 for Δ = 8 m. The wd reaches 16.7 mm and 4.0 mm for Δ = 1 m and Δ = 8 m, respectively. (5) The N0/wdEs increases almost linearly with an increase in l/d for the rigid pile condition, and it gradually decreases for the flexible pile condition. The developed model can improve the design and analysis of PCFs located over inclined bedrock under vertical loading.

The stress distribution in prestressed filament wound components plays a crucial role in determining the quality of these components during their operational lifespan. This article proposes a physical model to analyze the stress and deformation of prestressed wound composite components with arch-shaped sections. Drawing upon the principles of beam theory, we delve into the analysis of prestressed wound components with metal liners featuring arch-shaped sections. Our investigation revealed a noteworthy phenomenon termed the “additional bending moment effect” within prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections. Furthermore, this study establishes a relationship between this additional bending moment and the external pressure. In addition, a 3D finite element (FE) model for prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections incorporating metal liners was developed. The model’s accuracy was validated through a comparison with prestressed wound experiments, showcasing an error margin of less than 2%. In comparison with prestressed wound components with circular cross-sections under identical load and dimensional parameters, it was observed that prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections exhibit stress distributions in the arc segments akin to their circular counterparts, with differences not exceeding 5%. Notably, when the ratio of the straight segment length to the inner diameter of the arc segment inner is less than 4, the deformation on the symmetric plane of the arc segment in an arch-shaped component can be effectively considered as the summation of deformations in equivalent-sized arc and straight segments under identical loading conditions. This yields an equivalent physical model and a streamlined analysis and design methodology for describing the deformation characteristics of prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections.

Accurately estimating the pose of spacecraft is indispensable for space applications. However, such targets are generally non-cooperative, i.e., no markers are mounted on them, and they include no parts for operation. Therefore, the detection and measurement of a non-cooperative target is very challenging. Stereovision sensors are important solutions in the near field. In this paper, a rectangular natural feature recognition and pose measurement method for non-cooperative spacecraft is proposed. Solar panels of spacecraft were selected as detection objects, and their image features were captured via stereo vision. These rectangle features were then reconstructed in 3D Cartesian space through parallelogram fitting on the image planes of two cameras. The vertexes of rectangle features were detected and used to solve the pose of a non-cooperative target. An experimental system was built to validate the effectiveness of the algorithm. The experimental results show that the average position measurement error of the algorithm is about 10 mm and the average attitude measurement error is less than 1°. The results also show that the proposed method achieves high accuracy and efficiency.

To build a long-wave infrared catadioptric optical system for deep space low-temperature target detection with a lightweight and wide field of view, this work conducted a study that encompasses a local cooling optical system, topology optimization-based metal mirror design, and additive manufacturing. First, a compact catadioptric optical system with local cooling was designed. This system features a 55 mm aperture, a 110 mm focal length, and a 4-degree by 4-degree field of view. Secondly, we applied the principles of topology optimization to design the primary mirror assembly, the secondary mirror assembly, and the connecting baffle. The third and fourth modes achieved a resonance frequency of 1213.7 Hz. Then, we manufactured the mirror assemblies using additive manufacturing and single-point diamond turning, followed by the centering assembly method to complete the optical assembly. Lastly, we conducted performance testing on the system, with the test results revealing that the modulation transfer function (MTF) curves of the optical system reached the diffraction limit across the entire field of view. Remarkably, the system’s weight was reduced to a mere 96.04 g. The use of additive manufacturing proves to be an effective means of enhancing optical system performance.

Pile raft foundation (PRF) is a common foundation type for buildings and bridge piers which has been commonly subjected to eccentric vertical load in engineering applications. Dissimilar PRF is often adopted to reduce the excessive settlement and differential settlement of superstructures. The behavior of dissimilar PRF under eccentric vertical load is a significant issue and investigated with the boundary element method in this paper. In this method, the dissimilar pile–soil system is decomposed into extended soil elements and fictitious pile elements. The second kind of Fredholm integral governing equation of the axial force of fictitious piles is established based on the compatibility condition of axial strain between the extended soil and fictitious piles. An iterative procedure is adopted to analyze the average settlement w and rotation slope θ of raft stemming from the settlement compatibility condition of the top of each element and the equilibrium condition of the raft. Furthermore, the axial force and settlement of each element along its depth can be predicted. The corresponding results agree well with a reported case and the finite element method. The characteristics of 3 × 1 and 3 × 3 dissimilar PRFs under eccentric vertical load, including non-dimensional vertical stiffness N0/wEsd, differential settlement wd and the load sharing ratio of typical elements Ni/N0, are systematically investigated by considering different eccentricity e, length/diameter ratios of pile l/d and pile–soil stiffness ratio Ep/Es conditions. The N0/wEsd increases with l/d, while the load sharing ratios of the raft Nraft/N0 and wd decreases with l/d. The eccentricity e has a significant effect on wd and Ni/N0 and a neglect effect on N0/wEsd and Nraft/N0. The N0/wEsd, wd and Ni/N0 are significantly increased with Ep/Es. This research is expected to provide insights to the practitioners into the dissimilar PRF design under eccentric vertical load.

To address the low level of intelligence and low utilization of logs in current rotary cutting equipment, this paper proposes a digital twin-based system for optimizing the rotary cutting of logs using a five-dimensional model of digital twins. The system features a log perception platform to capture three-dimensional point cloud data, outlining the logs’ contours. Utilizing the Delaunay3D algorithm, this model performs a three-dimensional reconstruction of the log point cloud, constructing a precise digital twin. Feature information is extracted from the point cloud using the least squares method. Processing parameters, determined through the kinematic model, are verified in rotary cutting simulations via Bool operations. The system’s efficacy has been substantiated through experimental validation, demonstrating its capability to output specific processing schemes for irregular logs and to verify these through simulation. This approach notably improves log recovery rates, decreasing volume error from 12.8% to 2.7% and recovery rate error from 23.5% to 5.7% The results validate the efficacy of the proposed digital twin system in optimizing the rotary cutting process, demonstrating its capability not only to enhance the utilization rate of log resources but also to improve the economic efficiency of the factory, thereby facilitating industrial development.

In view of the complexity of the pile foundation underpinning structure system and the stringent requirements of the construction process, this paper briefly describes the necessity of introducing epoxy resin reinforcing adhesive of planting rebar in the design of pile foundation underpinning beam structure to improve the mechanical properties of the reinforced beam new and old concrete joint surfaces and proposes a new type of pile foundation replacement beam system construction method by “chiseling + prestressed reinforcement + epoxy resin reinforcing adhesive”. This paper uses an actual pile foundation underpinning project of an urban overpass as a prototype, designs and creates a model structure with a similarity ratio of 1/6, and performs repeated progressive static loading tests to study the load carrying capacity, displacement change, and other properties of the strengthened replacement structure, as well as analyses and distorts the overall working performance and failure mode of them. On this basis, the prototype structure’s finite element analysis model was built, and the finite element analysis results were compared with the test results to obtain the mechanical properties and deformation characters of the actual pile foundation underpinning structure system corresponding to the actual underpinning beam load. This paper’s study can lay the theoretical and experimental foundation for the smooth development of similar projects.

Satellite precipitation estimate (SPE) dedicated to reservoir inflow forecasting is very attractive as it can provide near-real-time information for reservoir monitoring. However, the potential of SPE retrievals with fine temporal resolution in supporting the high-quality pluvial flood inflow forecast and robust short-term operation of a reservoir remains unclear. In this study, the hydrological applicability of half-hourly Integrated Multisatellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM IMERG) heavy rainfall data was explored using a synthetic experiment of flood inflow forecast at sub-daily to daily lead times and resultant reservoir short-term operation. The event-based flood forecast was implemented via the rainfall–runoff model GR4H driven by the forecasted IMERG. Then, inflow forecast-informed reservoir multi-objective optimal operation was conducted via a numerical reservoir system and assessed by the risk-based robustness indices encompassing reliability, resilience, vulnerability for water supply, and flood risk ratio for flood prevention. Selecting the Wan’an reservoir located in eastern China as the test case, the results show that the flood forecast forced with IMERG exhibits slightly lower accuracy than that driven by the gauge rainfall across varying lead times. For a specific robustness index, its trends between IMERG and gauge rainfall inputs are comparable, while its magnitude depends on varying lead times and scale ratios (i.e., the reservoir scale). The pattern that the forecast errors in IMERG increase with the lead time is changed in the resultant inflow forecast series and dynamics in the robustness indices for the optimal operation decision. This indicates that the flood forecast model coupled with reservoir operation system could partly compensate the original SPE errors. Our study highlights the acceptable hydrological applicability of IMERG rainfall towards reservoir inflow forecast for robust operation, despite the intrinsic error in SPE.

Rail expansion significantly impacts the launch precision of a railgun system. Higher precision can be achieved when the extent of expansion is low. This paper investigates three main factors that influence the extent of rail expansion using the finite element method, including pre-stress, electromagnetic load, and stiffness of the insulators. The mean squared error between experiment results and simulating results is less than 0.06, validating the finite element model. The simulated results reveal that the extent of rail expansion increases with a decrease in pre-stress and an increase in electromagnetic pressure and the stiffness of the insulator is the most significant influencing factor, as the use of a stiff insulator not only results in a small extent of rail expansion but also delays the separation between the rails and insulators. The mechanism of how pre-stress influences the railgun system has been proposed. It has been expressed that the pre-stress maintains the integrity of the railgun system by hindering the process of a decrease in the contact surface area between rails and insulators during launch. The study provides a platform to improve the design of the railgun system.

Experiments were conducted to assess the selectivity of diamond mesh codends in capturing largehead hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) in the demersal trawl fishery of the Beibu Gulf, located in the South China Sea. The selectivity experiments involved four codends with different mesh sizes (30, 35, 40, and 45 mm), and the covered codend method was employed. Catch data were analyzed using the maximum likelihood method, with both Logistic and Richards curves fitted to the data, and the abundance–biomass comparison (ABC) curve method was used to analyze the impact of codend on fishery resources. Model deviance was compared with the degree of freedom to choose the best fit curve. The Logistic curves gave a better fit for the codends with 30 and 40 mm mesh sizes, while the Richards curves had a better fit for the codends with 35 and 45 mm mesh sizes, respectively. The 50% retention lengths (L50) and selection ranges (SR) were determined for 30 mm (L50: 11.40 cm; SR: 3.81 cm), 35 mm (L50: 11.65 cm; SR: 3.98 cm), 40 mm (L50: 12.92 cm; SR: 5.30 cm), and 45 mm (L50: 13.28 cm; SR: 4.14 cm) mesh codends. The results indicated that the present minimum mesh size, 40 mm diamond mesh, did not match with minimum landing size of largerhead hairtail, 190 mm anal. length. Based on the observed linear relationship between L50 and mesh opening, it was determined that the diamond mesh codend should be adjusted to a larger mesh opening of approximately 72.47 mm in order to achieve an L50 value of 190 mm. The ABC curve characteristics indicate that the fish community structure in the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea is in a severely disturbed state. This study suggests that the square mesh codend and T90 codend (diamond mesh netting turned by 90 degrees) should be tested and compared with the diamond mesh codend, to obtain the optimal configuration and mesh size of the codend for demersal trawl fishery in the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea.

The present study aimed to evaluate the anaerobic co-digestion process of chicken manure and corn stover to identify the key parameters that influence methane production. Results from both batch and semi-continuous tests showed that co-digestion enhanced methane production, with an optimal chicken manure to corn stover ratio of 2:1 under experimental conditions. When this ratio was maintained, methane production increased by 36% in batch tests, resulting in a biochemical methane potential of 333 mL/g VS. In semi-continuous tests, co-digestion at a hydraulic retention time of 30 days resulted in a methane production increase of 39%, corresponding to a methane yield of 318 mL/g VS. The inclusion of chicken manure proved effective in improving buffer capacity by generating ammonium bicarbonate, which facilitated stable operation during the digestion process. The observed improvement in methane production could be ascribed to the C/N ratio and the increased biodegradability of chicken manure. These findings offer valuable insights into optimizing anaerobic co-digestion to achieve higher methane production levels.

Solder layer void is one of the main failure causes of power semiconductor devices, which will seriously affect the reliability of the devices. In this study, a 3D model of IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) packaging was built by DesignModeler. Based on ANSYS Workbench, the influence of void size, location, solder layer type, and thickness on the temperature distribution of the IGBT module was simulated. The results show that the larger the void radius, the higher the temperature of the IGBT module. The closer the void is to the center of the solder layer, the higher the temperature of the module. The void on the top corner of the solder layer had the greatest impact on the junction temperature of the IGBT module, and the shape of the void is also one of the factors that affect the temperature of the module. The denser the void distribution, the higher the temperature of the module. The temperature of the IGBT module was reduced from 62.656 °C to 59.697 °C by using nanosilver solder paste, and the overall heat dissipation performance of the module was improved by 5%. The temperature of the module increased linearly with the increase in solder layer thickness, and the temperature increased by 0.8 °C for every 0.025 mm increase in solder layer thickness. The simulation results have a guiding significance for improving the thermal stability of IGBT modules.

Gallium nitride (GaN) power devices have many benefits, including high power density, small footprint, high operating voltage, and excellent power gain capability. However, in contrast to silicon carbide (SiC), its performance and reliability can be negatively impacted by its low thermal conductivity, which can cause overheating. Hence, it is necessary to provide a reliable and workable thermal management model. In this paper, a model of a flip-chip packing (FCP) GaN chip was established, and it was assigned to the Ag sinter paste structure. The different solder bumps and under bump metallurgy (UBM) were considered. The results indicated that the FCP GaN chip with underfill was a promising method because it not only reduced the size of the package model but also reduced thermal stress. When the chip was in operation, the thermal stress was about 79 MPa, only 38.77% of the Ag sinter paste structure, lower than any of the GaN chip packaging methods currently in use. Moreover, the thermal condition of the module often has little to do with the material of the UBM. Additionally, nano-silver was found to be the most suitable bump material for FCP GaN chip. Temperature shock experiments were also conducted with different UBM materials when nano-silver was used as bump. It was found that Al as UBM is a more reliable option.

The majority of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against SARS-CoV-2 recognize the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike (S) protein. As an escaping strategy, the RBD of the virus is highly variable, evolving mutations to thwart a natural immune response or vaccination. Targeting non-RBD regions of the S protein thus provides a viable alternative to generating potential, robust NAbs. Using a pre-pandemic combinatorial antibody library of 1011, through an alternate negative and positive screening strategy, 11 non-RBD-targeting antibodies are identified. Amongst one NAb that binds specifically to the N-terminal domain of the S protein, SA3, shows mutually non-exclusive binding of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor with the S protein. SA3 appears to be insensitive to the conformational change and to interact with both the “open” and “closed” configurations of the trimeric S protein. SA3 shows compatible neutralization as S-E6, an RBD-targeting NAb, against the wild type and variant of concern (VOC) B.1.351 (Beta) of the SARS-CoV-2 pseudo virus. More importantly, the combination of SA3 with S-E6 is synergistic and recovers from the 10-fold loss in neutralization efficacy against the VOC B.1.351 pseudo virus.

Polarization can provide information largely uncorrelated with the spectrum and intensity. Therefore, polarimetric imaging (PI) techniques have significant advantages in many fields, e.g., ocean observation, remote sensing (RS), biomedical diagnosis, and autonomous vehicles. Recently, with the increasing amount of data and the rapid development of physical models, deep learning (DL) and its related technique have become an irreplaceable solution for solving various tasks and breaking the limitations of traditional methods. PI and DL have been combined successfully to provide brand-new solutions to many practical applications. This review briefly introduces PI and DL’s most relevant concepts and models. It then shows how DL has been applied for PI tasks, including image restoration, object detection, image fusion, scene classification, and resolution improvement. The review covers the state-of-the-art works combining PI with DL algorithms and recommends some potential future research directions. We hope that the present work will be helpful for researchers in the fields of both optical imaging and RS, and that it will stimulate more ideas in this exciting research field.

Black spot is one of the seriously damaging plant diseases in China, especially in rose production. Hyperspectral technology reflects both external features and internal structure information of measured samples, which can be used to identify the disease. In this research, both the spectral and image features of two infected roses with black spot were used to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) model. Multiple scattering correction (MSC) and standard normal variable (SNV) methods were applied to preprocess the spectral data. Cropping, median filtering and binarization were pretreatments used on the hyperspectral images. Three CNN models based on Alexnet, VGG16 and neural discriminative dimensionality reduction (NDDR) were evaluated by analyzing the classification accuracy and loss function. The results show that the CNN model based on the fusion of features has higher accuracy. The highest accuracies of detection of blackspot in different roses are 12–26 (100%) and 13–54 (99.95%), applying the NDDR-CNN model. Therefore, this research indicates that the spectral analysis based on CNN can detect black spot of roses, which provides a reference for the detection of other plant diseases, and has favorable research significance as well as prospect for development.

The development of inexpensive and efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) remains a challenge with respect to renewable energy technologies. In this research, a porous, nitrogen-doped ORR catalyst is prepared using the hydrothermal method and pyrolysis with walnut shell as a biomass precursor and urea as a nitrogen source. Unlike past research, in this study, urea is not directly doped; instead, a new type of doping is carried out after annealing at 550 °C. In addition, the sample’s morphology and structure are analyzed and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). A CHI 760E electrochemical workstation is used to test NSCL-900’s performance in terms of oxygen reduction electrocatalysis (ORR). It has been found that the catalytic performance of NSCL-900 is significantly improved compared with that of NS-900 without urea doping. In a 0.1 mol/L KOH electrolyte, the half-wave potential can reach 0.86 V (vs. RHE) and the initial potential is 1.00 V (vs. RHE). The catalytic process is close to four-electron transfer and there are large quantities of pyridine nitrogen and pyrrole nitrogen.

Photodetector spectral responsivity is usually affected by photosensitive surface temperatures. The Photosensitive Surface Temperatures (PSTs) of the long wavelength-type InGaAs detector used in the Polarized Scanning Atmospheric Corrector (PSAC), which adopts an active Constant-Current Cooling (CCC) scheme, can be changed with ambient temperature. To correct this responsivity temperature characteristic, a Responsivity Temperature Dependence Correction (RTDC) model was established with parameters obtained using an instrument-level experiment. Moreover, a detector-level experiment under ambient conditions was also explored to acquire model parameters. The instrument-level and detector-level experimental results show that the responsivity of a PSAC 2250 nm channel operating on orbit (PST ≈ −65 °C) with a 35 °C PST difference is reduced by approximately 1.2% and 1.5% compared with a laboratory-based radiometric test (PST ≈ −30 °C). The 1.08% responsivity change (−61 °C < PST < −38 °C) in the temperature drift simulation experiment is reduced to approximately 0.38% and 0.34%, respectively. The consistency between the two experimental results preliminarily verifies the substitutability of this detector-level experiment for this type of detector. The RTDC experiments are applicable to other spaceborne remote sensors. The detector-level experiment explored herein provides a reference for realizing RTDC under ambient temperature conditions at low costs.

We used the ray tracing technique based on the IASP91 Earth model to calculate the travel times in order to identify the phases. This technique can calculate the travel times for the seismic phases in the conventional travel time tables. The waveform data received from the stations in the Guangxi area are selected for analysis and discussion. The outcomes of the numerical modeling and its use demonstrate that there is good agreement in terms of the absolute differences between the calculated and theoretical travel times from the ISAP91 tables. The relative residuals are determined directly from the actual arrival times picking during the correlation analysis, and the validity of the travel time method for picking seismic phases by correlation analysis can be demonstrated.

A novel hydrogen bond surrogate-based (HBS) α-helix mimetic was designed by the combination of covalent H-bond replacement and the use of an ether linkage to substitute an amide bond within a short peptide sequence. The new helix template could be placed in position other than the N-terminus of a short peptide, and the CD studies demonstrate that the template adopts stable conformations in aqueous buffer at exceptionally high temperatures.

Tea polyphenols, amino acids, soluble sugars, and other ingredients in fresh tea leaves are the key parameters of tea quality. In this research, a tea leaf ingredient estimation sensor was developed based on a multi-channel spectral sensor. The experiment showed that the device could effectively acquire 700–1000 nm spectral data of tea tree leaves and could display the ingredients of leaf samples in real time through the visual interactive interface. The spectral data of Fuding white tea tree leaves acquired by the detection device were used to build an ingredient content prediction model based on the ridge regression model and random forest algorithm. As a result, the prediction model based on the random forest algorithm with better prediction performance was loaded into the ingredient detection device. Verification experiment showed that the root mean square error (RMSE) and determination coefficient (R2) in the prediction were, respectively, as follows: moisture content (1.61 and 0.35), free amino acid content (0.16 and 0.79), tea polyphenol content (1.35 and 0.28), sugar content (0.14 and 0.33), nitrogen content (1.15 and 0.91), and chlorophyll content (0.02 and 0.97). As a result, the device can predict some parameters with high accuracy (nitrogen, chlorophyll, free amino acid) but some of them with lower accuracy (moisture, polyphenol, sugar) based on the R2 values. The tea leaf ingredient estimation sensor could realize rapid non-destructive detection of key ingredients affecting tea quality, which is conducive to real-time monitoring of the current quality of tea leaves, evaluating the status during tea tree growth, and improving the quality of tea production. The application of this research will be helpful for the automatic management of tea plantations.

The fundamental assumption of flood frequency analysis is that flood samples are generated by the same flood generation mechanism (FGM). However, flood events are usually triggered by the interaction of meteorological factors and watershed properties, which results in different FMGs. To solve this problem, researchers have put forward traditional two-component mixture distributions (TCMD-T) without clearly linking each component distribution to an explicit FGM. In order to improve the physical meaning of mixture distributions in seasonal snow-covered areas, the ratio of rainfall to flood volume (referred to as rainfall–flood ratio, RF) method was used to classify distinct FGMs. Thus, the weighting coefficient of each component distribution was determined in advance in the rainfall–flood ratio based TCMD (TCMD-RF). TCMD-RF model was applied to 34 basins in Norway. The results showed that flood types can be clearly divided into rain-on-snow-induced flood, snowmelt-induced flood and rainfall-induced flood. Moreover, the design flood and associated uncertainties were also estimated. It is found that TCMD-RF model can reduce the uncertainties of design flood by 20% compared with TCMD-T. The superiority of TCMD-RF is attributed to its clear classification of FGMs, thus determining the weighting coefficients without optimization and simplifying the parameter estimation procedure of mixture distributions.

Tea plants are one of the most widely planted agricultural crops in the world. The traditional method of surveying germination density is mainly manual checking, which is time-consuming and inefficient. In this research, the Improved YOLOv5 model was used to identify tea buds and detect germination density based on tea trees canopy visible images. Firstly, five original YOLOv5 models were trained for tea trees germination recognition, and performance and volume were compared. Secondly, backbone structure was redesigned based on the lightweight theory of Xception and ShuffleNetV2. Meanwhile, reverse attention mechanism (RA) and receptive field block (RFB) were added to enhance the network feature extraction ability, achieving the purpose of optimizing the YOLOv5 network from both lightweight and accuracy improvement. Finally, the recognition ability of the Improved YOLOv5 model was analyzed, and the germination density of tea trees was detected according to the tea bud count. The experimental results show that: (1) The parameter numbers of the five original YOLOv5 models were inversely proportional to the detection accuracy. The YOLOv5m model with the most balanced comprehensive performance contained 20,852,934 parameters, the precision rate of the YOLOv5m recognition model was 74.9%, the recall rate was 75.7%, and the mAP_0.5 was 0.758. (2) The Improved YOLOv5 model contained 4,326,815 parameters, the precision rate of the Improved YOLOv5 recognition model was 94.9%, the recall rate was 97.67%, and the mAP_0.5 was 0.758. (3) The YOLOv5m model and the Improved YOLOv5 model were used to test the validation set, and the true positive (TP) values identified were 86% and 94%, respectively. The Improved YOLOv5 network model was effectively improved in both volume and accuracy according to the result. This research is conducive to scientific planning of tea bud picking, improving the production efficiency of the tea plantation and the quality of tea production in the later stage.

This paper aimed to combine hyperspectral imaging (378–1042 nm) and a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to rapidly and non-destructively detect and predict the viability of waxy corn seeds. Different viability levels were set by artificial aging (aging: 0 d, 3 d, 6 d, and 9 d), and spectral data for the first 10 h of seed germination were continuously collected. Bands that were significantly correlated (SC) with moisture, protein, starch, and fat content in the seeds were selected, and another optimal combination was extracted using a successive projection algorithm (SPA). The support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), random forest (RF), and deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) approaches were used to establish the viability detection and prediction models. During detection, with the addition of different levels, the recognition effect of the first three methods decreased, while the DCNN method remained relatively stable (always above 95%). When using the previous 2.5 h data, the prediction accuracy rate was generally higher than the detection model. Among them, SVM + full band increased the most, while DCNN + full band was the highest, reaching 98.83% accuracy. These results indicate that the combined use of hyperspectral imaging technology and the DCNN method is more conducive to the rapid detection and prediction of seed viability.

The foundation pit of a suspension bridge project in the Three Gorges Reservoir area is investigated in this paper. The pit is located under an unstable rock mass and landslide body; its base lithology is mudstone. The bridge foundation pit project mainly adopts blasting excavation to accelerate construction progress. However, as a hazardous technique to engineering safety, the explosion vibration easily causes deterioration of the surrounding strata, thereby inducing slope instability and rock mass collapse. Besides, three major challenges should be considered: complex terrain conditions, difficulties in the blasting excavation of anchors, and the extremely high risk of construction. Therefore, comprehensive risk control measures using the methods of hierarchical excavation and minimum charge blasting are put forward. After the measures were verified to be feasible through finite element simulation, it was successfully applied to actual construction. In addition, this paper proposes using fiber concrete to reinforce slope retaining walls, and simulates the reinforced effect based on the research above. The results indicate that the risk control scheme is reasonable, which not only ensures the construction process but also guarantees the stability of the slope and unstable rock body. At the same time, the slope is reinforced with fiber concrete, which effectively decreases the protection wall thickness. Finally, the article can provide a valuable reference for similar engineering projects around the world.

Coated reinforcements are expected to improve the performance of reinforced concrete in aggressive environments, but different kinds of coated reinforcements can express a variety of properties, which can confuse researchers and engineers. This paper reviews the manufacture, corrosion mechanisms, behaviors, and applications of popular or promising coated reinforcements, incorporating galvanized reinforcements (GRs), epoxy coated reinforcements (ECRs), stainless cladding reinforcements (SCRs), and steel-fiber reinforced polymer composite bars (SFCBs). In terms of manufacture, GRs and ECRs should focus on minimizing the negative effect of manufacture on performance, while SCRs and SFCBs should reduce the cost and increase the production capacity. Behaviors of GRs and ECRs are primarily determined by the steel substrate, but the behaviors of SCRs and SFCBs are primarily affected by the coat and core, and their interaction. The corrosion mechanism of GRs and SCRs is about oxidation, while that of SFCBs is about hydrolysis. ECRs are usually corroded under film, which can be a cause of premature failure. Corrosion embrittles SCRs, as well as bare bars, but corrosion of SFCBs usually causes a reduction in maximum strength. The investigation of the corrosion behaviors of GRs and ECRs focuses on bond strength. GRs have controversial performance. ECRs have been proven to have drawbacks regarding bond strength. The use of anti-corrosion reinforcement is uneven in regions, which may correlate with the development of technology and the economy.

The current study aimed to explore the effects of supplementing paraformic acid (PFA) into broilers’ diet on growth performance, inflammatory responses, and liver protection. A total of 567 healthy one-day-old broilers were used in a 42-d study, and they were randomized into three groups. Broilers were fed a basal diet (CON group) or the basal diet supplemented with either 50 mg/kg aureomycin (AB group) or 1000 mg/kg PFA (PFA group). The results showed that the PFA and AB groups had a higher feed conversion rate than the CON group from day 21 to 42 (p < 0.05). Dietary PFA or aureomycin supplementation decreased serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10, alanine transaminase, diamine oxidase, and D-lactate, and significantly increased serum concentrations of immunoglobulin (Ig) A, IgM, and complement C4 (p < 0.05). Moreover, dietary PFA or aureomycin supplementation decreased hepatic levels of caspase-1, NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-6, and IL-18, as well as NF-κB mRNA expression (p < 0.05). Above all, PFA supplementation into the broilers’ diet improved growth performance, inhibited inflammatory responses, and benefited liver protection. The protective effects of PFA on the liver might be related to inhibition of caspase-1-induced pyroptosis via inactivating the NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome axis in broiler chickens.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of adding tannic acid (TA) extracted from Galla chinensis to the diet of broiler chickens on intestinal development. A total of 324 healthy 1-day-old broilers were used in a 42 d study, and divided into two treatment groups at random (six replicates per group). Broilers were either received a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg microencapsulated TA extracted from Galla chinensis. The results showed that dietary supplemented with 300 mg/kg TA from Galla chinensis improved intestinal morphology, promoted intestinal mucosal barrier integrity, and elevated mucosal expressions of nutrients transporters and tight junction protein CLDN3 in broilers. Besides, 300 mg/kg TA from Galla chinensis supplementation decreased the concentrations of inflammatory cytokines in serum and intestinal mucosa and reduced the mRNA expression of NF-κB in intestinal mucosa. Above all, supplementation of 300 mg/kg microencapsulated TA extracted from Galla chinensis showed beneficial effects in improving intestinal development, which might be attributed to the suppression of inflammatory responses via blockage of NF-κB in broiler chickens. These findings will support the use of TA sourced from Galla chinensis in poultry industry.

In order to realize the compact layout of aerospace payloads, the design and manufacture of high-steepness lightweight aluminum alloy mirrors is a key technology to be explored. For high-steepness mirrors, the traditional method is to establish the initial thickness that satisfies the bending stiffness through finite element optimization iteration, which cannot achieve fast modeling and performance estimation. In this paper, firstly, the equivalent modeling method of the mirror with high steepness is proposed to achieve the equivalent of the elliptic mirror with a diameter of 410 × 310 mm and F# less than 0.7. Based on the mathematical model, topology shape optimization was used to build a highly lightweight mirror structure that could be quickly assembled, and the equivalent area–mass density of the mirror is less than 34 kg/mm2. Next, the rationality of design feasibility was verified by simulation analysis. Finally, by using single point diamond turning combined with post polishing process, the high-precision manufacturing of conventional aluminum alloy mirror was realized. The results show that the mirror shape accuracy is 1/10 λ (λ = 632.8 nm), and the surface roughness Ra is 3.342 nm. This research provides strong theoretical support and application prospects for the low-cost and rapid manufacturing of high-steepness lightweight aluminum alloy mirrors.

An in vitro human renal proximal tubule model that represents the proper transporter expression and pronounced epithelial polarization is necessary for the accurate prediction of nephrotoxicity. Here, we constructed a high-throughput human renal proximal tubule model based on an integrated biomimetic array chip (iBAC). Primary human renal proximal tubule epithelial cells (hRPTECs) cultured on this microfluidic platform were able to form a tighter barrier, better transporter function and more sensitive nephrotoxicity prediction than those on the static Transwell. Compared with the human immortalized HK2 model, the hRPTECs model on the chip gained improved apical-basolateral polarization, barrier function and transporter expression. Polymyxin B could induce nephrotoxicity not only from the apical of the hRPTECs, but also from the basolateral side on the iBAC. However, other chemotherapeutic agents, such as doxorubicin and sunitinib, only induced nephrotoxicity from the apical surface of the hRPTECs on the iBAC. In summary, our renal proximal tubule model on the chip exhibits improved epithelial polarization and membrane transporter activity, and can be implemented as an effective nephrotoxicity-screening toolkit.

Cisplatin is widely used as a chemotherapeutic drug to treat various solid tumors. However, it often induces severe side effects, including nephrotoxicity, which limits its application in clinical settings. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms of action are unclear. Here, we applied whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing to a cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (CP-AKI) mouse model to evaluate competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks. We found 4460 mRNAs, 1851 long non-coding RNAs, 101 circular RNAs, and 102 microRNAs significantly differentially expressed between CP-AKI and control mice. We performed gene set enrichment analysis to reveal the biological functions of the mRNAs and constructed non-coding RNA-associated ceRNA networks in CP-AKI mice. Two ceRNA regulatory pathways, Lhx1os-203/mmu-miR-21a-3p/Slc7a13 and circular RNA_3907/mmu-miR-185-3p/Ptprn, were validated using quantitative real-time PCR. The protein–protein interaction network indicated that Il6, Cxcl1, Cxcl2, and Plk1 serve as hub genes and are highly connected with the inflammatory response or DNA damage. Transcription factors, such as Stat3, Cebpb, and Foxm1, regulate gene expression levels in CP-AKI. Our study provides insight into non-coding RNA-associated ceRNA networks and mRNAs in CP-AKI and identifies potential treatment targets.

Intrauterine adhesion (IUA) refers to injury to the basal layer of the endometrium, which can be caused by various factors. It is often accompanied by clinical symptoms such as abnormal menstruation, infertility, recurrent abortion, and periodic abdominal pain. In recent years, a number of studies have reported the effects of β-Klotho (KLB) on the occurrence and development of human tumors and fibrotic diseases, but its relationship with endometrial fibroblasts and endometrial fibrosis has not been elucidated. In this study, we compared the expression of KLB in endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) from patients with IUA and normal controls. We constructed animal and cell models of IUA and conducted expression verification and functional experiments on KLB. We found that the expression of KLB was significantly increased in the ESCs of IUA patients and rat models compared with the controls. The overexpression of KLB could promote the proliferation and fibrosis of ESCs. In addition, the overexpression of KLB activated the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in ESCs. Our study shows that KLB protein is highly expressed in the ESCs of patients with IUA and can enhance stromal cell proliferation and cell fibrosis by activating the PI3K/AKT pathway, thus promoting the development of IUA.

Oxide-supported Ag nanoparticles have been widely reported as a good approach to improve the stability and reduce the cost of photocatalysts. In this work, a Ag-nanoparticles-doped porous ZnO photocatalyst was prepared by using metal–organic frameworks as a sacrificial precursor and the catalytic activity over 4-nitrophenol was determined. The Ag-nanoparticles-doped porous ZnO heterostructure was evaluated by UV, XRD, and FETEM, and the catalytic rate constant was calculated by the change in absorbance value at 400 nm of 4-nitrophenol. The photocatalyst with a heterogeneous structure is visible, light-responsive, and beneficial to accelerating the catalytic rate. Under visible light irradiation, the heterostructure showed excellent catalytic activity over 4-nitrophenol due to the hot electrons induced by the localized surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles. Additionally, the catalytic rates of 4 nm/30 nm Ag nanoparticles and porous/nonporous ZnO were compared. We found that the as-prepared Ag-nanoparticles-doped porous ZnO heterostructure catalyst showed enhanced catalytic performance due to the synergetic effect of Ag nanoparticles and porous ZnO. This study provides a novel heterostructure photocatalyst with potential applications in solar energy and pollutant disposal.

The DPC is a multiangle sensor that detects atmospheric parameters. However, the retrieval of high-precision and high-spatial-resolution aerosol products from the DPC remains a great challenge due to the ill-posed nature of the problem. Thus, a novel aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval algorithm was proposed using visible surface reflectance relationships (VISRRs). The VISRR algorithm accounts for the surface anisotropy and needs neither a shortwave infrared band nor a surface reflectance database that can retrieve AOD over dark and bright land cover. Firstly, moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance (MYD09) products were used to derive the preceding surface reflectance relationships (SRRs), which are related to surface types, scattering angle, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Furthermore, to solve the problem of the NDVI being susceptible to the atmosphere, an innovative method based on an iterative atmospheric correction was proposed to provide a realistic NDVI. The VISRR algorithm was then applied to the thirteen months of DPC multiangle data over the China region. AOD product comparison between the DPC and MODIS showed that they had similar spatial distribution, but the DPC had both high spatial resolution and coverage. The validation between the ground-based sites and the retrieval results showed that the DPC AOD performed best, with a Pearson correlation coefficient (R) of 0.88, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.17, and a good fraction (Gfrac) of 62.7%. Then, the uncertainties regarding the AOD products were discussed for future improvements. Our results revealed that the VISRR algorithm is an effective method for retrieving reliable, simultaneously high-spatial-resolution and full-surface-coverage AOD data with good accuracy.

Noble metal nanostructures can produce the surface plasmon resonance under appropriate photoexcitation, which can be used to promote or facilitate chemical reactions, as well as photocatalytic materials, due to their strong plasmon resonance in the visible light region. In the current work, Ag/Au nanoislands (NIs) and Ag NIs/Au film composite systems were designed, and their thermocatalysis performance was investigated using luminescence of Eu3+ as a probe. Compared with Ag NIs, the catalytic efficiency and stability of surface plasmons of Ag/Au NIs and Ag NIs/Au film composite systems were greatly improved. It was found that the metal NIs can also generate strong localized heat at low temperature environment, enabling the transition of NaYF4:Eu3+ to Y2O3: Eu3+, and anti-oxidation was realized by depositing gold on the surface of silver, resulting in the relative stability of the constructed complex.

Focusing on the dilemma that the traditional lateral shear keys are ineffectual in limiting the displacement and repair of small-to-medium spanning highway bridges, this paper briefly describes the necessity of considering fiber-reinforced polymer concrete with the shear keys design, and studies the seismic performance of an alternative retainer that focuses on three functions of “limiting displacement”, “energy consumption”, and “alternative link”. In order to study the anti-seismic effectiveness under the seismic loads, four alternative retainer specimens with different sizes were designed. The quasi-static tests were carried out on four specimens, respectively. The seismic damage mode of the quasi-static alternative retainer was investigated. We examined the influence of the designed parameter of the alternative retainer on the anti-seismic effectiveness of the alternative retainer. Taking a two-span simply supported girder bridge, for example, the comparison between the seismic response of the bridge with retainers and without is analyzed based on a consideration of the sliding plate rubber bearings and the test results of the new retainers. The results show that the failure mode of the new alternative retainers is a two-stage process involving the alternative links: firstly shear failure and then the overall retainer damages, which is convenient to retrofit and reinforce post-earthquake. The thickness of the web of the alternative link, as a sensitive factor, influences the bearing capacity of the new retainers, yield displacement, ultimate displacement, ductility coefficient and overall energy consumption. The height of the alternative link will merely influence the ultimate bearing capacity, and transverse replacement of the main girder with the new alternative retainers is greatly reduced compared to without retainers, and the seismic response increase in the pier is gentle.

Polarization is an independent dimension of light wave information that has broad application prospects in machine vision and remote sensing tasks. Polarization imaging using a division-of-focal-plane (DoFP) polarimetric sensor can meet lightweight and real-time application requirements. Similar to Bayer filter-based color imaging, demosaicing is a basic and important processing step in DoFP polarization imaging. Due to the differences in the physical properties of polarization and the color of light waves, the widely studied color demosaicing method cannot be directly applied to polarization demosaicing. We propose a polarized intensity ratio constraint demosaicing model to efficiently account for the characteristics of polarization detection in this work. First, we discuss the special constraint relationship between the polarization channels. It can be simply described as: for a beam of light, the sum of the intensities detected by any two vertical ideal analyzers should be equal to the total light intensity. Then, based on this constraint relationship and drawing on the concept of guided filtering, a new polarization demosaicing method is developed. A method to directly use raw images captured by the DoFP detector as the ground truth for comparison experiments is then constructed to aid in the convenient collection of experimental data and extensive image scenarios. Results of both qualitative and quantitative experiments illustrate that our method is an effective and practical method to faithfully recover the full polarization information of each pixel from a single mosaic input image.

3-amino-5-methyl-isoxazole (3A5MI) is a persistent and harmful intermediate in the degradation of antibiotic sulfamethoxazole. It was accumulated in the environments day by day and has caused great environmental risks due to its refractory characteristic. Microbial degradation is economic and environmentally friendly and a promising method to eliminate this pollutant. In this study, a bacterial strain, Nocardioides sp. N39, was isolated. N39 can grow on 3A5MI as the sole carbon, nitrogen and energy resource. The effect of different factors on 3A5MI degradation by N39 was explored, including initial 3A5MI concentration, temperature, pH value, dissolved oxygen and additional carbon or nitrogen source. The degradation ability of N39 to various 3A5MI analogs was also explored. Nevertheless, the degrading ability of N39 for 3A5MI is not permanent, and long-term storage would lead to the loss of this ability. This may result from the mobile genetic elements in the bacterium according to the genomic comparison of N39 and its degrading ability-lost strain, N40. Despite this, N39 could support a lot of useful information about the degradation of 3A5MI and highlight the importance of studies about the environmental effects and potential degradation mechanism.

Information thermodynamics has developed rapidly over past years, and the trapped ions, as a controllable quantum system, have demonstrated feasibility to experimentally verify the theoretical predictions in the information thermodynamics. Here, we address some representative theories of information thermodynamics, such as the quantum Landauer principle, information equality based on the two-point measurement, information-theoretical bound of irreversibility, and speed limit restrained by the entropy production of system, and review their experimental demonstration in the trapped ion system. In these schemes, the typical physical processes, such as the entropy flow, energy transfer, and information flow, build the connection between thermodynamic processes and information variation. We then elucidate the concrete quantum control strategies to simulate these processes by using quantum operators and the decay paths in the trapped-ion system. Based on them, some significantly dynamical processes in the trapped ion system to realize the newly proposed information-thermodynamic models is reviewed. Although only some latest experimental results of information thermodynamics with a single trapped-ion quantum system are reviewed here, we expect to find more exploration in the future with more ions involved in the experimental systems.

Oil spills lead to catastrophic problems. In most oil spill cases, the spatial and temporal intractability of the detriment cannot be neglected, and problems related to economic, social and environmental factors constantly appear for a long time. Remote sensing has been widely used as a powerful means to conduct oil spill detection. Optical polarization remote sensing, thriving in recent years, shows a novel potential for oil spill detection. This paper provides a demonstration of the use of open-source POLDER/PARASOL polarization time-series data to detect oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, one of the largest oil spill disasters, is utilized to explore the potential of optical polarization remote sensing for oil spill detection. A total of 24 feature combinations are organized to quantitatively study the positive effect of adding polarization information and the appropriate way to describe polarization characteristics. Random forest classifier models are trained with different combinations, and the results are assessed by 10-fold cross-validation. The improvement from adding polarization characteristics is remarkable ((average) accuracy: +0.51%; recall: +2.83%; precision: +3.49%; F1 score: +3.01%, (maximum) accuracy: +0.80%; recall: +5.09%; precision: +6.92%; F1 score: +4.72%), and coupling between the degree of polarization and the phase angle of polarization provides the best description of polarization information. This study confirms the potential of optical polarization remote sensing for oil spill detection, and some detailed problems related to model establishment and polarization feature characterization are discussed for the further application of polarization information.

There are two widely recognized global fields in nature: the gravity field and the geomagnetic field. Universal gravitation and Earth rotation are important sources of the Earth’s gravity and geomagnetic fields, which are well known to us. After years of long-term observation, global research, and analysis, it was discovered that we have neglected a direct incident energy of the universe on the Earth. Solar radiation, leading to energy exchange from the atmosphere 100 km above the land surface, is the energy source of the Earth. Polarization is one of the four basic physical properties of solar radiation. After the solar radiation reaches the surface of these media, it reflects, scatters or refracts, and exhibits different degrees of polarization. The polarized solar light forms the Earth–sky polarization vector field. The polarized light dispersion is expected to become a new method for global analysis of the human environment. Polarization detection is the best way to accurately explore the atmospheric effects. Local polarized skylight distribution was found in different sites in the world; however, the global distribution of the polarized sunlight radiation has never been explored. In this paper, we investigate the Global Skylight Polarization Field. This study aimed at providing new insight into the laws of polarization over our Earth. We use a Rayleigh scattering model to obtain the simulation results of the sky polarization field. Rayleigh scattering occurs when the particle size is much smaller than the wavelength of the incident electromagnetic wave. We also use a polarized fisheye camera to collect the sky polarization image and calculate the distribution pattern of the DOLP (degree of linear polarization) and AOLP (azimuth of linear polarization) of the skylight. The stability and gradual change in the degree of polarization in the zenith direction are verified, and the distribution law and daily change law of the degree of polarization in the sky are obtained. With the increase in the solar altitude angle, the degree of polarization will decrease. We also observed the skylight polarization in different weather conditions. Our results demonstrate the physical basis, characteristics, and usability of the polarization field. They show an inevitable trend from optical remote sensing to polarization remote sensing.