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Adversarial training methods commonly generate initial perturbations that are independent across epochs, and obtain subsequent adversarial training samples without selection. Consequently, such methods may limit thorough probing of the vicinity around the original samples and possibly lead to unnecessary or even detrimental training. In this work, a simple yet effective training framework, called Batch-in-Batch (BB), is proposed to refine adversarial training from these two perspectives. The framework jointly generates m sets of initial perturbations for each original sample, seeking to provide high quality adversarial samples by fully exploring the vicinity. Then, it incorporates a sample selection procedure to prioritize training on higher-quality adversarial samples. Through extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets with two network architectures in both single-step (Noise-Fast Gradient Sign Method, N-FGSM) and multi-step (Projected Gradient Descent, PGD) scenarios, models trained within the BB framework consistently demonstrate superior adversarial accuracy across various adversarial settings, notably achieving an improvement of more than 13% on the SVHN dataset with an attack radius of 8/255 compared to N-FGSM. The analysis further demonstrates the efficiency and mechanisms of the proposed initial perturbation design and sample selection strategies. Finally, results concerning training time indicate that the BB framework is computational-effective, even with a relatively large m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The superomedial pedicle reduction mammoplasty has gained popularity and is an important alternative approach for reduction mammoplasty, while the inferior pedicle reduction mammaplasty remains by far the most performed as it is considered to provide the best vascularization to the nipple-areola complex, allowing safe removal of large amount of redundant tissue. The authors conducted the first systematic review and meta-analysis in an attempt to declare the differences of the superomedial pedicle versus the inferior pedicle reduction technique by comparing the postoperative complications. Methods: PubMed, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library for clinical studies were queried from inception to January 1, 2024. Review Manager Version 5.4 was used for this meta-analysis. A random effects model was applied to OR, and 95%CI were determined using the Mantel–Haenszel method. The I2 test was used to assess heterogeneity, and the Newcastle–Ottawa scale was used to assess the risk of bias in the nonrandomized studies. Results: Twelve observational comparative studies were included. The superomedial pedicle technique had a statistically lower rate of overall complications (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.47–0.75; p < 0.0001) and delayed wound healing (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.33–0.64; p < 0.00001) than the inferior pedicle technique. No significant differences in wound dehiscence, infection, seroma, hematoma, skin necrosis, fat necrosis, NAC necrosis, nipple sensation decrease or loss, asymmetry, hypertrophic scarring, and reoperation were noted. Conclusions: Both two techniques are equally safe and reliable, while the superomedial pedicle technique resulted in a statistically lower rate of overall complications and delayed wound healing. Level of Evidence III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in multi-view multi-label learning are often hampered by the prevalent challenges of incomplete views and missing labels, common in real-world data due to uncertainties in data collection and manual annotation. These challenges restrict the capacity of the model to fully utilize the diverse semantic information of each sample, posing significant barriers to effective learning. Despite substantial scholarly efforts, many existing methods inadequately capture the depth of semantic information, focusing primarily on shallow feature extractions that fail to maintain semantic consistency. To address these shortcomings, we propose a novel Deep semantic structure-preserving (SSP) model that effectively tackles both incomplete views and missing labels. SSP innovatively incorporates a graph constraint learning (GCL) scheme to ensure the preservation of semantic structure throughout the feature extraction process across different views. Additionally, the SSP integrates a pseudo-labeling self-paced learning (PSL) strategy to address the often-overlooked issue of missing labels, enhancing the classification accuracy while preserving the distribution structure of data. The SSP model creates a unified framework that synergistically employs GCL and PSL to maintain the integrity of semantic structural information during both feature extraction and classification phases. Extensive evaluations across five real datasets demonstrate that the SSP method outperforms existing approaches, including lrMMC, MVL-IV, MvEL, iMSF, iMvWL, NAIML, and DD-IMvMLC-net. It effectively mitigates the impacts of data incompleteness and enhances semantic representation fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH), a pivotal enzyme in serine synthesis, plays a key role in the malignant progression of tumors through both its metabolic activity and moonlight functions. This study aims to elucidate the non-canonical function of PHGDH in promoting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis through its interaction with methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3), potentially uncovering a novel therapeutic target. Methods: Western blot was used to study PHGDH expression changes under anoikis and cellular functional assays were employed to assess its role in HCC metastasis. PHGDH-METTL3 interactions were explored using GST pull-down, Co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence assays. Protein stability and ubiquitination assays were performed to understand PHGDH's impact on METTL3. Flow cytometry, cellular assays and nude mice model were used to confirm PHGDH's effects on anoikis resistance and HCC metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Results: PHGDH is upregulated under anoikis conditions, thereby enhancing the metastatic potential of HCC cells. By interacting with METTL3, PHGDH prevents its ubiquitin-dependent degradation, resulting in higher METTL3 protein levels. This interaction upregulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition related genes, contributing to anoikis resistance and HCC metastasis. Nude mice model confirms that PHGDH's interaction with METTL3 is crucial for driving HCC metastasis. Conclusion: Our research presents the first evidence that PHGDH promotes HCC metastasis by interacting with METTL3. The PHGDH-METTL3 axis may serve as a potential clinical therapeutic target, offering new insights into the multifaceted roles of PHGDH in HCC metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying epitopes and their corresponding T-cell receptor (TCR) sequences is crucial in the face of rapidly mutating viruses. Peptide synthesis is often required to confirm the exact epitope sequences, which is time-consuming and expensive. In this study, we introduce a scalable workflow to identify the exact sequences of virus epitopes and reactive TCRs targeting the epitopes from memory T cells. Following the narrowing down of epitopes to specific regions via the tandem minigene (TMG) system, our workflow incorporates the utilization of peptide-major histocompatibility complex-displaying yeasts (pMHC-displaying yeasts) to rapidly screen immunogenic epitopes' precise sequences, obviating the necessity for the chemical synthesis of peptides. Focusing on SARS-CoV-2, we identify the precise sequences of reactive TCRs, targeting conserved epitopes across the Coronaviridae family, from the blood of COVID-19-recovered individuals over 8 months. Notably, we reveal that at least 75% (6/8) of the tested donors harbor T cells targeting a shared epitope, KTFPPTEPK, derived from the N protein. Furthermore, several identified TCRs exhibit cross-reactivity to mutant epitopes, suggesting a potential mechanism for sustained T-cell responses against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. A scalable workflow involving a pMHC-displaying yeast system is introduced to identify precise virus epitope sequences and corresponding T-cell receptor (TCR) sequences from memory T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to develop an automatic miscalibration detection and correction framework to maintain accurate calibration of LiDAR and camera for autonomous vehicle after the sensor drift. First, a monitoring algorithm that can continuously detect the miscalibration in each frame is designed, leveraging the rotational motion each individual sensor observes. Then, as sensor drift occurs, the projection constraints between visual feature points and LiDAR 3-D points are used to compute the scaled camera motion, which is further utilized to align the drifted LiDAR scan with the camera image. Finally, the proposed method is sufficiently compared with two representative approaches in the online experiments with varying levels of random drift, then the method is further extended to the offline calibration experiment and is demonstrated by a comparison with two existing benchmark methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four-wheel independently driven electric vehicles (FWID-EV) endow a flexible and scalable control framework to improve vehicle performance. This paper integrates the torque vectoring and active suspension system (ASS) to enhance the vehicle's longitudinal and vertical motion control performance. While the nonlinear characteristic of the tire model leads to a relatively heavier computational burden. To facilitate the controller design and ease the load, a half-vehicle dynamics system is built and simplified to the linear-time-varying (LTV) model. Then a model predictive controller is developed by formulating the objective function by comprehensively considering the safety, energy-saving and comfort requirements. The in-wheel motor efficiency and the power loss of tire slip are treated as optimization indices in this work to reduce energy consumption. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified through the rapid-control-prototype (RCP) test. The results demonstrate the enhancement of the energy-saving as well as comfort on the basis of vehicle stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poor Bell's phenomenon is often considered a relative contraindication for ptosis surgery, as it increases the risk of corneal exposure and dry eye symptoms after surgery. However, the Bell's phenomenon may vary in different individuals and sleep stages, making it inaccurate to predict the position of the eye during sleep based on awake examination. This study aimed to investigate the role of Bell's phenomenon in ptosis surgery and the management of nocturnal lagophthalmos. Methods: We conducted a retrospective case series of 23 patients with ptosis and poor Bell's phenomenon who underwent different surgical techniques at Xijing Hospital from April 2020 to June 2021. We assessed Bell's phenomenon at different stages of sleep and collected data on ptosis degree, surgical approach, lagophthalmos, complications, and outcomes. Results: Of the total 23 patients originally considered for study, 9 with frontalis muscle advancement technique, 8 with conjoint fascial sheath suspension, 4 with levator resection technique, and 2 with levator aponeurosis plication technique. All patients achieved satisfactory correction of ptosis. One patient had prolonged lagophthalmos and underwent reoperation to lower the eyelid height. Other complications were minor and resolved with conservative treatment. Conclusion: We conclude that poor Bell's phenomenon is not a relative contraindication for ptosis surgery. Nocturnal lagophthalmos should be monitored after ptosis surgery regardless of the Bell's phenomenon results. Tape eyelid closure can be an effective solution to protect the corneal surface during nocturnal lagophthalmos. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of scalable, high-fidelity qubits is a key challenge in quantum information science. Neutral atom qubits have progressed rapidly in recent years, demonstrating programmable processors1,2 and quantum simulators with scaling to hundreds of atoms3,4. Exploring new atomic species, such as alkaline earth atoms5–7, or combining multiple species8 can provide new paths to improving coherence, control and scalability. For example, for eventual application in quantum error correction, it is advantageous to realize qubits with structured error models, such as biased Pauli errors9 or conversion of errors into detectable erasures10. Here we demonstrate a new neutral atom qubit using the nuclear spin of a long-lived metastable state in 171Yb. The long coherence time and fast excitation to the Rydberg state allow one- and two-qubit gates with fidelities of 0.9990(1) and 0.980(1), respectively. Importantly, a large fraction of all gate errors result in decays out of the qubit subspace to the ground state. By performing fast, mid-circuit detection of these errors, we convert them into erasure errors; during detection, the induced error probability on qubits remaining in the computational space is less than 10−5. This work establishes metastable 171Yb as a promising platform for realizing fault-tolerant quantum computing.This study reports gates between qubits encoded in the nuclear spin state of Yb atoms trapped in optical tweezers, reaching very high fidelity and demonstrating mid-circuit conversion of errors into erasure errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: For moderate ptosis associated with fair levator function (LF), the levator resection is the most commonly used procedure. However, the levator resection technique still has some disadvantages, such as residual lagophthalmos (RL), undercorrection, conjunctival prolapse, and eyelid contour abnormality. To solve the above problems, our team have made modifications to the levator resection technique in three aspects: releasing the levator muscle sufficiently, preserving the supporting structure of the conjunctiva, and placing multiple suture sites. Methods: Fifty-seven patients (81 eyes) underwent the modified levator resection technique and were enrolled in the study. Preoperative data collected included age, sex, margin reflex distance 1 (MRD1), and LF. Postoperative data collected included MRD1, RL, patient satisfaction, complications, and length of follow-up. Results: Mean MRD1 significantly increased from 1.45 ± 0.65 mm preoperatively to 3.57 ± 0.51 mm postoperatively. Mean LF significantly increased from 6.49 ± 1.12 mm preoperatively to 9.48 ± 1.39 mm postoperatively. Successful correction was obtained in 77 eyes (95.1%). Mean RL was 1.09 ± 0.57 and 72 eyes (88.9%) showed excellent or good eyelid closure function. Fifty-four patients (94.7%) were completely satisfied with the final result. Complications such as hematoma, infection, conjunctival prolapse, suture exposure, corneal abrasion, and keratitis were not found in any cases during follow-up. Conclusion: This modified levator resection technique introduced in this study is effective in correcting moderate congenital blepharoptosis, while minimizing RL, undercorrection, conjunctival prolapse, eyelid contour abnormality by releasing the levator muscle sufficiently, preserving the supporting structure of the conjunctiva, and placing multiple suture sites. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that authors 42 assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full 43 description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, 44 please refer to the Table of Contents or the online 45 Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As periorbital aesthetic commonly improved in blepharoptosis patients after correction surgery, the aim of this study was to elaborate the brow-eyelid continuum changes in moderate–severe ptosis patients who underwent conjoint fascial sheath suspension systematically. Methods: Patients with moderate–severe ptosis who underwent conjoint fascial sheath suspension were assessed by using pre- and post-operative digital photographs in the primary gaze position of the eye. The main outcome measurements included marginal reflex distance1 (MRD1), palpebral fissure height (PFH), eyebrow position, the symmetry of face and the horizontal forehead lines condition. Results: There were 43 patients (53 eyelids) in our study, including 33 unilateral and 10 bilateral patients. The mean levator function was 3.00 ± 1.07 mm. Before surgery, the mean MRD1 and PFH were 0.60 ± 1.14 mm and 6.75 ± 1.71 mm, respectively. The mean eyebrow height at medial, center, lateral position was 33.16 ± 3.95 mm, 35.99 ± 4.02 mm and 34.35 ± 4.80 mm, respectively. It was found that MRD1 and PFH symmetry both were 23.26% and eyebrow symmetry was 62.79%. For forehead wrinkles, 48.84% of the patients was mild, 34.88% was moderate, and 16.28% was severe. The average follow-up was 12.78 months (ranged from 12 to 18 months). One month after surgery, the mean MRD1 and PFH were 5.68 ± 0.86 mm, 11.61 ± 0.97 mm, respectively, both of which improved significantly (P < 0.0001). The mean eyebrow height at medial, center, lateral position descended to 28.22 ± 4.77 mm (P = 0.017), 31.41 ± 4.58 mm (P = 0.033) and 30.28 ± 3.41 mm (P = 0.018), respectively. The result showed that the rate of patients with MRD1 symmetry was 32.56%, PFH symmetry was 30.23%, and eyebrow symmetry was 90.7%. For forehead wrinkles, 69.77% was mild and 30.23% was moderate. Then, patients' eyebrow gradually elevated, while their upper eyelid dropped. At the last follow-up, the mean MRD1 and PFH were 3.83 ± 0.98 mm and 9.84 ± 1.56 mm, respectively. The mean eyebrow height at medial, center, lateral position improved to 30.52 ± 4.59 mm (P = 0.031), 32.40 ± 4.68 mm (P = 0.033), 31.19 ± 4.16 mm (P = 0.028), respectively. The patients with MRD1 symmetry accounted for 86.05%, PFH symmetry 86.05%, and eyebrow symmetry 90.7%. For forehead wrinkles, 67.44% was mild and 32.56% was moderate. Conclusion: CFS suspension can effectively reconstruct moderate–severe ptosis patients' aesthetics of the brow-eyelid continuum by descending elevated eyebrow, improving facial symmetry and reducing forehead rhytids. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Blepharoptosis is defined as an abnormally low-positioned upper eyelid margin in the primary gaze position, which results in cosmetic discomfort and functional visual dysfunction. Recurrence is one of the common complications after ptosis correction and requires further revision. Conjoint fascial sheath (CFS) suspension has become increasingly popular for ptosis. In this article, we described our experience of CFS suspension in the treatment of recurrent blepharoptosis and evaluated the postoperative outcomes so as to guide the clinical application of CFS suspension. Methods: Thirty-eight patients (48 eyelids) who had recurrent blepharoptosis and received CFS suspension were included in this study. Before the surgery, the degree of ptosis and levator function were assessed. The postoperative evaluation consisted of the correction effect, eyelid symmetry, protective closure function of eyelid, and surgical complications. Results: At the final follow-up, 46 eyelids (95.8%) showed an ideal correction, of which 24 eyelids (50%) showed sufficient correction and 22 eyelids (45.8%) showed normal correction. The remaining 2 eyelids (4.2%) showed under-correction. Among all 38 patients, 26 patients (68.4%) achieved good symmetry, and 10 patients (26.3%) achieved fair symmetry, while only 2 patients (5.3%) showed poor symmetry. Recovery time of eyelid protective closure function was 3.9 ± 1.04 months (range, 2.5–6 months). There were no complications except residual lagophthalmos (9 eyelids) residual conjunctival prolapse (10 eyelids). Conclusion: CFS suspension is an effective method for the correction of recurrent blepharoptosis due to its sufficient correction effect, recovery of eyelid protective closure function, and less complication rate. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flash-sintering is a promising method for shorting the processing time, reducing the sintering temperature, and refining grain. Here, we have successfully fabricated (In + Ta) co-doped TiO2 colossal dielectric ceramics by conventional sintering and flash sintering under electric fields from 450 to 600 V/cm. The flash sintering behavior, microstructure, and electrical properties of all samples were systematically investigated. The results show that compared with conventionally sintering, flash sintering can decrease the processing time by 15 times, reduce the sintering temperature 200 °C and had an obviously smaller grain size and a more uniform microstructure. Flash sintering had similar electric properties to conventional sintering. When the electric field was 550 V/cm, the flash-sintered sample had the best dielectric properties, in which εr > 104 and tanδ≈0.36 at 103 Hz. Meanwhile, two dielectric anomalies were observed, and the dielectric anomaly near room temperature was ascribed to the charge transfer between Ti3+ and Ti4+, which contributes to its colossal dielectric properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epoxidized Eucommia ulmoides gum (EEUG) with different epoxy contents is prepared by Eucommia ulmoides gum (EUG) to improve its elasticity and expand its applications. Unlike EUG, the crystallinity of EEUG decreases while the thermal stability increases significantly with the increase in epoxidation degree. Furthermore, the silicon dioxide-graphene oxide (SiO2-GO) nanohybrid was prepared by situ hydrolysis, which could play advantages of GO and SiO2 to provide multiple protections to the substrate. In this study, a facile strategy is used to fabricate EUG, EEUG, EUG/SiO2-GO, and EEUG/SiO2-GO films (E, EE, E/SG, and EE/SG) by electrospinning method. The interaction between EEUG and SiO2-GO is beneficial to EE/SG film with better thermal stability, mechanical properties, and chemical stabilities. Importantly, the EE/SG film shows a high ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) value, which indicates its preferable ultraviolet (UV) resistance performance. Therefore, this study provides a feasible strategy for the efficient UV resistance of the green EEUG and is expected to provide new ideas for the fabrication of bio-based multifunctional barrier material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-temperature deformation behavior of the as-forged TC17 titanium alloy was studied based on the results of thermal compression simulation tests. Additionally, the effects of strain rate, temperature and true strain on the flow stress were analyzed using orthogonal experimentation and variance analysis. The results indicated that all deformation parameters exerted significant influence on flow stress, with temperature and strain having the largest and least influence, respectively. Thereafter, a constitutive equation based on modified nonlinear regression was proposed. The error analysis results showed that the flow stress of the as-forged TC17 alloy could be predicted by the obtained constitutive equation. The effect of deformation parameters on the microstructure was investigated by EBSD and TEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the fine-grained Mg–Li alloy was prepared by friction stir processing (FSP). The microstructure and mechanical properties of the friction-stir-processed (FSPed) Mg–Li alloy were investigated. The result showed that FSP resulted in the grain refinement, and the average grain size of the β-Li phase was about 7.5 μm. Besides the α-Mg and β-Li phases, a small amount of Li3Mg7, Li2MgAl and AlLi phases were obtained. Compared with the base metal (BM), the weakening of the crystallographic texture occurred in the FSPed material, and the c-axis of the α-phase and the <001> crystallographic orientation of the β-phase were tilted about 45° with respect to the transverse direction (TD). The average microhardness (HV 67.8) of the stir zone was higher than that of the BM (HV 61.5). The yield strength (YS) and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the FSPed material were higher than those of the BM, while the elongation slightly reduced. Grain refinement had more significant effect on strength improvement compared with the texture variation for the FSPed material. The fracture surfaces of the BM and FSPed materials showed dimple characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current works of environmental perception for connected autonomous electrified vehicles (CAEVs) mainly focus on the object detection task in good weather and illumination conditions, they often perform poorly in adverse scenarios and have a vague scene parsing ability. This paper aims to develop an end-to-end sharpening mixture of experts (SMoE) fusion framework to improve the robustness and accuracy of the perception systems for CAEVs in complex illumination and weather conditions. Three original contributions make our work distinctive from the existing relevant literature. The Complex KITTI dataset is introduced which consists of 7481 pairs of modified KITTI RGB images and the generated LiDAR dense depth maps, and this dataset is fine annotated in instance-level with the proposed semi-automatic annotation method. The SMoE fusion approach is devised to adaptively learn the robust kernels from complementary modalities. Comprehensive comparative experiments are implemented, and the results show that the proposed SMoE framework yield significant improvements over the other fusion techniques in adverse environmental conditions. This research proposes a SMoE fusion framework to improve the scene parsing ability of the perception systems for CAEVs in adverse conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We aimed to describe the feasibility of a surgical left thoracotomy for catheter ablation of scar-related ventricular tachycardia (VT) in patients with inaccessible pericardial access. Background: Pericardial adhesion due to prior cardiac surgery or previous epicardial ablation procedures limits epicardial access in patients with drug-refractory VT originated from the epicardium. Methods: Six patients who underwent a surgical left lateral thoracotomy epicardial access for catheter ablation of VT after failed subxiphoid percutaneous epicardial access were reviewed. Patients' baseline characteristics and procedural characteristics including epicardial access, mapping, and ablation were described. Epicardial access was successfully obtained in all patients by a surgical left lateral thoracotomy. Results: The reasons of pericardial adhesion were prior cardiac surgery (n = 3, 50%) and previous epicardial ablation procedures (n = 3, 50%). Epicardial mapping of the lateral and inferior left ventricle was acquired, and a total of 15 different VTs originated from those regions were abolished. Unless one patient with ST elevation myocardial infarction due to periprocedural occlusion of the posterior descending artery no further complications occurred. All patients were discharged 10.2 ± 4 days after the procedure. VT recurred in 1 patient (17%) and was controlled with oral amiodarone therapy during follow-up (median follow-up: 479 days). Conclusions: A surgical left lateral thoracotomy is feasible and safe for selected patients. This approach provides epicardial ablation in patients with VT located at the infero-lateral left ventricle and pericardial adhesions due to previous cardiac surgery or previous ablation procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination of particle swarm and filters is a hot topic in the research of particle swarm optimization (PSO). The Kalman filter based PSO (K-PSO) algorithm is efficient, but it is prone to premature convergence. In this paper, a particle filter based PSO (P-PSO) algorithm is proposed, which is fine search with fewer premature problems. Unfortunately, the P-PSO algorithm is of higher computational complexity. In order to avoid the premature problem and reduce the computational burden, a hybrid Kalman filter and particle filter based particle swarm optimization (HKP-PSO) algorithm is proposed. The HKP-PSO algorithm combines the fast convergence feature of K-PSO and the consistent convergence performance of P-PSO to avoid premature convergence as well as high computational complexity. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed HKP-PSO algorithm can achieve better optimal solution than other six PSO related algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental benefits of biochar require a simple and effective method for preparation of functional N-doped biochar. In this study, urea/ZnCl2 was developed to prepare N-doped biochar via in situ hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of Camellia sinensis waste at 120–280 °C for 2 h under 1.0–9.8 MPa. Physicochemical and structural properties of the N-doped biochar were investigated by Raman spectra, elemental analysis, BET surface area, SEM, TEM, XRD, and XPS. The results showed that the N content in biochar could reach up to 7.79% at 280 °C. Surface chemistry suggested that pyridinic N, pyrollic N, and graphitic N were the major N species on the biochar. Moreover, the N-doped biochar was successfully employed to remove metal ions Cu2+, Pb2+, Zn2+, and Cr6+. Adsorption data fit closely to the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation and the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model for all metal ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we present DeepCamera, a novel framework that combines visual recognition and spatial recognition for identifying places-of-interest (POIs) from smartphone photos. Both deep visual features and geographic features of images are explored in our framework. For visual recognition, we first design the HashNet model extended from an ordinary convolutional neural network (ConvNet) by adding a "hash layer" following the last fully connected layer. Furthermore, we compress multiple pre-trained deep HashNets into one single shallow and hash network namely "SHNet" that outputs semantic labels and compact hash codes simultaneously. As a result, it significantly reduces the time and memory consumption during POI recognition. For spatial recognition, a new layer called Spatial Layer is appended to a ConvNet to capture spatial information. Finally, both visual and spatial knowledge contribute to generating a hybrid probability distribution over all possible POI candidates by plugging the spatial layer into SHNet. Notably, the proposed SHNet model can be used for general visual recognition and retrieval. The experiments conducted on real-world datasets and classic datasets (MNIST and CIFAR-10) demonstrate the competitive accuracy and run-time performance of our proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friction stir processing (FSP) was successfully applied to AlSi10Mg alloy produced by selective laser melting. The microstructure, microhardness, and room-temperature tensile property of the FSPed AlSi10Mg alloy were investigated. The results showed that FSP eliminated the pores of the AlSi10Mg alloy and achieved the microstructural refinement, homogenization, and densification. The grain size was refined from 13.6 μm to 2.3 μm, and relative density increased from 93.3% to 99.6%. An increase in rotation speed led to the enhancement in the density; however, it slightly affected the grain size in this study. The Si particles were homogenously dispersed in the Al matrix, which resulted in uniform distribution of microhardness. FSP led to the increase in the elongation of the AlSi10Mg alloy by 298%, while ultimate tensile strength decreased by only 8%. The Orowan and dislocation strengthening mechanisms were responsible for the loss of strength. FSP has the advantage of acquiring good ductility while maintaining high strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we for the first time demonstrated thioflavin T (ThT) as an efficient fluorescent ligand for 27-mer ATP-binding aptamer (ABA27), providing a novel signal readout mode for label-free selective ATP detection. ABA27 can promote the fluorescence emission of ThT with an unprecedentedly high efficiency, attributed to the specific structure of ABA27 rather than the G-tracts. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, fluorescence spectroscopy, and fluorometric titration reveal that ThT interacts with ABA27 with a lower binding affinity (Kd ~89 μM) than ATP, which allows ATP to easily compete with ThT for the DNA binder. In the presence of ThT, adding ATP induces ABA27 to undergo a structural change, thereby not favoring the binding to ThT, verified by circular dichroism and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. As a result, the fluorescence intensity of ThT decreases dramatically, enabling the sensitive detection of ATP with high selectivity over other analogs. Such a sensing strategy may make ThT able to serve as a facile signal reporter for DNA nanomechanical devices fueled with ATP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient method for the synthesis of aminomethyl benzimidazoles is developed by using a one-pot batch reaction between amino acids and o-phenylenediamines. This reaction proceeds smoothly in an unmodified household microwave oven, even though scale-up is to 10 g. A desirable method for the quick synthesis of benzimidazoles, which are used as a kind of important intermediates in drug synthesis, is provided by the scale-up utilization of amino acid resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using CuI as a catalyst, N, N-diisopropylethylamine as ligand, n-butylamine as a base, and CHCN as solvent, the Glaser reaction of N-[5-( S)-alkoxy-2(5 H)-furanonyl] amino acid propargyl esters 1 at room temperature was investigated, and a series of new chiral 2(5 H)-furanone derivatives containing 1,3-butadiyne structure have been synthesized as designed, with yields of 49-84 % (mostly over 66 %). Sixteen target molecules 2 were characterized by FTIR, H NMR, C NMR, MS, and elemental analysis. The brief synthesis of the series 2(5 H)-furanones derivatives with different functional units will afford not only an important synthetic strategy for the bioactive 2(5 H)-furanone derivatives as potential drug molecules but also a basis for the chiral polydiacetylene materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim:To investigate whether resveratrol suppressed oxidative stress-induced arrhythmogenic activity and Ca2+ overload in ventricular myocytes and to explore the underlying mechanisms.Methods:Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 200 μmol/L)) was used to induce oxidative stress in rabbit ventricular myocytes. Cell shortening and calcium transients were simultaneously recorded to detect arrhythmogenic activity and to measure intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i). Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases II (CaMKII) activity was measured using a CaMKII kit or Western blotting analysis. Voltage-activated Na+ and Ca2+ currents were examined using whole-cell recording in myocytes.Results:H2O2 markedly prolonged Ca2+ transient duration (CaTD), and induced early afterdepolarization (EAD)-like and delayed afterdepolarization (DAD)-like arrhythmogenic activity in myocytes paced at 0.16 Hz or 0.5 Hz. Application of resveratrol (30 or 50 μmol/L) dose-dependently suppressed H2O2-induced EAD-like arrhythmogenic activity and attenuated CaTD prolongation. Co-treatment with resveratrol (50 μmol/L) effectively prevented both EAD-like and DAD-like arrhythmogenic activity induced by H2O2. In addition, resveratrol markedly blunted H2O2-induced diastolic [Ca2+]i accumulation and prevented the myocytes from developing hypercontracture. In whole-cell recording studies, H2O2 significantly enhanced the late Na+ current (INa,L) and L-type Ca2+ current (ICa,L) in myocytes, which were dramatically suppressed or prevented by resveratrol. Furthermore, H2O2-induced ROS production and CaMKII activation were significantly prevented by resveratrol.Conclusion:Resveratrol protects ventricular myocytes against oxidative stress-induced arrhythmogenic activity and Ca2+ overload through inhibition of INa,L/ICa,L, reduction of ROS generation, and prevention of CaMKII activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using 4′-hexyloxybiphenyl-4-ol and N-(5-alkoxy-3-bromo-2(5 H)-furanonyl) amino acids as reactants, a series of novel biphenyl liquid crystal compounds containing natural molecule moieties, such as menthol, borneol, and amino acids, were synthesized via esterification. The structures of all novel compounds were confirmed by FTIR, H NMR, C NMR, MS, and elemental analysis, and the liquid crystal properties of target compounds were characterized with DSC, XRD, and POM. The introduction of hexyloxy made the biphenyl esters have a potential to appear in mesomorphic phase and have a higher Tm, and bornyl moiety was more beneficial for the liquid crystal performance than a menthyl unit. Most compounds were mesomorphic phase liquid crystal molecules, and POM and XRD showed that they existed in smectic phase. These researches provide a theoretical basis for the synthesis of biphenyl ester liquid crystal materials via the utilization of 2(5 H)-furanone derivates and natural molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical composition and structural characterization of the milled wood lignin (MWL) and successively alkali-fractionated lignins from bamboo ( Phyllostachys incarnata Wen) were comparatively investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), 2D heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC), and alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation. It was found that bamboo MWL (S/G ~ 1.3) is of SGH type with a considerable amount of esterified p-coumaric acid and etherified ferulic acid. Molecular weights of 3,320 g/mol for MWL and varying weights between 970 and 3,430 g/mol for the alkali-fractionated lignins were obtained. Moreover, 2D HSQC of MWL showed a predominance of β- O-4′ linkages (65%), followed by β-β′ linkages (15%) and lower amounts of β-5′ (7%), β-1′ (4%), 5-5′ (4%) linkages, and cinnamyl acetate end groups (5%). In addition, a percentage (~45%) of the lignin side chain was found to be acylated at the γ-carbon. However, the alkali-fractionated lignins lost parts of these linkages during successive alkaline fractionation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]